Paint.NET v3.36

Whats New:

• Improved: Effect rendering should be a little faster now.
• Changed: Implemented some changes to the "Add Noise" effect that were suggested by a forum member.
• Changed: The canvas background color is now always #c0c0c0.
• Changed: The auto-updater should now correctly detect .NET 3.5 and newer, which will help to save bandwidth when Paint.NET v4.0 is released (it will require .NET 3.5).
• Fixed: Paint.NET now works on a system that has the .NET 3.5 SP1 "Client Profile" installed.
• Fixed: When zoomed in and the cursor is to the top-left of the image (negative coordinates), the ruler is now highlighted in the correct area. Fixed: The effect rendering system no longer sets the "Tag" property on the configuration dialog.
• Fixed: Some incorrectly authored plugins would cause a crash when loading their support details (author, copyright, etc.).
• Fixed: There was a bug in the color wheel for IndirectUI that caused it to show the wrong values at initialization.
• Fixed: There was a performance problem for effects that used the IndirectUI color wheel control.
• Fixed: In some rare cases, Paint.NET would crash while shutting down.
• Fixed: When using the "Fixed Ratio" feature of the Rectangle Selection tool, it would crash if 0 was specified for both the width and height.

Paint.NET v3.36

CDBurnerXP 4.1.2.745

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

* Folder sizes are now shown in the compilation window
* When printing audio covers, the tag information will be used in stead of the file name (if available)
* More native looking menus (especially on Vista)
* Fixed NullReferenceException in the "report working drive" dialog
* Fixed ArgumentException for the case that faulty visual styles are in use
* Fixed a KeyNotFoundException when closing a dialog (.NET bug)
* Fixed a FormatException when ripping (renamed!) audio tracks from the hard drive (which does, of course, not work anyway)
* Fixed an overflow exception when copying audio discs
* Fixed an overflow exception when calculating the remaining time
* Fixed an OverflowException when determining the available speeds
* Fixed a MissingFieldException in the startup dialog

CDBurnerXP website

PhraseExpress: Autotext clipboard utility

PhraseExpress organizes your frequently used text snippets:

* Expand abbreviations and common phrases as you type.
* Launch applications by entering text shortcuts.
* Autocomplete phrases with the predictive text feature.
* Quickly handle email responses.
* Works in any Windows program.

PhraseExpress will save hours of your valuable time and is the ideal solution for office workers, editors, translators, technical support and help desk staff, call centers and developers.

PhraseExpress Home

OpenedFilesView v1.18

OpenedFilesView displays the list of all opened files on your system. For each opened file, additional information is displayed: handle value, read/write/delete access, file position, the process that opened the file, and more...

Optionally, you can also close one or more opened files, or close the process that opened these files.

This utility is especially useful if you

try to delete/move/open a file and you get one of the following error messages:

• 
  
• Cannot delete [filename]: There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use.
• Cannot delete [filename]: It is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again.

When you get one of these error messages, OpenedFilesView will show you which process lock your file. Closing the right process will solve this problem. optionally, you can also release the file by closing the handle from OpenedFilesView utility. However, be aware that after closing a file in this way, the program that opened the file may become unstable, and even crash.

OpenedFiles Home

andLinux : Linux on windows

andLinux is a complete Ubuntu Linux system running seamlessly in Windows 2000 based systems (2000, XP, 2003, Vista; 32-bit versions only). This project was started for Dynamism for the GP2X community, but its userbase far exceeds its original design. andLinux is free and will remain so, but donations are greatly needed.

andLinux uses coLinux as its core which is confusing for many people. coLinux is a port of the Linux kernel to Windows. Although this technology is a bit like running Linux in a virtual machine, coLinux differs itself by being more of a merger of Windows and the Linux kernel and not an emulated PC, making it more efficient. Xming is used as X server and PulseAudio as sound server.

andLinux is not just for development and runs almost all Linux applications without modification.

andLinux.org

WinSCP 4.15 released

WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.

Features:

* Graphical user interface
* Translated into several languages
* Integration with Windows (drag&drop, URL, shortcut icons)
* U3 support
* All common operations with files
* Support for SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2 and plain old FTP protocol
* Batch file scripting and command-line interface
* Directory synchronization in several semi or fully automatic ways
* Integrated text editor
* Support for SSH password, keyboard-interactive, public key and Kerberos (GSS) authentication
* Integrates with Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) for full support of public key authentication with SSH
* Explorer and Commander interfaces
* Optionally stores session information
* Optionally supports portable operation using a configuration file in place of registry entries, suitable for operation from removable media

WinSCP website

SE-Explorer 0.0.18.396

SE-Explorer is a free simple and powerful file manager for Windows.

Main Features:

* Two file windows side by side
* Enhanced search function
* Tabbed interface
* A lot of build-in viewers
* Portable version available

HomePage: se-soft.com

Pidgin 2.4.3 released!

Newer pidgin is here now.It has mostly some fixes for crashing.Check the changelog for all changes.

version 2.4.3 (07/01/2008):

libpurple:
* Yahoo! Japan now uses UTF-8, matching the behavior of official clients
and restoring compatibility with the web messenger (Yusuke Odate)
* Setting your buddy icon once again works for Yahoo! accounts.
* Fixes in the Yahoo! protocol to prevent a double free, crashes on
aliases, and alias functionality
* Fix crashes in the bonjour protocol
* Always use UTF-8 for Yahoo! (#5973)
* Fix a crash when the given jabber id is invalid.
* Make the IRC "unknown message" debugging messages UTF-8 safe.
* Fix connecting to ICQ
* Fix a memleak when handling jabber xforms.

Pidgin:
* Include the send button plugin in the win32 build
* Various memory leak fixes

Pidgin Home| Download

Best jabber clients for Windows...

Hi friends, many of you will think that i am addicted to IMing.Yeah,may be but i like to discuss about different IMs.It is one way through which the world is connected.

Mostly we all use different jabber clients for different purposes.Some having it for personal private office network to avoid heavy bandwidth usage,some uses gmail and other jabber based services.

There are many jabber clients listed on jabber.org, but recently they have changed the way to represent it.Now they allows users to rate their favorite client which are arranged on OS bases.


I am talking about windows based IMs.And no others would be of interest because of less nice options for other OS. Say, for Linux pidgin and for MAC adium is there.

On windows, i have used pidgin,Gajim,Psi,spark and Tkabber. And as per me, first three are better.Currently i am using Gajim.

Check the list in attached image.You can see how Gajim got ahead of Spark.May be because spark is heavy java based thing which just sits in your memory eating lots of memory and create every other program you run!

But my surprise is Psi.It is on top!And yeah it is not so good as compared to Gajim.But though many people have rated it better.Yeah,everyone has his choice.Psi 0.12 RC release is there,but its not having such great improvements to rate 5 star!And i am waiting since a long time for newer and better version of Gajim,but i think its development is on shelf!But still its usable, with older GTK+.Newer GTK+ is creating problems.

Lets see where this competition goes.Its based on if any new IMs will be added or these will be improved.And what new thing will be introduced?Like video/Audio chat,Phone calling or something new we can't thing right now? :)

share your idea what new can be introduces in jabber clients which you want or you think can be of our benefit.

For more on jabber, jabber.org

Microsoft promised to extend XP support!

This is amazing news i read! Microsoft said, that they will support Windows XP upto 2014.And they will provide patches and hot fixes for XP for support upto April 2014.

May be this is because of lower acceptance of windows vista OR they have fear of lossing on windows users? Whatever it is, but this is good move by them for corporates. Many corporates are still using windows XP and not gonna upgrade their hardware for vista.

Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte said,

"Our ongoing support for Windows XP is the result of our recognition that people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years,"

So obviously,as we have discussed before that if MS will stop XP support,then all corporates will be on linux? And may be some MS guy had read that :D? May be,but this gonna help lazy corporates who don't want to upgrade ;).

More @ InformationWeek

Dell is always Hell - charging to downgrade to XP!

I had never liked dell configurations for desktops specifically.I prefer assembled ones.And for laptop, i suggest HP/IBM.

But this is something different weird thing friends. Dell has announced that it will stop selling new computers with Windows XP from now on, unless buyers spend an extra $50 to downgrade their operating system!

What is this?I mean this is something like buying some gas for your car and you will be charged for cleaning and air feeling!I think dell thinks that people will not take vista and they will get benefit. And yeah, sure if people will want XP then dell gets some more bucks on each purchase!

I suggest you,first, don't purchase dell :D. And if you, then take it as it is. And install yourself Windows XP you owning at home.So no need to pay extra $50.

As Microsoft said,

"Last year you told us you weren't quite ready to say goodbye to Windows XP. We listened. That's why we delayed our plan to stop selling it until June 30, 2008."

,dell planned to get money from this also.So clever. :)

Windows XP Future | vnunet

Go-OO 2.4.1.5

Go-OO is a fork of OpenOffice that has quite a few impressive features which really ought to be in official OO, but for some reason or another aren't, such as support for OpenXML, better Microsoft Binary support, Excel VBA macros, Visio diagrams and Word Perfect Graphics support. It also boasts significantly better start times -- at least on our poorly equipped test machine.

- Better interoperability
Compared with up-stream OO.o, it has better Microsoft binary file support (with eg. fields support), and it will import WordPerfect graphics beautifully. If you are reliant on Excel VBA macros - then Go-oo offers the best macro fidelity too. If you expect your spreadsheets to calculate compatibly, or you get embedded Visio diagrams in your documents, you'll want Go-oo.

- Better functionality
Go-oo's user interface is more familiar, with lots of small pieces of polish. We have built-in (working) multimedia integration on Linux, a beautiful solver component, and your Chinese should look sane. We also integrate with your system better by default: eg. enabling native file-selectors on Linux.

- A Faster application
From first-time startup, where we sort I/O to reduce seek cost, to a highly optimised second start application and a systray quick-starter on Linux we are faster. We use less memory than up-stream, we link faster, use better system allocators, and don't waste so much time & memory in the registry. Go-oo performance is hard to beat.

Go-OO Home Page

IETester - Test Your Site

IETester is a free web browser specifically designed for testing web sites in Internet Explorer including IE 8 beta, IE 7, IE 6, IE 5.5 on both XP and Vista.

Like any web browser, IETester has the usual forward and back buttons, refresh, stop, home, and favorite buttons, but it also has a special feature that allows you to launch new tabs which render the web site in different versions of IE. With IE8's public beta just around the corner, web site owners need to verify that their sites are going to display properly in the new browser, which runs in standards-compliant mode by default.

More @ Ajaxian |IETester Homepage

Pidgin 2.4.2

This is it! Just yesterday sandy talked about it and they heard him i think :). Though not solved what we wished (broadcast and one logfile), but this is new release. Changelog is here which has not introduced any amazinf change or feature!.

They provided to set 'Escape' key to close IM window instead of 'Ctrl+W'. Which you can easily use even in older versions also by changing ctrl+w in 'accels' file in your application data dir.

;(gtk_accel_path "

/Conversation/Close" "w")

Change the above line to,

(gtk_accel_path "

/Conversation/Close" "Escape")

libpurple

o In MySpaceIM, messages from spambots are discarded (Justin Williams)
o Strip mIRC formatting codes from quit and part messages.
o IRC now displays ban lists in-channel for joined channels.
o Fixed a bug where the list of loaded plugins would get removed when switching between different operating systems.
o Fix reception of IRC PART without a part message on Undernet (fixes a problem with litter in the channel user list).
o IRC no longer crashes on /list on servers which erroneously omit RPL_LISTSTART.
o Update the NetworkManager support to use D-Bus directly, instead of libnm-glib. Hopefully it's stable now. It will now compile by default if you have D-Bus support and NetworkManager.h. (Elliott Sales de Andrade)
o MSN buddy list synchronization is now more forgiving, only asking about buddies who have disappeared completely from the server list and not those that have simply moved groups.
o IRC will now try to append 1-9 to your nick if it is in use, instead of substituting the last character with 1-9 where possible.
o Bonjour buddies will be saved persistently if they're moved out of the "Bonjour" group. (Eion Robb)

Pidgin

o The typing notification in the conversation history can be disabled or customized (font, color etc.) in .gtkrc-2.0.
o Added a plugin (not installed by default) which adds a Send button back to the conversation window. People without physical keyboards have a hard time with the lack of the button.
o Clicking on the buddyicon in the conversation window toggles the size of the icon between small and large.
o The settings of a chat (e.g. Handle in an XMPP chat, or Exchange in an AIM chat) can be edited from its context menu in the buddy list.
o Add a "Present conversation window" preference to the Message Notification plugin; the "Raise conversation window" option does not unminimize windows or draw attention to them when they are on other workspaces--the "Present" option should.
o Add a preference to set Escape as the keyboard shortcut for closing the conversation window.
o Add an option in the context menu to disable smileys in the selected text in the conversation history/log viewer. This should help people who regularly paste code in conversations.
o Add a preference to choose the minimum size of the text input area in lines.
o Moved the "Local alias" field in the Modify Account dialog to be below the "User Options" heading on the "Basic" tab.
o Number of room occupants is now shown in chat tooltips where possible

eneral

o The configure script now dies on more absent dependencies. The --disable-xxx arguments to configure can be used to bypass unneeded dependencies. This will also cause the configure script to die if an --enable-xxx option is used and the dependencies it requires are missing.
o The Evolution integration plugin must now be explicitly enabled. Use the --enable-gevolution argument to configure to enable it.
o The Contact Availability Prediction plugin must now be explicitly enabled. Use the --enable-cap argument to configure to enable it.

Finch

o New default binding ctrl+x to open context menus.
o Menu triggers and other bindings will no longer conflict.
o Middle click pastes the internal clipboard (when mouse support is enabled).

Download: Pidgin 2.4.2

10 Alternatives for Microsoft Word on Windows

How many times have you felt that is MS Word the only word processor that I have for Windows. Well can't blame you because most of the times me too have felt the same. So i browsed and browsed and browsed till i can browse no more and have come up with list of 10 alternative. I am sure you will love it.

1. OpenOffice.org Writer: This is arguably the most commonly used alternative to Microsoft Word. OpenOffice is a complete suite of applications similar to those found in the Microsoft Office suite; Writer is the word processing program in that suite. It is very similar in style to Word and also has functions that allow it to create and edit web pages as well as to export PDF files. The functionality of this program is comparable to Word and its eighteen-year history points to the viability of this product as a true Word alternative. The best part about it is that it's free. Notably, this product can also be used with Linux and with Mac OS X computers that have the X Window System installed on them.
2. KWord: Although it's fallen out of popularity in recent years due to the proliferation of word processing programs, KWord has historically been a fairly well-established alternative to Microsoft Word. It is based on frames which means that it's convenient for moving and editing large amounts of text as well as for incorporating images into documents. It is designed to be easy-to-use and flexible enough to meet the needs of a diverse group of people (from student to professional).
3. Microsoft Works: This is the Microsoft Word alternative that most people are familiar with as it comes on many computers as a standard free version of Microsoft Word. It has a lot of the same basic functions but also has some flaws and isn't considered a favoured alternative by most people. For the person who only needs to write basic documents that don't need to be widely shared, it can be a useful program.
4. StarWriter: This affordable software allows users to have all of the same basic features as Microsoft Word without having to actually use Word. It's great for people who are seeking an alternative primarily on the principle of a dislike of Microsoft or a desire to see this word processing giant face more competition. It is compatible with Word so that collaboration with others who use Word isn't made difficult by using this program. This software is also commonly used by Linux users.
5. TechDigm Office: This application suite includes a word processing program which is comparable to StarWriter and can be easily used as an alternative-but-compatible Word program.
6. AbilityWrite: Yet another alternative that is similar to StarWriter and TechDigm is AbilityWrite, the word processing program that is part of the Ability Office application suite. The benefit here is that Ability Office comes in five different versions which each include AbilityWrite along with different combinations of other programs (such as a spreadsheet program) which means you can pick and choose what you need in an application suite.
7. Atlantis: Take a look at the home page of this Microsoft Word alternative and you'll see that it looks a little messy. That's deterred a lot of people from taking a test run of this product even though it's available for a free 30-day trial before purchase is required. Those who have tried it, though, say that it's an easy-to-use alternative to Microsoft Word which has many of the advanced features that Word users enjoy at a lower cost than what Word typically runs.
8. Evermore Integrated Office: This is a useful but complicated alternative to Microsoft Word due to the fact that it's more than just a word processing program. Instead of opening up separate programs (for example, Word and Excel), you open everything up in one place. That makes it a great alternative for people who are seeking a really streamlined system but not so great for those people who are just going to want a word processor without all of the extras.
9. yWriter: This is a niche word processing program designed specifically for writers who are working on novels or other book-length works. It has features which make it great for these long works include organizational methods that make it easy to move chapters around and tools that allow you to track your progress on the work. It can be used on its own or file can be saved as .rtf files and opened with other word processing programs.
10. Nota Bene: This is another niche word processing program but this one is designed for academics and researchers. It has specific academic functions such as automatic bibliography and citation assistance. It also has advanced search functions that allow users to find their own quotes and documents using a search engine style method of searching. It's pricey software ($100+ depending on the version you want) but those who regularly write academic papers that need to be in tip top form may find that the cost is worth it.

Discuss It: Linux is faster then windows...

I was just surfing net and i found this long but cool article which talks about speeds of Linux and windows.

It talks about how Linux is optimized that it can run on even lower configurations also which win XP can't. Windows applications are good and fast on Linux compared to windows itself! Isn't its strange? Yeah and also windows based games runs faster with wine on Linux. It shows some benchmarks also for results of comparisons.

Main reasons which can be the main cause of windows slowness are,

-Linux use preemptive multitasking which means 'processes are forced to share CPU rather they want to or not'. And windows use Cooperative Multitasking which means 'process currently controlling the CPU must offer control to other processes'.

-windows is based on registry so while booting, it will load registry in memory. This is not the case with Linux.

-Windows has only one desktop which uses more resources and on the other side, Linux has many desktops which are configurable and many new are coming for different distributions.

The best lines said on source,

So, it seems to me the primary reason why Linux runs faster than Windows is because it is better designed to work with hardware, in the context that it handles operations in a more efficient manner than Windows.

In my opinion, I also get the perception, that perhaps the development of Linux is guided by people who seek to maximize performance. It does not appear to be developed predominantly by those who seek to maximize profits.

Full article @ ubuntuLinuxHelp

Endless Reboot Cycle for AMD/XP SP3 PCs

How about watching your PC continually reboot? That's what some aggravated Windows XP users have been doing Friday after installing the XP service pack 3 (SP3).

The problem appears to primarily affect AMD -based computers, though there are also some cases in which Intel -based machines will also run into trouble, Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft who now runs a Windows-related blog, wrote in a recent post.

Mention of the reboot problem first popped up on the Microsoft forums on April 23, prompting some to speculate that the poster's problem was due to an outdated version of SP3, but users who installed the final version soon reported the same issue.

via pcmag

OpenOffice 3.0 beta

The OpenOffice.org Community is pleased to announce that the public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is now available. This beta release is made available to allow a broad user base to test and evaluate the next major version of OpenOffice.org, but is not recommended for production use at this stage.

The most immediately visible change to OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the new "Start Centre", new fresh-looking icons, and a new zoom control in the status bar. A closer look shows that 3.0 has a myriad of new features. Notable Calc improvements include a new solver component; support for spreadsheet collaboration through workbook sharing; and an increase to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer has an improved notes feature and displays of multiple pages while editing. There are numerous Chart enhancements, and an improved crop feature in Draw and Impress.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 will support the upcoming OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard, and is capable of opening files created with MS-Office 2007 or MS-Office 2008 for Mac OS X (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.).

OpenOffice.org 3.0 will be the first version to run on Mac OS X without X11, with the look and feel of any other Aqua application. It introduces partial VBA support to this platform. In addition, OpenOffice.org 3.0 integrates well with the Mac OS X accessibility APIs, and thus offers better accessibility support than many other Mac OS X applications.

Paint.NET v3.31

This is mostly a servicing release to fix a few important bugs.

* New: Enabled integration with Window Clippings, which is a high quality screen capture utility by Kenny Kerr.
* Fixed: Fixed a crash with the Open/Save dialogs if the Documents or Pictures directories were either inaccessible or if the user did not have certain file system permissions.
* Changed / Fixed: The hotkey for Adjustments -> Levels is now Ctrl+Shift+L instead of Ctrl+Alt+L. This was preventing certain characters, such as the Polish 'ł', from being typed.

Download

Windows XP SP3 - now via Windows Update

Windows XP SP3 is finally here for those that use Windows Update, and here is a direct link to the stand-alone version of SP3 for x86 XP systems (32 bit).

Here is an interesting article regarding SP3 performance, ignoring the fact that Vista SP1 is still faster than XP SP2/SP3 users will enjoy a performance boost over SP2. When will people learn that Vista ain't all bad!

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

Installer for Windows XP SP3 English, 32 Bit [316M]
SP 3 for Windows XP via Windows Update