Wednesday, November 25, 2009

new SteelSeries Siberia v2 gaming headset

We had reviewed the SteelSeries Siberia, and now a new version is available: the SteelSeries Siberia v2!

The headset on this model is "closed" to keep ambient sounds from causing distractions. The earcups are padded leather cushions. And the frequency response is 10 Hz to 28 kHz.

A uni-directional microphone can be extended from the left ear cup. It has a frequency response of 50 Hz to 16 kHz...and I found it to be the best sounding microphone of their combination headets (3H, 5H, etcetera) that I have used! I am very impressed. I know it's designed for gaming, but I expect it to perform well in broadcast (radio and television) situations.

The cord from the headset to the 1/8" plugs is three feet long. On it is a volume control, and mute switch. A seven foot long dual extension cord, with microphone and headphone connections, is provided.

The SteelSeries Siberia v2 white is the standard edition; the SteelSeries Siberia v2 black will be bundled with a USB soundcard.

Because it is open, the Siberia offers much cleaner bass. It was designed for multi-functionality: to be used for gaming, AND with other audio devices. The Siberia v2 gave more bass...it was "bassier"...but it was a little more muffled. I describe it as a little "fuzzy"...

This is a great headset to use for communication.




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Saturday, November 21, 2009

brand new Diskeeper 2010 now available

Diskeeper 2010 defragments enabling better performance. It can: defragment the paging file, defragment the Master File Table, and consolidate directories. And there's an option for boot-time defragmentation (according to my report in DkBootTime.log, pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys are amongst the files that are optimized).

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From the Readme.txt file (of the x86/32-bit version):

C. CHANGES IN DISKEEPER 2010

IntelliWrite is a ground breaking technology that prevents the majority of fragmentation from ever occurring, dramatically improving Windows system performance.

...IntelliWrite reduces the need for disk head movement and results in a reduction of system resource usage and power consumption.

F. KNOWN INCOMPATIBILITIES
1. Acronis Backup and Recovery -- To avoid any potential data loss we don’t recommend defragmenting volumes on which Acronis Backup and Recovery is enabled.

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Make sure the version of Diskeeper you are considering is compatible with the operating system you are using. For example: Diskeeper Home is not designed for Windows Vista Business edition...

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Before using Diskeeper, I checked my hard drive for errors with Chkdsk (automatically fixing file system errors, and attempted to recover bad sectors).

According to the Diskeeper Performance Report, after installig Diskeeper, the read and write access time improved 50%.

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Before I get to the geeky/techy stuff below, my summary is: I have used Diskeeper for years, and recommend it.

Per their website: "We are so confident that our products will improve computer speed and reliability at your home or business that we fully guarantee your purchase for 30 days. If you are not completely satisfied with your software purchase, simply contact customer service within 30 days of your purchase date for a full refund of the software purchase price."

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To try to allow you to be able to compare some values, I'm sharing some of its reports of one of my computers.

Here is the analysis Job Report:

Findings and Recommendations
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Diskeeper has completed analysis of this volume and found
7,372 low performing files and/or directories and 63,184
excess fragments.

The count of low performing fragments is 56,326.

Very heavy fragmentation detected on this volume. You
should turn on Automatic Defragmentation and allow it to
run full time for maximum performance.

The free space on this volume is moderately fragmented.
Keep Automatic Defragmentation turned on to correct this
problem.


Health
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Critical!

The overall health of volume C: is severely affected

The overall health is at "Critical" for the following
reasons:

1. The volume is heavily fragmented. The count of low
performing fragments is 56,326.

2. The free space on this volume is moderately fragmented.
The percentage of low performing free space is 1%.


Access Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to read fragmented files on volume C

Current read time: 8 minutes

Optimum read time: 4 minutes

46 % improvement



Time to read all files on volume C

Current read time: 33 minutes

Optimum read time: 29 minutes

12 % improvement


Statistics
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Volume Files
Volume size = 95,143 MB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 60,801 MB
Free space = 34,342 MB
Percent free space = 36 %

Free Space Fragmentation
Percent low performing free space: = 1 %
Total free space extents: = 45,076
Largest free space extent: = 880 MB
Average free space extent size: = 780 KB


Low-Performing files percentage
% of entire volume = 12 %
% of used space = 19 %

Directory fragmentation
Total directories = 22,125
Fragmented directories = 455
Excess directory fragments = 1,559

File fragmentation
Total files = 180,973
Average file size = 358 KB
Total fragmented files = 13,750
Total excess fragments = 61,623
Average fragments per file = 1.34
Files with performance loss = 7,126

Paging file fragmentation
Paging/Swap file size = 2,047 MB
Total fragments = 1

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 215 MB
MFT records In Use = 204,638
Percent MFT in use = 92 %
Total MFT fragments = 2

(In the Most Fragmented Files section of the report, \System Volume Information\_restore appeared the most.)

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Here is the Job Report after I defragmented:

Findings and Recommendations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diskeeper has completed a defragmentation run on this
volume and there remain 1 low performing files and/or
directories and 2 excess fragments. (There were 63,196
excess fragments before the defragmentation run, and now
there are 99% fewer.)

The count of low performing fragments is 0.

Little or no fragmentation detected on this volume. You
should keep Automatic Defragmentation turned on full time
to maintain maximum performance.


Health
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Healthy

The overall health of volume C: is minimally affected by
fragmentation due to the low level of fragmentation.

There are no volume health issues related to fragmentation.


Access Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to read fragmented files on volume C

Current read time: 29 minutes

Optimum read time: 0 microseconds

100 % improvement



Time to read all files on volume C

Current read time: 29 minutes

Optimum read time: 0 microseconds

100 % improvement


Statistics
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Volume Files
Volume size = 95,143 MB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 60,805 MB
Free space = 34,337 MB
Percent free space = 36 %
Defragmentation method = Max Disk Performance

Free Space Fragmentation
Percent low performing free space: = 0 %
Total free space extents: = 3,762
Largest free space extent: = 990 MB
Average free space extent size: = 9,346 KB


Low-Performing files percentage
% of entire volume = 0 %
% of used space = 0 %

Directory fragmentation
Total directories = 5,674
Fragmented directories = 0
Excess directory fragments = 0

File fragmentation
Total files = 154,555
Average file size = 420 KB
Total fragmented files = 0
Total excess fragments = 0
Average fragments per file = 1.00
Files with performance loss = 0

Paging file fragmentation
Paging/Swap file size = 2,047 MB
Total fragments = 1

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 215 MB
MFT records In Use = 204,831
Percent MFT in use = 92 %
Total MFT fragments = 2


Most Fragmented Files
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Fragments File size Most fragmented files
None


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Friday, November 20, 2009

Undelete (from Diskeeper) can recover files and data

I've been trying some products from Diskeeper Corporation. If you delete files that are needed later...or, if someone else does...Undelete could be a savior.

Undelete uses "InvisiTasking". It runs in the background, and does not degrade the performance of a computer.

It includes Emergency Undelete, which can recover files that were deleted before Undelete was installed...if they have not been overwritten. Emergency Undelete can also be run from a CD, and USB drive.

Search Disk
You can search by file name, extension, location, locate deleted files by the date they were created or deleted, and track the owner or users who deleted the file.

Version Recovery
Undelete allows instant recovery of older ("saved over") versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Version Recovery is integrated with Windows Explorer: just right-click on a file to recover earlier versions. Undelete will present all of the versions that are available, and allow you to open files to preview them (before you try to recover them).

SecureDelete erases files using a methodology developed for the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense. The Wipe Free Space feature overwrites free space so files can never be recovered, and there is an option to do so automatically.

Undelete replaces the Windows recycle bin with a Recovery Bin™. The Recovery Bin intercepts all deleted files, no matter how they were deleted. It has a Windows Explorer-like interface so you can navigate to files, right-click on them, and select Recover. The size of the Recovery Bin can be automatically adjusted: depending on the settings, it will purge files the Recovery Bin when it fills up on a First-In First-Out basis. If the size of a drive or volume becomes critically low, Undelete can reduce the Recovery Bin size. If more space is available, Undelete can expand the Recovery Bin to protect more files.

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Undelete 2009 Home Edition works with 32-bit verisons of Windows 2000, XP, and Vista only...it is not compatible with Windows Vista Business and Enterprise. NTFS and 16/32-bit FAT file systems can be accessed, but the 12-bit FAT file system is not supported. Primary partitions, extended partitions, logical drives, volume sets, mirror sets, RAID arrays, removable disks, and memory cards can be used with Undelete.

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Undelete Professional Edition is recommeneded for computers that are used for business, where data is stored locally and on network file servers. Administrators that are using an edition of Undelete Server can connect to computers that are running Undelete Professional Edition 2009 to access the Recovery Bins, and remotely browse and recover deleted files on those clients.
In addition to features noted in the home version, Undelete 2009 Professional Edition maintains Windows NTFS security so users can only access files for which they have permission.

Undelete 2009 Professional Edition works with 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Server 2003 and 2008.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

free video converter until November 30th

TechtalkRadio has been informed that, until November 30, Fast Video Converter PRO is free!

"Fast Video Converter PRO is an all-in-one video converter for converting videos of all popular formats like AVI, ASF, AVC, DIVX, FLV, H264, MP4, MOV, MPEG1/2, OGG, RM, RMVB, VOB, WMV, XVID, 3GP, 3G2, etc., and creating fascinating photos from video files. It is able to facilitate getting the specific video format watched on TV, played on portable media players, loaded to mobile phones, or put on websites.

“Fast Video Converter PRO has a very friendly interface with simple operation...Advanced users have the option of tweaking video and audio settings, like bit rate and resolution...”

Key Features:
* Converts Videos between all Popular Video Formats
* Has the Fastest Speed to Convert Video
* Supports Batch Conversion
* Extracts Audio From Video

You can use it on up to five personal computers with one free license. Fast Video Converter PRO works on Windows 7/ Vista/ XP/ 2000 (32bit or 64bit).

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Monday, November 9, 2009

Beatles Limited Edition Stereo USB



Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music will release only 30,000 Beatles Stereo USB apples on December 7 (December 8 in North America).

The apple-shaped USB drive is loaded with the re-mastered audio for The Beatles’ 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs’ visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK album art, rare photos and expanded liner notes.

A specially designed Flash interface has been installed, and the 16GB USB’s audio contents will be provided in FLAC 44.1 Khz 24 bit and MP3 320 Kbps formats, fully compatible with PC and Mac.

You can pre-order your copy in the official Beatles store...

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