Very nice site with good small mini reviews of software.  Seems like most of the programs are ones the author finds on giveawayoftheday site, but his critiques seem straightforward and he doesn't always recommend the programs. 

15-Minute Reviews are quick reviews of applications, games, hardware and other items... As most people know, first impressions can make or break much in the world of success; Whether or not it is a great product or not, if it is irritating in the first 15-minutes of usage, likely it is going to be overall a less-than-stellar experience over the long term.

http://www.bladedtho...h.com/reviews/15mrs/

This one isn't really a mod, it looks like someone created a game and fashioned it after Super Mario Bros., but it's similarly evil!

http://kotaku.com/33...urt-you-make-you-cry

And the best part is you can download it here to play for yourself.

I've been experimenting with installing Windows XP Pro x64 edition.

This is a native 64 bit version of windows that allows the operating system programs which are specially compiled for the platform to access larger amounts of memory.  A 64-bit version of Vista exsits as well.

You can read a few discussions about the pros and cons of 64bit versions on DC threads here.

I'm not sure at this point that there is really much reason to try installing the x64 version.. It doesn't magically give you improved performance and there are still some incompatibility issues.  But there may be a few occasions when you would want to try this version, such as when working on some heavy computational software which can use more than 2gb of memory.

I installed it half out of curiosity, and half because I do occasionally do some work on machine learning stuff that can use as much memory as it can grab, and half because on a new computer I have the 32bit version of windows refuses to see my 2nd stick of ram, leaving me with less than 2gb accessible memory instead of the 4gb I have installed.  Apparently this is a known problem having to do with memory addresses and a "conflict" of sorts with the graphics card.  The hardware issues are beyond me and in my opinion all motherboard manufacturers should be locked up in a mental health clinic for the insane things they do.

As an aside -- I actually had to figure out how to slipstream the WinXp x64 installation cd with the service pack#2 before I could even get it to install on my computer because the motherboard (Asus P5WDH) uses a hard drive controller that the winxp 64 installation cd bluescreened on every time.  The SP2 slipstream solved that problem.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand.. I thought we could use this thread to talk about any software compatibility issues, workarounds or alternate software replacements for programs we like for win 64bit.

I'll start with one software replacement report:

I'm a big fan of putting the date in the bottom right of the system tray.  I've always used the free program tclockex for this.  It's old but it gets the job done simply and effectively.

However, it does not work on x64 versions of windows.  So began my quest to find a replacement that did.  There are many replacement tray clocks (clock tray skins, alfaclock, etc).  But I only found one that works well on x64 (it comes with special x64 drivers): 1st Clock.

1st clock is quite good -- it looks nice, it's customizable, it has alarms, can show some extra stuff, etc.  Worked perfectly with xp native skin, and with some customization of the font it looks perfect in classic skin too, which i prefer for the simplicity of it.



Not free (at $29 i'd say it's on the bit on pricey side for these utils), but.. still if you are using x64 and you need the date in the tray like I do, this may be just what the doctor ordered.  Unless someone knows of a free equivalent for x64 or wants to try coding one?

Anyone else want to share some x64 software recommendations (or horror stories)?

After installing, just right click your taskbar and on the menu, under Toolbars, just select "DonationCoder Search Deskbar". If you do not see it listed there, wait a minute and check again.  You can also add this to your Explorer windows by selecting it from the View > Toolbars menu in Explorer.

Using:

Just type in one or more search terms into the box, select the type of search you want to perform from the drop down list, and click the Search button. Your search will be opened in your default browser.

You can access a handy popup menu, with lots of goodies to explore, by right clicking the search button with the little picture of Cody on it. There are some things on the menu that will require you to be a member and logged in on the forum for them to work. There are also some things on the menu that can only be used if you are a full member of the site.

Shell (Extension) City -- a long time favorite place to discover freeware -- is presenting their top 25 programs and tweaks, spread out over the next 6 days or so..  Definitely worth a visit.

As promised, friends, today we begin our annual list of the year's top programs, tips and tweaks. We'll post our list in increments, 4 items each day, with the final Top 5 posted on New Year's Eve.

http://shellcity.net/

in this last issue of 2007, Gizmo lists some of the best he has come across..

• http://techsupportal...ssues/al_current.htm