Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and xp

monitor-splitting software?

gttommy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:24:28 -0800

What's a good monitor-splitting software for finance people who have wide screen monitors? Ideally to allow a computer to almost appear like two separate computers, for windows XP. From what I read, window's "tile vertically" feature is good enough but just wondering what software is out there which adds value without bugs or headaches.

WIN XP Directory Tree Software help?

dorgla — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:13:54 -0800

Need software which enables saving my Windows XP file directory tree and shows subfolders as a .gif, .jpg or .bmp. Google found some software which saves it as a text file, but I want the visuals of the actual folders in the tree structure.

What do I not need on Windows 7 Ultimate?

mr_silver — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:52:21 -0800

I'm moving from XP to Windows 7 Ultimate. What, that I used to have on XP, do I not need installed any more? I know that defragmentation software isn't needed, but what about Unlocker? What about disk backup software? Anything else?

Help me feel better about buying a new laptop.

logicpunk — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:44:59 -0800

My computer is having a hardware issue when booting... I think. Started getting BSODs when booting (Windows XP, SP2). I can't say for certain what the error is since the computer restarts immediately on throwing the error (even with the automatic restart disabled). The error isn't consistent: sometimes windows will boot up fine, and I'll be able to use it normally (I'm typing on it Right! Now!).

Ran memcheck on it, and it passed. Downloaded "The Ultimate Boot CD" and booted from that - I was able to run the basic utilities, but any attempt to boot a disk image that came along with the cd either hung or threw an error.

Furthermore, the system is dual-boot, and I tried booting into the secondary OS (not booted for a couple weeks, no additional software installed for > 1 year) and it also BSODs.

So I'm thinking it's a hardware issue...somewhere. I've ruled out the memory, and the hard drive doesn't seem to have anything to do with it (else why would it hang on booting from cd), so it's probably something on the motherboard, i.e., I need a new laptop. Still, I have this nagging feeling that it *might* be software, somehow, so I'm wondering if there are any other diagnostic steps I should take to convince myself the laptop is (soon to be) toast.

Java Bunnies Breeding

Black_Umbrella — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:32:04 -0800

Which of these Java programs can i get rid of and why are they breeding like bunnies? Everyone that has my computer has the same issue where these things keep building up. It is school issued so i know a lot of people with the same computer and many of the same programs pre-installed. I have been deleting the old versions every now and again but why so many versions & which can I get rid of? I don't like 100+ MB bunnies breeding in my computer.

J2SE runtime vs Java 2 runtime vs Java 2 SDK vs Java(TM) update vs Java(TM) SE runtime

...I don't program so I don't need any if that is what they are used for. Oh and I run windows xp.

I feel like the Flash at a disco.

Shepherd — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:05:07 -0800

Why is MP3 playback sssuuudddeennllyy gggrriiinnddiinngg doowwnnnn? Until about six months ago, give or take, I could listen to MP3s on my computer pretty much regardless of whatever else I was doing. I did a pretty routine wipe everything/reinstall everything (XP Pro, upgrading from SP2 to 3 after the reinstall) back in May.

Recently, the MP3 player has started to grrriiinnnddd when I do pretty much anything on the computer. I've gone from WinAmp to QCD to Billy to try to minimize the program's CPU "footprint," but it persists. The songs start to stretch out, like HAL at the end of 2001 but with more digital artifacting. The MP3 players never crash, but stutter and grind to a halt, then slowly get up to speed, then start staggering again.

This happens when I open a program, or a document, or save something, or copy a file from one folder to another, or check my e-mail, or load a Web site like MetaFilter, etc. etc. Pretty much everything other than typing or moving the mouse -- and sometimes it just starts to spontaneously stutter as well.

I have an up-to-date Avast!, Ad-Aware and ZoneAlarm (free versions of all) showing no viruses, malware, etc. on my computer.

I've used the Ctrl-Alt-Del resource manager to see what's hogging resources, but the open programs like Firefox, Celtx, Thunderbird, etc. all clock in about 25K for CPU resources, and this "grinding" often happens when I'm running at about 50% of CPU in use.

Nothing on my computer has changed in terms of hardware since before and after this big reinstall and the consequent MP3 grind. No major software changes, either. It's really danged irritating. Is it SP3? General resource creep making all the programs that used to not kill my system resources suck up all my system resources? The difference between six months ago and now is extraordinary: I used to be able to just listen to music while doing whatever, and now everything makes playback stutter and stall.

I've reached the limits of my knowledge. Insight, folks?

How do I line up a bunch of images?

tomble — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:34:54 -0800

I am trying to find some sort of image alignment software that would line up a series of similar photographs. I have seen animations made of things such as faces / streets over a large sequence of photos where the main details of the image don't change much. However when I have made some basic attempts to duplicate this, the images don't line up very well and the animation looks jumpy.

While I can set up a template and manually line up details such as eyes, nose, chin etc, this is painfully slow. I was wondering if there is software which would take a series of images with details in common and crop / rotate / zoom them to make important details line up.

So, in essence, a program into which I would feed a number of similar photos, say, portraits. It would pick out the similar details on each picture - eyes, mouth, nose - and make the pictures line up so that an animation would look more smooth. This would preferably be for XP.

Right Click Glory

matthelm — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:26:35 -0800

For example say I have a quicktime file open and I want to open the folder where the file resides...is there a program that will do this...? ...Or say I am in photoshop and I go to the open folder and I see a bunch of .jpgs and I would like to select on of these and right click it to bring me the option of "open folder where file resides"....any ideas of how I can find a software that does this?....

Is linux xp desktop compatible with Microsoft Office 2007?

Eiwalker — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:05:06 -0800

Will linux xp desktop (the new linux program that looks like windows xp and lets one intall some windows software) let me install Microsoft Office 2007? What about an organizer program called Bottin? I'm thinking about converting from xp to linux xp, but I don't want to have to give up too much in terms of software.

Gmail functionality, within explorer?

TomMelee — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:00:54 -0800

Spoiled by GMail, *really* looking for a way to use tags/labels for everyday files. I've seen this great lifehacker post, but that's really not what I'm looking for. In particular, I make and use a lot of pdf's that could potentially fall into lots of categories (donations, recycling income, follow up, etc.). I've got a fairly anal system of storing these files, and I try to be disgustingly accurate with file names..."Volunteer Weekday Work Policy 2007 WiP", but still, I find it lacking.

I'm looking for suggestions for software that would let me tag *any* file (I use a lot of standard .txt), especially pdf's, jpg's, doc's, etc, and then allow me to easily re-find common files. The vista trick comes really close, but the filetype limitation is a killer.

Looked at Paperport, saw Fuji's new notebook software, but of course I'd prefer free/open source where possible.

Feed me, hivemind!

Oh, almost forgot. Main laptop is Vista, but I'd really like this for my home comp too, which is XP. Tags, labels, statuses...help!

I want my Firefox!

trip and a half — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 08:35:36 -0800

Why is Firefox so sluggish on my laptop? I love Firefox. I use it at work. I used to use it at home on my old desktop (which died).

In September of last year, I bought a shiny new Asus laptop which I absolutely love. But every time I've tried to download and use Firefox on it, the response time has been frustrating to the point where I've uninstalled it.

What's going on? I have to wait ten seconds or more each time I click anything before the browser will respond. Often the title bar has the Windows "not responding" message in it.

Any ideas? I'm running Windows XP Home. Save me from IE!

Surely Word's Embedded Audio Can't Too Crippled To Export or Control

icebourg — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:48:22 -0800

How to change the program Word opens embedded audio with? Alternatively, suggestions for foot-pedal software that plays well with audio embedded in Word or RTF documents. When you have an embedded audio file in Word, the only program Word will open it with is Sound Recorder. (doesn't matter what wav files are associated with in Explorer) Is there a way to change this behavior?

If not, is there a way to extract the audio as a wav and save it somewhere? (I am aware that you can open it, copy and paste it into a new Sound Recorder window, then save it wherever you want, but I'm hoping for something simpler for our transcriptionists)

I'm also open to some script or program that will parse the RTF and export the wav file. (I could modify it to make it easy for our users)

And if neither is possible, does anyone have recommendations for foot-pedal software the plays nice with embedded RTF/Word audio? We have WAVPedal now, but it has the limitation that it needs to be able to get its hand on an actual wav file, it won't control Sound Recorder or Word's internal sound player.

We are using Word 2003 on XP.

My dad wants to turn his home movies into DVDs. Might win an Oscar, you can never tell.

IvyMike — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:49:56 -0800

What's the best Windows software package to edit video and create DVDs? My Dad's got a bunch of tapes from his JVC GR-D72U digital video camera. He has proven to me that can transfer the data into the computer, but the bundled software he has has never been very easy to use nor has it been reliable at being able to create DVDs.

What's the favored Windows solution at the moment? He doesn't need to do anything particularly fancy, but being able to cut scenes together, add music, put little "Happy Birthday" text on the screen, and create DVD menus from templates are probably all things he would want to do.

Also, keep in mind that the fewer times my dad calls me from two time zones away with crazy questions, the better. (I would normally provide support via VNC, but I suspect that won't work well during video editing.)

And yes, I know that one answer is "Get a Mac and iMovie", but that's out of the question for now. Maybe next time.

Autocopy System wide

Mick — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 06:55:28 -0800

I would like text I highlight to be put on the clipboard automatically, no need to push Ctrl-c. Is there anything like Firefox's AutoCopy extension but system wide (winXP)?

Looking for fax software

tomble — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 03:30:15 -0800

I'm looking for fax software for XP, and wondering what programs other than Winfax are being used. I've been using Winfax for some time now to receive and send work faxes, but after my computer spontaneously died on the weekend necessitating a reinstall of windows, I discovered I had lost the install disk. I borrowed a friend's disk to try and cover myself in the meantime, and it flat out refused to install (for some reason it thought I already had it installed). For this reason I am less than keen to buy it and discover it won't install.

What experiences have people had with other fax software, such as Mighty fax or others? I don't want network faxing, fax via internet or anything fancy, just a setup where I can receive faxes and send anything I print through my computer.

I'd like to get something I can download and pay for online, so I can have my work fax running tomorrow!

Nothing but .net

lukemeister — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:02:19 -0800

Why don't the New York Times Reader, Doppler, and Juice work? Doppler and Juice started crashing on my XP (SP2) box after a period of normal use, and I can't get the Times Reader to run at all. The common thread seems to be that these applications use various versions of .NET. The Times Reader requires the NET 3.0 Framework, which supposedly was downloaded as part of the Reader install. Any suggestions?

Application that Visually Displays XP Folders in a Pie Graph

abbyladybug — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:49:06 -0800

I used to have a little software application that would assess my hard drive and display a colorful pie graph of folders and subfolders, so that it was very easy to visually determine the location of the file bulk. Does anyone remember what I'm talking about? Bonus points for freeware.

Free LAN Software Recommendations?

raydexter — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 12:26:09 -0800

Any free 2000/XP networking software the hive mind can recommend? Having just got the home lan working, I'm looking for networking software that people find cool, handy and maybe even innovative. Oh, and it's got to be free.

Thanks!

Help me find a better toolbar for WindowsXP

4ster — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 08:04:10 -0800

WindowsXP: I like how I can make custom toolbars in Windows XP. However, I hate how they disappear when I click the "Show Desktop" icon. Does anyone know how to either make my custom toolbars "stick" when I click "show desktop?" If not, can you point me to a third-party toolbar program that lets me do this? I am trying to avoid the "Start" menu.

Looking for XP software designed to rip DVDs of episodic TV?

lukeomalley — Thu, 04 May 2006 09:48:39 -0800

I own all of the southpark dvds and I want to rip each episode to an individual file for my media center. I know I can do this manually but it is tedious. Is there any Rip software that can do a batch conversion?

Software RAID with external drives

joshgray — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:23:20 -0800

Experiences with software raid with external USB drives? XP and/or OSX? Ever have problems with the drives spinning down when not in use and the raid set breaking in the process? Does this shorten the life of the drives in any as compared to mounting internal of a case using IDE or SATA?

Cross platform video-chat software.

Wild_Eep — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:45:14 -0800

I have a Mac (10.4.5), my Dad has a PC (XP Home). We both have cable modems. We want to video chat. What apps can we use together? Bonus points if I can continue to use iChatAV. I've been playing around with my firewire-equipped camcorder this week, and got a one-way video conference going with my Mom some 75 miles away. (She's got a PowerBook). Now my Dad wants to join in the fun and see the grandchildren.

What apps exist for us which are cross platform and decent quality? I've read conflicting reports about AIM for PCs having poor video quality with iChat, when it works at all.

Yes, yes, I know I should just convince Mom to get an iSight, but is there hope for Dad?

Looking for a particular screensaver

tomble — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:51:26 -0800

I saw a simple, but stunning screensaver on a Mac, which was a slow zoom into images, and I'm trying to find something similar for XP. Thanks! The screensaver selected images from a designated folder, and would slowly zoom into or out of them. A simple idea, but it was really beautiful, and far superior to the average slideshow screensaver. I've tried google, but screensavers are so bountiful that it's a needle in the haystack situation.

IE Hangs

Framer — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 06:38:57 -0800

Internet Explorer hangs (locks up itself, though I can switch to and use other programs) for about 20 seconds when I type in a new url in the address bar, and then loads the site as usual. No such lag if I click on a link or a bookmark. No such problem in Mozilla. I'm running XP.

Linux Distributions

KevinSkomsvold — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 19:50:17 -0800

Hope I'm not opening a can of worms here. I'm jumping into the Linux ring for the very first time. There are a ton of distributions and I was wondering if there were any that the community would recommend for a noob like myself. So far, I've downloaded Mandrake and RedHat images but there are a ton of other out there and I wonder if I'm missing something better? I'll be dual booting on a WinXP pro box (Intel) so I'm looking for something that is relatively easy to install in this situation.