Killer Apps, Tweaks & Important Updates!

[Astrotoy7]

*puts up bat signal for negsun*

 

In the interim > here are the latest

 

DirectX [November 2008]

 

mtfbwya

[tk102]

I came upon this one by accident yesterday while hunting for other things... I have to give credit to the author of this one because it's so deviously simple, dangerous, exciting, and potentially useful -- just like me.

 

Windows Enabler

 

What it does: Enables 'grayed out' windows controls like checkboxes, radio buttons, and menu items in many applications.

 

Why it's useful: Think about how many times you've wanted to click something only to see that it's disabled. True, oftentimes there's a good reason for that, but you'll never know otherwise. It's your computer, you do what you want. As the website says, "you’d be surprised at how often it comes in handy."

 

Why it's dangerous: Now you're bound to second-guess every safeguard encoded into the apps on your PC. Careful with that curiosity, meow-meow.

 

How to use it: Run the .exe. That will put an icon in your system tray. Single-click the icon. That will turn on the enabler. Now just click a normally disabled control in some other application to enable it. When you're done enabling things, single click the system tray icon to turn it back off. Right-click and select Quit to remove the icon.

[Negative Sun]

Update Dec 9th, 2008

 

Current drivers:

 

Nvidia WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs tested)

 

December 2008

 

178.24 (XP x86)

 

178.24 (Vista x86)

 

178.24 (Vista x64)

 

The above WHQL drivers are compatible for anything nVidia 6-series and up, even the GTX-200 series!

 

There is a newer (more performant) version of the WHQL driver as well, but only for the 8, 9 and 200 series, find them below:

 

180.48 (XP x86)

 

180.48 (Vista x86)

 

180.48 (Vista x64)

 

Older versions tend to be more stable, but the newer ones can improve performance in certain games if that is what you need

 

If you have older < 6100, FX/MX etc cards, it is suggested you read the release notes before downloading any current version. If you have a Non-Windows OS, please check nvidia.com, of course.

 

For the adventurous, non-WHQL beta drivers(usually those packaged with new cards or leaked by beta testers). Recommended only if you are after a specifically mentioned bugfix, or are a driver junkie

 

Courtesy Guru3d

 

December 2008

 

180.84 (XP x86)

 

180.84 (Vista x86)

 

180.84 (Vista x64)

 

09/12/2008:GeForce Power Pack

For nvidia series 8 or above only. This pack includes a selection of

*PhysX and CUDA enabled drivers v 177.92 (currently not in standard drivers)

*nvidias folding@home client \o/

*Games and tech demos. including an unreal tournament physX mod

 

It comes in at a whopping 3.5Gb though, so plenty of patience and bandwidth will be required!

 

 

ATI Catalyst WHQL

December 2008

 

Catalyst 8.11 (XP x86)

 

Catalyst 8.11 (Vista x86)

 

Catalyst 8.11 (Vista x64)

 

* * *

 

Vista Codec Pack

 

FFDshow, Xvid, DivX and common tools. Custom install allows you to select only bits you want.

 

Current versions and release notes at compilers site

>>HERE:

 

December 2008

 

5.04 (Final) VCP for Vista x86

1.5.7 (Final) x64 Components add-on for Vista x64 >>a must for x64 Users! (Install along with the standard VCP)

 

Site includes links for Quicktime alt add on for VCP and some very useful tools/apps

 

K-lite Codec Pack

 

December 2008

 

XP/2000/Vista > 4.3.4 standard, basic, full versions & releases notes >>HERE

 

Or those that prefer the XP Codec Pack

 

December 2008

XP Codec Pack 2.4.4

 

* * *

 

A bit overdue, I know

 

Have fun!

[Astrotoy7]

those playing with the funky new google chrome browser will be relieved to know you can enable adblocking by using 3rd party add-on called 'privoxy'

 

details HERE

 

speaking of adblocking, those stuck with/preferring IE can vastly improve their online experience by installing this addon bundle

 

http://www.ie7pro.com

 

Edit: Gotta love this: If you like Google chrome's 'tabs on top' layout then check out this great chrome adaptation for Firefox (its still an 'experimental' add on so you'll need to create a (free) account with FF to get to it. Been working great for me so far

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8790

 

*uninstalls chrome*

 

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

Ive come across a similar applet called Take Control Back... I'll post it later. Ive been using it and a great app called Restorator(Trialware) to hack into system dlls to pull out and tweak visual/xml elements

 

A few FF Addons I really like:

*Fission >> turns your address bar into a status bar

*Flagfox >> show pretty flags of the IP of whatever site you visit ; lolz : many p2p sites in Sweden !!

*Omnibar >> combine search and address bar into one

*Stylish >> allows customised extensions, like the hack to put tabs on top in all themes

*Foxmarks >> store/backup bookmarks online. Great if you use multiple pcs and want to sync bookmarks

*FireScribe >> post directly to your blog from a new tab/window. Improved image uploading support(though still sucks for blogger accounts due to hitch at Google's end)) nb. I want to make it clear dont have a blog but I have to maintain one for my gf

*Rulerdark Theme>> All black theme for the emo/powerconscious types among us. Has chrome style buttons and with stylish, you can plonk tabs on top

 

mtfbwya

[tk102]

Internet Explorer 8 is now available for download for Win XP, Vista, and Server 2003

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/download-ie.aspx

 

Some videos on its use:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/videos.aspx

[SkinWalker]

I just skimmed this thread and noticed that there weren't any Linux Apps listed!

 

Well... some of the apps listed swing both ways. VLC is one. I use it in Linux almost exclusively for my video files (or any other media file). You can even use it to stream across a network if you want.

 

When I'm not using VLC, I like Miro and lately I've been downloading all my podcasts via Miro. But it handles video subscriptions (get your weekly Diggnation, Geek Brief TV, etc.). Miro supports a variety of operating systems (but its best in Linux!).

 

Gimp - because not everyone can afford Photoshop. Gimp is open source and multi-platform. There's a Windoz version. There's also an off-shoot that has tried to imitate the functionality of Photoshop. Gimp does just about everything PS does, but it isn't laid out the nearly same. Being Open Source, other developers are free to play with the code.

 

Open Office - I use it nearly everyday! Multi-platform -works on Linux, MS, etc.

 

Xournal - this is one of my favorites. It only works on Linux, however. Its a PDF annotation tool that lets you mark-up, comment, and highlight (among other things) PDF files and even export them as new PDF documents that can be opened marked/highlighted in Adobe reader and printed. I have a version on my Nokia N800 which I use to mark up journal articles that I'm reading for grad school, then I plug into a printer at school and print the highlighted & marked pages to a color printer. I've even used marked up PDFs in a presentation in a lecture I gave. A cool tool!

 

The best killer app I've come across in a while:

 

Ubuntu - a totally free and well done operating system that I've been using for several years. And each release just gets better. I installed the current distribution on a machine that previously only had Win XP and had Firefox up and surfing the net in about 20 minutes from Power up to signing in to iGoogle.

[Astrotoy7]

I just skimmed this thread and noticed that there weren't any Linux Apps listed!

 

Likely because persons using Linux as their chief OS are savvy and patient enough to wade through the lines of terminal window commands to achieve most tasks

 

That being said, apps like gimp, vlc and open office are great alternatives.

 

mtfbwya

[jrrtoken]

Since we're talkin' Linux...

Ubuntu Studio is a fork of Ubuntu meant for multimedia editing. As such, it's preloaded with tons of open source audio, video, and graphics editors.

 

Blender is one of the best 3D modeling programs I've ever used. Although it's more suited for animation and rendering rather than creating actual model files for games and whatnot, it is on par with 3ds Max in terms of complexity and quality of its renders.

[SkinWalker]

Naah... the terminal window is dying the same slow death that the dos command window did with MS Win machines.

[Ray Jones]

Avidemux

Convert, transform, edit pretty much any video format into pretty much any other video format. You can open any .VOB file and save it as .MP4 or whatever. An awesome easy to use piece of open source software.

 

 

GAP - the GIMP Animation Package

Exract animations or videos into images or put images together into animations or videos. Very useful to create animated GIFs from videos.

 

 

MythTV

One of my favorites, it enables me to watch TV over the laptop with the USB-DVB stick on all other computers all over my network.

 

 

MPD - the Music Player Daemon

Runs on the laptop connected to my stereo, so I can listen to music over it. I can control it from every other machine in my home. I also can stream the music to any machine I want.

 

 

WINE

I play my favorite Windows games using WINE. I use it at work, too.

[Astrotoy7]

MythTV

One of my favorites, it enables me to watch TV over the laptop with the USB-DVB stick on all other computers all over my network.

 

There are a huge amount of linux based HTPC optiosn there, so many it gives me headache to think of the number I personally like Elise Mediacenter, but theyre all variations on a theme of course. For those looking to achieve the same thing on a windows based system...

 

If you have Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, it has the Media Center applet built in. There is an XP Media Center edition, which is still used by some, but no longer officially supported. If youre in XP, best use Media Portal, which is OSource project. Finally there is the Windows 7 beta. 7077 is the most recent[leaked] build, and Release Candidate 1 is around the corner. Ive been HTPCing since 2006 and Im mightily impressed with win7. Some bemoan no native bluray, but apart from that, it is very user friendly, and with Astro's own custom black/transperent themes, looks much prettier than the cruddy default blue. There are many cool themes available for media portal, and (some) variations of the Linux options(Elise MC looks great)

 

 

mtfbwya

[Ray Jones]

No, the point is to have one or more TV cards in one PC somewhere in the corner and make it/them usable on all other PCs so as if they all had cards in them, hence client/server structure.

 

Elisa can't do that, and err, actually, none of the "apps" you have listed can.

 

My goal is that I don't have to attach a ton of antennas and DVB sticks and cables to my laptop to watch TV, not to have a fully fledged MC.

[Astrotoy7]

Thats good Ray. Thank you for the info.

 

Read carefully, I wasnt countering, just listing some other apps, like the thread title states

 

and err, actually, none of the "apps" you have listed can

 

Things are never so black and white Ray Not knowing what exists does not mean it doesn not exist[/metaphysical]

 

As you know, we try give a more fuller picture here, hence:

 

Referring to vista/w7 specifically, there are (at least) 3 rock solid options:

 

i) Using a server device('PC somewhere in the corner') with a network tuner such as the HD Homerun These actually work on every platform from Myth to MPortal, XP, Vista and W7(beta). You can't do it wirelessly with this specific model, but unless your running a 802.11n network, I wouldnt fancy your chances of a stable 1080i stream on 802.11g, esp if you live in a big place with brick walls and such.

 

If you're able to splurge on a 802.11n setup, you probably wouldnt be wanting to watch TV on your laptop, but on nice 1080p LCD/Plasma/OLED/Projection display...

 

In any event, to continue:

 

ii) If you need wireless and have a 802.11n setup, best go with the linksys media center extender (which you can get for $95.00 USD) allows remote streming of live tv from the tuners over in your centralised media center pc. The wireless-n can handle 1080 broadcasts no sweat, and HDMI out gives you a dazzling pic on your TV. But the presence of older analog outputs(composite and s-video) means you can plug this gadget pretty much any TV(except really really old ones!!)

 

 

Alternatively,

 

iii) You could use an xbox 360, which has built in media center extender functionality to stream live tv from your media center pc.

 

>Both of these above options plug straight into your TV, and are much cheaper than a lappie.

 

It all really depends on what your aims and budget are. If you are into gaming and already have a pc running vista, the xbox 360 gives you the most fun, with an almost effortless ease of setup. Something you cant easily say applies to a non Linux savvy user about Myth.

 

Mac users have the Apple TV option as well, though that relies on "on-demand" content from the net rather than internal tuner sharing Some workarounds are abailable to extend the device's limited 'out of the box' functionality

 

There are also similar devices using linux floating around, particularly those using the xbmc platform, which were originally made to run of the first gen xbox. The XBMC project has since blossomed to include win and mac integration(though not as stable on latter as that phase of its development is relatively new)

 

mtfbwya

[Ray Jones]

Good lord, Astro. The point of watching TV on my laptop is that there's nothing near that reminds on anything home entertainment centre/TV screen like thing, sometimes not even a power outlet. Like my balcony, the backyard, bathroom, kitchen or my bed.

 

 

Thats good Ray. Thank you for the info.

 

Read carefully, I wasnt countering, just listing some other apps, like the thread title states

Read carefully yourself, I just told you that you've missed my point about MythTV.

 

 

Things are never so black and white Ray Not knowing what exists does not mean it doesn not exist

Things become quite black and white when we talk about a 2 PC + 1 tuner card + Linux only setup, Astro. I know I can buy tons of stuff and windows applications and whatnot, but I didn't want to, because I had everything that's needed. And I know very well my options when it comes to home theatre systems since mankind had Laserdiscs and THX. Been there, done that. There's no need to spend endless money when all that I want is to watch TV.

 

 

ii) If you need wireless and have a 802.11n setup, best go with the linksys media center extender (which you can get for $95.00 USD) allows remote streming of live tv from the tuners over in your centralised media center pc. The wireless-n can handle 1080 broadcasts no sweat, and HDMI out gives you a dazzling pic on your TV. But the presence of older analog outputs(composite and s-video) means you can plug this gadget pretty much any TV(except really really old ones!!)

 

[...]

 

Alternatively,

 

iii) You could use an xbox 360, which has built in media center extender functionality to stream live tv from your media center pc.

 

>Both of these above options plug straight into your TV, and are much cheaper than a lappie.

More alternatively, instead of buying extra devices for some hundred bucks, use VLC and one of its remote control interfaces to stream multimedia content or live TV from your MCPC. Plus, most nVdia cards/laptops with an nVidia card have video/s-video/DVI/HDMI out connectors nowadays. :~~

 

It all really depends on what your aims and budget are. If you are into gaming and already have a pc running vista, the xbox 360 gives you the most fun, with an almost effortless ease of setup. Something you cant easily say applies to a non Linux savvy user about Myth.

< tuner card + PC + http://mythbuntu.org/

[Astrotoy7]

...I know I can buy

...but I didn't want to,

...because I had everything

...And I know very well

...All that I want..

 

So many "I's ! Heavens, Ray this isnt a blog page!

 

We have both provided a great range of information on windows, Linux and even Apple options for watching multimedia, in a variety of contexts. This is the purpose of this thread. Anything else, is particularly irrelevant.

 

If you want to write a guide about linux based htpc or streaming server/client setup, it would be a wonderful resource to have here for those interested. Alternately, if you want to do a more detailed focus/showcase thread on your setup, stating your personal preferences, that would be great too. That would be a more appropriate place for such discussion.

 

 

* * *

 

OT: Back to the apps.

 

There are a bunch of desktop management proggies out there, turning your desktop into cubes and what not. Here's a newer one for PC called Bumptop, that sets up your desktop to look like a room essentially. You can pin stuff to walls, flip around, pile things up. Perfect for you that want to have ALL your icons on once screen in front of you as opposed to flipping through various virtual desktops. It is optimised for touchscreen and tablet pcs, and also has multitouch capability, but you can use it with a plain ole mouse of course too. Sys reqs are pretty low, I run it on a 4yo tablet with geforce4 32mb There's a free version available, see the linkied article for download link and demo video

 

 

mtfbwya

[Ray Jones]

Well, of course, Astro.

[Astrotoy7]

As it seems negsun has disappeared off the face of the planet techforum, I'll provide this very late update...with apologies

 

Update May 23 2009

 

Current drivers:

 

Nvidia WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs tested)

 

185.85 (XP x86)

 

185.85 (Vista x86)

 

185.85 (Vista x64)

 

Windows7 Beta:

 

185.85 Windows7 x86

 

185.84 Windows7 x64

 

 

* * *

 

ATI Catalyst WHQL

 

Catalyst 9.5 (XP x86)

 

Catalyst 9.5 (Vista/Windows7 x86)

 

Catalyst 9.5 (Vist/Windows7 x64)

 

 

* * *

 

Vista Codec Pack

 

The VCP (compiled by shark007 from msdn) now supports XP as as well. Includes FFDshow, Xvid, DivX and other common tools.

Custom install allows you to select only bits you want. x64 Add-ons are a must for vista/W7 x64 users(install alongside with the x86 pack)

 

There is an all-new config GUI which simplifies advanced config options for all common filetypes:

5.26 (Final) VCP for XP/Vista x86

 

1.8.6 (Final) add-on for Vista x64

 

Windows7 beta codecs:

 

Fully featured codec pack support is now available for those trialing the Win7beta.

 

Windows7 codec pack x86 1.1.4 (Final)

 

1.20 (Final) add on for Windows7 x64

 

 

* * *

Finally, just in case you missed it: Applies for DX9 and 10, XP and Vista:

DirectX March 2009

 

* * *

 

very overdue, I know

 

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

Windows Vista Service Pack 2

 

Here's an FAQ via Technet Nb. It is NOT a cumulative update, so requires you to have SP1 before your install it

 

x86 Download Page [384 MB]

 

x64 Download Page [577 MB]

 

These are the five language stadalone downloads, so if you need more than the 5 languages, you're perhaps better off checking out the All language standalones.

 

mtfbwya

[Negative Sun]

Update July 13th 2009

 

Current drivers:

 

Nvidia WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs tested)

 

186.18 (XP x86)

 

186.18 (Vista/Win7 x86)

 

186.18 (Vista/Win7 x64)

 

 

* * *

 

ATI Catalyst WHQL

 

Catalyst 9.6 (XP x86)

 

Catalyst 9.6 (Vista/Windows7 x86)

 

Catalyst 9.6 (Vist/Windows7 x64)

 

 

* * *

 

Vista Codec Pack

 

The VCP (compiled by shark007 from msdn) now supports XP as as well. Includes FFDshow, Xvid, DivX and other common tools.

Custom install allows you to select only bits you want. x64 Add-ons are a must for vista/W7 x64 users(install alongside with the x86 pack)

 

There is an all-new config GUI which simplifies advanced config options for all common filetypes:

5.3.3 (Final) VCP for XP/Vista x86

 

2.0.1 (Final) add-on for XP/Vista/Win7 x64

 

^ These are fresh out 11/07/2009 !!!

 

Windows7 beta codecs:

 

Fully featured codec pack support is now available for those trialing the Win7beta.

 

Windows7 codec pack x86 1.2.1 (Final)

 

Couldn't find x64 add-on for Win7 but the one for Vista says "WinAll" so maybe that'll work? Maybe Astro could figure that one out for us? Cause the old link he posted to didn't work for me...

*Yep. the x64 installer is now unified for all versions of windows - Astro

 

 

* * *

Finally, just in case you missed it: Applies for DX9 and 10, XP and Vista:

DirectX March 2009

 

* * *

 

Enjoy

[Negative Sun]

Update January 2010

 

Current drivers:

 

Nvidia WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs tested)

 

195.62 (XP x86)

 

195.62 (Vista/Win7 x86)

 

195.62 (Vista/Win7 x64)

 

 

* * *

 

ATI Catalyst WHQL

 

Catalyst 9.12 (XP x86)

 

Catalyst 9.12 (Vista/Windows7 x86)

 

Catalyst 9.12 (Vista/Windows7 x64)

 

There is also a hotfix for the 9.12 Catalyst to adress certain specific issues:

 

WinXP x86-64

 

Vista/Win7 x86-64

 

 

* * *

 

Vista Codec Pack

 

The VCP (compiled by shark007 from msdn) now supports XP as as well. Includes FFDshow, Xvid, DivX and other common tools.

Custom install allows you to select only bits you want. x64 Add-ons are a must for vista/W7 x64 users(install alongside with the x86 pack)

 

There is an all-new config GUI which simplifies advanced config options for all common filetypes.

 

5.5.2 (Final) VCP for XP/Vista x86

 

2.2.6 (Final) Win7 codecs x86

 

2.3.1 (Final) add-on for XP/Vista/Win7 x64

 

 

* * *

 

Finally, just in case you missed it (still the latest version AFAIK): Applies for DX9 and 10, XP and Vista:

DirectX March 2009

 

* * *

 

Enjoy

[Liverandbacon]

Some programs I've used/still use that have been useful in the past.

 

TrayIt!

A nifty little program that lets you minimize any program you want to the system tray. I like it because it reduces my taskbar clutter. Although the site doesn't mention Vista support, I've been running it in both Vista x64 and XP 32-bit with no problems.

 

CPU-Z and GPU-Z

CPU-Z gives you easy access to information about your CPU and other main components (except graphics cards) that would otherwise take a bit more searching. GPU-Z does this for your GPU. Very useful for overclockers, still useful for non-overclockers.

 

WinLAME

A useful audio encoding/decoding/conversion/cd-ripping tool. It supports a bunch of different formats.

 

WinFF

A nice GUI version of the command line tool FFMpeg, an easy to use, quite fast (at least on my pc) video conversion tool.

[stingerhs]

heads up to anyone sporting a Radeon 4800, 5700, 5800, or 5900 series graphics card: the new 10.3 Catalyst Drivers are expected to be made public this week. why is this so important?? because this particular set of drivers is supposed to improve gaming performance on just about every DX10 and DX11 game out there by a minimum of 3-5%. according to AMD's numbers, some games could benefit by as much as 30%.

 

and no worries: this update won't bake your graphics card.

[Astrotoy7]

and no worries: this update won't bake your graphics card.

 

seeing that some of AMDs cards nudge 100C on load, why would AMD need to bother with dodgy drivers to achieve excessive heat production/ineffective cooling !!

 

Hopefully we can get some independent verification of those numbers and which games and configs they apply to. 60 Frames/sec is the base standard for smooth gameplay, 3-5% improvement amounts to 1.8-3 FPS.. It isn't even worth mentioning surely.

 

The 30% improved games - different story. I hope the list is revealed and relevant configs tested and verified by third parties. Though it wouldn't be unusual for such dramatic improvements to be shown in crossfire setups - which just like SLI setups, have been hit and miss with various titles.

 

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

OK. Whilst negsun finishes off his 12th playthrough of ME2, here are the updates:

 

Update April-May 2010

 

Current drivers:

 

Nvidia WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs tested)

 

197.45 (XP x86)

 

197.45 (Vista/Win7 x86)

 

197.45(Vista/Win7 x64)

 

 

* * *

 

AMD Catalyst WHQL 10.5

 

THIS PAGE includes the many different options for Catalyst Driver/Control Center etc bits, and also includes a link to the Mass Effect 2 Hotfix for Radeon cards

 

* * *

 

Vista Codec Pack

 

The VCP (compiled by shark007) now supports XP as as well. Includes FFDshow, Xvid, DivX and other common tools.

Custom install allows you to select only bits you want. x64 Add-ons are a must for vista/W7 x64 users(install alongside with the x86 pack)

 

There is an all-new config GUI which simplifies advanced config options for all common filetypes.

 

5.6.8 (Final) VCP for XP/Vista x86

 

2.4.8 (Final) Win7 codecs x86

 

2.5.4 (Final) add-on for XP/Vista/Win7 x64

 

 

* * *

 

Finally, just in case you missed it (still the latest version AFAIK): Applies for DX9,10,11 - XP and Vista/W7 (nb. XP only gets DX9 updates of course)

DirectX March 2009

 

* * *

 

Enjoy