IT Resource » Reviews

Aussie TestFreaks Launched

Dave W — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:53:51 +0000

TestFreaks have launched an Australian-based version of their popular TestFreaks site.

TestFreaks screenshot

TestFreaks is a useful one-stop shop that aggregates expert & user reviews, forum posts, images and technical material about a huge range of computing and entertainment items.

As well as pulling all of this information together, the site also provides aggregated ‘scores’ such as the ’Freak’ score based on a combination of factors such as age of product, age of review, review source etc.

Usage

Product categories can be browsed, with various sort and filter options available to help narrow down product searches.

Selecting a product will pull together and present a wide range of information for you, including links to technical manuals and video reviews. Expert & User reviews and product related forum threads can be viewed all from the one place - with the handy option of showing local reviews only if required.

Products can be selected for comparison against each other, and the site also provides price information based on a number of price feeds.

The site also provides a handy ‘community’ type tool where people can submit and answer questions relating to various categoires.

Opinion

It has to be said that the Aussie version of TestFreaks currently has a fairly small range of categories, but you only have to take a look at the main TestFreaks site to see the huge range they have covered there – so we should expect to see steady growth in the range of products covered in the com.au site.

The site is currently in beta-mode and is undergoing regular improvements as a result of user feedback, but the interface is very friendly, clean and easy to use.

Well worth a bookmark for any gadget and hardware freaks out there (both the com and com.au versions).

TestFreaks

review post by IT Resource

Down Them All – Firefox Download Manager Add-On

Dave W — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:46:06 +0000

The inbuilt Firefox download manager is a gem in itself, but recently I came across Down Them All.

Down them all is a Firefox add-on and it is a download manager/accelerator. The website claims up to 400% faster downloads. It’s a bit like download accelerator pro in that it uses up maximum bandwidth when downloading large files.

I used Down Them All to download a few 700mb files, including the Ubuntu operating system from an Optus mirror. The results were excellent: using a 1.5mbps connection, I was averaging about 150kb/sec throughout the download.

I have since used it to download 5gig of data today, and it has saved me plenty of time.

What’s more, it integrates itself, so when you right click and save as, DTA will automatically appear as one of the options. Selecting it will open the download manager.

DTA allows for easy management of your downloads, including: pausing, resuming, limiting, and prioritising your downloads.

DTA can be found via: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201

Guest post by Raja Devanathan of MrFeedback.net

Open-AudIT – Complete Network Auditing Application

Dave W — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:04:58 +0000

Open-AudIT is an application to tell you exactly what is on your network, how it is configured and when it changes. Open-AudIT will run on Windows and Linux systems. Essentially, Open-AudIT is a database of information, that can be queried via a web interface. Data about the network is inserted via a Bash Script (Linux) or VBScript (Windows). The entire application is written in php, bash and vbscript. These are all ‘scripting’ languages – no compiling with viewable source. Making changes and customisations is both quick and easy.

Windows PCs can be queried for hardware, software, operating system settings, security settings, IIS settings, services, users & groups and much more. Linux systems can be queried for a similar amount of information. Network devices (printers, switches, routers, etc) can have data recorded such as IP-Address, MAC Address, open ports, serial number, etc, etc. Output is available in PDF, CSV and webpages. There are export options for Dia and Inkscape.

Open-AudIT can be configured to scan your network and devices automatically. A daily scan is recommended for systems, with network scans every couple of hours. That way, you can be assured of being notified of something changes (day to day) on a PC, or even sooner, if something “new” appears on your network.

For more information about Open-AuIT, please visit http://www.open-audit.org.

OpenDNS – The World’s Largest, Fastest Growing DNS Service Provider

Dave W — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:23:16 +0000

OpenDNS is the world’s largest, fastest-growing DNS service provider. Millions of people worldwide (and growing) trust OpenDNS to handle their DNS and Web-content filtering needs. OpenDNS take a fresh approach to the Domain Name System and make it smarter and more powerful than it’s ever been.

OpenDNS protects millions of people a day across hundreds of thousands of schools, businesses and homes. We block phishing sites, give you the power to filter out adult sites and proxies among more than 50 categories, and provide the precision to block individual domains.

We provide you with the tools to see what’s happening on your network, coupled with the tools to take action. For example, discover that myspace.com is the most frequently visited site on your network, and then block it with a single click.

Free yourself of DNS-related Internet outages with our zero-downtime global network. Eliminate DNS as a problem source on your network. Using OpenDNS means fewer support calls and headaches, letting you focus on more important issues.

OpenDNS is a 100% free service which I can’t recommend more highly. Whether you are a business, school or individual, OpenDNS can make your network safer, faster, smarter and more reliable.

For information about OpenDNS, please visit http://www.opendns.com

AtMail Open Source Webmail Client

Dave W — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:53:36 +0000

AtMail is an open source webmail client written in PHP. AtMail provide a elegant Ajax webmail client for existing IMAP mailservers, with less bloat and a focus on an intuitive, simple user interface.

The open source version of AtMail provides you with a lightweight, yet powerful webmail client. The software can be installed on a variety of platforms with ease and without the hassles that most webmail platforms impart.

Features

Lightweight Ajax Webmail Interface
Video Mail
PHP source code
IMAP support
Live Spell Check
Address Book
Apache 2.0 Open Source license

Traditional desktop mail clients are in decline; the future of email is via a web interface. AtMail is poised to deliver the next generation in Open Source Webmail.

More information about AtMail and and online demo can be found at http://www.atmail.org

osTicket – Open Source Support Ticket System

Dave W — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:39:58 +0000

osTicket is a widely-used open source support ticket system. It seamlessly integrates inquiries created via email and web-based forms into a simple easy to use multi-user web interface. Easily manage, organize and archive all your support requests and responses in one place while providing your clients with accountability and responsiveness they deserve.

osTicket is an attractive alternative to higher-cost and complex customer support systems; simple, lightweight, reliable, open source, and easy to setup and use. The best part is, it’s completely free.

osTicket comes with it’s own web-based installer to help guide you through the installation process without frustration.

To install osTicket, your web server must have PHP 4.3 (or better) and MySQL 4.1 (or better) installed.

For more information and to download osTicket, please visit http://www.osticket.com.

Advanced IP Scanner

Dave W — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:43:16 +0000

Advanced IP Scanner is a fast, robust and easy-to-use LAN scanner for Windows. It easily lets you have various types of information about local network computers in a few seconds! It gives you one-click access to many useful functions – remote shutdown and wake up, Radmin integration and more! Powered with multithread scan technology, this program can scan hundreds computers per second, allowing you to scan ‘C’ or even ‘B’ class network even from your modem connection.

Features

Fast and Stable multi-threaded IP Scanning – You can scan hundreds of IP addresses simultaneously and with great speed – on Pentium-based machines Advanced IP Scanner scans class “B” and “C” networks in a few seconds! You can configure Advanced IP Scanner to scan in many priority levels, set number of maximum threads and so on.

Remote PC Shutdown – This shuts down any remote machine with NT or Win2k operating system. You can use your default access rights or specify login and password to shutdown.

Wake-On-LAN – You can wake any machine remotely, if “Wake-on-LAN” feature is supported by your network card.

Group Operations – Any feature of Advanced IP Scanner can be used with any number of selected computers. For example, you can remotely shut down a complete computer class with a few clicks.

Lists of computers Saving and Loading – This enables you to perform operations with a specific list of computers. No problems – just save a list of machines you need and Advanced IP Scanner will load it at start up automatically.

Radmin 2.2 Integration – This enables you to connect via Radmin (if it’s installed) to remote computers with just one click.

More more information, screenshots, or to download Advanced IP Scanner, visit http://www.radmin.com/products/utilities/ipscanner.php.