program

For those who like the look of Vista -- with all its flashy new buttons -- there's a program available to give Windows XP, Microsoft's last operating system, a graphical facelift. However, testers of the program, which is called Vista Transformation ... Pack 5.5, report that there are several problems keeping it from becoming a must-have. Think of the Transformation Pack as a Chevrolet Cavalier with big, chrome wheels, tinted windows, and maybe even a flashy spoiler. Underneath the hood, nothing special is going on, but on the surface it looks about as hot as a used Audi. Cool, maybe even ... (view more)

Microsoft Corporation recently launched a revolutionary software program that will take end-users on a three-dimensional journey through fifteen American cities. The company has made substantial upgrades to their online mapping service and has ... developed a 3D program called "Virtual Earth." (Source: technology.canoe.ca ) The initial set of virtual cities include San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas and Fort Worth, with even more cities expected in the future. While the program is still far ... (view more)

Young Boy Scouts all over Los Angeles now have a new reason to put on their uniforms, pull up their knee-high socks, line up their merit badges, and fill up their cookie boxes. That's because the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has just ... joined forces with the Los Angeles Area Boy Scouts. Pitching a tent, starting a fire, crusading against Internet movie piracy -- it's all in a day's work for the Scouts. Here are a few excerpts from the official MPAA curriculum distributed to the Scouts: "Identify five types of copyrighted works (two may be your own). For each, give the author/ ... (view more)

Adobe Systems has announced the beta release of a new audio editing program called Soundbooth. Adobe made the recent announcement at the MAX 2006 Adobe user conference in Las Vegas. The company is touting Soundbooth as an alternative to their ... current audio editing program, Audition. Unlike Audition, which was designed for audio professionals, Soundbooth targets web designers and video editors who may not have extensive knowledge of audio editing by streamlining tasks into a simpler and more user-friendly form. (Source: news.com ) Hart Shafer, Senior Product Manager for audio products at Adobe ... (view more)

Have you ever taken a good, long, hard look at everything stored on your computer? Chances are there are heaps of redundant and unnecessary files that are taking up valuable disk space and cluttering up your file system. Why are they there? What's ... their purpose? And how in the world did they get on your PC in the first place? If you've owned a computer for any length of time, you have inevitably downloaded, installed, and later gotten rid of program after program. What you may not realize, though, is that uninstalling a program often leaves you with "leftovers." Now, you'd think that the " ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Paul D. writes: " Dear Infopackets Team, I was impressed by the reviews of Genie Backup that I read through infopackets. However, one thing is unclear: can Genie Backup Manager (GBM) also backup installed programs and ... applications? I ask this because backing up an installed program is not as obvious as just copying over the folder where the program is installed to; it is a well known fact that many programs install to multiple [unknown] locations on a PC, including the system registry. I have Paint Shop Pro 9 and a few other applications I'd like to backup but am worried ... (view more)

I don't know if I'd ever mentioned this here, but I have a job online answering email support questions for a large community website. My cohorts and I have a set of standard answers for the most commonly asked questions. We have a web page where we ... keep a copy of these so that we can paste them into emails while we answer users questions. The problem: I had been thinking that there must be an easier way to quickly paste in answers rather than going to the support page constantly and browsing through it for the right answer to place in the emails. The solution: When it comes to doing things ... (view more)

Google has introduced a new program for Google Talk users that tracks their music listening habits and posts the results online for others to view. Activating Google Music Trends To activate Google Music Trends, users must have a gmail account and ... Google Talk, the search giant's one-year-old instant messaging program. The option for Google to track your music likes is voluntary, and to participate you must check the Google Music Trends option in the Google Talk settings menu. How does it work? Google Music Trends tracks your music preferences by registering each song you listen to via Google ... (view more)

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you've undoubtedly stumbled across the term "WGA" -- or more affectionately known as, The Windows Genuine Advantage Program. Reminder: What is WGA? Designed as anti-piracy software by ... Microsoft, WGA is an install designed to check the legitimacy of a user's Windows applications and Operating System. Those whose systems are running pirated software are given the chance to purchase legitimate identification keys or prove that they were duped into buying the illegal merchandise. Those who are victims of piracy dealers -- and can ... (view more)

I've been hearing a lot of hype about this Windows Genuine Advantage program. I especially liked Brandon Dimmels articles about it here at Infopackets (see "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Under Fire"). I don't like programs that needlessly contact ... their home websites to report on me. Many people call that "Spyware" and I also agree that WGA fits the description. It's taken a little while for me to figure out what to do about WGA. The funny thing to me is that I've had the "Fix" on my PC for a long time. Here's what I've done ... Install BigFix Turn off automatic downloading of Windows ... (view more)