One of the great things about Mac OS X compared to, say, Windows XP is that it requires very minimal maintenance. As a Windows user, you may have to continually defragment your hard disk as well as monitor the size of your registry until it all becomes so slow, the only thing you can do is reformat the damn thing and start from scratch.

OS X is a different beast altogether. Applications reside in their own folder and do not have any entries stored in a central database like the Windows registry, therefore getting rid of them is pretty easy.

Also, defragmenting the machine is not something that you need to do as it is done automatically for you in the background when OS X thinks you are not using the machine that much.

However - not all software is perfect, even OS X.

The more you use a computer and the more files and applications you load onto it, the slower it becomes. This is the same for Mac computers too.

To keep my Macbook speedy, I use a tool called the "CheckIT system performance suite". This swiss army tool contains 5 separate pieces of software and lets you do many things to keep your Mac operating at tip-top speed:

TechTool Platinum runs in the background and will warn you if any of the hardware in your Mac starts to fail. This will be a godsend if the hard disk decides to develop a bad sector and you lose half your data overnight. TechTool Platinum will warn you of any dodgy happenings well before things become critical.

Spring Cleaning 10 is an amazing file manager that allows you to perform batch changes on files such as photos as well as perform data clean up processes like deleting cookies or duplicate files. The best part about Spring Cleaning 10 is that is will securely delete your files, so you don't have to worry about them falling into the wrong hands.

EMC Retrospect Express is a part of the CheckIT system performance suite that is a "set and forget" backup manager. This software will allow you to set a backup regime and it will then back all your data up for you, when ever you want it to. It can also do it automatically! Say goodbye to trying to track down that document you just deleted - just get it from Retrospect.

ExecutiveSync lets you keep critical files and folders sync'ed across multiple computers. I use this to create a working backup of my development documents and PHP projects. It means I can work from any computer and have access to them all straight away.

To finish off, Stuffit Standard 2009 is part of the suite. All Mac users must have come across this amazing tool before. It will allow you to handle over 30 different file compression formats as well as compact files with super-strong encryption and efficiency.

You can't really go wrong with having this piece of software. It keeps my Macbook really speedy and acting as quick as it did out of the box. I would recommend it to any Mac owner.

Buy the CheckIT System Performance Suite by SmithMicro at Amazon for a really low price. Save your sanity and your Mac at the same time!

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For people who are busy and to tired to read a paper book, audio books have filled a great space in their literary knowledge. Enjoying a book to escape the stresses of the day, learn new skills or laugh is something that we can all take part in.

There are many places you can download audio books for free but the best place I have found is the UseNext network. UseNext is a piece of software that allows you to access files, including audio books, movies, music, applications and software at amazing speeds that beat the likes of Bittorrent and Rapidshare hands down.

UseNext is also a good place to find rare audiobooks and things that you are not able to locate through any other file sharing network.

The good thing about UseNext is that you can sign up for free and it lets you have access to 150GB of files before it charges you anything. Therefore you can test the service for nothing and still get all the high speed downloads within your trial period!

You have nothing to lose.

Click here to try UseNext now. Fast, free audio book downloads await you!

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If you are looking for free MP3 files, movies, music, applications or programs you need to be able to access a reliable source that gives you fast, reliable downloads and does not put you at the mercy of the trickle of data that so many bittorrent files give you.

If you don't want to pay for Rapidshare or Megaupload any more, you can sign up to a service that is free to use and gives you 150GB of full speed downloads absolutely free!

The service is called UseNext.

Take a look at this video that shows the UseNext program in use, downloading a full copy of Ubuntu in a world record time - 674mb in 34 seconds!!

You want in on this service?

It is amazing and totally blows away any other free download service I have used in the past - and I have been using free services since the days of Napster - so I know what I am talking about.

Click the image below to sign up with UseNext and get 150GB of full speed, un-censored, secret downloads FOR FREE:

PS: You will not be disappointed with this service and could save yourself loads of money and hassle. Finding free music down loads could not be easier!

There are many different video file formats available these days and the most recent and quite a popular one is the MKV format (Matroska). If you have ever downloaded a Blu-Ray rip of a movie, it will most likely be in MKV format.

Getting them to play on your PC is no problem using an application like VLC or by installing Perian on your Mac, but getting to play MKV files on your TV to enjoy them in full HD quality (they are usually HD rips after all) is another matter.

If you are lucky enough to have either an Xbox 360 or PS3 sitting under your TV then you will be in luck. There are many tutorials on the web that tell you how to separate the file and re-encode the audio and then re-join it back to be an AVI that can be played on either of the consoles.

Xbox 360 MKV tutorial: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_mkv_content_on_xbox_360.cfm

PS3 MKV tutorial: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_mkv_content_on_playstation_3_ps3.cfm

There are other options that are just as good and will suit people who are not into gaming. You can buy a Digital Media Player or Media Tank that will sit under your HDTV, connect to it via an HDMI cable and quite happily play all of the media files you either copy onto it direct from a USB source, Ethernet connection or transfer over WiFi. These media players also have their own hard disks in them too, so you can copy files on there without any problems. This box will be your MKV Player.

A lot of these devices are "grey boxes" (unbranded), but will serve you well for playing MP3,AVI,DivX,MP4 and will now play MKV files too. The latest versions of the hardware fully support MKV files out of the box.

So what are you waiting for?

Click one of the items below for a great deal on an MKV Player on eBay:

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What is GEOBans?

GEOBans is a mod for the popular Build A Niche Store software that allows you to create unlimited web based stores that show eBay auctions to your visitors.  When your visitor clicks through to eBay and buys something - eBay pays you a fraction of the profit they get from the sale of the item.

Out of the box, Build A Niche Store allows you to only target the auctions from one eBay store at a time and you must choose if you are targetting eBay.co.uk or eBay.com when you install the software.  The only downside to this is when a UK shopper visits your US auction site.  Will they want to click through?  Probably not.

GEOBans overcomes this limitation by getting the details of the visitors IP address and determining which country they are from before showing them auctions relevant to their location.  So US shoppers see items from eBay.com and UK visitors see items from eBay.co.uk!

It could not be simpler!

GEOBans is easy to install and apply and only costs $20!

Note: You must already own the Build A Niche Store software to use the GEOBans mod. Buy Build A Niche Store.

See the documentation on how GEOBans works and how it is implemented here before you buy:

http://www.megatao.com/GEOBans Mod ReadMe.pdf

Using GEOBans on my 6 Build A Niche Store sites has allowed me to triple my eBay partner network income with only 5 minutes work per store!  What will it do for you?

Buy GEOBans now for $20.

PS. If you are interested in becoming an affiliate for GEOBans, I offer $5 per sale. Shoot me a message using the Contact Me page.

photo credit: Dylan Parker

Of the main reasons why I have to reformat my Windows PC every 12 months or so, registry bloat is the usual culprit.

"RegBloat" coupled with the deterioration of hard disk performance brought on by an over active torrent client makes my PC slow, sad and not much fun to be around. I was also getting a little annoyed with the "features" and "issues" that Windows Vista presented on a daily basis, something that grates against me after using my MacBook all the time.

I decided that I would take some proactive action and reinstall XP and as many "portable applications" as possible, freeing up the opportunity for registry bloat to take hold too soon. For those who are unaware, Portable Apps are applications that can be stored and run from a USB device or folder - without installation. This means you can take your applications anywhere and run them knowing they will have all of your settings saved and tweaks applied. The Portable Apps can also be copied to a folder on your hard disk and run from there.

No MSI installation routines - no InstallShield needed - just a folder with the required files in. Perfect.

After the reinstall, here is the current setup I have with the portable apps highlighted in bold:

Windows XP Pro
AVG Free Anti Virus
Microsoft Office Professional 2003
Microsoft Visio 2003
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Firefox
VLC
7-Zip
DeepBurner
FileZilla FTP client
uTorrent
Adobe Acrobat Reader 8

Thats a good chunk of the applications that are portable!  And If you don't want to use a portable version of OpenOffice to do your writing and spreadsheets, Mr Google will even tell you where to find a portable version of Office 2003!  From past experience, after installing Office - that is when the performance of the PC takes a nose dive.

The beauty of using portable apps is that you can add and remove them as you see fit without too much impact to the operating system.  You may need to associate your AVI and MPG files to start with VLC and your PSD files to open with Photoshop - but other than things like that no extra information is inserted into the registry.

The whole process is similar to installing an application on OS X where you drag the "application package" into the Applications folder and run it from there.  Changes are made to the system (such as the open with options) when you first run the application, but 99% of it still resides in the Applications folder.  On OS X, you can also use tools such as AppZapper to delete the application and associated links, preference files and information quickly and without any fuss.  How many times have you uninstalled an application on Windows and then realised it has left great chunks of unwanted information in the registry and folders scattered around the disk?

Head over to PortableApps.com to get a wide range of freeware portable applications and use the "usual sources" to obtain the others!

CARRY UR COMPUTER IN USB 12 PORTABLE WINDOWS APPS CD $4.32

Unlocked Magellan 47 GPS w 100+ Apps games eBook DivX $128.88

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I was expecting to have a nice relaxing Sunday, but after a friend dropped off his new super-duper-SATA machine for me to load XP onto for him, I was dropped into a spiral of despair.

The drivers for the SATA RAID controller on the motherboard needed to be installed from floppy disk during the XP installation, but the machine did not even have a floppy drive. XP was also being anal enough to insist that the drivers came from the A: Drive and did not allow me to obtain them from anywhere else!

I spent a little time trying to fool the BIOS into thinking that the A Drive was actually one of the memory card reader slots on the front panel - but this did not work at all.

In the end, I had to download the driver files to my PC and slipstream them into my installation of XP for the system to use them. At the same time, I made the installation totally "unattended" by entering the licence number, regional settings and options. I also slipstreamed in a copy of XP SP2 for good measure!

To do all of this I used an application called NLite which allows you to add all of the previously mentioned features plus extra patches, software and settings. It copies down your XP install disk, makes the changes you asked for and then burns direct back to a bootable CD!

Excellent!

Thanks NLite, you saved my sanity!

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It's official. I am a new man.

Yesterday - I bought some computer software - that wasn't a game!

If you know me, you might think that this is a little odd and it may give you the impression that I never buy stuff for my computer (which I hardly ever do - working in the IT industry does have some benefits) - but this was almost too good to turn down.

Each year, Macheist sell bundles of Mac OS X software which would usually cost in excess of several hundred dollars - but under their offer, only costs around $40. Also, a portion of the profit from the sales goes to charity!

Simply put, this is the best Mac software deal in history.

This year, the bundle includes 12 applications for $49 (£25):

1Password - an application for storing your secure information - not just your web based passwords and information.

CoverSutra - a desktop based app for iTunes control and alot more!

Cha-Ching - a money/finance management application

iStopMotion - for recording stop-frame animations to the Mac. Something for me and the kids to do one rainy sunday afternoon.

Awaken - an alarm clock which starts up your mac and plays you sweet music from your iTunes library - or Barry Mannilow - which ever..

Speed Download - if you go anywhere near Rapidshare and you use a mac - this is really invaluable.

AppZapper - kills apps and associated settings/preference files with drag-and-drop efficiency

TaskPaper - a Mac based application for Getting Things Done. Something I definitely need!

CSSEdit - an application that provides a visual take on CSS file editing.

Snapz Pro X - a screen recording application for when you want to demo how to hack into something to all the other spotty kids on YouTube

PixelMator - A new(ish) image editing application

Wingnuts 2 - a fighter plane style game

So, whist not all of these are "must have applications" the majority such as CSSEdit, Pixelmator and Speed Download are worth the $49 alone!

I have been quite inspired by this act of "giving back" rather than taking. I am writing this post from the 21 day trial of Ecto - the best Mac based blogging application. With a new blog based project in the pipeline - I think I will be buying a license for this too!

Does OS X get any cooler than this?

Ok.  I admit it.  After bitching about Vista the other day, I have installed it tonight.

The main reason was that as people around me are getting it and asking me for help, I thought I had better get it too.

The version that I bought was the Vista Home Premium edition, but it came with that annoying UAC turned off by default, but also came without most of the desktop wallpapers, sounds and games.  Who ever made the ISO obviously stripped it down to fit on a single CD.  So I will be looking for another version somewhere else and maybe using that now that I know it works.
Seems ok at the moment.  Certainly fast enough on my p4 2.8 with gb of RAM and an on-board Intel graphics card.  It failed to get the drivers for the onboard network card which is a bog standard Intel one, the onboard soundcard and my Belkin PCI Wireless Card.  I used an XP driver for the wireless card and then updated the rest direct off the internet.

One good freakin excellent thing is that my Samsung TV now works in widescreen mode!  I spent a few hours the other night trying to force XP from 1024x768 to 1366x768 but it would not play.  But Vista seems to allow the screen to work at 1280x768!  Odd.

So, at the moment I am happier than I was the other day with Vista.  The interface still seems very odd and feels a little like the bastard son of OS X and Linux but I am getting used to it already.  Plus, as my MacBook is my primary machine, its not so much of an issue.

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