bT Square Peg :: News » Misc

Photoshop Plugins in the GIMP

vistasp — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:07:04 +0000

I’ve been using some free photoshop compatible (8bf) filters within IrfanView but you can only really apply them to the entire image – or not at all. If you want a little more control, you might use something like the GIMP. The beauty of it is, these filters can now be used under Linux.

Go to :: PSPI
Via :: ossblogger.com

GoTo :: Photoshop Plugins in the GIMP

AVG’s LinkScanner and its Removal

vistasp — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:16:52 +0000

Warning: This post is slightly technical

I’ve been using AVG’s free version for quite some years now and have always been happy with it. Accordingly, when they posted their latest version, 8.0, I was quick to download and install it. AVG now includes an antispyware component and a bit of fluff called LinkScanner. This, I found to be rather unnecessary and also a consumer of bandwidth and time (although AVG denies it on their support forum). Search results loaded noticeably slower in Firefox and disabling it in the AVG control panel resulted in a horrible “you may not be protected” icon in the system tray.

Reinstalling AVG 8 without that component did pretty much the same as just disabling it in the tray and that led me on a hunt for a permanent solution. Well, it’s documented in the AVG FAQs and it is possible – albeit a little differently from what they say because of the way my XP is set up; I can’t RUN any program directly.

Here are AVG’s instructions:

Download the AVG 8.0 Free Edition installation package from our website.

Run the installation with the parameters /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch.

One way to achieve this is to:

save (or copy) the AVG Free installation file directly to disk C:

Start > Run

type c:avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch

The installation will be started, and AVG will be installed without the LinkScanner component.

In my case, I had to make a batch file in C: with the following line (watch for wordwrap).

Start “” avg_free_stf_*.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch

This is the only thing that worked for me and I hope it helps someone else in a similar situation.

One more thing. The download is a huge 47Mb+ in size compared to just 22MB for version 7.5. I suppose the antispyware component does need some space. However, I’m beginning to wonder if this software is getting too bloated for its own good. Time will tell…

GoTo :: AVG’s LinkScanner and its Removal

Q10 – Text Editor with Spell Check

vistasp — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:14:05 +0000

I never thought I’d actually like a software that has a full black screen with yellow text. Reminds me too much of the bad old DOS days. And yet, there’s something about Q10 that makes me want to use it more and more. Maybe it’s the simplicity, maybe there is less strain on my eyes. Either way, it’s a keeper.

It doesn’t have the features of metapad – still my text editor of choice – but it is equally fast and has spelling check built-in. It comes with US English (and Spanish, among others) but since it uses the same dictionaries as OpenOffice, so I merely copied the British English files over to the correct location. And I also found a dozen or more spelling errors on this site…

It’s a tiny 400 kilobyte download (without the dictionaries) that doesn’t require to be installed – just unzip it to any location and start writing; run it off a pen-drive if you want. I think this one is going to travel with me on my cellphone; alongside Portable Thunderbird.

It’s semi-crashed on me a couple of times during spell-check – usually after it has encountered an apostrophe.

Go to :: Q10

GoTo :: Q10 – Text Editor with Spell Check

Shell Extensions for Drawing Files

vistasp — Tue, 02 May 2006 03:38:50 +0000

Here’s some freeware that will make it easier to sort and find drawing files in Windows Explorer. DWGcolumn which can list files by the version of AutoCAD in which it was saved is extremely useful. The screenshots on the site make the use of each utility quite clear.

http://www.cushat.co.uk/fw/

GoTo :: Shell Extensions for Drawing Files

Foxit PDF Reader

vistasp — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 13:55:48 +0000

This is a small, fast and light PDF reader that is much more convenient to use than the bloated “official” Adobe reader which weighs in at 20 Megabytes. I recommend it to anybody who says they can’t open a file I sent.

Â« Recommended Â»

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/
< 1 Megabyte

GoTo :: Foxit PDF Reader

IrfanView

vistasp — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 13:47:55 +0000

I’ve been using this simple and straightforward viewer for as long as I can remember and it just keeps getting better. It can open and print almost any image file I throw at it – and I’ve thrown quite a few over the years. As if that’s not enough, it has a plugin system to extend it’s capabilities (some of the plugins are not free).

Â« Must Have Â»

http://www.irfanview.com/
~900 kilobytes

GoTo :: IrfanView