Revo Uninstaller

Have you ever had to wash a coffee mug? – you wash it with normal dishwashing liquid and the stain doesn’t go away. But then you use a special liquid and amazingly it disappears. Revo Uninstaller is like that special liquid – it removes applications better than the built in uninstaller.

Usually when you uninstall a program, you would go to ‘Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs’ (Win XP) to remove it. But sometimes, after you complete the uninstall, you’ll notice some files/folders/registry entries left behind.

This is where Revo comes in – after the normal uninstall is complete, it will scan the drive and registry for tough stains. Although the free version does not remove 100%, it still does a better job compared to the default tool.

Installation – Installation was a breeze – I have installed this application a dozen times – on my own PCs and friends – it was fast and I did not face any glitches.

Start-up – When you start the program (which loads up within a few seconds on an old computer), it gives you an overview of the applications installed. It reminds me of the Sygate Personal Firewall (which sadly, is no longer available) – clear and easy to see icons of installed application.

Running – To uninstall, just click on the desired application and click on ‘Uninstall’ on the top menu. The following options will appear – ‘Built-in’, ‘Safe’, ‘Moderate’ and ‘Advanced’ – different levels of cleaning strength.

I usually use the ‘Advanced’ option which does a deep scan for leftovers.

Once you click ‘Next’, the default uninstaller will run and once complete, the second ‘Next’ click  will scan for leftover files, folders and registries. A list will appear – most of the time, I will click ‘Select All’ and ‘Delete’. And with that the uninstall process is complete – you get a cleaner than usual ‘coffee mug’.

Other Features – Another cool feature that I like about this software is the ‘Autorun Manager’ (found under ‘Tools’ top menu).

This feature allows you to manage the start-up applications. You can disable the process, kill the process temporarily and best of all, you can delete the process completely (which can’t be done via ‘msconfig’).

Summary – It’s a good application to have if you like to play around with software – testing applications, upgrading, downgrading, etc. Best of all, its free. I give a 5 out of 5.

Choosing a Domain and Hosting Service

 As promised, here I’d like to share my experience choosing a domain and hosting service (dnhs).

It was mind boggling to say the least – hostgator.com, justhost.com, webhosting.com, fatcow.com, godaddy.com, ipage.com and it goes on and on and on and….. . If you can think of hosting company name, it’s probably available.

With a bad headache looking for the best dnhs company, it eventually dawn on me that trying to make the perfect decision can often lead to no decision at all. So here’s what I did:-

1. I spoke to some friends on what services they were using (referral).

2. Did some research on the suggested services (background check).

3. Looked for discount – sometimes these services give discounts through a referrer (discounts).

And I decided to go with netfirms.com.

If you go to Netfirms’ website directly, you will notice that ‘The Plus Plan’ is USD4.45 per month. But if you google ‘netfirms discount’, you will see sites offering discounts. I got same plan at USD2.49 per month! at this link. Almost effortless and it saved me 30%!

Click on ‘Sign Up Now’

Choose your website name

Put in your details and payment information, and ‘Check Out’

And with that, I got my website name registered and tools to start my blog.

Starting a Website

There are tonnes of good information on the web about starting a website but here I’d like to share my own experience, in hopes that it will give you a different perspective.

Initially, when the idea evolved, a few questions popped-up in my mind:-
1. What do I want to write about? (Topic)
2. Use the free blog service or paid ones? (Free vs Paid)
3. What would I call my website? (Website Name)
4. Which domain and hosting service should I use? (Domain and Hosting)

1. Topic

I have many IT websites bookmarked on my browser from news to reviews; despite not having any IT training, my family, friends and colleagues seek my help to fix their computer problems – software fixes, virus infections and firewall issues. These indications led to the realisation that I was drawn to IT. So naturally, I decided to focus my blog on what I love to do.

Write about your passion – it always easier to write about something that inspires you. If you are willing to spend hours of your free time on something although you feel dead tired, that’s probably your passion.

2. Free vs Paid

On one hand I didn’t want to spend so much to start my website (if it was free better still ..haha); on the other, I was considering doing this full time in the long run. At the end I decided to go with the paid one since it was more in line with my objectives.

Began with the end in mind. What are your objectives? If you intend to write casually – then go for the free ones (e.g. with blogger.com, wordpress.com, tumblr.com, etc). If you intend to make a career out of this – I would encourage the paid ones. Why? When you google for something, you seldom see a free blog site appear as your top result. And also, the price for domain and hosting sevices these days are very affordable – USD2.5 to 8 per month.

3. Website Name

I wanted a name to reflect what I will write, easily remembered and yet catchy. After much thought, I decided to go with softwareandsuch.com. Besides writing about my experience fiddling with software, the name allows me to write about other IT related stuffs.

In item 2 above, if you are a casual blogger – then choose a name that you fancy. If  you are more serious, consider your possible readers – what will attract them to your blog? Like your personal name, it will be your website’s identity and readers relate to identity.

4. Domain and Hosting

When I got down to this, it was so overwhelming. I was browsing for hours looking at the kazillion services avaliable out there and it gave me a headache. So how did I choose? Stay tuned – details in my next entry.

My Tribute to Steven Paul “Steve” Jobs

I never was an Apple fan – I never purchased an Apple product and even now would not consider doing so. In my mind, I knew I could get something with better specs at a much lower price …. “why pay more for an Apple?”.

The closest I came to owning an Apple product, was receiving an IPod Shuffle from my generous ex-employer – I enjoyed listening to music with it but it was short-lived as my IPod went “missing” in the office. Now I work for another generous employer, which subsidises IPhone for its employees. From cleaners to chief executives, you are bound to bump into someone sliding their index finger.

Despite my “dislike”, I diligently surfed the web looking for news about Apple; I was intrigued reading about IPhone 5 rumours; I smiled when I had a chance to sling shoot birds on my friend’s device; I chuckled listening to a funny cat repeat what I say; I got excited chopping falling fruits.

How could this be? I wouldn’t buy it but yet I jumped at the opportunity to get close to it. It was enigmatic …. like the painting of Mona Lisa – you look at her and continue to look at her. I pondered about this effect and can only conclude that a genius created it.

Like Leonardo Da Vinci, Steve Jobs was a genius. He took a risk, pursued the unknown and made Apple the brand that it is today – the largest tech giant.

Today, a sense of sadness filled my heart when I heard of his passing away. Though I did not purchase a bitten apple, I was still amazed by its genuine creativity. The genius “painted” so well and captured my imagination and a million others. We’ve lost a great leader today and I can’t help but be affected by this news.

To Steve Jobs – thank you for the “paintings” – it was beautiful – distant yet close, known yet new. May you rest in peace. Amen.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 12 June 2005

Day 0!

FINALLY! It has finally come true.

I've been dreaming for a while now, to create my own website and write about my interest. However, life's been keeping me occupied and procrastination ruled .... but not anymore! :).

After some web surfing and checking with friends, I finally got down to it - got a domain, webhost, theme, etc (more on this later) - and here I am!

For now, please welcome 'Dragon Fixes' (previously known as 'Software and Such') - my experience fixing tech issues, product reviews and my views on tehcnology.

Hope you enjoy!