Vista has been a very interesting development for the past year, I have been using since its release and there are some features that I like and some that I don’t like. The point of Vista is to add more features, and make the user’s experience a easier and smoother with this OS. As usual they have managed to mess that up as well, the one thing I tend to do on my network is share resources, files, and I do a lot of things across the network.

Vista PCs have no issue communicating to each other, but if any other type of PC (XP, Linux, Mac) would like to Access these folders and resources they are automatically denied access. I have shared these files, given access rights to “Everyone” which is the user default in the share permissions. I have gone back and forth with this for a few days now. At first I would just dump the Data from the Vista Machine to the other machines it was a one way interaction, but at one point I wanted to stream some movies but it wouldn’t let me and so that was the last straw. I have spent hours trying to mess with the settings and making adjustments to network and I have faced failure at every turn.

I have looked at multiple forums and lots of people face the same issue, simply XP can’t access Vista files. Microsoft has managed to “change” the way file sharing works and caused it to be hell for many users. What I have found out to be interesting, is that the folder path isn’t the same as the one you share it with. There are two types of sharing, share folders and public folders, anyone can access the public folders but I don’t want to move a full hard drive to the public foler, thats just impractical.

Folder path:
D:/MyStuff

Real Path:
D:/ ….VISTA-Biz/MyStuff

This isn’t the same path, so something is beind done wrong, and I want to beat the people at Microsoft with a stick. I really like Vista with all its bangs and whistles but this one thing has driven me nuts, and I will find a soltuion for it.

I have been working a lot on my PC recently and I have been backing up music, movies, and data on my PC. I have had to have the right tools to get things done, and this is just a short overview of these tools.

CutePDF Writer (Free)

Its a simple software to documents to PDF, its very light on the system and it always works. I have had issues with Adobe’s PDF printer but with this software it works perfectly, and whats better is that its free.

Sync Toy (Free)

For once I think Microsoft came up with a useful, functional, and light tool. This is a very good tool to synchronize folders so that you back up information as well as consolidating information. Since I have a lot of duplicates of data, and some are older then the other I have started syncing folders and once I verify the information I delete one of the folders so I’m using it for clean up. You can create profiles so that it automatically backs up folders, and you don’t have to worry about losing data, and it is very light and quick.

HandBrake (Free)

This is a DVD ripping software that you can rip DVDs to MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM and you can choose different settings for different DVDs. It can’t rip all DVDs because of different types of encryption but I have another software to remove all types of encryption. It does a very good job, but it does require some tinkering but a simple tool to rip DVDs and encode them so you can watch them on your desktop or laptop.

I have seen disc printers for a while now, I remember trying them back in the day and trying to stick whatever I printed onto the disc and it was a mess. The Dymo DiscPainter is the first Disc printer that I have seen that really does the job, it integrates with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or the included Dymo Discus software. It features Rapid Print technology meaning it can print onto a DVD or CD while the disc is spinning and the whole printing process takes about one minute.

This is a great product, but I only burn DVDs and CDs once in a while these days since everything is hooked up to the entertainment center, but its still a very good product.

Price: $280

Link: UnCrate

At last I have picked up the diNovo Edge for my desk, and I have to say I am extremely happy with what I have. It is a very compact, sleek, solid, and high quality keyboard. It has a lot of features which are all touch based, such as quick scrolling, moving the cursor, volume control and a few other controls.

I tried it singularly with a PC and the Bluetooth works from a very large distance of over 7 meters. I was honestly surprised at the strength of the signal and I will be getting another one when I get a chance. The build is a solid aluminum and polished plastic, it just feels very nice and the buttons feels good when in use.

I have it connected to the KVM switch for my computers and so I lose some of the functionality of the multifunction buttons and touch pad, but that is due to the short coming of the KVM and its still worth having. Another fantastic product from Logitech, I will write a full review once I test it out and get a better idea of its battery life and at least it gives me some more desk space to work with.

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Who said computer chairs aren’t funky, this resembles something you would find on the Matrix but shinier. I was just browsing through ergonomic seats and tables, then I stumbled upon this creation. It looks cool, I would get a much bigger screen, but I don’t think I would leave that seat if its as comfortable as it looks, then I would just dispatch Neo to do my bidding from that chair.

Link: Crave.net

How many times have you wanted to rip audio from a DVD to have on your mp3 player, the process would usually take multiple programs and trial and error. There was a complexity to it or a cost, but now that isn’t the case. You can download Free DVD MP3 Ripper for FREE and it will do exactly that, it will rip the audio straight to MP3, there are some movies where I want the song with the background to it and some scenes that I wouldn’t mind having on my mp3. I am very happy with this download, only works for windows.

Link: LifeHacker

This is probably the most useful and productive piece of software I have seen for anyone with a piece of media. All you need is the software and a webcam, you just scan the barcode from the back of the book, dvd, or cd and it automatically retrieves all the information from multiple sources (one of them being Amazon) from the web.

This gives people access to every piece of media you have while having the media itself out of site. You can browse, sort, and search through your digital shelf. You can sync this catalogue with your iPod to take it anywhere, but the one drawback for most users is that this software is only made for Apple. Well worth the price for anyone who wants to organize their media. Even though the software works through the iSight you are better off purchasing the bar code scanner if you are serious about it, but it will be a higher price for the combined items, and you can only purchase the bar code scanner with the software not separately. There is a trail version of the software to see if the iSight works with it, or else just get the scanner to get things going.

Price: $40

Link: Delicious Library

Over the past year storage companies have been introducing Solid State Disks to laptops and other products. They are very expensive once you go past the 32 GB mark, but they do have their positive sides.

Pros:

• Quickly adds 16 GB to your laptop
• Very dependable, no moving parts so very low possibility of failure
• Fast Read
• Very small and can be used anywhere, it fits inside the laptop

Cons:

• SSD are still expensive
• Writing to it is slower then I expected
• You need an Express Card slot to use it

I managed to get it for $150 off ebay which is a bargain compared to the original price

Price: $200

Link: Amazon

Rating:

One of the most annoying thing about Windows is the damn updates and what it might do to your PC. I do realize that they do some good but I feel like all their work is patchwork and not really fixing. Whenever I download I go through and customize the installation and read what exactly each install is going to do.

After all that it always asks you to reboot and sometimes after a little while it restarts on its own. To defeat this feature of Windows update just download Auto Reboot Remover to disable it completely. You can reboot on your own terms, after you have saved everything. Its simple and does the job!

Link: LifeHacker

After a long time of procrastination I managed to my hands on an extra drive for my HTPC, it only had a 74 GB Raptor Hard Drive. I sort of forgot that I might need an extra hard drive for it, and I have been running movies, TV shows, and anime off my Seagate External HD for this whole time. So now I just have to wire it up, format and get ready to dump a ton of material on it.

I picked up Western Digital 750GB 16 MB buffer Hard Drive for 75 KD but you can get online for less. I saw the purchase in front of me and decided to go with it since I know it had good reviews and I didn’t feel like waiting for it to arrive from an online order.
Price: $200
Price in Kuwait: $270

Link: NewEgg