Ajax Whois is an easy to use website to aid in domain lookups and WhoIs information. You can specify a search of 7 of the most popular top level domains at one time. The site is based on Ajax programming which means all of  your queries are delivered in real-time as you type them out, this makes Domain Name and WhoIs lookups quick and easy. A nice little bonus is that Ajax WhoIs provides a list of current GoDaddy promo codes for saving some money on domain registration. A must have link in your favorites list!

dixlinx: AJAXWHOIS.COM

Tags: Ajax, dns, Web 2.0, website

Internet and network connectivity in Windows XP is notorious for being easily disabled and corrupted from minor tweaks to the registry and winsock settings. Removing software, scanning for and deleting spyware can cause these registry corruptions which prevent Windows XP from accessing the network. It seems that the frequencies of corruption have declined since the release of Service Pack 2, but having experienced seemingly random winsock corruption with my own XP PC and having spent much time simply troubleshooting the issue, I am pleased to post Winsock XP Fix.

Winsock XP Fix is a quick utility to scan and repair the Winsock settings in XP and help restore lost connectivity. This little tool can save hours of troubleshooting and recommended if you suddenly lose network connectivity on your Windows XP PC.

The apparently defunct OptionExplicit is the original creator of Winsock XP Fix , the following link is simply a download location.

dixlinx: SPYCHECKER.COM

Tags: registry Windows XP, Security, spyware removal

Windows Defender is a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Windows Defender no longer supports Windows 2000 as mainstream support ended in June 2005.

The above passage is from the Microsoft website.  In a nutshell, Windows Defender is a utility created by Microsoft to repair and remove spyware infections on Windows XP and Vista. It’s free and seems to do a pretty good job at cleaning up and protecting your PC from spyware and malware.

dixlinx: MICROSOFT.COM/DOWNLOADS

Tags: malware, microsoft, Security, spyware, utility

A codec is software that allows for the COmpression and DEcompression of media files. How many times have you wanted to play an audio or video file from the Internet only to find you’re missing the necessary codec to play it? Well, the Windows Essentials Codec Pack is a very good collection of codecs to play almost every type of file you’ll come across. From their website:

Windows Essentials Codec Pack is a collection of Video and Audio Codecs and tools that are required to Encode / Decode (i.e., PLAY) Audio and Video files. With Windows Essentials Codec Pack you should be able to play 99% of all the movies and music files that you download off the internet, and stay up to date with the latest Codecs through W.E.C.P’s Audio / Video Codec Update Service.

dixlinx: MEDIACODEC.ORG

Tags: multimedia

Process Explorer is a free utility from Microsoft. It’s an add-on extension of the Task Manager that is included with the Windows Operating System. This utility gives more in-depth information regarding any processes running on a computer system. It enables the user to view which dll’s or exe’s are running and the amount of resources that are allocated to each process.

Its main window displays the executables that are currently running on the computer. It also has a handle or DLL mode, which can help with identifying that objects are loaded each executable. There are over 100 different columns that can be added to the interface for monitoring processes.

Process Explorer is compatible with Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Server 2003, Windows XP for x64 and IA64 processors, and Windows Vista.

dixlinx: Process Explorer 11.11

Tags: debug, spyware process identification, Task Manager

I have been reluctant to post Lavasoft’s legendary application Ad-Aware, because of the aggressive shareware route Lavasoft has been pushing lately. Lavasoft does offer Ad-Aware 2007 has a completely freeware version for download. I had to use Ad-Aware for the first time in a year today on a friends PC and I must say that the application is still as good as ever. It’s a little larger than previous releases at 20MB but the GUI is nice and clean , the scanning engine is still very fast and the spyware definitions as thorough as ever.  Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware coupled with Safer Networking’s SpyBots is the ultimate free solution to most major spyware issues.

dixlinx: LAVASOFTUSA.COM

Tags: Ad-Aware, anti-spyware, utility

I use Audacity to cut up my mp3’s into shorter files, especially the really long DJ mixes. Audacity has been around for awhile and is a pure opensource project that uses the GNU license. I really like how simple it makes cutting up .wav and .mp3 files. Audacity can also record and edit audio from an external source like a microphone or tape player.  This is good for converting any old cassette tapes you may still have. Here’s a brief summary of Audacity from Sourceforge:

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording.

dixlinx: AUDACITY.SOURCEFORGE.NET

Tags: audacity, audio, editor, mp3, multimedia, wav