Without the need of scripts or browser plug-ins, users just have to copy and paste the video URL from the web browser to this application and wait for the program to create a download link. YouTube Downloader HD also includes Unicode support, a feature that allows you to save videos with special characters such as Japanese, Chinese, or Cyrillic. Mysticthumbs full version free download. Once the video is downloaded, users can save the file on their hard drive and convert it to the format of their choice. YouTube Downloader HD is one of the several applications that have emerged to help users download videos from YouTube.
Because of this, the idea of repurposing PCs as thin clients was dismissed in recent years. But over time, some products emerged that make re-purposing PCs for desktop virtualization a viable option.We can break down the types of PC-to-thin client conversion tools into two groups: Windows-based conversion products and thin client OS-based products. This week, we'll take a look at the Windows-based tools, and part two of this article will cover the thin client OS-based products. Windows-based thin client softwareTwo of the products in this space, and are very similar. Both convert existing desktops to thin clients - or kiosks - by limiting the applications and interfaces that a user can access. In many cases, organizations simply remove access to anything other than a remote desktop client, so that as soon as a user logs in, that's all they see.Thin Desktop's configuration happens in the registry, so managing the app can be done using any tool that you already have to modify a workstations registry. (You can learn more by taking a look at the ).The triShell Kiosk Edition (TKE) is configured via a small config file generator.
The file can then be placed on machines with TKE installed via logon scripts, or the file can simply reside in a network location where the client is configured to look. (For more information on the administration of TKE check out the ).Both companies have features that also replace the Internet Explorer UI with a locked down (but configurable) version, effectively making the device into a public kiosk.The other product in this space is Microsoft, which is based on Windows Embedded Standard. Before Microsoft made Thin PC generally available in June, it wasn't available to anyone besides OEMs for installation on PCs.Thin PC is based on Windows 7 and provides the same Aero interface you'd expect from a Windows 7 device. To keep it 'thin,' several features are removed from the OS, such as search and the ability to add features. This results in a 2.8 GB footprint, as opposed to the 6.8 GB footprint of a full Windows 7 Ultimate installation.On the surface, Thin PC looks like the answer to many an admin's prayers. Most applications work, admins have access to the same write filters that we're used to seeing in other embedded Windows versions and it's free if the device you're going to install it on already has Software Assurance (SA).
There are two problems that I have with Thin PC, though.First, if you don't have SA, you can't use Thin PC. You can purchase SA for a specific device in the form of a, which costs $100 per device, per year. On top of that, you also need to own a 'Professional' edition of Windows for the device, which will set you back another $250 (retail, of course).
That means that if you don't already have SA, you could be into each device $350 just to run Windows as a thin client.The other problem is that the End User License Agreement effectively prevents you from running any 'productivity applications' on the OS, including streamed apps. Users are essentially only permitted to run Internet Explorer, Media Player, terminal emulation and remote desktop-like clients. Some organizations may not have a problem with this, but others prefer to at least have the option to run some apps locally.If you're in the unfortunate position of not having SA for your devices and you need to have some sort of productivity app installed locally, Thin PC is not an option.
For more in-depth rundown on Thin PC, check out my article from April - '.' The bottom line for Windows-based solutions is that if you have SA and zero need to run any productivity applications locally, Thin PC might be for you. If you have a broader set of requirements, there are tools that can help you.If you're not married to Windows on the desktop, tune in next week for, where I’ll run down the non-Windows solutions for converting your existing PCs into thin clients.ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Gabe Knuth is an independent industry analyst and blogger, known throughout the world as 'the other guy' at.
He has been in the application delivery space for over 12 years and has seen the industry evolve from the one-trick pony of terminal services to the application and desktop virtualization of today. Gabe's focus tends to lean more toward practical, real-world technology in the industry, essentially boiling off the hype and reducing solutions to their usefulness in today's corporate environments. Hello Gabe, thank you for the info, I think its very useful. There are a couple of Desktop VIrtualization technologies that we are considering, one of them, Kaviza, which has actually been bought by Citrix and the other one is ThinPoint from NetLeverage, you could find more information about it here: www.netleverage.com what do you think about these other solutions?
Could these technologies bring an advantage in terms of investment outlay? And How reliable do you think they are?Thanks! Add My Comment. Very useful detail information, Gabe. I saw many school districts admins are struggling to manage outdated computers (but still working well if you manage).
So they are considering VDI but not easy due to high cost of deploying. One smart idea we found from Santa Clara Unified School Districts implemented was, (a) reformat all windows pc with ThinPC or stripped Windows (b) install Chrome or Firefox browser to lock as kiosk mode (c) adopt Web-VDI solution (ZeroDesktop's Web Desktop private cloud edition) to emulate Windows-like desktop to avoid any training time and cost to learn new environment (d) implemented InstallFree or RemoteApp through ZeroDesktop's webtop (called Startforce). They save huge cost related VDI license.
Refer the article about this: My Comment.
You'd be better off with a more complete version of Windows and just disable any unneeded things. It really sucks when you have a nice and tweaked install and you realize there is no way to change the wallpaper, use Windows Search or maybe Remote Desktop for example. Also if you disable the eyecandy and extra crap in Win 7 Ultimate it'll run just as good as starter or basic. I would say go no lower than Home Premium, if you really have to.Thin PC is cool for older hardware, but it's only in RC state for now.@ReelFiles. I have been playing around with Thin PC and it seems to run a bit faster than regular Windows 7 but I don't think its good for running as your main OS. It runs some extra services for Thin PCs which can be disabled in Computer Management.
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Its RAM usage doesn't appear to be much better than regular Windows 7 immediately after start-up. After that regular Windows 7 begins to fill the RAM with cache, but this can all be disabled if you want.I'd say you are better off taking a stock version of Windows and making it light by yourself by disabling services, etc. My assumption that Thin PC would lighten things up in a neat way was somewhat wrong as there are broken links in the OS to removed features such as missing search. Maybe these things will get fixed by the final version. Here is some RAM usage tests I did. I tried to keep things constant the best I could. Everything was done in Virtualbox with Virtualbox additions installed in every VM, and there are no other programs running at startup besides the default ones.
I disabled all of the Thin PC exclusive services by comparing its Computer Management, Services list with that of regular Windows 7 and disabling anything it had unique. I also edited msconfig to remove some data protection program that comes on Thin PC.These tests were done using the XP task manager (I copied it over to Windows 7). For some reason Windows 7 reports total memory slightly different than XP. I did them after booting up when RAM usage was near leveled off.
After all was said and done, Thin PC definitely uses less RAM than a regular copy of Windows 7. But I have a feeling if you went in and turned off all of the services that regular Windows 7 has which uses this RAM, you'd find it would be near Thin PC. XP still does better than Thin PC, but its a near 10 year old OS and even the stripped down Thin PC has features missing from XP.
We could even compare XP to NT4 which will use even less RAM. I install Windows Thin PC from newest release (ThinPC110415EVALx86fre) and probably is build on Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 core, aero works perfect, we have protection disk/files, bitlocker, but as someone previously wrote removed search bar on menu start. Previous version did't have like paint or WordPadMy netbook have 1GB RAM and system is much better than Windows 7 Starter (Intel Atom 1,6GHz 1GB RAM Intel GPU)Actually working on Windows XP / Windows Vista and Windows 7Graphic Designer Delphi Programmer Windows Tester Windows Modder.