Slitaz

As I mentioned earlier, I was looking for an os that not only was as compact as possible (like Damn Small Linux) but also capable of being a full featured os if need be.

Well I found it in Slitaz.

The Slitaz people have done what I thought was impossible... a fully functional os in a 30 mg iso!

I installed Slitaz natively to see if it could live up to my hopes and dreams.

In about 20 minutes I was running firefox with java support, flashplayer support, full graphics driver support, and ready to rock!

Then I installed virtualbox and ran windows xp from a vbox hd file i had created earlier...

I am totally impressed with Slitaz,

It's my newest weapon in my arsenal of computer repair as well.

With very quick boot times and the ability to read and write to ntfs, I use it to fix Windows PC's.

I give Slitaz 10 out of 10 stars!



You can download it here:

Slitaz at Softpedia

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Duck Duck Go search engine

I found this while wading knee deep in an Ubuntu forum.

Duck Duck Go is a search engine designed to have the minimalistic look of google, but with so much less advertisement.

As the website itself states:

Use DuckDuckGo instead of Google and get:
• Zero-click info — useful info above the links.
• Privacy — we do not track you. Google does.
• Less spam & ads — 60,000,000+ useless sites gone.
• Official sites — labeled and on top.
• Targeted results — for ambiguous terms.
• Keyboard shortcuts — forget the mouse.
• Customization — change the fonts and more.
• No clutter — just results, not that other stuff.
• Search other sites — check out !bang syntax.
• Categories — explore related topics.
• Favicons — site icons next to results.
And actually get a response to your feedback!

Although Google does respond to feedback, It is a lot slower.

I think a lot of people will benefit from this.

Another reason I like this search engine, is if you type anything, and i mean anything, like for instance poop, on google, you will get an add that says buy poop now! or buy poop here!

Senseless ads, my one reason for not liking google as much as I used to.

If your interested in this search engine go here:
https://duckduckgo.com/

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Virtualbox

Virtualbox is a program that lets you run a virtual machine. It's free, and exceptionally useful.

Virtualbox allows you to install virtually everything from windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7 to Ubuntu and other linux distros, without changing your computer in any way.

You set up a file that represents a hd in the virtual machine, then choose a iso, or use a cd to install your OS.

If you have ever wondered what a linux dsitro looks like, how something functions or if you would like to run an os, like ubuntu but are stuck with windows, and don't like the idea of dual booting, this may be the best solution.

You can download it here:

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

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It's SIW good

"SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner."

Skipping the sales pitch, it's a free hardware diagnostic tool I always carry with me on pc repair jobs.

I use SIW mostly for finding out what hardware is inside without opening the case.

It's the best system information tool I have ever seen, and I have looked through most of them.

If you would like to add SIW to your arsenal, go here:

http://www.gtopala.com/

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Free Download Manager

I found this while scrounging around the net for a decent downloader, and I think i found a gem.

FDM allows you to restart most downloads, it comes with software to try and defend you against malicious software downloads, and my favorite, it allows you to seed your download with other download mirrors.

So for instance, you want to download program.exe. you download it from the sight you find it, the if you google the same program (the download, in other words google program.exe, for example) and find a mirror for it, you can then add it to the download in FDM and it will then get that program from the mirrors you give it. Very useful for speedier downloads, and for those of us who have a net connection that seems to go up and down in transfer speed like a yo yo.

You can download FDM here:
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

-Denny

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7 Zip a totally free multi format archiver

Today there are so many programs out on the net for free, some of which are compressed to speed up the transfer between computers. To uncompress them you need a program.

7Zip does an excellent job, is free, and has no ad-ware in it.

It's my personal favorite for my windows machine, and it's a solid part of my linux machine as well.

If you are interested in this awesome program, go here:

http://www.7-zip.org/



P.S. if you are a linux person using debian or some other program for getting your updates, getting 7zip is as easy as typing '7zip' (no quotes) in synaptic or other package fetcher)...

-Denny

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VLC Media Player

I wanted to talk about VLC Media Player today, have you ever been looking for that program that plays all your media? something that will play your music files (like mp3, m4a, wma, etc.) your dvd's, your music videos, your home video, whatever it is VLC will do it.

I found VLC looking for a good free dvd player, and was coming up short utill i found VLC.

If you have a media collection you might want to give this a try!

http://www.filehippo.com/download_vlc/



-Denny

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