Meet Your New Vista Toolbox

After posting ‘Meet Your New Mac Toolbox,’ I had several people ask “Hey, how about a clean-up and repair suite for Vista, preferably free and ‘one-click’ easy to use?” Well, I think I found just the ticket in a piece of freeware entitled Glary Utilities which offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC.

Glary Utilities allows you to clean common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. Furthermore, Glary Utilities includes the options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage the programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more.

Clean Up & Repair

• Disk Cleaner
  • Removes junk data from your disks and recovers disk space.
• Registry Cleaner
  • Scans and cleans up your registry to improve your system’s performance.
• Shortcuts Fixer
  • Corrects the errors in your startmenu & desktop shortcuts.
• Uninstall Manager
  • Uninstalls programs completely that you don’t need any more.

Optimize & Improve

 

• Startup Manager
  • Manages programs which run automatically on startup.
• Memory Optimizer
  • Monitors and optimizes free memory in the background.
• Context Menu Manager
  • Manages the context-menu entries for files, folders and drives.

Privacy & Security

 

• Tracks Eraser
  • Erases all the traces,evidences,cookies,internet history and more.
• File Shredder
  • Erases files permanently so that no one can recover them.
• Internet Explorer Assistant
  • Manages Internet Explorer Add-ons and restores hijacked settings.
• File Encrypter and Decrypter
  • Protects your files from unauthorized access and use.

Files & Folders

 

• Disk Analysis
  • Shows you the disk space usage of your files and folders.
• Duplicate Files Finder
  • Searches for space-wasting and error producing duplicate files.
• Empty Folders Finder
  • Finds and removes empty folders in your windows.
• File Splitter and Joiner
  • Splits large files into smaller manageable files, and then rejoin them.

System Tools

 

• Process Manager
  • Monitors programs that run on your PC and stop spyware and Trojans.
• Windows Standard Tools
  • Provides direct access to the useful windows default functions.

As you can see, this is one powerful little piece of freeware. I have found that by pairing the freeware version of Glary Utilities (a pro version is available) with the venerable CCleaner, I get a free solution that compares pretty well to my favorite shareware utility suite – Macecraft’s JV16 PowerTools 2007.

Defragment A Single File Or Directory

I am often asked what I do to insure that I get clean, reliable ‘burns’ of data to optical media. Of course I rattle off the obligatory “[a] Use a good quality media like Taiyo Yuden or Ritek RiData (My favorite cost/performance brand which I purchase from Meritline.Com or Supermediastore.Com) and [b] burn your data at one-half the rated speed of the media (e.g. 8x on 16x rated media),” but I also add a third preparatory measure of defragmenting the file or directory of files to be burned. Now, the obvious question that arises is “So I have to defragment my entire disk every time I want to burn music, video, or data files?” No you do not, thanks to a couple of great, free, stand-alone utilities for the Windows platform.

The solution I have employed for the last several years has actually been composed of two small utilities that function as one piece of software. I start out with Contig, part of the indispensable Sysinternals Suite by Mark Russinovich. Quote “Contig is a single-file defragmenter that attempts to make files contiguous on disk. Its perfect for quickly optimizing files that are continuously becoming fragmented, or that you want to ensure are in as few fragments as possible.”

To add a GUI (graphical user interface) to Contig, I employ eXcessive Software’s Power Defragmenter GUI. Once installed, you simply launch Power Defragmenter GUI which calls Contig. The user simply selects which file(s) or directory(ies) they wish to defragment, click [OK] and the job is done.

I recently discovered a new utility that replicates the functionality of my existing solution, but rolls it up into a single executable. The program is the aptly named ‘WinContig:’

“WinContig is an easy-to-use stand-alone defragmentation tool that doesn’t create any installation directories or Registry entries on your computer. Its purpose is to quick defrag files without the need to defrag the whole disk. Its defragmentation and analysis engine is based on the standard Microsoft defragmentation API. In addition, WinContig allows you to group files into profiles, and also it accepts a number of optional command-line switches that you can use to control how the program operates.”

After testing WinContig, I have found it a worthy addition to my Windows utility toolbox. Both Contig and WinContig have feature sets that can be valuable in different circumstances and, so, I have taken the unusual step of keeping both programs installed on my system. Be sure to use the previously mentioned ZipInstaller to make installation, testing and (if required) uninstallation of any or all of these applications a snap.

UPDATE: If you are  a Raxco PerfectDisk user, note that PerfectDisk does offer single file as well as whole-disk defragmentation.

Install Zip Files Automatically with ZipInstaller

I was recently asked if there was an automated method by which one could install all the little stand-alone tools and utilities we recommend to our Windows OS end users. I once utilized WSH (Windows Scripting Host) to automate the procedure of extracting an executable from an archive, copying it to the ‘Program Files’ directory, and then creating a shortcut in the Windows Start Menu. However, a few years ago I stumbled across a great little utility that has become a staple of my Windows toolkit. The program is called ZipInstaller and is one of many terrific little Windows utilities available by developer Nir Sofer at the NirSoft web site. To quote Mr. Sofer:

“The ZipInstaller utility installs and uninstalls applications and utilities that do not provide an internal installation program. It automatically extracts all files from the Zip file, copies them to the destination folder you select, creates shortcuts in the start menu and in your desktop, and adds an uninstall module to allow you to automatically remove the software in the future.” Click HERE for a screenshot.

This utility was originally developed to install the utilities in NirSoft Web site, but I find it particularly useful when installing packages like the Sysinternals Suite.

Meet Your New Mac Toolbox

Many of IOStream’s employees are using Macs as their primary home computer. As a result, we are often asked what tools and utilities we utilize to support the Apple systems used on our corporate network. So I thought I would focus on two pieces of software and one hardware device that I consider indispensable for keeping any OS X based system running at peak performance.

TechTool Pro

For the typical home or SOHO (Small Office/ Home Office) user, MicroMat’s TechTool Pro 4 is an all-in-one utility suite that can both repair and optimize any OS X installation. To quote MicroMat “TechTool Pro 4 is a complete Macintosh repair shop in a box. In fact, it’s so good that Apple includes a copy of its sibling, TechTool Deluxe, in its AppleCare Protection Plan. If you have ever experienced a system bomb, freeze, crash, or indecipherable error code, TechTool Pro 4 can help you get your computer running smoothly again.”

TechTool Pro 4 is $98 US for new users or $25 US for those upgrading from an earlier version.

DiskStudio

MicroMat’s DiskStudio is the only reliable, non-destructive partition manager I have found for OS X. Quote: “When a hard drive is first set up for use, it is partitioned into one or more logical volumes. These appear on your desktop as though they were separate drives. Using the standard disk tools that come with the Macintosh, there is no way to change this partitioning scheme without completely erasing the entire drive and starting over. With DiskStudio, this is no longer necessary.”

With DiskStudio you can:

• Add new partitions to your hard drive.
• Delete partitions previously created by Apple’s Disk Utility or DiskStudio.
• Erase and reformat existing partitions in a number of standard formats.
• Completely erase and repartition an entire hard disk.

Use DiskStudio to:

• Install a new copy of Mac OS X, but keep your original copy intact.
• Install a completely different operating system, such as Mac OS 9, on a new partition.
• Create a partition to hold special projects, such as audio or video files.
• Create a partition to hold scratch space for programs such as Adobe Photoshop.

DiskStudio is $49 US for new users or $25 US for those upgrading from an earlier version.

Protege

Okay, now this is my favorite tool for the Mac OS. MicroMat’s TechTool Protege is a Kanguru Portable Firewire Flash Drive with full versions of TechTool Pro 4 and DiskStudio! Again, quoting MicroMat:

“Introducing Techtool® Protege. The pocket-sized toolbox for the Macintosh professional. This tiny FireWire-based device contains 1 gigabyte of memory and comes complete with the latest version of Mac OS X, the latest version of TechTool Pro and our latest drive utility DiskStudio. And there’s still room left over for your other utilities as well.

That means the next time you need to work on a Macintosh, you can plug in TechTool Protege, boot very quickly and get right to work. No messing around with CDs, portable drives, installers and the myriad of other items you’d usually keep in your toolbox.”

TechTool Protege comes with everything you need to start troubleshooting and repairing any Mac system:

• TechTool Protege FireWire flash drive
• Latest Mac OS X Boot System
• TechTool Pro User Manual
• TechTool Protege Backup & Restore Application on CD
• TechTool Protege Quick Start Guide

MicroMat’s TechTool Protege runs $229.00 US which is quite a bargain when you add up the cost of a 1GB Kanguru Portable Firewire Flash Drive [~$99] plus the cost of full versions of TechTool Pro 4 [$98], DiskStudio [$49] and the latest Mac OS X Boot System [$129].

Protogo

Now, for you DIY’ers (read: Hard Core Nerds) reading this post and wondering if you could easily build your own TechTool Protege thumb drive – why yes you can! MicroMat’s Protogo software allows you to build your own customized, bootable diagnostic and repair toolkit on any portable hard drive or flash drive.

“TechTool Protogo ships on a DVD that includes the Protogo configuration application, TechTool Pro Classic (for Mac OS 9 systems and below), TechTool Pro 4 (for Mac OS X), and DiskStudio. Protogo includes several profiles for standard system/utility configurations so that you can easily set up a device for your particular needs.”

The MicroMat Protogo DVD lists for $135 US, but is only $87 US for TechTool Pro 4 or TechTool Deluxe (AppleCare Protection Plan) owners.

Tweak OpenOffice for Maximum Performance

The crew over at Zolved put together a great little tutorial for maximizing the performance of OpenOffice. Entitled “How to make OpenOffice run faster in Ubuntu,” this screenshot-rich presentation walks the end-user through all required settings to tweak the performance of the open-source office suite. Although the web page is targeted at OpenOffice on Linux, the basic steps are applicable to OpenOffice running on Windows or Apple’s OS X.

In a nutshell, the steps are as follows:

1. Launch any of the OpenOffice applications.
2. Click Tools>Options.
3. Select the Java menu and uncheck “Use a Java runtime environment.”
4. Select the Memory Tab and change the following options:
   • Number of steps: 30
   • Use for Open Office: 128
   • Memory per Object: 20
   • Number of Objects: 20

CNET Labs benchmarks Parallels and Fusion virtualization products

The IOStream Help Desk has been getting a lot of questions from our Apple OS X users about how Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion stack up against one another. David Chartier of the The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) wrote up a very nice synopsis of a CNET Labs benchmark test:

“Whenever two options are presented, it is often a smart move to weight the pros and cons of each and make a decision based on your needs. If you need to push Windows in a virtualization environment, Daniel A. Begun at CNET Labs has benchmarked Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion. The short of the long? If you really need to push Windows, do it in Boot Camp if at all possible. If Boot Camp is out of the question, VMware Fusion was the winner in heavy duty, multimedia tasks by a landslide, due largely in part to its support of multiple core processors (Parallels, as of this writing, only supports one core per CPU). On the flip side, however, Parallels Desktop is the only virtualization product that supports 3D gaming right now…” (Click HERE for the text of the full article)

It should also be noted that both Parallels and VMWare produce virtualization products for the Windows platform as well as for Apple’s OS X. These products allow Windows users to run multiple versions of Microsoft operating systems as well as multiple distributions of Linux.

UPDATE: VMware Fusion 1.0 retails for $79.99 US but there is a limited time $20 rebate offer that reduces the total to $59.99. Click HERE to find the best available price for the retail version. Academic users can obtain the software for $39 US. Click HERE to find the best academic price.