Favorite Files

1. Aim 6.0 Ad Hack
2. AmazonWatcher for Windows
3. AnyDVD HD
4. DVD Decrypter
5. FinalBurner FREE
6. IE7pro
7. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack
8. MediaCoder
9. MediaPortal
10. Recuva
11. WinMerge

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - Audacity for Windows

   1.3.9 Beta (Sep 1, 2009)

   A little complex for new users. The UI seems "old" but I have had no problems getting any of the betas to work in Win 7. The vocal remover feature is hit and miss.

2. 
   Review - Win7codecs

   1.2.2 (Jul 15, 2009)

   Giving this the 4* avg rating so I won't skew the votes with my question................ Why do I need this in Win7? Outside of Ogg or some other obscure codec, the built-in codecs for Wi n7 seem very good. Can someone enlighten me why I need to replace the built-in codecs?

3. 
   Review - AlbumWeb

   4.0 Beta 22 (Jun 25, 2009)

   This software is good, but I don't like the 30-day timeout. Windows Live Photo Gallery is actually my favorite photo/video organization software. It has tags, face detection, and all kinds of useful features. It's also the easiest tool I have used to create panorama. Here's how to easily create panos in Windows Live Photo Gallery: http://www.bowlesonline....dows-live-photo-gallery

4. 
   Review - Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows Vista/2008

   8.0 (Apr 1, 2009)

   I'm not sure why people are bashing this browser. I would assume they are the anti-microsoft crowd. Regardless, I am using this browser and am quite pleased. It has some fresh new ideas and some borrowed ideas from FF. From FF it borrowed the bookmark bar and the search bar. Great stuff. The security of this browser seems great also with all the anto-phising tools, the url color coding, etc. More good stuff. I use FF daily also and IE8 is as fast. No, IE8 does not score 100% on ACID 3, but so what -- it renders all websites I visit just fine. I wish there was an integrrrattteed spell checker (like FF) and it needs a couple of other personal UI tweaks, but overall this is a VERY GOOD browser.

5. 
   Review - Picasa for Windows

   3.1 Build 71.18 (Mar 24, 2009)

   Picasa is a great product, but to be honest I haven't used mine in about a year. For organzing photos, making panos, uploading to Facebook, etc I now use Windows Live Photo Gallery. For serious edits, Photoshop.

6. Comment - Early sales figures for Windows 7 nicely high, but do we know why?

   3.1 Build 71.18 (Nov 6, 2009 - 3:11 PM)

   Vista was indeed crap out the door for many reasons. It wasn't ready, people tried to run it only old hardware, the biggest issues were drivers -- why didn't OEMs have drivers ready?
   
   Fast forward to SP1 and Vista actually became good to very good. Why? Well, see above, the code was fixed in LOTS of places (thank goodness for free updates), Nvidia and other OEMs got the drivers right, and people had new computers.
   
   I have 7 on a couple of machines, but this one is actually running Vista. It's quite good and there's no pressing need to jump to 7 here.

7. Comment - At last! Public Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is live with new Windows 7 support

   3.1 Build 71.18 (Nov 3, 2009 - 10:48 AM)

   Agreed but I like to run multi browsers anyway. I do most of my browsing in IE8 these days, but FF still has better bahavior in the drop down favorite bar and inline spell check.

8. Comment - Must Microsoft Store copy Apple Store to succeed?

   3.1 Build 71.18 (Nov 2, 2009 - 5:22 PM)

   The answer is No. I think MS has a better "home integration" story to tell than Apple. MS can demo some really cool technology that Apple cannot.

9. Comment - Security fixes, JavaScript update bog down Internet Explorer 8

   3.1 Build 71.18 (Nov 2, 2009 - 1:07 PM)

   Honestly? In real workd usage this is pointless. I have a fully patched Win7/IE8 and Vista/IE8 machines. I also run various flaors of FF/s***eko and other browsers. There is no noticable speed difference with browsing.
   
   I guess it's good to keep metrics of which random test a browser passed more quickly than another one, but it doesn't make any difference with browsing.
   
   I guess I would notice it if I was trying to render a 250 page document, but most web pages are 1-2 pages in length and the browser generally has idle time while waiting on SQL calls.

10. Comment - Bad Vista-to-Windows 7 upgrade experiences #1: 'Hosed' Intel SSDs

    3.1 Build 71.18 (Oct 28, 2009 - 5:25 PM)

    How to install Win7 fresh with an u pgrade disc: http://www.winsupersite....stall_upgrade_media.asp