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.

SLOAN Ranger

Processes at work
Smaller, simpler, and ultimately more effective ways to manage your running programs

At any sign of trouble, one of the more useful shortcuts on a Windows computer is Ctrl-Alt-Esc. It brings up the the Windows Task Manager, and there is a decent chance you can get help by clicking on the tabs labelled Applications and Processes.

The main feature of Bill2’s Process Manager is the ability to set permanent rules for your programs, such as making sure they do not run away with all your resources.

Programs, aka Applications, are what you buy or download, and install. Microsoft Word is an application, Chrome browser is another and Notepad is one, too. When you click the Applications tab, you probably won't see a lot except that your program is stalled, hung or the like. But you can kill it here, by clicking on End Task, and that can be very useful indeed.

Processes are what make Windows hum (or not) and do your work. Each Word document, print job and clipboard entry is a process. Each tab on the Chrome browser is a separate process. And so on.

Before I get into describing a spiffy new process tamer, let me back up to the last time I recommended excellent software for this job. A number of you wrote to explain I was a pooh-pooh head because I failed to point out the world's best such program, free from a division of Microsoft.

Process Explorer is indeed the best in show, if by "best" you mean it does the most stuff in the most dependable way.

Invented by co-geeks who then were both bought out and hired by Microsoft to continue doing what they were already doing, Process Explorer is the program you want when you have some software problem that is driving you nuts and nothing else helps.

It digs deep, and I mean very deeply, into every process that you and Windows have running on your computer. Unlike many of its lesser counterparts, including the vanilla Process Explorer that comes with Windows, it has a fabulous search facility that lets you find which program is hogging your document so you can't save it, say.

In truth - and seriously - Process Explorer does everything I can possibly think of in tracking, finding, setting, informing, diagnosing, helping to fix.... and there's the rub.

A program that does everything is going to be able to perform a lot of tasks that don't interest you, but get in your way while you're doing the stuff you want to do. Okay, Microsoft Word is the best word processor, but it is ponderous and even confusing to just write a quick note to Mum.

To me, "best for the job" is more important than "the best", which is why this column often highlights small, fast programs that do only one job, but superbly.

I agree that Process Explorer is a truly great program. I have reviewed it, I have it on my computer, I use it. But it's not always what you need when Ctrl-Alt-Esc doesn't quite get the job done.

But there is another way to manage processes.

Bill2's Process Manager may be almost unpronounceable but it is a very interesting program that does all the process managing as usual, with an extra, added feature I've never seen with quite the ease.

The program itself is quite attractive, with colours and even skins that make it brighter than your standard process manager. No reason software has to look as dull as the job it's doing, right?

When you start it up, it's as straightforward as any other program of its type. It's rock-solid and supports any computer running Windows XP or later, even super-geeky ones with up to 32 core processors.

It is made in France, and may start up in French when you install it. Click on Options and there is a "switch to English" button down near the bottom of the window.

Again, there is little drama and nothing exotic as the program gets started. The first screen shows all your currently running programs, with the usual information such as CPU and RAM usage.

The real-time performance tab is almost as basic as Microsoft, but shows your Internet and other network connections, a moving graph of CPU usage and so on. Nothing to see here, really, move along.

If Bill2's Process Manager is pretty vanilla in the basics, it truly stands out from the field in a single, most useful way. That is that you can set "rules" for every program you use, and control the amount of memory and CPU time that it uses. In real life, here's how it works.

I burn CDs and DVDs to enjoy music and shows away from my PC. I have a lovely program to do this with, but it is a rude hog, a gatecrashing buffet-table freeloader that grabs every resource on my PC. Instead of working away in the background like a good little program, it pulls all the CPU time, and makes it impossible to do anything else.

The cure for this on my four-core machine is to call up the Process Manager and set the Affinity for the program. That's a fancy word for un-ticking three of the four boxes of the four cores, and allowing access by the hog to only one of the four co-processors. This lets me use the other three.

I have to do this every time I run the piggy program. But not since I started using Bill2's as my manager. That's because Bill2's allows me to set a rule for the program to always use only one of the processors. When I quit the CD burner, and start it up again, it still will only politely use a quarter of the processing capacity. You also can set the priority for each program on your computer once, and it will be obeyed from then on. And you can also make groups of rules and default rules.

Bill2's Process Manager's website is in French, but here is the Google-translated link: tinyurl.com/23ew5w2

The 1.6MB Process Explorer program works on XP and all subsequent versions of Windows. It is both described in detail and available for download with no "real Windows" test at tinyurl.com/ys2zq2

Email: wandasloan@gmail.com

APP Shot
Three-function deletion software

Multi Trash is an attractive solution to a potential problem which up until now could be solved only by having at least two programs to handle it.

Change the function of Multi Trash with a quick click on the bin, and set the multiple confirmation options with a right click.

You can recycle a file easily with the Delete key or right mouse click. You can delete a file almost as easily by pressing the Shift key at the same time. But to permanently, securely and really get rid of a file so it can't be brought back takes third-party strength.

I've always favoured Eraser as my final-solution deletion program. It is heavy duty and no one is going to be retrieving a file deleted with Eraser.

Multi Trash offers an all-in-one solution that is hard to beat. Not only does it work well on later Windows versions, it is highly attractive as well.

Just set Multi Trash to recycle, delete or shred, then drag the files you no longer want into the good-looking basket. I haven't done forensics, but the secure deletion ("Shred") works quite well, and no one will be getting back any Shredded files without very high-quality, specialist technology - if then.

The software is simple and intuitive. Little arrows on the bin control the function, and there are a few options - such as confirmation - that can be quickly set by right-clicking.

This is a Windows Gadget, so it will only work when you have the Windows Sidebar open and running. In turn, that means it only will work with Windows Vista and Windows 7.

You can detach the software and let if float or put it on your desktop for more convenient access, but you will have to have the Sidebar working.

You can get a brief description and a link to download the latest version from the nice folks at http://www.homecookedgadgets.com

Email: wandasloan@gmail.com


INTERNET SITE of the Week

The Internet is a most interesting place, full of interesting things, but how do you find them? How do you search for something when you don't know what you're searching for? And what about the serendipity of stumbling across an amazing site that you had no idea existed?

Sign up for stumbleupon.com and find out what you've been missing!

StumbleUpon adds a small toolbar to your browser. Each time you click on the ``Stumble'' button, you'll be taken to a new site, which you can rate it or add to your favourites or tell StumbleUpon that you don't like the site and don't want to see similar sites.

StumbleUpon will ask you to identify your interests _ computers, technology, celebrity news, international news, sports, stocks, art, and so on _ and will take you from site to site based on those preferences. You can choose from among 500 categories of interest. You can also, if you feel like it, just ``stumble'' around in a certain category, such as ``computers'', and be taken to interesting sites about computers only.

Oprah Magazine says ``StumbleUpon is the greatest thing ever invented. The site makes the Internet _ and by extension, the world _ seem both bigger and smaller, infinite in its possibilities yet totally accessible.''

StumbleUpon can be quite addictive. It will take you to a lot of fascinating, sites you otherwise would never have found. Everything from music to fashion, technology to art, a whole world of great sites becomes available. By telling StumbleUpon your likes and dislikes, it narrows the choices in an effort to present only sites that really might interest you.

But don't take my word for it _ get Stumbling!