this is not a complete list, it is a
work in progress.
All of these work with the current
version of Windows 10.
Also, please note that I don't get any money or support from the makers or vendors of the wares shown here.
A good place to look for alternatives
to wares you know and like is . . . ..
I can't thank these folks enough. Just
fill in the name of whatever you want an alternative software to and
pop! There it is. Or to be exact, there they are.
MaComfort
I've already mentioned this one - it makes multiple desktops work sensibly.
Even if you never used Mac OSX it would be worth it just to have that feature.
Actually it sometimes doesn't quite work properly - but that is because I use DAZ Studio which takes a lot of computer power just to open a detailed scene. It's also not an essential feature, just a nicety: nothing stops you from having several programs running and switching between them on a single "desktop", after all. That's what CTRL-TAB is for.
Actually it sometimes doesn't quite work properly - but that is because I use DAZ Studio which takes a lot of computer power just to open a detailed scene. It's also not an essential feature, just a nicety: nothing stops you from having several programs running and switching between them on a single "desktop", after all. That's what CTRL-TAB is for.
Seer
This provides the "Preview" feature that I really can't go without: just pick an image or movie icon, tap he spacebar and there is your picture!Listary
This does what Default Folder X did on
Mac OSX – namely, remember where you opened that file from and let
you go straight back there. The free version of Listary does that
and more. To use it, when you go to open or save, click the middle
mouse button and pop! There's a menu of everything you just accessed
called “recent” along with some other options I haven't even
looked at yet.
WindowBlinds
Once or twice, for a brief time before
Apple updated their OS again, we had OS skins on Mac, but Apple DID
NOT WANT ANYONE TO SKIN THEIR OS so they killed it. Not once but
repeatedly.
Over in Windowsville, folks never had
that issue: they have Windowblinds and there are hundreds
of themes that work with Windows, 7, 8 and 10. All of this cost
me a whopping $14 AU and there are lots of free themes, and some that
you can buy too, although I am very happy so far with the free ones.
You can also edit the colours of any theme to your preference which
is very, very useful – and I haven't even dug into all of the
features yet. There is also an editor for themes that you can buy for
a modest price and make your own.
This is sooo good!
MicroSoft doesn't seem to mind either.
This one is called "Aspect":
FolderMarker
This allows you to change a folder icon
to a different colour or a whole different icon from the right-click
popup menu – and you'll see “Mark Folder”. This doesn't quite
go as far as the Mac OS tagging system I went on about in previous
posts but it sure helps a lot. The free version works fine but is
limited to ten personalised icons. I got the Home Edition for $36
which has more room for icons but even the free version is perfectly
usable. It is also a whole lot quicker than changing icons the
standard windows way – it's there, but it's four clicks away and
then you still have to find the icon and confirm it, twice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finalised performance info for you tech
heads out there: I fitted a Noctua NF-A12 fan to the NH-D15S cooler
to lower the max temperatures and it seems to have worked by about 5
degrees.
Now, running at 100% load, the Max
temp is 75-77c with a max of 45-47 Db of fan noise from the two fans
on full. I'm not so worried about the noise since I always have music
playing when I am using the computer but it's there for your info.
Adding a second smaller fan to the D15S
was the only way to get more air moving and it is a little bit odd
since the fan that came with the D15 is a 140mm but the new one is
120 and faster – but nothing bigger would fit in the case due to
the RAM height.
Performance figures- Blender Tests
Mac Pro
BMW 6:17 377
Classrooom 18:20 1100
Pavilion 20:00 1200
7900x
BMW 3:52 232
Classrooom 11:54 714
Pavilion 13:08 788
7980XE
BMW 2:28 148
Classrooom 7:32 452
Pavilion 9:58 598
So for all three Blender CPU tests, the time has been halved or better.
