Live Well Laugh Often Billy & Akaisha Kaderli Lighten Up Love Much

When we travel to far away locations 800 numbers are meaningless and time differences can cause confusion. No doubt some software issue with our pc will develop sooner or later. We all know what a hassle it is dealing with the support desks of the PC manufacturers. In Thailand, the Bangkok Post prints a feature called Database that we have we found to be both informative and is explained so that the common person can understand it. We have personally written to Wanda Sloan a couple of times for pc issues and she has always replied promptly and with solid information. We thank her for allowing us to post her expertise here for all of our benefit.
 Billy & Akaisha Kaderli

published with permission from the Bangkok Post

Database   A weekly feature from the Bangkok Post for the latest computer products, information and fixes.

HELP Desk

Worthy defragger

I agree with you that there can be no harm in defragmenting a disk. (Wanda Sloan's column on Feb 17).

There are numerous free defragmenters, based on a free Microsoft defrag program. I downloaded the two you mention. Smart Defrag certainly worked fast. UltraDefrag doesn't work. It certainly rushes through a check and declares a number of files as a problem (in fact twice as many as Smart Defrag). But then nothing happens. No defrag seems to occur, no movement on the map at all, only some sign of disk activity to no apparent purpose.

I just wonder if you tested the programs and compared what they analysed? Which found most and which corrected most? I found that after a Smart Defrag, UltraDefrag found a couple of hundred still defragmented. I doubt if the information was correct as they were not found by other programs.

Personally I like Periform Defragler for a thorough result.

JOHN

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: I certainly can't agree with you that "UltraDefrag doesn't work," since it most assuredly defragmented files, folders and a full hard drive during my use of the program over a couple of weeks.

I did not try to put it head to head with Smart Defrag (or any program) because in my opinion this isn't possible. Without a lot of lab time, you can't set up two disks or even two files that are fragmented identically.

In my notes, I see that I was worried about the length of time that Ultra took to analyse my disks. But when I told the program to go ahead to defragment, it did do so. I see I was impressed when a large (executable) file was rearranged into one contiguous space, an old feature but something I haven't seen on defraggers in general this century.

It is a feature of this program and many defraggers that it will do a quick disk defragmentation, and will definitely leave some files still fragmented. This is well documented, in fact, as is the claim (or warning) that disk optimising may leave some files un-defragmented. And no system files are touched, by default.

UltraDefrag definitely works, and definitely defrags. But its whole pitch is towards the speed freaks.

I'm not sure why it would not defrag for you, but in my tests, I agree with the open source community that this is a defragger worth a look.

Video downloading
In the latest column you mentioned Live Downloader.

Can it download videos from the BBC website?

JAMES

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: Live Downloader can only download a video that you yourself can see. There are videos at the BBC and all over the world that are restricted for various reasons - pay-per-view, subscription or, most commonly with British, US and other big networks, because you have to be in a certain country that is not Thailand.

That's why my answer has to be slightly evasive. If you can view the video yourself, Live Downloader can download and store it.

Tweaking
Went to Tweak Me website but couldn't find anywhere on it to download the app. Any suggestions? Trying to Google for it, I just got a bunch of Tweak Mes! with an exclamation point after the name - not the same thing, and not very highly rated.

ROB SCHWAB

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: I should have provided a little more description for this, somehow, guess. To get this program, go to the web page of the author, ie http://www.wecode.biz. On the right side of the main web page, under Releases, click on the program name, Tweak Me!. When the program page loads, page down towards the bottom and you will see the Download link.

iTunes incompatible
I've been using a Macintosh ever since they were first produced. So logically, I had an iPod for my music listening and downloaded all my files into iTunes, then to my iPod. But my iPod eventually died.

Down here in my part of Chon Buri, I'm finding it hard to find iPods. So I bought a Samsung instead. But I found that the iTunes files that I copied to the Samsung would not play.

Is iTunes really incompatible with non-Mac players? (Seems a really bad marketing move.) If so, is there a conversion that would allow me to play iTunes files on non-Mac players?

MARSHA WAREN
Burapha University International College
Bangsaen, Chon Buri

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: Generally, iTunes songs use the proprietary AAC format. Most other players use MP3.

There is software that will convert the AAC-formatted songs to MP3s for more general use. Have a look at Free MP3 Wma Converter, at this website: http://www.koyotesoft.com/indexen.html

Readers are encouraged to write to Database with suggestions, views or for advice.
Send your letters by email to database@bangkokpost.net or by fax to 02-240-3666, Attention Database.
Our snail mail address is: Database Section, Bangkok Post Building, 136 Na Ranong Road, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110.

APP Shot

A superior auditing program

Everyone needs to perform an audit of her PC every so often, and take a few minutes to look it over, too. I have reviewed some excellent auditing software, and always figured that Belarc Advisor would probably never be beaten.

Look In My PC does exactly what its name implies, and produces (bottom) an extensive multi-page audit of the host machine in a couple of minutes.
Wrong again. A fairly new but mature program called Look In My PC is here to give Belarc stiff competition and, in my opinion, beat them.

Start with the fact that Look In My PC does what an excellent auditing tool has to do, and most don't, or at least don't do well. It has to look at everything, list it, relate each found item to every other connected item, and then present it in a human-readable form.

At least that is what it has to do for me, and it is what Look In My PC does.

The report by the program is hugely inclusive. I was unable to spot anything it missed, from the type of computer and amount of RAM, right down to an analysis of the programs that I start automatically when the computer runs.

A lovely touch I haven't previously seen: When Look In My PC creates an HTML-format audit, for you to read in your browser, it has a link for every one of your programs to the folder where the program is installed, and/or a Google search for more information on the application.

And if you're at that point where you absolutely had to do an audit because something is very, very wrong, there is a button to click that performs the audit, zips it up and sends the package to the technician who needs it.

The auditing software is available right where you would expect, at http://www.lookinmypc.com.

Email: wandasloan@gmail.com

Internet site of the Week

This week's Internet Site of the Week brings you another tool to get your information organised and easily retrievable: www.memonic.com.

Memonic is a personal organiser to save and use just about any information worth keeping. Capturing content is as easy as copy and paste or sending an email. Saving web content from any page you visit is just one click away with the bookmarklet. Upload your documents or mail them into your collection.

''With Memonic you can keep your knowledge organised the way you want and you'll find it again in seconds.

''Your items are here to be used. Feel free to edit them with a rich text editor or pass them on to your friends or to the public.''

This last bit sets Memonic apart from others: you can share what you save in your Memonic account with others or with the public in general.

''Memonic allows you to move away from the model of bookmarking sites that contain data you want and instead of snipping that data out of the page and saving it to your Memonic account. If you're doing research on a vacation for instance, you wouldn't bookmark every page you found with interesting content about that vacation. You would use Memonic to clip out the bits that were of interest to you _ a specific restaurant review from a restaurant critic page, a landmark you found on the visitor's bureau site you want to visit, some photos of local street performers you'd like to keep an eye out for, and so on. All the things you clip end up in your Memonic inbox.

''From there you can sort and organise your clips, edit the associated information and share your clippings and organised portfolios with others. Memonic accounts are free and you can enter information into Memonic using a bookmarklet _ see the top screenshot, the green box is the clipping border _ or by emailing the information to your Memonic account or manually creating a new entry within Memonic. If you're curious to try out Memonic but hate signing up for new accounts, you can try out all the features of Memonic just by visiting the main page. If you like it, you can create a free account to save the clippings you made during your trial run.''