Favorite Files

1. ATI Catalyst Drivers for Windows XP/Vista/7
2. DivX for Windows
3. FileZilla v3 for Windows
4. foobar2000
5. GoldWave
6. GrabIt
7. HTTrack Website Copier for Windows
8. ImgBurn
9. InfraRecorder
10. Koepi's XviD Codec
11. Mozilla Firefox (v3.5) for Windows
12. mp3DirectCut
13. Mp3tag
14. OpenOffice.org for Windows
15. Paint.NET
16. Pidgin for Windows
17. PSPad editor
18. Ultimate Windows Tweaker
19. UltraISO
20. VirtualDub
21. VirtuaWin
22. WavPack
23. XMPlay
24. XnView for Windows

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - CDBurnerXP

   4.2.7.1893 (Feb 5, 2010)

   `Where else can you find a free burning software with support???
   
   InfraRecorder: http://infrarecorder.org/
   
   MUCH faster and also has a 64-bit version.
   
   This is good software but InfraRecorder has a nicer interface and significantly better performance.
   
   FOUR stars

2. 
   Review - VMware Workstation for Windows

   7.0.1 Build 227600 (Feb 1, 2010)

   Just today I installed this product and compared it against my now standard VirtualBox installation. I'm a former VMWare user that switched to VirtualBox somewhere around the 6.5 release of VMWare after a long and frustrating history with that product, beginning with the 6.0 release. I wanted to see if anything had changed.
   
   I wasn't at all surprised to learn that nothing had.
   
   VirtualBox is less resource intensive, considerably faster, supports the majority of important features and is a MUCH better value. Why? Because their dev team actually listens to issues and fixes them in a timely fashion.
   
   This company is resting on its laurels (like many another pioneer) regarding the workstation version. When a small company can come from behind and offer a comprehensive feature set that touches all the important bases For Free, that's a death knell in that market segment to another company that is bogged down in its own complexity.
   
   Is VirtualBox less idiot proof? Not by much and that gap closes significantly with each new point (not major - point) release. Right about now they're almost level AND they can import vmdk files. I use VirtualBox every day with a Novell client, Lotus Notes, MS Office, even Windows MovieMaker. I have it running XP, Vista, Windows 7, Ubuntu. It multitasks smoothly and gives no grief with the keyboard buffer if network performance is slow - that requires a kludge in VMWare. In short, this product, unless you have extremely specific requirements that only it can handle (and believe me, they must be very esoteric), is a complete waste of money.
   
   The download process is still arduous, cumbersome and invasive. VMWare, if I want to download your product you are NOT entitled to any of my or my company's information - get that through your thick heads.
   
   TWO stars for bloat, lackluster performance, poor bug sanitization over multiple releases, a seriously overblown price and an abrasive and invasive download procedure.
   
   Get VirtualBox instead. I did and I'm not going back.

3. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   5.0.307.1 Beta (Feb 1, 2010)

   mdmower:
   
   Thank, I'll trust my firewall logs.
   
   ONE star.

4. 
   Review - Google Chrome for Windows

   4.0.302.2 Beta (Jan 22, 2010)

   I wouldn't run this or any product from this company on YOUR machine. They have a finely crafted PR veneer but given their stance on international affairs and their record on privacy (this product, Maps and Desktop), it's pretty obvious that they're just another opportunistic corp. despite the pretty image.
   
   Their business practices indicate that they're far more predatory than Microsoft ever was and I simply won't trust a product that phones home every hour on the hour (have a look at your firewall or HIDS logs), regardless what their pious platitudes are.
   
   ONE star.

5. 
   Review - Mozilla Firefox (v3.6) for Windows

   3.6 (Jan 21, 2010)

   Holy Crap!
   
   It didn't break a single one of my nine plugins, including the Black Stratini skin (I like my FF to be as much like IE in appearance and functionality as npossible without the drawbacks).
   
   Be Still My Pounding Petunia Patch!
   
   EDIT:
   
   It killed two extensions.
   
   TWO stars for the same old half-azzed BS.

6. Comment - Nine out of 10 premium-priced PCs sold at US retail is a Mac

   3.6 (Feb 2, 2010 - 4:00 PM)

   Looking at the headline, the first thing that came to mind was:
   
   "Only because they're so overpriced".
   
   'nuff said.

7. Comment - Canada's privacy office puts Facebook back in the hot seat

   3.6 (Feb 1, 2010 - 4:22 PM)

   Dude, you may well laugh. You people can't spell the "P" in privacy and haven't for at least a decade or so. I look at your legal infrastructure vis a vis privacy and laugh my head off. The PA and PIPEDA are things you people can only dream of.

8. Comment - Microsoft, don't give up on Steve Ballmer just yet

   3.6 (Jan 23, 2010 - 10:30 AM)

   Microsoft, please Please PLEASE get rid of that cheap song-and-dance accountant.
   
   NOW.

9. Comment - AT&T: The end of the wireline telephone is in sight

   3.6 (Jan 3, 2010 - 10:05 AM)

   It's not just the physical link, it's the network infrastructure. You're telling me that your cable / internet never goes down? My bro-in-law got VoIP from his cable company. Withing two days it was down - as was his internet and cable. For three days. When was the last time you saw copper go down, let alone for three days? In my case, there were brownouts. The informal excuse I was given was that the company had "oversubscribed" the service. Whoopee Crap. The landline phone network is a separate network by itself with dedicated switches that have been debugged over the last what, century, give or take? It's the most bulletproof operating system in the world. It never goes down and if it does, there's vast redundancy (at least that's my understanding). Does cable or DSL have that level of robustness? Did I mention brownouts and complete failures of those services.
   
   Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh....
   
   About that...

10. Comment - AT&T: The end of the wireline telephone is in sight

    3.6 (Dec 31, 2009 - 9:55 PM)

    Yeah, and VoIP is crap technology nowhere near as releiable and ready for prime time as the most robust and foolproof network in the world. More corporate "progress"...
    
    Byte Me.