I covered software programs or Windows Explorer extensions that would display hard drive space usage before. (for example Folder Size or JDiskReport Hard Drive Analyser) FoSiX is another tool that displays the storage consumption of each system partition that, hard drive and external device that is currently connected to the computer.

The software provides a clean interface. It is a bit unfortunate that one has to press the scan button before the storage consumption of a hard drive is shown in the main window. It would have been more elegant to make that an automatic option after clicking on the drive letter.

Still, the files in the root folder and all of its subfolders are displayed once the scan of a drive has finished. Each folder is listed with it’s space consumption on the drive. A nice feature is the ability to click on a folder to be taken to the next level of that folder where the program is again showing all subfolders and the amount of storage space they take up.

continue reading "Visualize Hard Drive Space"

Instant Messengers have a feature to change the current status of the active user. The different statuses range from available over do not disturb to invisible. The Instant Messenger contacts see the statuses of their buddies unless the status has been set to invisible. Invisible means that the user is online but showing as offline to his buddies.

It usually means that he can perform all actions to some of his contacts, like talking to them, while the rest thinks that he is not at his computer.

Buddy Spy is a software program for Yahoo! Messenger. It can detect if a buddy is indeed offline or invisible. The software can also check if the user is currently broadcasting with his webcam, if he is in any chat room and if he is on an alias profile or default profile.

continue reading "Yahoo! Messenger Buddy Spy"

Now look at that. Brad Linder over at the Download Squad discovered a portable version of my favorite media player SMPlayer. SMPlayer itself is a frontend for the highly popular MPlayer which can play most media formats right of the box. It’s a multi-plattform player available for Windows and Linux. The portable version of SMPlayer is available for Windows operating systems. One thing that bothered me after downloading the software was that it was packed in 7z format.

I had to install 7-zip to unpack the package, not sure if there are other packers that support the 7z format by now. That is a bit unfortunate and it would have been nice if another format would be available as well.

SMPlayer is ready to play any video file that you throw at it after uninstallation. Just start the player and load the video that you want. The portable and installation version of SMPlayer use virtually the same amount of computer memory when running.

continue reading "SMPlayer Portable"

Microsoft Powerpoint is one of the most popular tools for creating presentations. The only flaw, if you would call it that, is its linear approach. Each slide has an exact position in the presentation which makes it problematic, but not impossible, to present different aspects of the topic.

Microsoft pptPlex is a plugin for Microsoft Powerpoint coming right out of the Microsoft Office Labs. What it does is that it provides an alternative way of presenting slides by offering a tour through a zoomable canvas instead of the default linear approach

Microsoft pptPlex currently works with Powerpoint 2007 running on Windows XP or Windows Vista. The official website contains several tutorial videos that explain the basic concepts of the Powerpoint plugin and are recommended to watch before installing the plugin.

continue reading "Microsoft pptPlex Plugin For Powerpoint"

I always used to shy away from companies that provided customers with tools to completely remove their products from a computer system. Two notorious companies that provide those tools are Symantec / Norton with their Norton Removal Tool and McAfee with their Consumer Product Removal Tool. These tools are indispensable when removing Norton or McAfee software products from a computer system.

The last time I used one was when I bought a new laptop which had all kinds of trialware installed. The McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool removes all 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 versions of McAfee consumer products including trial versions.

The tool works on all Windows NT systems including Windows XP and Windows Vista. The interesting aspect is that McAfee recommends to remove the product from the Remove Programs option in Windows before running the cleanup tool.

continue reading "McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool"