Sarasota PC Monitor
Review Chairmans Industry Comments (10/05)
The Computer Buffet
by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor
E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org
INTEL TO CHANGE CHIP DESIGN. Intel is promising to increase performance and lower power consumption with a new chip design. The chip is expected to debut in the middle of 2006.
RESTORATION. There are lots of free programs that permanently delete files and recover them, but doesn't just having one on your hard drive make you look like you have something to hide? Restoration can rescue your accidentally deleted files and permanently delete the files you want good-and-gone. It can live on a floppy, so it leaves no trace of its activities. http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PC INSPECTOR FILE RECOVERY. This data recovery program recovers lost files and finds partitions automatically, even when the boot sector of your machine has been damaged or erased. Even when a file's header entry is no longer available, PC Inspector File Recovery can recover the file. The program lets you save recovered files on network drives. It recovers files with the original time and date stamp, so maybe it'll be like nothing ever happened. www.pcinspector.de/file_ recovery/uk/welcome.htm
THE MICROSOFT OFFICE DOCUMENT SCANNING TOOL is a small dedicated interface for scanning documents. While this might not seem like a 'big thing' it is a small but effective scanning application that lets you do things like scan images into multi-page Tif or MDI files. So, for example, when you need to scan and retain a large document like a contract, you can scan it into one file rather than have one file for each page in the document.
The Microsoft Office Document Scanning tool also lets you configure scanner presets which are configurations for various scanning jobs. If you regularly scan documents using Grayscale mode and a set resolution, you can configure this as a preset in the Microsoft Office Document Scanning application and then use it by selecting the preset name when you need it. This saves you having to set the scanner options manually each time.
So, enough about what it does, how do you find it? To launch Microsoft Office Document Scanning choose Start, All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Tools, Microsoft Office Document Scanning. On the screen is a small dialog - select a preset from the list and click the Scan button to start the scan.
OUTLOOK EXPRESS TWEAKER. Outlook Express makes it hard to find some of its own best features. Outlook Express Tweaker helps you customize Outlook Express with some of OE's hidden features and a few of its own. With this plug-in, you can unhide invisible accounts, hidden dialog boxes, and undocumented settings. You can also send unwanted items packing: Outlook Express Tweaker can hide Windows Messenger and enhance the Blocked Senders list interface.www.qwhale.com/products/outlook_express _tweaker/
TOOLBAR CHEST FOR OUTLOOK EXPRESS saves your settings, keeping OE customized just for you. Toolbar Chest for OE lets you change the toolbar content, size, and position as well as window positions, layout settings, and more. Once you've got OE looking the way you like, you can back it up with this program, knowing you'll find OE as you left it. www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,25214,tk,hsx,00.asp
CABLENUT is a free tool to tweak and optimize your dialup, cable, DSL, and satellite Internet connections. Compatible with Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. Www.cablenut.com
RXTX downloads files and calculates how fast your Internet connection is by averaging the data transfer rate. It works with Dial-Up, Cable or DSL. www.netfor2.com/RxTxPreview.html
IEVIEW. Occasionally you will come across a website that can only be viewed properly using Internet Explorer. In the past, you had to go to the Start button, open Internet Explorer, and enter the address for the website you want to see. With the IEView extension, all you have to do is right-click on the page, and choose "View this page in Internet Explorer". Simple! You can download it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=35
GET GOOGLE'S GMAIL. Google launched Gmail about a year ago. But until now, only the elite who received an invitation could join. Gmail is Google's free e-mail service. It's so impressive that Hotmail and Yahoo! were forced to upgrade their free offerings. Why is Gmail so great? Well, you get a whopping two gigabytes (and counting) of storage space. That means you don't need to delete messages - simply archive them. And features such as threaded views help you manage your e-mail.
You can get Gmail on the Google home page. If you know people who have accounts, they can send you an invitation. Or you can visit the Google home page and click "refresh" in your Web browser until the offer to join comes up. The following link will take you directly to the account setup page:www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount Bl
HOW SAFE IS YOUR CAR? When you're shopping for a new car, it's easy to focus on price and features. And it is just as easy to overlook the most important thing - safety. So before you spend a dime on your next vehicle, do some research. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration makes it easy. It's your one-stop spot for information on vehicle safety. You can view ratings and compare models. Some even have crash test photos. They're sure to make you think twice about safety. And if you're not buying a new car, there's still valuable information for you. Find out how to prevent accidents. Or check for safety recalls. You can even file a complaint. www.safercars.gov
DIAGNOSTIC SOFTWARE. Here's a monstrous collection of mostly free and some trial computer diagnostic utilities. You'll find more diagnoses here than at the Mayo Clinic. Browse it. You may find something that interests you. http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23100,tk,lg,00.asp
If you are still a glutton for punishment, here's some more to occupy your spare time for the next 15 years: http://channels.lockergnome.com/windows/archives/20050822_best_diagnostic_utilities.phtml
PROSPECTOR LITE is an advanced search tool and auction sniper for eBay, that makes it easy to track and find bargains that you are interested in. You can create detailed search queries using keywords, exclusions, and other filters, even with support for regular expressions. The searches can be saved and organized into custom categories so that you can easily refer to them later, using the latest eBay results. Additional features include customizable results layout, automatic searches with e-mail notification, built-in auction sniping, and more. Note: The Lite version is limited to 30 searches a day, and 15 snipes a month, which should be plenty for most users. If you need more searches, you can upgrade to the Pro version. http://www.moxieproxy.com/
DISK CLEANER allows you to easily clean up disk space that is used by temporary files like those in the system temporary folder, the Internet Explorer Cache and Cookies folder, Recycle Bin and various other areas of your system. In addition, you can erase personal tracks like recently used documents, typed URLs and more. The program comes with an attractive, user friendly interface. Disk Cleaner allows you to create cleaning profiles, and can automatically run at system start without user intervention. It supports Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera as well as various 3rd party applications. http://www.robertenfemke.nl/~diskclean/
FIRETUNE is a tweaking tool, designed to optimize the performance of Mozilla Firefox. The tweaks are based on a collection of optimization settings, which can be time consuming and difficult for the novice user. FireTune allows you to automatically apply these tweaks based on your computer and Internet speed. It offers a backup and Undo option to restore your original settings as well. We noticed some speed improvements when loading pages after applying the tweaks. We were using a fast (3ghz) PC and DSL connection, the improvements were minor but noticeable. www. totalidea.com/frameset-products.htm
SNAPPY FAX 2000 enables you to send and receive faxes from your computer. You can either use your scanner to scan documents and then fax them to any fax machine, or use the Print command from other applications to use the virtual Fax printer, which allows you to send faxes directly from most Windows applications. In addition, the program also supports sending faxes via the internet, filtering of junk faxes and forwarding of incoming faxes to other fax machines or email addresses. Additional features include address book import, faxes by email (with zip support for images), OCR, spell checking and much more. www. snappy software.com/
NTREGOPT is a registry compactor that improves system performance by compacting the registry, removing any slack space that may be left from previously modified or deleted keys. The program does not modify any registry entries, so it is safe to use.
Also supports commandline switches for unattended runs.www.snapfilespro.com/a/php/morefrom.php? aid=49839202
ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT) allows you to keep a complete backup of your registry and restore it when needed. The standard registry backup options that come with Windows back up most of the registry but not all of it. ERUNT however creates a complete backup set, including the Security hive and user related sections.
ERUNT is easy to use and since it creates a full backup, there are no options or choices other than to select the location of the backup files. The backup set includes a small executable that will launch the registry restore if needed. www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
SIMPLE FILE SHREDDER. Simple File Shredder is a free utility that securely deletes your files so they can't be restored using recovery software. SFS ensures your privacy by scrambling file names, over-writing files with random bytes, changing the file date/time to a random date/time value,and verify files have been completely shredded before deleting them.
When you delete a file using the conventional Windows Delete method, the file is not actually destroyed. Windows simply acknowledges the file is no longer needed and considers it free space. The file will exist in a recoverable state until it's over-written with other data. When you use Simple File Shredder to delete (shred) a file, it gives the file a meaningless name and "re-writes" the file with random data. If the file was ever restored using recovery software, it would be worthless. Simple File Shredder also supports shredding the Windows Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, and Temp files. Also supported is Firefox, Opera, and Netscape browser "junk files" (cache, cookies, etc.). A good use for Simple File Shredder would be to securely delete electronic financial statements, private e-mail, porn, etc. www.scar5.com/prod_sfs.php
SAVEIT! allows you to password protect any program or document. You can also restrict access based on the Windows user account and disable password protection temporarily. When a user attempts to open a password protected application or document, he is automatically prompted for the password (protected files are marked with a special icon in Windows Explorer). SaveIt! is also available from the Windows Explorer SendTo menu, allowing you to quickly protect a file with just a few clicks. www.mywebattack.com/gnomeapp.php?id=108121
ENGLISH2METRIC is an easy-to-use unit converter to convert between imperial and metric units, including miles/km, gallons/liters, Celsius/Fahrenheit, feet/meters and more. The program supports fractions, allowing you, for example, to convert values like 1 3/4 or 2.5. You can customize the available conversion units, and also copy a list of all recent conversions. http://windows.fileoftheday.com/archives/educational _english2 metric_v10.html
JR DIRECTORY PRINTER UTILITY. Sometimes you don't need to open every file in a folder-just to have a list of the titles. JR Directory Printer lets you make a text file that lists those file names. Simple checkboxes let you choose the bells and whistles you want. You can choose to include or ignore the files in subdirectories. JR Directory Printer can pull in extra information-such as Display Size, DateTime, and Attributes-if you need it, or can omit it if you don't.
If you prefer, you can instruct JR Directory Printer to limit the file name length or to make all file names lowercase. www.spadixbd.com/index.htm
PALTALK MESSENGER 8.1 allows you to see, hear, share files, and chat with anyone, anywhere in the world-all for free. Paltalk operates with AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ, so you can chat with all your buddies using a single program. Paltalk 8.1 boasts an improved user interface and supports a new x-Treme service level with crystal clear, TV-like video speed, and unlimited video windows. And now they are offering their users a trial of our high-quality streaming video and audio for absolutely free. Meet millions of people in existing audio and video chat rooms, or create a videoconference of your own to bring together other users with similar interests. No Webcam is required to see people. Plus, you can share photos, files, and messages instantly with any Paltalk user. If you want to chat without the video and voice features, you can always instant message and use Paltalk for real-time text chat. www.paltalk.com
FREESNAP. Manually resizing windows can be a pain, and getting them to line up along the side of the screen is an unwelcome dexterity test. With FreeSnap, you can move and resize windows with your keyboard. Just fire up the program, and you can use hotkeys to center windows or send them to all corners of the screen. You can use the "plus" and "minus" keys to resize windows without tiresome clicking and dragging. http://blueonion.home.comcast.net/
TRUSTTOOLBAR works with Microsoft Internet Explorer to help you avoid phishing attacks by identifying the company behind the Web site you visit. The user's TrustToolbar Plug-in retrieves the digital certificate from a commercial directory, validates its integrity, and displays its contents on the secure TrustToolbar interface. www.trusttoolbar.com/
FREE KEYLOGGER DETECTOR. Is someone logging your keyboard keystrokes right now? Probably not but if you want to find out for sure then run this tiny free utility that will scan for any software based keylogger running on your PC. http://dewasoft.com/privacy/kldetector.htm
COBIAN BACKUP is a multi-threaded program that can be used to schedule and backup your files and directories from their original location to other directories/drives in the same computer or other computer in your network. FTP backup is also supported in both directions (download and upload).
Cobian Backup exists in two different versions: application and service. The program uses very few resources and can be running on the background on your system, checking your backup schedule and executing your backups when necessary. Cobian Backup is not an usual backup application: it only copies your files and folders in original or compressed mode to other destination, creating a security copy as a result. So Cobian Backup can be better described as a "Scheduler for security copies". Cobian Backup supports several methods of compression and strong encryption. www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm
SPECIAL PURPOSE PAPER. If you occasionally need graph paper, grid paper, or other special purpose paper, don't buy the stuff. Download it for free. http://incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/
FXFOTO automatically imports photgraphs from your digital camera and arranges them in chronological folders. You can annotate photographs and arrange them into impressive collages and slide shows, touch them up with red eye and blemish removers, crop, frame, add text, accents, and even drawing. Print, email, or upload results, make scrapbook pages, slide shows and presentations, print them, or send them with FxFoto's free viewer. The program supports creative effects such as paint simulations, drop shadows, partial transparency, clipart, patterned cropping, theme templates, and more. Download the Standard Edition for free. www.fxfoto.com/
DOWNLOAD ACCELERATOR PLUS (DAP) is the leading download manager. It leverages patented technology, ease of use, and rich features including multiconnections for optimal downloads from most responsive servers, automatic recovery from lost connections and errors, AlwaysResume (when standard resume is not supported), scheduling, and automatic hang-ups. DAP integrates with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, and other browsers, and is available in 10 languages. It also is 100 percent spyware-free and enjoys industry-wide recognition from Norton, Ad-Aware, eTrust PestPatrol, Spyware Doctor, and McAfee. Version 7.5 features higher speeds and broadband optimization, a new design with a rich-graphic speed panel, the ability to preview rich-media files as you download them, and a list of the most popular downloads by DAP users. www. speedbit.com
X-SETUP PRO. Tweak more than 1500 functions in Windows, Internet Explorer, and other common programs with simple button clicks. X-Setup allows you to change the appearance of your desktop or browser, modify memory settings, or bump your security up a notch. The Explorer-like interface makes navigating the tweak options a snap. Optional Record Mode and log files make it easy to retrace your steps and even reproduce your work on thousands of computers. You can view the source code of every plug-in before installing it, or you can set X-Setup to automatically update with new plug-ins. www.x-setup.net
Return to Herb Goldstein's Index
Copyright 2005. This article is from the October 2005 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.