Celestia Free Space Simulation Software v1.5

Celestia has a new version. One of the best free software ever. Give it a try!

Links:

> Celestia Home Page
> Download
> Add-Ons
> Forum
> Related Sites

(A few) Celestia videos on YouTube

Celestia 10min. Demo

Celestia built-in Demo

Mision to Mars

Voyager 2 flyby of Saturn

Tour of the universe from Celestia

How to make space on Windows XP system partition? - preview

My partition is big enough, you'll say. What about when you do a full back-up (an image of the entire partition for easy restoring)? Doesn't it take longer to back-up or restore (and takes more space, of course)? Or when you defragment the drive, it will eventually be less time consuming if there were more free space. And I think that not many of us are proud with a 10 GB Windows or a 20 GB Program Files folder.

But if you really have a small Windows XP partition (mainly because you've once thought 10 GB will be enough for your operating system and installed applications) and you don't want to repartition you drive, then this small guide is for you.

We'll see in the next few days what can be done on this matter without compromising system stability: things that can be easily done inside XP (with no other help from 3rd party applications) and things that can be done more easily by using 3rd party applications. So stay tuned.

HardLinks, Junctions and Volume Mountpoints

What happens if your Windows XP or Vista System Partition (C:) is starting to fill up, even after systematic cleaning of unnecessary programs or junk files that sometimes clutter on your hard-drive [and, yes, this is another interesting topic on how to make some space on your C: partition if necessary -- you may free sometimes up to a few gigabytes with less effort]?

If you don't want to adventure yourselves in reorganizing partitions (which can take some time and, why not admitting, some risk), then there are some solutions at hand which the NTFS file system implemented in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP-64 or higher supports: these are called HardLinks, Junctions and Volume Mountpoints.

What are HardLinks, Junctions and Volume Mountpoints?

To be short:

• HardLinks provide the ability to keep a single copy of a file yet have it appear in multiple folders (directories);
• A Junction point is a technology for a folder to be grafted into another folder on the same local computer. (e.g. moving your "Program Files" directory contents to another drive, and linking the original "Program Files" directory to this new location. Junction points are transparent to programs. Starting with Windows Vista, junction points are used extensively in the Windows operating system. Several of the special folders in Windows, such as the "Documents and Settings" folder, are shown as shortcuts to other folders, but are actually junction points.
• Mountpoints are folders that point to an entire disk volume.

Feel free to google these terms and get more info.

How to use HardLinks, Junctions and Volume Mountpoints?

HardLinks can be created with the fsutil command utility included in Windows XP, which can be tedious, especially when HardLinks to multiple files are required or when one only makes occasional use of HardLinks. Support for Junctions in standard Microsoft software offerings is even more limited than that offered for HardLinks.

The workaround is to use 3rd party freeware like Link Shell Extension (LSE) or/and Junction Link Magic.

I strongly advise you to take a few minutes and read the information found on the websites of these two nice freeware, before using them.

Junction Link Magic

(734 KB in size - Windows 2000/XP/2003) is a utility that lets you create junction points with Windows 2000, XP or 2003. There is also a beta version for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Junction Link Magic automatically lists existing junction points, and it offers an easy interface to add, modify or remove junction points.

Homepage / Download (XP) / Download (Vista - beta)

Link Shell Extension (LSE)

It provides for the creation of HardLinks , Junctions , Volume Mountpoints , and Vista's Symbolic Links, (herein referred to collectively as Links) and a Folder Cloning process that utilizes HardLinks or Symbolic Links. LSE is implemented as a Shell extension and is accessed from Windows Explorer, or similar file/folder managers. The extension allows the user to select one or many files or folders, then using the mouse, complete the creation of the required Links - HardLinks, Junctions or Symbolic Links or in the case of folders to create Clones consisting of Hard or Symbolic Links. LSE is supported on all Windows versions that support NTFS version 5.0 or later, including Windows XP-64 and Vista. HardLinks, Junctions and Symbolic Links are NOT supported on FAT file systems, and nor is the Cloning process.

Homepage / Download

Browse and save clean web pages with Firefox and ScrapBook

Did you happen to look at a web page where the information you needed was surrounded by lots of adds and banners? Have you ever wanted to save or print just small parts of a web page, keeping only the relevant information? With Firefox and ScrapBook Firefox extension is all possible, quick-n-easy.

Here is just a minor example of a web page in its original version (left) and the slim version (right), ready for printing or archiving.

What is ScrapBook?

ScrapBook is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save Web pages and manage the collection. Major features are:

• Save Web page
• Save snippet of Web page
• Save Web site (In-depth Capture)
• Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks
• Highlighter, Eraser and various page editing features
• Full text search and quick filtering search
• Text edit feature resembling Opera's Notes

For detailed explanations, more features, screenshots or tips, check out ScrapBook Firefox extension web page.

RSS Popper - news add-in for Outlook & Outlook Express

RSS Popper is a freeware news aggregator add-in for Outlook & Outlook Express. News items are delivered directly to Outlook or Outlook Express as e-mails, so you can work with RSS news just like you work with e-mails: move them, delete them, archive the most important ones.

There is no need to use a separate program for reading RSS anymore. No need to subscribe to mailing lists which deliver news. And besides all these, its free. Just download, install, set your favorite news feeds, and you're ready to go.

Features (Partial list)

* Supports MS-Outlook 2000, XP, 2003, 2007 (RSS Popper)
* Outlook Express 6 (RSS Popper for Outlook Express)
* Supports all RSS, Atom & RDF versions
* Support Podcasts
* Bloglines.com synchronization
* NewsGator Online synchronization
* Enable full page download to Outlook (i.e. Off-line view)
* OPML Import/Export
* And much more...

Requirements:

• Outlook 2000/XP/2003/2007 or Outlook Express 6 and above
• Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista (should work on Win98/ME but not tested)
• .NET Framework 1.1 (Can be found here) - If you're not sure, don't install. RSS Popper installation process checks if you've got it.

There is some time since there was no update (since October 2004), but the software is in a good shape so give it a try. I use it for quite some time and it proved to be very useful (if you use Outlook or Outlook Express for managing your e-mails). My personal thanks to the author.

Homepage / Download for Outlook /Download for Outlook Express