Tech Help Videos

I have been receiving quite a few emails asking me what I use. So I have decided to create a page about what I use. This list will be frequently updated.

PC and Laptop

ASUS F3F laptop: I take this laptop to mostly where every I go. This laptop is not a high-end machine but I find it just fine and my old laptop which was way more expensive than the ASUS was no better. It has 100GB of hard drive (which I find a little small), 1.5GB of RAM (I upgraded it from 1Gb).

Portable Devices
I own a few ipods but I am not a total Apple fan. I use a 4GB ipod nano for most of the time and an ipod video 30GB for video purposes. Although the new generation of ipods have come out, I am not going to buy them this year because I find that I ma very comfortable with what I have and they suite my needs.

Software

Operating System
I use Windows Vista Home Premium (32bit version). Although some super tech geeks might get Vista Ultimate, I find it no better than Home Premium. I am actually still using Windows XP professional on my main PC because I am going to buy a new PC later this year.

Digital Media

Music
For organizing music, I use iTunes 7.4. I find it by far the best music application. I try to use Windows Media Player 11 but I find it a total mess for music. I also use iTunes for ripping CDs. For converting music to different formats, I use Wavepad Master’s Edition.

I also use a program called MusicBridge which syncs up your media information such as the ratings between itunes and Windows Media Player 11.

Movies and DVD and recorded TV shows
I use Windows Media Player 11 to watch DVDs and movies. Another alternative to Windows Media Player 11 is Real Player. For recording TV shows use Media Centre (Vista). However, I also sometimes just use my DVD recorder (which has a 80 GB internal hard drive) to record TV shows which does makes sense. I also have Quicktime 7 but only use it when I really need it.

Video Editing and Conversions
I use Windows Movies Maker for editing TV shows (getting rid of the ads) and also movies. It does a really good job, easy to use and it comes with Windows. I have also tried Adobe Premiere. It has more features and adds more capabilities but Movie Maker will do for most people.

Codecs: or importing a whole bunch of weird video formats into Windows Movie Maker, I use something called ‘Combined Community Codec Pack‘. This is and does a great job.

Photos
I use Windows Live Photo Gallery (in beta) to organize my photos and some movies on my laptop. However, I use Google Picasa 2 on my main PC. Personally, I think that Google Picasa is a better photo organizer than Windows Photo Gallery and even Windows Live Photo Gallery. Also, with Google Picasa, I can easily upload my photos up to Picasa web gallery which I also use. For simple cropping and fixes I either use Picasa or Photo Gallery, but for a greater degree, I use Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Web and Chat
I mainly use Firefox 2.0.07 for browsing the web. I previously was a Internet Explorer fan but soon got tired of it. I have also tried Apple Safari 3, Opera and Flock but find Firefox the best. I use Skype 3.5 most of the time to make PC to PC calls. It is very reliable and offers excellent sound quality. I rarely use Windows Live Messenger 8.5.

Office Productivity
I am still using Office 2003 but I am already got a copy of Office 2007. I am planning to install it some time over the next month. I use Windows Calendar to manage my schedule. I have moved off the email clients (I previously used Outlook 2003 and Windows Live Mail beta). I use Hotmail as my main email service. I also use a little it of Gmail and I do have a Yahoo account.

Security
With Windows Vista, I use Windows Live OneCare. Apart from a total nightmare that I had when installing OneCare, I am pretty pleased with it. It just runs in the back ground and does a good job. For Windows XP, I use Kaspersky 6. It is more resources intense compared to OneCare but far light weight than Norton and Mcafee. Kaspersky is excellent for virus protection but fails on spyware. So I also use the free version of Spyware Doctor which I find better than a lot of paid spyware programs.

Other Utilities
I use Adobe Reader 8 for viewing PDF files. Currently, I only use Jing recorder for taking screenshots and also desktop recordings. I sometimes also use the Snipping Tool that comes with Windows Vista for take screenshots. Two other screen recorders I am going to try out later this year are Adobe Captivate and also Camtasia. Believe it or not, I have moved of WinRAR for compressing and decompressing files. I now use a freeware called PeaZip. It does a good job and is very easy to use. For burning data CDs and DVDs, I use Nero 7.

Blogging and Web development
I use a neat application called Windows Live Writer which is free for blogging. I hardly use Adobe Dreamweaver, it just sits in the corner on laptop for most the time.