Finally Adobe Creative Suite 5 trials are available for the public download. Having troubles with Akamai? Read on.

The previous trick to download CS4 trials without Akamai still works. The link to the tutorial is:

http://www.setuix.com/2010/04/06/how-to-download-adobe-trials-without-akamai-latest/

You have to be registered with Adobe with a valid email and logged in for the download to start. Just paste the download link below into your web browser and the download will start.

To view the product comparison page click here.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection:

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/STAM/CS5/win32/MasterCollection_CS5_LS1.7z

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium:

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/STVD/CS5/win32/ProductionPremium_CS5_LS7.7z

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Web Premium:

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/WEBB/CS5/win32/WebPremium_CS5_LS1.7z

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/MDIA/CS5/win32/DesignPremium_CS5_LS1.7z

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/PHSP/12/win32/Photoshop_12_LS1.7z

Adobe Illustrator CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/ILST/15/win32/Illustrator_15_LS1.7z

Adobe InDesign CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/IDSN/7/win32/InDesign_7_LS1.7z

Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro

http://trials2.adobe.com/dlm/Applications/Acrobat/APRO/9/trials/AcroPro90_efg.exe

Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/THRM/1/win32/FlashCatalyst_1_LS9.exe

Adobe Flash Professional CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/FLPR/11/win32/FlashPro_11_LS1.7z

Adobe Flash Builder Standard CS5

http://trials.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/FLBR/4/win32/FlashBuilder_4_LS10.exe

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/dlm/AdobeProducts/DRWV/11/win32/Dreamweaver_11_LS1.exe

Adobe Fireworks CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/dlm/AdobeProducts/FWKS/11/win32/Fireworks_11_LS1.exe

Adobe Contribute CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/CNTB/6/win32/Contribute_6_LS1.exe

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/PPRO/5/win32/PremierePro_5_LS7.7z

Adobe After Effects CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/AEFT/10/win64/AfterEffects_10_LS7.7z

Adobe Soundbooth CS5

http://trials2.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/SBTH/3/win32/Soundbooth_3_LS7.7z

Since Photoshop CS5 was unveiled, everyone has been talking about Photoshop’s Content Aware tool. After getting our hands on a trial version of Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, we tested out the Content Aware in a few scenarios.

Above, is an image we got off the Internet. To remove the picture of the man in the wall would normally take quite some time and a lot of touching up took less than 2 minutes to do with Content Aware. If there wasn’t a picture to be compared with the change would almost be unnoticeable.

Next is a screen cap from the game Crysis. See if you can spot the difference. Clue, we removed some debris from the ground.

For those that do touching up for photos would find their job so much easier now. To see more Content Aware demonstrations please watch the video.

Adobe made slight changes to the way their trials can be downloaded. Some readers have mentioned that the previous ways can no longer be used. Read more to find out how to download Adobe trials without using Akamai.

Just follow these simple steps below and you will be on your way to downloading Adobe trials without using the Akamai Download Manager:

1. Choose a product and login with your free Adobe username and password.

2. Choose your product operating system and language.

3. Click on Download and a pop up should appear, a window that looks like below:

4. Look at the URL bar and select the following lines:

5. After copying that link paste it into your Internet Browser and hit enter:

The download should start after that. Pretty easy and straight forward. If for some reason there is a product that you can’t get, just leave a comment and somebody will get back to you with the download link.

In the last blog entry I demonstrated how you could download Adobe trials without using the Akamai Download Manager. The downside was you had to install Akamai. In this entry, I will demonstrate how you can download it without installing the Akamai Download Manager.

I only tested this with the Google Chrome web browser. Just watch the video below. It’s really simple and straight forward.

So basically you go to www.adobe.com and choose what product you want to test. Choose the product and your operating system and hit on download. A new window will popup and Google Chrome will complain about a redirect loop. Just copy the download URL and paste into a new window. Then the download should start automatically.

After Googling a little I decided to try out Photoshop Premiere Pro CS4. Premiere Pro CS4 is used for editing videos. But when I tried to download the trial version it forced me to download Akamai Download Manager. Akamai is being used by quite a number of companies namely Microsoft, Asus and Adobe.

I don’t know what’s the big deal with Akamai because my download speeds totally suck with Akamai. Many users complaint of their downloads not even finishing. Personally I just hate being forced to install software that I don’t want.

To download without using Akamai you simply follow the steps in the video below. It’s either you start the download using Akamai (yes you still have to install Akamai), then copy the file link as show in Akamai into your web browser to start a direct download using your own download manager. Personally I’m using Internet Download Manager. You can get it from www.internetdownloadmanager.com.

Second way is to use FireFox with the HTTPFox add-on. This step is not shown in the video. It’s a bit tougher than the step shown in the video. Basically, you run HTTPFox and search for the .7z and .exe links then copy those links to your browser to start a direct download. I would recommend this step for experienced users.

There are so many video formats out there that if I wanted to play all formats I would have to download each individual player. Not only would that be too much work, it would take up a lot of my storage space. Naturally I like my computer as clean as possible with the least amount of software. Having all the players to play different video formats would be a total nightmare.

However, there is a codec package called Windows 7 Codecs or Vista Codecs that can solve this problem. With Windows 7 Codecs or Vista Codecs, you can play all video formats using Windows Media Player alone. The summary below is the list of codecs in the package:

==================================================

Up to date RealMedia components

==================================================

Display Name      : AC3File

File Description  :

==================================================

Display Name      : AC3Filter

File Description  : ac3filter

==================================================

Display Name      : CoreVorbis Audio Decoder

File Description  : CoreVorbis

==================================================

Display Name      : DC-Bass Source

File Description  : DirectShow™ Audio Decoder

==================================================

Display Name      : MPC – DTS/AC3/DD+ Source

File Description  : DTS/AC3 Source Filter

==================================================

Display Name      : Haali Video Renderer

File Description  :

==================================================

Display Name      : ffdshow Video Decoder

File Description  : DirectShow and VFW video and audio decoding/encoding/processing filter

==================================================

Display Name      : ffdshow Audio Decoder

File Description  : DirectShow and VFW video and audio decoding/encoding/processing filter

==================================================

Display Name      : ffdshow subtitles filter

File Description  : DirectShow and VFW video and audio decoding/encoding/processing filter

==================================================

Display Name      : MPC – FLV Splitter (Gabest)

File Description  : FLV Splitter

==================================================

Display Name      : madFlac Decoder

File Description  : DirectShow FLAC Decoder

==================================================

Display Name      : madFlac Decoder

File Description  : DirectShow FLAC Decoder

==================================================

Display Name      : MONOGRAM AMR Decoder

File Description  : AMR Filter Pack

==================================================

Display Name      : MPC – MP4 Splitter

File Description  : MP4 Splitter

==================================================

Display Name      : Nero ES Video Reader

File Description  : NeroDigital / mp4 / avi / mov parser

==================================================

Display Name      : Nero Digital Parser

File Description  : NeroDigital / mp4 / avi / mov parser

==================================================

Display Name      : MPC – Ogg Splitter

File Description  : Ogg Splitter

==================================================

Display Name      : MPC – RealVideo Decoder

File Description  : RealMedia Splitter

==================================================

Display Name      : MPC – RealAudio Decoder

File Description  : RealMedia Splitter

==================================================

Display Name      : RadLight OptimFROG DirectShow Filter

File Description  : RLOFRDec

==================================================

Display Name      : Haali Media Splitter

File Description  : Haali Media Splitter

==================================================

Display Name      : VP7 Decompressor

File Description  : VP7 Decompression Filter

==================================================

Display Name      : DirectVobSub

File Description  : VobSub & TextSub filter for DirectShow/VirtualDub/Avisynth

==================================================

Display Name      : Xvid MPEG-4 Video Decoder

File Description  :

==================================================

Download – For Windows 7 x64/x86 (64bit/32bit) users follow this link to download.

Download – For Windows XP x86 (32bit) and Vista x64/x86 (64bit/32bit) users follow this link to download. I have tested Vista Codecs and it works on Windows XP 32bit. I assume that it will work on XP 64bit as well.

After installing everything should work automatically. There is no need to set anything. I have been using Vista Codecs and Windows 7 Codecs for sometime now and I have no complaints whatsoever.

Using Windows 7? MSN Messenger Live won’t minimize to the taskbar like the previous versions of Windows? This short blog entry will show you how!

First of all open the directory where MSN Messenger Live is installed in. It should be installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Messenger by default. If you are using Windows 7 x86 (32 bit) then it should be in C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger.

Next fine the file called “msnmsgr” then right click and select “properties” as illustrated in the video below. Then tick on “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select “Windows Vista Service Pack 2”. Click on “OK” and you’re all done. It should start and sit itself nicely in your taskbar like the previous versions of Windows.

If you encounter any errors you can change the compatibility to Windows Vista Services Pack 1 or even those lower than that.

A little while ago I wanted to make a video so I looked for Windows Movie Maker in my application list and I couldn’t find it. Movie Maker came bundled with Windows XP as well as Windows Vista but in my newly installed Windows 7 it was no where to be found.

Windows 7 no longer bundles Movie Maker but instead you can download it from from its live.com website. It’s the same place to download Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Writer, Windows Photo Gallery and other softwares. To download the Windows Live suite click here.