The processing power of computers is increasing at a speed which would have been almost unthinkable a few years ago. The arrival of multi-core processors, along with the falling price of memory and hard disks, means that the computers are not used to their full potential most of the time. One way to make the most of all that potential is through virtualization. In other words, installing several operating systems side-by-side using tools such as VMware Server. After installing VMware, all you have to do is launch the assistant and follow the steps that are described to be able to work in Windows whilst installing the latest Linux distribution, for example. Once this has finished, you will have a “virtual machine” window on your screen containing Linux. Or if you prefer, you can install Windows XP, Windows Vista or even MS-DOS. Everything will work exactly as if you had two computers in one.

There are limitations, of course, such as graphics acceleration for games, which still isn’t completely resolved, or the slight performance drop when compared to a real dedicated computer. But despite these small problems, it’s a very attractive way to make the most of the money invested in your PC: And as if that weren’t enough, the web page of VMware features a section dedicated to gathering together pre-built virtual machines which can provide all sorts of specific functions. For example, there are virtual machines designed especially for safely browsing the Internet. Using them is simple: download the file (which, it has to be said, may be several hundreds of MB) and open it using VMware in order to enjoy a browsing environment which is completely isolated from the real computer but which includes all the features of a conventional web browser.

It’s easier than it seems and, what’s more, it’s free.

You can find it here: Goofull VMware.

The virtual machines can be downloaded from here: VMware.

Tags: Plugins, Utilities by admin
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With the price of hard disks as low as they are right now, it’s not a bad time to consider the possibility of transferring all those DVDs you have to one of these disks so that you can comfortably watch them on your computer or even on a TV in the lounge with a Media Centre computer or a multimedia hard disk.

As well as being a much faster medium than traditional DVDs, they are more versatile too, since you can store and carry around dozens of films without the hassle of lugging them around in their cases or risking them getting damaged, mainly due to the inherent fragility of optical media such as CDs and DVDs.

DVDFab is an incredibly fast and easy-to-use tool that lets you copy either the whole DVD or just the film with its audio and subtitles. This version has many features disabled, which are only made available with the Platinum version. But if all you need to do is transfer your DVDs, this program will be fine.

What’s more, the copying tasks run very quickly and without bothering you. This is an application that cuts right to the chase and does its job elegantly and well.

The program is available at: DVDFab HD Decrypter.

Tags: Entertainment, Video by admin
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YouTube is becoming the new television for those generations growing up during the Internet revolution. The difficult part about using YouTube has always been wading through the many, many videos to find exactly the one you want amongst the multitude of similar ones. As such, ‘zapping’, or channel surfing, has become the norm on YouTube but it’s still annoying not to be able to save some of those videos so that you can carry them around with you on your multimedia player or mobile phone, where Internet access isn’t as easy, quick or cheap as it is at home.

Now, with Easy Video Downloader, you can do just that; all you need to do is copy the web address of the YouTube (or MySpace) page, paste it into the corresponding dialog box and select the video’s destination folder and its format. You can choose between a high-quality format and another adapted for mobile devices and multimedia players.

Once you’ve followed these steps, just click on the start button and, in a matter of seconds or minutes (depending on your Internet connection, the speed of your computer and the type of file you’ve chosen) you’ll have the YouTube or MySpace content saved in the local folder on your computer.

Easy Video Downloader 2.o

Tags: Audio, Design, Video by admin
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Pando is more than just an application. It’s a creative and innovative way of using the Internet to improve users’ experiences with email, instant messaging and leisure resources on the web. This software makes it possible to share files and content of all types by using the Pando network as a go-between. Its feature which allows you to share files of up to 1 GB via email and instant messaging programs is based on the creation of “.pando” links, which point to the files to be shared.

These .pando files can be created using a simple drag-and-drop type interface in which you just add the files that you want to share with other users. The software itself takes care of inserting these links into the corresponding application or generating the HTML code needed to insert a link in a web page or blog. The free version has a limit of 1 GB, which is increased to 3 GB if you buy the full version, but which is more than enough in any case to share many photos, films, videos or documents without having to worry about whether your email or instant messaging software will be able to cope.

In addition to files, Pando also has room for leisure channels. Using RSS syndication in combination with the “.pando” links, you can have access to all sorts of video channels: from series to themed channels related to technology, health, DIY, etc. Pando is can be run from its own desktop icon or via the toolbars which are integrated into the most popular web browsers, making it even simpler to use every day.

Pando in Goofull.

Tags: Internet, Security by admin
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EThere are many good reasons to compress a file or a group of files. First and foremost is the size issue, although with 500 GB disks on sale for €90 this is an argument which is losing importance. But there are other good reasons for using a file compression program, such as the convenience of being able to create specific containers for groups of files that need to be kept together or the security offered by encryption and the password protection of compressed archives.

7-Zip offers these features and several more, such as the creation of self-extracting archives that don’t need 7-Zip to be installed in order to use them. What’s more, it’s a free application that is distributed under an open-source licence and is also compatible with WinZip archives.

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Tags: Utilities by admin
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