During first run, you will need to configure and set up Kopete. Select the instant messenger client you want to set up with Kopete then click next. Enter your account credentials with the instant messaging service you have selected and click next.

In the next window check the connect now option and click finish to connect to the instant messaging service you have selected.

After clicking finish, Kopete will run the KDE Wallet System. This stores and encrypts your passwords and other personal information’s. In the next window check yes add supply your password for KDE Wallet and click finish.

After finishing the setup enter your password to your KDE wallet and Kopete will automatically log in to your instant messaging service.

After successfully connecting to your instant messaging service, you can now start you chat conversation with your contacts.

If you are using KDE and not Gnome, Kopete is the better choice than Pidgin.  It uses less memory under the KDE desktop environment.  If you want a native KDE app that can handle multiple messenger connections, this is a great program. My only problem with this program is that it currently don’t support microphone and audio/video conferences.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

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Kopete – The KDE Messenger for Linux

One of the drawbacks to some of the free software options is the ability to encrypt or password protect the PDF output.  When trading documentation containing items such as intellectual property data, engineering schematics, or other sensitive corporate information, being able to safeguard files becomes a priority.  Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who swear by Adobe Acrobat as the only solution for this type of need.  Fortunately, Adobe is not the only company to have a PDF creation tool, which can digitally protect a document.

NovaPDF Professional (found here) does an excellent job of creating PDF files, and offers the option of encrypting PDF output.  It has a very small footprint on your computer, and offers a wealth of choices when creating a PDF file.  When installed, it simply creates an additional printer type object within the Windows Printers and Faxes group.

Just like other PDF software products, you access NovaPDF when you are going to print a document.  Once you reach the standard printer options screen, you can select NovaPDF from the printer selection drop-down box.  Now you may click on the Properties button on the right-hand side of the screen to access the features of NovaPDF.

Once you are in the Properties area, you will note the wide variety of tabs.  The first tab, Page, gives the user the option of changing the print size (default is Letter), measurement units, orientation, and resolution.  All of the page options are fairly straightforward.  If your document contains images, you may want to look at the Graphics tab.  This tab offers the options to compress images, convert pictures to grayscale, and downsample (resize resolution) images; all in an effort to reduce the overall document size.

Working with graphics is an expectation of most people who create original PDF documentation.  At the very least, the PDF output file should be able to reproduce the images in a viewable format, and NovaPDF has that covered.  In addition to graphics, should you choose to embed the fonts you are working with, there is a menu tab specifically for that option.  Embedding fonts will help the recipients of the PDF file see the text data as the author intended.

Sometimes, a person needs to add a watermark (such as Confidential, For Business Use Only, etc.) into a PDF document.  NovaPDF’s watermark tab accomplishes this in short order.  Simply click on New Text, to add wording as a watermark; or click on New Image to browse for a image.  You also are given the ability to add multiple watermarks, should you have the need.

Do you intend to send the PDF in an email after creating it?  Why not pre-assign this task from within NovaPDF’s Properties?  Clicking on the Email tab gives a person the option of Sending via email, as a PDF attachment, and sending as a ZIP attachment.  You can also let NovaPDF know to open your email client, send through your email client, or use a pre-configured SMTP platform.

Now to the security section of this program, located under the Security tab.  For the encryption portion of NovaPDF, you have three options:  None, 40-bit, or 128-bit.  The difference between 40 and 128 bit is what the reader of the PDF file can, and cannot do with the document.  At 40-bit encryption, you can allow, or not allow, them to print, change the PDF contents, or even extract text and images.  The 128-bit encryption offers high level options akin to the 40-bit level as well as restriction high resolution print capabilities.

At the bottom of the Security tab, you have the option of adding passwords to the document.  Doing so will not allow anyone to view the document without knowing the password.  The passwords are broken up into two categories, user and owner.  The user password allows viewing, and rudimentary tasks; where the owner password allows for editing type functionality.

When you have checked off all of the options for this document that you desire, you are ready to print.  Click on Ok at the bottom of any of the tab screens to get back to the default Windows print menu.  After clicking on Print, you are greeted with another short list of choices.

Here you may append the information to another PDF file, or insert the information into another PDF files, but before the other document’s contents.  You can also choose to send the output file via email, open it in your PDF viewer, or both.  Should you be required to use the PDF/A-1b format, you can check its box prior to printing.

With the ability to compress images and encrypt data, NovaPDF is a good choice when it comes to PDF files.  It is easy to work with, and has a modest price tag ($60) when compared to Adobe Acrobat Pro ($600+).  This is in a excellent piece of software if you have a need to create PDF type documentation.

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Create standard and encrypted PDF files with NovaPDF Pro

Thankfully, there are a variety of choices when it comes to defending against malicious programs.  Symantec, McAfee, and Computer Associates, to name a few, are just three companies producing software solutions protect against malware.  However, their products are costly, and typically take up a bit of system resources (processor use and memory) while running on your computer.  These programs usually require an annual fee to keep the software registration current.

There are other products on the market that are not only less expensive, but have free counterparts as well.  Companies like Grisoft (AVG Anti-Virus), Avast, and AVIRA give away free versions of their software, with reduced functionality, but still the same core components.  It is left up to the individual whether they are content with the free version, or desire the premium, paid for, version.  These premium versions will typically have a yearly paid subscription, akin to the previously mentioned companies.

One such program that has a premium and a free distribution is SuperAntiSpyware (found here).  Once you can get past the unimaginative title, the software itself is excellent.  This is one anti-spyware program that has a tendency to find malware that other programs, even the big names ones, fail to find.  While the free version of SuperAntiSpyware works well, there are practical reasons to consider upgrading to SuperAntiSpyware Pro.

One of the bigger draws to SuperAntiSpyware Pro is real time scanning.  The free version does not have this feature.  Pro will monitor your computer for anything that is listed in its database of harmful programs as well as watch you computer for changes in behavior.  SuperAntiSpyware Pro provides an easy method to toggle the real time scanning on and off.  Simply right-click on the Start bar icon, then left-click on Enable Real-Time Protection.

From this menu, you can access SuperAntiSpyware Pro’s preferences area.  Upon entering this section, you can click on the Real-Time Protection tab to see some extra choices for active scanning.  In addition to the scanning while you computer is running, there is the option of having your computer scanned during startup and shutdown.

Another advantage that the Pro version has over Free are Automatic Updates.  To access this feature, click on the Updates tab while in the preferences area.  Here you can tell SuperAntiSpyware Pro to check for updates periodically, check for updates when you start the program itself, and how often to remind you about program updates.

I have used both the Free and Pro versions of SuperAntiSpyware.  Through the website claims to the contrary, both versions have a special Repairs tab.  The Repairs tab allows you to make specific repairs to things like the Task Manager, the Start Menu Run tool, and repairing your Internet Security Zones.  The Repairs section was designed in mind to fix the aftermath of malware that hurts Windows functionality.

While this would not be considered an advantage over the free version, the Pro costs less than the major competitors.  At $19.95, SuperAntiSpyware Pro is inexpensive and contains similar functionality to offerings from Symantec, McAfee, and the like.  Of course, the Free version wins in this category though.

What it all boils down to is if you have the need for more automation with your copy of SuperAntiSpyware.  The Free offering is more manual, with respect to updates and scanning.  The Pro version is more “hands off” when it comes to what the user needs to accomplish.  SuperAntiSpyware.com is nice enough to give out a timed trial of the Pro version to let the end user try before they buy.

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SuperAntiSpyware Pro Review

In any event, other third-party security applications have traditionally been relied upon to protect Windows.  Symantec, McAffee, Grisoft, Kapersky, and a whole host of other security software manufacturers were deemed as a necessity to keep Windows safe and defend against computer malware and other security threats.  Taking note of this, Microsoft began to develop, or source, protection for their operating systems.

Windows Defender (previously known as Microsoft AntiSpyware, and GIANT AntiSpyware prior to Microsoft’s acquisition) was an attempt by Microsoft to give the Windows community a free, real-time security tool.  Unfortunately, poor marks from a variety of software testing groups continued people to look for solutions elsewhere.  As secondary pitch into the security software market, Microsoft made the One Care product.  This time around, the package was a paid subscription, akin to most other vendors.  Once again, Microsoft’s solution did not provide the best security, but was better than Defender alone.

Now there is another Microsoft product being readied for consumer consideration.  Microsoft Security Essentials (also known as Morro, and to be referred to as MSE moving forward) is the latest venture by Microsoft into the security software market.  Reportedly aimed at replacing One Care, this utility is still in the Beta mode process and will not be finalized until later this year.  Keep in mind that this is not the final product and this is more of a sneak peek at the tool.

After installing MSE, and opening it, the user will notice four large tabs:  Home, Update, History, and Settings.  Initially, the Home tab is shown.  Within this section, one is presented with three quick choices for scanning:  Quick, Full, and Custom.  While Custom choice allows for selection of specific drives or folders, choosing Quick or Full, then clicking on Scan Now, will initiate an immediate scan.

The next tab is Updates.  There is really not much to accomplish in this section other than mashing the Update button if you see that MSE is out of date.  A small display annotating the date of your current malware definitions is shown, serving only as a reference.  Though the updates cannot be scheduled, for the current software release, you can instruct MSE to search for updates before running a scan.  This option is found in the Settings tab.

The History tab, while meant as another reference tool, holds pertinent information.  This tab is where you can go to view the history of what MSE has found on your computer, when it found the items in question, and what actions it took (Removal, Quarantine, Allowed, etc.).

Additionally, you can click on one of the entries, and get some information on the malware and what MSE recommends as an actionable response.

Depending on your particular tastes, you may be someone who likes to changes things at any point in a program.  However, if your preference leans more towards a consolidated area for program options, then MSE’s Settings tab is right up your alley.  Instead of littering the countryside, so to speak, with choices, Microsoft located all of MSE’s program choices in one section (with the exception of the Custom Scan).

Under the Settings tab, the left-hand side holds the Settings tab, sub-menus, while the right-hand side displays the sub-menu contents.  Clicking on Scheduled scan will bring up the choices for altering the default 2:00 AM selection.  Here, you may change the day, time, and scan type for your scheduled scan; or turn it off.  This is also the area when you tell MSE to check for updates before running a security scan.

Though the other sub-menus are each useful, one to pay attention to is the Default actions menu.  This is where MSE is preset to take actions it deems appropriate based upon the virus, spyware, or unknown programs, it locates during a scan.  There are four categories here:  Severe Alert, High Alert, Medium Alert, and Low Alert.  Each of them can be reset to either let MSE make the decision for you, Remove the problem, Quarantine, or Allow something to run.  Allow is not a choice for Severe, and High Alerts.

While you could leave the Severe and High Alert levels at their default setting, it may be best to Quarantine the Medium and Low Alert levels.  The reason for doing this is because many security software products may take a best guess as to what it found during a security sweep.

Granted, the software it found may be legitimate, but the anti-malware application might not have it on its list of safe programs.  Outright removal of the software can damage it, but Quarantining can be a safer approach if you want to put the scanned files back into place, and not have them accidentally removed from your computer.

It is nice to see Microsoft making better strides with security.  Will MSE be a decent security tool?  Will it outperform Defender and One Care?  Only the final release will be able to tell.

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An overview of Microsoft Security Essentials

Unlike Mozilla Firefox, Maxthon has the more advanced features preinstalled so you won’t have to download plugins just to customize the program.  Don’t get me wrong though, Maxthon has its own set of plugins for you customization freaks.

At first look, Maxthon’s interface is a cleanly implemented GUI.  It reminds me of Safari with it’s polished silver gray default theme.

It has all of the basic browsing features like tabbed browsing, ad or pop-up blocker, trusted websites browsing, multi-language support, auto-form fill, and many others.  Based on the Internet Explorer engine, it is relatively fast and although some users reported instability, I haven’t made mine crash so far.

The tools will shame anyone’s freshly installed Firefox browser.  It has a file sniffer so you can easily download FLV files or MP3 files or any files for that matter using this utility.  The content control will also allow you to turn-off any unwanted content like pictures, Flash movies, Javascript,  sounds and ActiveX.

It also has built in translation features and a screen capture option for screenshots of your browser window.

According to readwriteweb.com which ranked Maxthon as Top 6 of thee international products of 2008,

Maxthon is a browser created in China and reported to be the second most popular browser in China today. While it doesn’t show up as a contender in most market share reports, it has had a staggering 174 million downloads at the time of writing this post.

Using Internet Explorer’s rendering engine, Maxthon has over 1,400 add-ons, proxy switching capability, aggressive ad blocking, split-screen browsing to name a few of its innovative features.

If there is a feature in Maxthon that I particularly like that will be the mouse gestures control.  With it, you can go back to the previous page by holding right click and dragging it to the left,  to go forward drag the mouse to the right.  Anyone can also add more mouse gestures command using it’s control panel.

In my tests, Maxthon also uses less memory and CPU than Firefox, most of the time it only uses half of the memory that Firefox eats up while browsing the same page.  If you are looking for an alternative browser with a power punch of built-in tools, Maxthon is a great choice!

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done!

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Maxthon – Free alternative web browser

I’ve previously written about online screen sharing and remote desktop apps that allows your friends or family members to connect to your computer and help you solve computer problems. While this is great, not everyone knows a computer geek ready to solve all their problems.

That’s where a service like CrossLoop comes in and saves the day. They are the only company (that I know of) that has a free remote screen-sharing app plus a huge community of “helpers” that can assist you in fixing computer problems for a low price.

Basically, tech savvy people from all over the world create profiles on CrossLoop and then use their client application to log into the system. Here is an example of a helper who has setup a profile on CrossLoop with his expertise and prices for support:

The cool thing is that everyone gets rated after a help session, so you can choose people who are highly rated. You can see where they are from, what languages they speak, how many people they have helped and whether they offer free estimates or not, something the stores usually don’t do!

To get started, all you do is perform a search from their main site and you’ll get a listing of helpers that are currently logged on and that can help you immediately.

You can start up a chat session with the helper to get any info you want or to tell them about your problem. This is great because you can make sure the person really understands your problem before you cough up any cash.

Once you finalize everything, the helper will ask you for your sharing code, which is on the Share tab of the CrossLoop client. Just give the person the number and they will be able to connect to your computer and remotely control it.

You can end the session at any time and there is also a 48 money back guarantee, so if the helper couldn’t fix your problem or the problems comes back after the session, your payment will be refunded. Not bad!

Overall, it’s a great way to get cheap computer support without having to leave your home! Enjoy!

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CrossLoop – Online computer support for low rates

It is designed to be lightweight with minimal footprint so that it will run extremely fast on Atom-based computers like netbooks. You can download the beta V.02 image file from this URL http://moblin.org/

Once you boot to your computer using the CD as first boot sequence you should see the screen below:

Installation is a breeze and might be the easiest among other Linux distros.  Once installed you will be shown the “myzone” area where you will see a bunch of updates and activity information about your social network.

The myzone is divided into 3 sections: recent activities, recent files and websites and recent social network updates:

According to it’s homepage document:

Recent activities provides a snapshot of your Calendar appointments and “to-do’s” from your task list. Beneath your appointments and tasks are shortcuts to your favorite applications.

To populate your Calendar appointments, you enter them into the Calendar application. To create a “To-do,” launch the Task application.

Recent files & websites shows your most recent content-related activity on your netbook, such as pictures you’ve viewed, or websites you’ve visited. To open or re-visit any of the items shown in this area simply click it.

Recent social network updates enables you to keep track of your internet social life. It shows your latest friends’ feeds from Last.fm and Twitter. More 3rd party services will be incorporated in future releases.

If you a re a netbook user, try it yourself.  Go and download it from http://moblin.org/.  I was told by my fellow tech enthusiasts that this OS release is very mouse driven, but I think it will be solved once the release candidate or a more mature beta version comes out.

Most feedback also mentions a very fast boot-up time: more or less 20 seconds on an Atom-based processor!  That is impressive!  Compatibility is very good too considering it is still in its beta version.  Once installed you will get your display, wireless, connectivity, webcam and audio working – a plus for new users.

I hope to see more from Moblin as it matures – and maybe support for higher-end processors and not just low-end Atom based PCs. Enjoy!

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

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Moblin – Mobile OS for netbooks and nettops

You can see the comparison table from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_media_players

If you have not yet added Amarok, you can add it using your Linux’s interface for managing applications.  In Ubuntu, for example,  you can use the Add/Remove Applications interface under the Applications menu:

Once you get Amarok installed you should see it’s somewhat ITunes like interface shown below:

The rounded, but well designed control buttons are accessible at the top left:

It automatically downloads album arts from it’s supported media database:

It also downloads the lyrics of the songs in your playlist – this is good for folks who like to sing-along ala-Karaoke.

Also, Amarok now supports ReplayGain natively. When it is enabled Amarok equalizes the volume of songs with ReplayGain tags to avoid big unexpected volume changes between songs.

You can also connect to various web services like Last.fm, Ampache, OMPL, Magnatune, MP3tunes and Libribvox.  In addition, you can add community developed scripts to enhance your Amarok experience.  For example, the Append Suggestions feature will let you start with as a starting point and it will automatically suggest songs related to that song.

Do you know of a better Linux audio player? In a future post, we will show you how to script Amarok and how to stream media so you can listen to your audio files wherever you are.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done!

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Is Amarok the best audio player for Linux?

According to LiveSide.net, Windows Live Movie Maker is a complete rewrite of the Windows Movie Maker application, focusing on the needs of Windows Live Photo Gallery users.

Once you get the software installed, open it up and use the add button to add your raw video files.  You should see the video’s thumbnail appear on the right hand side of the window.  You can add more than one video so you can mix multiple videos into one.

Once a video is added you can add visual effects like transitions and color effects.

The Edit menu on the other hand will let you add text watermarks to the video.

You can also mute the audio and replace it with another audio file. To do that, go to Edit then click “mute”.

Then go back to Home then add a background music.

Once you are satisfied with the changes you can import or publish the movie by clicking either of the the two buttons.

Publishing will put your movie file on the web while Output will create a movie in native WMV format.  You can choose from either standard definition 640X480 (DVD quality) or smaller 320X240 for portable devices that support WMV.

Since it is in beta and intends to target only the basic video editing market, it doesn’t have features like in other expensive movie editing tools like Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier. For it’s free tag-price and basic set of editing capabilities, I suppose it is an OK freeware.  If it had a frame by frame view and more effects in it’s toolbox, it would have been a great tool.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

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How to use Windows Live Movie Maker Beta

Though it’s a good program, there may be times when you need more control over the audio level. Luckily, there are several free programs that you can use to rip, convert, and encode your audio with.

CDex

Not only can you use CDex to convert your compact disc collection into an MP3 collection, you can also use it to convert audio between formats. Or you can leave it in the same format and simply change the bitrate. It’s a great program for MP3 encoding.

BeSweet

Basically, BeSweet is an audio transcoding tool. If you work with a lot of video files, you can use it to convert AC3 to MP2, AC3 to MP3, MP3 to AC3, and lots more. You can also just change the sampling rate or the gain to whatever you want.

Click on the Downcovert Sample Rate and you can choose the exact bitrate that you want for the MP3, AC3, or WAV file. You can use it to adjust audio to match a different video framerate if needed.

The GUI is a bit confusing and not super easy to follow, but if you play around with it enough, you can get the job done.

dBpowerAMP Music Converter

Though this program is not free, it has a lot of useful features, such as shell integration so you can convert files quickly directly from Explorer. You also edit MP3 tags, normalize MP3 files, rip CDs, batch convert files, and lots more.

At the top, you can adjust the Variable Bit Rate quality, the Bit Rate (ABR) or the Bit Rate (CBR). This program is also more up-to-date, using modern encoders, etc.

So if you need a program to change the bitrate on a file, check these three out. You can also use them for lots more! Enjoy!

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3 ways to change bitrate on MP3 files

First open WaterMark Master, then click the + button on the Source Files panel:

It will open a dialog box where you can locate the video file.  After that, you should see the file name on the files list under the Source Files panel.  Click the text tool on the Watermark tab to add a text on the video (in the example below I entered the text “Mercedes Benz E Class”.  Enter the text on the Properties panel.  You may move the text around the video as you prefer.

You may use the font properties bar to edit the font type, size, color, rotation angle, transparency and other parameters.

Click the green play button to generate the updated video:

The processing time to generate an updated video with watermark depends on the length of the movie and the speed of your computer.

Play the file using your favorite media player and see your watermarked video in action.  I hope you enjoy this program.  It is not free, by the way, but the 74.95$ is somewhat justifiable if you will do a lot of watermarking tasks.  If you only need it for the weekend, get the trial version and do all of your watermarking before the trial period is over.

You can also check out a free movie editing software like VideoSpin to add titles and watermarks to videos. Do you know of a freeware that could do text watermarking like WaterMark Master?  Post them here on the comments section and I will give it a review in future posts.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

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How to add text watermarks to videos

So how do we create a virtual CD/DVD ROM drive?  In Alcohol you can set multiple virtual drives using its easy to use GUI.  First open the Alcohol 120% application and then click Virtual Drive under the Options group:

The options window will open with the Virtual Drive parameter fields. Set the number of virtual drives to 1 if you want to make only 1 virtual drive (or more if you want).  Check the Remount images upon system reboot if you want the drive to remain loaded after restarting Windows.    

Set the drive letter of the virtual drive using the Drive letter field.  By default it will use the next available drive letter it could find from your computer.  Click OK to activate the drive.

In the example above it used the drive “F” as the drive letter.  You can confirm the drive by exploring it on Windows Explorer:

If you click the drive you will see a message like below:

This means the disk has no media inside it.  Since this is a virtual drive, we need to point this to a CD or DVD image (like an ISO or any disk image file).  To load an ISO file, right click the drive using the Alcohol window and then choose Mount Image:

Locate the ISO file using the Open dialog box:

Then you should be able to see the image loaded on the virtual drive:

After this you can use the virtual drive like an ordinary CD/DVD ROM drive.  Browse the drive to see the content of the ISO image:

You may use the same steps above for any of the image file formats shown below:

If you want to change the image file loaded, use the steps above to point to other image files. 

Overall, I am very happy with how Alcohol 120% handled my image files.  With this tool I don’t have to waste blank CDs or DVDs just to be able to use the image files. You can also read my previous post on how to mount ISO images using Virtual CD-ROM from Microsoft. 

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

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How to mount ISO images using Alcohol 120%

In this post, I will try to give a quick overview of the advantages and disadvantages of both Twitter clients. This is by no means an all-inclusive overview, so if you feel I missed something, feel free to share your opinion in the comments.

GUI Interface

One of the major differences between the two clients in the GUI interface. To me, Twhirl is just like TweetDeck configured for a single column view. I think one of the great innovations of TweetDeck is that it allows you to create multiple columns for replies, direct messages, Twitter searches, or just to see tweets from certain people.

TweetDeck Interface:

Twhirl Interface:

With Twhirl, you have to click on the button at the bottom to see only direct messages or replies. Of course, if you prefer your Twitter client to take up less screen real estate, then Twhirl is better (until TweetDeck comes out with tabbed columns).

However, the major disadvantage to Twhirl is the lack of the ability to create custom groups. If you’re following 20,000 people, you certainly are not going to be reading all their tweets. TweetDeck lets you filter tweets quickly and easily.

Twhirl does have a Favorites tab, but this only pulls from the list of favorites you setup on Twitter.com (basically one custom group).

Accounts

One major disadvantage to TweetDeck currently is multiple accounts. If you have a personal and business related Twitter account, there is not way to see both using TweetDeck, which  is annoying.

Twhirl on the other hand, allow you to add as many accounts as you like, which is cool. So you can add two or three or more Twitter accounts and each account will show up as another Twhirl window.

The other advantage that Twhirl has over TweetDeck is that it supports other types of accounts, such as Identi.ca, lanconi.ca and FriendFeed.

Twitter Search

In terms of search, both clients are pretty good at that. In Twhirl, you can create a search and then “Activate” is, which basically makes it into a dynamic search that will continually update on it’s own.

In TweetDeck, you can also do the same thing by creating a new column, which will update automatically. What I like about TweetDeck more is that it also has some nice filter options that you can apply to the search, which you cannot do in Twhirl.

Also, TweetDeck has integration with TwitScoop, so you can quickly search the most happening topics quickly. Overall, I think TweetDeck wins in this category too.

Miscellaneous

The above items were the most important for me in a Twitter client, but there are other subtle differences between the two clients that may or may not better.

• TweetDeck allows you to post updates to Facebook, whereas Twhirl lets you post updates to Ping.fm and Jaiku.
• TweetDeck lets you change the colors of the client, but not the font. Twhirl lets you change the font, but not the color of the client.
• Twhirl lets you resize columns, which is nice, but TweetDeck does not allow you to resize columns.
• TweetDeck takes up a crap load of memory, whereas Twhirl does not. Usual instance of TweetDeck takes up 100 MB+ of RAM.
• Creating custom groups in TweetDeck can sometimes lead to freezing if you follow a large number of people.

Everything else is pretty much the same. You configure how often replies, direct messages, etc are checked per hour and how notifications are shown on your desktop.

If you have any other opinions or if there is something I misstated, please let me know in the comments! Enjoy!

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TweetDeck vs Twhirl review

Check out these add-ons for Firefox that could come in handy for the download junkie that is you:

DownThemAll – Download

DownThemAll has become synonymous with download management inside Firefox and it’d be a shame if it isn’t included in this list. It’s the number one add-on that all download junkies should install in their Firefox browser.

Besides just letting you manage your downloads better, it accelerates the download rate as well. The best part is a feature called dTa One Click using which you can very easily download all the media present in a web page in just a click.

Download Status – Download

By default, the Firefox status bar shows only the number of downloads that are running. It doesn’t give you options to do more. That’s when the Download Status add-on comes as a savior, by improving on that aspect and displaying additional information like the download speed and estimated time left for completion in the status bar.

Download Status Bar – Download

Download Status Bar can be used to completely manage downloads from your status bar without any interruption to your browsing activities. All your downloads are represented on the status bar and you can right click on any file to pause, resume, stop the download, among other things. Very feature rich when you compare it with the aforementioned add-on.

Download Sort – Download

Download Sort is a huge timesaver, especially if you download web page elements frequently. Download Sort works with ‘Save Link As’ and ‘Save Image As’ options in the right click menu. You can create rules to save files of a particular format in a particular directory. For instance, Download Sort can be used to save any .jpg file you download into your My Pictures folder so that you needn’t have to specify it every time.

FireTorrent – Download

FireTorrent is a torrent client that’s built for Firefox. With FireTorrent installed, you can manage torrent downloads inside Firefox just like they were normal file downloads. You can, of course, control the download and upload speeds. Encryption and proxy connections are supported as well. Several things might be missing, but it does make up as a good torrent client.

Check out Guest Blogger Shankar Ganesh’s Killer Tech Tips where he writes on topics ranging from how to make Windows run faster to essential windows utilities.

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Five Firefox add-ons for a download Junkie

Overall, I don’t think I’ll ever be a hard core Twitter user with lots of tweets a day, but I can’t see myself not using it either. I use it more to gain information rather than give out information.

One thing for sure is that there are a lot of cool tools and utility apps that extend and enhance the Twitter service. In this article, I am going to write about a few new Twitter apps that I came across in the last month that look promising and cool. Some are in beta, some are not, so if you like the idea of what the app does, bookmark it.

Yahoo Sideline

Yahoo Sideline is one of the newer Twitter apps that has gotten a lot of attention recently. It’s basically a real-time monitor of the Twitter public timeline. It’s built using Adobe Air and it lets you create custom queries and group them by topics of interest.

It has some cool features that make it one of the better tools to search Twitter for useful info:

• Custom search groups
• Advanced query builder for search
• Automatic refresh of your custom search queries
• Ability to monitor trending topics in Twitter

ExecTweets

If you have your own business or are an inspiring entrepreneur, then you will really like ExecTweets. You can use it to quickly find and follow top business executives on Twitter.

Plain and simple, it’s pretty neat. I’ve been following the CEO of Zappos, Steve Case, Guy Kawasaki, and a couple of other top people. A lot of the tweets are tips, advice, links to reading, etc that can help business people build their businesses.

The site also has a section for top links, hot topics, and most popular business tweeters. There is also a section for community tweets, so you can talk to other people who are tweeting on the site about business, etc.

Tweecious

Now this is a nifty little Twitter extension. It’s a Firefox add-on that goes through all your tweets on Twitter, extracts all the links, and posts them to your del.icio.us account!

This is great because one of the main uses of Twitter for me is to check out all the cool links people are posting. Now it may be worthwhile to create a separate delicious account for all these links that will be posted.

Using this service, you’ll never miss out on another cool link posted to Twitter! Definitely worth it unless you are following 50,000 people, which will make it kind of difficult to keep track of with the sheer number of links.

Eventually, I am hoping the plugin is updated with filters, etc, so you can track links from specific people only.

TweetDoubler

TweetDoubler is an interesting little Twitter service that is currently in beta, but will allow you to double the number of characters you can post to Twitter.

How does it work? Not really sure actually, but according to the site, it uses some kind of compression algorithm to allow up to 280 characters in a single tweet!

I personally believe in trying to make every tweet fit into 140 characters, but if you really can’t do it in that many characters, check out this service.

Twendz

twendz is another tool like Yahoo Sideline that allows you to track topics on Twitter in real-time. The cool thing about twendz is that it works in your browser, so you don’t have to download an application to your desktop.

You can see top trends and start tracking all conversions with particular hash tags or words in them. It also gives you a list on the side of top subtopics for the word or phrase you searched.

You can then drill down and read only tweets on those subtopics. Also, you can reply to any tweet that might interest you.

I’ve used it many times for keeping up to date on a current event and it’s very helpful.

So that’s my list of new and cool Twitter tools to check out! If there are other ones you prefer, post a comment and let us know your favorite Twitter tool! Enjoy!

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5 new Twitter tools to check out