Do you hate having to go to umpteen sites just to download your essential software to get your computer running?
Do you hate then having to again go to umpteen sites again to check for software updates, and then downloading and installing them?

Well I have the answer for you, it is call the Google Pack. Not only does the Google Pack include a wealth of Google software it also includes many non-Google software titles such as, Skype, RealPlayer, Adobe Reader, Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE, Ad-Aware SE Personal, Mozilla Firefox, and all the software is downloaded and installed according to your preferences. And as an added bonus there is a service that runs in the background called Google Updater and it will keep all of the supported installed programs updated to their latest and greatest version. See image to the right for a screen shot of Google Updater.

So if you would like to check out the Google Pack just click the button below:

The following wealth of programs is one of the main reasons I recommend it along with Firefox on the left side of my site.

List of Software in Google Pack

• Google Earth
• Google Desktop
• Picasa
• Google Pack Screensaver
• Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar
• Norton AntiVirus 2005 Special Edition
• Ad-Aware SE Personal
• Adobe Reader
• Google Talk
• Google Video Player
• RealPlayer
• GalleryPlayerHD Images
• Skype

Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, Google, Search Engine

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Well its offical Apple iTunes 7.1 was just recently released. This is the quote from the Apple Site on the release:

About iTunes 7.1 for Windows
iTunes is the world’s best way to organize and enjoy your personal digital music and video collection with your Mac. iTunes is also the easiest way to sync music, videos, and more with your iPod.With iTunes, easily create a digital music and video collection by importing your personal music CDs or downloading your favorite songs and videos from the iTunes Store. Create your own playlists, perfect for any mood or occasion. Burn playlists to CDs and play them on your home stereo, or sync iPod with iTunes and enjoy your collection in your car or on the go.

What’s New in this Version
Using iTunes 7.1, you can now enjoy your favorite iTunes movies, TV shows, music, and more from the comfort of your living room with Apple TV. iTunes 7.1 also supports a new full screen Cover Flow and improved sorting options to let you decide how iTunes should sort your favorite artists, albums, and songs.

You may remember my previous article talking about how to install iTunes 7.0.x on Windows Vista x64. Well I am getting ready to install iTunes 7.1 on my machine and will provide an update on the progress. Hopefully Apple has done a good job at getting iTunes to work with Windows Vista x64.

Update: (8:00 am) I have tried installing Apple iTunes 7.1 on my Windows Vista Ultimate x64 and it failed dismally. Gave me some error that said Apple iTunes installer could not run VBScript for the installer. I don’t really understand why iTunes is using VBScript, because this is moving backwards from every other MSI installer, and this is actually the first program that I have had problems installing since upgrading to Windows Vista back at the end of November 2006. I really have a feeling this has to do with Apple programmers not understand Windows MSI Installer. Why can’t Apple hire Windows Application developers like Microsoft hires Mac Application developers for its Office Suite. I will post another update as soon as I find a solution.

Update: (2:01 pm) Apparently Apple requires you to enabled VB Script which was disabled by Microsoft by default because of potential use by internet worms and trojan viruses. I have created a step-by-step guide to walk users through the process of enabled VB Script and then disabling it after the iTunes install is done. Apparently Apple is not the only vendor having problems with the disabling of the scripting languages in Vista, I have seen reports that Adobe Photoshop CS3 is having trouble installing because JScript is disabled. I am willing to put up with this for now, because it was a good move on Microsoft’s part because of the harm the scripting languages have caused in the past.

Tags: Adobe, Apple, iTunes, Microsoft, Windows Vista

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Well I finally figured out how to remove the Updater5 folder from your My Documents folder. I have written about this problem, as well as many other people, and now here is the solution for us anal retentive people that don’t like our My Documents folder cluttered with application artifacts.

Follow the couple steps I have outlined below and the Updater5 folder will be out of your life forever.

1. Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater5
2. Run AdobeUpdaterInstallMgr.exe and wait for the progress bar to finish and show you the following screen.
   
3. Then click Browse button and change it to any directory you want as shown below.
   
4. Now click the OK button and you are done.

And now you should never see the Updater5 folder in your My Documents folder ever again. This solution has worked both on my Windows XP as well as Windows Vista boxes that I have tried it on. For Mac users you can try hunting down the same updater program and going through the steps however I don’t have a step-by-step guide for you.

This solution seems a little more elegant than many of the other solutions I have seen floating around on the net. So pass this around and thank the stars that Adobe made this configurable, even thought it is hidden away and should have never been defaulted to the My Documents folder in the first place.

Update: Many people have been asking me if they can offer me anything for getting rid of the annoying Updater5 folder. Honestly the answer is no, I do this because I enjoy doing it, and I hope the readers will come back to check out my other content. But if you would really like to do something for me, please visit one of the sponsors to the right or the left. They are how I support this site and keep it running.

Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, User Experience

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Recently I posted about the bad user experience that the Adobe Update Manager provided. On the same day that I posted that entry I also sent a note to Adobe about my disappointment in their product. I am happy to say I received a positive response from Adobe, and with the e-mail below, my respect for their QA team has gone up a couple notches. I say this because it takes a level of humility that is required in software development to admit you are wrong, something that not many companies have anymore.

Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 16:33:58 -0500
Subject: Bug Report Form

Nick

Thank you for taking the time to let us know your concern.

You are right.
I’m not sure why we are placing this folder in the my documents folder.
However it isn’t a mistake, the program intends for it to be there but
as I mentioned you are right - it is a strange place for that folder
structure.

A bug has been filed against the situation.
Hopefully it will be corrected with future releases.

Jason —–
Adobe Acrobat Quality Engineering

So I hope Adobe will follow through on their promise to look in to this and hopefully have it fixed on the next release.

Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, User Experience

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Recently I upgraded Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0. I would first like to say that I found the new updated user interface a very nice experience. However there was one problem with the experience and it had nothing to do with the Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0, it had to do with the Adobe Update Manager.

For some reason the Update Manager puts a folder called Updater5 in the My Documents folder. From what I can tell this folder is always empty at least it has been always empty on my laptop. You are all probably saying why not just delete the folder and stop whining about it. However it is not that easy, I delete the Updater5 folder and as soon as I open Adobe Acrobat Reader up, the folder reappears. This makes me furious because not only is this a bad experience for users, such as my self, that like to keep their document folders organized, but the folder isn’t called Adobe’s Documents or Adobe’s Temporary Directory it is called My Documents as in Nick’s Personal Documents.

This is all speculation on my part but I can only assume that the reason the folder is in the My Documents folder, assuming that this just isn’t a mistake, is because that the updater may be run differently for each logged in user on the system and Adobe needs a space on the hard drive that is different for each user. There are so many other places Adobe could have chosen to put this folder such as C:\Program Files\Adobe or how about this mysterious folder C:\Documents and Settings\[my user name]\Application Data\AdobeUM with UM only meaning Update Manager or how about C:\Documents and Settings\[my user name]\Application Data\Adobe. The point is that Adobe has gone out of it’s way to create all these folders, some global system folders, and some user only folders, but why did their developers scratch their head and say the My Documents folder is the most logical place for this?

At this point you are probably wondering why I am posting this to Coder Journal, well it is basically to illustrate a point about user experience, and how as a developer you should do everything to make your application as painless as possible to the user of your application. After all you have made your application to make the life of the user a little simpler, not a little simpler with a thorn in their side.

So I will leave you with this basic rule, don’t invade the user’s personal space. It will make them uneasy and they will go out and find another application that may or may not work as well as yours, but they will find one that doesn’t invade their personal space.

Update: (2007-1-4) Adobe sent me an e-mail saying this shouldn’t be there, but it wasn’t a mistake.

Update: (2007-2-20) I have found a way to change the temp folder that Adobe updates to.

Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, User Experience

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