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BrownSugar

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Everything posted by BrownSugar

  1. Congrats! Is Avanti better than Winff as a front end for ffmpeg? I know that I recommended it to you but I haven't had a chance to install it. My recommendation was based on the site reviews. Is it now your converter of choice? I seem to switch between Winff and Mediacoder, and use Virtualdub and Avidemux on occasion for editing.
  2. Do you (and others who've posted here about it) think this version of Ashampoo is better than earlier (and less bloated) versions of Nero or the free combination of Imgburn and Burrrn? By the way, that Ashampoo.com home webpage is one of the slowest loading sites I've ever seen. Between the flash files ad, and the slow moving menu, you can miss a meal trying to read about two titles!
  3. This blog claims that there are currently 26 Ashampoo software titles that have free license keys offered by Ashampoo. Has anyone tried the Ashampoo Magic Unintaller? http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/0...h-500-for-free/
  4. Winff @ http://www.winff.org is a good front-end for the ffmpeg converter and it includes IPOD presets. More good front ends can be found here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/ffmpeg
  5. Thanks for taking the time to search for it. I think I used the program many years ago (with a Windows ME install). I haven't thought about using it with Firefox and Flashgot because, if I my recall is correct, it's a large installation, and the freedownloadmanager.org site has some questionable associations, according to siteadvisor. http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/freedownloadmanager.org Most reviews seem to indicate that the download manager is clean, and the willingness to share the source code should be an indicator of it. However, one has to wonder why they don't remove the other problematic software downloads from the site.
  6. Sorry I didn't reply to this thread last week but I just found it. I keep reading that Free Download Manager went "open source" but the last time I checked, I couldn't find the binary code. Is it on Sourceforge.net?
  7. There's a nice little front end GUI program for the ffmpeg video converter called Avanti which seems to be getting some attention at videohelp.com: http://forum.videohelp.com/topic343287.html#1833980 As far as GUI front ends for ffmpeg go, I'm a fan of Winff, but Avanti looks like it gives the user much more control of the conversion. From what I can gather, you need to install your own copies of ffmpeg and avisynth (both freeware) and set the menu accordingly in Avanti. Link to ffmpeg (the link above links to an avisynth download): http://www.videohelp.com/tools/ffmpeg (I prefer downloading from the actual author's site, and those links are provided by videohelp.com, too.) Both Super and Mediacoder use the ffmpeg and mencoder conversion tools, but from perusing their forums, I gather that divx and xvid synchronization problems are not uncommon, with various solutions offered. I'm not sure how successful either program is in correcting a/v synch, though. Has anyone tried Avanti?
  8. BrownSugar

    Avast! 4.8

    It will be interesting to see how the new edition fares in the next av-comparatives.org review. Avast was always a step below Avira, NOD32 and Symantec. I really liked Avast when I had it installed (especially the bootscan) but it's malware scores weren't always the best. However, the Feb. 2008 results rate Avast Pro 4.7 highly: http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2008_02.php.
  9. Super seems to be one of the most popular free converters but my preference is Mediacoder because of the easy navigation of the website and its opensource platform. However, you might want to try Virtualdub and Avidemux (see www.videohelp.com for more info. Look at the tools section). Avidemux is an all-in-one container, meaning that it contains all the codecs you will need. It's similar to Mediacoder in that regard and unlike Virtualdub which requires you to have the codecs pre-installed. The absolute easiest program is Winff. It's up to version 4 and I find it excellent for simple conversions. The new version now has drag and drop capability. Previously found at www.biggmatt.com, it now has its own site: http://www.winff.org/
  10. The OA paid version got excellent results over at Matousec, but how will the free version do? http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-p...sts-results.php I'm currently using ZA Pro because that's what I started with and I'm very used to it. It's somewhat resource heavy at about 35 mg for its two processes, but it's very configurable. I'm tempted to use the Comodo free version, but from what I've read on other forums, their version 3 (currently in beta) is the one to watch. Does the Comodo free or Online Armour (paid or free) allow for the things I like about ZA Pro, which is the ability to configure each individual url to block practically everything you can think of- one by one (cookies, pop-ups/unders, javascript, vbscript, embedded objects, mime, web bugs, private headers, animation, banner ads, etc). For example, I have ZA Pro set to block EVERYTHING except for allowing the site to load. and after the site is added, I uncheck item blocking as necessary. For my favorite sites, I'll allow javacript but not activex unless absolutely necessary.
  11. I could never quite figure out Boclean. I know that it scanned soon after bootup and updates daily, but I could never actually find a report as to what it did. I don't think you can scan on demand with it, either. I saw one or two alerts that I investigated, but I'm not sure if it's worth keeping in my startup group. I've got to read the recent comments about it on the Wilders forums.
  12. I have similar protection plus a firewall and Avira Antivir Premium (3 month trial). Do you find that Firefox (I'm assuming you're using FF because of Adblock) has trouble connecting to certain sites or does so slowly because of all the protection? I find that as soon as Firefox reaches a certain ad script in the page or something like images10.newegg.com, the page just doesn't load. As far as the spyware goes, Spy Sweeper is very close to being the best. Unfortunately, it's a resource hog. Check the newspaper and online ads. It's often offered for free after rebate, and it's good to have in reserve even if you don't load it. If you do, you can always deactivate it, and just run it on demand when it's deemed necessary (after updating the definitions). I also think Google offers a free modified version of Spyware Doctor. You should also look into installing the free versions of Superantispyware, A-squared, and AVG Anti-spyware. You don't need to have them active and can just run them on demand (the free versions are on-demand scanners anyway). The only free anti-malware program I know of that provides resident scanning is Spyware Terminator. As per Rridgely's recommendations, I would choose the Comodo firewall over ZA free. ZA Pro is an excellent firewall but it's free version isn't even close. Comodo's free firewall has received excellent reviews: http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-p...sts-results.php Avira's PE Classic and Avast are probably the two best free AV programs offered. Check around the security forums for extended free trial offers and the online/newspaper ads for free after rebate offers on Kaspersky and Norton 2008. Norton AV's later versions have gotten lighter on resources, and it always scores among the top AV programs on A-Vcomparatives.org.
  13. Amazing that you should mention Akamai Technologies. This has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. I suggest that many here install Sysinternals.com's excellent little utility called "TCPview". I monitor this quite often and it's frightening to see how many major sites use Akamai. I called my ISP about a year ago to find out if they use them and it was hard to get an answer (the rep probably didn't know and was somewhat surprised to hear that a user is monitoring IP connections). Open your browser and connect to MSN.com, Google.com, etc. and you will probably see a port connection to Akamai open for several seconds and close. Don't you think that the average user should be informed? After all, how do we know what information Akamai is collecting? Most people don't even know that they're assisting the major online servers. We all probably connect to Akamai Technologies more than any other site on the web.
  14. This is great news. I had a 6 month trial that was expiring. Although it sometimes comes up with false positives (see Nirsoft utilities, mp3directcut, etc), it may be the most thorough payware AV available next to Norton 2007 and the new Norton 2008. Yes, I know some love NOD32 and Kaspersky, but Antivir consistently scores (along with Norton) some of the best ratings on av-comparatives.org, and their forum is very helpful. They're open with information and always submit the size of the definition files. The one problem can be the time taken for the download, but between their excellent heuristic options, malware coverage in the premium version, and included anti-rootkit scanner, no computer user should pass up this opportunity if you're currently using a free AV. At the very least, take advantage of this premium offer and keep your current free AV as an on-demand scanner. Just make sure that you disable its services and start-up entries before you load Avira Premium, and do the same with Avira if you scan with the 2nd AV. In regard to Norton, the most recent versions are much lighter on resources, always score very highly in the reviews, and the Symantec site is practically the bible for researching how to manually delete trojans and viruses from the OS and registry. Remember I'm referring to NAV and not NIS. If they offer it for free after rebate, I would suggest getting it. I bought the NAV 2007/Norton Ghost 10/Partition Magic 8 box set for free after $70 in rebates and I had the rebate checks in about a month. Unfortunately, since I'm still running Windows 2000 Pro, I can't use Norton 2007 (yet), so I have it sitting in the bullpen.
  15. Thanks for the link. Is there any way to register online without loading the software first, so that the key can be emailed? When you run the exe file, does it first present a box for registering and then take you to an online site, or do you have to install the full program first before registering? I see a line that states "online registration required", but the only link I see is for the download of the file. By the way, is this a beta version? Version 4.41 seems to be the latest version of Ashampoo WinOptimizer: http://www2.ashampoo.com/webcache/html/1/p...ct_2_1606__.htm
  16. I've thought about that in case of an emergency like a suspected infection. However, I have reservations about using online scanners just to check the disk or partition to see if my current AV program is working correctly. Using an online scanner means opening a port so that your whole computer is exposed. I'm sure that the online scanners are maintained by the most reputable vendors, but how can one be sure that along with the scanning, sensitive files aren't being uploaded without our knowledge?
  17. Very good. Antivir always picks those up as possible trojans. What I'd really like to know is how many people are employed by all these AV vendors (other than Symantec and McAfee). Kaspersky has a web page that actually lists who's on duty at the moment (does anyone recall the url for that?). I sometimes get the feeling that the staffs aren't that large. Avast seems to be growing, but I don't know about the rest. Etrust EZVirus is owned by Computer Associates, a very large company, but that one is never rated too highly.
  18. I don't know how many of you use the MVPS HOSTS file, but between that, SpywareBlaster and Spybot's Immunize function, there has to be plenty of overlap. When you add the Adblockplus filters, there's alot of looking up going on when loading web pages. I'm not complaining, as I think all these preventative measures probably do as much to block scripts and other malware than many AV programs.
  19. After using all those registry cleaners, you've never had a problem with MS Office? That's usually the first program that has a problematic startup after using registry cleaners. At the least, it causes a malfunction with the help files, causing the program to ask for the install disk every time you select help.
  20. Do you have AVG's scanner heuristics options set to "high" (if it allows for that)? Download a few of Nirsoft's excellent system utilities and then see if you have any false positives: http://www.nirsoft.net
  21. Except that without a codec pack, you can't do video editing or converting with a free tool like Virtualdub. Other free tools like Avidemux will edit and convert but not with the accuracy of Virtualdub. Mediacoder, Super and Autogk include all the codecs (like Avidemux) in their directory, but those are only AV converters. The alternative is to avoid loading the full K-lite package and just installing ffdshow, plus something like Koepi's Xvid codec from the K-lite installer and then add codecs or filters as you need them.
  22. While you're on this subject, do those of you who use Firefox have that automatic BBC Rss feeder enabled? I hope it's automatic and comes built into Firefox because I've seen it since I loaded FF! I really could do without it as it takes some time to get those headlines. Is it as simple as deleting the "Latest Headlines" icon in the toolbar?
  23. Media Player Classic is one of my favorites too, but Secunia.com issued an alert for it last week regarding a vulnerability with avi files: http://secunia.com/advisories/26806/ Someone posted in another forum that there's a later version than 6.4.9.0, but it must be a patch from another developer as it's not on the official Sourceforge url.
  24. I still can't see the images in this thread, and I saw all except the #4 image in the Mozillazine link, which means some blocker is blocking the image. I shut down Adblockplus, and removed all the Zone Alarm Pro security for this site, and still can't see the image. I usually have no problems with other forums and embedded thumbnails or photos.
  25. Dennis - Thanks for the review. Just a few questions. 1) How big is the Paragon directory (in terms of megabytes). Not that it matter in these days of 500 gig hd's for $100, but I just thought it would be interesting to know as Jkdefrag is about 3.7 mg with the GUI. 2) Did you monitor the install? Jkdefrag adds very little to the registry in addition to it's own small directory. 3) Does Paragon add a service, and if so, can it be set to "manual" 4) Does Paragon add anything to startup or does it just run on demand? On another note, no matter what adjustments I make to my firewall (ZA Pro) or Adblock Plus, I can't see your images using Firefox. Any suggestions?
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