[Neo]

Useful Computer Utilities

Here are some useful utility tools you can download on a USB Flash Thumb drive to use on your computer:

• Avanquest Partition Commander Professional- Avanquest's Partition Commander Professional gives the user much greater capabilities for partitioning out mass storage devices on your computer. You can play with your partitions without destroying the data on them. It also grants you the capability to convert a Windows Dynamic Disk partition to a basic disk partition non-destructively (which can't be done using Windows Disk Manager Tool). If you are using a hard disk drive with magnetic platters, actuator arm and read and write heads at the end of the actuator arm then Partition Commander Professional grants you the capability to defragment the Master File Table (MFT) on a partition using New Technology File System (NTFS).
  
  You can also move unused space from one partition to another on the same physical mass storage drive and automatically resize partitions. The only problem is that this tool costs money. A better alternative which is free is Linux's GParted which you can use on Windows systems IF you create a Live CD to boot GParted from. Here is the link to Avanquest's Partition Commander Professional: http://www.avanquestusa.com/EM/2011/par ... E_BUY.html
  
  
  
• GParted- This tool is designed to be used with Linux operating systems. It does almost everything the for pay partition editors do but it's free. I like free and saving money. The miracles of open source technology through Linux. But wait a second, you're not a turbo nerd and don't use Linux. You use Windows. That's a problem! Never fear, you can still use GParted for your Windows partitions. You can use a GPartedLive tool on a USB flash thumb drive. This gives you a bootable version of Linux with a powerful partitioning tool in a compact package. You can find the instructions to do this here: https://gparted.org/liveusb.php
  
  
  
• CPU-Z- Excellent free tool to use to determine the specifications of various hardware running on your desktop, laptop or smart phone. You can use this to determine what kind of CPU processor is running on your device or the type of Dynamic Random Access Memory is you have the amount you have for example: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
  
  
  
• The Ultimate Boot CD- This is a huge pile of useful free utilities compiled by a fellow turbo tech nerd who was frustrated when he couldn't find a boot disk when he needed one. The Ultimate Boot CD has 100 different tools all placed on a single live CD. You can also run it off a USB Flash thumb drive. Here is the website: https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Anyway, hope some of you find these tools useful.

[Neo]

Any of you Techies out there wanting to use GParted Partition Tool by booting from a "Live CD" via a USB Flash Thumb Drive, make sure you format that USB Flash Thumb Drive with the FAT32 file system and NOT NTFS or exFAT file systems. Otherwise it won't work. To get the Ultimate Boot CD working properly from a USB Flash Thumb Drive you are going to probably need to disable Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and rely instead on the legacy Basic Input Output System (BIOS). I have secure boot enabled in my UEFI/BIOS and got the Ultimate Boot CD working off a USB Flash Thumb Drive with no problems but I had to disable UEFI and rely on legacy BIOS.

In case some of you are not in the know, UEFI is really the "new" more up to date BIOS and is more advanced. However, it seems to prevent Ultimate Boot CD from booting up from a USB Flash Thumb Drive so you can disable it by going into BIOS and instead have your BIOS rely on the older legacy BIOS instead of the "newer more advanced BIOS" that is called UEFI. Hope that makes sense. Both are very handy tools to have. Especially for troubleshooting or repairing computers or customizing them.

[ness31]

You are speaking another language to me brah, but it’s nice that you share your nerdy expertise with the group

[Godstud]

One tool using my computer is more than enough!

[ckaihatsu]

You had me at 'few'.


= D

[ckaihatsu]

You are speaking another language to me brah, but it’s nice that you share your nerdy expertise with the group

Okay, so the Turtum Frang needs to be *inside* of the flat Worshash-32, but *outside* of the ROAR frizzit, while maintaining homeostasis with the surrounding environment.

As soon as you see the pastel lights blinking, hit the 'moar' key repeatedly until CRASS tool discs begin spinning noisily. At this point you can ignore *all* noises and push on ahead to Step 2.a.1.m, which is a *doozy* -- basically the manual doesn't tell you *shit*, so just go on and super-crank the FOLS routine while lubbing cryly.

[Neo]

@ness31

In most cases, nerdy expertise and knowledge should be shared. Technology is something everybody should benefit from. Techies actually speak in acronyms, so to make my post easier to understand, I actually wrote out what the acronyms stand for and try to explain a little bit what they are. I was also sort of assuming people were familiar with the basic BIOS and have messed with their BIOS settings.

@ckaihatsu @Godstud @ness31

So, given the response to the post, my voice and tone of the post is wrong. I need to write like how cool normal people write, not how nerds write . Another thing, the tools I chose are not something that most forum users would find useful given they don't go deep into the BIOS or partitioning out systems or creating things like Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) with multiple hard drives or doing computer repair. However, I do enjoy technology and writing about it. What kind of tools or software would you be interested in learning about and using?

[ckaihatsu]

@ness31

In most cases, nerdy expertise and knowledge should be shared. Technology is something everybody should benefit from. Techies actually speak in acronyms, so to make my post easier to understand, I actually wrote out what the acronyms stand for and try to explain a little bit what they are. I was also sort of assuming people were familiar with the basic BIOS and have messed with their BIOS settings.

@ckaihatsu @Godstud @ness31

So, given the response to the post, my voice and tone of the post is wrong. I need to write like how cool normal people write, not how nerds write . Another thing, the tools I chose are not something that most forum users would find useful given they don't go deep into the BIOS or partitioning out systems or creating things like Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) with multiple hard drives or doing computer repair. However, I do enjoy technology and writing about it. What kind of tools or software would you be interested in learning about and using?

Dude, *I* go deep into the BIOS -- ! (high-fives all around)

Just fucking around -- I'm actually a Linux user.

[ckaihatsu]

The following is the *height* of my tech-nerd cred, but now it's *8* years ago -- everything today is smartphones and microSD cards, goddammit. (grin)

https://www.revleft.space/vb/threads/16 ... ic-jukebox

[Neo]

@ckaihatsu

Yeah, I was about to say, based on reading your past posts, you strike me as somebody who would be a tech nerd and Linux user. You ever used the tools above? They are pretty cool. I especially like having the capabilities of GParted which is better than the Windows 10 Disk Management tool and being able to use it to create partitions for Windows and Linux. I haven't checked to see if it will create partitions for macOS but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. MacOS using the HFS+ (Hierarchical File System +) and AFS (Apple File System) so if it does, it should be easy to find on any of it's menus.

Apple File System is the latest file system for Mac systems. Your are correct that everything is going to mobile devices. One of the tools I listed above can be used on Mobile Devices and I actually have a physical tool bag with tools in it to take apart tablets and smart phones too. I am not experienced in repairing tablets and smart phones so that is something I am still learning. However, I do have some experience in repairing laptops and desktops.

Another thing in Web Development, because everything is going to smart phones, it's especially important to write websites with a responsive design so that websites are readable and usable on smaller smart phone devices. You an iOS user or Android user? I am use Android myself and have Cylance Next Generation anti-malware scanner and BitDefender traditional signature based anti-malware scanner both helping to keep my Android phone secure from the more traditional malware and new emerging malware threats. In addition I use the NoRoot Firewall app for the firewall of my Android. You have more freedom and flexibility with Android phones but they are less secure than the iPhones. This is why security is important for Android smart phones.

[Neo]

@ckaihatsu

Check this out. I just ran my GParted Live Boot USB thumb drive by booting into it from my BIOS and checked to see which Mac file systems GParted has and it has HFS (Hierarchical File System) and HFS+ (Hierarchical File System +) but I didn't see where you could format a partition with newest AFS (Apple File System) for Mac computers. So you can create Mac computer file partitions using this tool just not with the newest Apple File System that has just come out.

[ckaihatsu]

Yeah, my thing has been graphics, as you've probably seen in my posts on the threads out there, and my background goes back to PageMaker 2.0a and Photoshop 2.0 in the late '80s. I did some desktop publishing in high school then, and did some more in college, for work-study, but I got *very* interested in 3D during the early 2000s, when the hardware was still underpowered for it.

I was on Bryce for awhile, circa 2003, but then found what I was looking for, with the freeware Art of Illusion software package, written in Java, soon after. I managed to switch my entire graphics workflow over to Linux around 2008, fonts and all, and as the hardware has gotten better I've been able to do fancier 3D stuff more easily and more quickly. Lately the software itself (LuxCoreRender) has developed so well that it could probably *run* on vintage 2000-era type hardware at this point, which is a boon.

Here's one of my major works, btw:


Anatomy of a Platform

Spoiler: show

I don't *get into* the more technical side of things, though I do do disk partitioning, but all that stuff to me is out of *necessity*, as a means for the graphics stuff.

Um, congrats on your discovery -- tech stuff can be a real *exploration* of sorts.

[ness31]

Okay, so the Turtum Frang needs to be *inside* of the flat Worshash-32, but *outside* of the ROAR frizzit, while maintaining homeostasis with the surrounding environment.

As soon as you see the pastel lights blinking, hit the 'moar' key repeatedly until CRASS tool discs begin spinning noisily. At this point you can ignore *all* noises and push on ahead to Step 2.a.1.m, which is a *doozy* -- basically the manual doesn't tell you *shit*, so just go on and super-crank the FOLS routine while lubbing cryly.

You sound like Gene Wilder in Willy Wonker

So, given the response to the post, my voice and tone of the post is wrong. I need to write like how cool normal people write, not how nerds write . Another thing, the tools I chose are not something that most forum users would find useful given they don't go deep into the BIOS or partitioning out systems or creating things like Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) with multiple hard drives or doing computer repair. However, I do enjoy technology and writing about it. What kind of tools or software would you be interested in learning about and using?

Your post was perfect. There’s plenty of nerds on this forum that know exactly what you’re saying. They’re just being coy

[Neo]

@ness31 @ckaihatsu

Well, here recently, since I repaired my mother's computer where it was running too slow and now it runs much faster and smoother, some of my family members have been bringing me their computers or having me come over to their house and fix their home networks. They rather have me do it than pay somebody to do it. I will also be upgrading my wife's laptop as soon as I get a chance from my studies.

CPU-Z is in my initial post above is a handy tool to have to know what parts you will need exactly to upgrade a current setup of a laptop or desktop. GPart can be useful for setting up various different partitions for various different devices or setting up or upgrading somebody's computer. Especially if you want to create a multi-boot system for yourself or somebody else who might interested in Linux for example but also want to retain their Windows system.

They could use maybe a free version of VMWare hypervisor on Windows to set up Linux guest operating system on a virtual machine but it would depend on what they wanted and how they would want it set up. Of course, you want to make sure if it's a laptop the setup is secure. The partition(s) would need to be encrypted as well as the POST (Power On Self Test) and UEFI/BIOS is password protected to defend against a thief using a live CD to crack into your data later on. The Ultimate Boot CD has a TON of tools many of which I still haven't yet explored. You can use that for various different kinds of repairs.

[Godstud]

Linux?

Peasant!

[Neo]

@Godstud

Not everybody is rich and privileged and for those who are not, there is LINUX! And if you don't have the money for Partition Commander, there is always GParted booted for a live USB flash thumb drive!

[Unthinking Majority]

One of the utilities I use for my PC is CCleaner. I use it to wipe cookies off my machine that my browser says are wiped by actually aren't. You can wipe all unnecessary things running on your RAM, you can also delete tons of unnecessary cache from all sorts of different programs. You can clean up your registry so your PC boots faster. You can also see which programs automatically load when you start your PC and remove ones you don't want to speed up your boot.

This program is really small too so doesn't take up much RAM or HDD space etc. I've used it for a few years and it's great.

[XogGyux]

@ckaihatsu No offense, but whats the deal with the convoluted crazy graphics?

[Neo]

@Unthinking Majority @Godstud @ness31 @ckaihatsu

Yeah, I was taking a closer look at Partition Commander. It runs on Windows 7 and other older versions of Windows. I certainly wouldn't be using Windows XP given it is not supported anymore. I just looked up when Microsoft stop supporting Windows 7 and it was January of this year.

Even though the software doesn't list Windows 10 on the Partition Commander 11 Professional Edition given the time frame it was made, I am under the impression this product might very well work with the currently supported Windows 10 Operating System based on this link here where it talks about un-installing it from Windows 8 and Windows 10: http://www.uninstallhelps.com/how-to-un ... er-11.html . Amazon currently sells Partition Commander 11 Professional here: https://amzn.to/3fcFBDl

In my opinion though, you are FAR BETTER OFF with using the Live Boot Flash Thumb Drive version of GParted because it's free in my opinion and I think it's probably better than Partition Commander 11 Professional quite frankly. Now, I used Tuxboot after downloading the live .iso image for GParted to create the bootable version of GParted from my USB Flash Thumb Drive https://sourceforge.net/projects/tuxboot/files/ . For the Ultimate Boot CD I used Rufus https://rufus.ie/ but you can also use Pen Drive Linux to create a bootable USB flash thumb drive for the Ultimate Boot CD: https://www.pendrivelinux.com/install-a ... sb-device/

[MistyTiger]

I use Windows. I was born in the Seattle area and I remember my mom driving past Microsoft HQ in the morning.

I used Advanced System Care, Avira, kaspersky and mbam.

One of my fave tech forums is majorgeeks. They are helpful over there.

One of my close friends uses linux and Windows.

At work we have Windows inside a Mac Mini. It took me months to get used to it and some days I still struggle. I am good buds with IT so I get help quickly and they give me helpful tips.