S/W: Mozilla Firefox 10 Released

Firefox is the award winning next generation browser from Mozilla. Firefox empowers you to browse faster, more safely, and more efficiently than with any other browser. Make the switch today - Firefox imports your Favorites, settings and other information, so you have nothing to lose. Stop annoying popup ads in their tracks with Firefox's built in popup blocker. View more than one web page in a single window with this time saving feature. Open links in the background so that they're ready for viewing when you're ready to read them. Built with your security in mind, Firefox keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business.

Following its rapid release process, Firefox version 10 is out. This major release includes and features security fixes. So if you don't want to lag behind and maintain an insecure browser, you would have to upgrade.

(Logos are copyrights of their respective owners.)

Seamless Experience. The enhancements to Firefox provide the best possible browsing experience on the Web. The new Firefox smart location bar, affectionately known as the "Awesome Bar," learns as people use it, adapting to user preferences and offering better fitting matches over time.

Better Performance. Firefox is built on top of the powerful new Gecko platform, resulting in a safer, easier to use and more personal product.

Better Security. Firefox raises the bar for security. The new malware and phishing protection helps protect from viruses, worms, trojans and spyware to keep people safe on the Web.

Download from www.mozilla.com/firefox. For a complete list of fixes and release notes, check this link.

One very nice feature with Firefox that we like is the plugin checker. It is nice to see the feature was not removed in this verison.

Of course this upgrade comes with sacrifices -- your add-ons will no longer be compatible. So while waiting for the add-ons to catch up with Firefox version 6.0 or higher, you can tweak them to be compatible. Chances are they will still work even with the newer versions of Mozilla Firefox.

If you are using DivX HiQ to play high definition video on Firefox, our feature outlining compatibility of Firefox with DivX web plug-ins still works on Firefox 6.0.

You will notice better memory usage from version 9, including this version. Firefox is faster and better but it is being overtaken by Google's Chrome browser. This release might change things.

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TIP: Dexpot Utility for Virtual Desktops

As a system administrator, I need a lot of real estate on my desktop to be able to do multitasking and accomplish things in parallel. In the *nix environment this doesn't cause issues as there are virtual desktops readily available. This is true regardless of whether you are on the command-line or the graphical user interface (GUI). Even on the text-mode interface, Linux has virtual terminals still making it possible to do multiple tasks at once.

However, most sysads nowadays use Windows and just open terminal connections to the remote server. There are no virtual desktops on the Windows environment. And often, given the mobility preference, screen size is limited. This is where virtual desktops play a big factor.

Where this functionality is absent, dexpot comes to fill the gap. You can have up to 20 multiple virtual desktops, if you require that many. This is an easy way of increasing work area without having to shell out. What's more, switching to another desktop is easy as this functionality is supplied via hotkey.

For ease-of-use, this is how I configure dexpot. For hotkeys, I assign [CTRL]+[1] ... [CTRL]+[4] for desktop switching. You can customize the same for your own taste.

Then I also let the Desktop Manager run with dexpot. I place the icons near the system tray so that I could either use hotkeys to switch desktops or click on the Desktop Manager icons. Below is how it looks.

For some reason, the developers assigned German as the default language of dexpot. It is quite difficult to change the language settings on the application interface if you don't understand German. The fastest way to get around this configuration is to explore the directory sprache (under the dexpot directory). In this directory you will find language files. Delete everything except english.dxs (or move them to another folder if you wish). This will make dexpot run in English and is the easiest way to get this configuration done with less effort.

Even with a small screen on my Dell Latitude D630 notebook, dexpot has given me a lot of real estate with the virtual desktop functionality. You might find this useful too.

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S/W: Flash Player V10.3.183.7 Update

"Adobe® Flash® Player is a cross-platform, browser-based application runtime that provides uncompromised viewing of expressive applications, content, and videos across browsers and operating systems. Flash Player 10.3 delivers beautiful HD video, faster graphics rendering, and high performance on mobile devices and personal computers and is designed to take advantage of native device capabilities -- enabling richer, more immersive user experiences."

Flash Player has monopolized this arena of delivering high quality digital content for ages now. By far, the closest thing to a challenge to Flash Player is DivX HiQ Web Player but that is only for video playback. It remains and will remain in the limelight for the next few years.

Lately, Flash Player has penetrated the mobile arena and has full support for mobile devices especially Android.

Features.

• Immersive experiences with Flash video, content and applications with full-screen mode.
• Low-bandwidth, high-quality video with advanced compression technology.
• High-fidelity text using the advanced text rendering engine.
• Real-time dynamic effects with filters for Blur, DropShadow, Glow, Bevel, Gradient Glow, Gradient Bevel, Displacement Map, Convolution, and Color Matrix.
• Innovative media compositions with 8-bit video alpha channels.
• Blend modes, radial gradient, and stroke enhancements.
• Additional image formats: GIF, Progressive JPEG, and PNG.

Changelog:
Addresses compatibility issues:

• Calls to gotoAndPlay() and gotoAndStop() no longer fail in some Flash applications which load shared libraries.
• TextField instances which specify a negative offset (x property contains a negative value) now correctly flow the text horizontally instead of vertically.
• Improved performance in some cases when displaying complex animations.
• MSI versions of the Flash Player Installer now properly install the Native Settings Manager control panel on Windows.
• Flash applications at certain websites (http://www.justin.tv, http://heylenmichel.de) now load correctly.

Flash player has always been criticized by its flagrant use of resources especially on the processor. The only other downside to Flash Player is the consistent scrutiny of the security holes it features. Nevertheless, it is always a tradeoff between functionality and security.

(Logos are copyrights of their respective owners.)

Download from www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer.

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S/W: Piriform CCleaner V3.10.1525 Update

"CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online and makes your computer faster and more secure. Easy to use and a small, fast download." This statement you can see on the Piriform CCleaner website. CCleaner as it is now known used to be Crap Cleaner. The name makes sense as it cleans crap out of your computer.

Features. CCleaner is our system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Changelog.

• Added Firefox 7.0 Beta support.
• Added Firefox 6.0 Final support.
• Added IE 9.0.2 support.
• Added Safari 5.1 binarycookies file cleaning and management.
• Added cleaning for MS Search, Cached Fonts, RegEditX, SpeedBit DAP, Spyware Terminator, SUPERAntiSpyware, Acrobat Distiller 10 and Foxit Reader 5.0.
• Improved cleaning for Internet Download Accelerator.
• Improved Opera 9 Last Download Location cleaning.
• Improved accuracy and reliability for free space and entire drive wiping.
• Improved Safari local storage cleaning.
• Improved Google Chrome "Saved Form Information" and "Saved Passwords" cleaning.
• Updated various translations.
• Minor optimization tweaks.

(Logos are copyrighted by their respective owners.)

Download from www.piriform.com/ccleaner

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TIP: Give Windows a Regular Maintenance Routine

It is true, Windows implementation of its registry and and its filesystem will leave you literally fragmented after running for a while. This is where Windows lags from other OS big time. For me re-installing is not an option and I'm quite positive the same goes for you. Re-installing is a big no, no.. so how do you perform a clean-up of the system with confidence that you won't be ruining things rather than make it better?

I use CCleaner to clean-up the registry and clean-up the filesystem. CCleaner identifies the crap and cleans it. That is why it is a required tool for me. The next one that helps root out crap on the PC, is Windows' very own Disk Cleanup.

Purging via CCleaner. CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is very robust in itself. But it can further be enhanced. Further functionality can be added to CCleaner with the CCEnhancer.

CCEnhancer can further extend the functionality of CCleaner to clean-up more applications. Below is a screenshot of CCleaner extended with CCEnhancer.

From the above, just select the applications that need clean-up and hit "Run Cleaner". If you want to review or preview the details of the clean-up, you can "Analyze" first and "Run Cleaner" later.

Disk Cleanup. There are other software CCleaner will not touch. And the Disk Cleanup utility can purge it. What's more Disk Cleanup can be run in Automated-Mode. Here's how you set it up.

Launch the disk cleanup and configure it for automation. You do this via the Run command window. Start -> Run.. "cleanmgr /sageset:11" (11 can be any number you want, as long as it is easy to remember). You then get a window that looks like the screenshot below. I usually tick everything in it.

To automate the setting, you can run cleanmgr like this: "cleanmgr /sagerun:11" (11 here is the number you set from the argument /sageset above). Launch the Task Scheduler > "Create a Basic Task" > Give it a Task Name. Click Next.

Trigger, could be monthly or weekly depending on how frequent you want the cleanup to run. I set mine to run monthly, every 15th of the month. Action is to start a program "cleanmgr.exe" and argument is "/sagerun:11".

Accept by clicking ok. And as scheduled, the cleanup will run when the schedule triggers it to. It is also automated, which makes life hassle-free once you set it up the first time.

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TIP: Rename TV Series Files with theRenamer

We have featured a few tweaks here and there regarding transmission bittorrent client (or transmissionbt as others call it) -- queuing torrents, blackhole directory and adding torrents paused. It can download just about anything you throw at it, that you are only virtually limited by your internet bandwidth and the free disk space on your device. Not only that, transmissionbt is extremely lightweight and could run on a device running linux. As you probably notice, I run my transmissionbt from a Popcorn Hour C-200 network media jukebox.

However, given all the downloads, it is difficult to track them down without a good naming convention. This is true especially in the case of TV series. Files would not be named aptly and renaming them is quite tedious. It might seem a simple task for a few files, but just imagine having to do that in one season.. Now imagine several seasons.. And several TV series(es)!

Not to worry though. As there are tools made and specifically designed for this job. Meet theRenamer. It can do the googling for you, it will identify the series based on the filenames, and rename them appropriately in one sweep. It can even add the episode title! All you have to do is drag the files to the application window and check if the program got the name and title right. If it did, just click proceed and you're done. Just so you get the picture here is how it's done.

[1] Download theRenamer from its website. Once done, install it. For this feature, here is what a collection looks like prior to using theRenamer.

[2] Launch the program. And configure it to your liking. Click on the wrench on the upper right side of the application window. What is important to set here are the separators (or the naming convention). I set mine to "space-dash-space" or " - ".

[3] Once the config is set, try it on a file and check the result. Drag a file to the application window and you will be presented with a preview of what the new filename will become.

[4] Click the proceed button at the bottom right and watch the program do its magic. It will then rename the file(s) dragged to the application window. Here's how the collection looks like afterward.

That wasn't too hard now, was it? You could rename a few TV series in a matter of minutes rather than spend hours sorting them to your liking. Let theRenamer do it for you.

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INFO: Software Piracy Infographic

Software piracy is rampant. That information is known, but just how rampant? There are more than a billion people who have used pirated software in one way or another, for some without them even knowing about it.

But how did it come about? Do torrents have a big role in this? How about usenet users? What is the most downloaded application? Answers to these questions are given by an infographic by Starmedia.

Click on image below for better view. (credits to Starmedia.ca)

This is by far the shocking data: Software revenue lost in a day US$ 18,670,310!

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S/W: Mozilla Firefox 6.0 Update

Firefox is the award winning next generation browser from Mozilla. Firefox empowers you to browse faster, more safely, and more efficiently than with any other browser. Make the switch today - Firefox imports your Favorites, settings and other information, so you have nothing to lose. Stop annoying popup ads in their tracks with Firefox's built in popup blocker. View more than one web page in a single window with this time saving feature. Open links in the background so that they're ready for viewing when you're ready to read them. Built with your security in mind, Firefox keeps your computer safe from malicious spyware by not loading harmful ActiveX controls. A comprehensive set of privacy tools keep your online activity your business.

Firefox 5.0.1 update was released just recently. But with Firefox rapid release process, Firefox versions will be released about every six (6) weeks. These major releases will include and feature security fixes. So if you don't want to lag behind and maintain an insecure browser, you would have to upgrade.

• The address bar now highlights the domain of the website you're visiting
• Streamlined the look of the site identity block
• Added support for the latest draft version of WebSockets with a prefixed API
• Added support for EventSource / server-sent events
• Added support for window.matchMedia
• Added Scratchpad, an interactive JavaScript prototyping environment
• Added a new Web Developer menu item and moved development-related items into it
• Improved usability of the Web Console
• Improved the discoverability of Firefox Sync
• Reduced browser startup time when using Panorama

(Logos are copyrights of their respective owners.)

Download from www.mozilla.com/firefox.

One very nice feature with Firefox that we like is the plugin checker. It is nice to see the feature was not removed in this verison.

Of course this upgrade comes with sacrifices -- your add-ons will no longer be compatible. So while waiting for the add-ons to catch up with Firefox version 6.0 or higher, you can tweak them to be compatible. Chances are they will still work even with the newer versions of Mozilla Firefox.

If you are using DivX HiQ to play high definition video on Firefox, our feature outlining compatibility of Firefox with DivX web plug-ins still works on Firefox 6.0.

Not much memory improvement with this version. We hear it will be incorporated in version 7+, so that is something to look forward to.

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S/W: Flash Player V10.3.183.5 Update

"Adobe® Flash® Player is a cross-platform, browser-based application runtime that provides uncompromised viewing of expressive applications, content, and videos across browsers and operating systems. Flash Player 10.3 delivers beautiful HD video, faster graphics rendering, and high performance on mobile devices and personal computers and is designed to take advantage of native device capabilities -- enabling richer, more immersive user experiences."

Flash Player has monopolized this arena of delivering high quality digital content for ages now. By far, the closest thing to a challenge to Flash Player is DivX HiQ Web Player but that is only for video playback. It remains and will remain in the limelight for the next few years.

Lately, Flash Player has penetrated the mobile arena and has full support for mobile devices especially Android.

Features.

• Immersive experiences with Flash video, content and applications with full-screen mode.
• Low-bandwidth, high-quality video with advanced compression technology.
• High-fidelity text using the advanced text rendering engine.
• Real-time dynamic effects with filters for Blur, DropShadow, Glow, Bevel, Gradient Glow, Gradient Bevel, Displacement Map, Convolution, and Color Matrix.
• Innovative media compositions with 8-bit video alpha channels.
• Blend modes, radial gradient, and stroke enhancements.
• Additional image formats: GIF, Progressive JPEG, and PNG.

Flash player has always been criticized by its flagrant use of resources especially on the processor. The only other downside to Flash Player is the consistent scrutiny of the security holes it features. Nevertheless, it is always a tradeoff between functionality and security.

(Logos are copyrights of their respective owners.)

Download from www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer.

Read More

S/W: Piriform CCleaner V3.9.1493 Update

"CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online and makes your computer faster and more secure. Easy to use and a small, fast download." This statement you can see on the Piriform CCleaner website. CCleaner as it is now known used to be Crap Cleaner. The name makes sense as it cleans crap out of your computer.

Features. CCleaner is our system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Changelog.

• Added Firefox 6.0 beta support.
• Added HTML5 Offline cache cleaning and management for Firefox.
• Added wildcard support to folders.

(i.e. "Include1=PATH|%AppData%\*\|*.txt|RECURSE" or FileKey1=%AppData%\?*e|*.txt|RECURSE)

• Added convertion of custom file entry to folder when using wildcard.
• Added cleaning for Zune, BreezeBrowser Pro, FastStone Image Viewer, Notepad++ and NoteXpad.
• Improved cleaning for Real Player.
• Improved Chrome Saved Form Information and Saved Passwords cleaning.
• Improved Enabling/Disabling StartUp items.
• Improved icons detection for Uninstall screen.
• Improved drag-and-drop functionality for Include/Exclude screen.
• Improved localization support.
• Improved StartUp items discovery.
• Improved memory handling and garbage collection.
• Minor UI tweaks.

(Logos are copyrights of their respective owners.)

Download from www.piriform.com/ccleaner

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