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

Avant is a next generation tabbed web browser based on the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) core. Avant acts and feels much like IE except it is has many more security features than IE’s traditional offering. Avant has a built-in popup blocker. Nothing new you say? Well Avant’s popup blocker will block various Active X controls and Flash (.SWF) files as well. Avant also has a nice auto privacy cleaner that helps erase any tracking cookies and residual browser history after websurfing. From the Avant website:

Top Rated Features of Avant Browser

  Online Profile Storage

  AutoFills

  Flash Animation Filter

  Built-in AD/Pop-up Blocker

  Built-in RSS/ATOM Reader

  Additional Mouse Functions

  Multi-Window Browsing

  Real Full Screen Mode and Alternative Full Desktop mode

  Built-in Search Engine

  Full IE Compatibility

  Control Your Privacy

  Safe Recovery

  Customizable Skins

dixlinx: AVANTBROWSER.COM

Tags: popup blocker, Security, Web Browser

It’s about time I post some fun stuff on dixlinx. Tonight I bring you the world famous Cities of Earth screen-saver. I’m a bit of a geography buff and this screen-saver not only looks visually stunning but as the earth rotates on your desktop you get a real-time scroll of the time and population of all the major cities on the planet. Pretty awesome stuff, what is especially cool is how it displays the Sun’s position relative to earth according to the time of day in your timezone.  I also like how the names of the cities seem to flare up as they pass by on your screen.

dixlinx: SCREENOMANIA.COM

Tags: Fun Stuff, screensaver

I just found out about BurnAware today, and so far I like what I see. There are a ton of free CD/DVD burning software out there but this is one of the first free ones to offer Blu-Ray support. Since HD-DVD is now officially dead, expect to see more Blu-Ray compatible software hitting the Web. One feature in BurnAware that I really like is the burning algorithm has been tuned to provide more stable burns and less errors.This means less coasters and more productive burning sessions =) BurnAware is definitely worth a look, you can find a features list from their website below:

Features include

• Absolutely FREE. No spyware, no adware, no banners
• Writes to all CD/DVD media types including Blu-Ray (BD-R/BD-RE)
• Writes discs from disc images
• Writes DVDs from DVD-Video files
• Writes Audio CDs from WAV, MP3, or WMA files
• Creates disc images
• Supports all current hardware interfaces
• On-the-fly writing for all image types
• Writes Multi-Session to all supported media formats
• Auto-verification of written files
• Supports unicode for multi-byte languages
• Clean, flexible, easy to use interface
• Supports Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista (32 and 64 Bit)

dixlinx: GLORYLOGIC.COM

Tags: Blu-Ray burning, cd/dvd burning, multimedia