Leopard Review (Video) Mac OS X 10.5

Name: Leopards don't have spots
Category: Operating Systems
Operating System: This is an operating system for Mac
Difficulty: N/A

The release of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) is big news and I thought I would join the party by including a video review for all our Mac friends out there. So far most of the things I have read about Leopard are positive, but some users are disappointed the classic mac os support has been ended.

If you are looking for the new features of Leopard the official apple site lists over 300 of them here.

If you are looking for a guide to install Leopard then visit 2aday.com

Watch the video review here (from talkingtech)

Converting Audio Files to MP3

geeks.com
By Scott Nesbitt

If there's one thing that the computer world isn't short of, it's audio file formats. There are literally dozens of them. You've probably heard of a few, like WAV, WMA, RAM, ACC, FLAC , OGG , and others. It can be a confusing maze of acronyms and formats that leaves your head spinning.

It's safe to say that MP3 is the most popular audio format around. It's supported by every digital audio player on the market and in every media player – regardless of whether you're using Windows, Mac OS, or Linux. Not every audio file that you encounter will be an MP3, though. As such, you might not be able to play it on your MP3 player or media player. To get the file to play on your hardware or software, your best bet is to transform it to MP3.....

Read the full article here

Removing startup items - Vista Video Tutorial

Name: Speed up startup
Category: Removing what you don't need
Operating System: Windows Vista
Difficulty: This one is Grandma material!

Have you ever wondered why your computer takes so long to turn on? "It never was this slow" you say. Chances are it is because many of the programs you have installed over the years are loading when Windows starts. Many of these programs you don't even need or use.

I often wonder why so many programs default to starting when your computer turns on - hell how many times do we need that quicktime icon that many of us have in our toolbar every time the computer turns on. Many computers I see during my work have so much in their startup list that the computer is taking much longer to start than it should. I try to teach these people that many of these they just don't need, but most are scared to remove programs from startup because they think they will mess something up. I am here today to tell you - it's not that hard!

I came across a great video by pcwizkid again today, which explains the easiest way to remove startup items in Windows Vista. There is no fancy registry editing, no plying around with msconfig, no smashing your computer when it won't play that new game you bought (OK I can't promise the last one). This video only goes for 1 minute and is an absolute must watch for Vista users.

What advantage will this have?
Removing these mountains of programs that start when your computer does not only frees up valuable memory, but has the added advantage of speeding up the time Vista takes to start. Users with small amounts of memory 512MB or 1GB will possibly see a minor improvement in performance.

How do I do this?
Watch the video.


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File Formats - List of File Types (Extensions)

Name: Don't get in a *.tiz
Category: File Formats
Operating System: Windows
Difficulty: NA

Have you ever downloaded a file or seen a file on your computer and wondered what sort of file it is. I have many people ask me questions like:
what is a rar file?
what do I do with an ace file?
what program do I use to open an mpeg file?
etc. etc.

Well I certainly can't list all the file extensions here on my blog because there are literally thousands. I am going to list the most common file extensions for you to search through. However you might have one that is not on my list so what I will do for you is give you 4 links that will help you find the file extension you are looking for. This will hopefully help you work out what type of file you have and how you can use it.

File Extension Lists
Wikipedia file extension list - Great list with thousands of common and uncommon formats
Whatis File Extension List - Fantastic site, search by alphabetical lists of file types. Thousands of file types
UKT Support - Another alphabetical list of file types

Hopefully with my list and these three links you will find what you are looking for.

Common File Extensions (source fileinfo.net)

Text Files

.doc	Microsoft Word Document
.log	Log File
.msg	Mail Message
.rtf	Rich Text Format
.txt	Text File
.wpd	WordPerfect Document
.wps	Microsoft Works Word Processor Document

Data Files

.123	Lotus 1-2-3 Spreadsheet
.csv	Comma Separated Values File
.dat	Data File
.db	Database File
.dll	Dynamic Link Library
.mdb	Microsoft Access Database
.pps	PowerPoint Slide Show
.ppt	PowerPoint Presentation
.sql	Structured Query Language Data
.wks	Microsoft Works Spreadsheet
.xls	Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet
.xml	XML File

Image Files

.mng	Multiple Network Graphic
.pct	Picture File

Raster Image Files

.bmp	Bitmap Image
.gif	Graphical Interchange Format File
.jpeg	JPEG Image File
.jpg	JPEG Image File
.png	Portable Network Graphic
.psd	Photoshop Document
.psp	Paint Shop Pro Image File
.tif	Tagged Image File Format

Vector Image Files

.ai	Adobe Illustrator File
.drw	Drawing File
.dxf	Drawing Exchange Format
.eps	Encapsulated PostScript
.ps	PostScript File
.svg	Scalable Vector Graphics

3D Image Files

.3dm	Rhino 3D Model
.3dmf	QuickDraw 3D Metafile

Page Layout Files

.indd	Adobe InDesign File
.pdf	Portable Document Format File
.qxd	QuarkXpress Document
.qxp	QuarkXpress 6 Project File

Audio Files

.aac	Advanced Audio Coding File
.aif	Audio Interchange File Format
.iff	Interchange File Format
.m3u	Media Playlist File
.mid	MIDI File
.midi	MIDI File
.mp3	MP3 Audio File
.mpa	MPEG Audio File
.ra	Real Audio File
.ram	Real Audio Media
.wav	Windows WAVE Sound File
.wma	Windows Media Audio File

Video Files

.3gp	3GPP Multimedia File
.asf	Advanced Systems Format File
.asx	Microsoft ASF Redirector File
.avi	Audio Video Interleave File
.mov	Apple QuickTime Movie
.mp4	MPEG-4 Video File
.mpg	MPEG Video File
.qt	Apple QuickTime Movie
.rm	Real Media File
.swf	Macromedia Flash Movie
.wmv	Windows Media Video File

Web Files

.asp	Active Server Page
.css	Cascading Style Sheet
.htm	Hypertext Markup Language File
.html	Hypertext Markup Language File
.js	JavaScript File
.jsp	Java Server Page
.php	Hypertext Preprocessor File
.xhtml	Extensible Hypertext Markup Language File

Font Files

.fnt	Font File
.fon	Generic Font File
.otf	OpenType Font
.ttf	TrueType Font

Plugin Files

.8bi	Photoshop Plug-in
.plugin	Mac OS X Application Plug-in
.xll	Excel Add-In File

System Files

.cab	Windows Cabinet File
.cpl	Windows Control Panel
.dmp	Windows Memory Dump
.drv	Device Driver
.ini	Initialization File
.key	Security Key
.sys	System File

Settings Files

.cfg	Configuration File
.msi	Windows Installer File
.reg	Registration Information

Executable Files

.app	Mac OS X Application
.bat	DOS Batch File
.cgi	Common Gateway Interface Script
.com	Command File
.exe	Executable File
.pif	Program Information File
.vb	VBScript File
.ws	Windows Script

Compressed Files

.gz	Gnu Zipped File
.pkg	Mac OS X Installer Package
.rar	WinRAR Compressed Archive
.sea	Self-Extracting Archive
.sit	Stuffit Archive
.sitx	Stuffit X Archive
.zip	Zipped File

Encoded Files

.bin	Macbinary II Encoded File
.hqx	BinHex 4.0 Encoded File
.mim	Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Message
.uue	Uuencoded File

Developer Files

.c	C/C++ Source Code File
.cpp	C++ Source Code File
.java	Java Source Code File
.pl	Perl Script

Backup Files

.bak	Backup File
.gho	Norton Ghost Backup File
.old	Backup File
.ori	Original File
.tmp	Temporary File

Disk Files

.dmg	Mac OS X Disk Image
.iso	Disc Image File
.vcd	Virtual CD

Game Files

.gam	Saved Game File
.nes	Nintendo (NES) ROM File
.rom	Game ROM
.sav	Saved Game

Misc Files

.lnk	File Shortcut
.torrent	BitTorrent File
.yps	Yahoo! Messenger Data File

Speed up firefox - Video Tutorial

Name: Speed up!
Category: Speed up firefox
Operating System: XP
Difficulty: You could get your grandma to do this for you!

This is an absolute must watch if you use firefox. Following these tips will improve Firefox speed by up to 150%. The steps are easy to follow and most people should not find this very difficult at all.

I am going to also include tips for speeding up Internet Explorer in the future for all you Internet Explorer users.

Best Freeware Programs - Windows XP

Name: The Best things in life are free!
Category: Free Programs
Operating System: XP
Difficulty: You could get your grandma to do this for you!

What is freeware...?
Programs that are developed for people to use for free. Freeware is usually spyware are virus free, but it is becoming more popular to pack spyware together with freeware programs.

So what is this all about...?
I came across this great site that lists some of the best free programs for Windows and I thought I would share it with everyone. Most are for Windows XP, but many of these programs will work on other versions.

The list includes:
Audio Programs
CD DVD programs - including free video conversion programs
File Utilities
Games
Graphics editors
Internet Utilities
Free Office Software
Scientific Programs
Video Programs
and more....

This collection of freeware is really top quality and many of these programs are a close match for their often expensive commercial programs. It is well worth trying the free programs before you pay for something expensive - you might be surprised!

Where do I get it...?
The best freeware program list can be found at the following website:
XP Freeware

Speed Up Vista - Video Tutorial

Name: Performance Baby!
Category: Speed up Windows Vista
Operating System: These instructions are for Vista
Difficulty: You could get your grandma to do this for you!

What is this about...?
This great Vista video tutorial will help you speed up Vista by using the Performance tool in Windows Vista. This tool is also in Windows XP and is a great way of speeding up performance on these two operating systems. This is really great for people with low RAM, but will not make a really huge difference.

This video will show you which graphical "features" to turn off to help your computer performance. The best part about this tool is that you can turn off as many of as few as you like, but the more you turn off the better performance you will get. When I first used this tool on Windows XP I found that I could turn everything except one option off (use visual styles on Windows and buttons) and I didn't even notice a difference in graphics!

What should I expect if I turn these "features" off...?
If you have over 2GB of RAM there is a good chance you wont even notice a difference, but on slower computers you should notice a slightly faster startup time and will get a slightly better response time out of Windows!

Should I be careful of anything...?
This is the best part you can safely turn all of these options off and Windows will still run without any problems. Play around with the options until you find the settings you are happy with!

How do I do this...?
Simple...watch the video!