Genuine Free Tip - Microsoft Virtual PC

Woo Hoo. This is cool.
Big thanks to Cory down at Infinity Computer for showing me this one.

Microsoft Virtual PC.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24439
"Save time and money as Virtual PC allows you to maintain the compatibility of legacy and custom applications during migration to new operating systems and increases the efficiency of support, development, and training staffs.

With Microsoft® Virtual PC 2007, you can create and run one or more virtual machines, each with its own operating system, on a single computer. This provides you with the flexibility to use different operating systems on one physical computer. "



If you need to create a virtual machine to run a different operating system such as an earlier version of Windows, this is the way to do it. Create a Virtual PC and set all the conditions you want. I use this to play old games like Duke Nukem 3D.
Cheers. Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance. Still valid for Windows XP 

Genuine Free Tip - Partition Logic

This is a very handy program for partitioning you hard drive.

Partition Logic.
http://partitionlogic.org.uk/about/index.php

It's a good idea to partition your hard drive on your PC.
Make the C drive for all your programs, and then pick an arbitrary letter, say the Q drive (Get Smart agent Q) for all of My Documents. Then when you Backup Your PC NOW, you can back up just the drive that you want to. This will save you space and time.
Now say you have just bought yourself a nice brand spanking new PC, but didn't think to partition your hard drive, then grab yourself Partition Logic to do the job.

It's free too. Get some.
Cheers. Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance.

ZMatrix - Matrix scrolling wallpaper.

I love this one. This is the coolest piece of free software.

ZMatrix. Background scrolling wallpaper AND screen saver
http://zmatrix.sourceforge.net/index.html#Download

ZMatrix is an animated desktop background which displays streaming characters in a style similar to what was used in the movie 'The Matrix'.

This is dead cool. Here it is running on my computer


Here's my settings. I like it just like this.
Note that this is for background scrolling wallpaper.

Use Monotonous clean up, otherwise the screen just fills up completely.

Also use Random Cleanup to put little gaps in the code.

That will look nifty.

Cheers.Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance. - still the best wallpaper. It works very nicely on my Windows XP box, but I haven't tried it on my Windows 7 box.

Here we go. All the free stuff I've found over the years.

Well the title of this first post says it all.

I have been building gaming computers for 20 years or more and I love mucking about with software and hardware. Over the years I have found a lot of tricks and a lot of good free stuff.

I guess it's because I have helped a few beginners set up and debug their computers that I felt the need to start writing all this stuff down.
So without further ado, here are the free programs and some good advice that I can recommend.

** I'm having a big revamp as of April 2014 because .... Support for Windows XP ends April 8, 2014.
So I've dumped the old rig and gone to a new PC running Windows 7 and I like it.
I now have all my Android apps info here, as well as all the free things I currently run.
A lot of old posts are going or being seriously updated.

Although I started this website in 2008, I am revamping the old posts and moving them forward in time and keeping them relevant.

Cheers. Si.