For those of you who do not know, Lotus Symphony is a new, freely available, office suite from IBM. It is based on the OpenOffice.org project but has been re-branded to lotus and has been extended and modified. You can get it at symphony.lotus.com.

My test machine is Windows Vista running in a virtual machine (VMware) with 1GB of RAM. I know this isn’t much of a system but most applications that I test should run fine in such a machine. If this is not sufficient for an application then I may question whether or not I would use it.

The installation was a breeze. I was asked where to put the program files and whether or not I wanted to associate Open Office 2 and 1.1 documents with Symphony. All in all the whole installation took about 7 minutes on my Window Vista test machine (which is in VMware). This does not include the time it took to download the 192mb file from IBM’s website. I have never been fond of downloading things from IBM because they have the proprietary, Java based, download manager that never seems to work quite right. The good part is that if you wish you can download the file directly via HTTP, which actually went considerably faster.

When you first open the program you are presented with a landing page with three big icons in the middle. From left to right they read: Create a new Document, Create a New Presentation, and Create a new Spreadsheet. Below these icons you will see some text with links to the support forums, Lotus website, and plug-ins page. If you don’t want to use these huge icons you can click the “new” button near the top left corner and select your next move from there.

One of the first things I noticed, aside from the intrusion of icons, is that when you click on New > Web Browser you are presented with a built in browser window that brings you to the Lotus Symphony page. I checked the browser version, www.whatsmybrowser.com, and it shows that it’s using the IE 7 rendering engine (-1). I’ve never seen the point to build a browser into an application such as this because I will never use it (maybe I’m the only one?). I would rather it simply open an instance of my favorite browser (i.e Firefox).

One more little annoyance I noticed right off the bat is that, at a resolution 1024×768, there is still a scrollbar present for the main pane of the program. I can’t see why a program suck as this needs more resolution than 1024×768 to be displayed without a scrollbar.

I was dissapointed that the default installation of Lotus Symphony does not include any templates. The option exists to create a new document from a template (New > From Template > Document) but when choosen this produces an error saying that the program can’t find any templates. You must download and install these seperately.

One feature I am actually quite fond of is the tabs created when you have multiple windows open in the program. They are lined up very nicely at the top just to the right of the New button. This makes it easy to switch between documents, unlike MS Office where you have a new instance of the program open and you have to switch between documents by either using ALT + TAB or clicking the program on the Taskbar.

The Preferences screen is located un the File menu which seems a bit odd to me as it normally appears under the Edit or Options menu but once you find it it’s not hard to remember where it is. The preferences screen itself is a little gross looking. The left column is white and the font isn’t the greatest. I absolutely hate the little plus signs you have to click to expand the various sections. I would prefer a straight down list of items.

All in all, from the little time I’ve played with Symphony, it appears to be a half decent application. Most of the standard office suite functions appear to be there such as formatting, revision tracking, document protection, etc. One advantage that this product has over most others (at least I think so) is the ability to re-brand and customize the look to your liking. There are instructions on the Lotus Symphony on how to use a plug-in to change the logo, colors, and other branded items to your own. I think that is pretty neat.

In the end, I would have to say that I doubt that I would ever use it on a regular basis as I already have my needs satisfied with OpenOffice.org and, frankly, there’s nothing I see here that provides anything better than what I already have. If you don’t beleive me that’s ok, just download and try it for yourself, you might like it.

TheNerd

Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector) is a neat little application that scans your PC and informs you about outdated (only if it contains vulnerabilities), end-of-life and vulnerable software. Basically what it does is scans your PC (sort of like a virus scanner) and then creates a report of the software that needs attention.

When I first scanned my computer it was rated at 85% (the percentage of software that is “safe”). It took me a while, but in about three quarters of an hour I had all the software on my Windows XP install  updated and had my results up to 98% (I still have some software in Vista that needs updating).

The neat part is that it also provides you a direct link to downloads of new software versions  and if there aren’t any downloads it provides fairly detailed info on how to fix it if possible.

The current version is RC2 and it is free for personal use. Please be aware that this software stays in contact with a database at Secunia to provide up-to-date information about vulnerable and end-of-life software. If that concerns you then maybe you would want to stay away from this product.

If you are interested in giving it a try go to psi.secunia.com. I’ve include some screenshots of the applicaton below.

PS> I heard about this on Security Now…

Most of us are familiar with the more popular media players (Creative Zen V 1GB Portable Media Player White/Orange-)
out there, like Winamp, iTunes and Windows Media Player, but recently I have been recommended two that I have never heard of before. One of these is called foobar2000 and the other is GOM Player. I decided to install both of these on my test machine (actually Windows XP Pro installed in VMware) and see how they worked.

First off I must say that I was much more impressed with foobar2000 than GOM player. Please bear in mind that foobar2000 is strictly an audio player but GOM does both audio and video.

The first thing I tested with both was how easy it would be to add many items to the playlist/library. foobar2000 let me add all my songs by selecting the music folder (has all my music in it). When I tried to do the same with GOM it did not work, I had to drill down to the actual album folder (music > artist name > album name is the format I use) before it would let me add anything to the playlist. This would be an extreme nuisance for me so that would pretty much write off GOM as a player that I would use.

Another thing I don’t like about GOM is how it always looks like it’s ready to play a video. I don’t like it when a media player stays in that format (I didn’t play with it much so maybe it can be changed). I guess since foobar2000 only plays audio this point is moot but I felt like I had to at least mention it. I’ve included some screenshots below so you can take a look for yourself.

foobar2000

GOM Player

Cheers!
~TheNerd

I’ve never really thought of it but I use a lot of bandwidth. I guess it’s mainly because I run a program called Majestic 12. MJ12 is a distributed computing project with the aim to build a top notch search engine.

What I am getting at is that it uses tons of bandwidth and I’ve recently noticed that my internet connection hasn’t been up to it’s normal capacity and I’m starting to wonder if I’m being throttled by my ISP.  As a result, I decided to find a program to tell me exactly how much bandwidth I am using.

I stumbled on an open source project called FreeMeter. It’s super easy to install (actually you just unzip it) and run the program. It first brings up a graph that shows you your current usage but there are tons of options, ranging from selecting any of the network interfaces on your PC to what traffic you want to see (upload/download) to the update interval.

I haven’t been using it very long but it appears to be a decent program and hasn’t caused any noticeable problems as of yet. I don’t really know if it’s going to help me figure out if my ISP is throttling me, I guess I would have to call them and ask.

~TheNerd

You know how the original song goes… “99 bottle of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall…”.

That’s the feeling I get now when I’m trying to decide which browser to use. But Just image how fun it is for a webmaster who needs to cater his sites to everyone. It’s a complete nightmare all over again.

Do you remember back in the day when Netscape was big? You almost had to write two versions of your site, one for IE and one for Netscape. Well guess what? It’s even worse now.

With IE8 now in public beta that makes three versions of IE that need to be accounted for, never mind Firefox 1, 2 and 3 (in beta now as well), Apple’s Safari (also in beta), Opera, the iPhone browser, the gazillions of other mobile phone browsers, and lord know what else. It’s got to be a horrible experience.

So what is a webmaster to do? I guess that is really a matter of preference, audience and business requirements. For me the business requirements and null because I’m not the webmaster at my place of work so I could care less but it’s a reality for some. I have a tendency to stick with the current versions of Firefox (Firefox Secrets) and IE for testing compatibility. These two will get you the bulk of your users and, honestly, the rest make up so little most of the time it’s not worth even worrying about. If you are a stickler for web standards you will have to be prepared for more headaches because Firefox doesn’t even follow them all the time.

~TheNerd

Ok so in the last post I talked about a product called Free CompuSec and talked about how good it was. This weekend I decided to try out the whole disk encryption included with the latest version of TrueCrypt.

First off I would like to say that I am very impressed with TrueCrypt. It’s open source (which is a bonus for me) and is extremely easy to use. I’ve used a TrueCrypt in the past to create encrypted volumes and files but never for whole disk encryption.

The biggest plus over Free CompuSec is that TrueCrypt can encrypt your drive while you use it. Unlike Free CompuSec you don’t have to reboot and put your computer aside while you wait for it to finish. The only drawback is that it takes TrueCrypt a long time to do the whole drive. My notebook has an 80 GB drive and it took just about 10 hours to encrypt the whole thing. When I used Free CompuSec it only took about 2 hours to encrypt a 60GB drive.

I guess, once again, it depends on where your priorities are. If you need to use your computer then you might want to use TrueCrypt as you can still use your computer while it’s running but if you don’t mind being without a system for a few hours then you might want to try Free CompuSec. As far as the rest goes they both do just about the same thing. TrueCrypt doesn’t have the secure VOIP program but it’s a great utility if you just need encryption.

I’ve finally decided it’s time to look into whole disk encryption for my notebooks. This day and age with all the information one has on a mobile PC there really isn’t much of an excuse to not have it encrypted. I’ve recently found a program called Free CompuSec by a German company named CE-Infosys. I would like to say thanks to Steve Gibson of the Security Now podcast for putting me on to this program.

Free CompuSec can do lots of things but my main reason to use it was for the whole disk encryption because I was worried what would happen in the even my notebook was lost or stolen. Below is a short list of the features I think are very useful.

1. Pre boot access control (the main reason I use it)
2. Encryption for CD / DVD for secure publishing and sharing of CD data using CDCrypt
3. Encryption for Diskettes and Removable Media Devices such as ZIP drives, USB thumb drives or Memory sticks
4. [ClosedTalk]® for secure VoIP communication
5. It’s free for both personal and business use (this not not very common)

Installing Free CompuSec was a breeze and only took a few minutes. What sucks up the time is when you first encrypt the drive. This can take up to two hours (at least on the two notebooks I tested it on) so if you are of the impatient type you might want to set it to encrypt when you are on the way to bed for the night.

All in all my first impression of this software is good. There are others out there like TrueCrypt, which is open source, that would probably accomplish the same thing but I am not overly familiar with how it works so you may want to try both of them and see which one works best for you.

~TheNerd

Each and every time I set up a new computer (happens quite often) there are a few “must have” applications that I install right away. Here is a list of my top 6 picks. They are all open source so are available for free. Don’t worry I’ve provided the links in case you want to try them out.

1. OpenOffice.org - An enterprise worthy office suite
2. FileZilla - Top notch FTP client (must have for a webmaster)
3. Notepad++ - One of the best text editors out there (also a must have for a webmaster)
4. UltraDefrag - When you move, copy, and delete as many files as I do this will come in handy. I’ve reviewed this in a past post. This is a relatively new find but it’s going on my list from now on for sure.
5. VirtuaWin - When I can’t have my dual monitors I can at least have virtual desktops. I also reviewed this in a previous posting. This is a relatively new find, just like UltraDefrag, but it’s going on my list from now on too.
6. Firefox - I can’t stand using Internet Explorer so this is a must have for me

I do install more apps on each and every computer I own,  such as AVG Anti-Virus, MSN Messenger, Skype, Google Earth, etc but these 6 that I have listed are by far the most important ones for me to get work done.

~TheNerd

It’s been a few days now since I last reviewed a piece of software so I guess it’s time. This time around I am reviewing a neat little open source application called VirtuaWin.

VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system that allows you to manage multiple applications over virtual desktops (or workspaces). Some of you might be familiar with this concept if you’ve used one of the many flavors of Linux.

One of the things I love about this app is the size. The binary is only 382kb and downloads in just a few seconds. It’s also super easy to configure. The only tweaking I had to do was name the four virtual desktops I was going to use and assign them each a hot key. I’ve set VirtuaWin up to use the Windows Key plus the numbers 1 through 4 (respective to the virtual desktop I created).

There are a ton of options that can be set but really the name and hot keys were all I had to do to get it set up and running. One option I would consider setting up is the mouse functions. You can set VirtuaWin to let the mouse direct which virtual desktop is selected. I did try it out and it was pretty neat. When I would move the mouse off the right side of the screen it would move over one virtual desktop and when I moved the mouse off the bottom of the screen under the taskbar it would go down one virtual desktop. OK so my terminology is a little off but if you look at the screen shot that shows the little tray icon you will see what I mean. It’s separated into four quadrants.

On the VirtuaWin website you can find a bunch of add-ons (called modules) and icon sets. It’s a very configurable and customizable program.

The one and only thing that I was able to find that I didn’t like was the sheer amount of settings. You can get quite involved in tweaking. My personal preference is dead simple and I’m not a huge fan of tweaking. I prefer to run things more or less “out of the box”. Regardless, once I figured out which options I needed to change I was all set to go in just a matter of minutes. It took me a lot longer to write this post than it did to learn how to use the program.

You can get VirtuaWin here.

I was surfing along the other day looking for a replacement defragmentation utility for the built in one that comes with Windows XP and happened to stumble upon UltraDefrag. Personally, I don’t like the Windows XP utility because it has a tendency to skip over some fragmented files for no good reason. I’ve also been weary of the fact that the Windows utility can’t be run under Safe Mode (well at least it never seems to work for me – I know it works for some people).

Over the years I’ve tried the defrag utility that came with Norton SystemWorks and Vopt8, just to name the first two that come to mind but neither one of them seemed to work as good as UltraDefrag and they cost money.

I decided to download it and give it a try. Here is what I liked.

First off, there are four versions: i386, AMD64, IA64 and EM64T. This makes it available on most Windows friendly architectures. I’m using the i386 version because I’m currently running Windows XP 32bit on my of my systems.

Secondly, the program is open source. That means that you can download it for free and even modify the code if you so desire.

Finally, It’s quite feature rich. See below for a small example of the features .

• Very fast defragmentation, the work is done via a kernel mode driver which has an optimal defraging algorithm.
• Very small engine written in pure C.
• Nice graphical interface - compact and functional.
• Safety, because the file moving is accomplished with Microsoft’s own Defrag API.
• Simple to use.
• Ability to generate html reports of fragmentation status.
• Ability to include/exclude files based on simple filters.
• Native x64 support.
• Free: Distributed with full source code under the GNU General Public License.

I’ve spent the last two days defraging with this utility and it works well. It hasn’t crashed on me yet and it appears to get some of the files that Windows defrag missed. You can also set it to run when Windows first boots so you can snag those bulky system files and defrag them. That’s another thing that Windows defrag doesn’t do.

Here are a couple screen shots of the program to give you an idea of what it looks like. I have to say it does have an “old school” look but I happen to like it that way. That’s just the nerd in me coming out I guess.

If you want to download UltraDefrag click here to get to their home page.