Accessing Linux Partitions In Windows

Lately I've been booting back and forth between Ubuntu and Windows. This time, I installed Ubuntu on a separate partition, instead of using Wubi. However, Ubuntu's default filesystem is EXT3, which is not accessible through Windows.

With the help of 3rd party software, you can. There are many out there, but so far these two works for me.

ext2explore

ext2explore is a standalone program, requiring no installation. Good for occasional use. It will automatically detect your EXT2/3/4 partitions, and can extract files from that partition. However, it's read-only, so you can't copy files into that partition with this program. Very simple to use. You can download it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/

ext2fsd

ext2fsd allows EXT2/3/4 support from within Windows, but like ext2explore, it's read-only. Trying to modify or create files from EXT partitions will generate an error. Still, it works seamlessly, you can copy your files, or open the files in another software without extracting them out. You can download it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

Internet Download Manager and Google Chrome: Getting it right

I'm loving both IDM and Google Chrome, but they just don't seem to go well together. There are frequent crashes and the lack of a context menu in Chrome is putting people off a bit. IDM integrates far better with Firefox.

But you can get pretty close anyway.

Crash-B-Gone

UPDATE: IDM 6.xx is no longer in beta. You can grab the final version now.

First off, grab a copy IDM 6.xx beta. This resolves most (if not all) the crashes regarding IDM integration with Chrome. I've been using it and never had any crashes since.

If you choose to use the stable version instead, then disable advanced browser integration inside IDM options. However this will force you to manually insert the URL into IDM.

Right-click to download

Next install DM-Bridge extension into Chrome. This is pretty much like FlashGot for Firefox, or oGet for Opera. You need to configure it first before using it. Don't worry, it's pretty simple.

UPDATE: Alternatively, you can use Download Helper by Google. It's simpler than DM-Bridge, but only supports the most popular downloaders. For now you can't even use a custom downloader, unlike DM-Bridge.

And that's pretty much it.

Anti reCAPTCHA for JDownloader

UPDATE: I've noticed that this article gets quite a lot of hits, but for now it seems that this Anti reCAPTCHA isn't working for the current version, 0.2f, ever since reCAPTCHA updated. Still, just check if the author has an update that works, or a workaround, and let me know in the comments. Lord Inglip sure is powerful enough against this system.

UPDATE 2: There is an alternative method called CaptchaTrader (thanks for the comment James). Head to my new post for more information.

UPDATE 3: Apparently the original author didn't seem to be updating this anymore. However this project has been taken over by SONY-TEAM, and does seem to work. Here is the real link: http://antirecaptcha.com/. Other links such as "http://www.anti-recaptcha.com/" is most likely fake and tries to rip off unsuspecting users.

If you're a download maniac, you should have at least heard about JDownloader. If not, then you're not downloading enough. It automates your downloads from various file sharing services, so you don't have to babysit your downloads, such as waiting times, typing in CAPTCHAs, etc. As the name hints, you'll need Java (JRE or JDK) to run it.

Download JDownloader

The annoying thing about downloading a lot of stuff from these file sharing services is that they imply A LOT OF LIMITATIONS unless you buy a premium account. That includes typing in reCAPTCHAs, an anti-bot system. While JDownloader automates most of the stuff, it can't really decipher these reCAPTCHAs. You still have to do this manually.

But hey, some German programmer built an anti reCAPTCHA system, just for JDownloader. And while it doesn't work all the time, it will retry until it gets it right. So you can really leave JDownloader to do it's dirt.

Download anti reCAPTCHA

This thing runs on PHP, so you'll need Visual C++ Redistributable 2008 (vcredist2008) installed.

But still, I got CLI (which is php.exe) error. After realizing that php.exe caused the error, I tried replacing it (as well as other related PHP files) with a newer version from 5.3.1 to 5.3.3 (VC9 Thread Safe). And it works! Now I can walk away with my downloads running happily.

Note that I didn't really install PHP, I simply copied the file with same names in the antirecaptcha folder from the downloaded zip file.

Download PHP 5.3.3

Well I've already informed to the author about this, and he said he'll update it by the end of the week. So you don't have to go through all the trouble I had just now.

Should work best with FileServe, but I heard there were problems with other file sharing sites that use reCAPTCHA. I only tried it with FileServe though.

foobar2000 + Plugins = Awesomeness

foobar2000 is a lightweight audio player known for its extensive SDK. That means it has loads of plugins that pretty much makes it a popular choice among pedophiles audiophiles. The default interface might not be as pretty as MediaMonkey, Winamp, or even Windows Media Player, but it is no short of features.

Trust me, this is the best audio player for Windows. And it's free.

First off, you can grab a copy here: http://www.foobar2000.org/download

So it plays music. Nothing much special eh? Time to grab the plugins.

• Noise Sharpening -  Improves the clarity of the sound. The main reason why foobar2000 rocks. Hard.
• ALAC Decoder - Support for M4A files, which is usually downloaded from iTunes.
• ASIO Output - Allows foobar2000 to directly use the sound card, allowing bit-exact output. The sound card must support ASIO though.
• WASAPI Output - Allows bit-exact output and mutes other sounds. Only works on Vista SP1 and above.
• Audioscrobbler - Tells Last.fm the song you're playing in foobar2000. This will allow Last.fm to generate a web radio designed specifically for you.
• Last.fm Radio - Allows you to play your generated Last.fm radio in foobar2000.
• Soft Playlists - Also allows you to play Last.fm playlists.
• Win 7 Shell Integration - Adds Windows 7 taskbar features, such as progress indicators, player controls, jumplists, etc.
• CUE Playlist Filter - Prevents duplicate songs from showing up, caused by playlists. Also removes lost references.

These are my recommended plugins. If you want more, you can check out these websites:

http://www.foobar2000.org/components

http://foosion.foobar2000.org/components/

Oh, and if you're a bit clueless on how to install:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Foobar2000:How_to_install_a_component

These plugins generally must be configured before use, so check the preference page first. For example, Noise Sharpening must be activated in the DSP preference.

If you can't live with that interface, well there is an alternate interface called Columns UI. Much more customizable, although it can be quite tricky. Some of them might even require older versions of foobar2000, since some components are outdated. You can take a stroll here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=63984

http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/?q=foobar2000

So that's about it. Have fun customizing.

Firefox 4 Beta 1 - Interfaces...

Seems like Mozilla is feeling the heat from its competitors, especially the rapidly growing Google Chrome. As a result, we get to have an early (albeit long-awaited) preview of Firefox 4. Almost two weeks out, I still stick to Google Chrome.

Mostly, it's because the new UI seems to mess up with my copy of Windows 7 x64, terribly. There is no Aero interface, the buttons become very weird when I hide the bookmarks toolbar, and the close, minimize, and maximize buttons were all missing. Well, understandably its a beta release, so Mozilla should be squashing out these bugs for the next release.

Just look how ugly it is.

If you tried it, you might notice there is a Feedback add-on installed with Firefox 4 beta. I think its a good addition, it will be easier for users to provide feedback. However, for now, slightly more than half of feedbacks are Sad (Feedbacks are divided into Happy or Sad). Hopefully Mozilla will take notice of this and build a better browser in the future :D

Oh, and you can view the current feedbacks here: https://input.mozilla.com/

Earlier I mentioned my UI messed up badly. So just being curious, I downloaded the nightly build of Firefox, codenamed Minefield. Minefield is currently version 4 Pre Beta 2. It appears to run fine on my PC, showing the correct UI. And surprisingly, it even fixed my Firefox 4 Beta 1! So yeah, maybe I'll go back and try Firefox 4 again, properly.

Now that looks right.

UPDATE: I finally know the cause of the UI mess; Strata40 theme. While both Firefox 3.6.6 and Firefox 4 Beta 1 (and Minefield 4 Pre Beta 2) are independent installations, they share the same settings. Strata40 is designed for Firefox 3.5+ to mimic the look of Firefox 4 (based on early mockups) and should be used with StrataBuddy. The similarities between Strata40 and the default theme for Firefox 4 caused the confusion. Currently Strata40 is not compatible with Firefox 4. The only way to fix it is to use the default theme, both in Firefox 3.5+ and Firefox 4.

Celebrating Birthday with BSODs and Risking a Deep Fired GPU

March 8th, 2010 marks my 20th birthday. No cakes or whatsoever, since I don't actually find celebrating my own birthday to be something significant. The day just passed on normally, although I do get the occasional wishes as I meet people. And my Facebook page got stormed that day with all those wishes, rapidly filling up my wall. I'd appreciate all those wishes even if I don't give a damn.

Instead here, right on that day the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) makes an appearance on my PC for the first time since I've upgraded to Windows 7. Given the clue, 0x0000007f, I found out that the culprit was the new ZoneAlarm firewall I just installed on 7th. The previous COMODO Firewall appears to be too paranoid even at relatively low security settings that it often interrupts whatever I'm doing. Windows Firewall seems to be the main target for hackers, so I need an alternative. But as I found out that ZoneAlarm has issues with Windows 7 x64, I'll have to revert to Windows Firewall.

At first I thought it was the NVIDIA driver 196.75, which is reported to cause malfunctioning within the cooling fans, ultimately leading to some deep fried GPUs. I installed it right on the day it was released, and the next day my classmate came to deliver the news about the driver. Way more horrifying than all those horror movies I've seen (they failed to give me a real scare), I immediately downgraded to 196.21. I was pretty lucky as my roommate played Dark Sector on my PC with 196.75, and nothing bad happens. Still, can't risk frying my own 9600GT. Guess I've learnt here not to try new stuff on day one. Try it on day ten instead.

Two days later comes those BSODs which horrifies me, given the scary news. But a sigh of relief since I don't have to crack any more money for a new graphic card, and all is well now. Revo wasn't so lucky though, his 8800GT fried, but for a different reason. Probably going for GF100 this time.

Lurk, Lurk - Exploring The Net

I'm planning to make a new XP installation disk with SP3 integrated, from my existing XP SP2 disk. Things like this are possible for users with the use of slipstreamers, which in my case, I use nLite. This way I can simplify the installation process via automation, removed the unnecessary stuffs, and have the updates installed from the very start. Apart from slipstreaming SP3 into the disk, I've also integrated RyanVM's Post-SP3 Update Pack, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 11, and a few other nice stuffs.

The XP installation disk originally comes in a CD, so at most the size should be less than 700MB. However, I'm using a DVD, leaving me with a lot of space to put in stuff. So I decided to put in a whole slew of useful softwares into the disk, which I don't integrate to the OS but available to be installed from the same disk.

Looking into my software collection, I realized that most of them are old versions that needs an  update. Up I go lurking the Internet, scavenging softwares (mostly freeware and open source). Quite a few new gems I found.

Among them is ThumbView Lite, which allows a number of files - PSD, DDS, TGA, and a few others - to have thumbnails just like JPG files in Windows Explorer. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Vista, but I tested them in XP under Virtual PC 2007 SP1, and it works like a charm. Still, it doesn't allow you to open the files to view them, so it's better coupled with an image viewer like IrfanView (with plugins).

Another one is Chrome Frame. This is actually a plugin for Internet Explorer, but it replaces IE's Trident engine with Google Chrome's WebKit engine. The result: IE with a loading speed of Chrome. Yes, a ninefold speed increase. Kinda neat, although you can just get Google Chrome instead. It's still in early stages, so expect bugs and crashes though.

For most of my stuffs, they were merely updates made possible over this rarely good speeds in this crappy wireless service today. Among them are DirectX August 2009, Pidgin 2.6.2, Rainlendar 2.6, Opera 10, and a quite a list of softwares.