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Wonderful article.  Thanks for posting it, and I agree with almost everything on there.  The worst part is that these people prey on the users who just want to click a button and see porn, the ones that are too busy trying to be cool and entertained to actually figure out how things work.  Or, the poor grandma who just wants to email her grandkids back and forth and really can;t figure out how it works through no fault of her own.

Norton was the best.  Quicktime, haven't used it for years.  Realplayer?  People still use that? JAVA is useful, and Outlook 2007 is fairly nice, although it took a long time to get here.  Flash web sites, that is a BIG pet peeve of mine.  Windows update I don't agree with at all.  Worried about Genuine Advantage?  GET LEGAL.  It hurts nothing and reveals nothing if you are running a legal copy of Windows.  Windows Update works, period, probably one of the few things they have done right.  MS hater or no, it does have it's advantages.

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List layout using Iconlayout on Windows Vista.  Works perfectly and seems to actually enhance the options that Vista offers. 

Tip, to set the icon size, click on an empty spot on the desktop (for focus) then hold your alt key and scroll your mouse wheel up/down.

Speedcommander FTW.  Incredible manager.

I am quite boring actually.  My website is just whatever hits me at the time, I post it.
Nothing to see here, move along.

I have been looking for a non-invasive backup solution!  NICE!  Thank you!

I use this daily.  The maker's name always reminds me of the company in "Office Space".  I like this much better than VMware or Microsoft's VM.

I requested that feature and he is looking into it for the next version.  For now, you can use DesktopFX.

Well, I found it through gHacks, so conga ratz to y0himba.

I really like this proggie and have been looking for it's features for close to 10 years now.

The only option I havce not been able to get working is that where the pic info is supposed to be posted in the upper right hand corner.  Not terribly essential, and perhaps the two monitor setup is part of the problem.

Has anyone figured this one out or had similar difficulty?

Cheers!

I was confused about that also.  The option only enables or disables the Watermark in the upper right of your screen.  Picture information is show using scrapbook, photo pile mode.  I posted about it in the support forums here:
http://www.johnsadventure...om/forum/topic.php?id=338

 COOL!  Thanks for the heads-up!

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Listening to: John Lee Hooker - Henry's Swing Club

I am personally surprised that I didn't find more about this gem when I searched the DC forums!  This background switcher is probably the best I have ever used. 

It provides not only the ability to use pictures you select, or entire folders and sub-folder you select, but also allows for random Flickr and Yahoo photos/pictures!  You read correctly, you can configure John's Background Switcher to grab the top 100 or whatever user specified number of photos/pictures off Flickr and Yahoo for endless random backgrounds.  You can also specify tag/text keywords for Flickr, and search terms for Yahoo. 

There are other services that unfortunately I don't subscribe to or use, specifically Phanfare, Smugmug, and Picasa.

Now get this, new to the version released this weekend, you can also get your friend's and your own FACEBOOK photos!

Now to the best parts, the options.  You of course can set the interval for background switching, you can set the length of time that downloaded/cached photos are kept. You can tell John's Background Switcher to display quite a few ways, such as Center, Stretch to full screen, Scale to fit the screen, and Scale to full screen.  This beauty also includes some very creative and unique modes though, such as "Thumbnail Mosaic", "Four Picture Montage", and "Create A Snapshot Scrapbook".  Each of these modes is configurable using the "More options" configuration section. You can configure the size of the mosaic tiles.  Most interesting though is the configuration of the Snapshot scrapbook.  You can have photos thrown randomly on your desktop, or postcards randomly on your desktop!  You can configure the size and amount of photos, and the scattering is random each time.  This really must be seen to appreciated. There are also effects for the background behind the scattered photos such as Sepia, B/W/, and Desaturate, or you can choose a background color. John's Background Switcher also automatically sets the desktop color when centering or scaling photos, based on the content of the photo!  (If you tell it to of course) Also, there are plenty of options so the switching doesn't interfere with other programs and gaming.

You can also use the integrated photo browser to get the originals from the web!

You can configure John's Background Switcher to pick a random mode (Flickr, Yahoo, Smugmug, Phanfare, Picasa, Facebook, Photos or Folders) each time it switches!  This, and the ability to grab backgrounds/photos/pictures from the above mentioned Internet make this a welcome and handy addition to any system, and creates an ever changing randomness that alleviates a boring desktop  You can almost just sit there, staring at your desktop, amazed at what comes up next!

While I have covered a lot of the options, this program is highly configurable, so there are many more options.  Play around with them and see what you get.

I RARELY let anything start with Windows, or run in the background, but I have allowed this to do both.  Resource and CPU use are fairly low for this type of program making it easy to run with low to NO impact.

As you can probably tell, I really like this program, it is one of the best freewares I have ever downloaded.

This switcher surpasses all others in my opinion, and completely leaves comparable commercial products in the dust.  The author is very personable, and responds to every feature request and bug report through his forums.  While you are on his site, check out his photography.  If you enjoy this program as much as I am, please donate.

I have rambled enough, so now for the links!

John's Adventures:  http://www.johnsadventures.com
John's Background Switcher:  http://www.johnsadventure...ftware/backgroundswitcher
Support Forums:  http://www.johnsadventures.com/forum/


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Honestly, it did until I tried this.  It failed at detecting my network adapter, then I received the Menu index out of range error.  This fixed it.  I know it was the most recent due to the fact that one of my troubleshooting steps before coming here was to uninstall, then download and reinstall.  I also grabbed the latest Winpcap while I was at it.

I am using v2.22.01.

I have been puzzling over this for a few weeks now.  Here is the fix.  Now working perfectly! 

Done and done.  +1 and all that. 

Hi.  I am wondering when http://www.donationcoder....om/Software/releases.html will be updated with new or updated software?  If there is a news or blog item concerning new software and I missed it, please direct me there.  There are very few 2008 updates and even those are not very recent, so I am thinking I missed something?  Thanks in advance.

True Launch Bar!  NICE!  Thanks again Donation Coder!

I have been using Ant Movie Catalog for at least a year.  I have the DB it creates written to a system backup folder in My Documents, which I have on a separate, non-arrayed HDD, so that when I do a clean install, I can just point Windows to it and boom, nothing lost.

I need to say, it's the best and easiest to use I have found.  Not only does it have dozens of sources to get movie information from, but the scripts are kept up to date with changes to each of the sites they draw data from.  The reports are incredible and extremely customizable.  This is definitely one of the best free programs I have ever seen.

My kids and I love this game.  Play it and nQuake over the LAN as much as possible. More than worth the download!  Incredible old school frag fun!

Hi Lynn!  Good to meet you.

Wait:  Canadanadia has a military?  Not just the Mountme's?

j/k

I am 41 and ex-Navy, good to meet you.

If you are having a hard time finding ContextEdit, here is a link:

http://ftp://ftp.sac.sk/p...sac/utilfile/cnxtedit.zip

Whenever I encounter a Zip file containing a folder with a lot of exucatuables, it has worked for me.  Other than that, just browse to the folder, sort by type, select all executables, right click, create shortcut.  Then move the shortcuts to where ever you want them....

I have been using this since it's second release in late 2003.  NIRSoft has a TON of great free utilities, another I use is "Currports".  I highly recommend everyone take a look at his site.

http://www.nirsoft.net/

Not dead to me yet.  As long as I can organize it the way I want it, it's very efficient and useful without running any 3rd party software in the background.
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An organized start menu is the first thing I do after a complete fresh install and complete updates.  Can't live without it.

I have been using Ditto for quite a while now, and I find it invaluable.  It's one of the first things I re-install after formatting.