Using Windows Blog

Garden Planner Review

2010-08-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

Faced with the daunting task of transforming a vacant fenced block of land, I was about to boot up Microsoft Visio (which I'd used before for house plans) before I thought to myself - "there must be a better way".

Well I found that way, and it is an affordable piece of shareware called Garden Planner. However it takes a bit of patience. On first use I was amazed by the sheer number of pre-loaded symbols for common landcaping including trees, fences, paths, vegetable gardens and the like.

On the whole this software seems quite powerful and intuitive, although I found that initially I could not create a border or fence. I worked out that you could double click to complete a border, but sometimes it just wouldn't allow you to delete and create a new one. After several frustrating attempts of closing the software and reloading, I finally worked the quirks of the system and managed to - with several saves - get the hang of it.. Other than that, my only other griefs were that the software tended to crash and the scale and grid options are initially a little tricky to find.

But overall, Garden Planner is a neat and complete little piece of software that allows you to save, export and print a garden design.

Check it out at:
www.smallblueprinter.com/garden/

Balsmiq Mockups vs Axure RP Pro - and some other Interface Wireframing Tools

2010-07-11T01:39:00.000-07:00

Working in the web, I've often had to use prototyping software to draw information architecture diagrams and screen mockups and wireframes to help convey interface concepts to clients.

In the past I had used Microsoft Visio flowcharts and diagram templates and even MS Word's form builders or Open Office Draw, however more and more specialised and useful tools are beginning to emerge and be used by professional information architects.

I began using Axure RP Pro (www.axure.com) a couple of years ago. However this software can be expensive and a little over featured. I also found the HTML prototyping features to more time consuming. Effective creation of links can nearly take as long as building the output and I've found myself sometimes even achieving more using Firebug to manually hack and re-export stylesheets and HTML. The output screens are clunky looking even for low fidelity mockups.

An alternative is Balsamiq Mockups (www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups), by the makers of Confluence the Enterprise Wiki and Fogbugz issue tracking software. Balsamiq is simple and easy to use and has a deliberate "hand drawn" look to its interface which can help excuse the amateur look of these sort of diagrams.

Both these tools have a full complement of form widgets to create interfaces and allow you to snap objects to a grid. Balsamiq has a smaller price tag but doesn't offer the prototyping features. Axure offers a greater deal of sophistication, but can also be complicated. From my experience a lack of HTML prototyping is not really a showstopper and these tools are not as effectively implemented in Axure as they could be anyway.

So for now, the scales are tipped in favour of Balsamiq in terms of usability, feature and price and I am using it the most regularly.

Google Chrome is a most addictive web browser

2010-06-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

My first impressions of Google Chrome as a web browser for Windows were probably swayed by my unfamiliarity with the interface, however I seem to have forgiven its forthcomings I have become drawn to Chrome as my web browser of choice.

There are many applications that Chrome does not work properly for me (particularly due to javascript support) and in that case I find myself booting up Firefox. It is those times that I realise how fast Chrome is in comparison to Mozilla's browser. Speed is the #1 reason I use Chrome. It is also used by Google in its marketing pitch and for good reason. The other browser are far to bloated and too much time to load.

Of my other criticisms of Chrome are the difficult to find menu items, such as privacy settings which are hidden deep within the options behind a little spanner icon. Other things I've had to adjust to are things like shortcut keys. However once these hurdles are overcome, Chrome is very useful. Plugin support, one of the key things I like about Firefox, is quickly growing for Google Chrome.

I have read that Chrome is stealing marketshare from Firefox and Internet Explorer (as much as 10% on some sites), well I am not suprised. However this popularity is not reflected in website support for the browser. Many websites that I visit unfortunately look like a dogs breakfast in Chrome.

Prophet CRM vs Business Contact Manager

2010-05-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

A while ago I complained that CRMs are just too slow and unresponsive and support is always a headache. Well the search for a decent and affordable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software program has led me to abandon Business Contact Manager and try Avidian Prophet CRM On Demand.

Well Prophet CRM has some features that I like:

Outlook integration (which I like as I’m also running LinkedIn for outlook which as CRM functionality too)
List management (includes grouping and filtering for prospect companies which takes a little getting used to but still quite effective)
More detailed and flexible reporting of pipelines, follow up dates etc
Reasonably good online tutorials

However I have found it has the following disadvantages:

Not free – and no free trail – I am using the On-Demand version at $20 a month. The full personal version is $200.
Outlook only
Slow – although I’ve found this to be the case for all CRMs, particularly Outlook based ones which are resource hungry and web based ones which aren't AJAX or based on similar technologies. Prophet appears to be just mildly faster than BCM
Website Enquires – have to set up manual Outlook rules to move enquiries into the Opportunity Manager folder (haven’t tried this yet)
Contact sharing (Microsoft Exchange)requires Premium version $400
Automated follow-ups requires Advanced Edition edition $300
No timesheeting function
Can’t be integrated easily

Their sales crew appeared to be completely automated which meant I couldn't get great pre-sales advice.

Some specific bugs did rear their head, although their support seems to be active. One in particular I found annoying was that although I could generate reports with data in Excel, the inbuilt functions of the Report Manager (preview and view) in Standard modes did not work. No matter what I did, they came up blank. However their support staff called me on the phone and diagnosed the problem, which was a conflict with Brother P-Touch's software. They also provided me with some training and advice.

Despite the problems, Avidian seems to be ok and slightly more productive than slower online CRMs - Salesforce sucks and SugarCRM is ok, but in my opinion fatally flawed.

Brother P-Touch QL-500 and Outlook 2007

2010-05-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I picked up an office label printer Brother P-Touch QL-500 for about $90.

This printer is supposedly compatible with Outlook 2007 (which I also use plugin based CRMs including Business Contact Manager and Avidian Prophet).

However there are some massive issues. For a start, the drivers (latest update in 2009) do not work with Outlook 2007 and Windows XP, although they claim to be compatible. Sure you can do some stuff but you are limited to default styles that are not compatible with the labels the printer uses. It is effectively stuck on "Memo Style" and "Table Style" - any other type of paper you change it to Outlook blocks you with the error "The paper size is not valid. Check the values for Width and Height."

The add-on does work, but only allows individual printing of labels, which defeats the purpose of a label printer. Bulk printing of labels from within Outlook's contact system is impossible without manually importing and exporting. It is not available on the list view and selecting multiple and only available.

Disappointingly, the product is now already listed as an "obsolete model" by Brother. oh Brother ...

The worst part about buying printers like this is you never know just how compatible they will be with Office applications until you buy them, unwrap them and get them going.

10 Essential Freeware Programs to download for a Fresh Install

2010-05-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

Having recently reinstalled my PC yet again, I thought I'd share a brief list of must have free programs which I always download and install on any fresh copy of Windows.

Microsoft Security Essentials (freeware - requires valid Windows licence) - virus and spyware protection is a must and it won't bog down your PC either
Sun Open Office (freeware) - essential for documents, desktop publishing, spreadheets and presentations
Adobe Reader (freeware) - opening PDF files can be difficult without it
Mozilla Thunderbird (freeware) - for email
Irfanview (freeware) - for viewing images
Paint.NET (freeware) - for editing images
Mozilla Firefox (freeware)- web browsing mainly for its plugins and standards base (using it less than Chrome these days though
Picasa (freeware) - an essential photo management tool
Windows Movie Maker (freeware) - a nice little suite for creating movie files and uploading them to services such as YouTube
Filezilla (freeware) - for uploading files to the web

I can survive without anything else installed.

Things I love and hate about the 1201N ASUS EEE PC

2010-02-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

The 1201N Seashell EEE PC is my first experience of a netbook. My boss at work kept telling me that netbooks don't have the grunt to peform as office machines and that they were only good for surfing the net. My boss appears to have an allergy to Intel Atom processors. Yet a good deal of my job was demonstrating websites. I was after a machine that was smaller and lighter than the 17 inch Toshiba Tecra A4. The Tecra was bought a couple of years ago and was dying - the battery was dying, the soundcard was faulty, Vista was constantly crashing and slow. So it mostly either sat on my desk or gave me back pains carrying it around with its chunky size and perhipherals. As I began commuting on long train trips I wanted a machine that was small and compact. I also wanted a machine that was small enough to take with me whenever I left the office and could do presentations with. He had some valid concerns about screen and keyboard size of the smaller netbooks.

So I waited a long time for the right combination of robust computing power, a reasonable size. Of the models I looked at, including the Dell Inspiron, I chose the ASUS 1201N based on size, affordability and battery life. For some time now I have held ASUS to be a highly underrated brand - I have used their monitors and projectors which were all of very high quality and lasted a very long time with little support in comparison to many other more prestigious brands. It came installed with Windows 7, so this was my first use of Microsoft's new operating system.

My initial impression of the 1201N is great. The keyboard is just the right size to be very typable. The computer rarely crashes and has the capacity for high definition movie playbck which is great.The webcam is adequate although low resolution. The netbook is packed with features I'll never use but not too much bloatware. I use Open Office which appears to run without a hitch. Most Internet browsers and applications perform significantly better than my Toshiba.

Things I love about the 1201N:

* Look and feel - the black model looks particularly slick and impressive under the arm.

* Screen and keyboard - 12.1 inch is just right. Not too small and not too big. The layout of the buttons and multimedia controls is just right. THe ports including USB are in just the right places.

* Mousepad - I have always loved the tactile responsiveness of the EEE PC.

* Battery and charger - excellent life lasts a long time between charges and the charger is tiny compared to my old brick

Despite my love for this machine, a few still do bug me, and these are:

* The glossy screen - it is just far too glary and reflective. I ended up buying a screen protector, however the thin stick on film wasn't a good solution so I went for an attachable anti-glare device and this also is less than desirable. For a travel device a matte screen is definitely preferable.

* Sound - the earphone jack is ordinary and faulty. Volume output is low and putting the device right into the jack you won't hear the sound out of both speakers - only if you pull it out slightly and jiggle it a bit will it work properly. A cardinal sin for a travel device IMHO.

* Mousepad - while I like the mousepad there are a couple of things I dont't like about it. Firstly there is not a lot of space around the mousepad. This causes a problem in that my left hand (I am right handed) sometimes rests over the detection. With the touch commands activated this often sent the laptop into one or two finger scroll mode when I didn't want it. A tweak of the mouse settings helped this, but it still ocassionally kicks in. The second thing is the single metallic mouse button. It is difficult to differentiate in the dark, it tends to click quite loudly, takes a bit of pressing and is so smooth that it is actually quite slippery. Two buttons would also have been nice.

Overall I'd really recommend the 1201N EEE PC as a great little unit for travel and work.

Windows disease - the causes and the cures

2009-12-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

"Windows Disease" - its what many people call that terrible affliction which effects all versions of Microsoft's operating system from Windows 95 through to ME, XP, Vista and 7.

Basically the premise is simple. The longer you run your PC, the slower it gets and more frequently it crashes (ie the dreaded "bluescreen of death" appears) and you lose your work.

The problem appears to be that the more applications you install and the more you use the PC, the more bloated Windows gets, with defragmented files, shared DLL files, drivers, disk errors, registry keys, viruses, spyware and the likes, contributing to conflicts and confusion in your core operating system.

Recognising this, Microsoft on its "Microsoft at Work" website has published an article "5 ways to speed up your PC". Unfortunately for Windows users, these are pretty cliche answers. You might do these things on a regular basis and still not get any real benefits. And spyware and virus checkers often add even more Windows slowness with their constant checking. Another thing that can cause problems is Windows Desktop Search. Beware because this Windows Disease contributor is automatically installed with Office 2007. How to Geek has an article to help "Speed Up or Disable Windows Search Indexing in Vista".

However the best way is almost always to start with a clean slate and reinstall. Most people either don't want to do this or don't know how. One of the issues is that you'd lose your data. Well PC World has some answers for this in its article "How to Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Data".

Happy computing.

Toshiba Tecra Windows Vista Audio Problems

2009-08-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've been using a Toshiba Tecra A9 laptop pre-installed with Windows Vista for some time now. What frustrates me most about this piece of expensive junk is its ongoing issues with audio.

The onboard Realtek soundcard has not had a driver update since 2007 and the thing literally does not work.

Among the problems I thought I'd briefly share:

Volume Control on taskbar is unresponsive and sometimes disappears altogether
No audio with many WAV files on Windows Media Player (these open in other apps such as iTunes however)
The Function Escape mute button does not work at all. Similarly the keyboard volume controls.
Impossible to turn the built-in speakers off (yes, believe it or not) - even with headset in and disabling the speaker device through the control panel - they just keep on playing
Unable to get the audio drivers to work with capture devices and multimedia editing applications like Windows Movie Maker
Audio applications are terribly slow to respond and consistently crash for no reason

Anyway it appears I am neither alone or likely to get a solution any time soon.

The experience has turned me off Toshiba altogether but made me hate Windows Vista to such an extent that I'm (wait for it) considering purchasing an Apple Mac.

Best free CD Label Writer is ....

2009-03-01T02:58:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last day or so downloading and evaluating at least a dozen CD and DVD label writers. Pretty much most of them pretend to be free, but they're in actual fact shareware.

The ones I've tried include:

CD Label Designer
UnderCover XP
Zoner Draw 3
Disketch CD Label Creator
Nero's Label Maker

And you know what, even after this lot and a whole lot more searching, I still couldn't find a good free one. The truly free ones are extremely limited. Some are OK, then when you go to print them out on Avery style labels, they simply don't line up.

But then I discovered, the easy way. Open Office again. There are some great templates available for Open Office Writer that do the trick perfectly and basically put all those other guys out of business. This method allows you to more easily align the CD or DVD with the label and import images and text etc more freely.

Had I realised that you could do it so easily in Open Office (one of my current favourite apps), it would have saved me a whole lot of time. I hope I've saved you some.

OpenOffice is the best free open source Microsoft Office alternative

2009-02-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

As some regular readers would know, I had installed and used Microsoft Office 2007 for a little while now.

Well one of the big things that has always frustrated me is Word's drawing capabilities.

I do a lot of sales proposals with diagrams and the like. Word's drawing system mystifies me. The inconsistencies in the way that things are laid out and objects sometimes do not snap to where you'd expect them to have caused countless hours of frustration. I guess Microsoft figured that their Visio application is specialised for this sort of thing but I have always found Visio quite chunky and clunky and not integrated enough with Word. Having used it before from time to time as a Microsoft Office alternative, I have found Open Office to excel in this area.

Using Open Office Draw, however Open Office 3.0 has given me an all new appreciation for the Open Office suite. This is a very well put together application. Even though I am now used to the ribbon (which is apparently to feature quite heavily in the new Vienna edition of Windows), I am constantly drawn to the classic and simpler to use Open Office interface.

I don't want to turn this into a Microsoft Office 2007 vs Open Office 3.0 debate, because for the time being I'm happy to run both side by side. Most computers these days can handle the additional space and processing power required.

I was once compelled to use Microsoft Office because of the integration of things like Outlook, the synch and Business Contact Manager. However frustration with these applications has reduced my reliance on the integrated approach. I still find Outlook's calendaring and invitation system (because many other clients also use it it can be handy), however I now use these apps independently of each other. An open standard for calendaring and meeting invites would be the icing on the cake. So I've really started to question whether I am locked into Office 2007 at all (aside from its obvious buying price).

I really think that Microsoft Office 2007 has matured as a product and while using the Open Office suite, this is very evident. The Writer is, in more opinion, more solid than Word. I've found that it supports almost everything I need to do. I've used the Calc application as an Excel and found it to be just as good. I've also used the Impress application, which is the equivalent to PowerPoint and can confidently say that it offers everything that PowerPoint does. To top it off, even though I know Open Office 3.0 runs using Java, it does seem a lot snappier, possibly moreso than Microsof Office 2007. However I do get these annoying Java pop-ups from time to time on Windows Vista (doesn't happen on my XP machine) that I'm not sure yet how to turn off.

Anyway, I'd just like to share with you the fact that integrated features in Open Office are truly impressive and has come a long way. I would definitely recommend giving it another go.

Inkscape - free Adobe Illustrator alternative an Illustrator killer ?

2009-02-03T15:48:00.000-08:00

Had my first experiment with Inkscape 0.46, this week.

I searched for and found this vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator because I can't afford the exorbitant licencing for Adobe Illustrator and CS2, CS4 or whatever the latest is. I'm not a designer, but I occasionally do however need to work with vector art.

Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based upon mathematical equations, to represent images. With applications like Illustrator, you don't need to know the science behind it, but you typically do require some sort of knowledge.

Anyway, I must say, I'm very impressed with this application. I actually found it to be simpler, self explanatory and more intuitive than Illustrator. Most people take Adobe Illustrator courses to do the sort of stuff I was doing within minutes of picking up Inkscape. It is certainly quicker, snappier and less bloated for machines with a lower spec and it is very easy to pick up and run with.

While I don't use the top end features of Illustrator (I'm certain some design gurus would tell me that this freeware application doesn't quite have the grunt or power of Adobe's product), Inkscape is great for the occassional vector designer.

As a Windows user and novice designer, I'd have to say in terms of Inkscape vs Illustrator, Inkscape is much better for me.

Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2007 for new mail accounts

2008-12-13T01:11:00.001-08:00

Microsoft Outlook makes it easier than ever to configure a new mail account.

Here are the steps you need to take:

1. In the menu, go to Tools > Account Settings
2. Click the button that says "New"
3. Use the default setting, which says "Connect to Microsoft Exchange Server POP3, IMAP or HTTP" and click "Next"
4. Enter your name and the new email address supplied to you by your ISP or web/email host (typically in the email they send you) as well as the password they supplied
5. Outlook 2007 should establish a network connection and search the email server for your settings automatically ...
6. if it says the server is unencrypted, then enter the incoming mail server as sent to you by your ISP. This typically follows the format: mail.yourdomain.com

Its that easy.

Belkin : Hi-Speed USB 2.0 DVD Creator review - better than "EasyCrap"

2008-12-11T02:44:00.000-08:00

After my epic troubles with EasyCap and audio, I bit the bullet and bought a replacement USB video converter - the Belkin Hi-Speed USB DVD creator to convert my old VHS tapes. It typically retails for about $120, but I picked on up on Ebay for $60 - just a little more than what I paid for the EasyCap. I looked at the slightly more expensive Adaptec.

I must say that it is a relief that the Belkin device does not use standard USB audio and comes with a full complement of drivers. Instead of USB audio it routes audio directly through the Line-in on the soundcard (which is great if your soundcard has a line-in that is). And it also works with my Realtek chip.

The whole thing runs better for me than EasyCap, but there was a little fiddling around with settings to get it to work initially. The video through AmCap also tends to wobble on preview sometimes, although fortunately this does not come out on the captured video. The frame rate on both USB devices, however, at 30 frames per second (fps) is noticeably slow sometimes. The bundled ULead software with the Belkin was also a little less up-to-date, but both versions of U-lead seemed to work fine with the device.

In summary I'd definitely recommend the Belkin. I haven't tried the Adaptec, but I'd expect they all offer similar features.

However having played with USB video converters for a while now, I'd have to say that my next purchase will be a PCI card of some sort. I think the faster framerate and higher resolutions would be of great benefit, as playing the results back on a large screen are not quite the same as plugging my old VCR directly in.

Easycap USB and ULead - No Audio

2008-11-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

I bought a little USB video capture device recently called EasyCap which at the time seemed to be cheap and offer sometinghat others didn't, but as I discovered not all that glitters is gold - this device is hopeless for audio. They should rename it to EasyCrap.

I tried it on two of my computers and while I could get video I could not get any audio on the bundled ULead free WinAVI video capture software tools.

I spent hours and hours trying to work out what the hell was going on.

Turns out that the device uses Microsoft's generic USB Audio drivers and these have some sort of conflict with Realtek's onboard audio chips.

Just my luck that both my computers (laptop and desktop) happen to have Realtek chips :(

But while it rules out the free software, I have found that AMCap works well (although it unfortunately is not free and limited to a certain amount of video - about 10 minutes worth). The software costs about $50.

So while EasyCap might sound like a cheap option, if you have Realtek audio, consider the add-on cost of software that actually works with this thing.

Update: See my review of the Belkin Hi Speed USB.

NCH Express Talk vs X-Lite/Eyebeam

2008-10-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

Well after evaluating various softphones, I've finally decided on and purhased NCH Express Business Edition.

I found it to be more stable overall than X-Lite and it was cheaper to than Eyebeam (~$25 Australian as compared to ~$60) and NCH is an Australian company.

After I realised that Skype and Windows Live Messenger do not support SIP, it narrowed the field substantially, but I'm reasonably happy with my choice.

This means I can now transfer calls among other things.

One thing I am looking for though is a similar system to the Skype dialer plugin for Internet Explorer but that I can use with Outlook Address Book and Business Contact Manager so I can click a button and invoke the dialer on Express Talk. I'm not sure yet whether something like that exists, but neverthelesst that would be nice.

Freemind vs Mindmanager

2008-10-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

I've long been a fan of mindmapping for work and just general idea management. I am a big fan of Mindjet's Mindmanager software having found it very handy when preparing proposals, particularly heirarchical representations of website information architecture. However I have also found also found it to be very expensive. So after evaluating several different versions, installing and uninstalling them, I recently experimented with a piece of software called "Free mind". Before this, I hadn't been able to find anything quite like Mindjet's offering.

Freemind does most of what Mindmanager does, the main difference being that it is free and runs just as well on any platform and the XML support is much better for integration with websites. Freemind even allows you to import mindmaps directly from MindManager. While the interface isn't as slick as Mindmanager (certain things like linking nodes, icons and notes can be tricky at first), and I still haven't figured out how to get all the tree nodes on one side, Freemind still holds its own.

I'm interested to see what other people use and if there is anything better out there or if people really feel that Mindmanager is worth the money they are paying for it.

First impressions of X-Lite VOIP software

2008-09-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

I've been using Voice over IP (VOIP) for some time now at the office. We use 7490 series Cisco IP Phones. I have also been using Skype for personal calls and Pidgin (using Jabber protocol) for Instant Messaging.

One of the things I don't like about the system is that the phones themselves and their accessories can be costly and bulky. The wireless headsets generally start at over $200. Also, although VOIP potentially enables a whole range of great communications features, such as answering your phone from anywhere, in practicality in my office environment, if I wanted to work from home, I'd need to carry my phone set with me.

Well recently I was introduced to a little "softphone" program called X-Lite by Counterpath which is free and enables you to easily set up your PC as a VOIP phone with the addition of some simple USB accessories, such as heaphones and microphones. I use a Logitech headset and have recently looked at upgrading to a newer cordless model which I will later review.

Anyway, initially I was really impressed with the setup. Besides the fact that your PC will need to be continuously on to use it as a phone, there are several useful options, such as the ability to use my laptop speakers for phone ringing independently of the in call speaking and listening. X-Lite is very intuitive and easy to use and can sit discretely on your desktop and taskbar and run at startup. The setup is cheaper to allow more freedom in the office environment.

One thing I did notice though is that when you want to use more advanced features, you need to upgrade to the full commercial version, another Counterpath upsell product known as EyeBeam 1.5 which retails at about $50. Features like call transferring (essential in an office environment) are blocked for example. In the commercial version, there is also built in Instant Messaging which I believe supports the Jabber protocol.

Another thing that constantly bugged me is X-Lite's update system. It doesn't appear to actually work. A pop-up keeps appearing saying that a new version is available and do I want to download it. But when I click "Yes", it simply closes the application and does nothing. Every time I open the thing this message pops up again after about 10 minutes. Very annoying.

While I'm still searching for a free alternative (such as modding Skype's offering) and something that perhaps integrates into a small business CRM (like PrettyMay for example) as well as Skype for personal use, X-Lite seems to be a good way of doing without the clunky phone.

Movavi Video Converter 6 vs Super by Erightsoft review of video conversion tools

2008-09-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

I stand corrected in what I said earlier about video conversion and DVD ripping tools as I recently purchased a license for Movavi Video Converter 6.

Having paid around $50, initially I thought this was a bit too much just for a video conversion tool, however I can say that this product is great value as it does pretty much everything you'd want it to.

While the DVD ripping to AVI is not incredibly fast, the results are great and unlike many similar applications, Movavi is very stable and not prone to crashing, at least on my PC.

It has an option to minimize neatly in the tray without consuming all of the available processing resources, meaning that you can go about your business while you are converting large video files.

I've also converted Apple Quicktime format (.MOV) to AVI and WMV in a wide range of codecs without any hiccups.

The software supports a wide range of conversions of just about any format and great care has gone into the interface design to make it as intuitive and easy to use as possible. What makes it simple is that the interface doesn't overwhelm the user with all of the technical terminology and jargon and options which is common for audio and video. Complexity in the interface (not to mention the difficulty to find and download the application) on the other hand is one of the major failings of Super by Erightsoft.

Searching for a good free application that does these sort of things is extremely difficult and I'm more than certain that the time I wasted combing the web for it would have cost me much more than the price of purchasing Movavi. So my tip is if you are trying to find something that is good value, look no further than Movavi Video Converter 6.

Outlook, IMAP, Gmail problems and slowness - a solution ?

2008-09-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

The ongoing saga of Outlook and IMAP has, in the past, given me nightmares. Slow connections, getting headers but waiting sometimes hours for the full messages to download.

I thought I'd solved everything until recently I moved to a Gmail mail server and everything started again. Well I checked and I'm neither imagining it or the only one experiencing it.

Well, I found some information that helped and I thought I'd share it. Apparently most of the problems are due to Outlook's default settings which constantly trying to poll the Gmail server. By customising the settings, you can make a big difference.

Here is a helpful link:
http://digital-boom.blogspot.com/2008/07/microsoft-outlook-running-slow-with.html

Google Crome Review - First Impressions - Opion on new Chrome browser from Google

2008-09-03T04:10:00.000-07:00

I've just been playing around with Google's new beta web browser and I thought I'd write a few things first up.

At first glance, I think the whole "less is more" approach to user interface design has been probably a bit overdone.

The back, forward and go navigation icons tripped me up a bit initially, and I kept looking for the drop down list to access my recently visited sites. However I'm impressed with the way the recent and most visited sites with screenshots automatically appear when I open a new tab. Chrome really takes tabbed browsing to the next level.

Importing settings from Firefox seems easy on the surface, but even though I closed Firefox as advised, it still didn't recognise that Firefox was actually closed.

There are some interface bits and pieces to get used to. I found myself accidentally adding sites to my favourites. But Chrome is much quicker and easier to sort bookmarks into folders which is a definite plus.

It has taken a bit of time to get used to less right click options. In particular, I find myself looking for "Refresh" and "Find" options, only to find them in the toolbar. The page icon is a bit counter intuitive and a bit of a catch all and working out what is in either this or the Tool/spanner icon is a bit tricky at first.

I like the inbuilt developer tools and History tab is great.

As a web developer, I'm really interested in how it renders sites. But having checked out many of my favourite sites, I can't yet see any obvious rendering differences between Chrome and Firefox, which is another real positive. However I did notice that while Hotmail works, rich text editors on Blogger and many content management systems (CMS) don't. I'm told this is a problem WebKit, the engine that both Safari and Chrome are partly based on. But more on this to come soon.

Overall, Chrome Beta is not a bad first up effort by Google, although I still think Firefox is better (although the current version seems unstable) and Firefox will probably remain my favourite browser for the time being ...

Upgrading to Firefox 3.0

2008-08-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've recently run an update of my web browser to Firefox 3.0 and I must say, superficially I can't see too many differences. Some of the interface elements have increased in size. Although I suspect many of the improvements are under the hood in terms of rendering and new standards support.

One thing I did notice though is that during the upgrade, all of my previously installed add-ons like Firebug disappeared. I didn't expect this and I'm pretty sure that there was no advice on this in the upgrade process. Still, it wasn't too painful to find and install them again ...

However I have experienced numerous severe crashes, particularly on some sites and incompatibility issues with some rich text editors which has seen me go back to Internet Explorer. Currently Firefox appears unstable, and I'm not sure why they released and promoted such a buggy browser ...

Alternative to MS Project - OpenProj

2008-08-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

I've begun trying a few freeware alternatives to Microsoft Project.

After trying several tools including Open Workbench 1.16 by Computer Associates, I've settled on OpenProj 1.3.1 by Projity.

OpenProj seems to offer almost everything that Project does. It is a Java application, but I've found it to run pretty fast, at least as fast as MS Project 2007 does, which is very suprising for a cross-platform application.

The interface is intuitive and familiar and it contains many of the same features offered by other project management suites.

The only current difficulty I'm having is working out how to assign multiple predecessors to a task.

But I can't complain, it is completely free.

Delivering a PowerPoint Presentation for Coaching

2008-08-05T02:15:00.000-07:00

Another set of tips:
1. Introducing Yourself
2. Outline the lesson plan
3. State your objectives, why you are here
4. Explain the benefits for your audience
5. Outline the session structure
6. Follow the lesson structure – create section slides
7. Start with the basics
8. Reinforce each section with “What you have learned” slide
9. Use callouts, circles and arrows to highlight features
10. Provide useful tips and techniques
11. Stick to format and minimise distractions
12. Ask for feedback
13. Organise Follow-up training

I've also found some other delivery methods useful:

Screencast
Webcast
Web Conferencing

Some Dos and Don'ts of using PowerPoint for coaching

2008-08-05T02:11:00.000-07:00

I had to prepare something recently and I thought I'd share some of it, these work for me:

Do:

Understand your audience
Have a lesson plan
Keep it simple
Be confident, maintain eye contact
Make it interesting, entertaining
Make it interactive, engage the audience
Use screenshots and visual aids
Encourage Practical Demonstrations

Don’t

Simply read slides
Rely on it

Trying to save PDFs from Excel 2007 ?

2008-07-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

My old PDF printer driver wasn't reproducing the document properly and I spent ages trying to find a good free one because that was the old way to do things.

Until that is, I discovered that Microsoft have a free add-in. Of course you need a valid licence to download it.

Select All in Word and Excel 2007

2008-07-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

There are a number of little user interface quirks to get used to when moving to Word and Excel 2007.

One is the old "select all" function which seems to have been overlooked by Microsoft.

The easiest way, I've found is to use shortcut keys - specifically "CTRL+A".

Then copy and paste using CTRL+V and CTRL+C.

The only other way is to use the ribbon. Unfortunately this useful function is now hidden on the far right of the "Home" ribbon (which is a bit of a catch all and not really well thought through). If you click "Find & Select", there is the option to "Select Objects" (which doesn't mean much to me). Unfortunately it can be a bit tricky to select everything this way.

A freeware screencasting alternative to Camtasia Studio

2008-07-25T15:28:00.001-07:00

I do a lot of screencasting and in the past, I've used trials of Camtasia Studio to create demonstration videos for software.

Problem is that Camtasia is very expensive. I've also found it to crash on some computers.

Well I've been using CamStudio recently and I can say that it is very good, in combination that is with other programs such as Windows Movie Maker.

There are a few limitations in CamStudio that I have found that you should be aware of. One is that I like to use digital zoom and pan. You won't find that in free screencasting software yet, however. Camtasia in comparison has a lot of built in movie producing stuff, which personally I find to be a bit of overkill. Windows Movie Maker is pretty good for that sort of thing. The concept of CamStudio is simple - just do one thing and do it well. And that thing is recording what is happening on screen.

Media Monkey digital Media Player kicks some butt

2008-07-24T18:03:00.001-07:00

I don't know why, but I'd been using Apple iTunes as a digital media player for so long, I never questioned it.

In the old days, I was a big fan of Winamp. Especially getting into its visualisation plug-ins, skins and format compatibility.

At one point I started using iTunes. I think it just became a pseudo standard. It was easier to import music and plug in to my Sony Walkman MP3 player for a start.
But I always found that iTunes to be limiting in visualisations, and it generally got bloated, slow, incompatible and unusable. I got sick of the ads in the interface.

Recently I've discovered Media Monkey. Not sure why it took so long, because it is not only faster, but it offers a lot of the features that I used to like about Winamp, but takes it to a whole new level. I'd definitely recommend looking at it at least.

If I haven't made your mind up for you, then check out this blog which provides a pretty decent and detailed comparison between the products (there is also a wikipedia article, "Comparison of Media Players", but there are so many on their list unless you have the time I would much prefer to cut straight to the chase).

Paint.NET is a Photoshop killer

2008-05-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered Paint.NET. This great application is not only completely freeware, but it offers pretty much all of the most common things I once used Photoshop for.

I have been using version 3.35 and only found a couple of limitations so far, notably I can't find a way to do find rotations ... it only seems to support rotating and flipping in lots of 90 degree which is pretty useless. But combined with Irfanview, it seems to work a treat and I can't complain about what is a pretty fast and slick application.

CRMs are just too slow ....

2008-05-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

One thing that has been frustrating me of late is that every single Customer Relationship Management system that I have tried is so incredibly slow ...

Years ago I used Maximizer and ACT. Neither of them costed more than a few hundred dollars. While I complained a bit about the lack of advanced features and occasional bug, one thing I never complained about was the speed. Running fully on the desktop, these programs enabled you to talk on the phone to customers while you recorded notes and made calcultations in real-time. Yet ever since ACT 6 or 7 (I can't remember which) this great product went to the dogs because it ran Microsoft SQL Server, .NET and bloated the system with memory issues slowing the whole thing down to a snails pace such that it became completely unusable. You'd spend minutes watching hourglasses while your customers would hang up in your face.

Since then I've gone through all sorts of web based CRM systems, which have the same interface issues. SugarCRM, vTiger, and basically come to the conclusion that they all suck. When you don't want to use them hosted and install them locally, you can add plenty of support headaches to the list.

My latest brainwave was to go back to basics and try Microsoft Business Contact Manager for Outlook. I've been using it for a while and though it offers the functionality and features I'm after I've found that it also runs incredibly slowly. Such that I'm going through the same headaches all over again. My laptop hardware should be more than up to the task, but somehow I'm doubting it is a hardware problem and once again I find myself suffering from "Slow CRM Syndrome". I did get a licence and with Office Small Business upgrade, it cost a few hundred bucks, so about the same as ACT, but probably a slightly better investment.

Anyway, I'm reluctant to even try the high end systems, because from what I've seen they are really no better in terms of performance.

There has to be a huge market for a slick, fast CRM that doesn't cost the earth (sigh) ....

Filezilla is my FTP client flavour of the month

2008-04-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

I've tried everything, from SmartFTP to CuteFTP and WS_FTP for uploading files to file and web servers.

Most of them have issues. They are either clunky or have compatibility issues, and particularly drag and drop problems. Cute FTP has the best interface, but I just couldn't get it to work with some servers.

Anyway, I'd recommend Filezilla. I have not had an issue since I installed this software (apart from the odd very minor drag and drop frustration). It is fantastic and free and apparently it works with Macs as well (if you're into that sort of thing ...).

Irfanview is still the king of image viewers

2008-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Since I first started using the great free image editing software that is Irfanview way back in 2001, it has not taken a backwards step and has only continued to improve.

I refuse to use anything else. It is fast, easy and intuitive.

I find the bulk image conversion functions to be particularly useful and it supports almost any format (handling its file associations particularly well). While it isn't an image editor, it is fantastic for quick and easy viewing of images.

The best freeware multimedia format converter is the hardest to get

2008-04-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

If you're trying to convert Quicktime or Apple Flash video to AVI or Windows media or vice versa, it can be a pain finding an application to do the trick. Finding a free one is extremely hard.

And as I've found, even when you find one it can be a pain.

Well, I found one, eventually, that does almost everything - SUPER. Problem is that the eRightSoft website is such a convoluted mess that you'd assume either that they don't want anyone to find out or download it or that they are somehow making a lot of money from subtle advertising on their website by forcing people to click on the ad links. I'd guess the latter. Interesting business model, but bloody annoying and frustrating all the same.

There is a really, really difficult process to obtain this app, but I guarantee you that it is definitely worth it. This blog tells you how.

Microsoft Office 2007 takes some getting used to ...

2007-11-29T17:42:00.000-08:00

I have recently taken the plunge and upgraded to Office 2007 at work, while I continue to use Open Office at home. As part of the upgrade experience, I've had to get used to whole new ways of doing things. The interface is quite different and not very familiar. Armed with my copy of Office 2007 for Dummies, I have gradually become used to it.

The biggest change is use of the ribbons. Microsoft have given the interface a radical overhaul and they have done a lot of work in the architecture. Unfortunately I've found that some of the functions that used to be easy to find are sometimes now hidden. I sometimes find myself wanting to return to classic view and minimising the ribbon which does sometimes tend to get in the way. However once you memorise where things are it becomes much easier.

For me, importantly the new version fixes some specifically annoying bugs in older versions even though I had kept my office up to date.

I used to find placement of some images almost impossible. You'd put them somewhere and they would mysteriously jump around on the page. Formatting seems to be greatly resolved in 2007.

Interoperability between applications is also improved. It practically used to crash my PC every time I tried to embed an Excel object into a Word page. I haven't had that problem (touch wood) with this new version.

The office concept, however, is a pretty mature one, and most of the enhancements are pretty superficial. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the speed and performance of the new Office and I'll share some tips and techniques with you as I discover them.