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Computing

Open Source/Free Applications
  • Audacity
    • An application for editing audio tracks.
  • Audigrabber
    • An application for ripping audio CDs into MP3 or other formats.
  • Creamundo
    • 9800+ fonts for free use.
  • Firefox
    • Is a very excellent web browser and is highly recommended. See review of Firfeox below.
  • Free Codecs
    • Web site which contains tons of codecs which allow one to view a multitude of video types.
  • Pidgin
    • Is an awesome application which allows one to consolidate the messengers for AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Myspace into a single program. Also, very easy to use.
  • Gimp
    • Is the free, open source equivalent of Adobe's photoshop. Create, edit, apply styles, etc. to images and pictures.
  • Lame
    • A free, good MP3 encoder used in Audacity.
  • Open Office
    • Is a free, open source equivalent to Microsoft's Office suit. This has equivalents to Word, Excel and Powerpoint which are all very easy to use.
  • Thunderbird
    • Is an easy to use email application. See my review of it below.
My Recommendations concerning computer Software and Hardware:
Web Browser: Firefox
Simply said, Firefox is more secure, has better support, more functionality and greater options than Internet Explorer. First off the browser is free (like most other browsers) but offers much more functionality (in terms of extensions) and security than other browsers. Firefox has quickly gained market share in the past several years due to these factors.

One of the two greatest reasons to use Firefox is due to extensions. Extensions are mini programs that enhance Firefox to do different things such as blocking advertisements, limited flash playback on websites, displaying updates on local weather, website developer assistance, and many other cool features.

The second greatest reason to use Firefox is tabs. Tabs allow the user to only have 1 browser window open but have multiple web sites loaded in that browser thus disabling the user from having a browser open for each web site. This is hugely beneficial in that it saves space on one's system bar (bar at the bottom) and all web pages are in one single location and easy to find.
Email: Thunderbird
Like Firefox, this program is free and made by the same people. I like using this rather than Outlook because Outlook tends to be bloated and requires one to pay for Office to use it (unless using Outlook express). Thunderbird looks nice and has a lot of functionality and is kept up to date. Extensions make the experience more worthwhile too.
Virus Scanner: HouseCall
HouseCall is a free, online virus scanner provided by Trend Micro. i recommend this virus scanner because it is not something which runs all of the time sucking resources from one's computer. Having Spybot: Search and Destroy protecting one's computer from registry changes and other file changes produces alerts which will cause one to realize they might have a virus and if so they can then run this scanner to remove it.
Firewall Software: Zone Alarm
Zone Alarm is a passive firewall program which protects your computer by limiting what information is coming in and going out. It is a relatively easy application to use and is free. The free version protects your computer from many invulnerabilities that the basic windows firewall does not. Zone Alarm allows one to control every program or process trying to access the outside world or get into one's computer. One can also control privacy information such as passwords, emails, cookies, etc. using the tool.
Processor(CPU): Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel is widely known and their newer processors (Intel Core 2 Duo) kick a lot of butt and are cheap compared to intel's previous processors. Core 2 Duo signifies a 2nd generation of processor technology and that it has 2 processors, not one, which allows your computer to work more.
Video Card: NVidia
I've used several different types of video cards over the years and have had the priviledge of using both ATI and NVidia. I prefer the NVidia brand since it's more compatible with most games out there and from my experience NVidia produces a faster, nicer image than ATI.
Spyware, Adware, Malware Removal Tools
  • Spybot: Search and Destroy
    • Another great program for removing spyware, adware, malware, etc. This program is a bit less bloated when compared to Ad Aware and is also free. This program assists in removing spyware (similar to Ad Aware) but also has two other important passive tools: Immunization and TeaTimer.
    • Immunization helps both Firefox and Internet Explorer to avoid certain websites and advertisements which have been flagged as harmful which in turn helps one's computer from being infected by spyware or viruses.
    • TeaTimer is a process which runs passively on one's computer (similar to a virus scanner) and has knowledge of many different kinds of programs which have been blacklisted. It assists in blacklisting these programs and notifying the user of the computer if a change is being made and whether or not it should be allowed or permanent disabled.
    • NOTE: When running Spybot: Search and Destroy be sure to update it and re-Imminunize your system. After doing so re-scan your computer for issues and have it clean it up for you.

  • Ad Aware
    • A great, free program for removing spyware, adware, malware, general 'bad stuff', etc. Scans your computer, like a virus scanner, detects the spyware and prompts you to remove it. This is a safe program to use to remove the spyware, adware, malware, etc. from your computer.
      NOTE: Every time you run Ad Aware, be sure to update it as new spyware is found all the time.

  • CWShredder
    • A very useful tool for removing most of the worst forms of spyware that infect Internet Explorer and other files.
What is a HOSTS file?
  • A hosts file is a fun file in windows. It allows one to enter in websites and have them redirected to another address.
    In more advanced terms, it takes a web site's address (www.google.com or google.com) and redirects it to another address but is a numbered address called an IP address (10.0.0.1).
  • There can be advantages and disadvantages to this.
    1. For one, spyware/adware/viruses can use this to their advantage to block Ad Aware, McAfee, Norton or even Spybot: Search and Destroy from updating and being able to detect and remove the spyware/adware/virus.
    2. Secondly, it can be used to block certain sites or connections to sites. This can be used to block going to Yahoo, Google, Digg, MSNBC. It can also be used to block potentially harmful sites such as ads.doubleclick.net. Redirecting this site to a non-harmful address (one's internal IP address (loopback adapter)) will cause the harmful website to not be connected and thus will protect one's computer.
    3. Lastly, it's just a simple text file that Windows, Linux, and other Operating Systems use as a redirection device for traffic specified by the user.
  • The HOSTS file in Windows XP can be found here:
    c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
  • Example HOSTS file
  • Helpful link on HOSTS file
Installing Windows onto a SATA Hard drive without floppy
I take no credit in this besides finding it on the internet, using it and find out it works great...

I recently purchased a SATA drive to replace my hosed IDE drive and knew that Windows would not recognize the SATA drive when going to install Windows so I did some research..

Basically you need this file; to unzip go to here and download WinRar. I got the VIA SATA file from here. Make sure to check out the .txt document for instructions... You have to have already downloaded the entire Windows CD to your hard drive (which takes place in the next step) before you can do the instructions (pasting some text into a file and copying 2 files to the I386 directory). If you have trouble opening the file it tells you to open, open it using notepad and just past the text it tells you to put in right at the top.

When you have the above file, assuming your SATA chipset is made by VIA (as far as my limited knowledge goes most are?... again, no idea, so don't yell at me if it doesn't work).. Check out this page on how to burn a bootable Windows CD using Nero.