Aegisub Advanced Subtitle Editor

Aegisub Advanced Subtitle Editor is a very easy to use subtitle editor / creator. I have tested out a few subtitle tools, but this one is by far the easiest one to use. It has exactly the feature I was looking for. Simply load the audio and / or the video that needs subtitles and start by selecting a portion of the audio by clicking and dragging from start to end of the sentence in the audio window, then type of paste your text in the big empty window below and click on Commit. Select the next sentence, insert the text and click Commit. To adjust the timings, simply click on a sentence and drag the start and end of the audio selection. It’s that easy! You can also adjust text size, color and style and save in many popular subtitle formats by using the Export feature.

If you want to permanently merge your subtitles with your video, then you have to save your subtitles as an .ssa file (example mysub.ssa) and use VirtualDub with the Subtitler plugin to merge the subtitles with the video. Once you installed VirtualDub and the Subtitler plugin, simply open VirtualDub, open the video, go to video->filters and add the subtitler filter, then select your subtitle (must be .ssa) file and click on the preview button and scroll in the timeline to see if it works. Next click on video->compression and select a video compression codec for exporting.

DivXLand Media Subtitler

DivXLand Media Subtitler is a very easy to use tool to create your own subtitles for any type of video. Out of all the subtitle creation tools I found this one to be the easiest and fastest to use. No need to get advanced and expensive video editing software if you only wish to add subtitles to your videos. With Media Subtitler you can load the video and / or audio and start creating subtitles with ease. When done you can save the subtitle as a .srt or any other format support you can download as a plugin.

Here is a quick tip if you wish to easily create hardcoded subtitles:

1. Create / load your subtitles in Media Subtitler.
2. Save as .ASS subtitle (Advanced Substation Alpha)
3. Open VirtualDub and load the Subtitler Plugin
4. Select the subtitles you just saved
5. Select the video compression codec (CTRL+P)
6. Select the audio compression codec if needed in Audio->Compression (need to enable
7. Full Processing Mode for audio to enable audio compression)
8. Create video with subtitles using File->Save as AVI

ioBit Game Booster 3

If you like playing games on your PC then you will really need ioBit Game Booster 3. Games can be heavy on graphics and there are lots of calculations going on in the background to make the game run, so it uses 100% out of your PC. However if you have things running that you don’t need while gaming like the sidebar, desktop gadgets, downloaders, themes, background updates, etc.. then your game cannot use 100% out of your PC but only 60% as the other 40% is used by programs and processes running in the background that use the processor and memory. The result is that the game takes a lot longer to load and worst of all the game responds slowly and sometimes ‘freezes’.

Closing all processes manually can be a pain, and you would rather have one program to close them all. This is where Game Booster comes in. If you don’t know what processes and programs to close, simply click to boost button and you are ready to go. However, I would really recommend to use the small configure button below and manually check all processes that you don’t want to have running in the background, specially sidebar.exe and your torrent and p2p downloaders. You only have to do this once as the next time you start Game Booster it will remember your configuration.

When you are done playing simply click on the big button again and all your programs and processes are re-opened. However, I prefer to do a reboot as the restore button opens tons of windows that are normally hidden on startup.

There are not many Game Boosting tools out there, and as far as I tested ioBit’s Game Booster performs the best. I have also tested JetBoost, a free Game Boosting tool that does almost the same as Game Booster. However I found that I could not close sidebar.exe as it did not appear in the list and a few others as well.

Toolwiz Time Freeze

Toolwiz Time Freeze is an easy to use system protection tool that can put your system into a temprorary ‘time freeze’. This means that from the moment you enable Time Freeze any changes done to your system will be undone when you reboot. Upon reboot your system will be back exactly the same it was right before you enabled it and Time Freeze will be turned off.

Please note that this is NOT a permanent system protection and only starts working when you manually enable it from the system tray. There are programs out there that can put your computer in a permanent time freeze and return your system back to the way it was on every reboot. However the problem there is that all your downloaded documents, updates and installations will be undone on every reboot.

Toolwiz Time Freeze can come in handy when you want to try out new software (that does not require reboot), try out untrusted software or if you temporary want to borrow your computer to someone who you are afraid will make unwanted changes to your computer.

Another useful feature is the file protection function. Add a folder to this and it will be protected from being accessed or modified by any program. Ideal to store your sensitive information like personal documents. You can imagine a scenario where your computer might be infected by malware that can access your personal data and transmit it over the internet.

FeedReader

(From the website)
Feedreader is the most robust, highly-functional personal aggregation solution on the market today. It dynamically reads, collects, and organizes syndicated Web content, and seamlessly delivers it directly to user desktops. With Feedreader, you have instant, convenient access to the up-to-the-minute news you need, without information overload.

Feedreader automatically downloads updates from your favorite Web sites. So, it eliminates the need for you to constantly monitor multiple Web pages, while allowing you to immediately identify and retrieve new articles – no matter how long you’ve been away from your desk.

Feedreader provides cutting-edge features in an intuitive, user-friendly environment. Even non-technical users can view comprehensive, consolidated information from across the Internet – faster and easier than ever before.

Kingsoft PC Doctor

Kingsoft PC Doctor is one of those rare freeware gems that you find hard to believe that it is actually free, just like Comodo Internet Security. It looks great, it’s fast, it’s efficient, it’s packed with features, it has no nags and does not come with toolbars and other things you don’t need, and it does it’s job better than most commercial alternatives out there.

Kingsoft PC Doctor can do the following:

• Scan your computer for trojans
• Protect your computer from malware (scans all downloaded files and plugged in disks)
• Help you cleaning up browser plugins and addons
• Help you fix system errors
• Check for latest Windows Updates and install them
• Help you to disable unneeded startup entries
• Clean temporary files
• Clean traces
• Clean registry
• Locate large files
• Remove uneeded files that ship with windows (can even remove windows update backups)

It will also monitor your computer in the background for any suspicious files and warn you if you downloaded a file that is not known to be safe and prompts you to be careful. If this happens and you know you are not sure if the file is safe, you can ask for a second opinion at Virustotal.

The only downside of this product is the standard traffic monitor floating window that is open by default after you install it. You can simply right-click on it and disable both checked options in the menu. You also might want to disable the boot-time window that shows up after you boot your computer in the settings.

Create Windows 7-like quick-launch bar without extra software in Windows XP and Vista

As a Windows 7 user I find the new taskbar to be a huge improvement on the previous versions of Windows, mainly because I can start my favorite programs with a single click. The quick-launch bar in XP and Vista is handy, but it has it’s downsides. It takes up space from the taksbar (which is already cluttered with tray icons and open programs), the icons are very small (specially if you have a higher resolution) and the rest of the icons are two-clicks away by clicking on the miniscule arrow next to it. If you also want a better solution and have large icons always available on your desktop without using any extra software, then watch the following tutorial I made.

How to keep your computer running smooth

Since the computer is actually a tool to get things done, it will require maintenance like any tool you use to keep it working efficiently and reliably. There are many people who just install anything on their computer without reading or even selecting manual install and choosing the components they want. They end up having toolbars, updaters, notification messages and other things that are not needed to run the software and only slow down your computer and thus yourself (takes you longer to get your job done). Not to mention opening the ‘funny program’ attached to an email you got from a ‘friend’ (that person did not actually send it but most likely a spam bot that was installed on their infected machine).

So here are some tips on how you can keep your computer running smooth and as problem-free-as-possible.

Drives and Partitions

Before we go to the backups we need to at least have more than just one drive. The reason is that it’s not a good idea to backup your data on the same drive because if your drive fails for some reason, you will not be able to restore the backup since it’s on the same drive that failed. Thus you will need at least one extra drive. This can be an internal or external drive. If you choose to buy an extra drive, make sure it has at least as much capacity as your main drive so that the backup will fit. External USB drives are fine too. If your external drive is a bit less in capacity than your main drive, then you can check how much space is used on your main drive as that will be the largest size of the backup (backup will be smaller since it uses compression). So if your main drive has 32Gb used, then your external drive needs to be at least 32 Gb in size (if you do not use compression).

If you decided to get a large capacity drive that is a lot more than the size of your main drive, then you might want to chop the drive into separate partitions for convenience. If you buy a house with one huge room, you would also want to divide it into smaller rooms for each to have their own purpose. I would advise to have one partition for the backups (the ‘backups’ partition) and one for files that do not need backing up (I would call this the ‘downloads’ partition). You can chop up your drive into partitions using tools like EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition.

If you decide not to get an extra drive and use the same drive that you have, then you will have to divide your drive into at least two partitions of equal size. One for Windows and the other for the backup. You will not be able to restore your backup if your entire disk fails though, but the chances of that happening is fairly low.

Backups

The most important of all tips is to at least make regular backups of your computer, and I am not talking about a simple file backup or “My Documents” backup. If you computer no longer boots for whatever reason (infection or defective hard drive) you will have to re-install Windows and all the programs and drivers and that can take a couple of hours if not days to get you back up and running again. There are scenario’s where even Windows System Restore cannot help (if you can no longer boot or you hard disk is dead). Wouldn’t it be nice to restore your system with just a few clicks and be back up and running within an hour or less (depending on the size of your backup)?

A great free backup tool is EASEUS Todo Backup. Here you would want to use the less obvious “Disk and partition backup” (on the right-side menu) functionality rather than System backup since we want to make some adjustments to the backup procedure. Make sure you select your backup partition as destination and select it to schedule the backup on a daily basis. Depending on the size of your backup partition you can select to keep the last 7 or 30 backups (Existing images cleanup rules). EASEUS Todo Backup will make incremental backups, that means the the first backup will contain all your files and will be very big and the next backups will only contain the new and modified files and thus will take less time to complete the backup. Note that the more backups you select to preserve, the more disk space this will take. If you are not sure how much backups you can preserve then simply enter 7. This will give you a history of up to one week to restore to.

If you have a slower computer or laptop, then making a backup every day can take a long time, use up lots of disk space and drain your battery. In that case I would advise to make a manual system backup to an external drive and update it regularly. You can do this in the Backup management option in Todo Backup once you made your backup. Simply update your existing backup by running it again or by deleting your old backup and creating a new one.

Also make sure you enable “PreOS” boot in the lower right corner of the options tab of Todo Backup. This will let you choose if you want to boot into Windows or Todo Backup when you start your computer. If you can no longer boot into Windows, then you can select Todo Backup to restore to you last backup when Windows was still working properly.

If you rather have a more advanced and experienced backup software, then I would recommend Acronis True Image Home (shareware).

Malware

Now that you have a safe backup of your system does not mean that you no longer need to be cautious of what files you open and what sites you visit. You might be able to restore to your previous state, but you should see this only as a failsafe solution in case of emergency. The best remedy is always a prevention.

Personally I have observed many Anti-malware solutions in action and so far my favorite is Comodo Internet Security for several reasons. It’s free and it uses various techniques to keep your computer safe. Many other antivirus tools let an unknown program through. Comodo however runs the unknown program in a sandbox (a safe environment where a program ‘thinks’ it has access to your entire computer but is isolated from your system). If you tend to open unknown applications, then I would recommend to open them in the sandbox if Comodo asks you to. If you do not open files from emails and do not download suspicious files and rather not have the popups, then you can simply disable the Defence + and Sandbox by right-clicking on the Comodo icon in the tray. To save on system resources I would not recommend to install the firewall as well since the Windows firewall is pretty good in itself and if you are behind a router then you have an extra layer of firewall protection.

 

If you want to run unknown or suspicious applications without using a sandbox, then I would recommend to get the VirusTotal Uploader. This adds an option in your menu when you right-click on a file to upload it to the VirusTotal server and have it scanned with dozens of antimalware programs to give an idea of the threat of the program. Keep in mind though that sometimes some programs can detect certain files as ‘false positives’ and claim to be harmful while they are not.

 

If you believe you might be infected with something than you also might want to run a scan with Hitman Pro and / or Comodo Cleaning Essentials 2.0 32 bit (click here for 64 bit version) and / or Malwarebytes.

 

 

 

 

 

Software Maintenance

The more programs you install, the slower your computer gets as most programs that are installed have components that keep running in the background to check for updates, send error reports, etc.. All these background items also start when you start your computer so it takes longer for your computer to be ready. Also they consume your limited system memory so that you will have less memory left for your regular tasks. The result of this is that Windows will have to use your harddisk as memory if your main memory becomes full and that is what drastically slows down your computer and makes program a lot less responsive and take longer to start.

It’s better to completely uninstall a program that you no longer use rather than disable it in the startup since it will also save you disk space. To uninstall programs you can use the default windows software manager, however I would recommend Revo Uninstaller as many uninstallers leave stuff behind (like registry keys, a folder with configuration, shortcuts, etc..). Simply run Revo Uninstaller and inspect every single program you have and decide if you want to keep it or not.

 

If you want a complete PC check-up then I would recommend iolo System Mechanic. It’s a one-stop solution to fix your hard drive errors, startup-items, registry problems, system clutter and a lot more. I would recommend doing the deep scan and repair the detected startup items manually since sometimes it detects false positives (in my case it detected PicPick as a dangerous startup item).

 

 

Finally I would recommend Kingsoft PC Doctor as standard software for every PC you have. Among many features It offers an extra layer of protection on top of your existing antivirus as it has integrated cloud scanning of anything you download. You can also use it to disable startup items that you might want to remove, optimize your system, cleanup your registry, remove temporary files and windows update backup files (that can take up lots of space).

 

 

Hardware Maintenance

It’s also a good idea to get an air duster can and once in a while open up your computer (while it’s turned off and the power is unplugged) and dust it off on the inside, specially the fans. If the fans get too cluttered with dust, your computer will overheat and start failing or turn off while you are busy. Don’t forget to dust off the CPU, mainboard, Graphics card and chassis fan. And while you’re at it you can do the keyboard too.

EASEUS Partition Master

EASEUS Partition Master is a free / paid (depending on the version you choose) partition manager. If you ever need to create or manage your partitions then this is the tool you need. It offers more functionality, flexibility and user friendliness than the standard Windows Disk Manager. Having multiple partitions can be handy if you want to organize your drives to have one place for your Windows system, one for your backups and one for your downloads (for example). You can also merge partitions, format them and a lot more.

Freemake Audio Converter

With Freemake Audio Converter you can convert audio to MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, AAC, M4A, OGG, convert audio to MP3 player, iPod, iPhone, iPad, PSP, extract audio from video, join audio files, rip and burn audio CD’s. Freemake is known to make awesome free software like Video Downloader and Video Converter.