Oct 02

Everything: Search and Find Local or Networked Files

Posted in: Freeware, search, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on May 29, 2009 by CyberNet.

everything.jpgarrow Windows Windows only arrow
Last year we ran through a couple performance-friendly desktop search applications for those of you that don’t want a program constantly indexing your machine, and today we have another nice alternative. It’s a free Windows app called Everything that, unlike the others mentioned in the article I referenced, does index your drive automatically over time.

So what makes this app stand out? A few things actually. For starters it doesn’t search the contents of files which makes the indexing that much faster. The developer estimates that a fresh Windows XP install (containing about 20,000 files) will take around 1 second to index. I’m sure you’ve got more files than that though, but even at a million files he says it should only take about a minute to index. That’s pretty tough to beat.

How about the search functionality? After all, that is the most important part of an app like this! It supports your standard boolean operators and wildcards, but real geeks will love the fact that you can also throw regular expressions into the search box. Plus you can have it search the full file path to see if any of the directories leading up to a particular file match what you’re searching for. An example they give as to where this would be useful is if you’re wanting to find “.avi” movies that are only in a downloads directory. All you’d have to do is search for “downloads\ .avi”.

The one big downside is that Everything isn’t capable of indexing networked drives, but you can run the app on the server where the drive is connected to. Then you just have to remotely tap into that server’s search index. It takes just a few minutes to setup, and the instructions can be found here.

Everything is free and runs on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, and Windows 7. You can also grab a portable version if you just want to check it out, or if you simply don’t want to install yet another app on your computer. Either way… it’s definitely one of the fastest search utilities I’ve used, but as I mentioned before this doesn’t search the contents of files which may or may not suit your needs.

Everything Homepage

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Oct 02

Free Designer Templates for Microsoft Office

Posted in: Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on May 14, 2008 by CyberNet.

office designer themes.jpg

Microsoft Office is a powerhouse suite, and it does of course include templates for the various applications. What it doesn’t really have, however, are templates that tie together the different apps within the suite. It looks as though Microsoft may have realized this pitfall, and so they posted six very nice (and free) designer templates that each come in nine different color schemes.

The best part about this is that each design has templates for presentations, spreadsheets, invoices, letterheads, business cards, email blasts, and newsletters. Just go to this site, select the design from the thumbnails along the top, choose a color at the bottom, and click download. What you’ll get is a ZIP file that contains all of the templates, and they’ll work with Office 2007. Most of the templates will also open in Mac Office 2008, except for those designed for Publisher.

So if you’re using Microsoft Office 2007 or Office 2008 you should definitely go checkout these free designer templates. They can bring a whole new sense of professionalism to your documents and presentations. Plus these are templates that people have probably never seen before, and they might think that you had them custom designed. ;)

Microsoft Designer Templates [via WinSuperSite]

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Oct 02

ThumbGen: Batch Create Image Thumbnails

Posted in: Freeware, Newly Released, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on September 03, 2007 by CyberNet.

Batch Create Image Thumbnails with ThumbGen

Making image thumbnails in bulk can be a rough process. Until now I’ve used Easy Thumbnails to batch create the thumbnails on Windows, but I just found a program called ThumbGen today that is extremely simple to use.

With ThumbGen all you have to do is drag over the images from Windows Explorer that you want thumbnails for. Then you pick the constraints on the dimensions, the prefix/suffix, and the resulting file type (JPG, GIF, BMP, or PNG). That’s it!

I’ll admit that it isn’t as full-featured as it could be (can’t add a watermark, border, etc…), but it’s free and straightforward. I also think that there should be a portable version of this offered since it is a mere 451KB download, and it only adds a handful of files to your computer (It does save some settings in your Windows profile though). I’d love to carry this thing around on my USB drive.

If you’ve got a better batch thumbnail creator that’s free be sure to let us know, but ThumbGen is looking pretty darn good.

ThumbGen Homepage

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Oct 02

Download Music from Last.fm, Pandora, and More

Posted in: Freeware, Music, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on January 03, 2008 by CyberNet.

Free Music Zilla

With the growing popularity of online music streaming sites it’s not surprising that tools will emerge to download the tunes you listen to. Just look at YouTube and how many tools there are to download the videos to your own computer.

Free Music Zilla is an app that will monitor the content passing through your browser. If it sees that you’re listening to a song from Imeem, Last.fm, Pandora, MySpace, iJigg, MOG, or any other music service it will give you the opportunity to download the songs. The best part is that it’s pretty simple with how it works.

Once you download, install, and run Free Music Zilla it will sit in your System Tray waiting for you to listen to music on the Internet. Once it detects a song being played it will popup in the interface. Downloading it is as simple as checking the box next to the song, and hitting the download button. Alternatively you can right-click on a single song and select the download option.

As with most programs, this does have a few downsides:

  • The “Leech timeout” is a timer set by the website your listening to, and once the timer gets down to zero you won’t be able to download the song.
  • You never know which file corresponds to which song. The filenames are just numbers that make identifying the song rather difficult. Of course you can rename them just as you would rename any file, but if you’re doing this with several files the process would get rather tedious.
  • The program is limited to downloading 10 songs per day.
  • The quality of the songs vary, but the ones I tested it out on seem to have a bitrate of 128kbps. That’s not terrible, but depending on where you’re listening to the song you might be able to notice the sub-par quality.

Oh, and we can’t forget to warn you about downloading material illegally with this app. Ummm, hmmmm. I know, if you download illegal songs the RIAA will come over to your house and walk around your yard screaming “for the love of God, I have a Rolls Royce to pay for!” :)

What do you use to download songs from your favorite sites?

Free Music Zilla [via Download Squad & TechCrunch]

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Oct 02

Apple Releases iTunes 7.02

Posted in: Freeware, Newly Released, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 01, 2006 by CyberNet.

iTunes 7.02 Last night Apple decided it was time to release iTunes 7.02 to solve some issues that people have been having as well as add support for the 2nd generation of the iPod Shuffle. The list of changes, in classic Apple fashion, does not go into significant detail and only says:

  • About iTunes 7.0.2
    With iTunes 7 and the new iTunes Store, preview and purchase high-quality hit movies plus new and classic games designed exclusively for the Fifth Generation iPod. Flip through your collection by album cover with Cover Flow, protect your iTunes library by backing up to CDs or DVDs, and much more.
  • What’s New in this Version
    iTunes 7.0.2 adds support for the Second Generation iPod shuffle and addresses a variety of stability and performance issues found in iTunes 7 and 7.0.1.

I am in the process of upgrading right now on Windows Vista which isn’t officially supported but hopefully they have fixed some performance issues that I have been receiving. It seemed like iTunes 7 ran kinda slow on Vista but I guess it is lightning fast if I compare it to version 6 on Vista. *crossing my fingers* :)

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Oct 02

CyberNotes: AutoHotkey To The Rescue!

Posted in: CyberNotes, Freeware, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 21, 2006 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Time Saving Tuesday

AutoHotkey is a scripting language that is used by people all around the world. You can automate a ton of different tasks in no time at all and the software you need is completely free. What’s even better is that you can compile your script into an executable file so that other people can use it without needing to download the software themselves.

Before you go and start creating your own scripts there are already several available. One site in particular that has a huge list available is DonationCoder.com. Yes, the list is enormous so I’ll point out some of the most useful ones.

  • ZoneSize – You can create “zones” that will automatically resize a window when it is dragged into the zone.
    ZoneSize 
  • IPUpload – Upload your IP address to a specified FTP server. It will help you find the IP address of your house if it is constantly changing.
  • LabelControl – If you hate using the mouse this will surely come in handy. This will label the various buttons in a window with a number when you press the Ctrl key. Then, while holding down the Ctrl key you press the corresponding number to select that option.
    LabelControl
  • DimSaver – This is an AutoHotkey script but it is in the form of a screensaver. It will dim your screen instead of displaying a standard screensaver and it has separate daytime/nightime darkness levels.
  • ShiftOff – This will turn off the CapsLock key if you press the Shift key in conjunction with another key.
  • FadingTaskbar – This is a cool idea because it will fade the taskbar out when you’re mouse isn’t over it. I tried it in Vista and it made my taskbar disappear…so I wouldn’t try it on Vista if I was you.
    Fading Taskbar
  • HideDesktop – When your mouse isn’t on the desktop all of the icons will be hidden.
    Hide Desktop
  • TransOther – Make all of the windows transparent except for the active one.
    TransOther
  • ProcessGuard – Monitor a process’s memory usage and CPU usage for a certain condition. It will then notify you if that condition is met (easy way to watch for Firefox memory leaks).
    Process Guard
  • TicTocTitle – Most people don’t want to have their taskbar autohide because they constantly look at the clock. No problem! Put it in the titlebar of your window using TicTocTitle.
    TicTocTitle

I’ve only begun to touch on the scripts that are available at DonationCoder.com so make sure you go and check it out. There are many more interesting ones but to my disappointment several of them don’t work properly in Vista.

You will probably just want to download the executable file to try some of the programs out (there is nothing to install with them) but the scripts are also supplied if you want to try and add some more features or try and merge a few of the scripts together. That’s why AutoHotkey is so great…the power is in your hands!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Oct 01

Start++: Add Keyword Searches to Vista’s Start Menu

Posted in: Apple, Freeware, Microsoft, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Windows, Windows Vista

This article was written on February 23, 2007 by CyberNet.

Start++

I was just reading a post by Brandon Paddock regarding a new (free) tool called Start++ that he made for Windows Vista. He works on the search technology over at Microsoft, and sticking with his area of expertise he has gone and made an awesome application. It reminds me of the keyword search in Firefox and Opera where you can designate a single letter or phrase to performing a search. The example search pictured above would do a Google search for “CyberNet News” in my default browser.

Start++

The thing that I really like about Start++ is that you can assign both keyword searches that open in your default web browser, or you can have it open a program/file. The only catch is that right now there is no “Browse” command to browse for the program or file that you want to open. I also noticed that it doesn’t support spaces in the file path even if you put quotes around it, and looking through the comments I see that someone else was having a similar problem. Brandon said that he should be able to work on it this weekend so I’ll be anxiously awaiting a new version.

It is probably important for me to mention that this does not work with Vista’s “global search field” and only works with things entered in Vista’s Start Menu search box. Initially I was bummed about that, but I don’t think I would ever use it anywhere but the Start Menu.

While you’re waiting along with me for the new release you can still take advantage of performing a quick search for your favorite sites. I can’t wait for this to work with spaces in document names and applications because it will become really useful to me then. Thanks for a great tool Brandon!

Vista tip: If you didn’t notice, as soon as you click on the Start Orb the search box is focused. I didn’t realize that initially and found myself clicking in the search field before I started typing, when in reality all I had to do was click the Start Orb (or press the Windows Key) and start typing. Props to Microsoft for thinking about focusing on the search box!

Download Start++

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Oct 01

Joomla 1.5 Features & Screenshots

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Newly Released, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on January 22, 2008 by CyberNet.

Joomla 15

Joomla 1.5 was just released earlier today, and it is a huge milestone for the content management system. There was so much excitement that this morning I had troubles even getting to their site to retrieve some information about the new version. Once we got in we grabbed several screenshots of the improved admin interface and posted them below.

It’s possible that you haven’t heard of Joomla before. It can be compared to blogging software such as WordPress or MovableType, but it includes many more features out-of-the-box. It’s completely open source, and also has an incredible community surrounding them who have helped build thousands of plug-ins. In all it is packed with features that will help manage whatever kind of content you’re looking to post.

–Features Overview (View)–

Administrators:

  • Simplified administrative interface
  • Improved media manager (multi-delete, batch uploads, etc…)
  • Browse media folders and insert images as you write
  • More control over pagination
  • Search engine friendly URL’s

Designers:

  • Codebase is better organized giving designers 100% control over layouts
  • Create a custom module chrome
  • Creating templates doesn’t require editing of variables making it simpler to work with

Developers:

  • Now separated into a three tiered stack to keep the internal structure clean and allow developers to leverage the different layers
  • Backwards compatible with PHP 4.3, and does support PHP 5
  • Document package gives extension develpers control over the entire document rendered on any given page load

–Screenshots–

(Click to Enlarge)
Joomla - 1 Joomla - 2 Joomla - 3 Joomla - 4 Joomla - 5 Joomla - 6 Joomla - 7 Joomla - 8 Joomla - 9

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Oct 01

CyberNotes: ASAP Utilities for Excel

Posted in: CyberNotes, Freeware, Newly Released, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Time Saving Tuesday

As you found out last week, I love using Microsoft Excel because of the endless possibilities it offers. One of the tools that I’ve used in my daily workflow for over five years is ASAP Utilities, and it is completely free for personal use.

It wasn’t until they released a new version two weeks ago that I realized I had yet to write about this terrific add-on, and anyone who uses Excel regularly will undoubtedly see how handy it can be. Today I’m going to walk you through all of the different things it can do for versions of Excel ranging from Excel 2000 up to the recently released Excel 2007.

Note: All of our screenshots are from Excel 2007, but ASAP Utilities has the same functionality no matter what version of Excel you’re running.

ASAP Utilities Overview
Click to Enlarge

–Features–

There are so many features in ASAP Utilities that it would have been crazy for us to list them all. For the sake of thoroughly covering the add-on we decided to summarize and take screenshots of every option available. Just click on one of the thumbnails to see a fullsize version of the features available in ASAP Utilities.

  • Vision Control – This is used to quickly see or change the settings that affect how your workbook or sheets are displayed. For example, you can hide the sheet tabs located at the bottom of the workbook.
    ASAP Utilities Vision Control
  • Select – This is used to select cells in unusual manners. For example, you can select only the cells with the smallest or largest numbers in them.
    ASAP Utilities Select
  • Sheets – You can print multiple sheets, remove empty sheets, protect sheets, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Sheets
  • Range – Perform advanced sorting, special paste operations, manage the selection of ranges, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Range
  • Fill – Insert values before or after the current value, quickly number cells, insert date and time, list filenames in folder, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Fill
  • Columns & Rows – Remove empty rows and columns, merge data from several sheets, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Columns Rows
  • Objects & Comments – Select and delete objects (buttons, checkboxes, etc…) on the current sheet.
    ASAP Utilities Object Comments
  • Format – Wrap text, add borders to the page, remove unused styles, remove conditional formatting, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Format
  • Numbers – Convert formulas to their values, convert percentages to numbers, spell out numbers in words, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Numbers
  • Text – Control text case (first letter uppercase, all uppercase, all lower case, etc…), delete leading and trailing spaces, insert before/after a value.
    ASAP Utilities Text
  • Formula – Convert formulas to their values, create a custom formula error message, change reference style, use a significant number of decimal places, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Formula
  • Web – Remove or extract all hyperlinks, clean web imported data, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Web
  • Information – Display what page the current cell lies on, count the number of characters, list all sheet names, count the number of sheets, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Information
  • System – Close multiple files at the same time, change the default folder, remove all macros, resize the Excel window, and more.
    ASAP Utilities System
  • Import – Importing supports Excel files, delimited text files, and dBase files.
    ASAP Utilities Import
  • Export – You can export to another Excel file, to an HTML table, an image file, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Export
  • Launch – Quickly pull up the Windows Calculator, Windows Explorer, Notepad, and more.
    ASAP Utilities Launch

As you can see, ASAP Utilities is a powerful addition to the already feature-rich Excel application. Over the past five or so years I’ve used it a countless number of times, and I can only imagine how much time it has saved me. And if you’re just using it for personal use I don’t think you can beat the no-cost price tag.

ASAP Utilities Homepage

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Oct 01

Add More Functionality to the Windows Title Bar

Posted in: Freeware, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on July 28, 2011 by CyberNet.

Window manager

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
I’ve seen a bunch of different apps that add buttons to the title bar of your windows, but I think Chameleon Window Manager may be the one that has all the right actions. If I’m going to give up some of the space in the title bar for additional buttons I want to make sure that I’m going to use them, and over the last week I think I’ve used all six of the different buttons Chameleon has to offer.

Here’s a list of the various actions represented by the buttons:

  • Move the window to the left or right side of the screen (left/right are separate buttons)
  • Set the transparency to a specified level
  • Pin the window to always be on top
  • Rollup the window so that all you see is the title bar
  • Minimize the window to the System Tray

The other thing I like is that you can customize which buttons you want to appear, and you can also adjust the order they appear in by hovering over one of the sections in the options. When you do that arrows will appear along the right side that let you move that section up or down accordingly.

Chameleon Window Manager Homepage (Windows only; Freeware)

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