Handy upgrades to windows utilities

Disclaimer: This information is most relevant for Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7 might have better offerings. Might.

Image Viewer:
Windows comes with an image viewer that is less than ideal. There are no short-cut keys, rotating images leads to permanent changes to the file and not just a virtual presentation of the rotation.
The solution:

Irfanview -
Although, not just a mere image viewer, it's very sleek and versatile when it comes to just viewing images. Images can be quickly viewed full screen (Enter) and navigated using arrow keys with a plethora of viewing options when not in full screen. It is also a lightweight image editor with limited functionality and effects. Simple batch processing and thumbnail feature add to the round up of features on offer. A must have item for any windows user.

Audio:
I segregated Audio and Video into two different players even though either could be used to play video and audio. However, each has its strengths in one area, so I have them both.
As usual windows comes with Windows Media player for both audio and video files. Needless to say I've hardly used Windows Media player in the last few years so won't even be able to mention it's features or lack thereof. So i'll just mention the programs themselves which supersede it.

Winamp(Audio) -
Winamp is my goto player for MP3's. It's sleek, I usually keep the skin on the original, no frills side, takes very little desk space and has my whole music library loaded at once. Navigation is easy with the bottom row keys (Z-V) controlling Previous Track to Next with everything in between. This is a full featured player with myriads of plugins and features which I doubt I've even breached the surface of. My most common use is the equalizer, with its built-in presets, and the playlist which allows me to search and queue files to be played with by using the 'jump to file' (J) menu. My only gripe is not being able to save playlists from the queues I've created, then it would be the IDEAL player. Add to the fact that with some arcane knowledge, well not really arcane, it is possible to use winamp to tame your iPod. Huzzah! That I'm not aware of how to and will not delve into at present.

VLC (Video)
Not sure what it stands for, Video Lan Ceeeeee. Anyway, short, sweet and simple player that plays almost any video file you throw it, and audio as well. All this without having to find and install numerous codecs to view Divx, Xvid or anything else out there.

Checking system specs

Image via WikipediaIt's hard to ascertain what hardware you have in certain cases. Albeit a quick look at System settings [Start>Control Panel>System, on Windows XP] will give you a overview of system resources.

It's a bit trickier to know what parts are compatible with your system if you want to upgrade or check if your hardware is capable of running software or games that you want to. Most newer machines bought in the last 8 - 6 months will be up to par, unless if you bought a net book, or really low end system. But, if you have an older laptop, like I do, it'll be well worth it to know what you can actually put into your system or what will actually run on your system before committing.

There are several sites out there which can do a quick scan of your system to give pertinent information. Two that I use are

• Can you run it? powered by System Requirements Lab compares your system specs
  with the minimum and recommended requirements of popular pc games.
• Crucial System Scanner tool checks how much system memory you have and what upgrade options are available. It also lets you order the parts on the site itself.

Both require a download of a scanner program which checks your system and is benign for the most part.

Disclaimer: This content is purely for informational purposes and should not be taken in mission critical scenarios. The author accepts no liability for any consequences arising from using this information. The previous part is dismissible, when and only, usage arising constitutes a favorable return and arouses generousness in associated user, who further, wishes to divulge part of generousness to author.

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