There is a silence before a storm, and that silence is now. I’m talking about my PC. It is running so smoothly that even though i have been installing and uninstalling programs, it is taking it smootha and easy. Now, in a PC world, that’s scary. So, i guess its time to do some serious backup. But remember, if you delete the original after a backup, the backup becomes the original without a backup. So keep both files.

You must be wondering how i’m gonna make a backup on this blog. But wait, this is more than a backup. I am gonna share some my secrets with you as well. I am gonna backup all the utilities i use on this computer, so if it ever dies on me, i know where to find it. get it?

Utilities

F.Lux : Now, this is a wonder application for anyone who spends a lot of time in front of the computer screen. This application registers the local daylight calcuated in Kelvin and adjusts the screen brightness accordingly. Make sure you register your time zone as you start this appliation.

Feed Reader : This software to me is like my cup of morning coffee. This program loads up before anything else and is the first thing i see on screen. All i have to do is submit the RSS links to the pages i wanna keep track of (most of the professional websites have a RSS feed). This applies to Job’s database, news, friends photo uploads etc… and you don’t have to go to each site to check for update. This progam will let you know if there has been any update. Pretty smart eh?

PC Inspector Smart Recovery : The delete button is a necessary evil. And it fucks with you every now and then. The recycle bin is a good way to recover the data. But if you have deleted stuff off external devices like SD card from your camera, then this software is your Jesus.

CCleaner : This software is good for you if you are a person who keeps installing and uninstalling stuff. When you uninstall, most of the software leaves behind debris. CCleaner cleans your computer a bit more thoroughly.

MacDrive : If you own both PC  and Mac and share the same external  hard drive, this piece of application makes Mac formatted Ext drives visible on a mac. Costs about 50$.

7Zip : A fantastic software that extracts pretty much every compressed file format. for ex. RAR files ! WOW, eh !?

Image and Video

Easy Thumbnails : 10 mega-pixels on your camera ? wow, great man. Now you can stuff your drives with large chunks of crappy data. So, if you are not a serious photographer or do not often print those pictures out as huge A2 posters, that much large data is a waste. I would look through the pictures in the size they were shot, but save them in smaller sizes to save space and ease upload time. This software helps bulk resize pictures. I save most of my images to 800 x 600 size.

DVD Decrypter : Fantastic software if you want to store your DVD’s as data files into your hard drive. When you rip a DVD, a lot of unwanted stuff fills in your drives as well. Well, you dont want to save the directors commenatry or subtitles in polish, do you?. With this software, you get to choose what you need to rip, and thats just the movie you are after. So, go get them you pirate.

Image Brander : Want to bulk watermark your images. This is a simple and free software that does the magic. Make sure you set the output format to JPEG, as it is set as TIFF by default.

Quick Media Converter : Nowadays everything comes witha camera or video recording, even your toiletbrush ! But not all the times do the come in formats that are compatiable with what or where you just wanna upload and share. This software pretty much can handle and do the job for you.The interface is pretty simple and the advance mode is pretty hardcore. Now that i have shared this info, i hope to see more of your videos uploaded to facebook or Youtube.

The Music Jungle

Duplicate music files finder : Yes, we know that you steal music off the web. Sometimes, you steal the same song twice. Now, you don’t want two files of the same kind eating up your disc space while you can store more stolen music there, do you. Use this software to clean yur shit up. But remember, there might be two songs of the same kind if the greedy artist made a ‘greatiest hits’ album. but then again, how great is that shit ?… out with it !

MP3 Tag Editor : oh yes, we know that you like to organize your stolen shit. Not all the Mp3′s are ripped in the format ‘artist – song – album – song number’. This software helps you to tag your mp3′s the way you like. But i should warn you not to bulk edit the first time. Play with this shit before you get a grip of what it does and how you want your shit to be organized.

Audacity : Have there been times when you wanted to cut off an intro or outro of a song, shorten an song, record your voice over it, so that you can load it to your phone/web? This is a lightweight software that does wonders. FREE as well!

VLC player : Is a must have ! It is feather weight (means, it takes up minimal disc space and resources -computer speed) software that plays pretty much all kinds of files (well, except the snobbish ones like Real audio – who uses them anyway!) Not the sexiest interface. Download this and set it as default player for all your media. NOW !

TuneUp Companion : Perfect companion to Itunes. This software loads up everytime you load iTunes, it give you more info on the song you are playing.  If you own an iTouch or iPhone, its not cool if a song you are playing has no album cover. As uncool as a facebook profile without a mugshot. It downloads the missing covers of your songs. The ‘clean’ option also fills in the song details like genre, year, album etc etc.. NO, its NOT free. For once in your life, pay for something… GODDAMIT!

CD Burner XP : Ok, this is so 1990, but if you want to make a cd from the list of songs you wanna give to your girl, this shit is simple and FREE !

Enjoy !