Old Versions

The other day I needed to find an old version of Mozilla Thunderbird because the new 2.0 version isn’t compatible with my mail server. This is due mainly to the mail server. I’ve been running the same mail server software since November 2006, and there hasn’t been one update released for it. Odd, huh?

So, I had to go looking for the old version of Thunderbird. There may have been a link on the Mozilla web site, but I couldn’t find one. I Googled around a bit, and finally found an older version of Thunderbird.

I thought it was pretty cool that there are web sites that specialize in providing older versions of popular applications. So, I decided to make a short list of some of these sites. Most of these sites have both OS X and Windows apps. They may also have some Linux apps, but just in case they don’t, I threw in one that I use sometimes.

OldVersion.com

OldApps

Old-Versions.net

Real Legacy Software Archive (old versions of RealPlayer)

Rpmfind.net

Acer buys Gateway

It was bound to happen eventually. I figured either Gateway would be bought by someone, or they would just slowly disappear (much like their stores did). Acer only paid $710 million for Gateway. That’s saying something.

I never really liked Gateway computers. My parents were looking into buying one a long time ago. That was the only time I ever set foot into one of those Gateway stores. I can’t recall exactly why they didn’t buy a computer from them. I was never really a fan of Gateway to begin with.

I have purchased some Acer machines, and I’ve been really impressed with them. Their monitors are also really nice. I’m kind of interested to see if they’ll keep the Gateway name, or just change it over to Acer.

Read the article here.

Skype Outage

So I read this morning that there was some kind of mass Skype outage last week. I don’t use Skype myself, but I was shocked to read that such a major service was down. I have used Skype in the past, and I have to say that it is a great service. That’s why I was so shocked to hear that it went down.

According to the different articles I read, the outage was due to hundreds of Windows computers rebooting after an update. I’m guessing after the update, the computers just rebooted, then Skype auto-launched, creating a huge hit on the Skype network. The outage lasted for about 36 hours. People who are addicted to Skype (and I know they’re out there) must have gone into withdraw or something. That’s a long time for a major service to be out of commission.

The Skype network can apparently do some self-healing, but the mass reboot hit some kind of flaw in the software design. It looks like everything is worked out now, and people can get back to Skype.

Thoughts on .Mac

 

So I’ve been using .Mac for a few months now, and I thought I would take a few minutes to say what I think of it. .Mac is Apple’s online suit that compliments the iLife suite.With .Mac, you get some storage space, an email account (yourname@mac.com), and a web site. .Mac allows you to sync things like contacts, bookmarks, calendars, keychains, and Mail accounts between multiple computers. At a recent Apple event, the original storage space of 1 GB was upped to 10 GB, with the choice of adding more space if you want (for a small fee).

So far I’ve enjoyed my .Mac experience. I don’t really use the web site too often, but I did use it briefly to play around with iWeb, a program I hadn’t used up to that point. My main interest in .Mac was for the email address, and for the ability to sync information across computers. It has been great being able to access my bookmarks on both of my Macs.

I used the keychain sync one time to repair the keychain on my MacBook. Something happened that caused the keychain on my MacBook to lose all my passwords, and wouldn’t store passwords anymore. I synced the keychain on my iMac to .Mac, and then replaced the keychain on my MacBook with it. It worked perfectly, and I’m glad to say that my MacBook’s keychain has been healthy ever since.

To me, the email address just seems more professional than a Yahoo or Hotmail account. It’s something I can be proud to put on a business card and give to someone. Also, I find the email address easy to remember, and just plain cool. It integrates seamlessly into Mail, and can be setup with a few simple steps.

I found the online storage to be somewhat restrictive at first. 1 GB of storage isn’t much–I can easily fill it up. Since Apple has expanded the storage space to 10 GB, I have been able to use iDisk a lot more. I was using a flash drive to move files between my two Macs, but as of late I’ve just been using iDisk. It’s a lot quicker, and the data is stored in a more secure manner. I can lose a flash drive, but I can’t lose the iDisk. This is a huge advantage to me because I was always paranoid about losing my flash drive.

I don’t think that it’s essential that you have .Mac. I used Macs for a few years before even considering it. I think it would be great if you could choose which features you want, and only have to pay for them. The basic .Mac is $99 year, which isn’t too bad, but I just don’t find myself using all the features. Despite this, I’ve been very pleased with .Mac. I can definitely see myself renewing. It has been rumored that Apple may be planning to add more features to .Mac, but we’ll just have to see.

Mozilla Store

If you like the Firefox and Thunderbird logos, the Mozilla Store was just relaunched. It looks like they’ve got some good merchandise. You can find it at http://store.mozilla.org/

I particularly like the t-shirts and the metro backpack.

The official Ubuntu book

This is the Official Ubuntu Book. You can read it online, or download it. I just thought this was a cool link.

Read it

Download it

Windows maintenance tips

One of the main things that I hate about Windows is the enormous amount of upkeep required to keep the system in good shape. You have to constantly keep an eye out for viruses, spyware, and quirks in the OS. Despite all this, I still find Windows to be a good operating system.

Here’s a list of some things I do to keep my Windows desktop going:

First, I use CCleaner. CCleaner is a small program that you can run to scan your computer and remove un-needed files that can slow down your system. CCleaner also has a great registry cleaner built into it. I normally run this about once a week. The scan doesn’t take long, and it helps keep your system clean. CCleaner is also free, so that’s an added bonus.

The second program I use is Spybot Search & Destroy, which is the best spyware scanner I’ve ever used. It’s fast, efficient, and just gets the job done. There are regular updates so that the scanner won’t overlook newer threats. Spybot also allows you to do a startup scan so it can scan the system before the spyware actually loads, thus making it easier to delete.

I also run Adaware from time to time. I can’t say it’s my favorite program, but it does get the job done. There is a free and paid version of Adaware. The free one seems good enough to me.

The last program, but the most important one, is an anti-virus program. I use AVG, mainly because I started out using the free version. I have also used Avast!, which also has a free version. I purchased AVG because I was so impressed with it. NOD32 is also an excellent choice.

I normally don’t shut down my computer, so I have the anti-virus do a scan around 2 AM so that I won’t interfere with it, and it won’t interfere with me.

Defragmenting the hard drive also a great way to keep your system running. It’s a time consuming process, but it does help. I set my computer to defrag when I now I’m going to be away for a while.

Those are the programs I use, but there are some other you may want to look into. Some other good programs to look into include SpywareBlaster and HijackThis. I’ve also heard that Windows Defender also does an excellent job, but I’ve yet to try it.

In-depth review of the new iMac

Here’s a great review of the new iMac. I love the new keyboard and over all look of the new iMac. Sadly, I won’t be getting one anytime soon because I just purchased an iMac back in May. I would get in trouble if I bought one of these new machines. But they are slick. I might have to splurge and get one of the new keyboards though.

This is one of the best reviews I’ve read so far, here’s the link.

Man has thumbs surgically altered to use iPhone

How weird is this? A guy actually paid to have his thumbs altered so he could type on his iPhone more efficiently. I don’t think I could do this for anything.

From what I understand, the doctors actually whittled away the bones in his thumb to make his thumbs smaller, thus increasing the accuracy of typing on a small keypad (such as a PDA…or iPhone…). I don’t think I’ll be on the waiting list for this procedure. Here’s the fully story.

Adium 1.1 Released

While I find iChat to be an excellent instant messaging client, it is limited to using the AIM service. You can also chat to people who have .Mac, but I really only know one other person who has .Mac–and they’re not really an IM kind of person (text messaging yes, but not IM).

Not everyone uses AIM, so most people have a Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, ICQ (etc) account. Adium is a wonderful multi-client IM application for OS X.

Version 1.1 of Adium has just been released, and there are some major changes in this version of the popular IM client. Check out all the changes here.