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Great chat! If I was able to answer your question, I'm glad to have helped. If I wasn't able to answer your question, hopefully I'll be able to get to it next time.
Thanks again, everybody, and come back Thursday, January 17th for the Ask the Editors: Macword edition: All things Apple.
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-12548_102-0.html?forumID=136&threadID=278895
After installing XP,
and bunch of other productivity/required software
(MY list :All device drivers / Antivirus/Firewall/MSOffice/acrobat reader/Flash/Zip utility/Meadia players/ the 200 windows Updates...)
Before I start to actually work on the PC.. I would like to burn this as a Installer/Image .. so that for my next time I can Just format and install the image..
and get to work
any s/w to do that?
Here's a link to disk image creation software on Download.com. Some are free, others aren't.
http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=disk%20image&tag=srch
I don't believe a Mac version of the software is available, though you may be able to get the job done using CrossOver Mac (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/), which lets you run Windows software on your Mac. It doesn't work for everyone, but you can request a free trial and give it a shot.
Hope this helps,
John
Again, contacting the vendor works, too. I've found many are happy to help, in general.
2. Video Management
search /
Editing Video Tags/ bunch of video format support
avi/divx/wmv/Vob/mp4/dat
3. Audio management
Edit Tags/
batch rename songs with data from tags.
the data /library should be portable.. (I should not loose my tags/ratings everytime the application goes haywire or i need to port.
I'm a big fan of Miro for video management.
http://www.download.com/Miro/3000-2139_4-10769266.html
I cannot get my videos from my camcorder to my laptop (windows vista). I bought the IEEE 1394 but still nothing. My laptop does not recongnize my camcorder. can you help me withi this issue?
This sounds like a driver issue. You should check to make sure that the camcorder driver is installed on your laptop, and if not contact the camcorder vendor to get one.
time ago microsoft research people released a small app called virtual wifi, which actually was able to consolidate or do load balancing among different access points connected at the sametime tru a single 802.11 card, very similar to linux virtual interfaces.
Do you know anything similar to create wifi meshes or network aggregations, or tools to help with the diagnostics and best use of wireless networks without having to use linux?
Thanks
Sorry Alan, I would have to do some serious research into that before I could come up with a good answer. That's an excellent question, though.
Do you recommend using deepfreeze instead of an anivirus software with registry cleaners or sth to keep PC fit. Is there any disadvantage of it
I haven't used Deepfreeze, but it seems like the potential for losing information via the restore could be high. But, as I said, I haven't used it. Anybody else have experience with Deepfreeze?
I use DVD Flick since I find Nero to be rather annoying when it's codecs fail or you get the audio sync issue. The price is also acceptable.
DVD Flick is another strong recommendation. Good choice.
Firefox at home, with the IE Tab extension for those rare times when I need a page to render in IE. But that's very, very rarely.
Hi,
What are good free registry and repair cleaner program for vista. I have ccleaner.
Thanks
Registry cleaners are tricky. Although I use CCleaner, I'm not convinced that they do all that much to improve the performance of a machine. Not like the impact of a defragger, at any rate. Auslogics, which makes an excellent defragger, also does a Reg Cleaner.
http://www.download.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10792713.html
http://www.download.com/Auslogics-Registry-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10751411.html
Hi, I'm looking for a program so that I can copy .mpg & .wmv to DVD's. I was told I had to convert them over ???
If you dono't mind paying, Nero is a very popular and effective burner that should convert the files for you:
http://www.download.com/Nero-8-Ultra-Edition/3000-2646_4-10786982.html
If I operate Vista from a guest account ?
and Use IE
I strongly recommend using a Firewall and anti-malware security program. As I mentioned below, I like Avira Antivir a lot, and the Comodo Firewall Pro (which is actually freeware) is impressive, too.
Hi Seth,
I've always used WinZip on my desktop (XP). My new laptop has Vista, and I'd like to know which, in your opinion, is the best compression program for Vista? It doesn't matter if it's free or not. I just don't want to mess up my new laptop by downloading and trying several different programs. I mainly compress groups of jpegs, since they take up the most room. I don't load movies or music on the laptop, as it's used mainly for my website and eBay business.
Thank you,
Gail
My favorite compression program is 7zip. It's compatible with ZIP, RAR, TAR, and other compression standards, but the 7Z format compresses about twice as much.
http://www.download.com/7-Zip/3000-2250_4-10780224.html
Hello Seth,
I was wondering, what is your opinion of one of CNET's newer software that has been added called, VersionTracker Pro.
Is it worth the money or are there better alternatives?
Thanks!
~Yirgacheffe
Sorry, Yirgacheffe, it's Download.com policy not to review CNET-owned products.
If you have used Tune up 2006/7, it has a bunch of utilities....
1. system tweaks, startup editors
2. optimizers (memory/HDD/system/Internet)
3. Registry Defrag.
4.Undelete / removeetc..
I was very impressed with the few days trial thing.
for all the functions that Tune up 2006 does are there any free alternatives, (multiple seperate programs are fine by me)
There are lots of free alternatives. Seven of my favorites, from can be found in the Windows Starter Kit:
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9835838-12.html?tag=dir#Utilities
Seth, I get this question emailed to me all the time.
When it comes to picking a free antivirus software, which do you personally recommend?
Do free A/V software works as good as the paid version like Norton or McAfee?
If these free versions work just as well as paid ones, how do these companies make their money?
Thanks Seth!
My current favorite antivirus/antimalware program is Avira Antivir. They scored surprisingly high for a relative unknown on 3rd-party tests, and personally I've found it to be effective. The only hang-up is that their server for definition file updates can run slowly, but that's only during the update process. The rest of the time, it's a great program.
http://www.download.com/Avira-AntiVir-PersonalEdition-Classic/3000-2239_4-10745467.html?tag=lst-1
I've found improving Vista to be a big pain, in no small part because the layout is much more chaotic than XP.
I liked Tweak Vista quite a bit, though, and found it reasonably effective: http://www.download.com/TweakVista/3000-2094_4-10729704.html?tag=lst-7
I've jumped the gun a bit, but do you know of a comprehensive right-click context menu editor for Windows? I've found a couple, though unfortunately they are limited to identifying only entries regarding specific registry keys, thus listing perhaps 6 of the 30+ entries that have accumulated.
Thanks!
John
Great question, John. Can you tell me a bit more about what you want to do to your context menu, or are you looking for a general editor?
Hi everybody! Welcome to today's CNET Ask the Editors Live Chat. I'm Seth Rosenblatt, associate editor for CNET Download.com. I'm up for discussing pretty much any aspect of software that you want to talk about, although freeware and open source programs are my faves.
I'll do my best to answer all your questions in the time allotted, but please be understanding if I'm not able to respond instantaneously.
Okay, let's have at it!
Drop, charge, and lose the cords