My information Resource (blog.mir.net)

1. This is the second of a series of blogs on Free software that you can use I will be reviewing the software and explain how you can use this software to save money and increase your productivity. In this series I will be covering both Applications and Utilities.

CutePDF Writer- this is a free version of a product that allow you to create PDF files form your computer this install as a printer driver then what ever you print will become a PDF. This is a lightweight solution and gives all users the ability to create PDF files

Can be found here at www.cutepdf.com

Foxit Reader 3.0 PDF this allows you to read PDF files with a SMALL memory footprint of software that will open PDF files. Yes you can get Acrobat reader for but this user less space, and less memory

Can be found here at www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader

Reflect Free – Backups are issues for most computer users – they just do not do it! Here a solution that free and make an Image file of your computer so that if you lose your computer you can quickly re-image it and be up in running in minutes not days. You need to make updated Image every time you install new hardware or software then you can just use another backup process to back up the changed data. (Look at my Allway Sync)

Reflect Free can be found here at www.macrium.com

Allway Sync – This is a toll for syncing data file that have changed between two or more computer. However I use this to back up to a USB flash drive or USB Hard drive that way if you keep a Big Flash Drive and once a day or week connect it to your computer it will copy the changed files from your computer to the USB device and you have current backup of your data. Allway Sync can be found here at www.allwaysync.com

This was announced today that Windows 7 will be in stores beginning October 22nd.

Some people may not be able to wait for Windows 7 to arrive before having to order a new PC (like parents who are sending their sons or daughters off to school who need of a PC to take with them). Fortunately, there is no need to wait. Soon, customers will be able to take advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program. This program enables participating retailers and OEMs to offer a special deal to upgrade to Windows 7 for customers purchasing a qualifying PC. I’ll be doing another blog post about this program with a date and more details when we get closer to availability.

Obviously, Release To Manufacturing (RTM) is an important milestone on the path to GA. We anticipate that we’ll be able to make the RTM code for Windows 7 available to our partners sometime in the 2^nd half of July. We also expect to be able to make RTM code for Windows Server 2008 R2 available to our partners in this time frame as well.

This is the first  of a series of blogs on Free software that you can use I will be reviewing the software and explain how you can use this software to save money and increase your productivity. In this series I will be covering both Applications and Utilities.

Belarc Advisor – the audit tool for your computer. This tool will look at your computer and tell you what hardware your computer has. This best part is then it looks at Software and shows the same. When it find software it will give you the Product keys that you used to install the products, this includes Windows, and Office. Run this program and print out the report, IF you ever need to reinstall your computer form scotch this is the report you will with you had.

Belarc Advisor can be found here at www.belarc.com

Gparted – This is a Linux boot manger that allows you to resized drives, and move part ions. You can do this in Vista or windows 7 but this tool gives you more flexibility. Gparted can be found here at gparted.sourceforge.net.

Format Factory is an all in one sound, and video converter. This one application will convert almost any video or audio file form one format to another. You pick the source file or director and you can convert to the file type you like. One powerful function is that ability to pick a directory and batch convert

Can be found here at www.formatoz.com

Process Explorer – This is the urber geek tool see what happing in you windows computer. This tool will tell you what running but goes into much more detail buy showing you how much memory, Network and CPU.

Process Explorer can be found here at technet.microsoft.com

A new search engine form Microsoft that answer questions using the phrases as a full search focus go to www.Bing.com

To learn more go to  http://www.decisionengine.com/Default.html

Microsoft on Thursday took the wraps off Bing, the rebuilt search engine formerly code-named  Kumo,  (See past blog on KUMO) designed to replace Live Search. It’s a solid improvement over the previous search product, and it beats Google in important areas. It will help Microsoft gain share in the search business. It’s surprisingly competitive with Google.

Bing isn’t available to the public yet, but you won’t have to wait long. Starting on June 1, some users will get Bing search results from Live Search. On June 3 Bing will be Microsoft’s new default search.

I needed to upgrade a beta computer to RC to keep some apps that I did not have time to reinstall. The steps am show here are not the recommended process form Microsoft BUT do work.

1. Copy your Windows 7 RC DVD to your hard drive.

2. Go to the sources directory.

3. Edit the cversion.ini using notepad.

4. You need to  edit  the MinClient build number to a value  to 7000.

5. Save the file with the same name.

6. Run the Setup and  you can upgrade your version of windows Beta to Windows RC.

Enjoy

Download the Glossary of Job Descriptions for Information Technology.

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Mark Your Calendar for July 1, 2009 – Windows 7 Beta Expiration

Heads up! The Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1, 2009 so be prepared and plan to rebuild your PC with either the Release Candidate (RC) or another valid version of Windows before July 1, 2009. You will receive a warning two weeks prior to July 1; after this date, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours.

I have blogged about this product before and now Microsoft has announced

Microsoft Corp. today announced updates to its Photosynth technology that enable commercial use through integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth. The Photosynth integration into Virtual Earth signifies the first release designed to enable businesses to use Photosynth in commercial applications.

Photosynth software analyzes digital photographs and generates a 3-D model by “stitching” the photos together. These models, or “synths,” can now be viewed using Silverlight technology across multiple platforms. Virtual Earth brings together features, functionality and content that help consumers, businesses, citizens and governments bring location to life. It helps businesses and governments share location-based information, build better connections with consumers or citizens, and helps organizations make better operational decisions. With the integration of Photosynth into Virtual Earth customers will be able to create detailed 3-D views of anything from places to products and from hotels to homes.

Look at this site to see this technology in action http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/default.aspx