More Software Bits

     And for anyone who can understand the pun above, you're a geek.  So welcome to the club.  I've seen a lot of articles lately about free software on the net, leading me to think that people are still being budget conscious, even with talk of a recovery.  So that lead me to think of a list of my favorite free softwares, and why I like them.  So here it is:

IBM Lotus Symphony:  Okay, so my first pick on this list is a weak one because no one really cares about office software anymore.  Or do they?  I have found IBM's Lotus Symphony one of the nicest free office software suites I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with.  Heck, its the best Office software I've ever dealt with, period.  Nothing else is easier.  (And if you haven't gleamed it from any of my previous posts, I'm all about ease of use.)

The Gimp:  This image manipulation program is the best no money can buy.  Whereas there are still some things Photoshop can manage in the digital art realm that the Gimp hasn't quite mastered, (which I am working to remedy), for photographic manipulation, I've seen it do anything I've seen Photoshop do.

XBMC:  This media browsing application got its start on the XBox, a system I hate, so I am glad that it found a way to migrate onto other platforms.  If you plan on building a media PC, this program is a live saver, and its pretty simple to use.  Definitely check it out if you are a media enthusiast.

Picasa:  This Google program is an amazingly useful photo viewer, and it extends into more as you can edit photos, upload them to web, make instant collages, and even make posters.

Vuze:  If you're into downloading things through bit-torrent, I can't think of a better program to use.  With integration into your media system, and a quick and friendly interface, I've used this one for years to download images of Linux, MMORPG installers, and plenty of other things as well.  Give it a shot and find out for yourself.

Audacity:  If you are into podcasting, or just audio editing in general, this is a program you should add to your library.  I've even seen it packaged with home sound hardware as the default audio editor.  It works wonders for the home enthusiast.  Plus, like all of the rest of these its free.

     So, click the links and check out all of these free software programs.  As an added bonus, all of them are available  on both Windows and Linux systems, and most have Mac versions as well.  I'm sure once you've taken the time to get to know these programs as I have, you'll love them, too.

Another Media Converter

     So, I'm typing tonight about another media converter, but out of the hordes of media conversion utilities out there on the net, this one I think warrants a closer look.  Its called Hamster.  That's right, I said Hamster, and it even comes with a logo to match.
     But just because Hamster has a cute and cuddly mascot(actually, this depends on personal taste), doesn't automatically make it an awesome media converter.  Its awesome because of its ease of use.  With Hamster all you do is pick out your video from whatever folder its in on your computer, decide what device or video type you need it in, then press the convert button.  Each section has their own tab, so you use the add file tab to add your videos, the edit tab to select your device, and the convert tab to convert.  Quick, simple, easy, done.
     And that is the whole of this post, because there is nothing more to really say, it really is that quick and simple.
     (Psst!  Go to http://videoconverter.hamstersoft.com/ to download.)

CenturyTel Buys Out Qwest Communications

     So, I have some potentially saddening news for fellow Qwest customers, they are being bought out.  The buyer is CenturyTel, and this worries me.  I've been a CenturyTel customer in the past, and let me say, I was not impressed.  Lets just hope that their customer service has vastly improved since I was a customer.
     But, on a positive note, I have heard from a local employee that the working conditions at Qwest should improve.  Apparently they were not that best, and the employees are glad of the change.

Web Server Here Soon

     So, hopefully in the next couple of hours I will have the first Digital Fruit Web Server up and running.  Now some of you may be scratching your heads thinking, don't they already have a website?  Yes, we do, but it is hosted by someone else with much more bandwidth, because I can't afford an OC12 connection, they're just too danged expensive.  What we do have enough bandwidth to host, though, is local websites that don't generate as much traffic as bigger sites, but still need a home.  So, that is what we will be hosting.  We really look forward to you coming and checking them out once we have them set up, so stay tuned.

Product Pick: Kaspersky 2011 Internet Security

     So, once again one of my favorite security suites is on the chopping block.  Though, sadly, this product pick will be initially incomplete.  I'm just going to be covering the user end of things, I'll be covering the security end of things in another post once we've worked with it on another system.
     First things first, this installment of the popular Kaspersky internet security suite, Kaspersky 2011, is chock full of features, not all of which might seem immediately useful.  But trust me, they are features selected with a lot of forethought.
     Now, it comes with the standard disk scan and active protection it always has, which are work amazingly well, but there are some other features that I enjoy that will help keep you safe.
     There is the link scanner, which lets you know if Kaspersky labs knows if a server is infected or not.  This is your first step in preventing problems before they start.  This has become almost a universal feature for all anti-virus, and I use it all the time.  Kaspersky's is top notch.



     On top of this, I've found some new features that I think will go a long way towards helping people keep from getting infected with crud.  Kaspersky 2011 offers three different safe-runs, one for applications, one for web-browsing, and one for your keyboard.  Now these three modes are based on a technology I've been pushing for people to use for the last year now, a sandbox.  The concept of a sandbox is simple, yet it can be amazingly effective in stopping viruses.  The concept; nothing can play outside the sandbox.
     So what does that have to do with safe-runs?  Safe Run for applications will let you try out installing an application before really installing it to see if the application contains a virus, or if it will try and download a virus once installed.  The Safe Run for web prevents malicious code on websites from actually running on your computer.  It isn't allowed outside its little box.
     The third run mode is a little different though, you use this one to keep on-line peeping toms and applications from seeing your keyboard strokes.  This keeps them from obtaining sensitive information with applications like key loggers.
     Over all, these three elements make this the ultimate in security protection.  The only problem now is the user.  If you are serious about computer security, and you use Kaspersky, make these three Safe-Runs a part of your regular computing routine.
     Also available are the rescue disk, vulnerability scan, browser configuration, privacy cleaner, and system restore tools.  All of these can be useful, but they're more icing on the cake than really necessary functions.  You can also set parental controls, which work as an internet filter to keep kids and guests off of unwanted web domains and applications.  But unlike most filters, you can go overboard with this one.  Almost any computer function you could ever really want can be blocked.  Be careful with this one, too much restriction can almost be as bad as not enough.
     Over all, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is the pinnacle of personal internet and computer security.  This one definitely gets five out five fruit, plus my personal mark for being top notch.

Combination PU's

     I've been reading a lot about combination cpu/gpus lately.  Everyone seems to be talking up this technology as the end of discrete graphics cards.  Enthusiast computer users scoff at this assumption, because nothing could trump a discrete card.  Personally, I think both schools of thought are erroneous.  I think that computational power is computational power.  A combined cpu/gpu chip, coupled with a discrete graphics processor could potentially yield amazing results.
     Can you imagine?  You purchase the highest end combination processing unit, and couple it with the highest end matching graphics chipset, and you could have graphics processing of the highest order.  You could potentially double your graphics output.  Plus, if the software was designed properly, double task the graphics processing.  All around, I see this combination as a great leap forward in computing.  I look forward to seeing what will come from these new developments in technology.

Uber Geekiness

     So, I'm sitting here working with VirtualBox, a system virtualizer that allows you to install different operating systems inside the one you're running.  As useless as this may seem to some, (why would you ever need two operating systems at the same time?), there are some serious advantages to using a virtual OS.  Now, some of them only apply to major businesses, or very computer oriented groups, but there a couple that I think most people can benefit from.
     My personal favorite, and the primary reason I use VirtualBox, is being able to use software in one operating system that doesn't work in another.  I have become mainly an Ubuntu user, but there are some programs that I miss from Windows.  My favorite text editor, for example.  So rather than continually running two computers and having to constantly flip between the two, I can just install a copy of Windows in VirtualBox, then run it on a different workspace on my Ubuntu machine.  Because VirtualBox has really good integration for most desktop OSes, when I installed Vista(save the hissing, its all I had), it ran just like an application for my Linux install.  Plus, when using this method of Linux to Windows, you don't run into any of the problems of associated with trying to find things in WINE.
     The other major benefit of using a virtual machine on your personal computer is that you can test drive another major operating system without have to risk losing everything you have on your current one.  You can try out all of the features, set up everything you need, find out if it will work with all of your hardware, all without risking your current OS.  I can't tell you just how useful this is.
     So, for personal computing, a virtual machine like VirtualBox can be amazingly useful.  But there are other uses for them, too.  Digital Fruit is working to combine several computers each running several virtual machines as safety nets so we can do some serious virus analysis for our customers.  The principle is this, we create several virtual machines on one Ubuntu system(Linux has better memory management), with a large mix of operating systems and degrees of updates.  We then go to all sorts of different malefic and unsavory holes of the internet, get the virtual systems horribly infected, then figure out the best ways to fix the damage.  Through each step of the process we will be tracking and analyzing information about what's happening, and use this to better our security and restoration efforts.
     I hope this short article has led you to more questions about virtual machines, and if you would like to check one out, head on over to www.virtualbox.org and download a free one.