Thoughts and Theories From Roger Andre
for the curious, and people getting to grips with computing and computers.
Tuesday 4 November 2008, 11:56 PM
Freeware, Podcasts and Resources Worth Having.
There are some very useful resources out there on the web, that come at no cost to the user. Below is a list of some of my favourite sites.
1. Sysinternals.
Mark Russinovich is the man who blew the whistle on the sony rootkit fiasco. His site Sysinternals has been bought out by microsoft, but thankfully they they have let Mark keep it as a freeware site, and employed him into the process. The tools on here offer a way to look "through" windows OS and have helped me to understand so much. I love the way process explorer will allow you to trick a windows machine into bypassing a process by holding it in suspension so you can fault find or just play around. The forums are a superb knowledge base in their own right.
Included is the WHOLE agonising process of fishing out the sony rootkit from his computer, then telling the world about it. The quick tutorial video is recomended...
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2. TWiT.TV with Leo Laporte.
This is a podcasting website, seemingly with Leo Laporte in the studio 24/7. The main emphasis is on technology and computing with shows such as the week in tech, the tech guy (a great phone in with technical problems explained to people), windows weekly with Paul Thurrott the author of super site for windows, macbreak weekly all things mac, security now....the list goes on into photography, biotech, food etc. The quality of information is very high, back issues are available and all files are mp3 format ready for the taking.
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3. Major Geeks.
It's not all freeware on here but there's a lot of it for PC and MAC. Everything from anti virus tools that run from the command line, data recovery, video and audio tools, graphics, benchmarking, games, BIOS tools, diagnostics, network monitoring, mail utilities, office tools, covert ops, registry tools, right through to the way off base news articles although these are best left alone.
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4. Eyefetch.
This is a very pleasing to the eye photography website, and a nice alternative to some of the well known offerings out there. The general quality of work is very high and people are willing to be friends, comment and rate your work constructively, offering practical advise, and help if you need it.
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5. Twisted Pixel.
Twisted pixel is an awsome audio visualiser written by Brian Spangler, with plug ins for various media players, although I must say it works very well with windows media player 11. Included is a batch processor for milk drop files so you can constantly update your content and the ability to mark files for delete on the fly, so you can customise to your own taste. Worth having and displaying on a big screen, although the beauty and elegance also shines through on laptops. Has to be seen to be believed!
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6. K-lite Codec Pack.
This is the k-lite codec pack. I've used it to beef up a very solid XP version of windows media player 11. Anything video or audio related will never bug you again, from DVDs to .mov files it will play them all. Many audio enhancers are also included plus a very robust video player of its own called media player classic. This codec pack also offers diagnostics and repair if anything goes wrong (it hasn't yet) and is highly configurable, in case your worried about having too many codecs swimming around in your system. Once this is on your system you should find that everything just works. The only thing to look out for is the DVD image in WMP 11 displaying in multiple boxes by default. This happens on some systems and if it happens on yours, the hidden settings can be found by right clicking on the bottom left of the WMP 11 taskbar.
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7. Weebly Free Website Editor.
Weebly is a great way to knock up a few web pages or create somthing a little more complex, at no expense whatsoever. There
are no limits to the amount of pages you can have and the link/back link facility is fully functional. There are limits of course, if for instance you wanted to post an mp3 file larger than five MBs you will be prompted to go for the paid version. I have posted the address to my weebly site above just to give you an idea of what is possible. It is very easy to get to grips with and if you've never had a go at putting a site together, then this is a nice gentle introduction. It will also give you a taste for designing in the cloud, so to speak.
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8. The Ultimate Boot Disk.
The ultimate boot disk. Allows you to create a bootable disk for unbootable windows machines and run various diagnostics.
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9. Hijack This.
I couldn't describe this any better than the publisher himself but I will add that the editor of CNET gave it a five star rating:
"HijackThis lists the contents of key areas of the Registry and hard drive--areas that are used by both legitimate programmers and hijackers. The program is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs and URLs, only the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites. As a result, false positives are imminent, and unless you're sure about what you're doing, you always should consult with knowledgeable folks before deleting anything".
---------------------------------------
10. Unlocker.
This program is incredibly useful if there are files and folders that you want off your computer but every time you try you end up being told it cannot be deleted because it is being used by another person or program...if you don't have the stomach or the time to go hunting with process explorer, then this will expose all locking handles automatically and let you safely boot off the offending items from your computer.
---------------------------------------
11. Playlist.com.
If you would like the ability to translate into the real world a song that pops into your head that you may not have heard for years then you've got it! well nine times out of ten anyway. It's not perfect, but its great fun and it lets you build as many playlists as you like so if you are online you can have an alternative and legal collection of music at your fingertips.
---------------------------------------
12. Miniclip.
A nice little free gaming website. Has everything from 2D platform games to 3D virtual worlds, puzzles, nintendo games such as brain training and lots more. A real gem of a site.
---------------------------------------
This article is/was/will be intended for information/read only purposes and I cannot take any responsibility for computers that explode, implode, or that behave in any other strange ways you may or may not previously have imagined or exerienced.
1. Sysinternals.
Mark Russinovich is the man who blew the whistle on the sony rootkit fiasco. His site Sysinternals has been bought out by microsoft, but thankfully they they have let Mark keep it as a freeware site, and employed him into the process. The tools on here offer a way to look "through" windows OS and have helped me to understand so much. I love the way process explorer will allow you to trick a windows machine into bypassing a process by holding it in suspension so you can fault find or just play around. The forums are a superb knowledge base in their own right.
Included is the WHOLE agonising process of fishing out the sony rootkit from his computer, then telling the world about it. The quick tutorial video is recomended...
---------------------------------------
2. TWiT.TV with Leo Laporte.
This is a podcasting website, seemingly with Leo Laporte in the studio 24/7. The main emphasis is on technology and computing with shows such as the week in tech, the tech guy (a great phone in with technical problems explained to people), windows weekly with Paul Thurrott the author of super site for windows, macbreak weekly all things mac, security now....the list goes on into photography, biotech, food etc. The quality of information is very high, back issues are available and all files are mp3 format ready for the taking.
---------------------------------------
3. Major Geeks.
It's not all freeware on here but there's a lot of it for PC and MAC. Everything from anti virus tools that run from the command line, data recovery, video and audio tools, graphics, benchmarking, games, BIOS tools, diagnostics, network monitoring, mail utilities, office tools, covert ops, registry tools, right through to the way off base news articles although these are best left alone.
---------------------------------------
4. Eyefetch.
This is a very pleasing to the eye photography website, and a nice alternative to some of the well known offerings out there. The general quality of work is very high and people are willing to be friends, comment and rate your work constructively, offering practical advise, and help if you need it.
---------------------------------------
5. Twisted Pixel.
Twisted pixel is an awsome audio visualiser written by Brian Spangler, with plug ins for various media players, although I must say it works very well with windows media player 11. Included is a batch processor for milk drop files so you can constantly update your content and the ability to mark files for delete on the fly, so you can customise to your own taste. Worth having and displaying on a big screen, although the beauty and elegance also shines through on laptops. Has to be seen to be believed!
---------------------------------------
6. K-lite Codec Pack.
This is the k-lite codec pack. I've used it to beef up a very solid XP version of windows media player 11. Anything video or audio related will never bug you again, from DVDs to .mov files it will play them all. Many audio enhancers are also included plus a very robust video player of its own called media player classic. This codec pack also offers diagnostics and repair if anything goes wrong (it hasn't yet) and is highly configurable, in case your worried about having too many codecs swimming around in your system. Once this is on your system you should find that everything just works. The only thing to look out for is the DVD image in WMP 11 displaying in multiple boxes by default. This happens on some systems and if it happens on yours, the hidden settings can be found by right clicking on the bottom left of the WMP 11 taskbar.
---------------------------------------
7. Weebly Free Website Editor.
Weebly is a great way to knock up a few web pages or create somthing a little more complex, at no expense whatsoever. There
are no limits to the amount of pages you can have and the link/back link facility is fully functional. There are limits of course, if for instance you wanted to post an mp3 file larger than five MBs you will be prompted to go for the paid version. I have posted the address to my weebly site above just to give you an idea of what is possible. It is very easy to get to grips with and if you've never had a go at putting a site together, then this is a nice gentle introduction. It will also give you a taste for designing in the cloud, so to speak.
---------------------------------------
8. The Ultimate Boot Disk.
The ultimate boot disk. Allows you to create a bootable disk for unbootable windows machines and run various diagnostics.
---------------------------------------
9. Hijack This.
I couldn't describe this any better than the publisher himself but I will add that the editor of CNET gave it a five star rating:
"HijackThis lists the contents of key areas of the Registry and hard drive--areas that are used by both legitimate programmers and hijackers. The program is continually updated to detect and remove new hijacks. It does not target specific programs and URLs, only the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites. As a result, false positives are imminent, and unless you're sure about what you're doing, you always should consult with knowledgeable folks before deleting anything".
---------------------------------------
10. Unlocker.
This program is incredibly useful if there are files and folders that you want off your computer but every time you try you end up being told it cannot be deleted because it is being used by another person or program...if you don't have the stomach or the time to go hunting with process explorer, then this will expose all locking handles automatically and let you safely boot off the offending items from your computer.
---------------------------------------
11. Playlist.com.
If you would like the ability to translate into the real world a song that pops into your head that you may not have heard for years then you've got it! well nine times out of ten anyway. It's not perfect, but its great fun and it lets you build as many playlists as you like so if you are online you can have an alternative and legal collection of music at your fingertips.
---------------------------------------
12. Miniclip.
A nice little free gaming website. Has everything from 2D platform games to 3D virtual worlds, puzzles, nintendo games such as brain training and lots more. A real gem of a site.
---------------------------------------
This article is/was/will be intended for information/read only purposes and I cannot take any responsibility for computers that explode, implode, or that behave in any other strange ways you may or may not previously have imagined or exerienced.
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