Dataram RamDisk 4.0 now with Windows 8 support

By Martin Brinkmann on September 13, 2012 - Tags:memory, Windows software

Current prices for computer memory certainly make ramdisks an attractive alternative, considering that you get 8 Gigabytes of RAM for less than $40 these days, and 16 Gigabytes for about $70. While you may want to shell out a bit more for faster speeds and timings and all, it is fair to say that RAM is at an all time low right now.

Back to ramdisks. A ramdisk uses part of the computer’s memory as a virtual drive. Once installed, you can install programs on the ramdisk, save files on it or process files that you have moved to the virtual drive.

There are several reasons why you’d want to do that. First, you benefit from better speeds when you run, modify or create files in the ramdisk. Second, you also benefit privacy-wise, as RAM disk storage is temporary by default so that everything that is stored inside is erased when the computer is powered down. Third, you can move caches and other write-intensive locations to the RAMDisk to reduce write operations on Solid State Drives or slow hard drives.

One program that you can use for the job is Dataram RAMDisk, which has just been released in a new version. The only new feature that this version introduces is support for Microsoft’s upcoming operating system Windows 8.

Lets take a look how you create a ramdisk using the program. The freeware version of the program supports ramdisks with a size of up to 4 Gigabytes. If you require more storage, you can purchase RAMDisk Professional for $18.99, or use a free alternative such as AR Ramdisk.

You need to run the configuration tool to create the ramdisk. Here you can specify the desired disk size, file system (Fat16, Fat32, unformatted), and boot sector settings.

A click on start ramdisk triggers a device driver installation which you need to accept. You will then find the ramdisk listed as one of your drives in Windows Explorer and other file managers. The ramdisk behaves just like any other drive on the system. You can install programs on the drive or work with files stored on it.  You can use the ramdisk to increase the security of your web browseramong other things.

All of this is gone when you power down the computer. RAMDisk 4.0 however lets you save and load disk images, so that you can access the contents of a previously created ramdisk again. You can configure the program to automatically save disk images on shutdown and load those images again on startup.

The software is easy to use and leaves little to be desired. An option to encrypt the image with a password would improve security, but other than that, there is little that needs to be improved.

Mozilla experimenting with vertical tabs

By Martin Brinkmann on September 13, 2012 - Tags:mozilla

Firefox users can move browser tabs to a sidebar so that the tabs are displayed vertically with the help of extensions such as Tab Kit. This at first may be confusing to users of the browser who always had their tabs aligned horizontally, but the benefits may make it worth their ewhile. Computer monitors nowadays are often wide screen displays, which means that you get lots of width and not so much height. Websites on the other hand usually limit the width of their contents, so that space remains untapped in the browser if you are running it in fullscreen or a large window.

Moving tabs to the side not only makes available additional vertical space for the actual website, since the tabbar is no longer displayed in its original location, but also additional tabs before you need to start scrolling.

A recent Australis demo document (pdf) highlights that Mozilla seems intent to add vertical tabs as an option in the near future. It needs to be noted that this is a mockup right now and not something that you can activate. Still, it is likely that this feature will eventually make its way into a future Firefox version.

The mockup demonstrates how vertical or sidebar tabs could look like in the browser. It is interesting to note that tabs are displayed as thumbnail images and page titles here. It is likely that tabs will only be presented this way if they do not exceed a certain threshold, as too many open tabs would either render thumbnails too small or reduce the overview over open tabs as you’d have to scroll a lot as only a certain number of thumbnail tabs fit on the screen at the same time.

If you look closely, you will notice that the mockup showcases a different design than other mockups. This can’t be attributed to the moving of the tabbar alone, and is an indication that designs are not final yet either way.

I’d like to see the following features supported if Mozilla implements the vertical tabbar in the Firefox web browser:

• Options to place the tabbar on the left or right
• Options to disable thumbnail previews and use text only links
• Options to modify width, height and font sizes

What’s your take on the development? Would you like to see a built-in sidebar tabs in Firefox? (viaSören)

By the way, some of the other sheets of the pdf document linked above show other ideas and mockups that you may want to take a look at. You see the new about:home or new tab page here for instance. One interesting little tidbit here is that one mockup shows weather conditions on the screen. Could this be the integration of a speed dial extension-like feature that Opera supports for a while now?

Apple Ping closes its door. Facebook takes its place

By Martin Brinkmann on September 13, 2012 - Tags:itunes

Remember the Ping network that Apple integrated into its iTunes software? No? Then you are not the only one. Introduced in iTunes 10 in 2010 Ping was Apple’s attempt to create a social network of their around around iTunes and Apple products. The product does not seem to have been overly successful, considering that Apple yesterday announced that Ping will be discontinued on September 30.

The replacement? Facebook of course with its like and share system. Apple iTunes users from October will notice a deep integration of the world’s most populated social networking site in their software. After linking a Facebook account to their iTunes account, users can start to share and like media in iTunes. If you ever wanted your Facebook friend’s to know that you are a huge fan of Justin Bieber, then your time has come to do that from within iTunes. It is not really clear how this will play out in detail, and if there will be options to proudly announce to your friends which music you play in iTunes.

If that is the case, it may certainly annoy part of the social networking sites user base. Then again, Facebook users are bombarded with likes and shares on a daily basis, and some more may not make that much of a different to them.

itunes ping

The move is beneficial for Apple and Facebook. Apple can tap right into Facebook’s near billion of users and potential to sell even more stuff to even more people. App developers and media companies too will benefit from this, as it gives them another source of traffic and promotion that just was not there before in concerns to iTunes.

Facebook on the other hand benefits from the integration as well. First through the creation of content on Facebook when users announce new likes and shares to the world, and then of course through advertisement.

Apple iPhone 4s or newer users get another feature exclusive to Apple: the option to update the Facebook status using Apple’s voice-powered assistant Siri.

Windows 8 Built-in File Backup

By Alan Buckingham on September 14, 2012 - Tags:Backup, synchronization, Windows 8

There is perhaps no more important thing for users to do than backup their files.  Hard drive crashes can happen unexpectedly and the risk of losing important and irreplaceable files like family pictures is just too great to ignore.  Unfortunately, in today’s busy world, many of us forget this important step, so the best solution is an automated one.  There are countless solutions on the market, but Windows 8 has a simple file backup built right into the operating system.  Sadly, it’s not readily obvious and isn’t on by default, so users need to enable it after they have set up their new computer, or upgraded the existing PC to the new Microsoft operating system.  It’s a simple process, but don’t expect a big feature set.

To access the backup and restore apps you will need to go to the Charms menu, click “Search” and type “Control Panel”.  From within the Control Panel select “System and Security”.

From here, you will spot an option called “File History” which has two sub-headings beneath it – “Save backup copies of your files with File History” and “Restore your files with File History”.  Since we’re just getting started we obviously want to choose the first option so we can backup our files.

Here’s where one of the key limitations comes into play.  You will need to have an external hard drive plugged into your computer.  That isn’t a problem for many desktop users, but if you are using a laptop then external drives aren’t generally attached.  You can however use a network share instead if the computer is connected to a network.

If you have an attached drive then you can click the “Turn on” button.  From here’ you will have the option to choose the files you wish to include in the backup.  All files are selected by default and you will need to go into “Exclude folders” to change this.  Users can also select how often a backup takes place by clicking “Advanced Settings”.

Conclusion

While having local backup is certainly recommended, it shouldn’t be anyone’s only source.  Everyone should consider keeping their files in at least three locations – original, local backup and cloud storage.  Many reasonably priced and reliable cloud backup services exist these days, such as Carbonite and CrashPlan to name just two.  For local backup, there are also plenty of free sync programs that have more features than this, but the built-in solution will certainly be enough for many users.

Google Chrome to get Do Not Track soon

By Martin Brinkmann on September 14, 2012 - Tags:privacy

An option to enable Do Not Track headers landed in today’s Chromium release which web users can make use of to notify servers, websites and scripts that they do not want to be tracked on the Internet. The main aim of Do Not Track is to provide Internet users with an option to opt-out of targeted advertising on the Internet.

The idea here is to provide users with an option in the browser to enable the Do Not Track header there. This has caused some controversy recently when Microsoft announced that it would enable DNT by default for all users of the Internet Explorer 10 browser as it goes against the idea of making DNT a user’s choice (in contrast to a browser developer’s choice for the user).

The browser will send the Do Not Track header with connection requests when the feature is enabled by the user. From there, it depends largely on the advertising companies as there is no legal requirement to accept the request. If it is honored by the advertiser, user tracking is disabled. This does not mean that ads won’t be displayed to the user. The advertisement displayed may however not be as personal as it would have been if the Do Not Track header would not have been included in the header.

Google Chrome is the only major browser that did not support Do Not Track until now. Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer 10 all support the feature. The feature is available under Privacy in the Chrome settings. The easiest way to get there is to enter chrome://chrome/settings/ in the address bar, scroll down, click on show advanced settings to reveal additional browser preferences including the Privacy section here.

To activate simply check the “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic box. Chrome from that moment on will include the DNT header with all requests that it makes. Expect the setting to go through all versions of Chrome in the coming weeks and months. (thanks Ilev)