October 26, 2008

New Release: Winamp 5.541

As you may know, Winamp has always prided itself on being a free service and because of that, it has a steady, loyal following. And version 5 is no different, so let's check it out!

Winamp version 5.541 looks good with a completely new interface and it comes with comprehensive file support. The audio support also includes CDA, MIDI, MP1/2/3/4, AAC, OGG, WAV, AIF, WMA and more. Support for video was added in version 5.52 and it continues on in version 5.541 with MPG, M2V, AVI and ASF formats.

The new version also packs a good deal into a fairly slim package, with the player incorporating everything you would expect and more, including loop, repeat, ID3 tag support, cross-fading between tracks, 2x CD burning/ripping, Internet TV, radio support and so much more.

Winamp 5 also comes with a media manager, 10-band graphic equalizer, visualizations and a playlist editor. You can even upgrade to the Pro edition to get full support for ripping/encoding audio into the MP3 format and integrated CD burning up to 48x speeds.

Winamp was born as a very basic media player and it has consistently improved for many years. Its main purpose is to be completely customizable and through the years, many people have contributed to a library that now consists of 20,000 skins and 461plug-ins.

When version 5 was released, Nullsoft redeemed themselves in the public eye after producing a much improved player to replace Winamp 3. They didn't need much encouragement, as they justified skipping version 4 by saying it was such a huge improvement, it deserved a higher number!

Luckily, they're justified in their opinion, because Winamp offers everything you could ever want in a media player. By using the skins, you can set it to look like the original or the current default, which looks great and puts you in control of all your media. I personally like the minimized player that consists of a small bar you can place on the edge of your screen. Of course, if neither of those agree with your tastes, you can download and try any of the thousand others available on the Winamp Web site.

So, you may ask, "What’s new in Winamp 5.541?" Well, allow me to tell you!

  • Improved: [pmp_ipod] Better auto-detection of newer iPod models.

  • Fixed: Filetype icons in Windows Explorer not updating when changed in Preferences.

  • Fixed: ML and Vis appear under other overlapping modern skin windows.

  • Fixed: No error message when trying to edit metadata for Read Only files.

  • Fixed: Potential security vulnerability in NowPlaying.

  • Fixed: best cialis [gen_ff] Keyboard shortcuts in modern skin playlist, windowshade mode.

  • Fixed: [gen_ml] Scrolling to bottom of AlbumArt pane and other miscellaneous scroll bar issues.

  • Fixed: [in_mp3] Broken "307 – Temporary Redirect" URLs.

  • Fixed: [ml_local] AlbumArt icon selection glitch.

  • Fixed: [ml_playlists] Play and Enqueue actions reversed if Enqueue is set as default.

  • Fixed: [ml_rg] ReplayGain analysis of 20bit files.

  • Misc: Double click Modern pledit songticker now toggles windowshade mode again.

  • Misc: More miscellaneous general tweaks, improvements, fixes and optimizations.

So, now that you know, go on and enjoy your new Winamp!

Permalink • Print • Comment

Special Data Formatting: The Easy Way

Do you enter a lot of special data into MS Excel, such as zip codes, phone numbers or social security numbers?

Ever find yourself wishing the parenthesis and/or dashes would just fill themselves into the correct locations? I mean, wouldn't it be faster if you could just key 5551234567 in for a phone number and have (555) 123-4567 appear in the cell after you hit the Enter key?

Yeah, I like that idea too. So, let's see what Excel has to offer!

First, you'll need to highlight the cells you're going to work with and then navigate to the Format Cell dialogue window.

For those of you using older versions of Excel, you'll go to the Format menu, Cells choice.

In Excel 2007, you can get there from the Home tab on the ribbon under the Number section. Click on the little down arrow in the bottom right hand corner or choose "More Number Formats" from the bottom of the Number Format drop down list.

Also, for all versions, Ctrl + 1 or a right click and the Format Cells choice works too.

With the Format Cells dialogue window open, you're looking for the Number tab.

Toward the bottom of the Categories list, you're looking for the Special choice.

Take a look at the choices offered on the right hand side.

See them?

Yep, that's right. All you have to do is choose one of the listed formats (double check that the location choice below is correct, so you'll get the formatting you expect) and click OK.

When best cialis prices you return to the worksheet, you'll find that any data entered without the dashes or parenthesis has been transformed. In addition, any new data entered into the cells will not require formatting. Just enter in the digits and let Excel do the extra work for you!

Permalink • Print • Comment

Quick View Changes in Word

It seems like everyone has a preference for the way they view their MS Word documents.

Some people prefer the Normal View, while others like the Page/Print Layout View. Plus, there's the Web layout and in newer versions of Word, the Full Screen Reading and Draft views.

Whatever your preference, it's always a good thing to know how to get to a different view. Sometimes you're trying to accomplish a task that lends itself to a view different from your usual way of seeing things.

I bet most of you know you can change views using the View menu or View tab on the ribbon (depending on the version of Word you use).

In fact, your choices are the first items on the menu, so you can't miss them!

But what if you could change views with a quicker click?

You may not have realized it, but there are buttons for your view choices right on the screen the whole time you're working.

Take a look at the horizontal scroll bar across the bottom of your document.

Follow it all the way to the left.

See them?

In older versions of Word, on the very left, you have four buttons, which are also known as the view buttons.

Newer versions of Word may have view buttons that look like the image below and they're found on the far right side of the Status bar.

average cost of cialis src=”http://imgsrv.worldstart.com/mso-images/buttonsold2.jpg” border=”1″ width=”400″ height=”209″ />

You can just do a "quick click" to switch from one view to another, no menu/ribbon tabs required!

Permalink • Print • Comment

Working with the Vista Index

The new search capabilities in Windows Vista are certainly a significant step up from those in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. For once, you can actually find what you're looking for in a reasonable amount of time. By default, however, the new Vista search feature only indexes the partition where the operating system is installed, which is usually the C: drive. That's fine, unless you have a second partition or second hard drive you use to store your data files. In that case, you have to manually add the second hard drive to the search index. Luckily, it’s only a two step process!

Step 1: Turn On the Search Indexing for the Second Hard Drive/Partition

Double click on your My Computer adcirca vs cialis icon, right click on the drive and choose Properties. Then check the box that says “Index this drive for faster searching.” Finally, click OK.

For some strange reason, that doesn't actually add the drive to the index, so you have to perform one more step.

Step 2: Add the Drive to the Indexing Options

Go to Start, Control Panel and click on Indexing Options. In the dialogue box, you’ll see a list of current locations that are indexed by the Indexing service. Click on the Modify button and check off the second partition or hard drive you want indexed (for example, D:, E:, etc).

If you don't see the drive you're looking for, make sure you press the "Show all locations" button at the bottom of the window. You should then see all of the possible choices:

That’s it! Windows Vista will then begin indexing the new location and results from the extra drives will appear in your searches. Now, you can also add network drives to the Vista search index, as long as the drive is a mapped drive. Note that turning on the indexing in Vista is a great way to find files quickly and I would suggest keeping it on all the time. However, you may want to turn it off if your computer seems to be running slow.

Either way, this is an easy way to make your Vista searching even easier!

Permalink • Print • Comment

Computer Crashes

Q:
Some of the programs I use quite frequently on my computer seem to crash an awful lot. Why do they keep doing that and is there anything I can do to prevent it?

A:
If you have started to see a "crash" increase in either your Windows operating system or any other programs you use, luckily, there are a few things you can do. Let's take a look!

First, if the same problem is repeated regularly, you should take down some notes about your actions that led up to the crash. Try to remember your sequence of actions and write down everything you did up until the time the program stopped working. Make sure you take note of the contents of any error messages or other dialogue boxes that may have come up on your screen as well.

After you have everything written down, you're going to want to go to the program manufacturer's Web site. There you can look for a patch or an update you might be missing that can solve the crashing problem. A lot of times, that's an easy answer. If the patch or update already exists, you can just take care of the problem right then and there. If it doesn't have a fix, you can try to find something by doing a search for the product's name, including some of the symptoms you're experiencing while using the program.

Another thing you can do is check your Windows event log. Windows often logs details about system and application crashes. To access the event log, right click on your My Computer icon and choose Manage. Once you're there, look in the left pane and find Event Viewer. Go ahead and click on the little plus sign (+) to expand it. That will bring up three different sections: Application, Security and System. Choose Application. Once you do that, you will see a list of different actions in the right pane. There are quite a few of them, so I will give you some time to look over them.

Okay, now, if you see any that have a red X next to them, it means your system found a serious problem with that particular application. When you double click on the red X, an Event Properties box will appear. That will give you some information about what happened to cause the application to error out, etc.

Even though you have that information, it may still be hard to decipher what's really going on. If that's the case, Microsoft has a database called Event ID that you can use to get more information. Go here to see Event ID. You will have to enter all the information you know about the application and the problem in order to get a result. Once you have it all filled in, click Go and you will be taken to an explanation.

Another place you can go (which seems to be more preferable) is EventID.net. That allows you to take the Event ID and source of the application error (found in the Event Properties box we talked about earlier) to see a description of the problem. The site also includes other acheter cialis original users' experiences with the same error, along with some possible solutions to fix the error problem. You do have to subscribe to the Web site, but it's only $9 for three months worth of help or $24 for one year.

Either of the sites may help you better understand why your programs keep crashing on you. They could definitely save you some peace of mind as well, so give them a try today!

Permalink • Print • Comment
« Previous PageNext Page »
Made with WordPress and an easy to customize WordPress theme • Sky Gold skin by Denis de Bernardy