O'Mealey's Tech Blog

Big Business Takes Your Money

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:52:00 +0000

Save $50 and don't call tech support when a BIOS update fails. My brother-in-laws relatively new Toshiba Satellite P755 froze during an automatic Toshiba update that was attempting to flash the BIOS. This rendered it incapable of booting, frustrated my prior knowledge experience on such an issue. I tried all the different Windows repair options and Safe-Mode boots, but to no avail. Then wanting to re-flash the BIOS myself with a downloaded update I was incapable of telling it to boot form CD, and inebriated off Turkey I defaulted to calling in a Warranty repair.

Well $50 later a hard to understand "tech support" person told us to pull the battery and power cord and hold the power button to clear the CMOS (which I had previously done). Then plug it back in, and hold the F2 key when powering it back on, and continue to hold F2 until the BIOS utility comes up (This was the thing the Googles never came back to tell me. So remember it well. I've not found whether this is a Toshiba hardware trick, or if it works with others too, likely by using their respective BIOS keys). Then reset to Default settings and save, then allow Windows to run a boot repair and then a system restore to last know good settings.

Ditch Adobe Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Sat, 12 May 2012 04:27:00 +0000

To many people are stuck using the feature-limited and resource hungry Adobe Reader for viewing .pdf files. Like ANYTHING in the digital world, there are alternatives, and often the alternatives to the "norm" are better in many ways and worth your effort to change your default way of doing things. That sentiment is of course my battle cry, so I hope it's viewed as helpful and endearingly "Matt," and not me being pretentious and rebellious without good reason.

Here are two ways of replacing Adobe Reader as your default .pdf viewer in Windows which are both easier and faster on your system than the bulky, often malware exploited Adobe Reader (Google search it, you'll find it getting hacked every few months or so).

The first option will take no extra software installation. This is done by using Chrome as your default viewer by just changing your system's default program setting for .pdf files.

The next is using a different desktop application if you don't want to overload your browser or want more features than just the viewing and zooming that you get with Chrome. My current favorite is a cross-platform application called Evince that has more standard features like thumbnail view sidebar, notes, highlights, and inverted colors to make the page black and the text white (one of my personal favorites). The reason I suggest it over Adobe, is it literally uses half the resources to run (or less).

(Here they both have the same 1 page .pdf open)

Changing default program in Windows:
Windows Official Explaination (long way)
or just right click > Open With > Choose Default Program...

There are certainly a myriad of other options with various buffets of feature offerings. If you want to look into other ones, here is a good list from I Love Free Software, though not all of them run as lean as preferred.

Pop

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:19:00 +0000

I have had a fascination with this map for some time now.
Research at its best:

mmmm pop.
Guess where I'm originally from.

(I know this is not necessarily tech related and I have not done real blog work in coon's age. I will soon, and it will likely be consistent this time, but right now, it's finals week.)

[image found through Google search]

Give Opera a Try

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:47:00 +0000

As I've said before, never use stock browser. Primarily for security sake, and secondly because 3rd party browsers are where the innovation and competition is as well as the speed. Firefox used to be the cool kid on the block, but Chrome has recently thrown dirt in his face, and he's currently crying and wiping his eyes, so we're all waiting to see if he'll step up like a big boy and change his tactics, or keep getting beat up by the new alpha-male.

There has been another notable contender for some time now, though his notoriety has gone unnoticed by the uninformed masses pretty much the whole time (at least in the computer browser market, but not in the mobile). Opera has been a good innovator and a stable platform for a while, and I think you should give him a chance (especially if you're on IE or Safari... grow up).

I've been a Chrome evangelist for some time now, but it seems that as they keep pushing out frequent updates it continues to pull more resources to all its separate processes, which starts to really ad up. In a multi-core processor world, the concept does work noticeably well, but it has started making my PC run pretty hot as so many processes are constantly going. I am a heavy tab user, on average 10+ tabs open at a time. One benefit to tab-aholics like me is you can open the Chrome task manager (a feature unique to Chrome) and kill a tab that is pulling too much RAM at the moment, or one that you want up that you'll get back to later. While this is notably awesome, I have 11 tabs open on Opera right now as I write this and my PC is not running nearly as frantic and hiccuppy as it can start to become after long sessions of a dozen or so tabs open on Chrome and several lid-closing sleep states between class and what not.

To be fair, I think to my situation's disadvantage for Chrome is I am running Vista, and the problem Vista had from day one, and still has, is it does not actively release RAM that programs and processes use back to the system to be picked up by new processes later. This issue was fixed in Windows 7, and is rumored to be even more so ramped up for Windows 8. So you can see, Chrome's unique processes splitting design, where each tab, plug in, and extension runs in its own process, can start to really hog resources in an OS like Vista where it not only does not actively release resources, it holds extra for a process on reserve, both while it's running and when it's not, in case it is started again (obviously frequent restarts are Vista's friend). So take this issue, and put it in my eager, geeky hands (yes, I have a dozen extensions and apps installed) and slap on a double-digit worth of tabs and your system could run itself into lock up (though I rarely have any significant issue, really I just get restless with tech due to geekiness). I am running on just a Core 2 Duo, but I did upgrade it to 8 GB of RAM, which helped significantly delay critical mass of resource vacuum, but until I get off Vista it will be an issue (I'm not sure if I should buy 7, or wait since 8 will be out this year).

I did of course tweak Opera with usual necessities that make any modern non-stock browser awesome. I have some safety extension for https redirects and warnings for unencrypted log-in pages, as well as the usual necessaries of adblock (and ghosty), and a secure password keeper (lastpass). With 11 tabs and my extensions running, Opera is using 1.2GB of RAM; that's why 8 was a needed upgrade (if you're a sad sap running only 2GB on Vista or even 7, I pity your machine).

Another Great Deal of Indie Games

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:36:00 +0000

I know it's been many a fortnight since my last post of any substance, and this one is just to distract you. Once again, the guys at HumbleBundle.com have made another bundle, and thrown in some bonuses.

It's another pay what you want deal for the simultaneous turn-based strategy game Frozen Synapse, but if you pay above the average of $4.53 they through in the previous FrozenByte bundle, including their soundtracks. They've already thrown in Trauma as a bonus game, and guessing based on their track record, that might not be all that they eventually through in. Any current or future bonuses are redeemable no matter when you pay, and as always they include Steam redemption codes, as well as Desura and OnLive.

Possibly producing productivity..

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Planning and/or brainstorming is a multi-faceted landscape of ideas and techniques of what the best and most efficient method is. Many just simply make lists, and some kick it up a notch to visual, flowing lists, such as mind-mapping, as I've previously written about. But as for list making, there is a well developed web app called WorkFlowy, that's been around for a while now that has recently begun to release updates making it compatible to editing with several mobile devices, most importantly, Android and IOS devices, as well as adding in a collaboration feature.

It does require you to create an account to use it, but for obvious reasons as list privacy and saving. There is a good short demo video, that shows its ability to expand and change focus on which list and sub-list you are looking at.

This ability to make extensive lists with a nested stub-structure is the same reason I appreciate FreeMind, but instead of the lines and web of connections its a little less flashy with a simple note list type of format. Now its big selling point is the mobile editing update, and that it is purely web-based. So check out WorkFlowy and step up your organization and productivity, especially if you are a student and school starts next week (like me), if it hasn't already.

Embarrass Your Distractable Self

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:34:00 +0000

Being productive is more often then not done on a computer nowadays, no matter walk of life or job one has, at some point in the day, you try to get things done on a computer. In our connected times of online working, banking, socializing and the like, most, if not all of that time is spent in a browser, utilizing tabs to maximize multi-tasking and minimize desktop clutter.

Now with all things looking in our favor for digital online productivity, the only think any human still lacks is discipline. To combat this quirk of the selfish nature in the human condition, check out TaskForce. I first saw this little web app up on the 10k Apart app contest site last year (check out the site archives for other cool apps).

The idea is simple and relatively effective. You start by entering your name in under 1 minute, as task #1, then enter a new task and a time limit and let the clock tick while you knock it out. Once completed check it as "Done!" to keep yourself on a high percentage of productivity, paired with a nice smiley emoticon. If you start to slack and miss deadlines, your percentage falls, as well as the emoticon becoming less jolly. And if you have any sense of pride and dignity, once seeing how distracted and inefficient you are, you hopefully show some gumption and get your crap done, and get off Facebook.

Finding Keys Fast

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:15:00 +0000

Needing to repair a crapped up Windows install or planning on upgrading to a newer OS? Starting with a clean slate every now and again can be a great way to add some pep back into your machine, or just to get a fresh start after a virus issue, which even after cleaned off can have lasting damage that can take significant effort to reverse.

Well there are many tips to make such a process faster and less tedious that I could dish out, but I'll save them for a later date and focus today on your product keys. Product keys can be a pain to deal with, especially if it's the OS or Office suite that came with the machine that you have misplaced, or any software for that matter needing a key. (FYI, if you don't have the discs, don't fret. You can use any disc of the same product version and just put in your key, be it a friends or one you torrent (at your own risk of course)).

There are many keyfinder options that you can find out there that can do the trick, both free and paid. Magic Jelly Bean Keyfinder is one good one for free, that finds Windows OS and Office keys among a few others, and can also scan a non bootable Windows install if you pull out the drive and attach it externally to another machine. It does require an install though. The paid version, called Recover Keys, has even more programs it will pull they keys from.

Another free one for Windows and office is WinKeyfinder. When using any of the options, once the program is run and keys are recovered, you can export them to a text file, copy to a USB drive and have them available to input with your fresh install.

GParted, yep, it's as cool as it sounds.

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:20:00 +0000

Some new PC's come with a hard drive that is split into 2 or 3 partitions, which in this day of music and video downloads galore, can be an inefficient hassle. One partition is usually the factory restore, which is never larger than 10 gb and worth keeping just in case, then the remaining 2 are usually split relatively equal.

The idea behind the partitions is for data protection in case of corruption or infection of the OS partition, keeping it separate from personal files. But having to install programs to point to a separate partition can be a pain for both noobs and nerds alike. I say, just do a good job keeping your computer up to date and clean from both bloatware and viruses, then file corruption wont be a danger. I personally have never had an issue losing files from virus corruption, because I'm not dumb enough to use a browser without AdBlock running, or naive and sick enough to click a video on Facebook labeled something like "girl kills herself on webcam" or the like.

Now, how do we reclaim this "data" partition on our own without completely redoing the system? Enter GParted or Gnome Partition Editor. With an expansive and impressive feature set and capabilities rivaling any other paid app, and even more powerful than the hallowed Disk Utility of the Mac OS. It will work on almost any kind of storage you can throw at it, regardless of file system. It can be downloaded as an app in a Linux OS from their app stores, such as in the Ubuntu Software Center. But for those not having an extra computer running Ubuntu, there is the Live CD version, that can be easily launched on the PC you want to extend the hard drive partitions into one large one, or to be used to edit external drives and the like.

One huge plus I've found found, was I can do more than a virtual partition, but an actual "physical" partition by cylinder, and not just by MB size. This proved to be invaluable to me, as it was the only way I could get both Mac and PC compatible partition onto one 16GB USB thumb drive, containing two Mac OS extended drives. One at the front of the drive structure with a bootable OSX 10.6 and the other with standard mac apps I put on machines, and then a good ol' FAT32 formatted on with PC apps, installers, scanners, cleaners, registry fixes, etc..... I set up the structure using GParted and then formatted the two Mac partitions on a Mac as those file systems are proprietary.

As with many other open source/Linux software, it's free and has a digital butt-load of how-to's. Of course all progams have their limitations, and GParted is no exception, but luckily with its awesomeness combined with the good disk managers in both modern OS's of OSX and Win7, there shouldn't be anything you can't handle.

Another Bundle of Games

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:42:00 +0000

Everyone enjoys some down time (or distractions) with video games, and once again a new indie game bundle is out for a limited time to raise money for charity. I posted a few months back on the second bundle they put out, and this is the third. So watch the video to see what's offered and guiltlessly fork over some money for a good cause (my favorite is Child's Play) and some fun games.

Entertaining Your Earphones

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Mon, 16 May 2011 03:58:00 +0000

One of the most fulfilling and entertaining ways to digest music through your computer or data enabled mobile device is through online radio. Now I don't mean just digitally piping in local stations, because what's the new experience in that? The only beneficial aspect of listening to local stations online, is if it is a station from another city, and of music you wouldn't otherwise be privy to. Some good websites to aide in such an endeavor to check out for such a media experience would be iheartradio.com and tunein.com.

The other ways to find music are online streaming services, either prersonalized or genre specific. The most popular of the personalized services in America seems to be Pandora, but I don't prefer it due to the limits on skips and the frequent commercials for the free subscription, as well as it seems to lean much more mainstream in its choices for you, which can be redundant and boring. The other big player in that arena is Last.fm which I do prefer for all the reasons I don't care much for Pandora. Last.fm has a desktop player they call a "scrobbler" that works well, as well as a plugin for many other players. You have unlimited skips and there's no commercials for free desktop streaming (yet..). And most importantly they don't mainly play overly popularized bands, but frequently bring you to new and lesser known-up-and coming bands for whatever type of station your listening to, which is great, because isn't variety the spice of life? Another plus for me is they have a free app on Xbox Live. One knock against Last.fm is the mobile player went subscription only about a month ago. Their subscription is cheap at only $3 a month, but still, I could handle a commercial every so often for free mobile streaming.

Last but not least, genre specific type of streaming. The two that I turn to are Shoutcast and 8tracks. Shoutcast has thousands of online radio stations made by companies to just regular people that cover a variety of genres and playlists. Shoutcast stations can be streamed from the browser, Winamp or from a mobile device app. And finally, the little gem known as 8tracks. You know the concept of mix tapes (or CD's depending on your age). Well 8tracks is a community of 'wanna be' DJ's making varied mixes for your enjoyment. The site has a clean interface and a growing supply of apps as fans help by making their own and sharing. My personal favorite is the full-screen player Chrome extension that pipes in pictures from Last.fm, very entertaining to play on a second computer or monitor.

So do your earphones a favor and mix up your listening a bit.

DIY Computer/File Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:40:00 +0000

A main and standard component of my USB tool drive, is a bootable operating system, and for awhile now it has been the free, lightweight, easy to use Linux distribution known as Slax. I've been a fan of free and open source Linux OSs for a few years, and frequently use a backup laptop outfitted with the latest iteration of Ubuntu, the more popular of the free Linux distributions.

Why would you need a bootable OS on a USB drive or CD? Well, many reasons, but for me working on peoples computers, if the installed OS is corrupt and files need rescued, they can be copied off to an external drive using Slax or burnt to a CD/DVD. You could also scan your installed Windows for viruses or replace corrupted system files. This is why I am now suggesting it as a good DIY tool for anyone.

The reason I like Slax as my USB tool drive mainly is because you can build it to your needs. They distribute it with a core set of applications it needs to run at roughly 200mb for the basic setup, but you can personalize it and build it with your favorite programs and utilities for your specific needs from their extensive set of modules that can effortlessly be tacked onto the download package right from the website. For my tool drive I keep it lean and have a password cracker, wifi tool and AVG 8.5.

Do pay attention to the bottom of the Build page as you add modules as some programs require other packages to be added to let your specified modules to run, but they can be easily added the same way.

If you decide you want another module at a later date, when you're running Slax you can go to the homepage and add modules from there as well to the live USB drive.

Once you're happy with your build, or just go with the stock set, you can download a .tar file that you need to unzip to your USB drive and make it bootable. This is the best way to go with a Live OS, as it runs faster from the USB drive than off a CD, but if you have an older PC that that doesn't support booting from USB, you can also download the .iso of your build or the stock set and but it to a CD.

Great Games, Good Causes

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:03:00 +0000

Three times now, indie game developers have pulled together and sold a bundle of games at a "pay what you want" price tag, all in the name of charity. The Humble Indie Bundle is a great organization to follow if you like a good game every now and again, or are even a hardcore gamer and just want a new title to conquer just to shake things up. The money goes to charity and to the indie game studios, and you decide how it's split up. The charities are the Electronic Frontiers Foundation which is a long time civil liberties organization for the digital world, and my personal favorite, Child's Play which raises money to put video games in children's hospitals around the world.

There's only a few days left to donate and get the games so don't put it off and have some fun!

Surf Safely, Not Stupidly.

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:39:00 +0000

You know what's inevitable? Finding infectious crap out in the wild on the internet. I have many a friend/acquaintance that has been infected multiple times and even had their credit card information stolen more than once. Simply put, this should rarely if ever happen. If shopping online with proper procedural knowledge, it will actually be difficult to get your information stolen.

First, if you use internet explorer... stop it.. just stop it. Chrome and Firefox are incredibly faster and more secure. I suggest Chrome for Windows as Firefox can run be a bit of a resource hog.

Now, once using an acceptable browser, register for an account on Paypal.com, as when a site offers payment through paypal, it is more secure then typing in your card number over and over.

And, for passwords, install LastPass, because if anything malicious is on your computer, mac or pc, it takes no effort to crack the saved passwords within your browser, like when the browser itself asks to save your password. So if you have been using the password saver in the browser, empty and disable it.

Then, install useful extensions (add-on's) to your browser, such as ad-block, which is a must have for not only safe browsing, but significantly less annoying browsing. (***Edit 5.7.12) But also understand that for websites you love such as good blogs, be kind enough to put them on the white-list of your adblock settings. The ads on their page contribute to a significant amount of their livelihood and often keep the sites open and free. So if you support a website of any kind, unblock them.

Here is a list of such extensions for Chrome:

View Thru is an extension that pops up an entire URL when you hover over a shortened URL. Many such shortened links are just a flat out trick to redirect you to either some sort of ad or a malicious site.

WebOfTrust (WOT) is the most popular, community developed, hyperlink site rating extension that also will pop up a warning if you unknowingly happen upon a malicious site. Another that has been working on the same type of extension is Mcafee Site Advisor but doesn't have as high of ratings as WOT.

Password Fail gives you a warning if a login page stores your passwords in plain text on their server. If they happen to get infected, everyone's information would be just sitting there in the open to be taken.

KB SSL Enforcer Many sites now have secure encrypted login screens but don't yet send people there by default. Instead of manually having to remember to look if you are putting in your login information on an https:// page instead, this extension you can set up to automatically redirect you to the encrypted login page.

Credit Card Nanny is a must have extension for online shoppers. There are still shopping websites that foolishly take the credit card info you fill in to make a purchase and have it emailed in plain text to the sellers inbox. Of course out in the interwebs there wily thieves preying on ignorant web stores and their clients.

Trust Guard which is basically WOT for web stores. It puts a store security rating up in the Omnibar (address bar) on Chrome .

So wise up and enjoy browsing and saving money by shopping online, don't fear it, you ninny, and have fun.

(Source: my late beloved DLS)

An Attribute Worth Noting [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 06:05:00 +0000

Many things are said about Microsoft and especially their flagship product, the Windows OS. While it is the most widely used OS, it is also the most attacked by baddies out on the Internets, making them subject to much ridicule. I for one hold the user more accountable than the OS itself (ahem... all you Internet Explorer and McAfee users).

But take a gander at this video and see how well Windows is developed over the years to place nice with its siblings and legacy software. It's impressive and something to give some respect to.

Just don't go thinking I'm a Windows fanboy, as I'm writing this from my Ubuntu 10.10 laptop. I try to stay as impartial as possible.

Get on the Digital Bandwagon, All The Cool Kids are...

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:16:00 +0000

I'm a firm believer in the benefits of technology and how the pro's of becoming more dependent on our many circuit filled minions (or overlords) out-weigh the cons (or headaches depending on your relationship with technology). The main reason being is everything we can do manually in the realm of communication, productivity, planning, entertainment and the like, can be done on our digital devices as well, and the beauty of that coupled with the internet is they can be stored, organized and accessed anywhere and anytime, safe from the destruction of careless computer care, natural disaster, and of course user error in misplacing a scrap of paper, a folder or a physical CD that wasn't backed up.

This concept will often be visited by me, so be prepared. I am aware of the benefits of pencil and paper, and do appreciate the power of physically manipulating something to unlock the power of the mind, but that doesn't trump the security and ability to archive and instantly search all of your info and data to find just what you need right then.

If you struggle with this concept or the transition to digital dependence, take some practical steps to cross this bridge so that it will benefit you in the long run. Such as if you are sitting down and planning things out for the week/month on your archaic paper calendar, pull up your preferred digital calendar and input it there as you write it out. Obviously the benefit will be seen the day someone asks you to something pertaining to your schedule you'll be able to hop on to any computer and check your calendar availability.

By the way, your preferred calendar or any productivity type software option in general should always by default be one that is tied to the web. In my humble tech opinion, any google app will trump any other option in not only customization, usability, but most importantly, cross platform syncing options. So go to:
gmail.com
calendar.google.com
docs.google.com

There even is a "tasks" add-on for gmail and/or calendar that is a basic "to-do" list maker, that also has apps it can sync to on smart phones.

Logos and its resources are worth checking out.

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:12:00 +0000

I haven't posted in a while.. I've recently moved and school is back in so I've been swamped! But I have multiple reasons to write about this... 1.) I love it. 2.) The give away, as noted at the bottom.

Logos is probably the overall best Bible software on the market. It's literally an entire library from hundreds to thousands of books depending on the version you purchase. I myself have the scholars edition, because it's a good price and I need the extra Biblical languages tools and books that it comes with for class. It's not just a bunch of Bible translations and commentaries, but extra books, commentaries, sermon series and other resources, as well as powerful search tools that can search all those resources at one time.

It can be pricey (there is a student discount which I used and I think still exists of 30%, just email them saying your a student and what school you attend and they send you a link to the discount purchasing page), but they do have other free resources. The have a Bible search page, as well as a Bible question search page and sermon search.

And now, they have a web version of the Logos software called Biblia, that is very powerful and has tons of free resources. I believe currently when you register for free, you can get access to 41 Bible translations and 26 commentaries, dictionaries and other such resources. AND, if you purchase one of the software packages, your log in unlocks more on the Biblia website, so you can access them from any computer, and it's coming soon to iOS! For instance, with my log in info I can access 118 Bibles resources and 272 commentaries and other resources.

The current version of the software ( v. 4) is only on PC, but they have an older one available for Mac right now... and coming this October they're releasing version 4 on the Mac, with a celebratory Apple product give away!

So Logos and their online resources is defiantly worth checking out. Now here is their official Blog post ad... which gives me an extra entry in the give away!
____________________________________________________

Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!
They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

A Helper to Fix Things for You

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:08:00 +0000

Who wants to do there own work? Not me... well actually I do most of the time because I don't trust other people to do things as good as me, unless I'm feeling lazy.

Well there's some folks who are developing a program called Soluto that they call "Anti-Frustration Software" that they claim detects when you're frustrated. Really it just monitors the system and how smooth it's running, and when there is a problem you can have Soluto tell you which program is messing up and bogging down your system. Other than that it's primary function currently is to monitor you system startup and help you to remove programs (such as updaters, launchers for heavy programs like iTunes or Adobe, and others) from the start up and/or from running in the background so that you can get optimal speed from you system (something that you can somewhat do CCleaner does also, as I mentioned in my previous post).

It's great for non-nerds who aren't comfortable going in through msconfig to edit the programs running at startup. Also it brings the benefit of a community of Soluto users that give their input and fixes on their problems, so that when your system encounters the same thing they can help you fix faster. They call this the PC Genome, where they compile data from systems running the software for the benefit of the great PC community. They also provide a video on the download page with a good explanation of how it all works, which is easy enough to begin with. This is a beta test program and is still being worked on, which means it will likely get more functions as the update it.

And well, I don't have anything quirky to say here, I just like posting fun stuff.

Share Some Screenshots

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Fri, 28 May 2010 05:04:00 +0000

Do you ever want to share a screen shot with someone? Or need to save something as a picture file? Well you can with the Print Screen button on any keyboard. But what about just a small clip of the screen because you don't want such a large file or picture, or to focus in on one part of the screen without having to open the picture in a photo editor of sorts and crop the picture or draw a highlight box?

Well Gyazo does just that. Install the application, and all you have to do when you need to share a screen shot or clip of a screen shot, is run the application. It then turns your mouse pointer into a cross-hair so you can draw a selection box of what you want to share on your screen and it automatically uploads it to their server, and opens it in your browser. The picture in the browser gives you some sharing options such as Flikr and Twitter, or Info which gives you a box with the direct URL to paste wherever you need to show or share it. The convenience of a URL is great and it keeps you from having to upload it somewhere else, like a photobucket type service or your Dropbox public folder to do so.

My favorite part is after you select what you want and it uploads, it closes itself. The bad thing is if you want to do several clips, you'll have to open it several times, but the fact that it's made to not sit open on your system is awesome. Another great thing is it's free and is cross-platform and works on both Linux and Mac, See:

I also took this screenshot clip off their website as an example/explanation:

Now you can share screenshots/clips to your hearts desire, like these people share free music.

Edit: 6/6/10: Their servers are currently under maintenance.

Cleaning Out Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:59:00 +0000

We all know that time to time Windows gets quite dirty (full of temp files, leftover uninstall files and the like), and this starts to add to used space rather quickly. Well this is a common computer upkeep issue with several tools to get the job done (not including this robot).

There are some built right into any Windows install (Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup; Disk Defragmenter), but even better there are programs that do all this and more, and do it better!

This is by no means a complete list, but just the tools that I've used that do their job and do it well. First off my goto clean-up tool, CCleaner, available here too at my goto download site Download.com. CCleaner's most useful job (at least for the point of this post) is of course its Cleaner function, which cleans out temporary files, the recycle bin browsing history on most browsers, cookies, and a several other options which you can turn on or off with check boxes. If your curious about the amount of unnecessary used space, you can start with the Analyze button and it will tell you the total amount of files to be removed, before you officially run the cleaner and delete the files.

CCleaner also comes with a Registry cleaner, which I suggest using time to time as it will help increase the efficiency of your computer. DON'T FORGET to make a back up of your registry first, which it asks you to do automatically, just in case something is removed that shouldn't be. But I've been using CCleaner for a couple of years and am yet to have an issue with its registry cleaner. It also comes with a basic uninstaller for most all programs installed, but one thing to note for non-nerds is the Startup tool under the Tools Tab. You can easily and comprehensibly disable programs from automatically starting up and running in the background in order to save system resources allowing your PC to run smoother and more quickly after each restart. Programs such as QuickTime don't need to automatically start, or any other software that you don't use every time you're on the computer. Just use some discretion and common sense there.

Another noteworthy options is Disk Cleaner, an open source program that simply clears out those temporary files that most programs accumulate. And one last program on this topic that I'll mention is Advanced SystemCare's free version, giving similar options to CCleaner. Or if you're pretty excited about this cleaning and system speed increasing, and just have money to through around, get the $20 version for a whole heap of options and system care goodies.

Now that you have your temporary files all nice and cleared off... have fun fillin'em back up!

Think Ahead. Free your mind...

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:32:00 +0000

So I for one am not one not the best at planning. In fact I dislike making goals because it’s like I have to do that thing (probably a character flaw). But I’ve been working on trying to be more productive and intentional with my time.

Luckily there are programs that can help even me with my lack of motivation to be productive. Mind mapping is one such concept that has been effectively developed into many new programs and web apps, which is great for me since I'm on my computer a lot and I'm quite visual. There are several options to get the job done, but my program of choice is Free Mind, a fully functional open-source incarnation, which is well done and easy to use. To get a good overview of what you can do with the program there is a demo video provided, as well as screen shots of it. Somewhat boring, but how exciting can showing a program really be?

I highly suggest downloading Free Mind and giving it a shot. Part of the beauty of most all open-source software is that it's cross platform compatible, and this one is no exception, so there's no one is limited from becoming more productive.

A couple of quick suggestions to using Free Mind, is setting up a specific folder to save your .mm files to, and for PC users go into the settings and and change the 'add child' command key to 'Tab' instead of Insert (Tools > Preferences > Keystrokes > New Node Commands).

There are other options for mind mapping, some more limited than others, which is why I prefer Free Mind, the only limitation is it is not web based. Some options for web based mind mapping are Mind Meister, which the free version is quite limited allowing only 3 maps, but the paid versions also can use an iPhone app. There is a free web based one, that gets the job done, but without many frills, called Think. Or you can pay about $350 for the professional corporate program MindManager (yeah right, stick to Free Mind).

If you haven't figured it out by the title of my blog and my two posts... I'm all about free programs making computing better (freeware, shareware, open-source).

Speaking of free... how about some free fun? Then go be productive. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.

First things first: A you protected?

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew O'Mealey) — Mon, 17 May 2010 07:29:00 +0000

I thought I'd start off fun and post some games, but how is that helpful? That is the point of this blog, and I for one am not one to stray off topic. So as I sit here enjoying Chips Ahoy! and milk, which I love. I prefer those little chocolate doughnuts (that's the right way to spell it according to my college journalism editing professor, but I secretly think 'donuts' is way more fun to type and look at).

But I digress...

Protection. For this post I'll start with the basics: Anti-Virus.
There are a gross amount of possible "solutions" out there, but I'm wanting to make sure you actually fulfill this need the best way possible, without creating other issues. Now in my humble opinion, I want computing solutions to be easy, logical and affordable (my preference on the definition of that last word is 'free' (and legal)). So to share this information I'll start with my preferences, and then give others, and why they are not preferred.

For those of you looking for the nuggets of info (and trust my judgement already): here's the breakdown in list form:

Avast! My preferred antivirus.
Microsoft Security Essentials trusted 2nd.

Avoid:

AVG
Avira
Norton
McAfee

Now you skimmers, head to the bottom (feel free to read though). Now the reasoning for my list:

Avast! has been my trusted anti-virus program of choice for about three years now. The reason I first turned to it, is it has a great free home version, but free is hardly the only reason to go with something (especially if the word has an * with it, and even worse if it is on an ad).

But the reason why I have stuck with Avast! is because it runs light on the system, and it does its job, and nothing else unlike other antivirus programs. Another great reason is it updates virus definitions at least once a day, which is what keeps it current on what threats are out there... so it can do its job! The few times I have run across a virus from a questionable file or something, it snatches it up and quarantines it almost instantaneously.

As proof of its greatness, it has been slowly climbing the most popular download charts on download.com and currently sits in #2.

The only con I can say is by default, when it updates the definitions it tells you, literally: "Your virus database has been updated.," everyday... You can of course change this option. I did such in the Windows Control Panel. (Control Panel > Sound > Sounds tab. Then scroll down to Avast in the list and change the sound. Or go to the settings of the program itself and disable the sound by unchecking box for update sounds).

Microsoft Security Essentials is relatively new to the scene, but has been getting great reviews. I personally have not yet tested it (I could use some more test computers for such things, which I also would loan out or give to someone lacking a computer. Anyone feeling generous?). My brother, Josh, however has begun to use it on all his PC's. He is the professional nerd in the family, as a Security Analyst for a hospital IT department, and a contract nerd on the side (I too was a nerd for hire, especially in college, but I was usually paid in donuts. Seriously).

What Josh has experienced echo's the reviews it MSE has been getting since its release. It as well is designed to work in the background of your computers processes, not bogging down the system, and doing its job and nothing more. It also has frequent automatic updates and one extra thing is it doubles as malware protection (more on that later).

Now, antivirus programs to avoid: AVG it itself infects the computer, bogging it down and just plain sucking. Avira, its newer versions freeze up a lot and it struggles to automatically update. It as well is on the slow end. Norton, yeah it is pretty good, but can also overtake your computer like AVG and you have to pay $40 a year. Ridiculous for virtually the same protection as any number of free anti-virus'. McAfee is probably on of my least favorite bloatware "anti-virus'" wanting your money. Just recently their corporate version of the program embarrassed itself. And again.. $40?!?

If you have any of these, I implore you, uninstall them and get something that does its job.. for free. There is no reason to have to pay for anti-virus, and if you feel "safer" doing such... get off of Limewire! Then you won't feel such a ever-present threat.

And now for something completely different.