How many of you are Mac users that need to remotely access a Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, or Windows Vista Ultimate computer?  No need to fear.  Microsoft released a new version of “Remote Desktop Connection” today.

Compared to my co-workers, I install a pretty large set of programs on a new Windows XP/Vista computer or a hard drive that needs to be reformatted and the OS reinstalled.  Below is a list of the free applications that I always install.

• Adobe Flash Player
• Adobe Reader
• Adobe Shockwave Player
• Firefox
• iTunes
• Java
• QuickTime
• RealPlayer
• Spybot - Search and Destroy
• Thunderbird

I install all of these programs because my clients just want their computer to work.  They don’t want to have to browse the web and find all of the tools that they normally need to get their computer up and running.

Every Tuesday, I download the newest version of all the these programs and put them on a USB flash drive so I don’t have to download it them every time I work on a computer.  This evening as I was checking available versions, I noticed that Adobe has allow users to download “Adobe Reader 9.” 
“Adobe Acrobat 9,” the program that lets you make PDFs ,was released a couple of weeks ago but “Adobe Reader 9,” the program that lets you open PDFs, wasn’t released until today.

For most people the biggest difference between “Adobe Acrobat/Reader 8″ and “Adobe Acrobat/Reader 9″ is the ability to embed Flash content into a PDF.  This is huge because user manuals and other documentation resources can now have Flash Video content.  This means that PDFs will probably get a little larger but this is a huge deal in my book.

Just like previous versions, “Adobe Reader 9″ is available to download for free.  The URL is below.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html

What other free programs do you install on a computer for your clients?

Recently I have been looking for a Screencasting program for my MacBook Pro.  I haven’t tried them but I have heard of Snapz Pro, iShowU and ScreenFlow.  Just like every program, they all of their pros and cons.  The biggest thing to consider is their price.  Here is a breakdown of their costs:

• Snapz Pro –> $69 USD
• iShowU –> $20 USD
• ScreenFlow –> $99.99 USD

If the program is good, I will pay for it; especially if I plan on using it a lot.  I tried using QuickTime Pro along with CamTwist and it got the job done but the quality of the video wasn’t there.  It skipped way too much even though the CamTwist desktop mode was set to 30 frames per second.

So I have a question for everyone at Lockergnome.  What program to do recommend for screencasting on a Mac?  I’ll spend the money if it’s worth it.  If it has a demo I’ll try it.

For all of you fireworks enthusiasts out there, please be careful over the next week or so.  The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released their 2007 Fireworks Annual Report (PDF) yesterday and estimated that 9,800 fireworks related injuries were treated during the year 2007 and that 6,300 or 64% we treated from June 22, 2007 to July 22, 2007.

Part of the reason for their concern is that amount of fireworks that are being imported from fro China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Now lets see the figures from 1997.

As you can see, people that use fireworks doing so in a safer manner but the amount of imported fireworks as risen drastically.

The CPSC does has some tips for the safe use fireworks.

1. Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks
2. Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before buying or using them.
3. Avoid buying fireworks that come in brown paper packaging, as this can often be a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and could pose a danger to consumers.
4. Adults should always supervise fireworks activities.  Parents often don’t realize that there are many injuries from sparklers to children under fix.  Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees - hot enough to melt some metals.
5. Never have any portion of your body directly over the fireworks device when lighting the fuse.  Move back a safe distance immediately after lighting.
6. Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not fully functioned.
7. Never point or throw fireworks at another person.
8. Keep a bucket of water or garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap.
9. Light one item at a time, then move back quickly
10. Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers.
11. After fireworks fully complete their functioning, douse the spent device with plenty of water form a bucket or hose before discarding to prevent a trash fire.

I would add that it would probably be safe to keep a pair of thick work gloves and a phone close by.  After following step 11, put the gloves as an extra layer of protection in case you didn’t douse the device with enough water.  Keep a phone close by so that if things to get out of control, you can all your local fire department or 911.

If you have any other tips or suggestions, feel free to make a comment for others to read.

Please be safe during this July 4th holiday season.

Source

I love virtual machines.  The virtual machines that I have are used for many purposes.  My primary home computer is an early 2008, 15” MacBook Pro.  It has Mac OS X Leopard as it’s primary operating system, Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 in Boot Camp, and Windows XP Professional SP3 in VMware Fusion.  My primary office computer is a Dell OptiPlex 755.  It has Windows Vista Enterprise SP1 as it’s primary operating system and Windows XP Professional SP3 in Virtual PC 2007.  I believe that virtual machines are the future of desktop computing.  They allow you to do so much.

At work, I use the virtual machine as a “sandbox” so I can test new applications, tweak system settings, and diagnosis problems that my client’s may be facing.  Probably 99% of my client’s at work are still running Windows XP Professional because Windows Vista isn’t completely compatible with our backend, third-party software that we use to install other software.  This is why I keep Windows XP Professional around at work; basically so I can support other people.  The great thing about a “sandbox” is if I mess something up or change something that doesn’t really help, I can revert the virtual machine back to it’s last saved state.  Even if my primary operating system was Windows XP Professional, I would probably still use a “sandbox” to help others because my system wouldn’t suffer from making changes.

At home, I use the virtual machine so I run software that is not supported on my primary operating system.  For example, over the years, I have accumulated a lot of MSN/Hotmail/Live e-mail accounts.  I do this so I can filter out SPAM so it doesn’t all go to my primary e-mail account.  The one piece of software that I used to use to manage all of them was Outlook Express.  It allowed me to check all of the Microsoft e-mail accounts at the same time.  Microsoft decided to take away the feature and forced people to switch to Windows Live Mail desktop to do the same thing.  I add each of the Microsoft e-mail accounts to the program and I can check all of them at the same time, without having to use a web browser.  Microsoft Entourage (the e-mail and calendar application found in Microsoft Office for Mac) doesn’t support all of Microsoft’s e-mail accounts.  I thought that Microsoft Entourage 2008 would have enabled this but it didn’t.  This virtual machine also has Windows Live Writer.  This is a utility that allows writers to use a desktop application to make blog posts.  It’s a great utility that I recommend to any blogger.

When I purchased my MacBook Pro at the end of February, I didn’t necessarily purchase it because I was tired of Microsoft and the OEMs that use Windows as their operating system.  I purchased it because I wanted something that would allow me to get the most out of my money.  I wanted the ability to legally and easily run multiple operating systems on the same computer.  No OEM or operating system is perfect and I have NOTHING against Microsoft OEMs and NOTHING against Windows Vista.  Sorry I digressed into a rant.

Why do you have virtual machines? Feel free to leave any other comments for others to read. How many of you have a virtual machine?  If you have a virtual machine, how many of you use it to help you, help others with a different operating system then your primary operating system?  How many of you use a virtual machine so you can run different software than what is supported on your primary operating system?  How many of you use a virtual machine as a “sandbox?”  Feel free to leave any other comments for others to read.

FYI: Virtual PC 2007 for Windows is a FREE download.  You just have to bring a copy of Windows or another supported operating system to the table.

Added on Thursday, June 26, 2008:

I must have predicted the future or something.  Microsoft announced “Hyper-V” today.  It is a virtual server program that is compatible with “Windows Server 2008.”

http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/ws08.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/virtualization-consolidation.aspx