Tag: application

Black Screen of Death for XP SP3 and Vista SP1

August 08, 2008 by Jason

Microsoft has warned end users that performing Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 upgrades from copies of XP SP2 and Vista RTM, respectively, that have Onekey Recovery 5.0 installed will cause the operating systems to display a black screen following reboot. According to the Redmond company, the issue is generated by an incompatibility between the two service pack releases and Saming OneKey recovery software driver Safnt.sys.

This means that deploying SP1 on top of Vista RTM, or SP3 on top of XP SP2, with Onekey Recovery 5.0 also installed, will result in a black screen of death. Microsoft revealed that this scenario would happen whether the service pack upgrade is performed from Windows Update or through any other method. “This issue occurs when the computer contains Onekey recovery software that is earlier than version 5.1. If the computer uses the Onekey recovery software version 5.1 or later versions, this issue does not occur,” the company revealed, explaining that “Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP2 are incompatible with Onekey Recovery 5.0.” Read More»

Mozilla Introduces Firefox Snowl

August 08, 2008 by Jason

Snowl is designed to extend the functionality of Firefox beyond the default tasks associated with the process of navigating web content. In fact, this is the premise of Snowl, that the open source browser is capable of dealing with content in addition to what it was originally designed for. Snowl, a project from Mozilla Labs, is described as nothing more than an “experiment with messaging in the browser”.

“The initial prototype supports two sources of messages: RSS/Atom feeds and Twitter. And it exposes
two interfaces for reading them. First, a traditional three-pane ‘list’ view, targeted to active reading of important messages. Second, a ‘river of news’ view, based on the concept popularized by Dave Winer, designed for casual browsing,” revealed Mozilla’s Myk Melez.

The first version of Snowl is set up to mash together feeds but not much else. However, the project does have potential. Mozilla Labs is currently considering extending support in order to accommodate various sources of messages, but especially instant messaging services such as AIM or Google Talk. Read More»

Top Free and Open Source Apps for Mac Users

August 07, 2008 by Jason

A couple of days ago, I met an old friend of mine who just got his hands on a brand new Mac and, after about half an hour of showing the ins and outs of the machine, he asked me why the Mac community has so few free applications. If he had known that I would start writing down every piece of free and/or open source software capable of running on a Mac and keep talking about them for a whole hour, I think he wouldn’t have asked me that question in a million years.

To be fair, I kind of slowed down about 30 minutes after I started writing the list but still got pretty far to cover two pages. Those were the apps that I could remember at the moment, while still trying to write down other apps in no particular order.

The exact same question seems to haunt a lot of Mac switchers out there and thus, I decided to put up a list of the most important free applications I would install on my own Mac after performing a clean install.

Because I do want to give the list some type of order, I have put the apps in six categories, again, in no particular order: Internet, network, audio/video, graphics, games, editors and miscellaneous. The content in the first five categories is pretty obvious. In the sixth, I have included the programs that wouldn’t fit in any of the first categories. Read More»

Speed Launch for Vista and XP

August 07, 2008 by Jason

Speed Launch is an application designed to deliver a breath of fresh air to the process of launching mundane and repetitive tasks in Windows, offering a high level of flexibility in comparison to what is available by default with the operating system. The product of a collaboration between Matt Dyor, a patent attorney working with Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, and David Craig, a support escalation engineer with Microsoft Office Delta Force team, Speed Launch will centralize all the shortcuts thrown at it (actually dragged and dropped), and will classify and then launch them in accordance with keywords that the end users will set up.

“Speed Launch lets you open anything you use frequently in seconds. Just take the “thing” (document, program, or website), drop it on the bull’s eye, and then give it a name that appeals to you. To open it any time later hit “Windows Key + C” and the launch window will open. You just type the name and hit enter. It’s that simple,” Dyor stated. Read More»

How to Install the Colorblind Applet on GNOME

August 06, 2008 by Jason

Color blindness, sometimes called daltonism, is mostly a color vision deficiency. Colorblind people can’t tell the difference between some chromatic colors and as far as I know there are no tools on Linux OSes that can help them distinguish the hues. I use Ubuntu, and the colorblind applet is part of the gnome-mag package, but for some reason (and I have no idea why) the developers didn’t include it in the distro. So, basically, we’re gonna recompile the gnome-mag package, with the colorblind panel applet.

The following tutorial was tested on Ubuntu 8.04.1 with GNOME 2.22.3. Anyway, we are interested in the gnome-mag package version, so you should check yours right now! How? Open Synaptic (System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager) and search for gnome-mag. You will see the version number on the ‘Installed Version’ column. Read More»

How To Deal with Uninstall Problems in Windows

July 23, 2008 by Jason

Although most Windows software comes with an installation program, there can still be problems if you install or uninstall software. A failed installation can cause the installation not to be redone without clearing the failed installation. Unfortunately a failed installation can often not be undone, which means you are stuck with a chicken and egg situation.

Another common situation is when you installed a trial of a software product and after expiration you need to uninstall it before you can install a registered version. In case the uninstall process is not complete, chances are the software will keep on indicating the expired status.

If the standard uninstaller for the program does not work, you can try to manually remove the software. This means that the related files need to be removed from disk and all related configuration data needs to be removed. Some (older) software uses local configuration files that reside with the program in the installation directory, but most software will use the Windows registry to store configuration information. Read More»

Top 10 Download Managers Available in Ubuntu

July 21, 2008 by Jason

A download manager is a computer program designed to download files from the Internet,unlike a web browser, which is mainly intended to browse web pages on the World Wide Web (with file downloading being of secondary importance).

Download Manager Features

* Pausing the downloading of large files.
* Resuming broken or paused downloads (especially for very large files).
* Downloading files on poor connections.
* Downloading several files from a site automatically according to simple rules (file types,updated files, etc. - see also Offline Browser).
* Automatic recursive downloads (mirroring).
* Scheduled downloads (including, automatic hang-up and shutdown).
* Searching for mirror sites, and the handling of different connections to download the same
* file more quickly (Segmented downloading). Read More»

Windows Search 4.0

July 19, 2008 by Jason

Microsoft plans to debut serving Windows Search 4.0 automatically to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 by the end of July. With the final version up for grabs through the Download Center since the beginning of June 2008, the Redmond company is now wrapping up Windows Search 4.0 for delivery through Windows Update. However, only users with Windows Vista with Automatic Update enabled will receive the update by default; Windows XP users running either Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 will have to perform a manual upgrade.

“Windows XP users will see Windows Search 4.0 available as an Optional update, which means you must visit the Windows Update Web site to install it. Windows Vista users with SP1 installed will see the update as a Recommended update. This means that, if a Windows Vista user has set their machine to automatically install updates, Windows Search 4.0 will automatically install on PCs running Windows Vista SP1. The release of Windows Search 4.0 to Windows Update will be gradual for these users,” revealed a member of the Microsoft Update team. Read More»

Repair Windows XP System Files

July 13, 2008 by Jason

If you experience problems with Windows XP, the cause can often be related to system files. With a fresh installation of Windows XP, these files are installed and are of the correct version. Unfortunately not all programs deal with the Windows installation correctly, so if are experiencing Windows XP errors after installing and using programs that have not been programmed properly, chances are that your system files are corrupted.

Corrupted system files can lead to many different problems, depending on the applications executed at that point in time. Some programs will not work while programs show undefined or erratic behavior. Worst case scenario, your PC crashes regularly.

To fix Windows XP problems that are related to system files, the best solution is to run a system scan for corrupt Windows installation files. Follow the steps below to execute a scan of your Windows XP system files: Read More»

Slowing Windows Down?

June 22, 2008 by Jason

Stop for a minute and take a look at your desktop. How many icons, folders and files do you see? Probably a lot. So what’s the big deal?

It could be causing your Windows Computer to slow down.

Not when your Computer boots, but when you log on or off, right click on folders or icons, even trying to open a folder or file from the desktop. For users with roaming profiles, having a large user profile can degrade system performance. But it can also cause issues even if you do not have a roaming profile.

Storing large folders or file on your desktop is convenient, as long as you keep the size under control. Even if you use tools such as Disk Cleanup or CCleaner, desktop files and folders are not included during cleanup and can get out of control. Read More»