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Windows 7 Codecs Pack Helps You Play All Types of Videos

Posted by Rich On March - 8 - 201018 COMMENTS

Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with
4 out of 5

7 codec pack01 Windows 7 Codecs Pack Helps You Play All Types of Videos

PROS: Helps you watch videos of all types without having to install different codecs each time. the relatively small and efficient download.

CONS: If not installed correctly, you can add lots of stuff that you will never use. In another program is lightweight, I don’t like installing programs are never use on my PC.

VERDICT: If you try to play video with Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center and you either yet no sound, no video, or nothing at all, this codec pack will likely fix that problem. Thus, I recommend this program to all Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center users.

PRICE: Free

VERSION REVIEWED: 2.2.0

DOWNLOAD: Windows 7 Codecs Pack

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DVDShrink Makes Back ups of your DVD’s

Posted by Thomas On March - 1 - 20107 COMMENTS

Do you have a pile of expensive DVD’s? Do you have Kids ? Does your kids have a pile of expensive Children’s DVD’s ? If you answer yes to at least TWO of these questions – you are aware that kids doesn’t always treat DVD’s very nice. I don’t know about your kids, but mine, hardly ever put the DVD back into its case. I can find them anywhere, on the floor, under the sofa, piled on top of the DVD player…Especially if they had a TV-day because of bad weather, being sick etc.

Remember back when the CD was first introduced – how they promised that a CD would withstand anything, heat, water, jam(!), you could even jump up and down on them…. yeah right. Okay, The CD and DVD are durable – but I have yet to find a CD or DVD that is completely child and scratch proof.

The most expensive DVD’s I buy are the one for Kids – so naturally I want to preserve them – making them last long enough for my kids to outgrow them. What do you do ?

I for one begun sniffing around after ways to take backups (for my own personal use) to preserve the original disk, and to burn a copy that my kids can (ab)use…

This is what I found…

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WebGuide: Remotely View Live and Recorded TV Programs

Posted by Rich On February - 25 - 20101 COMMENT

Windows Guides\’ Rating	Compatible with
4.0 out of 5

webguide01 WebGuide: Remotely View Live and Recorded TV Programs

PROS: Simple interface and easy to set up even for a novice user (if you\’re willing to do some reading and experimentation.) Steams your TV to you wherever you are in the world–even to a mobile device. You can remotely schedule TV show recording through Windows Media Center so you don\’t have any excuse for missing your shows.

CONS: Not as simple to use as programs like Orb (although Orb doesn\’t really do the same thing as this software, the underlying principle is the same.) As of the time of writing this review, this program is not compatible with Windows 7.

VERDICT: If you\’re interested in watching shows on the go from your smart phone or from an Internet cafe etc, then this is a great solution and best of all it\’s free. The user interface may not be the most friendly in the world but it is easy to use and is kept simple; glass, you should be able to enjoy your shows without much effort.

PRICE: Free

VERSION REVIEWED: 4.109

DOWNLOAD: Web Guide (FAQ)

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Stream TV to Windows Media Center with TunerFree MCE

Posted by Rich On February - 24 - 2010ADD COMMENTS

Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with
3.5 out of 5

tunerfree 1 220x220 Stream TV to Windows Media Center with TunerFree MCE

PROS: Streaming TV, for free, to your media center with little thought on your part — magical. CONS: This program is still relatively new and, partly due to availability, does not have a huge host of choice for TV shows. Not compatible with XP Media Center. VERDICT: This software has great potential and, I’m sure, as it continues to improve, it will become a key and in for Windows Media Center. PRICE: Free VERSION REVIEWED: 3.4.1 DOWNLOAD: TunerFree MCE

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TagScanner Organises Your Music Collection

Posted by Stu On January - 21 - 20103 COMMENTS

Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with
4 out of 5

123456789 TagScanner Organises Your Music Collection

PROS: A simple yet effective interface. Seemingly frequent updates to an already good program. Free. Finds music tags very quickly from several sources. Light on resources. Small download. Installer and portable version available. Built in music player. Multilanguage interface. Support for embedded lyrics and cover art.

CONS: Untested on 64-bit. Pulling tags from servers returns errors (infrequent). If you are you are working in the 5th column of the page and drag-select, it snaps back to 1st column (very annoying). Dragging a music folder into TagScanner sometimes returns errors, opening within TagScanner or restarting is the only workaround. Frequent recoverable hangs. No help documentation.

VERDICT: This program will become an invaluable tool to anyone who has an unorganised music collection and wants to whip it into shape. It will take a little while to get used to the interface but once you’re au fait with it you’ll love it. It’s completely free but unfortunately comes with no help documentation. Working with large music folders (i found 10GB +) and trying to edit all of the tags at once frequently hangs (“not responding”) TagScanner, nearly all of which it recovers from and resumes. I recommend working with folders under 10GB at any one time. All in all, a decent program for your music tagging needs.

PRICE: Free.

VERSION REVIEWED: 5.1.555

DOWNLOAD: TagScanner

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Watch Your Favorite TV Shows on Your PC with Miro

Posted by Rich On November - 27 - 200913 COMMENTS

Recently, we bought a new TV for our front room. One of the primary reasons for buying the TV is to connect it to our PC; this way, we can watch TV shows on something bigger than a desktop monitor. There are many TV shows freely available online these days. You can search YouTube, Hulu, and other great websites. But if you are looking for an integrated solution to find most, if not all, your TV shows, Miro may be the program for you.

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