Software

What is a shadow system? I'm sure you've all seen school or internet café computers that come back perfectly clean every time they restart, with every non-default file wiped out. That's thanks to a hardware device called a restore card, which internet cafés install. The shadow system I'll introduce here gives you the same effect as a restore card without spending money on one, and it's even easier to use than a restore card. With a shadow system, you don't have to worry about viruses either. Just restart and the computer is back to normal~ In this article, the shadow system we'll introduce is Returnil Virtual System (hereafter RVS)...

If you’re a web designer, or you run your own blog, you’ve probably cared a lot about how fast your pages load, since slow loading annoys users. And if you use Wretch Photo Album, you’ve probably worried about image sizes too, right? Wretch Photo Album has space limits, and the only way to get more space is to buy VIP membership. The program I’m introducing today is called RIOT, and it’s a lifesaver for all of the people above. RIOT can batch compress images, and in my own tests the compression ratio was quite high. RIOT can also batch resize images, which is really handy for bloggers~ ...

This version of the Microsoft 2010 IME hasn't changed the interface much. That's so people who used the Microsoft IME 2007 don't have a hard time switching over (example: my mom....). At first I thought it didn't have any new features, but after typing this post, my opinion changed. The Microsoft 2010 IME has really improved its smart word selection (which is probably why this post has fewer typos XD). The 2007 Microsoft IME used to make a lot of typos, and I never understood what Microsoft was thinking. It would often spit out really strange words = = But Microsoft Office IME 2010 doesn't have that problem. Also, Microsoft Office IME 2010 is free, so no need to worry about the BSA coming to your door one day ^^...

Looks like everyone has started school today? I actually started last week. After these few days, I feel that life at vocational high school is pretty good. The only thing is that the discipline instructor is a bit strict and the teachers are a bit nagging. But the nagging is still a good thing, since at least it means we have teachers who actually care. I had heard from my junior high teachers that once you reach high school, nobody manages you anymore, and whether you succeed or not is up to you. But from what I see now, the teachers are quite responsible, perhaps even a little too responsible 0.0 But let's leave the class stuff aside, so the instructor doesn't come over and say I was cursing my teachers online? Okay~ The main reason I'm writing this post is that today, Class 15 of the Data Processing Department had an Introduction to Computing class. The teacher said that from now on, homework must be submitted via FTP, and some supplementary materials will also need to be downloaded via FTP. So I wrote this article to show everyone how to connect using FileZilla. Let me briefly introduce this program, FileZilla. FileZilla is an FTP client that lets you connect easily to an FTP server and upload and download files. It also has a built-in site manager that remembers the server address, username, and password for you. ...

If you ask me which virtual machine program I like best, I'll tell you it's VirtualBox. The first reason is that I'm a poor student and can't afford the expensive VMware, and VirtualBox is free. But that alone wouldn't stop me from using VMware, since VMware Player is free too. The other, more important reason is that VirtualBox performs very well. It handles virtual operating systems efficiently, unlike VirtualPC, which gets really laggy = = In this post, I’ll show you how to download and install VirtualBox. I’ll cover how to use virtual machines another time, when I have some free time. ...

This time I want to introduce Yam Batch Download, a program I wrote myself. Its main feature is that it can batch-download music from Yam Sky, and it also names the music automatically. The reason I wanted to write this program is that almost all of my music was grabbed from Yam Sky Media Sharing using a tool called GootubeFlv. GootubeFlv is convenient, but for anyone who wants to batch-download music it's a real hassle — you have to repeat the same sequence over and over: copy the URL -> paste it into GootubeFLV -> copy the music name -> paste it into the download box -> download. It felt really tedious, so I wrote Yam Batch Download. Just paste the URLs into the program and it will download them for you and name them automatically....

VMware is a program that lets your computer run two or more operating systems at the same time. It’s not like dual-booting, where you pick one at startup. You can really have many operating systems running simultaneously. Some people may wonder why anyone would run so many operating systems at once. Do you have nothing better to do? From a gaming perspective, running two operating systems at once enables a so-called dual-window setup. From a security perspective, virtual machines help security staff test for viruses. And if you’ve downloaded a program from the internet and aren’t sure whether it’s safe, VMware can help you out. ...

It’s been several months since Google Chrome 4 came out, and Chrome 5 has finally arrived! This update brings some changes. For example, the V8 JavaScript engine has been upgraded again, which makes Chrome 5 browse much faster. I don’t find the difference very noticeable myself, but according to SunSpider tests, it’s about 30% more efficient than the previous version. Chrome 5 also extends the Google account bookmark sync feature to more settings (themes, the home page, and so on). And Chrome 5 also has the Adobe Flash Player built in. If I remember correctly, it’s the first of the three major browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome) to include a built-in Flash player. Below, I’ll walk you through the new features of Google Chrome 5 Beta. ...

(Image taken from the official Oprea Mini website) As everyone knows, Apple is famously ruthless with its rivals, and the latest news makes that clear. For example, none of Apple’s products support Adobe’s Flash. The reason given is that Flash eats up resources and has lots of security holes. But some people tested other smartphones with the same specs as the iPhone and found they didn’t use as many resources as Apple claimed. Meanwhile, Adobe added a Package for iPhone to its new Creative Suite 5, which lets users convert Flash files into a format that works on the iPhone / iPod Touch. Apple immediately changed the rules in the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement to ban the use of the Package for iPhone technology. It’s a clear sign that Apple doesn’t welcome Flash. But what does this have to do with Opera Mini? ...

Before I start, I should say that I don't know whether other people already know about this trick. I just stumbled onto it, so I'm sharing it here. If you already know it, feel free to skip this post. And please don't leave comments calling it a rehash! I discovered this while doing some calculations. Sometimes you need to work with big numbers, and you reach for a calculator. But most calculators require pressing buttons, which is fine for short sums. For a long expression like 14896875478, though, you’d be pressing buttons for a long time, right? ...