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This freebie allows you to play and convert most any type of multimedia file. I found it while trying to get .MOD files to play on my computer. JVC sucks, because they choose weird proprietary file formats for their camcorders, but this program can play them and encode (convert) them without hassle. If you just buy Canon from the start, you won’t have such issues.

Regardless of what you buy, you may, sometime, find that you need to convert one multimedia file to another type of file. Or you may just need a program that can play a weird multimedia file when Windows Media Player or whatever you have simply won’t play it. There are no extra codecs to download. Everything you need is built right in. And once you get this program and start playing around with it, you’ll see that it can do much more than I’ve already mentioned.

If you have a slow computer Super may take a while to load up. Even on my machine, which isn’t slow, it takes longer than other programs to get going.

Download Super here (there’s a link that says “download super setup file” near the bottom of the page).

A reader recently sent us a quick question about the “horror on the hill” spoken of in Mark 13. We believe this may be a reference to the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel.

Check out the article and feel free to tell us what you think.

Read it here.

A reader mentioned that she didn’t think Christians should wear jewelry because we should be set apart - not of this world. We agree that Christians should be set apart. But do we agree that Christians should avoid jewelry altogether?

Read this article to find out.

AVG 8.0 has arrived. I’m slightly disappointed in it.

Not to worry, though. AVG 8.0 still provides free virus protection. Not only that, this version incorporates anti-spyware technology. Nice.

The problems:

1. The program is double the size of AVG 7.5. It’s more intrusive meaning system performance will likely suffer.
2. It’s been reported (not by me) to be buggy. I’ve had no problems myself.
3. If you don’t use the “custom” installation option, you’ll install the Yahoo! toolbar, which they’re calling a “security” toolbar. Huh? Come on, AVG, just be open and honest here.
4. AVG ramped up efforts to get users to download the commercial version. The warnings and reminders that “you’re not fully protected” and that you should “download now!” abruptly jump out at you at various times.

Overall, I recommend AVG 8.0. Automatic updates, email scanning, spyware protection, the ability to schedule daily scans . . . what’s not to like? Combined with a decent firewall (Windows firewall works well) and real-time spyware protection (like Windows Defender, for instance), you’ll have a pretty solid security suite.

Do you get everything you’d get with the commercial version? Obviously not, or AVG would be out of business. You’ll be missing the hostile websites protection, a rootkit scanner, a firewall, and free support, among some other minor goodies.

I feel safe without the above, so I’m quite happy with this offering.

In fact, I have disabled some of the aspects of this program so that it’s less intrusive. Check out page 50 of Koroush Ghazi’s Tweaking Companion for Windows XP. You’ll find a detailed explanation of the options he recommends disabling for optimal system performance. I’ve found these settings to work well for me. Remember, there’s always a trade-off when considering system performance versus system security. The more safeguards in place, the less “peppy” your system will be. The fewer safeguards in place, the more “at risk” your system will be. It’s up to you to decide your comfort level.

Get AVG 8.0 here.

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while. I really don’t have an excuse. We’ve posted a new article on truthsaves. It discusses pornography. Some people dismiss the subject as unimportant or “no big deal.” We feel differently. Those who pursue pornography are like oxen that go willingly to the slaughter. Its house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death.

Read the article here.

There are lots of video editors out there, but Virtualdub meets my needs quite well. It’s fast, updated regularly, has excellent support via the forums, and has plugin capabilities. The learning curve is, well, a bit steep for a non-video-editing person like myself, but a few hours of study has enabled me to produce some short videos with some basic edits, cool fades and fun musical tracks. Not too bad for a video loser like myself.

If you want this program, you’ll need some codecs and plugins to make everything work right. For instance, I tried editing a JVC .MOD file, but all I got was an error message. Apparently I needed the mpeg-2 plugin. You can get that here. Download it and unzip it in the virtualdub plugins folder.

Great, now you have the plugin, but you have no sound. No problem. You can get sound for that stupid .MOD file by downloading an AC3 decompressor. You can get that right here. After you download the codec, you have to unzip it, then right-click the .inf file and click “install.” All done.

Other plugins provide additional functionality. The FadeFX plugin allows you to easily fade in from or to black. Nice. Easy.

Compressing videos is another matter. You’ll need some codecs if you don’t have them already. I’d recommend at least ffdshow and DivX (when you download DivX, you only need the codec, not the player or the other junk). These allow you to compress your videos for sites like YouTube or whatever you’d need to compress videos for.

I’ve just started playing with videos, and I’ve posted a few on YouTube. Check them out if you’re bored (type in mreae in the YouTube search). As you can see, compressing videos for viewing on YouTube isn’t the easiest thing in the world. I’ve tried about every codec in the book and they all suck. I think I’ve achieved the best results with ffdshow, using H.264 as my encoder, and using multipass. Does that make any sense at all? It’s starting to, to me, but still, the complexity of editing video with this program is, to say the least, quite daunting. But if you’re up for the task, get Virtualdub and get it now!

Get Virtualdub here.