All Pages
Members Links
Freeware Reviews
Introduction To Wiki
Miscellaneous Stuff
NewsLetters
Rants and Raves
Software Warnings
Security Tips
Tutorials
Website Reviews
Windows Tips
Wiki Calendar
TagPage
Recent Comments
Software Policy
Privacy Policy
Thanks for visiting
ContactUs
Newsletter Archive Reviews Archive 
Welcome to Clif Notes Newsletter
October 15, 2006
 Hi Everyone. Thanks for reading my newsletter. Each week, I will have freeware reviews, tips, tricks, news, and lots of cool websites for you to check out. I hope you enjoy this week's letter. Be sure to write me for advice or yell at me for messing up. Click here to chat while visiting this newsletter! |
REVIEWS
Download dot com's trojan screensavers
commentary from ClifNotes, Oct 2006, permalink
I love autumn. I especially enjoy the colorful autumn leaves. So, what's wrong with a beautiful autumn themes screensaver? Nothing, unless you download it from Download.com.
At the very end of September, I received a Download Dispatch newsletter from Download dot com and I saw a couple of free screensavers in the listings that looked very nice.
If you find these don't even download them. They are Adware/Malware. I personally downloaded both of them and they both set off alarms in my anti-virus program. I'm not alone. There were dozens of user reviews on each and they nearly all said the same thing.
Each of those screensavers has been downloaded over 40,000 times by unsuspecting users. What is Download dot com doing? Do they even notice the user reviews? I've written to their support people about this. No response yet.
If the nasty downloads weren't bad enough, when you get to the download screen they offer you "sponsored links" to three more nasty places to pick up more adware to assist in destroying your PC's stability.
(screenshot and links to SiteAdvisor's rating on each link)
click image to expand
SiteAdvisor rating for ScreenSaver.com
SiteAdvisor rating for EasyScreenSaver.com
SiteAdvisor rating for ScreenSaverInsanity.com
Here is an excerpt from the newsletter that started all this.
Whether you call it autumn or fall, the picturesque season of bold colors and falling leaves is upon those of us in the Northern hemisphere. So, we've put together a collection of screensavers to help you celebrate the beginning of the season. From falling leaves and auburn forests to cute woodland creatures, it's easy to get images of autumn on your desktop. Happy downloading!
3. Colors of Autumn Screensaver 3
Make autumn come alive with 60 stunning images displaying the full breadth of fall colors.
License: Free 29,675
4. Gorgeous Fall Foliage Screensaver
This free autumn screensaver puts picturesque seasonal colors on your desktop.
License: Free 25,069
The free Colors of Autumn Screensaver by Scenic Reflections displays 60 beautiful and colorful images of the fall season. See and experience the awe of autumn right on your computer. We know you're gonna just fall in love with this free screensaver. This free autumn screensaver also features three beautiful, full-length, CD-quality musical compositions. All Scenic Reflections Screensavers include desktop wallpaper support so you can make any of the screensaver images your desktop wallpaper, too.
click image to expand
About the screensaver author's website (nasty place)
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/scenicreflections.com
What lesson can we learn from my mishap?
- Always be suspicious of free screensavers. They are a favorite vector of malware profiteers for spreading their poisons.
- Don't even think about downloading a screensaver at a website that doesn't pass SiteAdvisor's tests. And even though Download dot com's results are good, they can't be trusted either.
- Make sure your anti-virus programs are up to date and immediately scan any new downloads.
Update Oct 18, 2006: An old friend of mine that I met at TeMerc forums, wrote in to tell me he had posted a notice on CNET forums and now Download dot com has removed the download above marked #4. There was also some discussion there that suggested the downloads may not have been infected and that it was a false alert from AVG/ewido security software. Even if they aren't infected, I still will not accept any excuse for them ignoring so many user reviews.
Thank you JohnInCal, for your help at CNET.
What is the best freeware solitaire game?
recommendation from Vegard, Oct 2006, permalink
Last week, I reviewed 123_Free_Solitaire, which I've been using for two years. Vegard wrote me about it in a comment.
Kind regards from vegard
I feel kinda silly, because I never realized it was crippled. I never use the Undo, Redo, and Statistics when I play. I consider using an undo as cheating. I later emailed Vegard and thanked him for the comment. I also asked him what he thought the best freeware solitaire game was. He answers below ...
That was a tough one... :-)
If PySol had been a easy install, I would have choosen that one. But the Python installation in Windows is a bit tricky. As-Solitaire and Solitude is optimized for a screen resolution of 800x600. WizSolitaire has gone shareware, so I will not promote the last freeware version.
That leaves me with 2 very good games:
click image to expand
1. Patience Pack 8.0More than 80 solitaire card games, and several dice and puzzle games (in total 120 ). And as i write: "They are for all ages and will test your skills. Many classic games, but also highly original ones." Good animation, sound, replay, game rules, 9 backgrounds, 6 card backs.
2. Cardgames Deluxe 5.5 (formerly REKO's Klondike Deluxe) The information on my "Freeware Solitaire" page is out of date, so see here: http://www.rekogames.nl/mambo/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=34&func=fileinfo&id=1968Only 6 cardgames (but that will increase):
Klondike/Quatro/Memory/Findit/Freecell/Pyramid
But you can use more than 1000 cardsets in the rkp/reko format:
http://www.rekonet.org/ :-) :-) :-)
Three difficulty levels, 2 score systems with or without timer, background colors, selection colors, play MIDI/MP3-music. Make your own cardsets, organise them and view them.
Hopes this helps... :-)
Keep up the good work, Clif!
kind regards from vegard
Thanks Vegard, now we know where to find the best solitaire games. You make it pretty easy because they are all at your website: http://solitaire.vegard2.no/
Secret Maryo Chronicles
review by ClifNotes, Oct 2006, permalink
I like playing the old style 2D scrolling games. Secret Maryo is very similar to Super Mario so you'll be able to jump right in and start playing it. It's an open source game that should run on most versions of Windows. It's a stand-alone program so all you need to do is unzip it to a folder and double click the executable to run it.
Quote
Secret Maryo Chronicles is a 2D platform game Game built upon SDL. It is Open Source software so the source is included in the source download package. If you want to contibute to the project in any way contact the main developer.
In-Game Level Editor, Multiple Levels, Multiple Maryo Stages, Fireplants, Overworld, Great Sound and Music, Save and Load, Get Extra Lives
FirstPage2006 - free competitor to MS FrontPage
recommendation from Dave at DavesComputerTips, Oct 2006, permalink
Dave wrote me last week to tell me that his website at http://davescomputertips.com has gotten a facelift. He's also adding a section of tips from Carol Bratt, who is an expert with Microsoft Office applications. Then to top it off, he asked me if I'd ever heard of FirstPage 2006. I first tried it when it was FirstPage 2000 and it was great back then. I haven't tried it in years, so Dave's recommendation here is very welcome. Thank you Dave!
From Dave:
It’s a very capable design program, with a great (and accurate) page preview, which is not common in my experience. It has an easy mode for the beginner, as well as a hardcore mode for the professional.
It can handle ASP, frames, PHP, Server Side Includes, and scripts.
It comes with very good reference material for HTML, CSS, Cold Fusion, Perl, DHTML, and Javascript for those who are new to web design or don’t remember the proper code (I won’t mention names).
It has tools to correct code format, compress html, validate html, and build javascript rollovers (fancy changing buttons and images like the sites you see on the web).
First Page 2006 is basically Front Page with more features and capabilities – a 10mb size instead of 200mb – and a free price tag instead of $200.
click to expand
Quote from the website
Five years and 3,000,000+ downloads since the first release, Evrsoft brings you First Page 2006, the highly anticipated HTML editing software. Evrsoft First Page 2006 gives you unsurpassed freedom to create and edit web documents with absolute code control.
FirstPage 2006 is designed for professional web development. Create, Edit and deploy websites with absolute ease and precision. The integrated tools empower web developers to develop standards-based web documents, quickly and easily.
http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage3.shtml
JetAudio Basic - simply a great free music player
review by ClifNotes, Oct 2006, permalink
Ever since JetAudio came out a few years ago, I've tried it at various times. It's getting better every time I try it. This isn't a simple music player anymore, it's a full multimedia center that rivals WMP (Windows Media Player) and does many things that WMP has never considered. I like to listen to the music at Shoutcast.com and once I set JetAudio as the default PLS file player, it does just fine there. I also like to watch visualizations on the screen during my downtime and the few that come with Jet are fantastic and fast, even at high resolutions.
Have you ever wanted to chat with like minded music lovers while listening to music? Jet allows you to do this at many of the channels that it hosts. Jet also features a mini web browser, support for converting files from one format to another, CD ripping and much much more.
In my opinion, the only free music and multimedia system that might be better is WinAmp. However, this is only because WinAmp's plugin system allows you more flexibilty. If you are not a big tweaker, then Jet would be my recommendation for you. If you feel the system that you are using blows this one away, be sure to comment below. I'd like to hear about it.
The download is about 16mb and will work on most Windows systems.
Quote
JetAudio is integrated multimedia software made up of a single compact rack. Not only does it play various music and video files, it also has features such as CD burning, recording, and conversion to other file formats.
Supports All Major File Formats, Audio CD burning, Recording, Tag Editing, Multi-channel sound ouput, Crossfade, Skins, Subtitles, Internet CD Database, Convenient album management & Playlist Utilities, Conversion, Audio CD Ripping, Internet Broadcasting, Various sound effects, Speed Control, Resume Synchronized Lyric (Karaoke), Alarm & Timer, Equalizer, Superb Crystal-Clear Sound
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/jetaudio/
CubicExplorer - doing what Windows explorer should do
review by ClifNotes, Oct 2006, permalink
Windows Explorer is what we all use to see our files because it's there. It's always been there and we're used to it. You might want to try CE (CubicExplorer) out just to see what we've always been missing. CE has taken many of the ideas that we use all of the time in advanced web browsers, and placed the same time saving functionality into a file browser. Features such as tabbed views, bookmarks, and more are what makes it real improvement over Windows Explorer. I've only tried it for a short time, but I was immediately impressed by it's easy to use interface. The only trick I couldn't figure out was how to open up text files in it's built in text viewer. After consulting the very nice help file, I found that you simply highlight the file you wish to view and center click (press down on the mouse wheel). Not only does the built in viewer open text files, but if you use it on HTML files, it highlights all of the tags for you. This is nice little quick editing tool for the webmasters out there.
Have fun!
Quote
CubicExplorer is a file manager/browser software application. It's designed to be easy to use, yet powerful enough to handle multiple directories at the same time. It features tabbed browsing, and has a built-in text editor which has highlighters for many different file types.
Freeware, most versions of Windows, 2.4mb
http://www.cubicreality.com/ce/about
Old Newsletter
I like to look back and see what I was thinking about. Here's another letter from the wayback machine.
TIPS AND FEEDBACK
How fast will an unprotected PC last on the internet?
article from BBC World, Oct 2006, permalink
I ran across this article last week. It's hard to imagine this, but all the evil PC's in the world are just waiting for you to drop your firewall for just a few seconds. That's what former hacker, now security expert, Jacques Erasmus recently found. Below is an excerpt from the article.
Quote from BBC World source
We set up a poor Windows XP machine with no firewall or anti-virus software ... How long would it be before we were hit by something nasty on the net? Hours, minutes? As it turned out - eight seconds!
We were hit by Sasser, one of the fastest spreading worms on the 'net, and it wastes no time at all in taking over your PC. Within seconds of infection, our PC started downloading some strange programs, or payloads, from mysterious Internet addresses. These payloads are the programs that can take control of your machine and turn it into a remote controlled bot.
Our machine then started scanning random Internet addresses, looking for other vulnerable PCs to infect. Then Internet Explorer started downloading spyware. Within 5 minutes our PC was running so many malicious programs, that the CPU was running flat-out at 100% - and we weren't even touching it.
Of course, if you've been a victim of hacking, it's no laughing matter - it certainly wasn't for our PC, which crashed completely in under 30 minutes.
If you have time, tell me what firewall and anti-virus software you are using, and why you like it.
Comments last week
Thanks to everyone who commented on the articles last week. You gave me more ideas and some good advice. If you see comments on an article, you will be missing out if you don't click on them to take a look.
If you commented last week, check to see who commented on your comment!
Here are the comments from last week.
- Image Shack Toolbar - a convenient way to snag net pics •
- 123 Free Solitaire - free card games are more fun •
- Old Newsletter - a trip back in time •
- How to Rip and Save Pandoras Music to MP3 Files for Free •
- How can I backup my hard drive? •
COOL WEBSITES
Websites I've visited recently
Have you seen any cool websites you want to share with us?
NEW NEWS
Lockergnome articles
News from Sarah in Tampa
OTHER STUFF
Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!
You need a free 2.7 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. I'll send you an invitation right away if you write me and say I WANT GMAIL.
I think Gmail works best in the awesome Firefox browser. It's free, easy to use, and it's way more secure than Internet Explorer. My favorite thing to do is to customize Firefox so that it does much more than IE ever could. You can select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes - the way Firefox looks and works is under your control.
Chatting at FreewareWiki
Now you can chat with anyone visiting a website by using Gabbly. To see who's gabbing at this website, click here.
Find out more about Gabbly.com
Frapper - you people live all over the world!
Wow! Over 300 people and still growing! I invite all of you to record your locations on this map. You can include as little or as much information as you wish. I think you'll enjoy seeing yourself there.
Here's a small look at my frapper map.
Write your own review
I get many of the reviews in the newsletter from the readers. You don't have to be a genius or computer guru. Just answer a few questions and send me a review. I'll probably put you in the newsletter.
What do you have to say?
Just tell me what article you are talking about and leave me your comment.
Have fun and surf safely.
Clif
http://clifnotes.net & http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com
Devoted to promoting Freeware and Free Information
Want a free 2.7Gb Gmail account?
Email me here.
Please provide a link back to the webpage used if you publish any part of Clif's pages.
Visitors to Clif Notes: - Contact Clif?
Page Information
|
Wiki Information |
Recent PBwiki Blog Posts |
Create your own educational wiki!
Add to Del.ici.ous
Add to Digg
Add to Reddit
Add to fUrl
Add to Spurl