Convert pdf files to Word, HTML and other formats
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Software Picks from FVCS |
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| Name | PDFZilla |
| Category | Utilities |
| Release Date | 2/19/2009 |
| Version | 1.0.1 |
| Description |
I love good, well thought out utilities and this qualifies. It wasn’t too long ago that a program to convert pdfs to another format cost several hundred dollars. Now for thirty dollars here is a VERY capable program to convert pdf files to numerous formats: With PDFZilla you can: The interface is well thought out and you probably won’t need to look at the help file. This program will become part of my working arsenal. I only have one gripe. I go back a long time and personally knew the father of shareware, Andrew Fluegelman, and I have a very limited definition for shareware. Shareware should be issued without limitations or it isn’t shareware. Period. There are time and capacity limitations here and I would prefer the description be changed to commercial demo. In any case – well worth your consideration. |
| Author’s Web Site | www.pdfzilla.com |
| Download Link | http://www.pdfzilla.com/down/pdfzilla.exe |
| The Rules |
Stuff you MUST know: The programs we describe are ones we use or have used and found them to be effective. Many of these are very powerful and could totally hose your computer!! Obviously we would never, knowingly, suggest a faulty program, but there’s always that possibility. Just as there is a possibility of a virus or spyware lurking inside. Very honestly, I find the free stuff better, on average, than the commercial products, but everyone has to decide for themselves. Just so everyone understands – many of these programs have the power to TOTALLY hose your system and we take NO responsibility for that!! |
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!
We’re seeing a lot of very tough to remove spyware programs recently. I’m told that many of them come from Russia. I wouldn’t doubt it as they are very, very capable coders.
To date, nothing has been destructive, meaning that it destroys data, but it can wreak havoc on your computer usage, especially browsing and other online activities.
A year ago most of the spyware only was trying to grab your search process so the author could get credit for linking you to certain sites or search engines. The latest paradigm is creating a bogus spyware scanner and trying to sell you $30 or $40 worth of removal tools which don’t work.
It’s getting more popular in many repair shops to suggest that the best fix is a "nuke and pave". In other words reformat and reinstall the operating system. This is especially true at many of the big box stores.
In all fairness, that is the only way anyone can be totally sure that the computer is clean. If you’re in position to do this, it is the best method. Few of us, however, use our computers in that manner and reconstructing our data and programs is far more than trivial. This is why we make every effort to eradicate every virus and spyware program we find when we do a tuneup.
Just be careful about where you go and what you do. You’ll probably get some crap and maybe need a professional to remove it. It’s really no different than the oil getting dirty in your car.
Both require periodic maintenance.
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I’m sorry there’s nothing we can do
Image via Wikipedia
I REALLY hate to tell a customer that we can’t recover their data. We probably run 60% or so in recovery, but that leaves a lot of disappointed people.
I’m confident that we have more capabilities and methods to recover data from dead and dying hard drives than anyone else in the area. We’re not a clean room – one of those places that disassemble your drive and remount it and TRY to effect a recovery that way. That costs thousands and there are no guarantees.
My favorite statement on data is:
If you only have one copy of your data, you have no copies of your data.
When the head breaks away and becomes loose, there’s a sickening click indicating the data is G-O-N-E. All of your valuable information is dependent on a small motor and complex parts put together in Malaysia by someone that may not know how to turn on an electric light. It’s going to fail – when is the question.
Over the next couple of posts, we’ll explore backup strategies that make sense for the home, prosumer (as they say) and small business user.
As we always tell our clients, only they can say what makes sense for them – economically and practically.
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Out with the old
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Freeware Picks from FVCS |
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| Name | WinDirStat |
| Category | Utilities |
| Release Date | 9/2/2007 |
| Version | 1.1.2 |
| Description |
We do a lot of data recovery and many times we’re told “there’s not much on the drive” and we proceed to pull 60 gigabytes or more! Windirstat is a wonderful utility that scans your entire drive and shows you where the space is going. Generally, you will find that those pictures and videos are taking up a lot of space and invariably poorly written programs are leaving temporary droppings all over the place. There are a number of programs that will tell you where, but WinDirStat is the best at helping you remove the unnecessary files. Here’s our normal procedure:
Here’s the official feature table:
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| Author’s Web Site | http://windirstat.info/ |
| Download Link | http://windirstat.info/ |
| The Rules |
Stuff you MUST know: The programs we describe are ones we use or have used and found them to be effective. Many of these are very powerful and could totally hose your computer!! Obviously we would never, knowingly, suggest a faulty program, but there’s always that possibility. Just as there is a possibility of a virus or spyware lurking inside. Very honestly, I find the free stuff better, on average, than the commercial products, but everyone has to decide for themselves. Just so everyone understands – many of these programs have the power to TOTALLY hose your system and we take NO responsibility for that!! |
JayJay
If you’ve been to the shop you’ve probably met JayJay and if you’ve been there twice, I’ll bet he remembered you.
JayJay was raised at the shop and actually helped us build it!!
JayJay’s job is to make people feel good and he’s great at it. Whether it’s playing tug or just a friendly Ahroooo, it’s hard to keep from smiling.
He’s a Cairn Terrier (Toto) and like all terriers he’s a little stubborn, but so’s his supposed master.
It just wouldn’t be the same place without him……