Amateur Golfer

I have an alternative blog on Golf by the name of 'Amateur Golfer' which has not attracted any comments to date. If you are keen on Golf, by all means drop by on it and make a post.

You can find the latest entry at:

http://amateurgolfer.blogspot.com/

The Joy of Downloads

So, this blog might have foundered on inactivity. But that does not mean it is dead. I needed a valid e-mail address to switch to Google. Up and running once more, I will give you more treats in addition to the groovy wallpaper site. The Joy of Downloads.

If you pay for software, you shouldn't. Naturally, you will need an OS but aside from that you can obtain a whole host of quality Freeware from the WWW. I'll let you in on some of my best finds:

Free Download Manager - A full application which enables you to stop, start downloads as well as scedule and optimise.

Advanced Windows Care Personal V2 - System optimization tool that scans your whole sytem, fixes things as well as optimization. Comes with a variey of tools in addition to system scan such as memory clean which releases a lot of memory & speeds things up. Has a few features missing, but not many.

Google Earth - Got an interest in Geography? Well Google Earth could be the ticket for you. It is like one of those World Atlas applications except that it uses real top-down images in some places which you can zoom right down on. In addition, some cities have 3D buildings to help you get a real sense of perspective.

Picasa 2 - Great free image editing & viewing tool as good as many commercial packages. Has lots of features to edit and improve your favourite images.

Mario forever - There are loads of free full video games availble for download. Quite a few are of good quality, a lot like to reproduce old (but gold) classics. Like this Mario forever download. It's a full game, and is like the original Mario Bros title but with graphics closer to 16bit Mario Allstars. Level design is all completely new along with groovy level music.

Scorched 3D - I actually mentioned this on my blog previously (http://20thcenturyhistorian.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html). If it's mulitiplayer you want, then you might go for this. It's a reproduction of another golden classic with more advanced graphics. Great for on-line play also allows you to play CPU.

3DNA Desktop - A 3D Desktop. Yes I shall repeat, the desktop is a fully fledged three dimensional room. It runs on top of Windows but essentially you start your applications from various places within a 3D room. Also comes with balcony to wonder out on to. Need a decent PC to run it well with graphics card. If you have that, then download this and also can gain many more features from website.

Well, I have more but I think those are the best I have found to date. Many more besides with 2 great sites available to help. http://www.cnet.com/ and http://www.softpedia.com/ - the two best download sites on the Web. Go to these sites and you will find the download links for the above mentioned. Plus a load more besides.

I hope you have fun with the software, feel free to post on this blog and also if you are interested in Golf, then perhaps consider posting over on Amateur Golfer. Come back again for more...

Groovy Themes

It has been a trifle difficult of late to get on to this blog for me. For some reason, I couldn't log on but now that seems to have passed.

Still, for those of you who come to this blog often I have a gift. You can find some excellent desktop wallpaper at: http://www.groovythemes.com/

I guarantee you will be using some of it on your desktop after viewing.

Template Change

Having returned to this blog, I have adopted a template change. I consider it an improvement on the previous, with the archives and profile being moved over to the right and the title centered at the top. For right handed users this will remove the need to scroll the mouse over to the left of the page.

The improved interface is matched with a design that makes the text easier to read. Black on a clear background as opposed to the previous dark background precluding the text.

All this makes for a fresh new look and better functionality (interface), hurrah!

Windows Vista

I know I have not updated for some time. And, perhaps this blog might appear to be inactive. Well, that's because it is. But with time available now, I can continue. And the subject of the moment? Windows Vista.

The key question for me is, do you really need to upgrade at all let alone immediately? Having read a magazine article on this, it revealed that it is more than possible to enhance Windows XP to offer some of the features in the upgrade - for free.

For example, the visual appearance of the desktop. Try downloading Windows Blinds. Then you can use it to customize the theme of the windows and desktop to match Windows Vista. In addition, Yahoo Widgets will enable you to create Vista's desktop gadgets - also for free.

(above) Windows Vista gadgets

(above) Yahoo Widgets gives XP gadgets

Another tip worth noting is that you can adjust your text to cleartype in XP to match the style of Vista. This is done by right-clicking desktop and then appearance tab, effects box and tick clear type box. The smooth Windows Vista text will now be on XP.

Furthermore, Windows Vista proudly boasts the latest version of Internet Explorer. But remember, this isn't just available to Vista. IE 7 is also available for XP. Download it from the MS website and it can be yours for nothing.

Vista comes with a new image editing (Photo Gallery) tool as a replacement for XP's slideshows. However, you can obtain a very similar image editing tool for nothing. Download the excellent Picasa freeware from Google (http://picasa.google.com/) and you will have virtually the same thing on Windows XP.

These are some of the things I have tried. There are also things you can do with XP to adopt the security features offered by Vista amongst other enhancements. However, this is already dragging on and I believe I have made my point.

If you plan on upgrading, you might want to reconsider if using XP. At least for the time being while the price is high.