I have a new blog so this blog is now closed down! 

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http://steves.businessblog.com/

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http://steves.businessblog.com/blog/index.xml

If you want to know why I switched have a look here

http://steves.businessblog.com/blog/_archives/2004/8/25/129522.html

- Posted by Steve Richards - 7:56:34 PM - comment []

What is it?

Software for creating mind maps

Why I have it installed

I do a lot of brain storming and project scoping and communication.  The mind map is the best tool I have ever found to document these early project lifecycle activities

What I think of it

I have tried Mind Manager and Mind Mapper and prefer Mind Manager mainly because of its bi-directional  interface with MS Project.  I often use Mind Manager to create an outline WBS and then define the details in Project.  I keep the two in sync.  Its also got good facilities for linking maps and for exporting to Word and powerpoint.

Where is the installation media?

The media is here – links are to my PC so they won’t work for you!

file:///H:SW%20LibMindmanager%202002

The licence key is here

file:///H:SW%20LibMindmanager%202002licence.txt

- Posted by Steve Richards - 5:58:50 PM - comment []

As I have mentioned before I use X1 for all of my local system searching, a friend of mine asked how I was getting on with it, he is using Blinkx.  So here is an update.

1. I am running X1 on Windows 2003 Server, its not supported but it seems to run just fine.  I have moved the indexes out of my local profile and onto my data disk, but thats the only change to the standard configuration.
2. I don't have it configured to autostart when I login because I often have multiple sessions running, one console and the others using Windows Terminal Services, I only have it running in my console session.
3. I have it indexing 27,000 files out of a total of 130,000 on the machine.
4. I have had the odd machine slow down when its doing some heavy indexing, like my database of RSS feeds, but since thats 44,000 items I don't hold that against it as its only when I rebuild the index, (for reasons of my own making)
5. Some people don't like the fact that it has tabs for email, attachments, file and contacts but I think its great because I generally want to search within these scopes not across them
6. I find the type down searching just perfect, on my machine its effectively instant and the great thing about it is after entering just a few clues you often only have one or two matches and its easy to just look at the document previews to find the correct one.  Without type down you end up building really complex searches that are a waste of time
7. The document preview is still the killer feature for me, I almost always use it rather than opening the actual file.  For RSS feeds there is never a need to open Outlook.
8. Lotus Notes indexing is not there yet, nor is support for phrases.  Although a new version is due version is due very soon and promises these.  Lotus Notes is important to me,  I generally manage just fine now without phrases however.
9. I picked up my copy cheap because I had already purchased Newsgator, (there was a discount if you purchased both together), which I thought was a fine deal, discount after the fact.  I think this is the first time I have ever seen such an offer before.

- Posted by Steve Richards - 2:10:05 PM - comment []

What is it

Player for the DIV/X Video format

Why I have it installed

I have a few movies in DIV/X format and they don't play very well in Windows Media Player with just the DIV/X codec

What I think of it

I actually like the player, its very simple and efficient and very good at fast forward.  I have not had any stability issues.

- Posted by Steve Richards - 9:25:57 AM - comment []

What is it

Virtual CD/DVD emulation software

Why I have it installed

So I can mount ISO images I download

What I think of it

I think its great, I have used quite a few but this one seems the most reliable as easist to use.  Virtual Disks can even be shared over the network!

http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/portal/download.php?mode=ViewCategory&;catid=5

In my local SW Library

- Posted by Steve Richards - 7:27:47 PM - comment []

What is it

Desktop software for my Creative Zen MP3 player

Why I have it installed

Downloading Music and Conferences

What I think of it

It's OK seems to work reliably but I would prefer to manage everything though one product.

- Posted by Steve Richards - 7:12:43 PM - comment []

What it is

Freeware utility explorer that lets you open a command prompt open in a directory you write click in explorer

Why I have it installed

Useful

What I think of it

It works

Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it

- Posted by Steve Richards - 6:55:55 PM - comment []

What it is

Freeware utility for grabbing the name of files and folders in Explorer, encoding them and putting them in the clipboard

Why I have it installed

Useful

What I think of it

It works, I used it to grab all of the links in this blog

Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it

- Posted by Steve Richards - 6:52:56 PM - comment []

What it is

Desktop software for Blackberry emailer

Why I have it installed

So that I can configure my Blackberry and do client synchronisation

What I think of it

I hate it, the synchronisation is not reliable, it is very slow and not that stable.  I hardly ever use it because I use wireless sync.  The only time I ever use it is when I get a new Blackberry and need to configure it, or need to update the Blackberry Software.

Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it

I also have Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2 which includes Notes 6 support.  I installed the base and then each SP in turn

If you don't use the service packs then you also need the Notes 6 Add-on

- Posted by Steve Richards - 6:50:24 PM - comment []

What it is

The audio driver for my on board sound card

Why I have it installed

No audio without it!

What I think of it

It works

Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it

- Posted by Steve Richards - 6:44:24 PM - comment []

What it is

CD & DVD burning and copying SW.  I got it free with my DVD writer and its a fairly simple to use programme, which makes a change.

Why I have it installed

I only use it when I have an ISO image I need to burn to CD, which is not very often

What I think of it

Don't use it much

Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it

Where the license is, so I can re-install it

- Posted by Steve Richards - 6:38:28 PM - comment []

What it is

The best SW available for publishing to PDF files, downloading web sites to PDF and manipulating PDF documents.

Why I have it installed

I do quite a bit of the above

What I think of it

The best there is although because it's so expensive I don't tend to recomment it to customers.  I also have a variety of other alternative, cheaper but simpler products available as well and use these for comparison.

Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it

Where the license is, so I can re-install it

- Posted by Steve Richards - 6:26:49 PM - comment []

I n s t a l l e d   P r o g r a m s

I intend to go through this list, prune it and add a blog entry for each piece of SW explaining:

• What it is
• Why I have it installed
• What I think of it
• Where the installation media is, so I can re-install it
• Where the license is, so I can re-install it

For the moment this is just the raw list ripped from the Registry, i.e. the same list showed in Add Remove Programmes.

1. Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional
2. Alcohol 120%
3. Avance AC'97 Audio
4. BlackBerry Desktop Manager 3.6
5. ClipName
6. CmdHere Powertoy For Windows XP
7. Cooktop 2.5
8. Creative Jukebox Driver
9. DAEMON Tools
10. DivX Player
11. eWallet for Pocket PC
12. eWallet for Windows PCs
13. ExplorerXP (remove only)
14. Fugawi UK
15. Getmapping Viewer
16. Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
17. Hermes
18. hp officejet d series
19. HTML Help Workshop
20. IBM Lotus Domino Access for Microsoft Outlook
21. Installed Program Printer
22. InstantCD/DVD
23. Intellisync® for Yahoo!
24. Internet Explorer Q831167
25. ISO Recorder
26. iTunes
27. Java 2 Runtime Environment, SE v1.4.2_04
28. Life Balance
29. Lotus Notes 6.5
30. Magic BIOS 2.0
31. Maxivistor
32. MailEdit
33. McAfee VirusScan Enterprise
34. Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
35. Microsoft ActiveSync 3.7
36. Microsoft MapPoint Europe 2004
37. Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
38. Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for IBM Lotus Domino (English)
39. Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
40. Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
41. Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003
42. Microsoft Virtual PC 2004
43. MindManager 2002
44. MYIE2 Browser (remove only)
45. NewsGator 2.0
46. NewsGator FetchLinks plugin
47. NewsGator Radio Plug-in
48. NOMAD Jukebox Zen
49. Norton Ghost
50. Notepad 2
51. Outlook Express Q837009
52. Palm Desktop
53. PaperPort 9.0
54. Pocket e-Sword (2002)
55. Pocket Informant
56. PowerDVD
57. PowerQuest PartitionMagic 7.0
58. PowerQuest V2i Protector 2.0
59. Python 2.3 pywin32 extensions (build 201)
60. Python 2.3.4c1
61. QuickTime
62. Radio UserLand 8.0.8
63. RealOne Player
64. RSIGuard
65. Sametime Client v3.0
66. Sauce Reader 1.4.1 (BETA)
67. Secure Delivery
68. Shutdown Addin v1.4 for Microsoft® Outlook®
69. SolidConverterPDF
70. TreeSize Professional 2.2
71. UltraMon
72. VMware Workstation
73. VPN Client
74. WebFldrs XP
75. Winbond HWDoctor
76. Windows Media Player Hotfix [See Q828026 for more information]
77. Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack
78. WinZip
79. X1
80. Zinio Reader

- Posted by Steve Richards - 1:40:30 PM - comment []