Really Real Windows XP Powertoys!!

Well, they've been out for nearly a month now, but it's the first I've heard of them. I accidently ran across them while updating my MS AntiSpyware. I haven't even installed them yet, but I did notice a fresh version of the old favorite TweakUI in the list! :D I also noticed that a couple of them are designed to play catch up with Linux. Expect to see those in the next Win version.

This is the first set that MS has actually released FOR windows XP. That I know of. For those of you that have no clue what I'm talking about, Powertoys are a whole bunch of programs that expand the functionality of windows. They are written by actually Microsoft windows developers in their spare time. MS will release the progams free of charge, but they generally won't support them.

Unlike previous powertoy distributions, these are all seperate little install packages. So, here is a list of the current selection, ripped directly from the webpage. :)

Color Control Panel Applet
Professional-level photographers and designers know that getting consistent, accurate color from file to screen to print and beyond is a requirement for great results. This new tool helps you manage Windows color settings in one place.

SyncToy
With new sources of files coming from every direction (such as digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops), SyncToy can help you copy, move, and synchronize different directories.

RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer
Are you a serious photographer? Now you can organize and work with digital RAW files in Windows Explorer (much as you can with JPEG images). This tool provides thumbnails, previews, printing, and metadata display for RAW images.

ClearType Tuner
This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access.

HTML Slide Show Wizard
This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site.

Open Command Window Here
This PowerToy adds an "Open Command Window Here" context menu option on file system folders, giving you a quick way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder.

Alt-Tab Replacement
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.

Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.

Power Calculator
With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.

Image Resizer
This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click.

CD Slide Show Generator
With this PowerToy you can view images burned to a CD as a slide show. The Generator works downlevel on Windows 9x machines as well.

Virtual Desktop Manager
Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy.

Taskbar Magnifier
Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.

Webcam Timershot
This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

External Link

Novell Suse Linux is a winner

Well, I finally got sick and tired of all of my anti-windows-security-hole software sucking up all of my computers CPU cycles. I commonly run Symantec Antivirus, ZoneAlarm Firewall, MS AntiSpyware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware on every Win machine I have. Then Of course I run Spywareguard and VisualZone and various other programs if there are any CPU cycles left to go around. Don't even get me started talking about the scheduling, and the maintenance, and the updating of all that crap.

So, I looked back in to the Linux world to figure out whats going on these days. The last time I tried installing Linux I used Redhat 4.0. I installed a second hard drive in my computer, told Redhat to use that, and it promptly deleted my Win98 partition without a second thought, or asking me if I was sure. Needless to say, I chucked the Redhat cd over my shoulder, and haven't looked at Linux since, figuring it needed time to mature.

I did some research and discovered that Novell Suse Linux is the most secure of the various stable Linux flavors that are out there today. They have an extra security plugin built for the NSA in their distribution! :D If you could care less about this sort of thing, then I would happily recommend any of the other STABLE Linux flavors.

I was quite impressed. It neatly skimmed off a chunk of my Windows partition (all on its own!) to use for itself. It mapped my Windows partitions so I can still access all my Windows documents in Linux. It set up a handy dual boot utility for me. It comes with all the necessary packages to set up just about any sort of server you want, or you can simply leave them all off and use it as a desktop computer. Of course it already comes with OpenOffice (a replacement for MS Office) and various other handy utilities. I think the thing that impressed me the most was that my HP multifunction printer / scanner / salad shooter worked from the moment the operating system was up and running.

I am still researching some things. I have a single word of caution, but it goes for any Linux flavor. Installing 3d graphics drivers, particularly for older Nvidia cards. If you install the OPTIONAL Linux update and you have an OLDER Nvidia card, it's the wrong driver. There is a 'legacy' driver for older cards that you can get from Nvidia.

That said, Linux seems MUCH more stable than Windows. Of course, 99.9% of the security flaws in Windows don't even exist. Some of the things I still intend on looking into is which commonly used windows business applications (ACT, Quickbooks, etc.) will work in Linux. At any rate, I would recommend that anyone who was bitten by Linux in the past to take another look at it. :)

http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/

External Link