Options to create and convert PDF documents

PDF is a format for documents that has achieved a great popularity the last years, and has became a standard. However, the main applications don’t produce them automatically, they use their own formats. To help us with this problem, there are other programs like Pdf995, PrimoPDF, doPDF and Easy PDF, that we’ll analyze on this article.

Being considered a digital page, as it is printed exactly the same as how we see it on the screen, just like if it was a photo of the paper, sometimes we find ourselves with the need to convert a text document or other type to PDF, whether it is for business, for convenience, or because we need it to reach our addressee the way we did it, without the possibility to being edited.

One of the easiest applications to do this is Pdf995. This little program installs on our computer as it if it was another printer. To convert a document, the only action you need to perform is opening it from the source application, print and when it asks to select the printer, choose Pdf995, which will generate automatically the document.

Another similar tool is PrimoPDF. Even though the process of creating the document is the same as the one of the previous program, once we ask for the creation, we’ll get a dialog box that will allow us to add properties to the document, security passwords, as well as options to optimize the screen or printer.

doPDF, another program for PDF convertion, offers 2 ways to do it. On the one hand, through the print dialog box, just like the other programs. The other option is doing it directly though doPDF entering the file to convert on a dialog box, giving us a series of options to optimize the visualization of the generated document.

Finally, on this brief revision we’ll name EasyPDF. Unlike the other programs we’ve been seeing, EasyPDF is more than a simple file converter. It’s able to create a PDF document from scratch, adding text to it (whether it be from other files, through the clipboard or manually) and images. Furthermore, with EasyPDF we can bookmark, create hyperlinks and edit the document’s format. As it can be seen, its use goes beyond a simple converter, being a real PDF documents creator.

To conclude, the options are varied and the use of them depends on our needs. If we just want to create a PDF document without complications, Pdf995 would be most suitable. PrimoPDF or doPDF are on the same line, although they provide us with more advanced options. A program like EasyPDF, however, gives us even more possibilities, allowing us to create a more complex PDF.

Several tricks for your MSN with Messenger Plus! Live

Windows Live Messenger is one of the main instant messaging applications of the moment, through which we have contact with our friends and relatives. Taking into account its extensive use, the creation of Messenger Plus! Live Live was something expected by all the users.

Being essential for the amount of functions that it adds to the application, Messenger Plus! Live Live counts with a great number of features easy to use and that improve notably our experience as users.

One of the things we can do with Messenger Plus! Live Live is adding color to our nicknames. To do that, we need to click on our nickname and select “Change display name”. On the window that pops up, we press the button “Format Codes” that is next to the space where we enter the nickname and right there, we choose the color that we want. If we want to put more than one color, before doing a click on format, we need to select part of the nickname and assign a color to part.

Other feature Messenger Plus! Live Live has is defining a personalized status and sending auto-messages. To do that, once again we need to click on the nickname on the top left part and select “More Status”. Then, on the field “Label” we add what will appear between brackets next to the nickname, and on the field “Auto-message”, what we want the program to answer on our behalf when someone talks to us, being able only to enable this with a particular group.

One of the most interesting functions that this extension has is the “block”. Thanks to that option, our Messenger will literary disappear from our sight. To activate it, we need to select the appropriate option on the Messenger Plus! Live Live menu or use a shortcut with the keys. The predetermined CTRL + Space Bar, that can be changed in “Preferencies and Options”.

Another function that Messenger Plus! Live Live brings is the possibility to add icons of our contacts to the desktop, and even to put them as a floating window always visible, to be able to see at all times, the alternatives of their status. To achieve this, we need to click the contact on the list with the right button, on the fold out menu we need to choose “Messenger Plus! Live Features>Display on the desktop”.

One of the most remarkable functions that this plug-in offers is the multi-session. To be able to log in on more than one account at the same time, we need to click on the plug-in icon that appears on the right top part of the Messenger main window and on the fold out menu select “Perferencies and options…”. Then we go to the eyelash “Personalize” and select the option “Allow me to log in on multiple accounts simultaneously”.

Finally, enumerating the possibilities that open up for us thanks to Messenger Plus! Live Live would be endless. Some things are left out from this guide, like scripts, skin changes, sending sounds, contact administrator, chat window in eyelashes, and many more. Without any doubt, it’s worth to download it and explore its full potential.

Create ringtones for Nokia mobiles with Audacity

A quick and easy way of creating ringtones for Nokia mobiles can now be done with Audacity, and interesting audio editing software that allows users to record or import audio files and edit them with a wide range of effects. After you´re done with the editing, you can with Nokia PC Suite to copy the ringtones to your Nokia mobile.

Featuring a clean user-friendly interface, Audacity features all exclusive tools for the creation of ringtones. The first step is to import the song you want to convert into a ringtone by clicking ‘File>>‘Import’>>‘Audio’.

Alternatively, you can record a sound straight from your microphone by hitting the REC button (a red circle button placed the menu bar). We can record any sound playing on our PC or by using our mic.

Whether we imported or recorded audio, now we must edit the file and wrap it up. To trim a segment, select it with your mouse and trim it by pressing the delete key. Now, select the audio segment you wish to save and add all the effects you wish until you get your desired results.

Loading ringtones to Nokia mobiles with Nokia PC Suite

While selecting the track and clicking on effect –found on the menu bar- we can find the most varied audio effects (change rhythm, equalization, reverb, etc). In this, we will apply the “Wahwah” effect, a very special effect when it comes to the creation of ringtones. As in all Audacity effect, this one will open a window displaying several options, but before we click “Accept” we can listen to the applied effect by clicking on “Preview”. If we are doubtful about the results, we can go on modifying the effect attributes until you give it your finishing touches.

The same procedure can be done with several audio segments at once, since Audacity enables you to work with multi-track so you can export them all together in a single MP3 file.

Click “File > Export > Accept” to choose de output/destination folder where we want to save the project –or ringtone. Now, we have to copy the ringtone to your mobile with Nokia PC Suite.

Once you ran Nokia PC Suite and connected your mobile to the PC, click the “File manager” icon. It will display a browser window with your disk drives as well as your Nokia mobile. Finally, drag the ringtone to your mobile so you can start enjoying your newly created ringtone in your mobile.

Enhance your Windows Live Messenger experience

Windows Live Messenger, developed by Microsoft, is the most popular instant messaging application reaching up to 330 millions users worldwide. There are countless plug-ins, patches and add-ons to enhance your instant messaging experience by adding new, exciting features. Let´s see what they´ve have to offer.

Basically, there are two types of application: those, which serve as specific functions for Messenger (such as MSN Polygamy), and those that add lots of features and tools to improve the user experience.

Messenger Plus! is the most complete add-on for Windows Live Messenger that provides multiple functionalities and features that make your messaging client more useful, complete and fun. Extend the possibilities of Messenger and make your experience a lot more entertaining. Plus guarantees to improve your Messenger experience by leaps and bounds. You won’t just get a couple of new options, what you’ll get is a whole new dimension for the Windows Live Messenger software. Moreover, Messenger Plus! now you search straight from the event Viewer, indexing all your conversations automatically, and completely change the look of your Messenger windows with easy-to-install skins.

A-Patch is also one of the patches with most forMessenger. A-Patch features include removing buttons such as “Activities”, “Windows Live Today”, and dozens of others buttons, multi-msn, show idle status of other users, and so on. A-Patch has over 80 options for you to play with which might seem a bit daunting for new users, which is exactly why it comes with a built-in preview window. Basically, you can preview the changes of nearly every option before actually applying it, it really couldn’t be easier. It may not add as many features as Plus!, but it removes lots of annoying and unnecessary banners and buttons.

As for the other smaller patches, the group comprises utilities like MultiLive and Polygamy, which enable users to open several instances of Windows Live Messenger.

Also in this group, we have Messenger Deluxe, a variant to the classic client Msn Messenger, which has a huge collection of emoticons, avatars, backgrounds. When we use our instant messaging client, we can play around with a series of preset images and that way interpret different situations in each conversation. All these graphics have an excellent design and quality and Messenger Deluxe is very easy to install and use.

In case you need to eliminates viruses fromMessenger, you can use MSN Virus Remover, an easy and a fast way to remove MSN worm and virus`s. You just run the App and it well in just a few seconds automatically delete unwanted applications for your pc.

In short, most of these add-ons and patches (with the exception of removing ads) can be found in Messenger Plus! Live. However, so many features and new tools might be confusing for some users and they might prefer modifying just a single aspect of the application by using MultiLive, Polygamy, Messenger Deluxe y MSN Virus Remover –among others.

Total Video Converter, MediaCoder and Quick Media Converter The best video converters supporting all popular video formats.

Either with a PC or a mobile, converters popularity grows by the day by allowing users to convert and plays video on mobiles quickly and easily. However, variety can sometimes be the issue, having trouble picking one out of thousands of converters. On the other hand, not all mobile support most popular video formats, that´s why we need a converter to convert video to some of the most popular video formats such as MP4, 3GP, MPEG, WMV, AVI, FLV, DV, Etc.

In this round-up, we will review three of the most popular and efficient video converters: Total Video Converter, MediaCoder and Quick Media Converter. Either we convert one or multiple files, these applications allow you to convert video files with a wide range of settings.

Quick Media Converter is a powerful and quick –as the name indicates- converter that features a nice, clean interface for novice and experienced users alike -an aspect which is certainly not found in Total Vide Converter and Media Coder, mostly the latter.

Another aspect of Quick Media Converter worth mentioning is the “easy mode” (for first timers) and “expert mode” (for experienced users) profiles.

It´s not easy to counter the simplicity and features of Quick Media Converter, but Total Video Converter will not go down without a fight.

Total Video Converter delivers an interface not as easy-to-use as Quick Media Converter, but still accessible to most users by features “Simple” and “Advanced” modes. Though Total Video Converter is very efficient and features a wide range of encoding settings, conversions might not be as fast as we would expect.

Despite this shortcoming, Total Video Converter is still one of the most popular converters, including features such as: preview; convert specific part of a video; modify aspect ratio and more. The software is designed to convert video for your mobile video player as 3gp, mp4, PSP, PS3, iPod, iPhone etc and also VCD or DVD player, XBOX360.

Last but not least, we have Mediacore, an universal batch media transcoder, which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution. Although MediaCoder an overloaded interface (some options are unnecessary for the average user) it features blazing-fast conversions due to its multi-threading design, optimized for multi-core processors (average CPU utilization on quad-core processors over 90%), making it the ideal software for converting long videos or even entire movies. Moreover, MediaCoder features a subtitle editor for you to add subtitle to any video or movie.

Each of these converters have their pros and cons, but still, each of them manage to pull at least one exclusive features.

Quick Media Converter includes a tool to capture audio and video. Total Video Converter is recommended for ripping DVD movies and MediaCoder allows you to enter the URL address of a video and convert it to another format on the fly.

In short, each of them offers different tools and settings to suit any kind of user. Nevertheless, we would get Quick Media Converter due to its conversion speed and user-friendly interface, Total Video Converter for its wide range of video formats and MediaCoder for its high-quality conversions.

Editing audio files with Audacity is as easy as it gets

The great deal of software related to multimedia files gives you more possibilities to perform the most varied activities. Most of us know how to play audio files or even rip music CDs, but certainly not everyone know how edit either voice recordings or audio tracks.

This task can be extremely rewarding if we find the right application that enables us to easily manipulate audio tracks. All of these can be found in Audacity, an application that contains hundreds of useful features for audio editing and recording. Audacity supports several digital audio formats with support for 24 bit and 32 bit sample formats as well as 16 bit. Next, we will provide a small tour covering basic features and options.

Once we launch Audacity, we can see the toolbar on the upper side of the screen, the toolbar shows the control options, measurement, mixing and editing. The center of the screen is empty since this is where we are going to edit the projects. To start using Audacity, Click on “file > open” and choose a file to start editing it. After the program has successfully loaded the file, it will display the sound pattern which will be used to editing.

With Audacity you can cut, copy, paste, crop, mix files together, adjust sampling rate and bit depth, and so much more. Use great sound effects like echo, EQ, chorus, flange, reverse, and more. Covering Audacity basic functions, there is a small player for playing, rewinding and fast-forwarding tracks. We can also start a new project and use the record function. Right next to it, there are six options together, control tools to work with the mouse over the tracks. Among them we find: selection, surround (to vary the volume), image, zoom and multitool (to use several of these simultaneously).

To the left of the screen there is a bar to measure audio input and output. If we continue analyzing, we will find other basic functions such as cutting, copying and pasting. In this way, we can cut off, move and copy pieces of tracks. To the left there is a series of functions to undo or redo operations, as well as new buttons to use zoom. Above these two functions we see the volume control.

To mix two files, just import both of them into Audacity. They will appear in separate tracks, and will be mixed together when you press the Play button. You can use the Time Shift tool to move them around so that they start at different times, or use the other editing commands to alter either of the tracks.

With Audacity, you can also remove the vocals from a recording to make a Karaoke track. This is possible only for certain stereo tracks. When the vocals are exactly the same on both stereo channels, you can remove them by “subtracting” one channel from the other. This works for many studio recordings, where the vocal track is mixed exactly in the center. To do this in Audacity: First, import your stereo file into Audacity. Open the track menu (click the arrow next to the track title), and choose “Split Stereo Track.”. Now, select the lower track (the right channel) by clicking it in the area around the mute/solo buttons. Next, Choose “Invert” from the Effects menu and finally using the track menus, change each track to “Mono.”

You can combine two files into one longer file. Import both files into Audacity. To do so, select the second one by clicking on its label (the area around the mute/solo buttons). Now, Choose “Find Zero Crossings” from the Edit menu and choose “Cut” from the Edit menu. Next, place the cursor by clicking in the first track, after the end of the audio and finally choose “Paste” from the Edit menu.

Those were some of the features and functions included in Audacity. Now, it´s up to you to discover other advanced features that will allow you to experience a new level of in-depth audio editing.

Image viewers round up: Picasa, ACDSee and JetPhoto Studio. Which one to pick?

With the rise of digital cameras, users were in need of application to manage and view their photos since it can be quite messy to store loads and loads of photos. We can properly organize our photos and images by creating albums and view in different ways, plus we can add some effects and post them on the web –among other things. The three contenders are: Picasa, ACDSee and JetPhoto Studio.

Let´s have a look at some of the features of these three popular image viewers. Let´s get started with Picasa, another great creation from Google which –as well as other software from Google- surprised users around the world and quickly gained worldwide popularity due to its user-friendly interface and its wide range of features. Among the multiple possibilities Picasa delivers for managing digital photographs, it´s important to highlight the possibility of importing image from several devices including digital cameras. We can also create slideshow presentations from a group of selected images, record a Picasa CD/DVD gift and make backups.
Moreover, this program has a photo editor of its own and a video player, though they have basic functions and lack advanced user features.

Passing on to JetPhoto Studio, it´s a viewer which doesn´t feature a fast image viewing (and it should) but presents a fully-features slideshow function. Among other things, JetPhoto Studio organizes your photos by notes you add, keyword tags you choose, camera EXIF information, by time, and by geographical location. Searching, filtering or sorting is done using this information.

All in all, we can say that Picasa is the fastest image viewer. In fact, many users have replaced Picasa over the default Windows image viewer.

All viewers nowadays feature several image editing effects such as: brightness and contrast adjustment, red-eye, lightning, blur and other tools and effects.
Once again, Picasa stands out by allowing users to design and print beautiful photo collages, create fun video slideshows, add photo text or view your favorite photos on your desktop or screensaver.

You can upload images to the web with any of these viewers (with Picasa you can even add geo-tags to your photos so that you can remember exactly where they’re from using Google Maps) though JetPhoto Studio is also an efficient desktop photo organizer for flickr users. You can edit tags, descriptions, geo data for photos or sets of photos on your computer and then you can post your organized pictures onto Flickr with just one click.

With most image viewers, you also have the possibility of importing image from several devices (such as mobiles) including digital cameras. The same goes for slideshow presentations which can be created from a group of selected images and then burn them into a CD or DVD. In this case ACDSee is the winner. You can use ACDSee’s Burn Basket to create a CD or DVD of your photos and files, or to create specially formatted discs that you can watch on your television.

All things considered, Picasa as well as JetPhoto Studio and ACDSee are all great image viewers and managers. Still, Picasa and ACDSee are both equally good. For those used to organizing images and photos, Picasa delivers an amazing alternative combining functionality, simplicity and web integration. ACDSee on the other hand, provides more features and tools for advanced users.

How to create panoramic images with PanoramioStudio

If you were once amazed by a 360 degree photos in a website and wondered how to make a panoramic image or which camera they actually use, don´t worry because what you actually need to know is that it´s nothing more than a software-combined slideshow. One of the best and easiest to use software to create panoramic images is PanoramioStudio. Let´s see how it works.

This incredible tool creates seamless 360 degree and wide angle panoramic images from photographs you take. Featuring a great set of tools including Automatic barrel/pincushion correction for wide angle lenses; Automatic vignetting correction; Automatic alignment and blending of the images and more. This program combines simple creation of perfect panoramic images within a few steps with ambitious postprocessing features for advanced users.

Upon installing and launching the application for the first time, we will be asked to enter an activation code, click “Register Later” to continue using the software in trial mode. Next, PanoramioStudio will display a wizard to create a new Project allowing us to choose among several options: Create single-row panorama; Merget Document; Import panoramic image or Open project. For novices sake, we will choose “: Create single-row panorama”.

We´ll start by importing our photos using the “import” button located on the top left portion of the screen. From the browser window, select the image you want to use to create the panoramic view. After you´re done with the selection the images with be loaded into PanoramioStudio´s main window.

Once all images are imported –provided photos were accurately taken – all that remains is to click on “Align”, which is found on the center of the toolbar. Next, choose either 180 degree or 360° panoramic view for PanoramioStudio to merge the images and create our own 180/360 degree image.

As you can see, creating a panoramic image can be done with just a few clicks. Nevertheless, if you´re not happy with the results you can modify your project by clicking the “edit” button on left side of the toolbar. Also, with the “Render” button (next to edit) we can cut the final size of our panoramic or 360 degree image before exporting.

Finally, once we wrapped things up, we have to save the project. To do so, go to “File > Save as image” and browse the location where you wish to save it.

Feel free to explore all the features and effects that PanoramioStudio has to offer.

Delete Trojans with Anti Trojan Elite

One of the main threats Internet users face is the great amount of viruses, usually known as “Trojans”, which facilitates unauthorized access to user’s computer system. Fortunately, these malware can be detected and removed from our computer thanks to applications such as Anti-Trojan Elite.

Installing Anti-Trojan Elite is simple and before finishing will ask us to restart the computer to complete the process successfully. It is worth mention that the first time we run the software a dialog window will pop up so we can choose the language.

To deeply scan our system in the search of Trojans go to “scan menu”, the first category located to the left sidebar. Click on “Type” to choose the type of Scan you want to perform. We can select more than one option (Shift + click to do so), we can also choose “Sensitive Areas”, the last option inside Type list, so that the software automatically track the most vulnerable areas of our system.

The “Special file” option allow us to a select a particular file we want to analyze. We can also select folders or drives from the Folders subcategory.

After having chosen what we want to analyze, click on the black circle that has an arrow located at the top of the screen to start the scanning process, or click on the black circle to stop it. A few seconds later, after the process is completed, in the blue box located at the bottom of the screen we will see the final report telling us how many Trojans were infected in our PC, and how many were eliminated.

After performing the scan, we recommend you to set up prevention tasks. Go to “category” located on the left sidebar, and select “options”. In the new window select “Yes” the Basic tab Options. By doing this, Anti-Trojan Elite will auto run when Windows startup and automatically detect new available versions to detect the latest Trojans.

We will also be able to set up: scanning options (analysis mode, specific files and memory analysis) in Scan Options; elimination of infected files in Kill Options; and advanced options (to analyze or not compressed files) in Advanced Options. In these three tabs we recommend you leave the options that came by default and then click on OK to finish the set up.

Others options that this software offer us is the possibility of checking the protection status of our computer in the “monitor” menu or indicate active processes of the system in the subcategory “Tools” menu.

As you see, be protected against the spies attacks is possible, easy and convenient with Anti-Trojan Elite. Install this software, surf the web and forget about the Trojans.

How to use Openoffice.org word processor

When handing a report or a document we can take advantage of a word processor that offers tidiness and save us time. A good option is Open Office Writer (Openoffice.org) that features a wide range of extremely useful tools. In addition to this, this suite also offers many alternatives to Microsoft Office package.

As we said before, we will now talk about one of the most commonly used Openoffice.org software: Open Office Writer, a word processor that will help you when working with documents. Use it, is extremely simple, reason why we will only mention its most common tools. After this, any user will be able to continue with the advance options.

When running Openoffice.org, a window will show us all the programs included in the package; select “word processor”, so that Open Office Writer opens. We will see a familiar interface, an A4 work sheet.

Open Office Writer offer many options and shortcuts toolbar. There are some predefined set up options like “Style”, the first button to the left of the bar, but we can also modify the text manually.

If we click on “Source”, located to the right of “Style”, we will see a great variety of option to choose from. “Source Size” will allow us to choose the size we want. In the middle of the same toolbar, we find B, I and U buttons, Bold, italic and underline.

Next, we find 4 buttons to align the text; identified for having horizontal lines that shows the aligned chosen type. We can align the text to the left, Center, right or justify it. In the same toolbar, Openoffice.org Writer offers us further possibilities to format our text, such as: bullets, indentation, font color, etc. We recommend you to try them, and see how they fit your needs.

To make Openoffice.org Writer even more interesting, it adds among other things, the possibility of inserting graphics, as a spreadsheet. To do so, go to Insert-> table-> spreadsheet. Once you added it, right click on it for easily access the set up options (data, format, edit, size, etc.).

Continue trying the possibilities Openoffice.org offers, in this software and other (Openoffice.org Basic, Calc, Draw, Impress and Math) we recommend you to install this complete package to discover new options that will help you to carry out a great job. Try it, is easy.