Ben's Profile

Member since June 10, 2004

Favorite Files

  1. CCleaner
  2. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack
  3. Opera for Windows
  4. µTorrent for Windows

Recent Posts

  1. Review - ImgBurn

    2.0.0.0 (Aug 27, 2006)

    One of the best, easiest to use, most straightforward CD/DVD burning programs I have ever used. When burning an image, why take the time to launch Nero or someo other full-featured burning program when ImgBurn will do the task easier and quicker? I have been using this program for a long time and the new 2.0.0 version corrects all of the issues I had with it running on Vista build 5384. Great job!

  2. Review - Opera for Windows

    8.01 Preview 1 Build 7583 (May 7, 2005)

    To the person with the question about using Azureus with Opera...I've been using it with Opera for a while. I'm not sure what you're asking it to do specifically, but all I do is click on a .torrent link and opera will ask me if I want to open, save as, etc...when I click open, it goes straight to Azureus. I suppose I could also set it up to automatically open if I wanted to. Unfortunately I'm out of town right now so I can't tell you what my exact settings are. But if you want to e-mail me I can let you know as soon as I get back. My e-mail is lemonlovr@comcast.net.

  3. Review - Mozilla Thunderbird for Windows

    0.7.2 (Jul 30, 2004)

    I can't seem to buy into all the hype about Thunderbird. Sure, it's open source. Sure, it's free. Yes, it's better than the predominant standalone e-mail clients such as Outlook Express and even Outlook 2003 (if you're not interested in other features such as tasks, calendar, etc.). And it supports sending HTML-formatted e-mail. Those are good things.

    And now the downside: it offers nothing revolutionary. It is a standard, run-of-the-mill, folder based e-mail client. Out of the box (I am not very familiar with Thunderbird extensions so many of these features may be available as add-ons), my favorite e-mail client is M2, included in Opera. It handles e-mail, newsgroups, and newsfeeds (RSS) in one easy-to-use interface. In addition, it disposes of the complicated folder interface for a more easy customizable interface based on views (which are determined by message attributes). It automatically filters out mailing lists (such as Yahoo Groups). You can also sort messages by label (important, todo, mail back, etc.), type of attachment (document, image, etc.), contact (based on contacts in your address book), and search terms. You can also keep track of active contacts (those you have recently sent e-mail to) and active threads (messages you have replied to). For a complete review of M2 (and Opera) that I wrote a few weeks back, go to http://bhinc.home.comcas...opera-75-excels_30.html. The only drawback: you can't send HTML-formatted e-mail (only plaintext) although you can read such messages.

    Sorry to promote M2 so much but I just can't understand all of the attention that Thunderbird gets. What's so special about it?

  4. Review - Opera for Windows

    7.51 (Jun 10, 2004)

    I have been using Opera since the days of 3.62 and I have rarely looked back. Sure, I've tried Mozilla and its variants but Opera has always been my browser of choice. I've even begun using the M2 client for my day-to-day e-mailing which I was reluctant to do for a long while. I know it's still in its early stages and there's some work to be done but compared to the bloatware such as MS Outlook, M2 and Opera do just fine. I wrote a more extensive review in my journal which you can find at http://bhinc.home.comcas...opera-75-excels_30.html. Also, it's important to note that web pages written in compliance with W3C standards ALWAYS display fine in Opera.

  5. Comment - First public beta of Opera 9.6: Chrome is on their mind, too

    7.51 (Sep 13, 2008 - 3:59 AM)

    Also-

    More proof that you can't go quoting Wikipedia to back up your points as your likely to find different "facts" in different articles.

  6. Comment - First public beta of Opera 9.6: Chrome is on their mind, too

    7.51 (Sep 13, 2008 - 3:58 AM)

    Opera pioneered the use of multiple pages open in one browser window. I'm not claiming tabbed browsing wouldn't exist - just saying they did it first. And...tabs are no Dodge Viper.

  7. Comment - First public beta of Opera 9.6: Chrome is on their mind, too

    7.51 (Sep 11, 2008 - 5:23 PM)

    Hmm. According to another article, Opera *did* invent tabbed browsing: http://en.wikipedia.org/...browser#Tabbed_browsing

    It all depends on whether you consider Opera's MDI to be a precursor and/or equivalent to tabbed browsing. Opera has supported multiple pages (in fact they were called pages before Opera renamed them tabs) in one application window since version 1.0 in 1994.

  8. Comment - Out of options, Opera files EU antitrust claim against Microsoft

    7.51 (Dec 15, 2007 - 4:58 AM)

    I like to look at it like this.

    OS X includes Safari as the default browser, based on WebKit, based on the open-source KHTML rendering engine. Note that while Apple markets Safari and does some customization, all changes to Webkit are given back to the open-source community.

    Ubuntu includes Firefox as the default browser, based on the open-source Gecko rendering engine. Both are independent of Ubuntu and Canonical.

    Windows includes Internet Explorer as the default browser, which is based on...Microsoft. They control the codebase for both the OS and the browser. If IE was based on an open-source or other 3rd party rendering engine, such as Webkit, Gecko, or Opera's own Presto, there wouldn't be a problem. But by controlling both the OS and the rendering, Microsoft is able to use the browser to further the interests of the OS and vice versa.

    It's not about forbidding the use of another browser. It's not even about Opera. It's about being open and playing nice with others.

  9. Comment - Out of options, Opera files EU antitrust claim against Microsoft

    7.51 (Dec 15, 2007 - 4:51 AM)

    It's not a lawsuit. It's a complaint. See this FAQ so you and everyone else here can be educated:

    http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/show.dml/1582238