I love free software but, most “free” things for your computer are not very good for your computer. Enter Piriform ( http://www.piriform.com/ ). At least 4 years ago I stumbled upon a product that was great at cleaning up all of those left over files on your hard drive do to installing and uninstalling programs and even just surfing the web. At the time it was called Crap Cleaner. Long story short, it was so good at it’s job, they changed the name to CCleaner ( presumably to attract more of a user base ) and has become one of those tools every tech has on his flash drive. Over time CCleaner has gotten even better and now Piriform has released several new PC tools that are great and yes FREE as well! Head on over the their site – I personally use CCleaner and Spiccy every day on at least one of my boxes.
Adobe has re-opened it’s “BrowserLab” service to the public. If you have an Adobe ID head on over to the Adobe BrowserLab home page and sign in.
” BrowserLab provides web designers exact renderings of their web pages in multiple browsers and operating systems, on demand. BrowserLab is a powerful solution for cross-browser compatibility testing, featuring multiple viewing and comparison tools, as well as customizable preferences. Since BrowserLab is an online service, it can be accessed from virtually any computer connected to the web.” Also, there are extensions for Dreamweaver that enable designers to use BrowserLab from right within Dreamweaver saving tons of time and software users have access to additional functionality such as testing local and active content.
” Screenshots of actual browser renderings are generated in real time, with multiple viewing options to help pinpoint various issues. The options include:
- Check how a site looks in one browser at a time.
- Compare the same site side by side in different browsers.
- Use an “onion skin” mode that shows a site in multiple browsers overlaid one on top of the other “
This s a great tool for anyone who does web design. Adobe says they will eventually charge for the service as a paid subscription servicebut, for now, it’s free and as of this writing will currently generate snapshots from 12 different browser/os configurations with expansion going on continuously.
I would say on average I get asked about Windows 7 more then 3 times a day. So far, this is what I am telling folks…
1. If you are building/ordering a new computer, you would be nuts NOT to put/get Windows 7 on it.
2.If you have XP or Vista you should definitely upgrade but, depending on your machine and software choice, following some simple rules outlined by Mr Paul Thurrott, will get you going more quickly.
3.If you have a system critical production machine that is your bread and butter – then hold off for a few months.
I’m not going to list all the new features but, Windows 7 is a great OS. I have been studying it for many months and I believe Microsoft has made some great improvements. Personally I never had much trouble with Vista – this could be because my “trouble threshold” was set very high back in the days of NT but none-the-less, I have really enjoyed it and apart from fixing others Vista machines with proprietary software issues it’s been a workable OS. Now, just like all new OS’s there are going to be some issues. Just recently Mac released Snow Leopard. Another great OS but, it’s got bugs as well and this is why I said if your machine makes you money – hold off of both for now. Over 15 million people beta tested Windows 7. They worked out all the bugs 90% of the casual users are going to face. When running multi-machine render farms or servers for mission critical services is not the time to find a bug – let other, braver folks do that for you, wait for the update and proceed to upgrade.
There are hundreds of reasons/paths to upgrade to 7. Not all people will need to move over right away but, I’m betting this new release will be the best one yet.
My name is Shawn Lance and I am a motion graphics artist.
When cut, I bleed CPU cycles. The faster my computer is the more creative and imaginative I can be in a given time period. When I have to wait for a program to load or a video to render my creative process comes to a grinding halt. This blog will attempt to highlight the trials of being on the bleeding edge of PC computing and having to be my own tech support for all things hardware and software. I am not a PC vs. Mac person. While I am in the minority as a graphics guru using a PC, it is only because I could not afford a Mac when I started my business over a Decade ago. I have amassed library’s of information over the years building and networking my own PC systems together. Today, I can still build a faster windows machine and pay far less then either an off the shelf PC or Mac would cost. This however is not to say that one is better then the other and I believe cross-platform computing is possible and is best for both worlds as is in most cases competition will tend to drive the evolution of both.
If you have any questions or comments please post a replay or email me directly.