Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Firefox 3.5 is now available for Download!

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is now available for download after more than a year of development!

New features include HTML 5 Open Video Support, CSS Improvements, Private Browsing, Speedier Performance, Forget this Site, and much more.

It also includes their new Tracemonkey Javascript engine. It is claimed to be twice as fast as Firefox 3.0 and ten times as fast as Firefox 2.0.

More details about the release can be found in the release notes.

Be in the Shiretoko Shock!

Note: Most of your favorite add-ons should have updated to work with Firefox 3.5 already. If not, please contact the extension developer.

Spread Firefox Affiliate Button

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Monday, June 29, 2009

Firefox 3.5 is Coming!

According to the Mozilla site, Firefox 3.5 is ready for release. Check back on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 which is tomorrow! :)

Find out more here. (Mozilla)

If you’re using Firefox 3.5 already, the video on the above site will use the new Open Video features. Otherwise, it will use Flash Player.

Feature overview videos:

Mozilla.com
Ogg Download
MP4 Download
YouTube

There are also some other Mozilla Labs features worthy of trying with the new release such as Ubiquity, New Tab Page, Weave, and Jetpack as well as various other projects.

Can’t wait? Download the Release Candidate!

Join the Shiretoko Shock!

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Saturday, June 27, 2009

New Request a Review Form

Is there a software product that you can't live without? How about one that you can't stand? Whether it is good or bad, want us to write a review about it? You can now make a request here. If you have trouble viewing the form, click here.

You will also write your own review of the product as part of this request. You can also choose to have your review published with our review.

Keep in mind the following:
  1. The software MUST be free of charge. If there is an upgraded paid version available, the free version must not have any upgrade nags.
  2. Of course, it must be malware free. It may be adware as many products may offer other products as well as display ads. That is okay.
  3. If we already reviewed the product, be sure there was at least one update since our last review of it.
The review format was taken from CNET Download.com Reviews.

Your review will not influence my review of it.

Your display name (which can be Anonymous) that you provide will be given credit for the review request. It will be publicly displayed. You may also choose to have that link to your website, blog, or profile.

If you truly didn't like or dislike anything about a product, please try to write something or a little comment. Otherwise, feel free to just write "None."

Friday, June 26, 2009

Is there an alternative to Adobe Reader?

All of us have probably used Adobe Reader before. Its the most popular PDF reader and provides a browser plugin. Being the most popular, you can guess that its the most targeted for exploits. In addition, the program tends to be a resource hog and often will slow down your computer when you click a PDF link. Is there a possible alternative that not only reads PDF, but provides a browser version and is not slow?

Product Name: Foxit Reader
Publisher: Foxit Software
Version Reviewed: 3.0 Build 1817
Date Reviewed: June 26, 2009

Rating:
85
out of 100

Foxit Reader is a free download from their website. It has also recently won CNET Editors Choice April 2009. They also try to get you to buy the pro version from the website. The download is only about 3.5 MB. Compare that to Adobe Reader’s 16 MB Download.

Upon starting the installation, it opens with a splash then you just agree to the license and after clicking next, the window disappears and after just seconds, the installation is done. The installer will continue to offer you Ask Toolbar with extra Foxit Features and shortcuts to eBay.

See this slideshow for more details. Having trouble viewing it or want to view it in full screen? Click here (Picasa Web Albums).

The overall performance of Foxit Reader is much much faster than Adobe Reader. Clicking a PDF link in browsers no longer lags the whole browser. Very lightweight. Also adds some extra features like content sharing. However, there is one area I was not impressed about.

The following applies to Windows Vista and Windows 7:

You may wonder why the plugin version was not shown. Version 3.0 of Foxit claims to have a Mozilla plugin. However, when I tried it, it just instantly froze Firefox and then gave me a message that the “Server is Busy” and for me to Switch to or Retry. Both buttons did nothing and the server was clearly not busy. I then tried it on Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari and the same result happened, only without the error message. Google Chrome offered to stop the plugin. I had to end process to all the browsers to close it. Looking at the Foxit Forums and some Download.com reviews, it looks like I’m not the only one with this issue.

On my Windows Vista machine, the plugin had the issue shown above. On Windows 7, the issue occured too however after Firefox restarted and restored tabs, the PDF actaully loaded but lagged a lot. That only happened once. The rest of the tries it just didn’t work.

The plugin works perfectly on Windows XP however. I tested this on Firefox 3.0, Firefox 3.5, and Google Chrome 2.0. All works fine.

Workaround for Vista/7 Mozilla Firefox Users:

In Firefox, there is a workaround available, which is basically not using the plugin and have PDFs open the whole program. Go to Tools –> Options –> Applications . Then scroll down to PDF Document or Foxit Reader Document (or whatever your PDF files are named). Then on the menu, click on Foxit Reader – Best Reader for Everyday Use. Now, everytime you click a PDF link, it will open PDFs in Foxit Reader and ignore the plugin.

Verdict:

If you run Windows XP or earlier, you should definitely consider using Foxit Reader for PDFs.

If you run Windows Vista or Windows 7: If you are a user of Internet Explorer or other ActiveX based browsers, Foxit Reader is the superior alternative to Adobe Reader. However, if you use the majority of browsers, which are plugin based, like Firefox or Opera, you might want to wait until this plugin is fixed. Or if you don’t mind not using a browser plugin, you can have Firefox open PDFs in Foxit Reader rather than trying to use the defective plugin.

Hows the plugin working for you?

Foxit Reader Download Sites:

Official Foxit Software Site
CNET Download.com

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Firefox 3.5 RC 3 Available

The third release candidate of the long anticipated Firefox 3.5 is now available. Its probably a bug fix release as the release notes does not work and/or have not been made. Clicking the Release Notes link under download links you to Mozilla’s 404 Error Page. You can use the Firefox 3.5 Release Notes for now.

To update, you can use the Check for Updates in the Help menu (if you are on an administrator user account or running Firefox under admin) or you can download the latest version from the Firefox Pre-Release Download Site.

Firefox Pre-Release Download Site (Mozilla)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Microsoft Security Essentials Beta (First Looks)

Its been in the news since November, but its finally here. The public beta of Microsoft’s new free security offering, known as Microsoft Security Essentials, Codename Morro. It is intended to replace Windows Live OneCare.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free security offering that’s intended to replace Windows Defender and Windows Live OneCare. It offers real time protection and both antivirus and antispyware. Therefore, as you can guess, it was at very high demand.

It was released this morning as limited public beta to the first 75,000 people. I was able to grab a copy just a few minutes ago and install it on my Windows 7 RC system. The servers were extremely slow probably because of demand and the very small 4.7 MB download went no higher than 10 KB/s. To get it, you need to sign into Microsoft Connect with your Windows Live ID, then answer a quick survey. "This beta is available only to customers in the United States, Israel (English only), People’s Republic of China (Simplified Chinese only) and Brazil (Brazilian Portuguese only)" according to the beta site.

View details in this flash slideshow. Having trouble viewing it? Click here to view the full album (Picasa Web Albums).

Overall, this is an excellent new product and is likely to trigger some competition with the other free security products like AVG. It is based off of Windows Live OneCare, which has a reputation of having low false positives and strong new detection rates.

Being free and very light is already amazing. The scan took no more than 4.6 MB of RAM. However, I noticed that a SYSTEM process taking up almost 30-50 MB of RAM was always running and this was part of the program’s services. When I ended this process, Security Essentials gave an alert that the service was stopped. The process is MsMpEng.exe which is called AntiMalware Service Executable. In task manager, you need to show processes from all users to see this. The program overall is very resource friendly compared to other security products.

Update 6/26: I ran a full scan of my system (including both operating system partitions) and it scanned well over 2 million items and took 3.5 hours. If I recall correctly, my Windows Defender scan I ran in December 2008 when I only had one operating system took longer than that to scan around 600,000 items. In my experiences with MSE, it is faster than Defender.

The product, especially the About Window and the Settings tab looks very much like Windows Defender (Windows 7 version).

Overall, I’m very impressed by this new product. It would be nice however if they would bring back the Software Explorer from Windows Defender for XP and Vista.

My computer was not infected so I didn’t get a chance to test out the removal. While this is a great new product, I cannot place any recommendations just yet as there has not been any thorough testing for this beta product just yet for factors such as detection rates. It is likely to be similar to Windows Live OneCare, but there are no guarantees. However, I believe that this could be a great new product that could trigger some competition.

MSE also updates like Defender. Definitions are received through Windows Update. If will also disable Windows Defender after installing. You could turn it back on if you want but there isn't much benefit to that since both probably use the same engine. You could turn it on just to use Software Explorer if you are using XP or Vista, then turn if back off so your system performance won't be affected much.

Want to try it for yourself?

Microsoft Security Essentials

Keep in mind that this is BETA software.

Update 6/24: One day after the beta release, the 75,000 download cap has been reached and Microsoft is no longer accepting any more new downloads.

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Firefox 3.5 RC Update Pushed to Beta/Preview Testers

The long anticipated update to Mozilla Firefox updates again. :) If you have been using Firefox 3.5 recently like me, you can receive

From the Beta Download site, you can download Firefox 3.5 Beta 4. But from there, pressing the Check for Updates button would update your Firefox to a version known as 3.5b99, which is a preview version, between beta and RC.

Just today, another update has been pushed out. This one happens to be the Release Candidate.

From CNET:
"Because of the 800,000 or so testers that Mozilla says have been using the beta versions, Firefox director Mike Beltzner said that he expects this to be the sole release candidate before version 3.5 goes public at the end of June"

That is certainly great news. More than one year after Firefox 3.0, the what was supposed to be a minor update 3.1 released in December is now 3.5 and contains many new features.

There aren't really any noticable changes between the beta/preview and the RC. Just expect it to be more stable.

Here is an excerpt from CNET:
"The upgrades to Firefox 3.5 have been well-documented by now. Private browsing, geolocation, faster performance than Firefox 3 for both loading pages and running JavaScript, local storage for better offline support, and native video for Ogg/Vorbis. If you're running the release candidate or one of its beta predecessors, you can check out Daily Motion to see how the non-Flash based video playback performs.

More improvements include support for HTML5 tags such as < video > and < audio >, native JSON support, support for Web workers so browser-based apps can run in the background, support for CSS and SVG standards, the ability to erase browsing traces by site or by time, personas for easier theme management, and downloadable fonts. The release candidate is also available in more than 70 language localizations."

Theres a nice new shiny Firefox logo too.


Learn more at CNET and Mozilla Developer site.

Note: In Firefox 3.5 RC, it doesn't seem to actually say RC anywhere except the welcome page. The About window just shows 3.5.

Update 6/19: Firefox 3.5 RC 2 is now available for download here. Fixes a few bugs and stability issues found in RC 1.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Linux MultiMedia Studio: Free FL Studio Alternative?

Familiar with FL (FruityLoops) Studio? This popular professional commercial program is used to create music as well as create remixes. From their website, they offer a demo version which actaully has full functionality…. except for the fact that the save project (as FLP-Fruity Loops Project) is disabled. Therefore, unless you finish the whole thing, then export the project into a music file and never intend to work on it again, you would have to buy the program. While this might be okay, are there free programs that might come close?

Linux MultiMedia Studio (LMMS)
Designed for Linux. For Windows (Windows 98SE and higher) and Linux. Free and Open Source.

This free and open source project is currently in beta stage, therefore, it does not come without bugs. Some of the obvious bugs are the fact that the play button often becomes a pause button. However, overall, the program works great!

It even supports VST Plugins (used by FL Studio) and FLP (FL Studio Project Files)! Works and looks quite like FL Studio. If you’re familiar with FL Studio, you should have no trouble getting used to LMMS (or vice versa).

LMMS

The interface feels a bit cluttered depending on your screen resolution. This screenshot shows how it looks playing one of the preset samples. It supports .ogg, .wav, and .mid media files. Unfortunately, there is no .mp3 support at all right now. You can also import .flp files. You can learn more about how to use this program at their Documentation here.

Basically, you can drag the media files into the Song or Beat Editor. In the song editor, each part can be a series of notes. Double click on the part then you will be a large grid with a keyboard on the side. Clicking on the grid adds that certain note. You can also use their collection of beat, drums, and much much more. Full detailed guides can be found at their Documentation.

Don’t worry, it may seem very confusing at first. But once you use it for a while, you’ll get used to it and even have fun making your own music. You can even share your songs with the world.

This program is new and is in beta. It is quite strong and a possible alternative to FL Studio. The program could become a very successful open source project.

It doesn’t cosume much system resources when its idle. CPU Usage depends on the number of tracks you have on the song. When I tested it, it consumed around 150 MB of RAM.

Click here to learn more and download Linux MultiMedia Studio (LMMS)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

WinTechpedia Add-on Collections

You probably noticed Mozilla Add-ons' New Design of the site. The main addition was Collections!

What are collections? "Collections are groups of related add-ons assembled for easy sharing." (from Mozilla)

So we have created 3 collections. Click the following links to go to them and find out more information.

WinTechpedia Recommended

The top add-ons we recommend. Add-ons here include WOT, SkipScreen, NoScript, Adblock Plus, etc...

WinTechpedia Security

The top add-ons we recommend for security and privacy. Add-ons here include WOT, NoScript, etc...

WinTechpedia Fun, Social, and Media
Add-ons we recommend for fun, socializing, communication, and media. Add-ons here include Bork! Bork! Bork!, Yoono, etc...

You could also install the Add-on Collector add-on to subscribe and add favorites to collections.

We need your help to expand these packs. What add-ons do you recommend us add? What add-ons do you recommend us take out? Leave your ideas in the comments!

Subscribing to our collections gives you alerts of new updates to them. This requires the Add-on Collector (by Mozilla).

All add-ons were created by their respective developers.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Object-Oriented Programming with Greenfoot


We've heard a lot about programming. For those of us that have tried to study it, we've heard the phrase "object-oriented" even more. So what exactly is it?

"Object-oriented" basically means the same thing as it sounds. Its a programming language based on "objects", which can be referenced in the code multiple times. Let us take this sample scenario. You have a world, with cells in it, and you want to stick Rocks into it. So in the code, you have to make everything that defines a Rock as many times as you need it, which would take a long time. However, in object-oriented programming, you can have a Rock class. In an object-oriented language, you can reuse the Rock class, by writing it once, and making it over and over again, just by initializing it, like this:

public class Rock() {
//there's currently nothing in this
}

Rock myRock = new Rock();

Now for those technologically challenged people who have no idea what I just wrote, here's an easier approach to this problem. Greenfoot, an open source Java (programming language) ide (interactive development environment), makes learning programming much easier. Download and install the program onto your computer (you'll need a recent Java JDK), to try things yourself, or watch along with this tutorial.

Upon opening Greenfoot for the first time, select the "wombats" scenario. Then, something similiar to the below will open. The square grid in the middle is the "world", or place where all the objects live in. To the right are the "classes", the types of objects that have been premade for you.



To begin experimenting, right click on a "Wombat" in the classes. You will be given the option of "new Wombat()", which initiates a new wombat. Put that Wombat into your world. Right click the Rock class, and click "new Rock()", and put the rock into the world. You have just created instances of classes, your very own objects. Continue placing rocks and leaves in the world (make sure not to overcrowd the world with rocks).

Now, you may be thinking, "this is a very uninteresting diagram of a wombat and rocks and leaves." Well the thing you don't know is that the world is currently paused. Click on the "Run" button on the bottom, and watch the wombat move. The Wombat is precoded to not run into rocks, and eats leaves. Click pause, and right click the wombat in the world. You given a list of "methods", basically functions that the wombat can carry out. Below is a screenshot of the scenario in action.


You may be wondering about what makes this program tick, and where all of the coding is. Right click the Wombat class on the right, and click "Open Editor". You will see something similar to the below screenshot:

You can play around with the code, and try to add your own, or maybe wait for the next post! Happy Programming!

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - WinTechpedia™ 2009 Contributors

Friday, June 5, 2009

Wolfram|Alpha: Knowledge Engine

Ever need to get some information right there without having to deal with millions of search results to sites you never heard about. For example, I want to know about tides in New York. So what do I do. I head on over to a search engine like Google and type in Tides New York. Woah! Tides Restaurant? Tides Seafood? Hundreds of results. None actually tell me about the tides in New York.

Wolfram|Alpha, a new service, is here to help change all that. I try my search again. Hey. There are graphs, charts, and everything I need to know, including when high tide and low tide are today and tomorrow. Now that wasn’t so hard? While you could be spending hours on Google or a similar search engine, Wolfram Alpha cuts that time to less than a minute.

There are lots more cool features of Wolfram Alpha like factoring. Enter your equation or just the problem and it will factor it for you including give you possible values for the variable as well as the graph, and much more.

Try searching “pi” It gives you a bunch of digits with a More Digits button. Keep pressing to keep getting more digits! It also gives you a lot of other information about pi also.

That’s not all. There are a lot more things it helps you do. Searches come in real time as the system processes your search term and calculates all the data right there.

Its fairly new and more features are constantly being added.

Click here to go to Wolfram|Alpha Home Page

What do you think of it? Share your thoughts with us!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Comparison of Official Chat Clients.

Most of us use Multi Protocol clients these days, but its good to know how each protocol service’s official client is. So… that’s what we are doing today. We will be comparing the features of AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, Windows Live, Google Talk client, and Google Talk Gmail version. The following apply to the client’s Microsoft Windows version. Features may or may not vary for other platforms. We are NOT promoting any of this software in any way in this post.

Notes on Classification/License: Adware is not necessarily dangerous. A program is listed as Adware if they: Attempt to install software (like toolbars) that is not required for program’s functions, installs search engines, changes your default search engine, and/or displays advertisements. Homepage change may also be included.

We are only displaying the unique features and special features of the client under Pros to save space because many clients have the exact same features. Notice that most of them are adware.

I am not affiliated with the developers of these clients.

AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) v6.9: (not recommended)
Requires AOL or ICQ Screenname
Classification: Adware and Spyware

Pros:

  • Social Networking Status Updates
  • Real Time IM. See what your buddy is typing.
  • AIM Plugins to extend your experience
  • Customize buddy list with colors
  • Tabbed IMs. Regroup and detach.
  • Search for buddies by typing their email address.
  • AIM Expressions so you can have different IM backgrounds. This is actually a protocol feature but only the client supports it
  • Emoticon fireworks
  • Connect with ICQ (same protocol)

Cons:

  • No Log Viewer. Must view in external HTML viewer
  • Heavy advertising with mouseover popup ads
  • AIM Zone Pop Up upon start up by default. Covered with flashy ads.
  • Force installs Viewpoint Media Player with NO option to opt out. See below for details.

Why This Program is Classified as Adware/Spyware:

  • Attempts to install AIM Toolbar with AIM Search, QQGames, and AIMTunes by default, all of which is not required for AIM to function. Even if you choose to not install these, the .exe is already downloaded with the main setup and placed into your installation directories.
  • Attempts to change your homepage to aim.com
  • Attempts to make AIM Search default.
  • Displays banner and text advertisements within the program (very heavy with some mouseover popup like ads). Also known to randomly download huge trailers for ads.
  • Force installs potentially unwanted software with no option to opt out. See below for details.

WARNING! AIM and other AOL Software installs a program called Viewpoint Media Player without user consent. Viewpoint Media Player is Adware and potentially Spyware. They claim it is required to view so-called media like SuperBuddy Icons. They give no option to opt out. If you uninstall it, it will secretly reinstall itself if you have administrative rights the next time you launch AIM or the AOL product. Even the AOL browser does this. Thats not all. Viewpoint has a unique user ID and will eventually track how users interact with the media. Thats still not all.

ICQ v6.5:
Requires AOL or ICQ Screenname
Classification: Adware

Pros:

  • ICQ Plugins (Xtras).
  • Connect with AIM (same protocol)
  • Tabbed IMs
  • Chat Log Viewer
  • Skins to customize experience
  • Quick reply. Reply from the new IM notification.

Cons:

  • ICQ Zones (like AIM Zones) pop ups on startup by default. Covered with flashy ads.
  • Heavy advertising both on buddy list and IM window

Why This Program is Classified as Adware:

  • Attempts to install ICQ Toolbar with ICQ Search.
  • Attempts to make icq.com the homepage
  • Attempts to make ICQ Search default.
  • Displays banner and text advertisements within the program

Yahoo! Messenger v9.0:
Requires Yahoo! Account
Classification: Adware

Pros:

  • IMVironments: Interactive IM backgrounds
  • Yahoo! Plugins to extend your experience
  • Skins to customize your experience
  • Custom Ringtones
  • Sound effects and soundtracks during Voice and Video Chat
  • Audibles: Send animated talking characters to your buddies
  • Yahoo! Games built in without any additional software
  • Buzz Feature
  • Stealth: Be invisible to only certain buddies
  • Connect with Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Microsoft Office Communications Server, Lotus Sametime, and Reuters Messaging users
  • Chat Log Viewer

Cons:

  • Tabbed IMs not available in Windows version
  • Some banner and text ads within program.

Why This Program is Classified as Adware:

  • The default “Typical Install” tab hides these options. By default, Yahoo! Toolbar will be installed.
  • Attempts to make Yahoo! Search default by default.
  • Attempts to change homepage to yahoo.com by default.
  • Displays banner and text ads within program

Windows Live Messenger 2009 (v14):
Requires Windows Live ID
Classification: Adware

Pros:

  • Colorful and attractive themes (scenes) and colors
  • Smooth integration with Windows
  • Lots of backgrounds for individual IM windows
  • Buzz Feature
  • Connect with Yahoo! buddies
  • Play games with your buddy right from the window without additional software.
  • Drag and drop pictures to your buddies
  • See Whats New in your buddies networks
  • Groups: Group Chat with an entry in your buddy list
  • Built in Log Viewer

Cons:

  • Some banner and text ads within program.
  • Today pops up by default at startup

Why This Program is Classified as Adware:

  • Banner advertisements.
  • Text advertisements.
  • By default MSN home page and Live search default and keep default set after Windows Live Installer runs.

Google Talk v1.0: Requires Google Account (Gmail required for logging)
Classification: Freeware

Pros:

  • Simplicity.
  • Skinnable IM windows.
  • Scrolling IM windows. Works like tabs.
  • Voice chat
  • No advertisements. 100% Ad Free.

Cons:

  • Highly feature lacking. Too many to list.
  • Last Official Update: January 2007 (v1.0.104)

We are adding the Gmail Google Talk version because that is the main version developed by Google Inc. and is one of the most popular ways people access Google Talk (Jabber/XMPP).

Google Talk Gmail Version Requires Google Account with Gmail capability
Classification: Website

Pros:

  • Simplicity.
  • Watch YouTube right from the IM “window”
  • Video and Voice Chat with plugin
  • Group Chat
  • Many Emoticons in 4 styles
  • Connect with AIM Buddies using your AIM Screenname
  • No ads on any chat interface.

Cons:

  • No IM colors.
  • No advanced client features

Comparison Chart Key:

  1. 1. Group Chat
  2. 2. Themes and Skins
  3. 3. Video Chat
  4. 4. Voice Chat
  5. 5. Multi-Protocol Support
  6. 6. Add-ons and Plugins
  7. 7. Banner Graphical Ads
  8. 8. Text Ads
  9. 9. Play games with buddy
  10. 10. Buzz
  11. 11. Chat Logs
  12. 12. Built in Chat Log Viewer
  13. 13. Hides Extra Software*
  14. 14. Number of Additional Offers**
  15. 15. Installation Size***
  16. 16. My rating of the product. Ratings are relative to this category of products and are not eligible to compare to ratings on official multi protocol clients. Rating scale: 0.5 (Very Poor) to 5.0 (Superior). Note: Gmail Gtalk is Webware, not client therefore it has been rated in relation to typical web browser versions.

AIM ICQ Yahoo! WLM Gtalk Client Gtalk Gmail

Adware Adware Adware Adware Freeware Website
1 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
2 Colors only No Yes Yes No Yes
3 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ****
4 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ****
5 No
(1)
No
(1)
Yes
(4)
Yes
(2)
No
(1)
Yes
(2)*****
6 Yes Yes Yes No No No
7 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
8 Yes Yes Yes Yes No None on chat interface
9 Requires QQGames No Yes Yes No No
10 No No Yes Yes No No
11 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (w/ Gmail account) Yes
12 No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
13 Yes Yes Yes No No N/A
14 6 (1 are forced) 3 3 2 1 N/A
15 25 MB 51 MB 27 MB 43 MB 4 MB N/A
16 1.3 2.9 4.0 4.5 3.5 4.7
*Hiding extra software means that the program’s installation hides extra software like toolbars under “Recommended”
**Extra offers refers to toolbars, search engines, and homepage changes that are offered. AIM’s force install of third party software is included here.
***As installed on Windows XP Professional SP3
****Requires Video and Voice Plugin
*****Requires AOL/AIM Screenname.
My Personal Opinion:
If you are new to IM and only want one service with an official client, try Windows Live Messenger or Google Talk Gmail Version. Otherwise, consider using full multi protocol clients.
I personally do not recommend the official AIM Client.

Which client would you choose?
Happy chatting!

Post Updated 6/5: I updated this post today because I realized that WildTangent was previously installed with AIM 5.5. It is no longer installed in AIM 6 in favor of QQGames for the gaming service.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

WinTechpedia Software Pack

Hello all! You may have remembered our recent post on 11 recommended software. Thanks for InstallPad, the download process can be easier.

Powered by InstallPad. © 2009 Phil Crosby
No products here were created by us. We simply put together our own AppList for InstallPad.

Windows 32-bit only.
Most software will function in 64-bit, however some especially Sandboxie will not while others like 7-Zip require an alternate installer.

To start, download the file from the links below. We compressed it into a 7z Self Extracting Archive (.exe). Simply double click on the file and choose where to extract to. Then run InstallPad.exe. Administrative privileges are required. After you are done selecting you want, click Install.

Download Links:
Download (MediaFire)

This pack we created offers Mozilla Firefox, Digsby*, Google Earth**, Pidgin, CCleaner, 7-Zip, Revo Uninstaller, Sandboxie, VirtualBox, and OpenOffice.org***. Adobe Flash ActiveX/plugins have also been included.

*The Digsby installer is the offline installer, not the InstallIQ one with the offers.
**This is a Google Earth standalone installer and does not include Google Updater.
***OpenOffice.org Office Suite is a large download so it may take a while.

Notes:
We are unable to add some products like Google Chrome to it as it requires agreeing to the EULA first.
We have removed MalwareBytes shortly after posting this because the long CNET link was not accepted by InstallPad.
We have removed VLC Media Player shortly after posting this because InstallPad failed to download it.
If you encountered a download error with anything inside the pack, please let us know.

We will be adding a lot more software to the pack soon. What would you like to suggest to be in this pack? Leave your comments here.