| Of-course,everyone’s used Adobe Acrobat at one time or another. I use it from time to time when I simply want a PDF to load or print out an old manual. What if you want to do more with your e-books? Let’s say you want to merge several PDF files together. Well,that’s pretty difficult to achieve with Adobe Acrobat,unless you’re willing to cough up some cash for Acrobat Pro. It seems unfair that you should have to pay so much for one simple function,doesn’t it? Most people just one to do one or two things with their PDFs,but can’t afford to pay a whopping $449.00 for the simple ability to rotate,merge,or copy and paste. I’ve recently encountered this problem myself. Now,I’m going to invest some time and try to track down the best free tools for editing,managing,and utilizing .pdf files. Please comment if you have any insight. We’d love to hear your input! I’m terribly sorry about the delay with this post. I promised to post this as of two weeks ago,so unfortunately I have been delayed until now. Introduction I know,it’s frustrating. You hate reading. And,by now,you’ve probably tried everything under the sun to protect your system from the nasty critters that are funking up everyone’s PC including yours. Well,hopefully this is an end-all solution for you. It was for me…  Crap
To start,it’s important that you clean out all of the cache your Windows –based PC builds up over time. Every time you visit a webpage you download (potentially) megabytes of data which adds up to gigabytes and so on. Some or most of that data is stored as cache to prevent you from having to re-download that stuff later on,thus speeding up your day-to-day business of web surfing. Unfortunately,an end-result can be slower performance,and the hogging of HDD (Hard Drive) space.
To help clean up your system from all of this “crap”that builds up,I recommend Crap Cleaner (CCleaner) which can be downloaded at Piriform.com.
Virus &Trojans As for actually protecting your computer,you need more than one form of Antivirus. My two favorites are currently two of the most popular free antivirus products out there. AVG,and Panda. What you need to know about AVG is that there is more than one company using the name “AVG”. The second is that there is more than one type of product and/or service that AVG provides. The basic antivirus is free. It comes with a resident (a program that runs in the background keeping viruses from loading into memory and essentially restricts their movements. Kind-of like an anklet on a convict. AVG Free Antivirus is very popular because it doesn’t take an incredible amount of memory to use passively. Even scanning runs at a minimal pace,unless you turn the toggle up raising its “priority”devoting more resources to its scan. 
The second form of antivirus is called Panda Cloud Antivirus,and it also,is free. Just like AVG’s version,there is a free,as well as a paid antivirus client. You shouldn’t need the pro version unless you run a company-owned machine,or you just want massive overkill for your computer. Remember the more you pay for,the more is running,and the less resources you have in the end. Panda Cloud Antivirus uses cloud-computing. I won’t get into the long description,but it can be summed up by saying:Cloud computing is using more than one machine,computer,or server’s resources to produce results. Basically meaning Panda isn’t just running on your PC,it’s running on some odd million others. When one person gets a virus,every other client gets updated with new criteria for a similar threat. How? It uses a database accessed via internet. Not-to-say that Panda is useless while offline,but it is seriously limited in its capabilities while not connected to the internet. (Inhale) Now,running AVG Free Antivirus side-by-side with Panda Cloud Antivirus isn’t a problem unless they’re both scanning at the same time. You may end up with an access violation,or a resource issue. It’s best to scan with one at a time at first,and see how long it takes. Then,schedule regular scans leaving a good buffer of time between each client. Spyware Now we’re down to the easy stuff. I want to introduce you to one of my best finds ever. Spybot Search &Destroy. What Spybot does is,well,it gets rid of spybots! From experience,this tool can find most adware,spyware,trojans,trojan downloaders,and a host of other nasty products that do nothing but get in your way from having a good day. Spybot can scan your computer before windows is allowed to load,giving it the ability to get rid of a lot of bugs that other products like AVG and Panda can miss,since they’re not designed to do that anyway. Spybot also allows you to closely examine your startup list,giving you updated and descriptive information on what each entry is,and what it does. You’d be surprised. Read all of the entries’info. You’ll find some surprises. 
It also includes a basic set of tools to turn off BHOs (browser helper objects) for Internet Explorer,getting rid of some of those pesky ads and toolbars,and a somewhat annoying registry checker. I’d recommend sticking with CCleaner though. If you don’t believe me, try it once. You have to delete each registry entry manually. (click x 457 = FUNK) Summary So,there you have it. The best combo of antivirus;at least that I’ve found,and is free. If you find something better,post a comment,if not,let me know how it works out for you. Download (Download.com or download.cnet.com scans files while they’re still on the server,preventing you from getting a virus in the first place) CCleaner - http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/ AVG Free Antivirus - http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition-2011/3000-2239_4-10320142.html Panda Cloud Free Antivirus - http://download.cnet.com/Panda-Cloud-Antivirus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10914099.html Spybot S&D - http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html
Dynex USB 2.0 7 port hub. [FAIL]  When it comes to being a technology addict,we tend to go a bit overboard with our USB needs. Fortunately USB hubs can come in pretty handy. Unfortunately,they’re pretty tricky,unreliable,sometimes,and abruptly fail. One such product,the Dynex USB 2.0 7 port hub did just that. I had 7 external hard drives plugged into the hub,3 of which had their own power source. All at once,my hard drives unmounted.When I checked each port on the hub,only one was left running. I had effectively killed the entire piece.
Who’s to say that it would have been fine had I distributed drives amongst another hub or two,but ultimately,it failed the test. On the other hand,if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to recover your things from your laptop’s hard drive that just happened to get a nasty virus or a bit of corruption,Apricorn might have just the thing for you. 
Apricorn Upgrade Kit  This handy dandy toy connects directly to your SATA drive and connects to your computer via USB 2.0. You can find this life saver at Best Buy or on Amazon. The actual kit comes with drive cloning software,but you may just want the adapter if you’re just wanting to get some files.
Priced $19.00 and up. Look for it on Amazon or Yahoo online stores.
You have nothing to worry about. Bixit.net isn’t going anywhere. There are some much needed improvements coming. For one,some better plugins to spice up the system here. For two,we’ll be getting a redesign done by none other than an1ken himself. If you’re not aware of an1ken and his talented crew,you might want to visit one of his greater ventures,www.creativeoverflow.net Check it out. There are a great number of things happening in the world that many aren’t aware of,or are too complex for some people to understand. I’m going to be getting involved in some of these things. You’ll find out what I mean soon.  Before you empty your wallet on that iPhone or Droid,consider this. What do you really need from that phone? Well,based on some simple concepts handed to me from a phone salesman whose affiliation I’m not at liberty to divulge gave me some good advice:
- Phones get outdated fast.
- Functionality over User Friendliness.
- Price over Productivity
Sometimes you simply don’t have the $$$ to waste on that big awesome gadget that everyone’s getting. That’s OK because there are phones with contract and even non-contract deals depending on the provider that may put you back on track. For starters,read this article. This may help you decide what type or brand to buy… http://lifehacker.com/#!5062403/battle-of-the-mobile-phone-operating-systems I can’t give you some b.s. shotgun blast of what I think the worst phone is,and why I think you shouldn’t buy it,because let’s face it,I don’t own a backpack full of phones. I do own an HTC Evo 4G on the Sprint network and I’ve found it to be the most reliable,the best quality,and overall,the most productive phone I’ve ever owned. So,instead of putting my own spin on things. I’ll be scrounging up some posts by other bloggers on their idea of what the best phone is for you,and ways to steal some deals.  Image via Wikipedia For the longest time I had been hating life,and my phone. The HTC Tilt 2 commercial caught my eye and my wallet. As it turns out,you don’t always get what you pay for. The Windows Mobile OS left me wanting with the utter lack of apps and games to play with. Media was troublesome at the very least,but I did manage to figure out how to play .FLV and .MOV files. Unfortunately,my massive 16gb card went unspent since most downloadable videos via Limewire come as MPEG4s leaving my WiMo in the dust. So the decision plagued me,should I get an iPhone? Everyone’s doing it they (the infamous them) and apparently it’s a blast…But I put my hormones in reserve and went with a feistier candidate,the HTC EVO 4G. With the massive power of that 1GHZ Snapdragon processor and that insanely huge 4:3″screen,how could you go wrong? Turns out,I was right. Everyone is dying to know,out of the thousands of apps available on the Android Market,which ones do it right? Give me your feedback and I’ll do the dirty work. I’ll investigate the apps you’re curious about or can’t afford to try because of the price tag,and give you the solid on whether it’s worth the wallet-dump. Keep in mind,there’s a plethora of awesome apps out there that don’t require you delving into the depths of your savings. And while we’re talking about apps,dive into the Apple app bank and us about your favorite finds. Follow or retweet me on Twitter @asoldier. First off I want to apologize for the complete neglect of bixit.net as well as my other ventures including fragleague.com and asoldier.net. I was recently deployed with the 101st to Afghanistan in order to suppress some nasty Taliban insurgencies springing up aroun the Kandahar area. Unfortunately in late September I was struck by an IED which took most of my right leg,and my left leg just above the knee. I will walk again,eventually. It is an uphill battle that I will have to fight. Fortunately my life was not taken,and I was able to preserve tree or four others who may have been killed or seriously injured by the blast. Because of that I was awarded the Silver Star by Gen. Campbell,as well as my Purple Heart,and Combat Action Badge for confronting the enemy in an engagement and being wounded. My plans for the future are pretty straight forward. I plan to begin taking college courses immediately,and I will be looking forward to building a home somewhere soon. I will always endeavor to help those in need. Especially artists and designers who do not have the means to make themselves known or have their own place to start. Webspace and bandwidth aren’t much,but I will help where I can. I’ve always been a soldier. I am here to help when needed,protect when affected,and defend when engaged. I will never stop being who I am no matter what happens to me. Bixit.net will not go away,and will continue to be updated as I find time and points of interest. As well as my personal websites and other public interests. Do not forget the motto,“Everybody Fights!,Nobody Quits!”. I will always hold true to that motto,and I will never quit. Yours Truly,David Bixler a.k.a. A Soldier. 
Well guys,the blog should be picking up speed soon. I’m back from Afghanistan due to some medical complications. You see when you reach out to save somone else’s life,sometimes it can cost you. The upside is…well,at the very least,we can get the blogs rolling again. So,fiesty readers,if you have a topic you would like researched please post a comment and let your voice be heard. @asoldier | |
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