Optimise Windows 10/11

How to optimise your Windows setup

Just in case you need it. If you want a safe and conservative approach, just disable the background apps you don't need running in the background.

Windows 10

• https://windows101tricks.com/stop-apps-running-from-background-windows-10/
  
• https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/server/configuration/how-to-speed-up-windows-10/ (Do not disable virtual working memory unless you are running your OS from a HDD!)
  

Windows 11

• https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/server/configuration/speed-up-windows-11/
  
• https://gadgetstouse.com/blog/2022/03/03/disable-background-apps-windows-11/
  

Or just switch to Linux LOL.

Setting up Java and Geany

In order to program in Java, you may want to follow the instructions and videos that I have prepared. They are simle and straightforward, and have no audio to keep the video lean and to prioritise video quality.

Videos show tutorials for both Windows 10 and macOS.

Setting up your Java programming tools, in order (JDK first, then Geany)

1. Download and install Java Standard Edition Development Kit, version 8. You will have to agree to using their cookies and accept their License Agreement, then download the right JDK for your system (most likely Mac OS X x64 or Windows x64). Link: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html
2. Now download and install Geany from https://www.geany.org/download/releases. You will need to choose between Windows binaries (e.g. "geany-1.33_setup.exe - Full Installer including GTK 2.24 runtime") and macOS X binaries (e.g. "geany-1.33_osx.dmg - Geany and Geany-Plugins combined").

The following screen casts may help you:

• https://youtu.be/ez9oISXJIEQ --Installing Java SE Development Kit and Geany IDE in macOS
• https://youtu.be/Qy--jS9eLIs  --How to use Geany to work on our Java programming
• https://youtu.be/DWXyyGf36B4 --More hints on configuring and using Geany for Java programming
• https://youtu.be/OtnK5fIbrFE  --How to to set up the JDK in Windows 10
• https://youtu.be/KsJYxDBlnnw --How to copy Windows 10 command prompt/terminal output into Geany

Get back the command prompt in Windows 10

If you've updated your Windows 10 system to the Creators Update (or newer), you may have noticed that the contextual menu (shift+right click) inside a folder has changed.

PowerShell has replaced the command prompt by default, which was an issue for me as I (still) rely heavily on the old command line interface.
The instructions I followed to fix this issue can be found at

• http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/cmd-here-windows-10-context-menu-add/

Hope you find this as useful as I did.

IBDP Computer Science IA

Important information about the

IBDP Computer Science Internal Assessment

Screencasting & File Requirements

Mac:

• http://digitalwriting101.net/content/how-to-make-a-screencast-with-quicktime-x-for-mac/

Windows:

• http://readwrite.com/2015/05/26/screencasting-windows-pc

Ensure that your screencast is about 5 minutes long, and in MP4, MOV, M4V format;
Maximum size 500 MB

Formatting of work for IBDP Computer Science IA

• Arial font size 12 (where the language / script supports it)
• Double-line spacing
• Numbered pages
• Portrait orientation (rather than landscape) – except where it is necessary to accommodate a specific item such as a graph or illustration
• DOC, DOCX, PDF or RTF

Windows, Java and Geany

One of these things that happen in the worst possible moment...

If you want to use the nice and simple Geany IDE under Windows, I'd recommend you to install all the programming languages before you install Geany.

In my case, installing Java and then Geany didn't work at all. Geany wasn't able to compile or execute my Java code. Even after uninstalling and reinstalling both Geany and Java in all possible combinations.

Hope this warning will help someone out there.

Note: Newer versions of Geany have been released, they may have overcome this problem, but I still install Geany after JDK (Java Development Kit) to avoid issues.

Delete USN Journal

Well, this is a technical one. If you're running Windows, you'll notice that defragmentation can sometimes become a pain because of USN journals. Here's how to remove it, using the Command Prompt (Terminal):

FSUTIL USN DELETEJOURNAL /D C:

Of course you may replace C: for whatever journaled drive you want

Sources:
annoyances.org
Wikipedia

Firefox 5 Released

Yes, Firefox 5 is out! Download it here, unless you are using Ubuntu 11.04.

If you are a running Natty Narwhal, all you need to do is run the Update Manager, and that's it!


Sources:
Mozilla
Softpedia

Disable hibernation in Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

Great tutorial, short and sweet. Why would you want to disable hibernation? To save hard disk space. If your computer has 4 Gb of RAM, the system will create a 4 Gb file in order to be able to hibernate.

Therefore, you'd want to disable hibernation especially if you have a desktop computer and/or don't need to use the hibernation feature, which is mainly aimed at laptops.

In a nutshell, you just need to run the command prompt as administrator(AKA elevated command prompt, see screenshot at the end of this post) and type

powercfg -h off

and then press Enter. That's all, folks!

Right-click on the Command Prompt icon and left-click on "Run as administrator"

Flash for 64 bit Linux

Short post. If you're using a Linux distro for the x64 (x86-64) architecture, this page from Adobe Labs has all the info and istructions you need to install it.

I've tried it and works very fast! So far, haven't had any problems with it.

The way I've done it is to extract the libflashplayer.so from the file (i.e. flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz, just right click on it and choose 'Extract here') and then move it to the /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/ folder via the following terminal commands:

cd ~/Downloads
sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/

Of course this is assuming you downloaded the file to your home folder's Downloads folder (the usual case). If you're using Konqueror, you may need to add the Flash plugin by going to Settings>Configure Konqueror>Plugins (last item), then select the Plugins tab, and click on the "Scans for plugins" button.

*Notes*

• The Adobe Labs link was updated as the preview of  the 64-bit Adobe Flash Player Square is now available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows).
• More information is available at this Ubuntu Documentation page (removal of non-64 bit Flash plugins, alternative way of installing it, and such)

Hope this helps.

Windows 7

Let's start the game all over again...

Microsoft just released its Windows 7 Operating System, so obviously I've started digging for information before making the financial commitment of spending my hard earned money yet again on a Microsoft OS.

What I found out:

• Taking a beating with Windows 7 pricing by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols and
• Windows 7 pricing in Singapore out! by Joe Teh

Vista left me a really bad aftertaste... Paying too much money for software that does not meet essential expectations regarding stability, efficiency, compatibility...

I have tried the Windows 7 Release Candidate, and it is indeed better than Vista, but my position is that Microsoft would almost redeem itself by charging a reasonable price for the upgrade (like Apple, for example), or why not offer it as a service pack?

It's up to you, dear reader, but I just can't part with so much money... again.

I'll be in the Apple Mac OS X camp and eagerly waiting for Ubuntu 9.10, thank you very much.

Best Free Defragmenter

A must have piece of software for any Windows user:

MyDefrag - download and install it!

First run may be slow. Use it often (recommended: weekly or every other week) for better results.

Premiere Elements 6

I had to work intensively with Adobe Premiere Elements 6 last weekend. It became a horrible experience since it crashed often.

Obviously, I had to find an immediate solution. After a lot of google, more gray hair and frustration, I found the bug: Microsoft's Visual C++ runtime is pure fertilizer and must be updated.

Download and install these two files, but mind the fact that the smart people of M$ named them... Exactly the same. So change the names or save to different folders. Anyway, applying these updates solved my crashing problem in Premiere Elements 6.

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86)

I installed both just to make sure there are no conflicts and both are up-to-date. Should the links stop working because of M$ changing them, just google for their names and get them from Microsoft.com.

If you're looking for the best and least expensive Photoshop & Premiere you can get, check this great bundle by Adobe.

All brand and product names, logos, etc. belong to their respective owners, blah, blah, blah...

SDL Basic

Well, it could be useful. That's why I'm posting it, so I don't lose track of it. It's a nice version of BASIC available here.

If you're using Ubuntu, its package name is sdlbasic, so you can install it via Synaptic or the terminal:

sudo apt-get install sdlbasic -y

;-)

A fast and lightweight IDE

My favourite tool for coding (well, together KDE's KATE and Gnome's Text Editor).

It's Geany, a native Linux GTK2 application available to most distributions and ported to Windows as well.

Check its home on the web and download it!

64 bit mania

I've been eyeing again at the possibility of running the 64 bit version of Windows (Vista or 7 RC1).
Especially after an encouraging success with Ubuntu 9.04 (64-bit), I got the itch again.

I found these interesting and useful web sites:

The frist one, called start64.com, which I'm reading now. It has information regarding 64-bit technology for Vista, Windows 7, and also Linux.

Second, this article at Tomshardware.com, which explains things you should know about Windows, 32 vs 64 bit. If you want to skip the details, at least read the article's conclusions.

Third, Microsoft itself. They have a "Windows Vista Compatibility Centre", a one-stop databse where you can check whether your hardware and software is compatible with Windows or not. Just check the 64 bit option and you're all set. Check the screenshot below for reference.

GarageBand-like applications for Windows

If you have ever used GarageBand (included with iLife, from Apple), but are a Windows user, you probably would like something similar that you could use in your Windows PC at home...

Fortunately, there are alternatives such as:

• Acid Xpress (free, but you also have to download loops to make it work)
  
• Music Maker --trials only-- (classic & premium) by Magix
  
• Cakewalk's Music Creator (no trial available)
• and Acid Pro by Sony (trial)

My recommendation: Music Maker by Magix.