Author: James Thornton

There’s nothing that puts a visitor to your site off more than a string of broken links, missing graphics or files. To avoid this embarrassment and the consequent exodus from your site, Dreameaver has a neat tool that helps you make sure everything is working properly. Simply go to the ‘Site’ menu in the application and choose ‘Check Links Sitewide’. Adobe’s flagship web editor will then willingly generate a report of all broken links on your site.

To fix a link all you need do is click onto the broken link and browse to the correct file. Be warned though, if you need to view local file references you’ll need to change your Link Checker from ‘Show Broken Links’ to ‘Show External Links’. You can also use the app to find orphan files (i.e. files that aren’t in use) by altering your link report to ‘Show Orphaned Files’. If you’re a HTML puritan and don’t use a WYSIWYG editor then try Web Link Validator, which is more than adept at checking broken external links.

While it’s fair to say that there is a piece of software that covers virtually every computing requirement, it seems some people are still left wanting when it comes to performing certain tasks. Despite the rise of online photo-blogging services like Flickr and applications such as Web Photos Pro, one Indian paediatrician was disappointed at the lack of tools for his personal requirements and decided to take the matter into his own hands by creating his own piece of software.

In order to help him set up his bird photography site, nagpurbirds.org, first-time developer Tarique Sani turned his hand to a spot of PHP programming and conjured up his fully featured photo blogging creation, CheeseCake Photoblog, in just three weeks. Like many before him, Sani believes that the open source PHP and MySQL platform is proving to be the perfect launchpad for bringing bespoke web applications to life.

The doctor-turned code junky explained: “PHP has a phenomenal potential for India. There’s money to be made provided it is built up properly. Now it’s making inroads into the enterprise class of code, which was earlier dominated by Java. That’s good news.”

Though it’s unlikely that CheeseCake will ever come near to toppling Flickr, it’s certainly a decent application with plenty of tailor-made features such as buzzwords, specifically designed for blogging, and is open to expansion by bolting on plug-ins. With PHP authors such as PHP Designer and DzSoft PHP Editor becoming ever easier to manipulate, we’re bound to see more part-time developers making in-roads into extremely niche areas within the software world that the big players simply don’t have the inclination to explore.

After two years of hype and expectation, Windows Vista is finally upon us. No sooner has the somewhat muted launch been made and already analysts are queuing up to dismiss the chances of Microsoft’s latest puppy making a major impact on the computing world. Undoubtedly the OS has made major strides in plugging security holes, improving mobile communication links and making the desktop look all pretty, but will consumers be excited enough to rush for an upgrade?

The IT boffins at Gartner think not, predicting that by this time next year, Vista will be running on a mere 10% of PCs, arguing that home users and businesses do not see a benefit in an immediate upgrade. According to the analysts’ blog:

“Microsoft promotes Vista as a remedy to a myriad of mobility challenges – power management, network awareness, offline access to important data, multiple displays, grab-and-go docking and readability – and the new features do make headway in these areas. Although Vista’s mobility features are useful, they are not essential. None of them, nor the sum, constitute an immediate “must have” for any organization. As a result, organizations should resist the idea of early migration ahead of desktop computers, unless specific business issues are being addressed.”

However, not everyone is so pessimistic about the chances of the latest version of Windows, including UK-based analysts Ovum. Software practice head David Mitchell predicts that 15% of PC users will adopt Windows Vista during its first year, compared to between 12 and 14% for Windows XP, which launched in October 2001. “That would make it the fastest moving operating system ever,” according to Mitchell.

It seems these days that computer users fear spyware more than they do creepy crawlies or ghosts – perhaps with good reason. No one wants their system to be overrun my malicious code that detects and tracks your online activity. Of course, there are plenty of anti-spyware tools available that are designed to keep your machine free of intrusive spyware.

Although usually very effective, traditional anti-spyware software has a tendancy to slow down your system and leave you hanging around while it works its magic. However, the latest release from Max Secure Software, Max Spyware Detector 2.0 is designed to eliminate prying applications in seconds thanks to its built-in Smart Scan technology.

“Consumers have been asking for an anti-spyware product that can detect spyware and doesn’t take all day to do it,” explains Sanjay Pradham, CEO of Max Secure Software. “Before Max Spyware Detector was available, consumers were spending an average of 25 or more minutes waiting for their anti-spyware product to do its job, but now as a result of Max Spyware Detector, we’ve been able to cut consumers’ scan time down to only a few minutes at the longest.”

You would think that skipming on scanning time would allow certain spyware apps to go through undetected, but MaxSpyware seems to deliver a thorough scan and picked up virtually everything we could throw at it in terms of installing known spyware apps. While not as thorough as Ad-Aware, the application is great for those who want to ensure they’re not being watched while at the same time saving on scanning times.

Now that Adobe has successfully monopolized the graphic design market following its aquisition of Macromedia, insight into the company’s bumper software portfolio is becoming increasinlgy sought-after. Whether you’re looking to build websites, design posters or produce magazines, Adobe now rules the roost over the best packages available.

Thankfully, the corporation is far from being a big, bad money-making machine (well, maybe to some extent) and has always made the effort to foster a community of users and educate them on how to deliver the best results through its software. Whether you’re using Photoshop, GoLive or Illustrator, the Adobe Creative Suite Video podcast provides a great way to extent your skills with these programs. With professional demonstrations of how to manipulate the apps to produce wonderful creations, the site is perfect for anyone who wants to get away from merely Photoshopping their mate’s head onto a gibbon.