Setting up Video Streaming in Subsonic

To start streaming your videos with Subsonic, ensure that you have the most recent version installed.  A version of at least Subsonic 4.3 is needed to enable video streaming.

Once you have installed or updated Subsonic, login and navigate to the Settings page and select the Music Folders section.

If you already have Subsonic installed, you will already have a music folder added. For example, I currently have a share named Music with the file path /media/PattersonHD/Music.

To enable Subsonic to stream my video library I simply have to add another share here. My newly added share is named Movies with the file path /media/PattersonHD/Movies.

Do this for each subsequent share or stream source you wish to add to Subsonic and click Save at the bottom of the page.

Streaming your Videos

Once you have added the video sources, navigate back to the Home page in Subsonic. You should notice a new drop-down on the left index of your Subsonic web page named All Folders. Under All Folders, all of your shares are listed together alphabetically. Select just the share you wish to stream to separate the sources.

Select the video and streaming will begin in the right side of Subsonic.

Final Thoughts

Subsonic is able to stream large video files due to them being transcoded (converted on-the-fly) before being streamed. It should be noted that transcoding can be a very  system-intensive process. Along with this, streaming large amounts of data may cause network slowness and affect the quality of the streams.

Do you use Subsonic to stream your music and movies?  Let us know by commenting below!

The post Subsonic: Now Able to Stream Movies and Videos first appeared on Techerator.

To my surprise, Sondbird for Linux is still available for download with unofficial support.  This has been made possible by extra work from developers and the software community.

Downloading Songbird for Linux

To download the Linux version of Songbird navigate to the Songbird Developer’s Wiki.  On the Contributed Builds page, select either the 32-bit or 64-bit version and download the tarball.

Once downloaded, extract the files and copy the Songbird folder to anywhere you wish.  I usually put software into /opt but you generally need root access to do that.

To start Songbird you can double-click the file named songbird or execute “sh /path/to/Songbird/songbird” from the terminal.

The main software dependency required by Songbird is gstreamer.  If you’re running Songbird on a mainstream Linux distribution like Fedora or Ubuntu, you shouldn’t have any problems running Songbird as gstreamer should already be installed.

If you have any questions be sure to comment below.

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Instead of keeping your files on USB flash drives or CDs, you can install Dropbox (it’s completely free for 2 GB of storage), put your files in a special folder, and poof – they’re automatically synchronized with any computers that have Dropbox installed.

What if you’re on someone else’s computer and you don’t want to install the software?  No problem, you can access all of your files through a useful web interface.  Dropbox also has great applications for iPhone and Android so you can access your files with your phone.

My only complaint about Dropbox was that you couldn’t choose which folders you wanted to sync (or, more importantly, didn’t want to sync) to your specific computers.  If I’m traveling and using my netbook on a tethered connection to my phone, I don’t want a gigabyte of graduation pictures to start downloading in the background.

I can complain no more, however, since Dropbox just released a feature that allows you to pick exactly which folders synchronize to your computer.

How to Use Selective Sync in Dropbox

Step 0: If you don’t already have one, you need to create a Dropbox account.  Dropbox is free for 2 gigabytes of space, and it can be upgraded up to 8 gigabytes by referring your friends.  If you need more space than that, you can purchase 50 and 100 gigabytes of space.

Step 1: This feature hasn’t been rolled out to the main client yet, so you need to install the newest version of Dropbox (currently 0.8.64).  The client is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Step 2: Right click the Dropbox icon in your system tray and select Preferences.

Step 3: Click the Advanced tab and click the Selective Sync… button.

Step 4: Choose which folders you want to synchronize to the computer you’re using.  In my case, I no longer wanted my netbook to synchronize my Music and Photos folders, so I unchecked those.

You can gain even more control over which subfolders synchronize by clicking the Switch to Advanced View button.

Conclusion

If you asked me what my favorite application is (or even the application I use the most), it would be Dropbox.  During my last year of college I kept all of my homework and projects stored in my Dropbox, making it available to my netbook, lab computer, and work computer.  When you store your files on Dropbox, you don’t need to worry about having the most recent version of your document anymore – it’s always up-to-date.

Selective folder synchronization was the last thing I really needed in Dropbox, mainly because I couldn’t always get a fast connection while traveling with my netbook.  Now that this is available, I might be able to call Dropbox… perfect?

The post New Dropbox Feature Lets You Pick Which Folders Sync first appeared on Techerator.

Below is an error message commonly seen when trying to register a DLL file with the Windows utility regsvr32.

Due to the vast number of DLL files, finding the correct one could take a lot of time.

To use Dependency Walker, download it from the software’s website and extract the files.  Start the program by running the Dependency Walker executable.

Navigate to File > Open and select the DLL that is failing to register when using regsvr32.

Dependency Walker will show what dependencies are missing and causing the error when registering.

Acquire the missing DLL file from a known working machine or from the software developer’s website and place it in the correct location to resolve the problem.

The post Resolve Missing DLL Errors in Windows with Dependency Walker first appeared on Techerator.

In this guide, I’ll show you some of the main features of Subsonic.

Cross-platform Support

One of the best features of Subsonic is its cross-platform support.  Built upon Java technology, Subsonic has versions available for Windows, OS X, Linux, and any other operating system with Java installed.  The Subsonic website also includes documentation on setting up the software for your operating system making installation and configuration as easy as possible.

Web, Desktop, and Portable Device Interfaces

The main way to access your Subsonic library is through the web interface.  The web interface is easy to use and feature rich.  Subsonic also features an API which has allowed the development of other ways to access your Subsonic including an iPhone app, an Android app, and an Adobe AIR app.

Transcoding

Subsonic features transcoding support which enables you to play content through Subsonic that may not otherwise be playable.  While most music libraries contain MP3 files, some may include WMA, OGG, FLAC and other formats.  If your library contains any formats other than MP3, then transcoding is definitely a feature for you.

Note: The Windows version of Subsonic includes the necessary files to enable transcoding support.  Extra configuration may be necessary for other operating systems.

Uploading and Downloading

Subsonic not only allows you to stream your music library but also upload and download your music files.  The uploaded and downloaded files are automatically stored in a ZIP file for easier file transfers.

Podcast Download & Playback

A really nice feature of Subsonic is the added podcast download and playback support.  Subsonic allows you to add your favorite podcast feeds which are then automatically downloaded and stored for your enjoyment.

Many More Features

Subsonic has many more features including: album art updates, lyrics, savable playlists, Last.fm support and more.  Subsonic also includes an extensive settings menu that allows you to configure the software to fit your exact taste.

Give Subsonic a try and let us know what you think about it by commenting below!

The post Subsonic: The Ultimate Way To Stream Your Music Library first appeared on Techerator.

ProcessQuickLink is a free utility for Windows that adds information about your processes directly to the Windows Task Manager.  After installing ProcessQuickLink, open the Task Manger by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC (this keystroke combination will take you directly to the Processes tab).  You will now see a green icon next to each entry which you can click to view detailed information about that process.

Clicking the process information button will take you directly to the ProcessLibrary.com process database.  This website includes general data about the process and can even tell you if the process is harmful and should be removed.

Note: ProcessLibrary.com advertises services to scan your computer to improve its performance.  If you think your computer may be infected, I highly recommend running a scan using free software like Microsoft Security Essentials in lieu of their scanning software.

ProcessQuickLink is a great way to get insight on the applications that are running behind-the-scenes on your PC and is a free download for all versions of Windows.

The post How to Find Out Information About Processes in the Windows Task Manager first appeared on Techerator.

Disk Space Fan is a free program available for Windows that scans your storage devices and shows a visual representation of your files.

When you first open Disk Space Fan, you are asked to select the storage device you want Disk Space Fan to analyze.

Disk Space Fan scans your drive and will generate a graphic to represent file and folder sizes, as shown below.

Not only can Disk Space Fan scan and analyze a complete drive, but you can set it to only scan a specific folder and display the corresponding graphic.

You can right-click on a section of the fan visual to display an options menu.

Disk Space Fan is available as a free download.

The post Get A Visual On Your Hard Drive with Disk Space Fan first appeared on Techerator.

Using Gadwin PrintScreen

Once you have downloaded and installed Gadwin PrintScreen, right click the newly created icon in your system tray and select Properties… from the menu.  Here you can see all of the options that are available for Gadwin PrintScreen.

Gadwin allows you to change the hot key used to activate the program.  Although this can be changed to a different key or keystroke, you will want it set to the PrintScreen button if you wish to replace the Windows screen capture function.

Unlike the Windows screen capture, Gadwin PrintScreen allows you to specify the capture source such as a full screen, a program window, or a rectangular area of  your screen.

If using the Rectangular Area capture method, the Zoom window shown below will appear when the hot key button is pushed.  Moving the mouse will move the cross-hair and change the contents of the Zoom window accordingly.  Once you have found where to start your rectangle, left-click and hold while you move the cross-hair across the screen to draw your rectangular area, releasing when you are finished.  Press Enter on your keyboard and the rectangular area you drew will be captured.

Gadwin PrintScreen allows you to save your captured images in a way that works best for you.  A nice feature is the ability to automatically save you screen capture as a file.

Gadwin also allows you to save your screen captures in any of the standard image file formats.  Another feature is the ability to add a ‘Stamp’ to the corner of you image.  Content of the stamp can include custom text, date, and time.

Below is an example of a custom stamp from a Gadwin PrintScreen screen capture.

Although Gadwin PrintScreen may not offer as many features as other popular screen capture software, it does offer a vast improvement over the Windows screen capture feature.

Gadwin PrintScreen is available as free (and paid) software for all versions of Windows.

Let us know about your favorite screen capture program by commenting below.

The post Improve Windows Print Screen With Gadwin PrintScreen first appeared on Techerator.

Despite it’s name, CDBurnerXP supports Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

Download and Install

Start by downloading CDBurnerXP from the software’s website.  You will also need to have at least Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed for CDBurnerXP.  .NET Framework 2.0 can be downloaded from Microsoft.

Using CDBurnerXP

When you first start the program, you are presented with the menu shown below.  Here you can chose the type of disc you are going to create.

Data Disc

Selecting ‘Data Disc’ from the menu will bring you to the data disc compilation view.  The upper part of the window shows the files and folders of your system.  Drag and drop the files to the lower part of the window to add them to the disc.

Once you have added the files you wish to burn, click the Burn button or select Disc > Burn… from the menu at the top of the window.  When the disc burn has started, its progress will be shown in the window below.

Audio Disc

Selecting ‘Audio Disc’ from the menu will allow you to add audio media files to a disc to create a standard audio disc.  The layout is similar to creating a data disc in the previous section.  The audio disc compilation view has some extra features for dealing with audio discs allowing you to move the tracks into a specific order.

The audio disc compilation view also features an Audio Player that allows you to preview an audio file  before adding it to the disc.

Once you have selected you audio files and added them to the compilation, click the Burn button or select Disc > Burn… from the menu.  Before the burning process can start, the audio files have to be processed.

Select burning options as needed and click Burn disc to start the burning process.

Burning Image Files

Image files are an easy way to distribute all of the data contained on a disc in a single file.  To burn an image file with CDBurnerXP, select ‘Burn ISO Image’ from the menu.  Select the ISO image file to burn and click Burn Disc to begin the process.

Disc Copy

CDBurnerXP also allows copying a disc to either another disc or an ISO image file.  Insert the disc to be copied into the appropriate drive, select the format and click Copy disc to begin.

Erasing Discs

Selecting ‘Erase Disc’ from the menu will allow you to erase a re-writable disc in the drive.  Choose the appropriate erasing method and click Erase to begin.

Other Features

CDBurnerXP is also capable of showing you some other information regarding your discs and disc drives.  Selecting Recorder > Device Information from the menu will show you what features are available and what disc are supported on your disc drive.

CDBurnerXP can also show you information regarding the disc currently in the drive by selecting Disc > Disc Information from the menu.

I have briefly covered the main features of the software, and if you’re looking for free and power disc burning software I suggest you give CDBurnerXP a try.

The post CDBurnerXP: Free, Powerful & Easy-To-Use Disc Burning Software first appeared on Techerator.

Removing spyware from your computer can often prove to be a difficult task. Many programs are available to remove viruses and other malware in the case that your computer does become infected.

The developers of SUPERAntiSpyware have recently released a portable version of their popular spyware removal application called SUPERAntiSpyware Portable.  SUPERAntiSpyware Portable is a spyware removal utility that can be used in the event that you become infected.

Downloading and Running

You will first need to download SUPERAntiSpyware Portable from the software’s website.  Since it is a portable version, installation is not required.  The file you download will be saved as a random name to prevent spyware developers from blocking the portable scanner from running.  A great feature of SUPERAntiSpyware is that the downloaded file will contain the most recent spyware definitions.  This will allow you to run the program on a computer without an internet connection.

Run the executable file once the download has finished.  You will be presented with the splash start screen as shown below.

Select the language that you wish SUPERAntiSpyware to use.

The main program window will then be shown.

Click the Scan your computer… button on the main program window.  A new window will appear asking which drive(s) you wish to scan.  You can also select how thorough of a scan to perform.  Click Next to begin the scanning process.

The current status of any infected items is shown during the scan.

Once the scan has completed, a summary screen will appear showing the number of infected items.

The complete list of infected items will appear and allow the user to remove them from the system.

SUPERAntiSpyware will notify you once all items have been successfully removed.

Conclusion

SUPERAntiSpyware Portable is free for personal use, with technical and corporate licenses available.  If you’re looking for a portable spyware removal utility, then I suggest that you give SUPERAntiSpyware Portable a try.

The post SUPERAntiSpyware Releases Portable Scanner first appeared on Techerator.