Review Chairmans Industry Comments (03/07) The Computer Buffet

Sarasota PC Monitor

Review Chairmans Industry Comments (03/07)

The Computer Buffet

by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor

E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org

BAD HYPERLINK?? Occasionally for reasons beyond our control, a hyperlink provided here will not work. After carefully checking your typing (needs to be 100% accurate), the only suggestion we can offer is that you go to Google and enter the name of the software. If a more current hyperlink is available, this is the best place to look for it.

Please also note: Most of the software mentioned below is freeware. It is gathered through researching usually reliable sources. I do not personally try most references, time being the obvious factor.

Computer users are divided into three types: Novice, Intermediate and Expert.

Novice Users - People who are afraid that simply pressing a key might break their computer.

Intermediate Users - People who don't know how to fix their computer after they've just pressed a key that broke it.

Expert Users - People who press the keys that break other people's computers.

HOW_TO_FORWARD. This excellent message ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mail:

Do you really know how to forward e-mail? 50% of us do; 50% do NOT. Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are two easy steps:

1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message. That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second.

You MUST click the "Forward" button first, then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

AOL users can highlight the message text and then click on forward this will send only the selected text plus a short line on it's source, which can then be highlighted and deleted.

2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding e-mail address. Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way that people you send to only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.

Another method is to insert your address in the "TO:" and everyone else's in the "BBC:" field which will completely hide everyone's address except yours. The only drawback with this method is you will be sending the message back to yourself and will have to delete it from your own mail box. However on the plus side, if someone wishes to reply to your message and accidentally, or intentionally, clicks the "REPLY TO ALL" field, the message will only be delivered to your mail box as all address in the "BBC:" field have been effectively blocked. I know this works because I receive emails from people I do not know that are replies to one I sent out to someone on my email list and it only comes back with my address and the person to whom they are replying to, not everyone I had originally sent the email to. So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses!

ERUNT. If the Windows Registry gets corrupted, it can mess up your entire system. Emergency Recovery Utility NT-you can call it ERUNT-lets you back up your Registry. With ERUNT's restore folders, you can return your NT-based system to its full glory. And if your PC's sorry state has reduced you to a mess, too, don't worry: ERUNT doesn't have any complicated settings. You can set ERUNT to automatically back up and restore the folders, too. www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

VISUALZONE. This free add-in performs a "backtrace" that attempts to locate a would-be intruder's IP address, physical location (more or less), and Internet service provider. With a single click, you can report the incursion to DShield, which tracks threats as part of the SANS Internet Storm Center. www.visualizesoftware .com/

GNU IMAGE MANIPULATION PROGRAM (GIMP). Too much of a cheapskate to buy Photoshop? You're in good company, and fortunately a lot of free tools do a good job of manipulating images. The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is freely distributed software for handling such tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. You can resize images, feather edges, erase, fill, magnify, and select portions of your images with the lasso tool. You can also create layers and add text to your images. Note: To install the program, first run the runtime file and then the installer. www.gimp.org/

STARTUP CONTROL PANEL. Programs that automatically start up with Windows can be annoying, especially when they hog system memory and bog down your system. Startup Control Panel is a free program that lets you take control of this process. It lists all of the programs that are set to start when Windows does and allows you to decide what gets to start up with Windows and what doesn't. It's available as both a Control Panel applet or as a standalone program and it's simple to use. Don't want a program to start up with Windows? Just right click on it in Startup Control Panel and select disable. If you later decide you want the program to run, just re-enable it or select Run Now and it will launch. http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

HIDE ICONS IN THE NOTIFICATION AREA. If you don't want to see icons in your notification area (the bottom-right corner near the clock), regardless of whether or not they're in use, here's how to remove them:

Right-click the Start menu and then click Properties.

Click the taskbar tab and then click the Customize button.

Scroll to the icon that you want to remove and click its behavior listed on the right. Change the icon's status by selecting from the drop-down menu.

When you're finished, click OK.

FREE HIDE FOLDER. Most everyone has files or folders on their computer that they do not want to share with others. Free Hide Folder is a free computer security software to hide your private folders. Others will not know where your personal files exist and they will not be able to accidentally view them. You can hide folders simply with a few mouse clicks. Free Hide Folder is protected by a password that you can change or remove at any time. www.cleanersoft.com/hidefolder/free_hide_folder.htm EXTRACTNOW. Why wear out your clicking finger extracting files one by one when you can extract at once?

ExtractNow does a fine job of bundling compressed files and extracting their contents in one fell swoop.

ExtractNow has a clean, well-designed and easy-to-use interface. www.extractnow.com/

INCOME TAX CALCULATOR. This free tax calculator instantly estimates your US federal income tax and finds your tax brackets. Tax brackets show percentage of tax that you pay on additional income. Income Tax Calculator shows current and past tax brackets and estimates federal tax for years 2000-2006. It includes an option of different filing status and shows average tax, the percentage of tax that you pay relative to your total income. www.ashkon.com/tax_calculator.html

WINREMOTEPC is a program that allows you to work on a remote PC as on your local computer. With WinRemotePC, you can see the desktop of a remote machine and control it with your local mouse and keyboard, just like you would do it sitting in the front of that computer.You can also transfer files between machines, copy data via the Windows clipboard, and more. WinRemotePC Video Driver technology provides the ultimate performance. FREE version! www.winsoftmagic.com/wrpc_ features.html

TRUECRYPT. When you encrypt files on your hard disk, not only do you want to scramble the files, but sometimes you want to prevent others from discovering that the files even exist, a sleight of hand known as steganography. The free TrueCrypt program uses strong encryption (including 256-bit AES and 448-bit Blowfish) to create encrypted volumes, and it creates hidden volumes that are indistinguishable from random data. If you take the time to learn how to use TrueCrypt's steganographic features, the program will do a great job of protecting your data from snoops. www.truecrypt.org/

EASYREAD. Other browsers let you view Web pages at custom sizes-why not Internet Explorer? EasyRead installs two buttons in your IE toolbar: One lets you zoom in to make your Web pages look bigger, and the other zooms out to make them small. Version 1.5 introduces the ability to zoom with right-clicks as well. Whether you need things bigger for better reading or smaller to pack in more information, EasyRead can make your Web browsing, well, easier. www.iconico.com/easyRead/

FREEUNDELETE is a freeware data recovery program for deleted files. In case of accidental deletion of files on a NTFS (used by default in Windows XP, 2000 and NT), FAT32 or FAT16 file systems FreeUndelete is the utility to help. FreeUndelete is free. There is no charge, direct or hidden, to download and use a fully functional copy of the program. The program does not install any spyware or adware along with it. It does not populate user's desktop with pop-up ads or forcefully subscribe user to mailing lists. http://officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

SCREENHUNTER. This free screen capture tool isn't much more demanding than the Print Screen-to-Microsoft Paint method, but it gives you more control over the details, such as what the screen shot will contain and where it will end up. With ScreenHunter, you can print the whole screen or-instead of cropping the screen shot after it's taken-use a crop-style rectangle to clip out the region you want ahead of time. Your screen shots can be saved as bitmap, JPEG, or GIF files. www.wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter.htm

HOW PRODUCTS ARE MADE explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery. The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams) Each product also has related information such as the background, how the item works, who invented the product, raw materials that were used, product applications, by-products that are generated, possible future developments, quality control procedures, etc. www.madehow.com/

DOUBLE KILLER. There's a good chance that you have more than one copy of many files on your hard drive. And unless you intend the duplication, you're wasting space. DoubleKiller is a free program that can deal with this problem, searching for and alerting you to any files that are in more then one location.

The program doesn't just look at filenames; it compares the filename, size and does a quick scan of the files to find the real duplicates. And once you've found them, you can either delete the files or move them to another location, freeing up the space with a couple of mouse clicks.

However, be careful: on a typical system, this program will find hundreds of duplicates, but that doesn't mean that you should delete all of them: some are useful (such as programs that install files into the Windows directory, but keep a copy in their own directory as well). So, only remove the duplicates you are sure that you don't need. This is the free version: There's also a Pro version which does more sophisticated searching, scans faster, but costs $20. www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller/

CONTACTKEEPER is a simple free information manager to store names, addresses, emails, and additional information for your friends, family, or other contacts. The interface is straightforward and easy to use, and provides fields for the name, address, phone numbers and email addresses, as well as a notes field that can be used for all other information that you want to associate with the contact. The program also provides a detailed search feature, as well as a built-in birthday calendar with reminder option that can alert you of upcoming birthdays in advance. ContactKeeper allows you to print contact information but lacks import and export functionalities. www.vani.be/contactkeeper/

MOVAVI VIDEOMESSAGE makes free video messaging as easy as making a cup of coffee. Shoot your video using any camcorder, webcam or cell phone camera. Upload the files to your PC. Launch Movavi VideoMessage. Choose a stylish frame to wrap around it. Type your message and click "Start". It's that easy. Movavi VideoMessage features 13 professional and 6 holiday frames suitable for any mood and occasion - holidays, birthdays, roadtrips, and more. See what a difference a simple change of frames makes!

Movavi VideoMessage lets you preview your video card on screen, then converts it for easy emailing or blogging in just minutes. http://movavi.com/videomessage/index.html

ORANGECD PLAYER is a free classic tray-based CD player, featuring a complete set of playback functions, including programmed and random play, and a smart retain-position function (even if you restart your computer every ten minutes, you don t have to listen to the first track over and over). It is designed to take as little desktop space as possible. Other features include integrated volume controls, internet title lookup via CDDB/FreeDB, direct track access, customizable menu layout and mouse events. www.firetongue.com/cd-player.html

AUTOMATICALLY CLEAR TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES. In order to improve performance and reduce the amount of time spent waiting to view Web pages, Internet Explorer stores many of the Web pages and graphics you have viewed in a folder on your hard drive. Next time you revisit a Web site, Internet Explorer can use the content stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder to display the site content, instead of retrieving them from the Web.

You can manually clear the contents of this folder in Internet Explorer by selecting Internet Options for the Tools menu. From the General tab, simply click the Delete Files button. You can also configure Internet Explorer to empty the contents of this folder when you close your browser. To do so, select the Advanced tab from the Internet Options window. Under the Security section, select the option to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed and click OK.

OPEN, VIEW AND PRINT COMMON WORD PROCESSING FORMATS FOR FREE. Similar to the way Adobe Acrobat Reader works for PDFs, TextMaker Viewer lets you open, view and print documents from Microsoft Word, Pocket Word, OpenOffice.org, OpenDocument and TextMaker, even if you don't have those programs installed on your system. The latest version can also be installed onto a USB flash memory drive. www.softmaker.com/english/

HARD DRIVE ERASER. Destroy data on your hard drive, excluding any possibility of future recovery. If you delete a program or format your hard disk, there's always a chance your data can be recovered. If you want to completely erase data, eliminating any possibility of recovery, consider using this free, DOS-based utility. To use the program, you boot in DOS mode from a floppy disk. The utility then erases your drive's data. Because the utility bypasses your drive's logical drive structure organization, it does not matter what operating system you're running: you can use the utility in Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux, or Unix for PC. This program conforms to US Department of Defense's standards (5220.22-M) for clearing and sanitizing standard sensitive information.

To use the program, download one of the following files and save the executable to your floppy disk. If you have a bootable floppy disk, download "killdisk.zip;" if you need to create a bootable floppy disk, download "killdiskfloppysetup.zip." Note: although these versions are free, there is also a Professional version that supports several other erasing algorithms and is compliant with the U.S. Department of Defense's 5220.22 M standard. It costs $29.95. www.killdisk.com/

SPEEDFAN. This powerful tool displays data from you BIOS, such as temperature and fan RPM. Unless you have a tool that's monitoring motherboard, you won't have a clue if your CPU is getting ready to melt. SpeedFan is a freebie that gives pays close attention to your data collected by the BIOS - the temperature and fan RPM. The tool displays the info in the System tray and once configured, you'll get an early warning - an alarm or e-mail to someone (not me, please) - if things get toasty. Supports a lot of popular system boards and monitoring chips. www.almico.com/speedfan.php

SERIF PHOTOPLUS. This free program does a creditable imitation of Photoshop Elements. Along with painting, drawing, and text manipulation tools, there are tools for erasing, filling, and cloning a region. A Layer Manager lets you work with layers and masks, as you would in Photoshop. Selection tools include a lasso-like Freehand tool. You can adjust the hue and contrast of an image (though you can't experiment with levels and curves, because that option is not available here). Other features in PhotoPlus 6 are specific to preparing graphics for the Web. Serif developed PhotoPlus 6 in 1999 and offers it free without limitations. Later versions aren't terribly expensive, either. http://freeserifsoftware.com/software/PhotoPlus/default.asp

INTEL CHIPSET IDENTIFICATION UTILITY. If you need to upgrade or troubleshoot your system but are unsure of the processor you're using, the Intel Chipset Identification Utility is a great help. It enables you to identify your Intel processor and, in some circumstances, determine whether the CPU is operating at the frequency for which Intel Corporation rated it. Supported processors can use the Frequency Test feature of the utility to determine whether a processor has been overclocked. http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter .aspx?ProductID=861

WEBSHOTS DESKTOP. Webshots is a sprawling, community-oriented photo- and video-sharing site that also makes prominent use of professional stock photography. Webshots Desktop software lets you upload your own photos to your album pages on the Webshots site, where you can track views and comments. It's also a great way to liven up your desktop. As a free member of the Webshots community, you're entitled to five downloads per day from the pro Gallery (premium members get unlimited pro downloads), which are then pressed into service as your rotating desktop wallpaper and, if you like, your screensaver. You can customize how often the images change and how; and you can spice up the mix with images of your own, as well as with photos taken by other members of the Webshots community. www.webshots.com/

MOVEONBOOT allows you to copy, move, or delete files on the next system boot. This can come in handy if you need to replace or delete files that are locked by other applications, loaded into memory, or cannot be changed until next system boot. www.snapfiles.com/reviews/MoveOnBoot/moveonboot.html

FREE SOFTWARE FOR YOUR HANDHELD AND PHONE. GetJar has tons of free programs you can download and use. There are browsers, e-mail programs and more. You can search by phone/handheld model or operating system. www.getjar.com/software/

DRIVERMAX is a new program which allows you to easily reinstall all your Windows drivers. No more searching for rare drivers on discs or on the web or inserting one installation CD after the other. Simply export all your current drivers (or just the ones that work ok) to a folder or a compressed file. After reinstalling Windows you will have everything in one place!

Most of the situations when Windows is running slower are caused by faulty driver installations. Windows stores all versions of older drivers just in case you want to go back; sometimes it messes up older versions with more recent ones. The Export Wizard will only export the drivers you select by copying the needed files to a folder or a compressed ZIP file.

After reinstalling Windows all drivers will be back in place in less than 5 minutes - sparing you of searching, inserting disc after disk and losing precious time. The Import Drivers wizard allows you to install all the drivers that you exported earlier.

The entire operation might take up to -10 minutes. Just one single computer restart will be required after all drivers are reinstalled!

DriverMax is able to display a complete report of all drivers (versions, release dates) installed on your system. This feature can also be very useful when you want to analyze the differences between the drivers installed on different machines. www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/index.htm

AI ROBOFORM is secure password manager that can automatically log you into your web accounts with a single click. The program can automatically learn from a new login, just click the a button to save the current login information - the next time you want to access the site, you can do so with a single click. Your stored logins are securely protected by a master password and AES encryption, so there is no need to remember individual passwords, or to use insecure passwords in order to remember them more easily. In addition to secure password storage and automatic logins, RoboForm also includes an automatic form filler, that uses Artificial Intelligence to populate common form fields (name, address etc.) whenever you encounter a web form to fill.

Besides the obvious convenience of one-click logins, the program also adds an additional level of security by restricting password entry to matching sites, and bypassing keylogger captures (since you don't have to type the password). RoboForm works with Internet Explorer, AOL/MSN, and Firefox. Free version can be used with up to 10 logins. www.roboform.com

CALLINGID lets you see the owner of the site you are accessing, where it is located and whether it is safe for sending personal information. It automatically detects, warns and helps you avoid phishing sites, and verifies safe sites. It executes 52 verification tests on each page you visit and provides you with simple easy, to understand risk assessments. From CallingID.com

SCRUB XP cleans your computer from temporary files and Registry keys resulting from opening files and/or using the Internet. It removes IE history, temporary files, cookies, and your documents list from your Start Menu. It also empties your Recycle Bin and clears Auto Complete Entries. Finally, it clears recent file lists that appear in all types of applications (Word, your image editor, media player, search, etc.). This free program runs automatically when your computer starts. You can also invoke panic mode by double-clicking the icon in your task tray. www.bartdart.com/

OPEN AN APPLICATION MAXIMIZED. You can tweak the properties for any shortcut to specify the way you want it to open-Normal, Minimized, or Maximized. Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. The drop-down list labeled Run is the one that controls this setting. Change it to Maximized and click OK.

This setting is just a request from the operating system, so it doesn't have any real teeth. Windows will inform the program that you want it to launch Maximized, but the program may or may not comply. If it doesn't, don't worry. There is, as you requested, a simple key combination you can use to maximize the active window. Press Alt-Spacebar (which opens the system menu at the window's top left) followed by X, the shortcut key for Maximize.

OUTLOOKHELPER is a free, easy-to-load add-on for Windows 2000 and above and for Windows XP. It's like a turbocharger for Outlook, allowing you to manage your e-mail more efficiently. Its helpful functions include previewing images of multiple e-mail messages simultaneously without opening them. In addition the program gives you flexibility in storing, sorting, and organizing your e-mail, and its virus alert feature warns you before you open tainted messages. This add-on comes with free, private cyberstorage, which more than makes up for the small disc space it occupies. www.outlookhelper.com/olh_main.asp?

ARE YOU A SCHOLAR? Google has lofty goals. The search giant's mission is to index all the information in the world. It's done a good job of indexing Web sites and information on your computer. And its mapping software even makes it easy to find physical locations. But what about scholarly information? Well, Google has a site dedicated specifically to academic work. Just type in a search phrase. You'll find articles, criticism and entire books on the subject. This site is great for students and teachers. In most cases, you can read the articles online. But, if the actual text isn't in Google's index, you'll find links to help you track down the work at your local library. scholar.google.com

FREE PORTABLE ENCRYPTION. Any time you take work on the road, you should secure your information. You just never know if it will fall into the wrong hands. One way to protect your data from prying eyes is through encryption. Even if you lose your thumb drive, your documents will be unreadable. You can also encrypt an entire hard disk partition. TrueCrypt can encrypt everything on your thumb drive. The program is not automatically portable, but it is easily made so. Read the steps on using Traveller Mode. The portable version will take up only 599 KB on a thumb drive. www.truecrypt.org

GMAIL is Google's free webmail service. It comes with built-in Google search technology and over 2,600 megabytes of storage (and growing every day). You can keep all your important messages, files and pictures forever, use search to quickly and easily find anything you're looking for, and make sense of it all with a new way of viewing messages as part of conversations. There are no pop-ups or untargeted banner ads in Gmail, only small text ads. Ads and related information are relevant to your messages, so instead of being obtrusive, they may even be useful for once. Gmail also integrates instant messaging right into the email experience, so you can stay in even better touch with your friends when you're online. Easy, efficient and maybe even fun to use. It's a whole new way to think about email. It's Google's approach to email. http://mail.google.com/mail

CLEARING GOOGLE SEARCH HISTORY. If you use Firefox, the quick and easy way to delete a specific search term from the Google home page search history list is to just use your "Down" arrow key on the keyboard to highlight the particular search word or phrase. Then, hold down the Shift key and hit the Delete key. This removes that one from the drop-down list.

The more general way to clear the list is to click on Tools - Options and select the Privacy tab. In the area titled "Saved Forms", click the "Clear Saved Form Data Now" button. Remember, however, that this will clear information that is saved from other websites also.

If you use Internet Explorer, click on Tools - Internet Options and choose the tab titled "Content". In the area called "Personal Information", choose Autocomplete. Then click on Clear Forms. As with Firefox, this will clear the data saved from other website forms as well, so be sure this is what you want to do.

ADVANCED SEARCHBAR-- AN INTERNET EXPLORER MUST-HAVE! If you use Internet Explorer, here's a free toolbar with the most useful one-click access to more than a hundred different Internet tools that you could ever imagine. Among them are local tools that include weather, TV and movie listing, clssified ads, cheap gas stations, and loads more.

On the Internet you can click a choice of many different popular search organs, health and medicine info including WebMD and Mayo Clinic; dictionary, thesaurus, and other educational tools; a variety of web and computer utilities and malware preventers; free greeting card sites; mail tools; security tools; Internet speed tests; phone books; and a seemingly endless plethora of other tools and information.

You can set up the toolbar to contain only those items that interest you and easily make changes at any time. Each tool category has a comprehensive list of sub-categories from which you can choose via check-box which items you desire.

The toolbar is a free download and assures your privacy. It is one of the most useful items I have ever seen, and one that will provide an entirely new dimension to your use of Internet Explorer. www.advancedsearchbar.com :

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Copyright 2007. This article is from the March 2007 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.

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