Category Archives: Software

Stop Bashing Windows 8, It’s Easy Really…

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Posted by on in Microsoft and Windows, Software

Once again, more Windows 8 haters came out to bash Windows 8 as Frank Shaw, VP of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, defended Windows 8 with his “Staying centered” blog post.  Personally, I think Windows 8 is refreshing and better than all older Windows versions.  How come?  The new user interface (desktop environment) is not that hard as how people make it to be.  Imagine how much harder it will be for the people who think Windows 8 is hard to use when the future is all about different user interfaces.  Imagine what if we have to interact with holographic interface as a way to interact with computer, will people complain how much harder this will be?  I know, I somewhat don’t make sense now, but I think as the present speeds up into the future, I think I will make a lot more sense then.

I think Microsoft is doing it right with Windows 8, but since everybody is complaining, Microsoft should make the Windows Live Tile Screen as the secondary screen and not the primary one.  Microsoft should make Windows 7 desktop environment as the primary screen for Windows 8.  This way, everyone won’t have any complaint about the Windows Live Tile Screen since it’s in the background.  When people need the Windows Live Tile Screen, they can hot corner it whenever.  Personally, I use Windows 7 desktop environment much more than Windows 8 Live Tile Screen, but I love to have Windows 8 Live Tile Screen for organizing apps and having quick glances as live information from the live tiles.

Overall, I think Windows 8 is so much more robust than all older Windows versions.  Under the hood, Windows 8 got so much more features that are way cooler and necessary than all older Windows versions.  I don’t think we should disregard the new features Windows 8 brought to us (e.g., file history, ribbon interface, live tile, better security, etc…), because with these new features I have been enjoyed Windows 8 a lot more than the older Windows versions.  On another topic, I think Windows 8 Live Tile Screen is perfect for tablets and smartphones.

After thought:  I know everyone has different taste when it comes down to using computer, therefore my personal view on Windows 8 should not be dictated as my saying that everyone who hates Windows 8 is wrong.  I’m not saying that people who hate Windows 8 are wrong, but I’m just saying that they should give Windows 8 a chance.  Furthermore, they should try to learn how to use Windows 8 before they bash Windows 8.  Once again, personally, I never have a problem of using Windows 8 interface at all.  In fact, I find Windows 8 interface is rather easy.  If I can use Windows 8 interface, everyone else too should be able to use Windows 8 interface without any difficulty.  It is not that hard really!!!

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How To Check Temperatures For CPUs And NVidia Graphic Card On Linux Mint 14

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Posted by on in Hardware, Linux

Within the video right after the break, I briefly talk about how to check the temperatures of CPUs and NVidia graphic card on Linux Mint 14.  Enjoy!!!

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Things You Should Do After Installing Linux Mint 14

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Posted by on in Linux, Software

Even though Linux Mint 14 is already so awesome, but you can make it even more so if you apply the tips within the video right after the break.  Enjoy!!!

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Got Small SSD As A System Drive For Windows 8? Here Are Some Tips To Free Up Some Disk Space For Your SSD!

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Posted by on in Hardware, Microsoft and Windows, Software
Samsung SSD 830 Series 128Gb 2,5" SATA

Samsung SSD 830 Series 128Gb 2,5″ SATA (Photo credit: Tolbxela)

If you got a small SSD as the system drive, you know how annoying it’s to see it’s being filled up quickly right?  Nonetheless, there isn’t anything you can do about it to stop Windows from eating up SSD space, especially if you’re using Windows 7 and 8.  Still, there are several things that can keep your SSD system drive sane by doing few things as followed…

Disclaimer:  I’m not going to be responsible for your actions in case your computer caught on fire or data were smashed into the oblivion.  You have been warned, and so only trying these tips out if you’re knowledgable (and able to own up to your mistakes).

  1. Use CCleaner (only download on its official website or reputable websites to avoid fake CCleaner software which could be a malware or virus) — to clean up the cache, temporary files, and other unnecessary cluttered data.  Furthermore, you can also use CCleaner to clear up erroneous registries.  This software alone is able to help you free up a lot of space in your system drive (i.e., C:\)
  2. Use Windows’s built-in Free Up Disk Space utility.  This way if CCleaner missed anything this Windows utility will help clean out the rest.  Nonetheless, I don’t think CCleaner will miss anything unless you had specified specifics data not to be cleaned by CCleaner.  So, this step is rather redundant if you ask me.  To access Windows 8′s built-in Free Up Disk Space utility, you gotta do this:
    1. Accessing the Charm bar on the rightmost side of the monitor as you’re facing it
    2. Click on search icon to access the search box
    3. Type in the search box with Free Up Disk Space
    4. Select Settings link underneath the search box
    5. Click on Free up disk space by deleting unnecessary files link/icon on the left panel
    6. Select C: drive
    7. Follow the self explanatory steps afterward.
  3. You can also save many many Gigabytes of disk space if you turn off hibernation for Windows 7 and 8.  If I’m not wrong, Windows 7 and 8 usually reserve the same amount of hard disk space to RAM size for hiberfil.sys if you had disabled pagefile feature.  Otherwise, Windows 7 and 8 usually assign some disk space to pagefile.sys and a lot of disk space to hiberfil.sys — adding these two files together would equate the RAM size.  So, let say if your system has installed 8 GB of RAM, then it’s agreeable that Windows 7 and 8 have also reserve around 8 GB of disk space to be used for hibernation through the file known as hiberfil.sys (i.e., if pagefile.sys isn’t existed).  The best way to disable hibernation and recover this 8 GB or how many GB worth of disk space that might be, you have to do this:
    1. Accessing the Charm bar on the rightmost side of the monitor as you’re facing it
    2. Click on the search icon to access the search box
    3. Type in the search box with cmd
    4. Right click on the Command Prompt icon/link
    5. Look at the bottom Charm bar and click on Run as administrator icon/link
    6. Type into the command prompt the command:  powercfg -h off
  4. Furthermore, you can also reduce the pagefile size to free up even more disk space (i.e., for SSD which acts as system drive).  It’s not recommending to do this since Windows 7 and 8 can crash if the system runs out of memory (i.e., RAM) and cannot access large enough pagefile.sys file.  Nonetheless, I myself had reduced the pagefile.sys file size to only 1% of the SSD disk space, recovering some disk space in the process.  I figured that my system got amble amount of RAM (16 GB to be exact), therefore I went ahead and reduced the pagefile.sys file size.  I don’t think my system can ever be out of memory unless I crazily run too many RAM hungry programs at one go.  Nonetheless, I did not disable pagefile.sys completely, because to have some paging is better than not having any.  Having some paging might be able to prevent system crash when the system is out of memory.  When a system goes into paging mode, the system will be very slow.  Whatever the case, here is how you reduce your Windows 8′s pagefile size:
    1. Accessing the Charm bar on the rightmost of the monitor as you’re facing it
    2. Click on the search icon/link
    3. Type inside the search box with Advance system settings
    4. Click on View advanced system settings link on the left panel
    5. Select System Protection tab
    6. Highlight C: drive
    7. Click on Configure button
    8. Slide the Max Usage slider in the appropriate manner to reduce the pagefile size
    9. Click OK button to save everything and exit this feature.

With following the tips I just shared, you might be able to recover a lot of disk space from your SSD.  I was able to recover around 40 GB worth of disk space from my SSD (i.e., which acts as system drive).  In the process I was able to shrink my C: drive to allow me to add an additional partition for dual booting Windows 8 and Ubuntu 13.04.  Awesome isn’t it?  Of course, the extra partition on SSD isn’t capable of holding Ubuntu system’s home directory and various other directories (i.e., in long term use), but I got lucky as I also had an extra hard drive to spare.  Nonetheless, you only need 5 GB worth of disk space for installing Ubuntu 13.04.  In my case I have 5.7 GB worth of disk space of doing this, and so I assigned 700 MB for swap drive, the rest was for root directory.  The extra hard drive would be for /home and /var directories for the Ubuntu system.  Why only 5.7 GB worth of disk space to spare on SSD C: drive when I claimed that I recovered around 40 GB worth of disk space?  Well, Windows 8 didn’t allow me to shrink SSD C: drive to the point that I could use all the 40 GB data free disk space, because some of the original data might not be moveable and had sprinkled to certain supposedly data free regions of the SSD, consequently the surrounding data free regions of the SSD were not available for partitioning.  In the end, I could only partition SSD C: drive with an extra 5.7 GB partition.

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Can Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo Inspire You To Make A Few Games With Unreal Development Kit?

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Posted by on in Programming, Video Games

I bet when you’re done watching Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo, your creative side might want to soak in the inspiration of making a video game.  Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo is just a demo of what Unreal Engine 4 game editor is capable of.  Basically, game developers can use the latest Unreal Engine game editor (i.e., Unreal Engine 4) to create similar games with artistic look such as the Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo.  Of course, I think if game developers — who rely on Unreal Engine 4 — do have really good artists on team, they might be able to churn out games that have even better art feel than the Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo.  Anyhow, if you are inspired to create a game right after you have seen Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo, you can totally download and install Unreal Development Kit onto your computer and make a game or two to scratch off that inspiration of yours.  Unreal Development Kit is free to download and play around with, but if you want to create a game for real so you can commercialize it, then I think you have to pay a license fee and subject to other sorts of agreements between you and Epic Games (the owner of Unreal Engine and Unreal Development Kit).  Oh, to be able to write code for Unreal Development Kit projects, you might need a good programming editor that can be configured to recognize Unreal Engine codes.  I think ConTEXT editor will be a good choice for this very purpose.  You can check out the Unreal Engine 4 “Infiltrator” Demo right after the break.

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How To Install Web Server On Linux

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Posted by on in Linux, Open Source, Publishing Tech, Software

I might not be very good at explaining things in an impromptu manner, but hopefully within the video right after the break I do somewhat OK in showing you how to install a web server on Linux.  Also, I explain how to use the web server in a basic sense.  For the bonus, I also show you how to install MySQL’s web administrative interface PHPMyAdmin.  At the end of the video, I demonstrate how to install WordPress just to prove to you that you can really host a web application on your brand new web server.  Please enjoy the video tutorial right after the break!

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