MediaFire with 50 Gigabyte free cloud storage, desktop client

By Martin Brinkmann on August 24, 2012 - Tags:Hosting

MediaFire is one of the largest file hosting sites that is still standing after the Megaupload fallout.  The service is especially well liked by users who download from it, as it does not force users to go through lots of hoops – like artificially limited the download bandwidth or only allowing one file download in a certain time frame – before downloads can be started on the site.

A MediaFire account gets you certain privileges in terms of hosting files on the service’s servers. All free users of the service for instance get 50 Gigabyte of free online storage that they can fill with their own data.  What’s remarkable in this regard is that the download bandwidth and number of simultaneous downloads are not restricted.

The maximum file size for free account owners is 200 Megabytes, which should be large enough for all file types but video files. What you also get with a free account is online document editing and viewing, 15 one-time links per day that you can share, and general file and folder sharing.

MediaFire’s service is not a cloud synchronization service like Dropbox, which means that you need to select the files and folders that you want to upload to the servers manually. You can either use the web interface to upload files, or the MediaFire Express client available for Windows, Mac and Ubuntu Linux.

You need to link your account in the program before you can start using it. Once that is out of the way, you can drag and drop files and folders onto the dropzone to upload the data to your online storage. MediaFire Express displays options to view the uploaded files online or get links pointing to the files from the interface.

You can view some document formats right on the MediaFire page, including Microsoft Office documents or pdf documents. Other formats, such as php can only be downloaded and not viewed online.

What free users need to know is that their data may be deleted after a certain account inactivity period. What this means is that files and folders remain in the account for as long as it is active. According to MediaFire, the usual time is anywhere between 150 days to 300 days before an account is marked as inactive. Users receive emails five days before that is happening to inform them of the consequences.

Paid users get additional features. For $9 per month, they get 250 Gigabytes of online storage, a maximum file size limit of 4 Gigabytes, no account expiration (for as long as the paid account is kept), an advertisement free environment, backups, statistics and a host of other features.

If you are looking for lots of storage online, and do not need synchronization features, then MediaFire’s offering may provide you with what you need in this regard.

Syncbox makes your local data available on the Internet

By Martin Brinkmann on August 24, 2012 - Tags:server

If you do not trust cloud hosting services, or want to make available large amounts of data, you are usually better of using a service that lets you host your own cloud space on the Internet. We have already  reviewed the custom cloud hosting service ownCloud that you can use to set up your own storage space on the Internet.

Syncbox uses a different approach. Instead of having to install the service on a server on the Internet, you install it on your Windows system. It then makes available the data on the Internet using some magic and a dynamic IP service so that it can be accessed from remote locations provided the computer the server is running on is connected to the Internet.

All you need to do is install the Windows server on the computer with the data that you want to make available, and clients on the other systems that you want to access the data from. Supported are clients for Windows, Mac OS X and Ubuntu on the desktop side, and Android or iOS on the mobile side of things.

If everything is set up correctly, you simply enter the account ID and password on the client side to connect to the local PC and access the data that you have made available there. You find all the instructions you need to get started on the guide page over at the official site.

Syncbox supports media streaming, sharing, work collaboration and version control on top of basic file management features. The effectiveness depends largely on the upload speed of the server and I’d suggest it to be in the Megabit range to provide you with a good experience.

Upload bandwidth may not be the only that is keeping you from using the service. It first needs to be noted that you are dependent on the IP to domain name service that it provides to you. If for any reason that fails, or if the company decides to shut down the service, you are left with a product that may not work anymore at all, or only in a limited context.

Second of all, it appears to be a Chinese service. While that may not be cause for concern, I’d definitely want to know that before setting up the service, especially if you are making available work related files. (via Caschy)

There are better solutions for work environments and users who want to make available sensitive data on the Internet.

Install Microsoft Visual C++ Runtimes in one go

By Melanie Gross on August 24, 2012 - Tags:Windows software

Sometimes when yo try to install or run a program on your Windows system you may get an error message that a component it depends on is missing. This can for instance be the case if you do not have a particular version of the Microsoft .Net Framework or a Visual C++ Runtime installed. Some software developers include the runtimes and frameworks their programs depend on with the installation file, while others do not.

If the latter is the case you are left with the task of hunting down the correct version of the runtime or framework on your own. The error message may reveal additional information about the component that is missing giving you an edge when it comes to finding it online.

The basic idea behind the VC Redist Installer is to provide you with all important Visual C++ runtimes in a single installer.

The program includes the following components:

• Visual C++ 2005 x86
• Visual C++ 2005 x64
• Visual C++ 2008 x86 9.0.30729.6313
• Visual C++ 2008 x64 9.0.30729.6313
• Visual C++ 2010 x86 10.0.40219.414
• Visual C++ 2010 x64 10.0.40219.414
• Visual C++ 2012 x86 11.0.50727.1
• Visual C++ 2012 x64 11.0.50727.1
• Microsoft Visual F Runtime 2.0
• Older Microsoft Runtimes for older software

The program is regularly updated with the latest versions of the runtimes. Please note that you need to launch the installer with administrative privileges on your system. When you do, you are presented with a list of all included components. Here you can then decided to install all components on the system or use the checkboxes to only install the components that you are looking for. The VC Redist Installer ships with all components included so that it is perfectly suited for offline installations.

You can alternatively run the program with the /VERYSILENT switch for a silent installation of all components that it includes. The program does not check for updates automatically, which means that you need to check the author’s homepage from time to time to see if there is an update for the program available.

Want to run 64-bit Internet Explorer on Windows 8′s desktop? Here is how

By Martin Brinkmann on August 24, 2012 - Tags:Web browser

If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows 8 you have got access to 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Internet Explorer 10 on the system. The 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 10 is automatically started on the Modern user interface part of the operating system. On the desktop that is different as it is not run in a full 64-bit version.

The main reason behind the decision is compatibility with plugins. It is not an issue for the Modern UI version of the browser as it is not supporting plugins. You will notice however that both the Modern UI version and the traditional desktop version of Internet Explorer 10 ship with Adobe Flash built natively into the browser.

The guys over at Neowin contacted Microsoft to find out if there is a way to run the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer 10 on the desktop. According to their information, it is possible but requires a configuration change in the Internet Options.

On 64-bit Windows 8, the browser frame process (both “modern UI” and Desktop) runs 64-bit. However, for compatibility with plug-ins, IE 10 on the desktop runs 32-bit tabs by default. If the user turns on “Enhanced Protected Mode” in Internet Options, Advanced; they will have 64-bit tabs by default for IE 10 on the Desktop.

Here is how you turn on Enhanced Protected Mode in Internet Explorer 10:

• Open the desktop version of Internet Explorer and click on the settings icon on the top right of the browser window just below the close button and select Internet Options from the menu
• You can alternative press Windows, enter Internet Options, switch to Settings on the right to select the configuration menu this way
• Switch to Advanced in the Internet Options
• Scroll down until you find the entry enable Enhanced Protected Mode*
• Check the preference, click ok and restart your computer afterwards

Once you have restarted your computer you can run the 64-bit version of the browser on the desktop. Keep in mind that it may break some plugins that you have installed in the web browser.