Tool:RapidShare Downloader

This program has been around for awhile but my old computer (from 1998) had conflicts with it so I never used it till last night. I was so impressed that I decided to give a recommendation for it.(over 40 downloads last night!!! best ratio ive ever gotten from RS)If you don't have a Rapidshare premium account but still need to download a .cbr or two every now and then? There's a program called Rapishare Downloader, which was programmed by someone with similar problems, namely, that there never seem to be download slots available for free users.

It's very simple and free. Simply add the url's to the programme's download queue and let it work quietly in the background. It doesn't do anything fancy like bypass the 15-minute waits or fool RS to think you have a premium account, but it's persistent and asks once a minute if there's a download slot available and if there is, it waits for the countdown and then downloads the file. You can make as long a queue of files to be downloaded as you like, and not bother with the actual work yourself. (It works best if you let it work at night, when there are always slots available. It does do a decent other times also).

note: check your download links before you add them to the queue. If there's a link to a deleted file, Rapidshare Downloader will try persistently but in vain to download it.

download it from here
zenjoy

Tools and Tips

Here are several tools and tips that should make it easier to use this website and others! I personally have used and can recommend these to everyone.

What are .CBR and .CBZ files and how to open them

Can't get a video file to play? Try VLC player

What is HJsplit and where to get it.

What are Torrents? and How to use them.

FireFox-web browser

Spybot - anti-spyware

Convert PDF to Jpeg

download programs to speed up the process!
Jdownloader - download from many sites

rapiddownloader-download from rapidshare

megaupload downloader - download from megaupload

ENJOY

Tool: Convert PDF to Jpg (jpeg)

PDF converter
If you have problems with PDF files (or simply dont like using PDF) here is a free tool that can help. Its not the greatest or the fastest one out there but it is easy to use and rather small in size. Plus best of all it's freeware..and there doesnt seem to be any spyware or other crap.
Find it here
http://www.brothersoft.com/office-convert-pdf-to-jpg-jpeg-tiff-free-204779.html


also you can try
PDF Image Extraction Wizard
available here
Enjoy and hope this helps! ~ Z.T.

What are Torrents and how to use them

For those who don't know - torrents are part of the filesharing web network. This is a peer to peer process - if you used napster , kazaa or a similar shareing site in the past then you'll understand the general idea. IF your completely new to this type of thing just think of networking computers together in order to share certain files. ( or you may want to think of it like kids trading comics on the playground.. ill let you read spiderman #1 if you let me read your Superman.. that type of thing. Although I guess it would technicaly be more like I'll Let you Xerox copy my comic if I can do the same to yours.) You need to have a program for downloading torrents such as bittorrent or azureus (vuze) just to name a few - and then all you do is download the small torrent from a hosting site (such as Pirate Bay ) and start linking to folks who already have it and are willing to share it (the programs mentioned above automatically finds these folks for you) there are many security programs also which will help - try 'Peer guardian' (you can download this program from pirate bay) For further Technical information on torrents try wikipedia - bit torrent. (or just google torrent - youll find a good explanation on many sites)

Some stuff you should know about:

A few things to keep a eye out for. Seeders - this term applies to folks who have the full file and are sharing it. Leechers these are the folks trying to get the file. both of these terms are on just about every torrent site out there - pay attention to these numbers! Usually the more seeders there are on a torrent the easier and faster youll get it. (if theres 2 seeders and 50 leechers it will take awhile - wheres as 50 seeders and 2 leechers should be rather quick)

Share and Share alike - If you download a full file be one of the good guys and be sure to let others get it also. (seed it back for folks) - some torrent sites have rules that make you give back at least as much as you got (in mbs) but you should give back even if they dont make you - its just good curtousy. Someone else took the time to let you Download - pay it forward to the next person in need.

Don't ever pay for a torrent site or membership - there are way too many places for free.

My recommendations: Program for downloading:
I use Azureus/ VUZE - as the program for downloading files. Easy to use and figure out. Find the program and info on vuze at http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ This program has several 'levels' which make it easy for newbies to get started and also is great for folks who have used torrents for awhile because they can adjust many options (once you know what they do - dont run till you have figured out how to walk!)

Places to Download torrents at:

For starting out I suggest the Pirate Bay - movies,tv,comics,software and more. http://thepiratebay.org/. the Pirate Bay is open to everyone (no membership or anything) Just use the search function and away you go! - Note Pirate Bay is open to the general public so there are some flakes on the network - just read the descriptions and comments and youll be fine i think.

Heads up: Start with small files for your first few couple torrents to make sure you have everything figured out. Also make sure there are plenty of seeders.

Also it is a good idea to read comments that may be attached to any torrent - these will help you greatly! sometimes a uploader doesnt put all the information in a description (or maybe they failed to tell you the quality sucks) well a quick peek at the comments may help! Especially on newer stuff .

Pay Attention to the uploader.If you find a certain file you liked go back and look at the uploader - you may want to see what else they have posted. (and since the first one came out ok more than likely the other files from the same uploader will be ok also) Ex: aXXo is a common on many sites and usually aXXO torrents are superb.

More Torrent sites I recommend
Note these torrent sites ask for Registration ( Just a email and stuff - no $ needed)

• Cinemageddon
• Torrent scan (search many torrent sites at once)
• Demonoid (Demonoid membership is only open at certain times)
  

I hope this primer helped! Look for further torrent info and recommendations in the future.

Did I miss something or get it wrong? Please comment!

Tool: Spybot search and destroy

ARGH I hate spyware! If you don't have a good anti-spyware program yet (or it isn't catching all of the probs) give this a try.Spybot Search and Destroy is a free, fast, proactive antispyware app, and it doesn't require you to provide an e-mail address or any other information about yourself. (and by free I mean Free - there is no upgrade. You get all functions .) Spybot's default mode is easy to use for most home users, and its advanced mode offers features that will please most high-end users. With its support of more than 30 different languages, Spybot maintains wide international appeal. Spybot is not a fixall, there are some things it wont get. But for a freebie that is safe and easy to use it's a good start to fixing your problems. Ive used it for years and it has helped many times.

Get the free download here

Please read the comments for additional info/recommendations/testimonial and some stuff to look out for. (thanks to billywitchdoctor!)
enjoy

Can't get a file to play? Try VLC player.

Just a head's up for those who don't know.

Can't play a certain file? Tired of downloading tons of codecs?
Here's a free program which seems to play just about every type of file out there. This is widely praised on many forums,blogs and websites that post files like what I post here at the lounge. Rather easy to use and should fix most problems folks have. (Easy to install and uninstall too. )
Versions for Mac, Windows, Linux and more!

Get more info on this at wiki

You can find this on tons of freeware and download sites but I say get it from the guys who made it:
Download from the makers videolan

This has helped me out on many files - I hope this helps you too!

What are .cbr and .cbz files? And How to open them.

Information: The Comic Book Archive format
A short tutorial for those who haven't used .cbr or .cbz files.

I am not a programmer but I do have some knowledge, none of it was needed for this process. IT'S SIMPLE! The files in question are easy enough to use for anybody after getting acquainted with a few easy steps.

What are cbr and cbz files?

Some comics,magazines and books come in a format called comic book archives. Commonly these are .cbr and .cbz files (there are a couple other more rare types which I do not post for download - see the wiki link below for more info on those other types.) These files are easily opened using a 'comic book reader' program for EX:CDisplay or similar program. I personally like the 'CDisplay' cause it's a tiny program without any spyware and bugs . It also uses little memory.
CDisplay is available for free here:

or
These files also can easily be opened with programs you should already have. You just need to change the name as follows:
Right click on the name of the file and choose 'rename'. Then change the file suffix as follows.
.CBR file change .cbr to .rar
example : Comicbook.cbr is renamed as Comicbook.rar
.CBZ file change .cbz to .zip
example : Comicbook.cbz is renamed as Comicbook.zip

After renaming it just unzip or unrar and you'll have all the jpgs in it's own folder.

See it's easy as pie! Now go download to your hearts content!

Want to learn more about CBR type files?
Then read more in depth information at wikipedia here.

enjoy and happy reading

Tool - web browser FireFox

Head's Up!

Here is just a recommendation on a web browser.
If your familiar with firefox please feel free to leave a comment.

Firefox is a web browser created by Mozilla. As of April 2008 it is the second most used browser behind Internet Explorer. It includes tons of advantages and add ons that IE just can't in my opinion even compare with. It automaticaly stops most pop ups and it doesn't share all that info with Microsoft like IE does. This is a must for web surfing for downloads I think. If your a IE user try this out for a day - I bet you'll switch!
Firefox runs on various versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and many other Unix-like operating systems.
Wiki info on firefox

I can't stress how much this tool has helped me out in the past - great stuff.
Download Firefox here

Enjoy!

What is HJsplit and where to get it.

For those who don't know...

HJ Split - program tool for easy file splitting - create perfect pieces or join them back in one easy step!

Art above by MCEscher
Freeware file splitter for a variety of platforms.
Why split files? Think of a file of 700MB or larger file and trying to upload/download it in one chunk, depending on your connection this could take all day or longer - what if there are errors and you wasted all that time? Also there are only a few sites which will host such a large file (for free especially) So what to do? HJSplit will enable you to split the large file into smaller chunks, which can be much more easily sent and stored. Later on these chunks can be re-joined using HJSplit itself or HJJoin.
HJSplit is available for a large number of operating systems:
Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP, Linux, Java, OS/2, Windows 3.x, MS DOS, Amiga. For the MAC there is a compatible file joiner available.

This is a great tiny self executing program with no strings - cool tool that every downloader should have.

All of the usual freeware sites should have a copy of this or a link to download it but I say get it from the original source - free and easy

download
http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/

Enjoy