Entries Tagged 'Software' ↓
July 26th, 2008 — Software
An assortment of Stardock software, Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate is a suite dedicated to customizing the GUI, look, and vibe of your desktop. From the ability to enhance themes, enable transparency, or even use animated wallpaper, Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate throws in a whole slew of capabilities into your computer. I do realize that I took a comprehensive look at half the software suite — but alas, it was far too much work, and I couldn’t handle the capacity. So, I’m going to finish off what I started three months ago with this one-shot review of Object Desktop 2008.
Overall GUI
The GUIs in all the software were acceptable and usable - alas, some were a lot more dated than others (I’m referring in particular to Tab Launchpad). I liked how, in essence, Stardock used similar features and layouts within certain software. From what I can see, there are two types of layouts Stardock uses in Object Desktop software: one being a graphic and list beside it, which is used in software such as TweakVista with many options. The second looks more modern, and is used in software that has a heavier use of graphics, such as previews of themes.
A prime example of this would be the similarities between the layouts in IconPackager and WindowBlinds. However, I also felt that Stardock could’ve done better in this continuity thing - some of the GUIs look a bit dated (Tab Launchpad), and some look way too wonky (MyColors).
The Deal-Sealers
Every suite’s got a set of deal-sealers - a single or variety of features that makes it worth the juice worth the squeeze. Not every single piece of software is absolutely essential to the suite - contrary to my previous belief - and I’ve isolated the deal-sealers to a trio:
IconPackager
I think IconPackager was an appropriate deal-sealer for two reasons:
- Not only does it offer a one-click change of almost all your default computer icons, but it also supports Vista’s folder view feature - meaning that now, you can see that preview of your documents all the while using IconPackager icons.
- Nothing else does it like IconPackager. If you want free, you’re going to want to have a look at IconTweaker, or manually change those icons by yourself. Ugh.
I had once tried emulating Mac OS X, and I realize that this tool would’ve come in extremely handy for such a purpose. Unfortunately, back then, I hadn’t actually considered paying for software, so I gave up and stayed with XP’s look. Right now, I’ve gotten sick of Vista’s default look, so I actually use a Japanese-themed icon set that I’m extremely satisfied with.
DeskScapes
Now, you don’t need Windows Vista Ultimate to enjoy the beauty of moving wallpapers. I don’t think I need to say anymore - this alone arguably makes the purchase worth it, considering the price difference in the versions of Windows Vista. If you understand what I’m trying to say.
WindowBlinds
How could Object Desktop 2008 be what it is without WindowBlinds? In fact, I argue that the entire Stardock might be in jeopardy if it weren’t for WindowBlinds. This widely-renowned piece of software is a non-resource-hogging, skin-serving, machine. I didn’t even notice it running in the background - because I had it switched to the default Aero theme. I must say, I’m impressed - for what it’s worth, WindowBlinds’ reputation precedes it. I’m glad to see that generally, many users have started realizing that WindowBlinds doesn’t hog as many resources as people claim.
You might have a few doubts as to my choice of selection - and I can’t say that I didn’t expect such a question. What made these three pieces of software stand out from the others? Wouldn’t MyColors, DesktopX, or even Impulse, have been worth a mention? I suppose that they do deserve a mention, but I personally don’t think that a software that forces you to pay for themes, or a software that simply packages everything together in even wider themes is very deal-sealing. I hadn’t heard of these pieces of software before the review, and I can see why - in contrast, IconPackager was famous, DeskScapes was popularized by Vista, and I’d had WindowBlinds in mind since Day 1.
Conclusion
Long overdue, but I’m glad I finally got through with it. For $69.99, I’m saying that Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate probably wouldn’t be as nice as a new wireless keyboard or even an Adidas sweater - but for you customization freaks, it’s an absolute essential. In fact, if you had asked me two years ago, I would’ve said it was the best thing since sliced bread - and if how your computer looks is a priority, then don’t even take the time to question or hesitate and pick up Object Desktop 2008 Ultimate.
July 17th, 2008 — Software, Trends
Keyloggers. Spyware. Data corruption.
Nowadays, these three words strike fear into hearts of users everywhere. However, I will direct this article towards the organizations - such as schools, libraries, Internet cafes, as well as even corporations. These behemoths serve a multitude of users daily - ranging from a couple hundred at a local library, to several thousand at a popular university. The chances of having a careless user download rogue spyware or a bad egg installing keyloggers are insanely high - in fact, a rumour that I myself had caught flying around was that an organization I attended had been infected with keyloggers. The rumour was dispelled when a friend of mine informed me that the organization used Deep Freeze - which then sparked the question: What is Deep Freeze?
Deep Freeze is an intelligent solution that offers absolute system integrity, according to its creator, Faronics.
Faronics Deep Freeze helps eliminate workstation damage and downtime by making computer configurations indestructible. Once Deep Freeze is installed on a workstation, any changes made to the computer—regardless of whether they are accidental or malicious—are never permanent. Deep Freeze provides immediate immunity from many of the problems that plague computers today—accidental system misconfiguration, malicious software activity, and incidental system degradation.
Deep Freeze ensures computers are absolutely bulletproof, even when users have full access to system software and settings. Users get to enjoy a pristine and unrestricted computing experience, while IT personnel are freed from tedious helpdesk requests.
Source: http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp
Basically, a computer (or workstation) is programmed to retain certain programs - for example, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Word 2007, but otherwise is reformatted everytime the system reboots. Sure, that means that everyone’s documents stored in My Documents will be deleted besides the Sample Pictures. But, that also means that if the system gets infected, it will also be removed as soon as the computer is rebooted. This is what I would consider an ideal solution to most organizations’ problems with system integrity.
If you’re a home user reading this and contemplating getting Deep Freeze, I would think twice - although the chances of you accidentally installing spyware are still high, I think that it would be impractical for you to sacrifice your computing experience for paranoia. Addressing keyloggers, no one would be silly enough to install a keylogger on themselves (besides, there would be no point to that). However, for organizations that can’t afford to leak information, or organizations that treasure the security and trust of their users (such as libraries), I think this is a great big picture piece of software. Heck, it gained my trust.
For more information and case studies, please visit Faronics’ web page for Deep Freeze:
http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp
June 28th, 2008 — Software
It’s been a huge couple of years for Blizzard Entertainment — with the World of Warcraft being such a hit with the fans, as well as anticipation building up for the inevitable hit Starcraft 2, I couldn’t have expected anything more. Nonetheless, Blizzard Entertainment has once again shocked crowds by announcing the upcoming game Diablo 3. With the Diablo series already an extremely successful hit, I have to wonder — will Blizzard be able to pull it off once again? From all the demos that I’ve seen circulating around, it sure looks like it.
Source: http://www.maxfreak.com/diablo3/images/diablo-3-announcement.jpg
With myself not being a huge Diablo fanatic (I was always a bit creeped out by the freaky environment), I did have a chance to try Diablo 2 out. Diablo 3 will retain many of Diablo’s successful environments and characters, including character classes (a new one is called the Witch Doctor) and even the return of Deckard Cain!
Unfortunately, no release dates or even minimum specifications have been given by Blizzard yet, which I think is perfectly reasonable because they only announced Diablo 3 very recently.
It has been twenty years since the events of Diablo II. Of those who faced the Lords of Hatred, Terror, and Destruction in the battle over the fate of Sanctuary, there are few still living who can bear to remember the horrors that the Prime Evils wrought upon the world. And of those who did not witness the terrible events firsthand, most believe the stories to be little more than myth. But something evil is stirring once again in Tristram, and it may already have claimed its first victim: Deckard Cain.
That aside, I’ve got nothing more to give you but a bunch of links to more comprehensive sources that had a firsthand look at the demo, so I’ll give it to them from here.
Visit:
June 16th, 2008 — Software
Before I proceed to blab on about what I think of ObjectBar, I think that I should make one thing clear - it’s definitely not the easiest thing to use. In truth, ObjectBar actually took me a heck of a lot longer to learn how to maneuver effectively in comparison to other customization software, such as WindowBlinds and ObjectDock. ObjectBar is actually free has a shareware version which is ad-supported and expires after 30 days, but the full version comes as part of the Stardock Object Desktop 2008 suite.
I personally don’t find any use for ObjectBar asides from Mac OS X Finder emulation for Vista. With that said, it’s an interesting piece of software to work with - if anyone ever does get the chance to conceive their own way to navigate around Windows like Cairo Shell aims to do, then it could be with ObjectBar.
Installing & Tweaking New Bars
You’re really not left with much in the beginning, so it’s almost inevitable you’re going to have to download & install new bars. I was surprised to see that Wincustomize, Stardock’s resident gallery for hosting, seemed to only support ObjectBar2, those bars actually are compatible with ObjectBar. Alas, I was still galled at the lack of bars being hosted there, so I searched around for more. And more I got.
Turns out DeviantArt’s got a pretty swell collection of ObjectBar bars - as well as Googling around got me what I really wanted; the Mac Finder. After installing OB Font and Lucida Grande font types into my computer, I found that the experience was beautiful. I was getting Mac OS X emulation on Windows Vista - something that I had thought previously near impossible.
Tweaking bars isn’t too difficult - most of your work will be done within the Theme Editor segment of ObjectBar. However, if you want to change the font, you’re going to have to open the included .obskin file with Notepad and manually tweak it yourself - a task that’s not too hard, to be honest. That said, finding out how to tweak it to my liking took my morning (I guess I just wasn’t feeling the vibe).
Performance
ObjectBar’s performance doesn’t really bug the RAM or the processor, contrary to belief. I ran ObjectBar easily with my pretty standard Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM. No performance damage (took 2.7MB of RAM, for the record). It does what it’s supposed to - offer an alternative to the Start Menu - pretty easily, although it wasn’t an easy feat accessing my programs without the Start Menu, without the use of Launchy (thank goodness for Launchy).
Any bugs that I had issues with were mainly because of the way the Finder works as well as errors/bugs on the user’s part, where ObjectBar or Stardock really doesn’t have control over because they didn’t host the bars. So, I guess I can’t blame them there (but just know there are bugs).
Conclusion
Overall, I guess I was pretty impressed with ObjectBar - it took 2.7MB of RAM, it provided a viable alternative to the typical boring Start menu, and it’s free! If you’re on Vista and bored with your Start Menu, pick it up now. And if you need help with it, feel free to leave a comment.
June 14th, 2008 — Software
TweakVista is a piece of Stardock’s Object Desktop Ultimate 2008 that makes system-tweaking look good. It’s not exactly a piece of software that allows you to customize the look and feel of Vista - and it’s not to be confused with a piece of software called TweakVI, which tweaks the quirkier items that Vista does not allow by default.
I like to see TweakVista as a sort of aggregator or central location for the user to have easy-access to all the Windows Vista software tweaks allowed by default. As I noticed - everything kind of led to a system file or window of some sort. For example, clicking on the Display tab would have links leading to monitor configuration, etc. However, I see this is as a positive - for users new to Windows Vista, it can be a rough neighbourhood to run through, thanks to UAC patrol. I think that this piece of software, although not a necessity, could be useful to have handy if you run into trouble tweaking.
That’s TweakVista in two paragraphs, I really can’t say much more about it because it’s all pretty self-explanatory. Also, to fix up our review schedule - TweakShell is incompatible with Vista - so it looks like we’re finally done two weeks worth of reviews (took longer than two weeks - yeah, I know).
