Category Archives: BRCS Freeware SIG

Post related to the Boca Raton Computer Society freeware special interest group.

Where I Find Free Software February 24, 2011 Session

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After a long absence due to meeting place being unavailable for November and December of 2010, and the moderator’s unavailability for January 2011, the BRCS Freeware Special Interest Group (SIG) met in the evening of Thursday, February 24, 2011.

The subject was where to find free software. We were actually able to go to a few of the sites mentioned, and then our connection to the internet suddenly died out.

The presentation, notes, and a document containing all the links mentioned, have been posted in LibreOffice, Microsoft, and PDF formats at:

https://app.box.com/v/brcs-freewaresig.

These are all under a Creative Commons license, so you may use, alter to suit your own needs, share with others, etc., as long as attribution to http://brcsfreewaresig.blogspot.com/ is shown, it is for noncommercial purposes, and it is shared under the same licensing.

As always, please comment if you need more information, or if you have further information.

October 28, 2010 Freeware SIG Session

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The files from the October 28, 2010 BRCS Freeware SIG session, Online Storage, have been posted in the OnlineStorage-Oct10 folder at https://app.box.com/v/brcs-freewaresig.

The notes and presentation files are posted in OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office, and PDF formats with Creative Commons licensing, to allow other user groups to utilize as well.

If you use them, please let me know and what your comments are.

While you are at the box.net location, check out what has been posted for previous sessions. There will be nothing for the November 2010 session, as that is Thanksgiving evening.

BatteryBar Utility – My Experience

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I decided this morning that I would look for a battery meter for my HP Pavilion tx1410us Vista Home Premium SP2 notebook, as the Vista built-in does not show the remaining time, only the percentage of charge remaining.

My requirements were that it be freeware / open source, and that it provide a read out of the estimated time remaining.

I went to Gizmo’s freeware and searched for battery. https://www.techsupportalert.com/ (Gizmo’s Freeware has shut down)
The first result was:

The recommendation was:

“So, here’s an excellent dedicated free Battery Meter: BatteryBar !
The free version is pre-configured, but still has most/all information one needs.

Pass the mouse over the little display and you’ll see all data it

keeps track of. Click on it and it changes from % remaining to
hours:minutes remaining, all this in a color bar : green, yellow and
red. When it’s blue, battery is charging.

go to

http://osirisdevelopment.com/index.html“

I followed the link, read the information there, checked what others had to say by searching in Google, and downloaded BatteryBar v3.3.3 Free . I scanned the downloaded file with my anti-virus software, and installed it once it showed clear. (System requirements say XP, Vista and Windows 7 supported, both 32bit and 64bit.)

Once installed it showed up as a toolbar showing the percentage of charge left , then when clicked toggled to show time remaining , just what I was looking for.

Also, when I hover over the toolbar with the mouse, more detailed information is shown such as the capacity, charge rate, and battery wear.

There is a “Pro” version, but this does just what I wanted, so I see no need to upgrade.