Retro PC: Windows 2000 Pro

I used Windows 2000 Pro for a few years  and thought it was a solid performer. I thought of it as a stripped down version of Windows XP. If you’ve got slightly older machine(five to ten years)with limited resources it could still used but I wouldn’t use it for a new build. Many modern software applications just doesn’t work on it anymore. The oldest I’d go is for Windows XP.

Here is another video by Rich Menga from PC Mech who shows off Windows 2000 Pro in VirtualBox. He actually gives some tips on software to use and how to set this up. He makes it at least bearable to use Windows 2000 if you want to. These are good tips if your still trying to squeak some life out of an older PC or just like experimenting with older operating systems.

Thanks for coming by.

Using Windows 95 ….today

Here is a quick video of Rich Menga of PC Mech showing how he’s running Windows 95. You may ask why would anyone do that today. Well Rich did it to play vintage DOS –games. Someone else may do it to use a specific program or just for the adventure(like I did at one time). How is he running Windows 95? He installed a program called VirtualBox which can install operating systems in a virtual environment. Rich gives us some excellent software recommendations that enable you to use(barely) Windows 95 in today's world. I imagine if you had an old PC or laptop running Windows 95 you could use a similar setup.

Here is a quick list of programs Rich is running:

• Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2
• Web Browser K-Meleon
• Instant messenger Miranda
• Microsoft Rich Editor to install Miranda
• Word processor AbiWord Version 2.4.6

Here is my version of using Windows 95 inside Microsoft’s Virtual PC that I did awhile back. It’s kind of glimpse into PC history.

 

Technorati Tags: virtual pc,microsoft,virtualbox,windows 95,pcmech,menga,rich

The Weather Channel App

You’d think an app about the weather would be boring. I don’t consider The Weather Channels app for the iPhone. One cool feature that got me hooked is the radar map. I’m not sure if it was there the whole time or was recently added. You can check out the real time weather radar in the palm of your hand. Here’s a screenshot of the weather over my house as I write this:

You click the triangle button in bottom left hand corner it will play a short loop. Click the “i” and you can get customized maps. I think this would be an awesome tool for those that chase these storms. I find it handy to know when these storms are approaching. Plus you get the normal weather forecasts and warnings. I believe this to be one of those must have iPhone Apps.  This was from the free version(Pay version is ad free) of the app and can be found here.

What’s your favorite iPhone App?

Technorati Tags: iphone,the weather channel,app,application,apple

Zuckerberg on the Grill

Poor Mark Zuckerberg gets grilled about Facebook privacy issues at a recent conference. I think most people are generally concerned about privacy but probably don’t lose a lot of sleep over whether their settings on Facebook are optimized for privacy. It does seem like there is a very vocal minority that pops up every time something is changed on website. This video is just a small snippet of the whole interview. This is the whole video:

I’m one of those that doesn’t lose sleep over this subject. I do follow some common sense guidelines though. I don’t post anything on the site that I don’t expect everyone to see. If your on the edge on whether your post should be private or not I’d error on the side of caution. Send a private message through Facebook or by email and other means. Generally speaking if you post something on a friends wall their friends can see it also. The other tip is not to post anything you’ll regret or be embarrassed. There are numerous stories of people getting fired and such from embarrassing posts. Use common sense.

Mark’s relative rookie at this compared to a video of Steve Job’s being interviewed at the same venue. Steve was grilled also but he never broke a sweat. Poor Mark had to take his “Hoodie” off because he was sweating profusely. Good luck Mark, you’ll get there eventually.

Soluto : Anti frustration software

Soluto is a software application that analyzes your systems boot up. Then you can tweak your system to speed up your computer. This is an amazing tool in my opinion. One of the most frustrating problems troubleshooting a slow start up is figuring out which application is causing the hang up or which programs you can do without. I haven’t tried it out yet as you have to sign up for the beta and then get approved. Here is a video previewing the software:

Soluto - How to use Soluto Beta from Soluto on Vimeo.

Once I try it out I’ll post a review here. It certainly looks promising.

Source: Geeks are Sexy