Active State Komodo is easy to download, and free to use for a 30-day period; installation was easy and fast. I’m pleased that I’ve found this tool as I struggle to learn Perl. I’m teaching myself Perl, for the fourth or fifth time. Things have not worked out well before because I didn’t concentrate, or I didn’t do the homework, or for various other reasons. However, the single most important reason I have failed in previous attempts is because I was unable to spot all my errors such as missing semicolons or brackets, etc.

Now I’m using Active State Komodo. I’m a novice coder and I understand Komodo is useful for PHP, Python, and Ruby as well; however, I know nothing about those applications. I do know a little about Perl and want to be able to construct simple scripts to parse spreadsheets or HTML text. Or, perhaps I’d like to use off-the-shelf scripts and link them together to help me understand text patterns in my own writing. So far, Komodo has been a wonderful find. I’m not sure if debug is the correct term for an uncompiled language, but that is how I think of the help that Komodo provides. I can run scripts and a little window shows me where errors might be in my script. Komodo even tries to guess what type of error I have made and alerts me with a note suggesting syntax, or improperly defined variables, etc.

I have been using Komodo for free. I’m not sure what I will do now that my 30-day trial period is coming to an end. I need to look over the fine print of the Komodo agreement and see if I can continue to use Komodo for free for personal use, or if I need to register. I have limited funds and, if possible, hope to continue using Komodo for a few months as I learn Perl. If I can gain a bit more ability in Perl, I will be happy to pay the $29.95 fee for the Komodo personal edition because, I’ll always need a little as I manipulate Perl scripts. Active State Komodo

Take your Applications on the Road! Are your family and friends hesitant to let you borrow their computer or use certain applications when you visit? Do you prefer to carry your own bookmarks and files? On the road but have an inspiration that needs to become data? Then a USB Key and PortableApps are for you. My 512MB USB key contains a copy of Mozilla Firefox, Abiword, and 7-Zip. It will soon be joined by VLC Player, newly released at PortableApps.com.

Those with flash memory with fast data rates (example: Sandisk Cruzer) can run the whole OpenOffice.org suite. Users on the go can also take advantage of email, instant messaging, FTP, and more options available on the site. I encourage you to visit and evaluate how the site can meet your needs for software on the go.

CutePDF Writer – Once upon a time our laboratory provided only paper reports to our researchers. We went through reams of paper a week and at least a couple of printers a year. The documents were black and white and often of poor quality. Images were not easily ported into documents for publication. Over time, we have found that provided all of our researchers with data in a Portable Document Format (PDF) was the best solution. We save trees and printers, they get their data in full color and in a form fairly easy to publish.

Unfortunately, we found Adobe Acrobat Professional to be incompatible with the software on some of our equipment. This problem was solved with the CutePDF Writer program. Not only is it free, but we have had no compatibility issues with the software program. The software is easy to use and consistently produces high quality documents. We have used CutePDF writer for over a year without a single error. Documents created by the CutePDF writer are easily edited with Adobe’s product as well.

Primo PDF – a hassle free PDF converter I personally use Primo PDF to publish my journals which I compose in Microsoft word and convert them to PDF before I email them. It’s a definitely one of the most hassle free PDF converters available online. It is available for free on Primo PDF. Once the software is installed you can covert about any file that can be printed on your PC to a PDF file!

There are several options on the software that allows you protect the PDF document via passwords. Once I send my journal, I don’t have to worry about anyone making changes to it, unless I give them my password. I would highly recommend this software to anyone who needs a hassle free PDF converter!

Express email is stored in a set of dbx files in a subdirectory of Documents and Settings. You can find the exact location where they are stored by opening Outlook Express and clicking Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder. Within the folder given above, you’ll find a number of dbx files like Folders.dbx, Inbox.dbx, Outbox.dbx, etc. Back them all up to create a copy of every email currently stored in Outlook Express.

To restore the email, copy the backup files to a directory on the target machine and make sure they don’t have the Read Only attribute set. Open Outlook Express on the target machine. Click File, Import, Messages, Microsoft Outlook Express 6 and follow the prompts to import your messages from the backup directory.

What is new in the DVD Cloning World? Today it is DVD-Cloner III, which is the new generation of cloners with completely new designed encoding and burning engines, supporting episodic DVDs with customized favorite titles, chapters, subtitles, and audio copies. One is able to preview their favorite chapter and with its new interface, it makes it much easier to use, while supporting more DVD burners.

DVD Cloner III with a powerful CSS decryptor copies almost any DVD and receives my gold. This product offers everything from exact 1:1 DVD copies to automatic compression to episode selection. DVD Cloner III also offers a high level of flexibility and customization, including multiple languages and format options, and is compatible with most burners and DVD players.