If you’re a programmer, you’ve probably noticed the ever-growing stream of new technologies, languages and APIs, with new concepts and promises of speeding up development and making your life easier.

However, most of this technologies have been focused on web development, RAD or in radical new paradigms, without giving attention to low-level programming, generation of native code and speed. If you haven’t seen it already, I would like to bring to your attention the D programming language. It was created by Walter Bright, the developer of the first native C++ compiler and it’s meant to be the successor of both C and C++. D has more object orientation features than Java, many of the constructs of modern/high-level languages (Such as built-in strings, array concatenation and slicing, complex numbers, hash tables, templates, mixins and lazy evaluation) and the best of all: It compiles (cross platform) native binaries, giving all the speed and optimization you would expect of something coded in C++.

It’s hard to express all the features of D in such a short article, but it has already risen to the 14th position on the programming language rank, according to TIOBE, and with current growth rates will surpass Delphi soon. While it currently isn’t the easiest language to set up a build environment, it sure is a breeze (and incredibly fun!) to code with. The two compilers available right now are GDC and DMD and a good option for IDE is Code::Blocks (however, for D support, you’ll need to download the nightly builds).

Is your PC slowing down? Do you want to know why? Eliminating unnecessary processes can speed up your PC like nothing else!

Sysinternals free Process Explorer for Windows v10.21 makes the Windows built-in task manager look like a 97 pound weakling. This nifty little program enables you to monitor running processes in real time, find out what a given process does, and kill or suspend suspect processes. Just right-click on the process in question and choose from the context menu. For those willing to work “under the hood” of Windows XP, this free download is just the ticket. Get it here:

Camtasia Software by Techsmith.com is an amazing piece of software that allows you to capture movements on your computer screen with voice overs, pop ups, add interactivity, create demos, and so much more.

If you are searching for a tool that will enable you to create training videos with added voice directions- look no further. Camtasia is simple to use and affordable. A nice feature available with the Camtasia software is the “10-minute tutorial” which will have you using the software and creating your own videos in just a few short minutes. The videos are easy to edit and can be saved in a variety of formats. Download a free test version today from the TechSmith website.

This isn’t one of my usual posts, but since it infuriated me so much while writing the previous post I thought I might as well right about it since I was here in my blog anyway.

While I was trying to copy and paste in my links, my right click button on my mouse stopped working. I was no longer able to simple right click and “copy” or “copy shortcut”. I had to use the Edit>Copy menu items. I dont’ know why, but this infuriated me to no end. My mouse is lucky to be in one piece. It’s still not working and after I reboot if it doesn’t see fit to cooperate my wife and I will have another piece of office equipment to go Office Space on! (I wish I had made a tape of us destroying my old fax machine!)

My top ten Firefox Add-ons:

1: Torrent Finder Toolbar: For all of you who like to play in the dark side of town downloading stuff you should not!

2: uBlock: Finally, an efficient wide-spectrum content blocker. Easy on CPU and memory.

3: Search By Image: A powerful reverse image search tool, with support for various search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu and TinEye.

4: Gmail: Transform a Gmail account into an online hard drive!

5: OneTab: Too many tabs? Convert tabs to a list and reduce browser memory

6: Wizz RSS News Reader: A solid RSS reader.

7: TuneYou: Listen to your favorite radio stations online from all over the world. Explore all stations by location or genre according to your mood.

8: WebStickies: Sticky notes for the Internet.

9: Search Preview: SearchPreview enhances your search results pages by inserting site preview images (thumbnails) and popularity ranks into Google™ and DuckDuckGo™ search results.

10: Zoom: Zoom in or out on web content using the zoom button and mouse scroll wheel for more comfortable reading. That to each percent value. It helps you to zoom easily in and out a web page. Thanks to the slider and the zoom buttons.

At some point in time, Windows users all get tired of the stock Windows boot screen- the screen that you are forced to stare at while Windows loads up.

Although it is possible to actually edit the original file, an easier, safer, and more versatile method is to use Stardock BootSkin, a great free program that allows you to ‘skin’ your boot screen. Since this doesn’t change your original boot screen’s file, it’s a safer and more stable way of doing things. You can create your own BootSkins, or use pre-made skins found at websites like Wincustomize.

If you find multiple skins that you like, the program has a function that allows you to have a different skin from your collection appear randomly each time Windows is loaded. Overall, this program is a lot of fun and a great way to make your computer customization go further than just swapping out the image on your desktop. Stardock BootSkin is a great program for any creative Windows XP/2000 user.