Tutorials in a Wink

“Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc and generate a highly effective tutorial for your users.”

• Freeware: Distributed as freeware for business or personal use. However if you want to redistribute Wink, you need to get permission from the author.
• Cross-Platform: Available for all flavours of Windows and various versions of Linux (x86 only).
• Audio: Record voice as you create the tutorial for explaining better.
• Input formats: Capture screenshots from your PC, or use images in BMP/JPG/PNG/TIFF/GIF formats.
• Output formats: Macromedia Flash, Standalone EXE, PDF, PostScript, HTML or any of the above image formats. Use Flash/html for the web, EXE for distributing to PC users and PDF for printable manuals.
• Multilingual support: Works in English, French, German, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Serbian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Simplified/Traditional Chinese.
• Smart Capture Tools: Capture screenshots automatically as you use your PC, based on mouse and keyboard input (great time saver and generates professional captures).
• Performance/Quality: Creates highly compressed Flash presentations (few kbs to few hundreds of kbs, much smaller than competing commercial products) ideal for using on the web.

JkDefrag - freeware defragmentation software

“JkDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. Included are a Windows version, a commandline version (for scheduling by the task scheduler or for use from administrator scripts), a screensaver version, a DLL library (for use from programming languages), versions for Windows X64, and the complete sources.”

JkDefrag is completely free no cost, no time limit. Versions for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008, and X64 versions of Windows 2003/XP/Vista.

Note: Some data on an NTFS partition may become corrupted after you restart a Windows XP-based computer that uses a SATA hard disk drive. This is not a JkDefrag bug but a Microsoft defragmentation API bug. Microsoft have released a bugfix, see: Bugfix 941715.
Use at your own risk, but might be a useful defragger for you.

UBCD = Ultimate Boot CD

“UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. Our goal is to be the most complete and easy to use free computer diagnostic tool. Almost all software included in UBCD4Win are freeware utilities for Windows®. Some of the tools inlcuded are “free for personal use” copies so users need to respect these licenses. A few of the tools included in UBCD4Win are paid for and licensed software owned by UBCD4win.”

“

UBCD for Windows® is completely freeware, and can be downloaded from this site for free. However to help people that are unable to download the project, I offer as a service the project files on CD. This project is copyrighted and is not distributable through any means except from this site!! There are many “con artists” selling illegal copies of this project, they will have their accounts removed when I find them and report their activities to eBay! Lawsuits can and will be filed against severe abuse.

The project CD that I ship includes:

• The UBCD4Win files
• The project “video’s”
• Our UBCD4Win PE Builder
• SP2 (for slipstreaming or system updating)
• AutoStreamer -slipstreaming software
• CDBurner XP Pro -CD burning software”

Use at your own risk, but this might help you out of computer trouble with Windows.

Scribus - freeware for desktop publishing

CNet’s featured freeware includes Scribus, a desktop publishing program.

” Despite occasional oddities and a distinct lack of polish, Scribus offers up an open-source freeware desktop publisher robust with a full complement of useful features. Available for Windows, in a portable edition, and for Macs, too, they compare very favorably against more expensive competition.”

“Scribus’ quirks are mostly related to the scaling of imported images, but there’s something else about it that’s far more interesting: It painlessly brings in documents from the OpenOffice.org suite and it uses The GIMP for image editing. By taking advantage of these other freeware apps to boost its own productivity, Scribus enhances its appeal by forming a virtual freeware suite.”

Master Google list

Google has so many services that it’s hard to keep track.

Try the Simply Google web page, which covers services, blogs, RSS feeds, software, and more.

Artweaver, I believe you can get me through the art

Artweaver is a freeware program for creating graphic art.

• Support of many different digital brushes e.g. chalk, charcoal, pencils…
• Standard image editing tools like gradient, crop, fill and selection tools.
• Transparency and Layers support.
• Effect filters like sharpen, blur, emboss and mosaic.
• Support for the most common file formats like AWD (Artweaver), BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, TGA, TIFF, PNG, and PSD (no layer support).
• Pen Tablet support for a realistic feeling.
• Support for many languages through language files (Columbian Spanish, Danish, Hungarian, Swedish, …).
• Artweaver is Freeware.
• Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista.
• Pentium compatible processor, 600 MHz or greater (1000 MHz recommended).
• 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended).
• 30 MB of available hard disk space.
• 800*600 pixels or greater monitor resolution (1024*768 pixels recommended).
• 15-bit color display (24-bit recommended).
• A Pen Tablet is recommended.

Improve Windows Explorer

The names are confusing: Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer is your browser for the Internet, the World Wide Web.

Windows Explorer, however, is for exploring inside your computer. This is the file finder, the way to move stuff around inside.

Bizzntech has program links that can improve Windows Explorer.

Total Copy, Piky Basket, InfoTag Magic (especially useful for MP3 files to see all the info in the tags), Folder Size, a Vista-like QTAddressBar for XP, Y’z Toolbar, Visual Task Tips for XP, FileMenu Tools, Desktop restore, Vista drive icons, Clickie, TrayIt, and FolderBox.

WinDirStat takes a visual approach, with colors and lots of data in bars and other forms, and “uses treemaps to represent each file as a colored rectangle, allowing you to instantly visualize file distribution across an entire drive or folder. In addition, the file types are color coded and can be clicked to reveal file name and details with options to access via Windows Explorer, copy the path, or to delete the file. The concept is very similar to SequoiaView, however it provides additional folder tree access and an easier to use interface, as well as right-click integration via SendTo menu.”

2000/XP/2003/Vista, Freeware.

Test your security, speed and other stuff

Audit My PC is a web site with services for security and a number of other uses.

You can test your firewall or find a free one, check your broadband speed, generate a sitemap for your web site, and find out your own IP.

Another good test site is ShieldsUP! which will run a live test of a number of factors to see if your home network is secure.  Once you set up your network, use this to find any weak spots that you need to fix.

Backup software

ZDNet has a link for Yadis: “Our number-one-software is Yadis. It’s an easy-to-use backup-tool, which will save you a lot of troubles. It guards your personal data by making real-time copies (whenever you make changes to your documents) to almost any destination you choose. You do not need to schedule. Whenever you make a change, your data is saved. If the backup destination is not available then the backup is postponed until the destination becomes available again. Version 1.9.3.3 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.”

Software	Size:	637 KB
Date:	Jun 2008	Version:	1.9.3.3
License:	Free
System Req:	Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/Vista, Micorosoft .NET Framework 2.0

Vista needs a Set Restore Point icon

It’s always a good idea when making changes in your system or installing new software to set a Restore Point, so your computer can revert back to those settings if something creates problems.

XP made it easy, but Vista has the screen to set a restore point buried several levels down.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have an icon to jump right to naming a restore point?

So, try the instructions from the How-To Geek and create one, or just download the necessary files and use them.

Freeware.

Get in the Drivers seat

Drivers.  Got the latest?  That’s the hard part — making sure that all your drivers are updated so whatever you want to do, will work — the software, the hardware, the surfing.  All of it.

Download Drivers is freeware that will check and update your system.

“Now you can download driver updates automatically and safely.  This handy software utility will keep your system up to date by automatically getting the latest drivers from your hardware’s manufacturer - No need to waste hours upon hours every week searching the Internet for the latest driver files - You have better things to do then a driver scavenger hunt!

By having the most up to date device drivers on your system, your computer will run at optimal performance and be free of errors!”

IE7Pro to boost Internet Explorer 7

So, Internet Explorer 7 isn’t enough for you? You say you want more functionality, more features, faster browsing?

So get IE7Pro and see if that’ll do ya. Freeware.

“IE7Pro includes Tabbed Browsing Management, Spell Check, Inline Search, Super Drag Drop, Crash Recovery, Proxy Switcher, Mouse Gesture, Tab History Browser, Web Accelerator, User Agent Switcher, Webpage Capturer, AD Blocker, Flash Block, Greasemonkey like User Scripts platform, User Plug-ins, MiniDM, Google sponsored search,IE Faster and many more power packed features. You can customize not just Internet Explorer, but even your favorite website according to your need and taste using IE7Pro.”

Network Magic makes router setup easy

ZDNet recommends Network Magic for setting up your home network, and (based on this blogger’s experience) it really works.

This is a freeware application that guides you in setting up your network and configuring your router’s settings.  It’s also good for Vista as well as earlier Windows systems, and works with a number of different brands and models of routers.

DVD Play your ripped DVDs with VLC

Lifehacker has a program called DVD Play that works with VLC to easily open and play your DVDs (more easily than VLC does alone, that is).

Including the kitchen Sync

Trying to keep files and information synchronized (”synced”) between 2 or more computers can be a real problem.

Lifehacker has some suggestions on methods for keeping things synced.

These include Windows Live’s FolderShare, the Microsoft SyncToy program, and rsync.

Virtual network tutorials

Additional help on setting up virtual networks so you can move files, even remote control computers:

Lifehacker has a tutorial on how to control a computer remotely.

Lifehacker has a tutorial on how to access a home server behind a router/firewall.

Lifehacker has a tutorial on how to assign a domain name to your home web server using DynDNS.

[updated June 23, 2008]

Chris Pirillo (the famous “Lockergnome” guy) is a fan of the Virtual Private Network freeware Hamachi for accessing your computer from elsewhere securely.

“Hamachi allows you to create your own VPN basically… for free! You can add other users to it, and share files with them in a secure manner. Some of the features of Hamachi:

• LAN over the Internet Arrange multiple computers into their own secure network, just as if they were connected by a physical cable.
• Remote Access Remote control any machine on your network with Remote Desktop.
• Files and Network Drives Access critical files and network drives.
• Zero-configuration Works without having to adjust a firewall or router.
• Security Industry leading encryption and authentication.
• Cost Effective Basic version is free to use.”

VNC is Virtual Network Computing for remote control

Lifehacker has a tutorial on VNC “Virtual Network Computing” using TightVNC freeware.

You can search another system, troubleshoot somebody’s problems, perform tasks on another computer.

Now, that’s power.  Use it wisely and gently.

Wallpaper, Fonts, and Icons, oh my!

Okay, couldn’t resist that heading….

Lifehacker has the top 10 free wallpaper, font and icon sources they like.

[updated 2008/6/17]

Desktoptopia has some very nice wallpaper art, free.

Samurize for text files on your desktop

This has nothing to do with Japanese warriors, really.

Lifehacker has a post on Samurize, which allows you to display a constantly-updated text file right on your computer desktop, no text editor or command shell required, for quick and easy visual reference.

The post is a tutorial on how to use Samurize.

Think about reminders for things.  Think about putting up the path for certain groups of files when you’re learning the difference between your new Vista system and your old XP system (that idea is not in the tutorial, but it sounds good!).  Think about steps to do certain things as you’re learning them, and then delete them later — or not.

Freeware.

RegToy finds the secret settings for Windows

LIfehacker has a post on RegToy which finds the inside settings for your Windows system (2000, XP, Vista).

Things like the right-click menu options you prefer, what to do if a program is stuck, logon options, and more. Freeware.