Useful Research Links and Tools

[John Dolva]

Links to useful resources

http://www.members.aol.com/a1eah71/mysite/index.htmTools for searching online resources

"-Warren Commission

-Testimony

-Name index of witnesses

-Exhibits

-Guide to Warren Commission numbered exhibits - easily searchable if one knows the exhibit code or a descriptive word

-Guide to Warren Commission named exhibits - easily searchable if one knows the exhibit code or a descriptive word

-HSCA

-Hearings

-Guide to the hearings of the HSCA

-Dallas City Archives

-Guide to the City of Dallas Archives"

WC hearings and exhibits. Can be downloaded as pdf files and from there with Adobe Acrobat copied into image programs.

http://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/contents.htm

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Image tools (freeware)

Image Analyzer* - very good, many diagnostic feaures not readily available, (leave a thank you) and grab the plugins...

http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/

Irfanview (ditto)

http://www.irfanview.com/

* one very useful feature is save as > format options. Save as jpg at roughly 75 % reduces the byte size of the image dramatically, allowing for upload as attachment without going over the attachment space available with minimal detail reduction. (on Forum go to (top right of page when logged in) My Controls > Manage attachments to delete excess.

Another good alternative is a readily set up photobucket.com free account to which images can be uploaded to and the link copied from there and inserted in the posted text. This means that non-members can also access the imagery and that members don't have to log in to view the images. Photobucket allows a much larger space for multiple uploads, including videos with some limitations in the free account.

Edited June 11, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

Security tools (freeware)

AdAware SE

http://www.lavasoft.de/

Spybot Search and Destroy

http://www.spybot.info/

Firewall: ZoneAlarm

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/com...=AU〈=en

[John Dolva]

Some tips for ease of use of Forum:

In order to reduce likelyhood of double posts, and posts not 'bumping the topic':

Type text in basic Notepad first. When reasonably satisfied select and rightclick and copy to clipboard, press reply, log in and scroll to end of posting window and right click/paste. Then, as soon as the 'attacment feature' has loaded, press the post button. Then, when the page has reloaded, editing can be done at leisure. The choice is then basic or full editing. Full editing has an advantage of adding color to selected text.

Edited June 11, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

Search tools: (freeware)

WebFerret: searches search engines

http://www.ferretsoft.com/

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Online search engines:

Very interesting visual presentation:

"KartOO is a metasearch engine with visual display interfaces. When you click on OK, KartOO launches the query to a set of search engines, gathers the results, compiles them and represents them in a series of interactive maps through a proprietary algorithm"

http://kartoo.com/

listing of MANY engines:

http://www.isol.cc/isot/htdocs/library/boo...rch_engines.htm

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Edited June 11, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

Internet Explorer add on: (freeware)

MyIE2: an easily installed and configured add on to IE which gives a configurable multitab feature where many (200+) pages can be open at the same time and clicking on tabs placed top or bottom as one wishes one can easily jump from one to the other plus a simple zoom feature to see large images and enlarge smaller ones. Plus close down options allowing the cleaning out of cookies etc.

http://www.maxthon.com/

"Maxthon Internet Browser software is a powerful tabbed browser with a highly customizable interface. It is based on the Internet Explorer browser engine (your most likely current web browser) which means that what works in the IE browser will work the same in Maxthon tabbed browser but with many additional efficient features like...

-Tabbed Browsing Interface

-Mouse Gestures

-Super Drag&Drop

-Privacy Protection

-AD Hunter

-RSS Reader

-IE Extensions Support

-External Utility Bar

-Skinning

-And Much More to Explore... "

Edited June 11, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

RAM and working with large images:

Sometimes when working with large image files, something like OptimizeMemory 3.5 (freeware) will help by forcing a reorganising of memory from RAM to Virtual Ram on-disc. It also has a useful 'clearing of the clipboard' function.

http://update.dsl.sk/update/software.php?id=28

It's a good idea to defragment regularly, and at least once to create a contiguous (look it up) space, and then manually in System settings set a Permanent Virtual Ram* on the free space, roughly 2.5 X the onboard RAM is a good figure. This means that as the disc space defragments with use, at least this permanent contiGuous Virtual RAM remains available and slow downs postponed or eliminated as long as one doesn't push the resources too much. Add a dash of patience and many problems are overcome. The odd reboots with a pause (say 10 seconds) to clear buffers is not a bad idea.

*When doing so set the Max first, then the Min at same value. Otherwise sometimes the change doesn't 'take'.

If video RAM is shared with the onboard RAM a bottle neck can occur in rendering the image from the program producing it through the RAM to the Monitor. Apart from patience and not doing anything, even moving the mouse, during the rendering, a cheap alternative is to see if there is a slot to put in an AGP (pref) cheap large-on-card-RAM video card and switching off the onboard video RAM. This shouldn't be attempted by the novice as static and other issues need to be scrupulously followed. A known Whizz pal or a shop is best for this. They can do it quickly and reliably and still be a cheap option.

Not enough video RAM can give an otherwise adequate computer an 'appearance' of being outdated.

Edited June 11, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

A good free fast image browser, organiser, with some simple features including film frame extraction: xnview

http://www.xnview.com

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If you can afford "PicGrabber" it is great for throroughly searching the web and automatically downloading images for later scrutiny. The unregistered version does the same but with a low grade gray scale conversion with a watermark, but still useful, as ImageAnalyzer's histogram equalisation and other features feature can restore some clarity and the watermark can be cropped out.

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Ballistics Programs:

search and down load shareware with nag screen if you don't buy but with all features useful for trajectory plots: search and download: "Trajactory Plot".

Also very useful : "External Ballistics" program, search and free download. Very useful if one understands the terminology and knows the parameters. Even just trying to get it to work is educational.

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Some sites have the right click save/copy function of images disabled. http://www.mirekw.com/ provides "MWsnap", a freeware screenshot program for use in those instances. This program is also useful in transferring images from otherwise incompatible image programs. for example, at times ImageAnalyzer doesn't readily allow transfer from it to photoshop clones. MWsnap overrides this.

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Edited June 11, 2007 by John Dolva

[Robin Unger]

Have you been looking at all the videos on Youtube and thought i wish i could download that video to my harddrive.

Would you then like to Unplug it from Youtube and turn it in to a Div x (AVI) movie.

Would you then like to turn that Div x movie in to a playable DVD which you can play on your home television.

Now you can. ( Youtube Conversion for the Novice ) Step by step instructions.

I stumbled across the following website it explains in easy to follow steps, how to do it, what tools to use. where to find them, how to use them, and in what order to use them.

Go HERE first for video conversion:

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/You..._AVI_page4.html

Go HERE second for Div x(AVI) to DVD conversion.

http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/articl...2dvd_page1.html

[Myra Bronstein]

Have you been looking at all the videos on Youtube and thought i wish i could download that video to my harddrive.

...

Yes.

Would you then like to Unplug it from Youtube and turn it in to a Div x (AVI) movie.

Would you then like to turn that Div x movie in to a playable DVD which you can play on your home television.

Now you can. ( Youtube Conversion for the Novice ) Step by step instructions.

I stumbled across the following website it explains in easy to follow steps, how to do it, what tools to use. where to find them, how to use them, and in what order to use them.

Go HERE first for video conversion:

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/You..._AVI_page4.html

Go HERE second for Div x(AVI) to DVD conversion.

http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/articl...2dvd_page1.html

Yes and yes again.

Thank you Robin!

[Myra Bronstein]

Ok, this is a really simple one but it helps me.

I think we all know the limitations of the forum search engine...

So, instead I use google to find something in the ed forum.

For example, could not find this using the forum engine so typed into google:

"The Color of Truth" education forum jfk assassination"

Boom, top hit was what I was looking for.

[John Dolva]

media player classic is a good viewer (freeware) for most video files. Compact and lots of useful features like zoom and pan.

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_so...yer_classic.cfm

[Greg Parker]

If you have a web address you want to visit, but the site has been taken down, you can still look at it through the Wayback Machine.

[John Dolva]

Good idea, as well Yahoo has a option to look at cached pages which sometimes yields info deleted from current page, and an option to view pdf's as HTML which speeds things up, including serches on page.

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LHO ancestry:

http://www.wargs.com/other/oswald.html

[John Dolva]

Security and traces:

regularly clearing index.dat is a good idea IMO. Various freeware utilities are available. search for 'index.dat' and choose what suits.

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Gibson Research Corporation.

http://www.grc.com/intro.htm

offers an online security test in a number of steps called 'shields up' that 'attacks' your computer and lets you know whether there are security gaps. Also much of the on-site documentation is worth reading.

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By default make all updates conditional not automatic. Choose to do so, and do it regularly.

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ctrl-alt-delete (in MS based systems) provides a window of running processes. Get familiar with them and check regularly for odd entrances.

Hack progs., trojans etc can in this way be quickly identified and dealt with.

[John Dolva]

Security and traces:

regularly clearing index.dat is a good idea IMO. Various freeware utilities are available. search for 'index.dat' and choose what suits.

____________

Gibson Research Corporation.

http://www.grc.com/intro.htm

offers an online security test in a number of steps called 'shields up' that 'attacks' your computer and lets you know whether there are security gaps. Also much of the on-site documentation is worth reading.

_____________

By default make all updates conditional not automatic. Choose to do so, and do it regularly.

______________

ctrl-alt-delete (in MS based systems) provides a window of running processes. Get familiar with them and check regularly for odd entrances.

Hack progs., trojans etc can in this way be quickly identified and dealt with.

What are index.dat files?

"Index.dat files are hidden files on your computer that contain all tracks of your online activity, where have you been on internet, what sites you visited, list of URL-s, files and documents you recently accessed. Index.dat files stored on your computer are obviously a potential privacy threat as they can be found and viewed without your knowledge."

http://www.systenance.com/indexdat.php