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Ninite: A Very Simple Way to Install Apps on your Windows Machine

Ninite is a service that allows you to install Windows Applications on your computer without the hassle of heading over to different websites to gather, download and install the apps that you want to use. The tool makes is overly simple for you to find and install different software for your computer. It is also a way of discovering the best Windows apps available out there in case you are not familiar with them yet.

To begin mass installing the software that you need, simply head over to the Ninite website and select the application(s) you wish to install on your Windows machine. When you are done with your selection, simply click the Get Installer button on the bottom of the list to download the installer file. Launch the installer file and watch Ninite do the rest for you. It will download and install all the software you ticked previously.

What makes Ninite even more worth it to use aside from the fact that it installs the latest version of the applications on its list, is the way it installs your apps. The installation paths and settings are automatically chosen for you with no additional installation of other junk software such as toolbars and other crapware.

Ninite is a great tool to access when you are making fresh software installs. It’s very practical to use especially when you just got your new Windows 7 PC. It’s also a great tool to use when installing software after formatting your hard drive. You don’t need to go through each installation wizard and manually remove the default settings of some apps which contain auto-install of toolbars and other extra software. You’ll get the basic application that you need and nothing more.

It is completely free for personal use, they are currently planning to offer business accounts with premium features like local download caching, network share download caching, and a silent mode.

These advanced features are currently enabled on free Ninite installers so you can try them out. Once we launch premium accounts you’ll have to upgrade to continue using them.

Tags: Applications, Apps, Ninite, Software, Windows

AlternativeTo: Find Better Applications

Here at Orangeinks, new web apps and software are featured so that users looking for alternatives can try them out and decide for themselves if they’re going to use it or not. They may not be always the best applications but they are chosen carefully and if they are interesting enough, you’ll see them get featured here.

I’d like to share a site, called AlternativeTo, where you can find great alternatives to desktop software that you can use on your favorite operating system. Whether you are using Linux, OS-X or Windows, they give a great list of alternatives for the pre-installed or mainstream software that you are using. They also have a great list of Web Apps that you can choose from that are carefully selected and tested. The applications featured on AlternativeTo are constantly reviewed. Users comment and vote on the app according to their personal experiences while using them. You’ll also be able to get other suggestions from the community.

AlternativeTo has a great collection of applications that might work better than the ones that you are using. It’s always great to try out new apps, especially when those apps are properly tested and reviewed by experts. Have fun trying out alternatives.

Tags: AlternativeTo, Applications, linux, OS X, Software, web app, Windows

MaxTo : Slice your Screen

MaxTo is a lightweight Windows application that allows you to divide your screen into regions. It’s like a windows tiling organizer or manager. You can neatly set the tile size of your screen without having to adjust manually if you want to tile your windows. You can also maximize an application from within a region.

To use MaxTo, just download the small application from their site and install it. Once it opens, set the region divisions to your screen. You can set the size manually to fit your preference. You can always reset the settings or use the presets available for the app.

This is a useful app for those who like to tile their windows. Instead of setting the window size manually, this will allow you to have a preset for your tiled windows. If you get tired or the sliced mode, you can easily turn it off by ticking the passive mode or pressing the alt or shift key while clicking the maximize button of your window. This will allow you to view your application windows in full screen mode.

Tags: Max To, Screen Slicer, Software, Tile, Windows

SketchUp 7: Google’s 3D Modeling Software

Sketchup 7 is Google’s latest installment for its very own 3D modeling software. If you are looking for software that allows you to create 3D objects easily and without too much hassle, then you better check out their latest version which is available for Mac and Windows.

Aside from the usual 3D editing tools that you can find on other 3D Modeling software and an improvement in speed, SketchUp 7 have come up with a few interesting new features:

Scale without stretching

New Dynamic Components are programmed to know what they are. When you use the Scale tool on a dynamic staircase, it automatically adds or removes steps as you make it bigger or smaller. No more stretching, no more distortion. (See Video Below)

Configure objects with Component Options

Some Dynamic Components are hooked up to the new Component Options dialog box. Instead of breaking out the modeling tools to make a change, just choose options and watch the component reconfigure automatically.

The Interact tool

Some Dynamic Components can perform animations, rotate, move, resize, change color or move to a scene in your model when you click on them with Interact.

Sharing and Collaboration

Other features include some sharing and collaboration tools that will allow you to share your work easily online. The 3D warehouse search was added to the component browser. You can save anything you find on the 3D warehouse to your local drive, which will make it easier for you to work offline. You can download those models to your local collections up to a dozen at a time. And lastly, you can include all of your organization’s proprietary Styles, Watermarks and components in a custom Template so that every member of your team has everything they need, right from the start.

There are much more features on SketchUp 7 but I only mentioned the ones that are found on the free software. If you would like to find out more about the Pro Features, you can check out the full list of features on the SketchUp7 page.

Watch the video below to see the new features in action.

Tags: 3d, Google, sketchup7, Software

Use Multiple Online Language Translators with Translate.Net

There is a wide range of translator engines that exists in the web right now and none of them can really translate a context with full accuracy. Nothing really beats the power of a human translator in doing a task like this one. In the absence of a human translator (which is more likely always) we just have make do with what we have.

Translate.Net is a handy and powerful open source desktop application that will translate any text from one language to another. What is great about the application is that it connects to different translation engines in the web and gives multiple versions of the translations. This is very useful so that we can compare the translations made by different translator engines and do our own analysis so that we can provide ourselves with a more accurate translation.

Using the Software:

In order to do a translation, just paste the text into the translator and choose the language of the text you want to translate and the language you want to translate the text to. You can disable a service to prohibit Translator.NET from displaying results from it. You can also choose from a list of subjects before doing the translation so that the engines can display more accurate results of the translation which will depend on the subject that you have chosen.

Minimum System Requirements for Translate.Net:

• Windows 2000,
  or XP (SP2 or later),
  or Windows Vista,
  or Windows Server 2003 (SP1 or later)
• .NET Framework 2.0
• 500 MHz processor (Recommended: 800 MHz or faster)
• 256 MB of RAM (Recommended: 512 MB or more)
• 2+ MB hard drive space

Tags: application, open source, Software, translation, translator, translator.net, Windows

Backup to Email: Useful Backup Tool for your Files

Before proceeding, I would like to remind you that this application works only on Windows operated machines, even though the Linux guys will have no trouble running this app. This particularly small (1.69MB) but useful application will help you backup any file or folder to your email as easy as right clicking your file and then performing the backup. What makes this even cooler is that you don’t have to worry about splitting your files in order to do the backup. Backup to Email will do the split for you if you exceed the 10MB file size limit. Backup to Email can also merge it back together if you want your files to be in its old self again.

Backup to Email is very easy to setup. Download the application here, install and configure. I would recommend on using a Gmail account for your backups for it gives you unlimited space. You can use your existing gmail address or create a new one just for storage purposes. If you are going to use Gmail, just place in the email address that you want to send your files to and the sending email address (which can be the same email) , the outgoing server  (smtp.gmail.com), place a check on both check boxes )for SSL and Requires Authentication ), and key in your Gmail username and password. If you put a check on the “Ask for target email every Backup to Email” box the app will ask you which email are you going to put the file. This works well if you have multiple email accounts configured in your Backup to Email app. If you don’t want to be bugged by the software every time you do a backup, just leave the box unchecked.

This is a handy app that can be useful and will save you time in backing up your files in case something bad happens to your PC. You can also make use of this to easily forward large attachments by taking advantage of the auto splitting feature for files greater than 10MB.

Tags: application, backup, email, file, Software, split, Windows