Computer, Internet, Software, Links …

Keep the power of Google search close at hand. Google Toolbar puts a search box in your browser, making it easier than ever to find anything you want on the Web.

The version available here is for Internet Explorer only. A Firefox version is also available from Browsers and Plugins.

Main Features

• Popup Blocker: Make surfing the web easier by stopping annoying popups.
• AutoFill: Automatically fill in a form with the click of a button.
• BlogThis: Create a weblog post pointing to the page you are visiting.
• Country Search: Restrict your search to pages located in a specific country.
• Google Search: Access Google’s search technology from any web page.
• Search Site: Search only the pages of the site you’re visiting.
• PageRank: See Google’s ranking of the current page.
• Page Info: Access more information about a page including similar pages, pages that link back to that page, as well as a cached snapshot.
• Highlight: Highlight your search terms as they appear on the page; each word in its own color.
• Word Find: Find your search terms wherever they appear on the page.

New in version 3:

• SpellCheck - Check your spelling whenever you type in web forms.
• WordTranslator - Translate English words into other languages.
• AutoLink (US only) - Turn street addresses into links to online maps.

30 essential pieces of free (and open) software for window..

I found this blog and i find the contents are intersting for you. It tells you free software that can be installed in windows and replace the expensive software especially from windows itself..

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Parents and teachers are forcing some schools to dismantle wireless computer networks amid fears that they could damage children’s health.
More schools are putting transmitters in classrooms to give pupils wireless access from laptops to the school computer network and the internet.

But many parents and some scientists fear that low levels of microwave radiation emitted by the transmitters could be harmful, causing loss of concentration, headaches, fatigue, memory and behavioural problems and possibly cancer in the long term. Scientific evidence is inconclusive, but some researchers think that children are vulnerable because of their thinner skulls and developing nervous systems.

At the Prebendal School, a prestigious preparatory in Chichester, West Sussex, a group of parents lobbied the headteacher, Tim Cannell, to remove the wireless network last month. Mr Cannell told The Times: “We listened to the parents’ views…

Read more here 

mIRC is a shareware IRC client for Windows. mIRC is a highly configurable IRC client with all the goodies other clients on UNIX, Macintosh and even on windows offer, combined with a clean user interface. mIRC offers full color text lines, DCC File Send and Get capabilities, programmable aliases, a remote commands and events handler, place sensitive popup menu’s, a great Switchbar, World Wide Web and sound support, and… a lot more. mIRC is shareware but not crippled in any way.

Download latest version : DOWNLOAD 

It’s been almost eight months since the last major release of Rails introduced RJS, respond_to, eager loading, and much more. It’s about time we introduced the latest batch of big ideas we’ve been polishing in the interim. Since this is a major new release and we’ve gotten so much incredible uptake even since 1.1, we’re feeling the need to certify that things work as well as they can out the gates. Thus, this release candidate to fret out any regressions or major issues with the new features.

Read more….

CPU-Z is a freeware utility that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system. CPU-Z does not need to be installed, just unzip the files in a directory and run the .exe. In order to remove the program, just delete the files and that’s it. The program does not copy any file in any Windows directory, nor write in the registry.

CPU

• Name and number.
• Core stepping and process.
• Package.
• Core voltage.
• Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
• Supported instructions sets.
• All cache levels (location, size, speed, technology).

Mainboard

• Vendor, model and revision.
• BIOS model and date.
• Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
• Graphic interface.

Memory

• Frequency and timings.
• Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

• Windows and DirectX version.

Ares is a free open source file sharing program that enables users to share any digital file including images, audio, video, software, documents, etc.

You may now easily publish your files through the Ares decentralized network. As a member of the virtual community, you can search and download just about any file shared by other users.

With Ares you can also join chat rooms or host your channel and meet new friends.

• Fast multi-source downloads
• Powerful library organizer
• Built-in audio/video player
• File sharing chat rooms.

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs, DirectShow filters and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular audio and video formats and even some rare formats.

This download is for the Mega package and is aimed at pro video users.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs:

• It it always very up-to-date with the newest (and/or best) versions of the components.
• It is very user-friendly.
• The installation is fully customizable, meaning that you are able install exactly those components that you really want.
• Uninstallation removes all files and registry entries created by the pack.
• It is extremely easy to make a fully customized unattended installation.
• It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn’t contain any conflicting or buggy codecs.
• It tries to avoid potential problems with existing codecs and even fixes some problems. The pack is able to detect broken codecs and filters on your system, and remove them for you.
• It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies.
• There are different packages. From small to extra-large.
• Suitable for both novice and expert users.

Article taken from :

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2168971/open-source-databases-slice

 

Inexpensive products put price squeeze on database giants

Noel Yuhanna, a senior analyst at Forrester covering database management systems, estimated that average savings on the total cost of ownership are about 50 per cent. The data is based on surveys and customer interviews.

Open source databases such as Enterprise DB, Ingres and MySQL do not carry licence fees, and management tools tend to be less expensive than for proprietary databases from Oracle, Microsoft and IBM. 

Open source offerings especially outshine their proprietary competitors in low-end applications with databases of less than 200GB in size.

"Eighty per cent of the applications typically use only 30 per cent of the features found in commercial databases," Yuhanna told vnunet.com. "The open source databases deliver those features today."

But the open source databases generally lack the features for mission critical applications, trailing behind their proprietary peers in security, uptime, performance and features such as XML support.

Enterprise applications from Oracle and SAP also do not support open source databases today, but Yuhanna expects that to change "within a couple of years".

Open source database vendors typically do not position their products as low-cost alternatives.

Dave Dargo, chief technology officer at Ingres, said earlier this year in an interview with vnunet.com that the company is looking at new ways to deliver and deploy software rather than trying to compete with Oracle on price.

But customers still consider price as the primary benefit of open source, according to Yuhanna.

"The number one reason why any customer would choose an open source database is cost. That still holds true today," he said.

But the low price is also enabling companies to set up new projects that would previously have been too expensive, such as data mining of log files and setting up data repositories.

In an attempt to fend off the competition from low-cost open source databases, Oracle launched a free database last year that is essentially a scaled down version of its enterprise grade Oracle Database 10g. 

The application targets test deployments for developers and students rather than enterprises.