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Find large files taking up hard drive space in Windows with WinDirStat

Almost all modern day computer users have run into the pesky problem of filling up a hard disk drive (HDD) to near capacity. But once you’ve filled up all of your disk space with large files, or just a boatload of smaller files, how do you find what files are eating up all of that space? There’s no easy way to do it natively in the Windows OS, but thankfully there are many 3rd party tools to help you on your quest to find and clean files from your HDD.

My favorite at the moment is a completely free utility named WinDirStat. It’s simple, easy to use and has a very helpful graphical interface (screenshot below) that shows directory trees and file types in colorful blocks. As the program’s Help section explains, it ”Shows where all your disk space has gone and helps you clean it up.”

The image above (click for higher res) shows a completed WinDirStat scan on my Acer notebook’s HDD. I am just about at capacity and I needed to find out what was eating up all of my disk space so that I could delete some files.

I love how it color codes file types to give you a quick graphical view of how much the various file types are eating up your HDD. Notice all the blue? All of the blue blocks correspond to .MOV (quicktime video format) files that are taking up space on my hard drive. Quick time video files are by far the biggest hard disk space hogs on my system, eating up 61.6GB of disk space and 49.5% of my total HDD capacity.

With the disk space utilization information provided by WinDirStat, I will now be able to easily go in and copy off or delete the offending .MOV files, freeing up disk space and expanding the available free storage on my drive.

On other Windows systems, WinDirStat has helped me to find and eliminate temporary video editing program files and temporary ASP.NET files. Both of these file groups were eating up huge amounts of disk space and they weren’t needed on the systems at all.

What is your favorite Windows tool for analyzing disk space usage and identifying large files on your hard drive?

Google TV gets an upgrade

In the run up to this year’s CES Expo, a new teaser video has been posted declaring Google TV to be all new for 2012.

If you remember, we were looking forward to Google TV’s release, but when it came it was underwhelming. The remote was unwieldy, and the menus were less than intuitive.

On top of those problems, content providers were blocking the devices so the promising features were damaged.

Here’s hoping Google learned from their mistakes, made a few new content-providing friends, and is finally releasing a product worth buying.

Are movies on disc dead?

During the Great Format Wars of 2007, some Outsiders kept their distance from the fray by declaring all physical media a lost cause. In spite of their valiant efforts, Blu-ray Disc sales have grown considerably, and the format is picking up the slack where DVD has left.

But the rag-tag bunch of insurgents would not give up, and now Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, iTunes, HBO Go and other mercenaries have kept their fight up and streaming video has become ubiquitous. Netflix instant-only subscribers far outnumber disc-only subscribers.

Given all that, nothing comes close to the director’s original intention of a cinematic experience like Blu-ray Disc does. Academy Award-winning director Ridley Scott even wrote an article for the Huffington Post arguing this point:

Blu-ray disc, of which I’ve been a supporter since its inception, is the closest we’ve come to replicating the best theatrical viewing experience I’ve ever seen. It allows us to present in a person’s living room films in their original form with proper colors, aspect ratio, sound quality, and, perhaps most importantly, startling clarity.

The problem with an argument like this is that it is directed at the geeks like me who care about quality over convenience. The people who have massive screens at home who can really make use of the higher definition video, and powerful speaker setups capable of delivering the audiophile-quality Blu-ray Disc provides.

The mass market consumer buys eggs at Walmart because it’s more convenient. They order clothes on Amazon without ever trying it on to avoid going to the store. And for years have complained about DVDs presented in their original theatrical aspect ratio, which lead to the horrific pan-and-scan copies that lopped off the sides of the picture.

Even more damning, the younger generation are watching more video on portable 3″ screens than on larger televisions or computer screens. At that size, high-definition really doesn’t matter.

Ridley Scott argues that, “Technology will need to make many more huge leaps before one can ever view films with the level of picture and sound quality many film lovers demand without having to slide a disc into a player, especially with the technical requirements of today’s 3D movies.” The important part of that sentence is “film lovers.” There are film lovers, and then there are casual film consumers. There is the guy who watched The Tree of Life four times in his local indie theater, and then the girl who stayed up all night to watch the latest Twilight regurgitation.

Personally, I spend more time streaming video from Netflix on my computer than I do in front of my TV with a Blu-ray Disc. This is borne out of practically though, as I can’t really blast my surround sound system while my kids are asleep. What I prefer is the high-definition quality and emotional impact of Blu-ray Disc, but what the reality I’ve come to is compromise happens where the rubber meets the road.

And in the end, I feel like going out to the Imax last weekend to see Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was the best compromise of all. Big screen. Big sound. Kids at home asleep.

8 days of free movies from Best Buy’s CinemaNow service

Best Buy has a pretty sweet deal for its CinemaNow digital download/streaming movie service that started yesterday. They’re offering up 8 free movie “purchases” (1 per day) for their Facebook fans. The deal started yesterday, so if you’re jumping in on it now, you’ll be able to get 7 free movies over the next 7 days if you so desire.

Yesterday I was easily able to redeem a coupon code for this promotion and I now “own” a digital copy of the film “Horrible Bosses”. Each day, you’ll be able to choose a free movie from a selection of approximately 8 films in their “showcase”, which will change daily.

Best Buy describes the promo by saying “Happy Holidays to you and your family from Best Buy & CinemaNow. There’s an advantage to being a Facebook fan – We are gifting our fans a complimentary movie each day for 8 days! Click here for today’s code to choose from 8 different titles for download.”

To get in on the free movie goodness, you’ll need to Like the Best Buy page on Facebook and then go to the “8 Days of Movies” app to get a new promo code each day, redeemable for one free movie in their showcase selection, while supplies last.

After you grab your promo code, head over to the CinemaNow offer page, select a movie, “Buy” it in SD, enter your promo code and enjoy your free flick!

Note: The free movie promo code for today (11/30) is not yet live as of the publishing of this post. Keep checking the Facebook page until it shows today’s free movie code.

Smartphones for the budget minded

In the world of technology, everything is so cutting edge that if you don’t have the latest quantum-core, fiber-spacial smartphone, you might as well be living in antiquities. I don’t really blame the tech writers for this, nor do I harbor any ill feelings towards the tech subculture that these writers cater to. But I’m not that guy, and you probably aren’t either.

Don’t get me wrong, I love technology, and I have been an early adopter on many technologies. I was on the internet before the World Wide Web was a thing. I was the first person in my area to have cable internet. But I’m also not a wealthy individual, so I’m not neck deep in technology. I didn’t have a cellphone until 2004. I still use a basic phone whose primary function is talking, and it doesn’t have a qwerty keyboard.

The allure of the technology is great, but I haven’t had enough desire to go that route. I don’t need to be connected to the internet all the time. I’m already in front of a computer nine-hours every work day, so it’s also nice to have a break from it while I’m away from work. And I’ve got to admit, a pet peeve of mine is when people pull their phones out while we’re talking, or at the dinner table.

But life is changing for me where the use of some features, like GPS or Google Music, would be practical. I’ve also just reached the contract end on my current wireless provider (T-Mobile), so it’s the perfect opportunity to seek out my options.

One of the major priorities I have is economical. My budget is at its limits as it is, so I must justify increasing my mobile plan rates with cuts somewhere else. The best case scenario would be to lower my overall rates. So I took the method of factoring in monthly rates, activation fees, and phone costs and average it out for two-years so I can compare costs between services both contractual and pay-as-you-go. I won’t go into the details here, but I found that if I were to use my current mobile service payments as the baseline (700-shared minutes and unlimited texts on two phones), a cheap smartphone at $99 plus only smartphone data plans would cost over $1,200-per-year. If my wife and I both did this, it would be over $2,400-per-year, obviously. Is that worth it?

Everyone has different priorities, but is having access to Facebook in my pocket worth as much as a decent low-cost vacation? My wife and I could hit the Mexican Riviera on Carnival Cruise for a week with that amount of cash, or I could have GPS when I’m out of town once a month, and I can compare prices while I’m shopping (which isn’t very often at my income level). I know there’s more to a smartphone than that, but I’m finding it very difficult to justify such a hefty price just for the minor convenience of the laugh track app when I tell a particularly dry joke.

One website I follow covered this dilemma and opted for Virgin Mobile or Boost Mobile as alternatives. Today being Cyber Monday, Virgin Mobile is offering three Android smartphones for 50% off, and an unlimited data plan starts at only $35-per-month. At that rate, a smartphone would be even cheaper than what I’m currently dealing with. But as price isn’t the only factor in economics, I don’t know how the Virgin network compares to other alternatives.

I really hope I’m not the only one who is in this predicament. If you have done this accounting for yourself and decided one way or the other, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Pocket XShot: even better than the original

We previously reviewed the XShot 2.0 and the verdict was clear, we dug it. The little contraption proved itself to be very useful and turned out to be one of our favorite camera accessories of all time.

The only issue that we had was that it was a bit too bulky and long, making it tough to carry around in a pants pocket. Not quite as portable as we’d like.

It seems that XShot took that feedback from their customers and improved their product once again. They now offer the Pocket XShot, and as you might expect, it’s small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket.

Whereas the XShot 2.0 collapsed down to 9 inches, the Pocket XShot compacts down to a mere 6.5 inches, just the right size in our opinion. Let’s take a look at the 2 products side by side.

XShot 2.0 vs Pocket XShot, fully compacted

In the fully collapsed, compacted configuration, the pocket XShot is a great size and highly portable. But does it also help you take great photos? Yes. I use the Pocket XShot a lot. It is a constant companion to my digital cameras and camcorders.

Let’s take a look at a sample photo taken using the Pocket Xshot.

Pocket XShot Sample Photo

Note: the photo above was cropped down from the full image. Camera: Canon PowerShot SD960 IS Digital ELPH.

As you can see from the image above, the Pocket XShot can help you take some great looking photos on your own, without messing with a tripod or having to bother anyone else for help.

The only negative that we ran into while using the Pocket XShot has to do with its tripod mounting screw threads. One of the bonus features of the accessory is that the bottom screws off and you can then attach it to a tripod. Unfortunately, the Pocket XShot would not fit or screw on to our Gorillapod mini tripod. This is a minor complaint and definitely not the product’s core purpose, but it’s still worth mentioning.

After extensive use, we can easily recommend the Pocket XShot for your self-photographing needs. You can pick one up for $19.95 on Amazon.

Disclosure: XShot sent me a Pocket Xshot to review.

Swype: a better virtual keyboard for smartphones
For the longest time, I was a big fan of a physical keyboard on a smartphone. It all started with my very first “smarter” phone, the HTC Dash (Excalibur), which ran Windows Mobile. Of course, WinMo didn’t have any touch capabilities, so a physical keyboard was a requirement.

From the dark days of WinMo, I transitioned over to Android, first with the T-Mobile (HTC) G1 and then over to the original Motorola Droid. One of the reasons I went with the Droid was due to the inclusion of the slide out, full QWERTY keyboard. Many other Android phones at the time (and to this day) opt to skip a physical keyboard altogether and for good reason. Physical keyboards add thickness, weight and cost to a device.

Suffice it to say, the default Android virtual keyboard leaves something to be desired, although it has improved some with newer Android updates. Even so, I still find the Android virtual keyboard lacking and unacceptable for use as a primary input method.

Enter Swype.

Getting in on the Swype for Android beta

When I first learned about a new virtual keyboard that allows you to “type” words by connecting all of the containing letters in one fluid motion (think connect the dots with letters), I immediately wanted to try it. Fortunately for me, at the time they were getting ready to launch their Android application and were accepting beta testers. I was accepted into the beta program and I’ve been happily using Swype ever since. Nowadays, I rarely use a physical keyboard on a smartphone.

Swype is available to OEM manufacturers (eg HTC, Samsung) and now comes pre-loaded on many Android phones. The app makes for a fantastic primary input method, no physical keyboard required.

Unfortunately, if you have an Android phone that did not come pre-loaded with Swype, you are probably out of luck. The app is noticeably missing from the Android Market, as the company does not make it available for consumer purchase. Bummer.

If you’re in the market to purchase a new Android phone, I highly recommend that you get one that includes Swype pre-loaded. I’ve tried an imitator (another slide-typing keyboard app) on Android and it was vastly inferior. Swype does it right.

If and when I need to transition to another keyboard, it’ll be a difficult adjustment for me after using and enjoying Swype for so long.

Swype virtual keyboard Pros

Easier to use than the standard Android virtual keyboard
Word suggest
Quick
Customizable
Google Voice input key

Swype virtual keyboard Cons

Not available in standalone form to consumers (not on Android Market)
Beta Updater buggy, often requiring uninstallation & then a fresh install
No install to SD card option

Update: The newest version of Swype (3.26) now provides automatic app updating. Finally!! No more hokey installer app to mess with.