Sarasota PC Monitor
Review Chairmans Industry Comments (03/03)
The Computer Buffet, This & That from Here & There
by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor
E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org
HERE'S SOME "MUST-HAVES" FOR EVERYONE!
- http://www.techsupportalert.com/index.html
- http://www.info321.com
- http://www.homepage-host.uni.cc/w/smitty/
These are sites for sore eyes! In each of these you will find one of the best collections anywhere of computer information, tech support, reviews, freeware etc. recommendations, "how-to's" and a cornucopia of extremely valuable tools for anyone and everyone who owns a computer. They are a springboard that will take you with a single click to many very useful sites on the Net. You can easily spend a day or two just browsing these. They will become favorites of yours for sure!
TRAVELOGIA BOARDINGPASS. is a free site for airline travel info including cheapest prices. Go to BoardingPass, enter arrival and departure information, and it checks all of these places and produces a list with prices, airlines, flight info, and stops. If you already have an account with the other travel sites, you can enter the info into BoardingPass along with your frequent travel numbers. http://www.travelogia.com/default.asp?page=bp
DYNAMICAL PASSWORDS is a simple free tool to generate, manage, and recover forgotten passwords. It allows you to generate passwords based on the date and your personal master password. There is no need to remember or save all the generated passwords as long as you can remember your master password (key) and the date, since you can reverse the process and select the date, enter your master password, and see which passwords are assigned to that date: http://www.mywebattack.com/gnomeapp.php?id=105080
TWINS VIDEO PLAYER Looking for an alternative video player? Twins Video Player plays video in several formats, including the popular DivX, and AVI, as well as MP3 audio files. The program includes support for 20 different subtitle formats and sports a friendly interface, including a play list. In addition to the usual bells and whistles like play jump and random play, Twins Video Player also lets you block the kiddies from viewing inappropriate content. Get it free at: http://www.twins-software.com
PHOTOS FROM SPACE. Want to see some amazing satellite photos? Things like the Statue of Liberty, a Canary Islands dust storm, or my favorites: the Extraterrestrials (like the Inca City on Mars). You'll find all that and more at Space.com http://snipurl.com/satellite
MYPRIVACY, a new free software from Omniquad is a privacy tool that helps you maintain your privacy by cleaning up all traces of your Internet and PC activities. It helps you erase data you may have entered like personal information in online forms, URLs in your browser address bar, files you searched for, etc. Data that otherwise would be exposed to other users of your computer. It also helps you clear the files from both the Temp & the Temporary Internet Explorer folders. http://www.omniquad.com
AVOID DISCONNECTS. If you have a dialup connection you may also have an Internet service provider who disconnects you after a period of inactivity. This free utility at http://www.1kickthis.com/index.asp requires no setup or configuration, nor is any knowledge of your ISP required. Once downloaded, it checks for a dialup connection and, if one is present, after a random interval of 30 seconds to three minutes it will simulate Web browsing by visiting various Web sites from its database of 50 addresses. It promises to keep you connected with all versions of AOL, Compuserve, NetZero, Prodigy, MSN. Juno, AT&T WorldNet and all other ISP.
PHOTOSHOP ALBUM is new software from Adobe that is expected to be introduced this month. It is specifically designed for digital camera owners to easily edit and preserve their digital photos, It will list for $49 and will offer a considerably less complex or costly approach to photo editing than the regular Photoshop versions. www.adobe.com
ICON RESTORE is a freeware utility that allows you to save and restore your Windows desktop layout. To save your desktop layout, right-click My Computer and choose "Save Desktop Icon Layout." If you lose your preferred layout for whatever reason, just right-click My Computer and choose "Restore Desktop Icon Layout". home.epix.net/~ttaylor/icon_restore.html
MY STUFF. Keep track of your property with My Stuff, a free personal inventory manager. This application allows you to add an unlimited amount of items, categorize then, add pictures and notes, filter, print customizable reports, calculate depreciation, password protect the information, and so on. Several languages are supported and after 10 items are entered, the My Stuff is still free but treats you to banner ads. http://www.contactplus.com/products/freestuff/mystuff.htm
PCMARK2002 This free multipurpose tool is suited for benchmarking all kinds of PCs, from laptops to workstations, and it works across multiple Windows operating systems. PCMark2002 consists of a series of tests that represent common tasks in home and office programs. It lets you test your CPU, memory, hard drive, PC hardware, and system software and compare http://www.madonion.com
TWEAKMASTER WILL SPEED UP YOUR Internet connections and downloading as much as 300%. It works for all versions of Windowsr and all types of connections including Dialup, AOL, DSL, Cable: Speed up web surfing - pages load faster! Speed up downloads - files download more quickly; Send/Receive email without long delays; Keep your computer clock set accurately; Keep your ISP from dropping your connection (AOL too!) Get it at rosecitysoftware.com. You will also find a treasure chest of both shareware and freeware at this location.
WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER 9 is now available for download from Microsoft's website. Multimedia fans will find a plethora of new features for both audio and video, especially audio. It's free for your download and contains very good instructions on privacy preferences and options in its use. It works in all Windows versions.
WARNING FOR TURBOTAX USERS. We would suggest to our users that they do not use TurboTax any longer! Intuit followed Microsoft's lead with its latest version of TurboTax and added an activation scheme. In doing so, the company also set off a user protest that is still growing.
Users seem angry not only with the way the activation is implemented, but with the possibility that an application that some consider spyware is being dropped onto their PCs in the process. The copy protection intrusion will prevent you from making copies of the Turbotax CD, and will prevent you from installing the software of more than one computer. This answer is to use H&R Block's Taxcut. It's a better program anyway!
CLEANUP! is a free, powerful and easy-to-use application that removes temporary files created while surfing the web, empties the Recycle Bin, deletes files from your temporary folders and more. It frees disk space and reduces the "clutter" on your computer helping it to run more efficiently. It also can be used as a way to protect your privacy on the Internet. You can even instruct CleanUp! to securely delete files making it impossible to retrieve their contents using lower-level disk tools- just another way of protecting your privacy. http://cleanup.stevengould.org/
GIMMEFONTS.COM {TrueType font archive} Gimme an F! Gimme an O! Gimme an N! Gimme a T! What does that spell? Free fonts for your downloading pleasure!! There are over 8,000 fonts on the site for the taking. Search for a font by name, or pick a letter from the alphabet to get a list of fonts. When one catches your eye, click on it to see a preview of all the characters and get a close-up of each on a character map. Font lovers, be prepared to get stuck in this gold mine for hours. http://www.gimmefonts.com/
CALCULATORS ONLINE CENTER. You'll find calculators of every shape and kind at the Calculators On-Line Center. The latest statistic indicates there are 16,755 calculators on the Web site, created by 3,050 individuals. Lockergnome's Meryl says that you can't even begin naming 100 calculators! They're divided into four parts: alphabetical categories, math, science, and engineering. I delved through Part I and found a Star Trek warp speed calculator. Calculators mean more than crunching numbers. Those doing genealogy research can enter the first few digits of the Social Security numbers of relatives to find out where the person was born... and that's just barely scratching the surface on the practical tools available. http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/RefCalculators.html
LOST KEYS? If you should misplace or loss the keys for your Microsoft Windows or Office CD's, you are in for a real hassle if you need to reinstall either. You can solve the problem with a little freeware app that will keep these keys for you. Get it at www.magicaljellybean.com
A STORAGE MIRACLE! This sounds like the best one yet. You will be able to store 5 Gigabytes of data on a device that looks like a credit card, magnetic stripe and all. The information on the card can be encrypted and decrypted on the fly, and a USB connected device will be able to write to or read from the card. The system is expected to be available later this year and sell for under $100. This is going to be a hot item!
HEAR THE WEATHER FORECAST ON YOUR COMPUTER. WeatherAloud reads weather forecasts. It is the talking software for your PC that brings you the weather as you've never heard it before. It's like having a personal weatherman at your service.
How often do you work at your PC with no idea what the weather is outside? Radio and TV have forecasts, but trying to catch them can be distracting when you're busy. WeatherAloud reads you weather forecasts aloud any time you like, and programs your PC for customized forecasts you'll enjoy hearing. http://www.nextuptech.com/WeatherAloud/index.html?AfID=10519
COMPARE DIGITAL CAMERAS. Comparometer lets you compare reference images from digital cameras side-by-side. These images provide valid comparisons of camera capabilities in actual shooting situations. You can also download the images and print them to see how the cameras involved will perform in your application. http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
ELEPHANT MEMORY. Those who need a simple reminder for the PC without investing in a handheld device may find Elephant Memory useful. It's a system tray-based event reminder, with a configuration panel for creating a quick task or event. When the time for the event arrives, the reminder window pops up on the screen and gives you the choice of deleting or snoozing. Get it free at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/reminder
YOUR "SEND-TO" OPTIONS. Lockergnome's Meryl reminds us that the contents of the "Send To" menu that comes up when you right-click on a file in Windows Explorer matches the contents in your "SendTo" folder. This folder can be found in different places depending on your Windows operating system. Do a search for the "SendTo" folder and you should find it. Since you use Windows XP, you'll find it in C: \ Documents and Settings \ User Name. The "SendTo" folder is hidden by default, so you may have to go to Tools | Folder Options | Show Hidden Files and Folders. For those using Win98, the file is in the C:\Windows directory.
To add contents like the Zip file, e-mail, etc., by creating a shortcut in that folder. To remove an item, just delete the shortcut.
Another neat trick: if you want to play an audio file in a specific application rather than the default application, right- click on the file and "SendTo" the audio application. Before this can work, you need to have a shortcut for the audio application in the... you got it, "SendTo" folder. You can even create a subfolder in the "SendTo" folder to group applications such as multimedia, word processing, and so on.
POP-UP DICTIONARY translates and memorizes chosen words of many foreign languages. Create vocabularies and dictionaries and organize words in them, sort dictionaries by original word, translation or transcription, view slide show, customize text fields, fonts, colors, and encodings for many languages, such as Western European, Hebrew, Arabic etc. There are approximately 50 additional dictionaries for 22 languages. Download the shareware at http://www.5star-shareware.com/Homehob/General/pop-dict.html.
INTERNET JUNKBUSTER . The free Internet Junkbuster blocks unwanted banner ads and cookies. The application works as a proxy that stands between your browser and the Internet, checking HTTP requests against a list of files you want to block.
When Internet Junkbuster detects an ad you don't want, it blocks the ad. Internet Junkbuster can be used with all common browsers and runs under Windows and Unix. http://internet.junkbuster.com
ADFREE removes banner ads from Web sites. This free program filters your Web connections as you surf and blocks ads you don't want. Unlike other ad blockers that use proxies, AdFree looks in your Windows HOSTS file for a Web server's IP address. When a page calls an ad, AdFree edits the HOSTS file and substitutes a dummy file for the banner ad. You selectively choose which banners you don't want to view in the future by right-clicking the ad and specifying the server you want to block. AdFree also lets you block entire sites. http://lucille.dhs.org/
A FREE BOOST FOR YOUR MEMORY. Are you unhappy with the way Windows manages your computer's memory? MemBoost might be able to help. MemBoost is a program that frees up your RAM at a faster clip than Windows normally does. If you routinely open or switch among a lot of programs, your system can become sluggish due to the way Windows makes memory available. MemBoost lets you set an "alarm level" of RAM. When your system's available memory drops below that level, MemBoost writes all unnecessary data to a swap file, freeing up RAM in larger increments than Windows' default. With MemBoost, you set the alarm level and the increments, which can dramatically speed up your system. http://memboost.50g.com
LOADS OF FREEWARE available to you for download can be found at http://woundedmoon.com/win32_freeware.html. Many of these programs have subsequently gone commercial, so here's your chance to get them free.
POWER SEARCHER V2.07 Power Searcher is a free advanced file search and print utility that can find files by full or partial name, size, date, attributes, or contents. You can specify whether you want to find just files, just folders, or both. File contents can be searched for multiple keywords and the lines where the keywords/phrases are found can be viewed at a glance without having to open each file. Power Searcher also comes with a built-in hex viewer that allows you to take a peek at the contents of binary files, an option to add folder to a favorites list, the ability to save searches, and more. Search results can be printed as file listings and also exported to a comma delimited format. http://www.mywebattack.com/gnomeapp.php?id=105858
ECORAr PATCHLITE According to the FBI, over 90 percent of all security breaches are a direct result of not having the latest patches installed. Ecorar PatchLite automatically discovers and analyzes security patches critical to workstations and servers, then quickly generates a report on the status of patch configurations and provides the necessary information and access to the latest security hotfixes and service packs. This free software features the most intuitive user interface on the market today, yet requires no agents installed on servers! http://www.ecora.com/ecora/products/patchlite/default.asp
FIRST CAP 3.0 Absolutely nothing drives me crazier than when I leave my caps lock on and blithely type a paragraph or two before discovering my mistake. I am not a touch typist and unfortunately don't look at the screen until it's too late. Here's a freeware app that heard my prayers for something to solve my caps lock problem. Download it at http://www.falsinsoft.cjb.net/
"DID YOU KNOW?" is a part of the Webopaedia web site. In this area, you'll find information on such topics as deleted files, CD drive speeds, how hard disks work, and much other computer information. There is also an Internet section on this page that answers questions about the origin of the Internet, cookies, e-mail, and the World Wide Web (WWW). http://www.pcwebopaedia.com/DidYouKnow/_index.asp
FREE SCREEN CAPTURE. You can do a screen capture in Windows. All you have to do is press Print Screen and then copy the file from the Clipboard into whatever program you want to use to edit and print the screen capture. GrabClipSave is a freeware screen capture program that will capture the screen when you press Print Screen. As soon as the new capture appears in the Clipboard, GrabClipSave saves it to disk. http://www.boumchalak.de/Tools/GCS/gcs.html
FIGHT SPAM! According to the editor of techsupportalert.com, "Mailwasher is a superb email preview utility that allows you to check your email on your mail server before you download it to your PC. The advantage of this approach is that you can kill unwanted messages including spam, viruses and large attachments before they get anywhere near your computer. It also saves the time and cost of downloading unwanted mail which can be very handy with slow or costly connections.
But Mailwasher does more. It automatically flags for you any messages containing viruses and possible spam which makes for quick and easy identification. It also will send a message back to the spam mail sender saying that their message could not be delivered. Hopefully this will encourage them to take your name off their mailing list.
MailWasher works with any POP email account and any email client. Version 2 will also check your hotmail accounts. The product is lightning fast and has proved on my PC to be totally stable. Best of all, it's free - or more exactly, it's donation-wear. That is, you can use it for free but if you like it you can send the author a donation. Mailwasher is a brilliant idea brilliantly executed. It's the best single solution yet to handling spam. Everyone should be using this product. Get it at www.mailwasher.net
SONY TO PHASE OUT 17-INCH, 19-INCH CRT MONITORS. Sony officials said the company will quietly phase out all of its 17-inch and 19-inch CRT monitors by March 31, part of the industry's shift away from CRTs to LCD panels. Fans of the popular Sony Trinitron line of monitors and its related aperture-grill technology will be forced instead to purchase Sony's 21-inch and 24-inch CRT displays, which Sony officials said the company will continue to produce.
Sony has also decided to phase out its 17-inch and 19-inch tube business, meaning that other brands using Trinitron monitors in those categories will cease production. Sony's decision came as no surprise to those who have closely watched monitor manufacturers slowly shift away from CRT production to manufacturing of LCDs. Look for other companies to soon do the same.
HANG UP AND DRIVE! Drivers who use a mobile telephone behind the wheel, even with a "hands-free" device, suffer from a kind of tunnel vision that endangers themselves and others, researchers say. Even though your eyes are looking right at something, when you are on the mobile, you are not as likely to see it." This included road signs, other vehicles and traffic lights. "This is a variant of something called inattention blindness," Professor Strayer said. Tests showed this kind of inattention did not affect drivers who were listening to music, to audio books or talking with a passenger in the car.
Talking on cell phones is the leading cause of crashes that can be attributed to driver distraction, according to a report that was released by the California Highway Patrol. Tuesday, state officials said they were able to discover what distracted drivers in 9,000 crashes, almost 18 percent of the accidents that resulted from driver inattention in 2001. Cell phone use was cited in 891 crashes, or nearly one in 10 incidents. Cell phone use was followed closely by fumbling with the radio or CD player, which resulted in 768 crashes.
CIA WORLD FACTBOOK. Here's a free CIA annual handbook featuring 267 full-color maps and flags of all nations and geographical entities. Find out about any country's demographics (e.g., population, literacy rates) along with political, geographical, and economic data. Don't faint at the huge size of the [compressed] file. The Web site offers smaller chunks for downloading, or you can view the book online in its entirety. You can find it at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ {Geographical handbook}
AVANT BROWSER is the coolest free browser ever, if you use Internet Explorer but want all the little nick-nacks of Mozilla. Since it's IE based, you can still use all your same settings and bookmarks. Avant has a nice popup blocker. There is also a very nifty search toolbar with Google set as the default engine. Taskbar cluttering can happen easily when it's bombarded with tons of IE windows, all that is fixed with tabbed browsing! Throw all that in with an XP-like interface, and you've got one awesome browser! Www.avantbrowser.com
Top 9 reasons to use Avant Browser:
1. Pop-up Stopper: Eliminate unwanted pop-up pages automatically.
2. Additional Mouse Functions: Click a link in the web page with the middle mouse button, the link will be opened in a new window. Hold the right button then click the left button, the current page will navigate backward one step. Hold the left button then click the right button, the current page will navigate forward one step.
3. Browsing Options: Avant Browser provides options to block download of pictures, videos, sounds and ActiveX components. With these options users can efficiently use their bandwidth and speed up page loading.
4. Multi-Window Browsing: Browse multiple web pages simultaneously. All opened pages can be easily stopped, refreshed, closed or arranged with one click.
5. Built-in Google Search Engine: Avant Browser provides built-in search engine, which is powered by Google, the most powerful search engine in the world. Built-in search engine enables user to search for web pages and images in Internet.
6. Integrated Cleaner: Help you to keep your privacy and easily clear typed addresses, recently opened pages, web page passwords, cookies and temporary Internet files.
7. Safe Recovery: If Avant Browser is closed improperly, all open web pages are saved and will be automatically reopened at next startup.
8. Internet Explorer Compatibility: Avant Browser is compatible with all Internet Explorer functions, including Java Script, Cookies, Real player, Media Player, Internet Explorer Favorites, Macromedia Flash and ActiveX Controls.
9. Easy Using: Avant Browser comes with more shortcuts. It's much easier to close or create new browser window.
AD-AWARE 6, The King of Spyware Detection Returns. The long-awaited and completely revamped new version of the popular spyware detection and killer software, AD-Aware is now available. It comes in both a free and pro version. You can get it at www.lavasoft.de. Ad-aware is THE award winning, multi-trackware detection and removal utility (designed for Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / NT40 / 2000 / XP Home / XP Pro) that will comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known Datamining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, Keyloggers, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. Ad-aware will provide you with the confidence to surf the Internet knowing that your privacy will remain intact.
Ad-aware employs a regularly updated reference file and a powerful in-depth scanning engine to place the spotlight on these risks to your privacy. Through use of an all-new and totally integrated Webupdate module, you can be assured that you will always have the most complete and up-to-date AntiTrackware solution on the planet!
What's new in Ad-aware version 6?
* Leading anti data-mining utility, features the best maintained and updated target base
* Targets hundreds of systems and thousands of variations
* All new, vastly improved, in-depth scanning engine
* Includes an Advanced process browser full supporting installed extensions, linked to the in-depth scan engine
* Fully customizable automated scanning modes
* Webupdate module now fully integrated into the Ad-aware interface
* Entirely new, highly improved user interface
* All new plug-in concept allows for powerful expandability and updating without the need to download a new core-application
* Automatic quarantine (backup) function capability
* Enhanced logging capabilities ? Powerful tweaking options allows tweaking all aspects of Ad-aware
* Extended in-depth registry scans
* Exporting and printing of HTML reports
* Powerful command line options, to load config scripts and reference files from, and send log files to remote drives
* Blocks Browser hijacker attempts, Active-X installations, IE save attempts, and unauthorized auto start entries
* Includes a Popup stopper with customizable black-list
* Smart process-blocking, including filter lists
* Enhanced menus providing many more options.
* Plus many other enhancements! :
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Copyright 2003. This article is from the March 2003 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.