Archive for the ‘Software’ Category

Ever have a bunch of files that you needed updated. For instance, perhaps you have a script or program that generates a bunch of incremental files or maybe you need to fix files that were not named with your naming convention. Rename Master is the free tool that will help you get this done. You can change the case sensitivity, add numbers to the end, replace just part of the name or some letters and more. You can also edit file properties such as MP3 tags, JPEG JFIF and EXIF tags. It also gives you a preview of what your changes will look like, before you implement them. It can be installed or run as a standalone app, so you can put it on a USB flash drive and add it to your arsenal of tools.

VMware Player 3.0 rocks. Finally you can create or edit your virtual machines with just this program and not having to use a site like EasyVMX or going through a bunch of hassles hacking together a VHD and VMX that you could boot up into so you could install your OS. I used to install a trial version of VMware Workstation to create any new VMs I needed or if I need to edit them. A few years back I would just have VMware Server 1.0 installed on another machine to do all this, which meant I had to copy over my VMs and then do any creating or editing which was slow and tedious. And don’t get me started on VMware Server 2.0, the web interface is horrible. Vmware Player is much lighter than Vmware Workstation or Vmware Server, so I really didn’t want to just use one of those products by itself.

I believe they included the ability to create and edit the VMs in VMware Player for a few reasons. One of which is that they probably noticed people were either getting the trial version of VMware Workstation or just downright pirating it to do the editing or creating of VMs. The other reason is that VirtualBox maybe starting to eat into VMware’s userbase and since it lets you edit, create and use VMs all in one program, it made sense to have VMware Player do the same. And the same could be said about Virtual PC. Another benefit is that now that there is a GUI for editing the VMs for probably their most popular free program, there will probably be less people having to search and post on their support forums for configuring it manually by editing the VMX file by hand. Want to expand or contract the Virtual Hard Drive size, it can now be done in VMware Player. Although if you need to convert a VM from another program, you’ll need VMware Converter, but that it makes sense that program is seperate.

New Features

• Virtual Machine with Easy Install — Create a virtual machine and install any supported guest operating system with Easy Install.
• New User Interface — Use the new user interface to create virtual machines and edit virtual machine settings.
• Windows 7 — Create and run Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines using VMware Workstation. VMware Workstation has been enhanced for performance and to take advantage of the new Windows 7 features including Live Thumbnails and Aero Peek.
• Aero Glass — A new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) graphics driver has been developed for Windows Vista and Windows 7 virtual machines. The WDDM driver can display the Windows Aero user interface, OpenGL 1.4, and Shader Model 3.0. For more information on the VMware recommended graphics hardware, see the VMware Workstation User’s Manual.
• Windows XP Mode Compatible — Import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine using VMware Player 3.0 and run the virtual machine without being prompted to enter a Windows XP license key. VMware Player enables the Windows XP Mode virtual machine to take advantage of more than one processor, render high-end graphics, integrate seamlessly with Unity, and transfer files easily with drag and drop, and shared folders. VMware Player also has the ability to run concurrently with Windows XP Mode.
• 3D Graphics Improvements for Windows XP guests — OpenGL 2.1 and Shader Model 3.0 support is now available for Windows XP virtual machines. The XPDM (SVGAII) graphics driver works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. However, only Windows XP virtual machines
  install the XPDM graphics driver by default. To switch graphics drivers in the guest operating system, see How to Switch Between SVGAII and WDDM Drivers.
• Multiple-Monitor Display — Virtual machines can now take advantage of multiple monitors.
• Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) — ALSA significantly improves the sound of virtual machines running on a Linux host and streams the audio from each virtual machine on a separate channel so that multiple virtual machines can be heard simultaneously.
• Drag and Drop Enhancements — Drag and drop enhancements include support for new file types including images and formatted text and extend the existing ability to drag and drop files to a broader set of guest and host operating systems.
• On-Demand VMware Tools Download — On-demand download capability provides the latest VMware Tools for the guest operating system. This feature reduces the overall download size of VMware products by downloading only the required set of VMware Tools and enables VMware to release new versions frequently.
• Virtual Printing — Print from virtual machines without mapping network printers or installing printer drivers in the virtual machine. With virtual printing enabled in the virtual machine setting, all of the printers installed on the host operating system are available in the guest operating system. This functionality is enabled through a partnership with ThinPrint, Inc.
• VIX API for VMware Player — Software vendors can use the VIX functionality to add their own interface to the VMware Player menu bar.