Universal Extractor

I became aware of Universal Extractor when I started trying to make ordinary programs work as portable apps. Now, there's a lot more to making an app portable than extracting the install files into one location, but I'll save that for another post. Basically, Universal Extractor will extract almost any kind of archive, which includes many install and setup exe's. Simply right-click on any file and choose uniextract and the program will attempt to extract the file. Very handy for those driver installs we techs all curse, when we simply want the basic driver files! Get it here: http://legroom.net/software/uniextract

Drive Image XML (DiX)

Drive image XML is an excellent alternative to Ghost or other drive cloning and backup software. It copies drive-to-drive, backs up partitions and drives, restores them to the same or different partition or drives, and allows you to browse the backups. The big advantage is that DiX does all of this live, while Windows is running, by using Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.

DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista only. The program will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.

I was able to make a portable version of it to carry on my USB drive, and they mention on the website that it is installable on a bootable PE disk.

Get it HERE

authorPOINT Lite

I was trying to use the feature in Power Point the other day which turns a PP presentation into a web presentation. This worked, but the resulting folder was huge, and I was unable to embed any other media in the presentation afterwards. I then tried Open Office Present because it has a Flash export feature. I got a Flash slideshow, and could use other Flash objects on the same page, but it was click-to-advance only!

This program, authorPOINT Lite, takes the presentation and turns it into a nice Flash package, with a navigation tree and other tools. They also offer a free hosting service for your finished Flash presentation. Download Here

Screamer Radio

I have been a Shortwave listener for years. I was given a radio by a friend of my parents that received shortwave when I was about 7 years old. I have owned many since then, becoming a collector.

The hobby has been slowly dying out in the modern age. Modern technology has caused many of the shortwave broadcasters to reduce or even eliminate their world services, and the utility stations (government and commercial) have been replaced by Internet and digital satellite based services. I kept a few radios though ,and still turned them on and listened once in awhile. Until I found this program that is.

Net radio is fun. You can find many of the world-wide outlets that are gone from shortwave on the net. The problem has been formats, and directories. Too many different places to look and you need three or four players to listen. Some of the stations even force you to listen with a browser-based player only.

Screamer Radio is a nice little program that plays almost any streaming format internally, and has a nice self-updating directory with over 5000 entries! The directory and favorites list are in XML format, allowing customization. You can add custom stations easily. There is also a record function that works very well, and support for Winamp plug ins in the newest beta version.

As a small aside, there is a video equivalent of screamer that I have found. Not as polished, but also very interesting. It's called JLC's Internet TV. Same idea applied to Internet TV.


Download Screamer Radio Here

Download JLC's Internet TV Here

PStart, and Portable Applications

I recently acquired a Sandisk Cruzer Micro 1GB. It came with the U3 system installed on it. I have been using it every day now. I run Firefox, Skype, and several other apps port ably. I can't say enough about how convenient this is, even with some of the small shortcomings, but what to do if you have a non-U3 compatible USB stick?

There is a handy website, portableapps.com, that hosts portable applications and even a whole portable suite. They are also the default home for a few of the U3 apps. This turns any USB key into a portable app host. If you want the start-menu style functionality then I recommend an application called PStart. Pstart is available for free and gives a non-U3 USB stick U3-like functionality, except that it won't auto run.

When I was looking at PStart I noticed that they have a U3 version. This solves an issue that I had wondered about. How to make a non-U3 portable application easily accessible on my U3 drive. I have PStart installed and set to auto run when the U3 drive is inserted. I get a second icon in the system tray next to the U3 one, that can be used to launch other non-U3 applications I run. Very handy!

I have put Miranda on it, and now use it as my default messenger. (update: I have since switched to Pidgin Portable)

KillDisk

I found this program when I was having an issue with a USB pen drive. I had installed the USB version of Damn Small Linux, DSL creates a 50 meg partition to install to, and leaves the remaining portion of the drive useless, and when you want to un-install Linux, the entire drive is useless. I couldn't get any of the normal Windows tools or partitioning utilities to remedy the situation either.

This program is actually meant as a drive eraser. It writes zeroes to the entire drive. The beauty of it is that it sees USB drives as regular hard drives and allows you to kill the ENTIRE drive not just the partitions on it. It works on all sorts of flash media and seems to be useful in recovery from all kinds of corruption. I have yet to use it for its intended purpose yet, but I'm sure it does that well also. A registered version gives you more erasing options.

The executable you want to run is: KD_WIN.EXE. It looks like a DOS program but is Win32. Make sure you know what you are erasing when you run this because it is VERY effective! Remember, this program is for when all else has failed and you simply want the drive back, it will ERASE EVERYTHING!

Download it here

And, After a Long Absence.... Hamachi, and Avvenu

I know... I started this page, and then...NOTHING!! I apologize to any and all of you that might have landed here expecting to read something interesting. I intend to make this a regular task now, so here we go:

The company I work for in Manhattan has 12 offices around the country. We connect them using hardware-based VPN's. We also have a few outside employees using IPSEC VPN client software provided by our VPN firewall vendor. The software doesnt always work the way you want it to though, and is more than some people really need.

After the server-based remote-control software GoToMyPC.com got popular, and followed by LogMeIn, which I reviewed here previously, I wondered if the same technology could be used to create a VPN connection. Enter Hamachi!


Hamachi is a centrally-managed zero-configuration VPN service, consisting of free client software, and the server cluster which is managed by Hamachi (now owned by LogMeIn Inc.) You install the client on two computers anywhere in the world, and create a network between them. You are allowed up to 16 free clients per network. There is also a very reasonable professional version without the connection limit, with many extra features, and the ability to run as a service in Windows.

I have tried it with my systems, one in NJ, one in upstate NY, and my offices here in Manhattan and Long Island. I am able to share drives, printers, and connect Outlook to my Exchange server here in the city. I have closed many of the ports I had open in my system for access now that I can use Hamachi to get remote access between systems instead.

There are obvious security questions, similar to the ones raised at Hamachi's parent company and their competitor GoToMyPC, but the reviews I have read seem to have faith in Hamachi's creators and claims of a secure system. This is not a replacement for my hardware VPN's but gives me a quick and easy alternative when I have to get someone functional off site with little or no notice. Read more at Wikipedia.



Avvenu was mentioned recently in an article in PC Magazine about smartphones. Being the recent recipient of a Verizon XV-6700, I was interested. It isn't for just Pocket PC's though, it works on desktop computers too.

Avvenu installs as a service on your PC and allows you to log in to a web based interface from any other computer and browse your shared files. It shows photos as thumbs automatically and streams your audio files to the media player of your choice. You can also make folders and files available to someone else with an emailed link that expires at a pre-chosen interval. You could host your own photos to friends and family, stream some music to yourself or someone else, and get instant access to forgotten files from any PC or handheld when you cant get to your own computer.

I am still discovering uses for both of these services everyday, and would be able to ramble on for hours about them. I will spare you though.....