The Net Gate

Best of breed software

• AVG Anti-Virus is a FREE virus scanner that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Spybot Search & Destroy is a FREE spam scanner that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Internet Eraser is a FREE history eraser.

• Internet Explorer is a FREE web browser that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• Mozilla Firefox is a FREE web browser that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: the reason for using both is because of their different implementation of ‘standards’ which causes unsimilar display results when you design web pages – (check out my posts on Mozilla Firefox).

• Windows Live Mail is a FREE mail client that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: Outlook Express is end-of-life and was my initial prefered mail client – (check out my posts on Outlook Express).

• Skype is a FREE Internet Phone client and service that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Media Players

• VLC is a FREE mediaplayer with great video codec support that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• iTunes is a FREE mediaplayer and library tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: check out my posts on iTunes support

• IrfanView is a FREE image viewer that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Media Library and Conversion Tools

• Videora iPod Converter is a FREE video converter for iPod.

Note: check out my posts on Videora support

• DVDVideoSoft.com offers a FREE collection of tools to work with DVD, video and audio files.
• DVD Profiler is a DVD Collection Database Manager.

File, Print and System Tools

• Cute PDF is a FREE PDF creator that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• ZipGenius is a FREE file compression tool.
• FileZilla is a FREE file transfer client and server that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• CCleaner is a FREE system optimization tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• MyDefrag is a FREE system disk defragmenter and optimizer that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• KeePass is a FREE password manager that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• SyncBack is a FREE backup and file synchronization tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• iTunes Sync is a FREE Free iTunes MP3 Player Integration tool that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Note: check out my posts on iTunes Sync support

Remote Assistance Tools

• TeamViewer is a FREE Remote Assistance Client that works well for Windows XP, Vista and 7.
• TightVNC and UltraVNC are FREE Remote Assistance Clients.

Note: check out my posts on Remote Assistance support

Enjoy the free ride!

iTunes 9 may not start after a clean install and display the error “Apple Application Support was not found”.

This module can be separately installed.

Download the latest iTunes version.

Use a file decompression programme (such as winzip or winrar) to extract the module from ‘iTunesSetup.exe’.

Copy the file ‘AppleApplicationSupport.msi’ on your local drive and run it. Once the installation is succesfully completed, iTunes should work.

Related articles on installation files can be found on the Apple Support Pages

iTunes 9 may not start properly in a Windows environment and display the error message

“iTunes was not installed properly. Please re-install iTunes. (Error 7).”

This is not only related to Windows 7 or Vista but may also occur on Windows XP.

To fix this error you may need to repair the Microsoft.NET Framework.

Please refer to the apple support page.

Using Firefox 3.0.x to connect to the Netgear Wireless Accesspoint WPN802v2, may fail due to an invalid security certificate error (see picture below):

Alert: <ip address> uses an ivalid security certificate

When this error occurs, you won’t be able to connect to the admin interface of the Wireless Accesspoint. I managed to fix this by creating a security exception in the Firefox Certificate Manager:

Select in ‘Tools‘ from the Menu bar, ‘Options’:

Select in the ‘Advanced’ tab – the ‘Encryption’ tab. Next, select ‘View Certificates‘.

In the Certificates Manager, select the ‘Servers’ tab. Next, select ‘Add Exception‘

Enter the IP Address of the Wireless Access Point in the ‘Add Security Exception’ window and select the ‘Get Certificate‘ button.

The Certificate Status will be displayed.

Select ‘Confirm Security Exception‘ and exit the Certificate Manager.

You should now be able to logon the Admin interface.

Squeezebox iTunes integration

Squeezebox Server supports iTunes libraries and playlists. It can fully integrate the music library, without scanning the music folders.

To make this work correctly, enter the location of the iTunes library. You can do this by following these steps (make sure the Squeezebox Server is running):

1) Click on the Squeezebox Server icon in the system tray and choose ‘Open Web Control’

2) Click on the ‘Settings’ button (at the bottom right) of the Squeezebox Server Web Control page

This will open the Server Settings web page.

3) Click on the ‘iTunes’ tab and enter the iTunes library (library.xml) location

Then press the ‘Apply’ button to save the settings.

At the next scan the iTunes library and all playlists will become available on your Squeezebox. You can manually rescan the library under the ‘Basic Settings’ tab (Rescan Music Library).

Optimize Firefox (3.0.x)

Firefox can be manually tweaked by typing ‘ about:config’ in the address bar and then modifying the values of the respective fields of the Firefox control panel (i.e. the page that is displayed).

However, the easier way is to use FireTune, a freeware tool that helps to fine tune network related settings of Firefox.

If that is not enough, then you may consider the Configuration Mania extension to tweak many of the advanced (and hidden) settings.

Disable or remove any unused or unnecessary plug-ins, extensions and add-ons.

To minize page load time, I recommend to install these extensions:

Flashblock (to control Flash animation)

PDF Download (to control PDF files)

While Firefox can be instaledl without (Windows) administration rights, you may encounter problems to install plug-ins. Here is some good advice to install the Flash Player plugin.

How to cleanup orphan itunes library entries.

iTunes libraries will flag orphan entries with an exclamation mark!

These entries can be cleaned in two ways:

A) Create a new library:

Start iTunes by holding the shift key (keep the shift key pressed, while you select and start iTunes). iTunes will prompt you to create a new library (or choose an existing one).

B) Use a 3rd party tool:

iTunes Library Updater is a free utility to synchronize the iTunes database with your media collection. I run it with the ‘Clean orphaned entries’ option only:

note that .NET Framework must be installed to run this programme

iTunes 9 – settings

These settings I have applied on my iTunes 9 software to get the best performance on my Windows system. Some of these tasks (like 1 and 2) may need to be re-run after an iTunes upgrade. This environment work fine for all my iPods (shuffle, nano and classic).

1) Remove the help executables in the windows startup file:

Run ‘msconfig’ and disable (untag) the two lines in the startup file:

2) Disable the Apple Mobile Device (since I do not have such a device)

Run ‘services.msc’ – stop the service and disable this service (right-click on the item and choose modify)

3) Reboot and start iTunes

On the top menu, select Edit, Preferences and review the settings in each of the tabs: