Category Archives: windows

How to create a terrific slideshow in just three steps using Animoto.

This week, in our Freeware Page, we have posted some brief comments about the free part of services offered by Animoto, a Web 2.0 website which allows you to create short free multimedia slideshows. Using Animoto, it is possible to make a 30 seconds video clip which directly melts your images/photographs with a soundtrack you can freely select in their data bank. The link of the video will be sent directly to your email and to all your friends if you prefer. Obviously, a paid subscription allows you to obtain longer videos with HD quality but, after some tests, we were actually satisfied from the Animoto slideshow we had obtained without paying anything. It is a pity we had so many problems when we decided to use Linux OSs to test Animoto… Something to try if you like to show some photos on your website (especially if you have a dark background).

How to install XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief tutorial about installing XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10. As you certainly know, XBCM is a complete Media Center based on Ubuntu. This program is multiplatform (Linux, Windows, OS X and also XBOX – not officially supported-) and, in our opinion, is the most efficient and complete open source media center you can find today on the Internet. Moreover, XBMC has developed a special version that could be installed on a USB Key on a Live CD to freely test the application before installing on your PC. The post is brief but contains all the complete instructions to quickly install XBMC without problems. Please, be sure to digit sudo apt-get update in Terminal after you install the new repositories. Recommended!!

Google Chrome: how to neutralize the unique ID tracker and partially preserve your privacy

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Today, in our Freeware Page we added a post about two useful freeware which are able to remove the ID tracker contained in this new browser. Using them you will able to defend your privacy a little more effectively your navigation when using Google applications. The first is Chrome Privacy Guard (CPG), a useful tool, whose icon you will click on to activate Google Chrome. When using CPG you have to remember not to run directly the Google Chrome icon. Moreover, this software contains also a command which allows you to disable the CPG option inside Google Chrome, so your browser will send again statistical data to Google. The second one is UnChrome, an Abelssoft creation which definitively remove the unique ID contained in Google Chrome. Last but not least, I want to focus your attention on the fact that these two freeware run only in Windows PCs but we hope that a MAC and Linux version will be released in the next months. Useful!!

Do not spend money for professional hardware when you can create your hi-tech router with less than 50 bucks!!

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This week, in our Freeware Page, we have posted a brief review about Tomato and DD-WRT two unofficial firmwares to upgrade your router into a professional machine which allows you to properly manage and strengthen your wi-fi signal. Surfing in Internet we found more manuals for DD-WRT than for Tomato. On one side it is possible to affirm that DD-WRT is more flexible for traditional home users than Tomato which has been developed for more professional users. On the other side when you read the “Supported hardware” of both the websites it is clear that DD-WRT is able to support many more devices than Tomato but we really were satisfied for all the test we made with both the firmwares on a old Linksys WRT 54G v.2. If your device supports both the firmwares we really suggest to spend a couple of days for testing them and decide what is the best for your needs. Recommended for all that people who do not like to waste money!

NoteCase: a simple multiplatform (Linux, Windows, OS X) freeware to preserve the privacy of your notes!

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Today in our Freeware Page we added a brief post about NoteCase a powerful note editor for Linux. In our tests we installed NoteCase on a Ubuntu 8.04 with positive results. This free software allows you to write complex notes dividing them between “nodes” and, if you need, it is also possible to easily create child notes at each level. Moreover, using NoteCase you can insert images and links to your text. Using NoteCase, for complex projects, you can decide to insert tag in each node and find them in just few clicks with the “Find” feature. Last, but not least, when you save your notes, you can decide to save them into an encrypted file. In few wordsNoteCase is one of the best freeware to manage notes using different OS without risks. Recommended!

Three interesting extensions to enjoy a real Web 2.0 experience with OpenOffice 3.0

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After more or less a month from its release, the new OpenOffice 3.0 is receiving tons of positive comments. Anyway, this week, in our Freeware page, we have posted some brief notes abut three different extensions which are able to improve your effectivenss in office routines. First of all we have ooo2gd a simple menu bar which allows you to directly upload or download all kind of documents from Google Documents and Zoho. The second one is the Sun PDF Import Extension which has been created to allow minimal but useful changes to PDF documents. After few minutes we were able to make some interesting changes to a complex PDF documents with just a couple of clicks and export the result “into a hybrid PDF file, which is a PDF with the embedded source file asODF “. Last but not least we tested Sun Presentation Minimizer: an effective extensions which cuts the size of presentations reducing, for example, the image sizes. Using Sun Presentation Minimizer you will be able to simply and freely decide what kind of changes you want to make to your multimedia files contained in the presentations. To conclude it is necessary to focus your attention on the feature that also allows Sun Presentation Minimizer to work on Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. In few words we think that these extensions are guaranteed to be 100% satisfactory!!

MobaLiveCD: how to test Linux distros directly from Windows

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Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we posted a brief review about MobaLiveCD: a freeware which allows you to freely test new Linux Distro using Windows. MobaLiveCd uses Qemu to work; personally, I think that Qemu is one of the best and lightest open source processor emulator and virtualizer you can find today. Qemu is easy to use and, also more important, it “achieves near native performances by executing the guest code directly on the host CPU” so the results you can obtain using MobaLiveCD are very impressive and I believe that the performances are really comparable to a complete installation. MobaLiveCd allows you to spare your time because all the new Linux distros can be tested with just few clicks running the .iso through it. I personally recommend this freeware also because it light and it can be directly used from a USB key. Something really interesting!

LightScribe: an interesting (and not too expensive) technology to personalize our CDs/DVDs.

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Usually, we prefer not to insert posts about software or hardware which is not free but this week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have decided to make an occasional exception talking about LightScribe: the technology which allows you to print laser-etched labels on your CDs/DVDs. We are pretty sure that all you already know this technology and the fact that LightScribe is a mix of hardware and label-making software to burn labels. When we decided to test the LightScribe system we were manly attracted by the low costs and the versatility of what we were able to make but after a couple of days we change a little our point of view. This technology is really interesting, relatively cheap and easy to use but we think that it only could be profitably used by those people who need to make some professional copies of their CDs/DVDs. For all the other people, like us, it can be considered as a toy or an extra gadget to buy for our spare time backup copies of DVDs but not much more than this. Something for your spare time or to use for your hobbies!

Jeteye: a versatile online free bookmark service for your links and related stuff.

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This week, in our Freeware Page, we posted a brief review about Jeteye, an interesting add-on for Firefox which we have tested few days ago. First of all, it is necessary to highlight that Jeteye is a free online service you can join in just few minutes. The Firefox plugin is available directly from the Firefox add-ons site. Personally, we were really delighted by Jeteye because we were able to create virtual folders, divided by topics, were we put not only links but also all the stuff we were selecting about a specific task (e.g. photographs). Using Jeteye you can create all the folders you want and, if you prefer, you can decide to share them with all the web-surfers or just with your friends. Unfortunately, at the moment there is not any possibility to migrate the info collected in Jeteye to Firefox bookmarks or to other online free services; de facto this represents a real limitation to the possibilities of this software. In fact, after some days of tests we would like moving some data to our desktop Firefox but we could only open each link and manually bookmark it one by one. Interesting add-on!

Unetbootin: a revolutionary multiplatform (Linux and Windows) software to create bootable Linux USB OS (and not only…)

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have described UNetbootin: a powerful software which allows you to install many different Linux OS (Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, CentOS, Debian, ArchLinux and many others) on a bootable USB key. The use of UNetbootin is really simple and after a couple of tests everyone is able to create his/her own portable OS on USB. Moreover can be used to easily install a new Linux OS directly on the local hard disk. In fact, this software properly manages Linux and Windows bootloader without causing side effects. I personally recommend UNetbootin to all the people who always desires testing the last OS versions and do not want to install them directly on their PC. Last but not least, UNetbootin is available in the followiing languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese and Hungarian. Easy, useful tool!