Reviews - Compact fluorescents, notebook computers, logitech trackman, Harmony remote, Nexxtech cameras, Onkyo receiver, USB devices, and newsletters are some of the things covered. The reviews will be updated often to provide a long term look. Most review sites do not do that, so check back from time to time.
| No elaborate scientific setups here. No special laboratory equipment. Just honest in use every day setups that my friends or I use, or have used in our every day computing activities. |
Rose Rating
(June, 2008) We have added a review symbol for things that we review. It will be a rose. Rating as follows:
One rose - barely acceptable. Two, three or four roses, in between one and five naturally. :)
Five roses - excellent, top of the line.
X - No roses, oh oh, not good!
(Items reviewed prior to June 2008 may or may not be updated with the rose rating.)
freeCommander - the best file management program. (September 2008)
AZZ Cardfile - The best replacement for the old Windows 3.1 program Cardfile.exe
CCleaner - An excellent program for removing unused junk files from your computer.
FARR ( Find And Run Robot) - The fastest program launcher so far, for us keyboard types. It does many more things just as fast, such as search, define words, search images, etc. almost instantly. Uses little resources.
Launchy - open source menu replacement for starting programs, folders, searches from the keyboard.
SlickRun - quick start program. For keyboard types. You do have to set up some alias code words for this one.
RocketDock - Mouse activated MAC style program launcher for windows.
Jarte - This has turned out to be an all around great program. I found out about it through one of my newsletters, but apparently it has been around for a long time. And it's FREE!
Newsletters - I find these the most interesting and worthwhile.
K-Lite Codec Pack - Quote; "K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codecs are required to encode and/or decode (play) audio and video. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play 99% of all the movies you download from the internet."
After using the above for a time I have found the above to be absolutely correct. It also comes with Classic viewer which is excellent.
Compact Fluorescent Replacements
We are encouraged to replace the bulbs in our homes with the new compact fluorescent models. It's a great idea, but there are some safety issues you should be aware of. They can overheat if not in proper ventilated sockets.
If you upgrade to fluorescent floodlights, make sure they will fit the type of floodlight socket you have, or you may find yourself also upgrading the fixture.
Warranty
So you have a one year warranty on that new TV or like product, and you bought the extended warranty, so your feel pretty protected right? Or is it just a worthless piece of blank paper?
I have experienced and am hearing major brand names are no better than lesser known ones when it comes to failures. You have to fight through a long process to get satisfaction in a lot of cases.
Logitech Harmony 520 Remote- good, but may require a little button tweaking during setup.
Nexxtech Minicam - This palm sized camera takes very nice pictures for its size, but it has one drawback.
Logitech Trackman - good option to have with a mouse. You can run both at the same time.
USB Flylight - An accessory that you can do without, but is handy if you have one.
Onkyo TX-SR502 - this is an excellent Home Theatre receiver that controls audio and video.
Laptop / Notebook - How do you choose, which is best? Here are some differences.
USB Drive - Multiple uses, and you can run programs off them.
Nexxtech Wireless Camera - good if you can solve the many interference problems.