Theory Patch

Have you ever noticed that Windows isn’t the best at copying large files or a large number of files at the same time? Windows Explorer, the default application that handles the copies, really just isn’t the greatest. It bugs out on occasion, generally takes a long time, and can plague you with annoying error messages. TeraCopy is a great alternative to explorer that you can pick up for the low low price of free. Here’s why I like it..

• If TeraCopy encounters an error while copying it will continue with the copy
• You can Pause/Resume copies
• It seems to copy faster than explorer
• If there is an error while copying, TeraCopy will automatically try again to fix it
• It works on Windows 7 64-bit!

If you are interested in getting your copy on, head over to TeraCopy’s web-site.

Recently I’ve been using the Windows 7 screen clipping tool to get what I need off of my screen and into an image file. This is kind of a tedious and repetitive method of getting things done. Today, I’ve started using ZScreen to get these things done for me more efficiently. It has all the hotkey configurations that you would expect from a screen capture tool; capture full screen, capture current window, and free select capture. It also let’s you select the destination of your screen shot from the clipboard to automatically uploading it to the web and putting the URL in your ‘paste’ area. There are some other more advanced features that I will probably make use of. One thing I do like is the built in jump menu in Windows 7. Head here to grab this program hosted by Google code!

The best Malware removal tool that I have ever worked with is Super Antispyware. Is your computer starting to bog down, do you have pop up windows that don’t make sense, is your computer asking you for credit card information so you can purchase virus ‘protection’? If so, then give this tool a spin! Usually you can run this as a normal application in Windows. However, if your system is really jacked up, then you may need to boot into safe mode and run it from there. Getting to safe mode is easy, just press ‘F8′ while your Windows machine boots up and it will let you select which mode to boot into. Safe mode just loads the bare essentials needed to run the system, thus avoiding loading Malware that can take control of the environment. Another method that I have used is to physically take the infected hard drive out of a computer and hook it up to another PC. Then I can run Super Antispyware on that computer while accessing the connected secondary drive. No matter how you decide to run it, more often than not it will get the job done.

The interface for the program is smooth, it detects most infections, and the scans run fairly efficiently. Not too sure what else you could ask for out of a FREE Malware detection program. Below, I am running a scan on an externally attached infected hard drive.

As you can see, the computer had quite a few problems with it. Well… if you browse a lot of porn, illegally download music, and click on every email link that comes your way; this can happen to you! Super Antispyware isn’t the end all for every situation, but it sure can help if you are in a pinch. Head to their web-site to check it out!

I wouldn’t normally recommend a book before finishing it, but this one has played out very interestingly in the first six chapters. The premise of the book is awesome, and I can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen. You may have seen the previews for the recently released movie based off of this book, but if you haven’t let me fill you in. Basically, the story is that two U.S. Deputy Marshals are sent to a desolate island named Shutter Island. On the island is an insane asylum housing violent offenders. The day before the story starts a woman has escaped from the asylum. The woman just so happened to drown her three children, sit them down at the dinner table after they were dead, and had breakfast with them. That’s what brought her to the island. The two marshals are sent in to find her. However, there is no way off of the island because it is in the middle of the ocean. Things aren’t as they seem on the island.. Well, I haven’t finished the book yet but I’m hoping it plays out like hostel! The more gore the merrier!

**1/7/09 Update** I finished the book, and it’s worth reading!

Network lights is a simple program that turns your Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys into network activity status indicators. Blinking lights on your keyboard that let you know network traffic is flowing, how fun!

Get it here!