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Newsletter Archive Reviews Archive 
Welcome to Clif Notes Newsletter
December 10, 2006
REVIEWS
Winterbells - make your rabbit soar
from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Games
Winterbells is a simple, cute and very challenging flash game. I was pleased with it immediately and the game play is so simple that a five year old could kick my butt in no time at all.
Thanks to Mouser at DonationCoder for this tip.
Quote from the website
Use your mouse to move. Click mouse button to jump. Touch the bells to score.
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/bells.htm
IsoPuzzle - piecing together damaged CDs or DVDs
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ CD Ripping Tools
I've got some old CDs. Some of them don't work so well. IsoPuzzle to the rescue ...
Using this "experimental" ripper, you might get back more than you thought possible. It even seems to preserve bootable sections so that an operating system CD will still boot.
IsoPuzzle creates ISO images that I store on my backup drives. When I need to, I just load the ISO into a VirtualCloneDrive to access it. If you need a real copy, most CD/DVD burner programs will let you use an ISO image to burn a new CD or DVD.
Quote from the website
The goal of this program is to recover as much as possible data of damaged, bad burned or scratched CDs or DVDs. This version is experimental and supports only data CDs and DVDs with sectorsize of 2048 byte - Audio CD, VCD and SVCD are not supported.
http://www.geocities.com/marsoupilamis/DocEnglish.htm
Requires an ASPI DLL to be placed in the IsoPuzzle program folder.
musikCube - clearly organizing and playing your music
review from Mouser, Dec 2006, permalink _ Music Management
From Mouser - admin of DonationCoder (source thread)
Quote from the website
musikCube is an mp3 player for the modern generation. It helps you just listen to what you want to hear, while offering innovative features not seen elsewhere. For the technical user, musikCube is based on an embedded SQL database engine known as sqlite. For the non technical user, that means its fast. Really fast. "Dynamic playlists" allow fully automatic, randomized playback of songs based on your observed listening habits. The more you listen, the smarter it gets. It also features browsable, user reorderable playlists.
http://www.musikcube.com/page/main
Drop on by and visit the DonationCoder.com website for tips on great software.
Knytt - stranded on a strange planet
review from Tony at TopFreeware, Dec 2006, permalink _ Games
From Tony:
Got to the end it took me 3 days (3 hours each day)
Another quality game. Enjoy
Kind Regards
Tony
Quote from the website
The Knytt was abducted by an alien! Traveling through space, the UFO flies into a meteor and crashes on a nearby planet. Luckily, the Knytt and the alien survive, but the UFO is a wreck. How can the Knytt possibly find it's way back home again?
Knytt is a free platform game for Windows featuring exploration and atmosphere.
Drop on by http://topfreeware.net, for more of the best freeware ...
Vector Scape - single player space shooter
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Games
Very nice game! I played it for 20 minutes and found it was worth the download. I like the fact that it's a no-install. Just download it, unzip it, and run it.
Quote from the author
Vetor Scape is a multi level space shooter with what I hope is a unique style to the graphics. The one failing that someone told me about it is the main craft of the player.
People like to fly 'porsches', not 'buicks'. I still like it.
No install needed
http://www.blackratstudios.com/games-full-vectorscape.html
KidRocket Kids Browser - safe surfing for young ones
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Web Browser
This browser really does appear to be kid proof. I tried it out for awhile and attempted to get it to go to other websites than the safe ones it contains. It did a good job of keeping me from doing that. I give this one two thumbs up!
Quote from the website
Send To Notepad - handy for copying text
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Misc. Utilities
I tried this one out at home and at work. I thought it might be handy. It is, but I typically use MetaPad instead of Notepad and this thing will only work with Notepad. I still think it's pretty good though.
Quote from the website
Send To Notepad is a simple tool, which sits in your task bar. You can use it to paste the copied text automatically to notepad. It is very useful when you are browsing the internet. Just double click the icon in task bar, it opens the notepad with copied text in it.
http://www.geocities.com/onlyutkarsh/s2n.html (site may be down temporarily)
alternate download
http://www.freewarefiles.com/downloads_counter.php?programid=17691
ForecastFox - weather forecast in the Firefox status bar
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Browser Tools
This is awesome! Works great. You can customize the way that the weather is displayed in the status area of your Firefox browser. I'm always aware of the weather now, but I don't get outside very often. LOL
Quote from the website
Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/398/
Internet Explorer 6 Application Compatibility VPC Image
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Misc. Utilities
I've tried it out, it works great. Too bad it's time limited ...
Basically, MS is giving us a virtual copy of Windows XP with IE6 installed so that webmasters can write pages that work well in all versions of Internet Explorer. First you fire up MS Virtual PC, then load the new virtual hard drive. I'll use my copy for trying out programs I don't trust.
Quote from IE Blog
Microsoft has recently made Virtual PC 2004 a free download; we’ve taken advantage of that by releasing a VPC virtual machine image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, IE6 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit to help facilitate your testing and development. The image is time bombed and will no longer function after April 1, 2007. We hope to continue to provide these images in the future as a service to web developers. (source)
Quote from the website
A VPC hard disk image containing a pre-activated Windows XP SP2, IE6 and the IE7 Readiness Toolkit.
This VPC image will expire on 04/01/2007.
Download - Internet Explorer 6 Application Compatibility VPC Image
requires Windows XP and Virtual PC 2004
Old Newsletter
I like to look back and see what I was thinking about. Here's another letter from the wayback machine.
http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com/ClifNotesNewsletter041212
TIPS AND FEEDBACK
MS Mole Report - Defender leaves the gates open
from BillAllin, Dec 2006, permalink _ Windows Tips
From Clif:
Once again, Bill Allin listens as MS Mole unloads the dark secrets that the Microsoft Developers Network is sworn to never tell.
Quote from Bill Allin
Hi Clif,
Following a meeting with Microsoft this past week, MS Mole had a few tidbits
to report.
MS developers and resellers are quietly finding ways to disable Windows Defender in Vista. They believe it is not effective enough at catching malware. In almost every case where they disabled Defender and installed a different anti-malware program, the new program (often Spybot Search & Destroy) caught stuff that Defender had not recognized.
(Spybot issued an add-on this past week that fixes the button interface problem that was so annoying to many users. It's not the complete program, so users can install it right over top of the main program.)
MS staff confirmed that Defender is no more effective than 30 percent at catching malware in XP.
Internet Explorer 7 continues to cause concern for those responsible for fixing problems it has created in computers where it was installed. Most have told customers that they should wait at least a few months before getting a fresh version of IE7 for installation.
Developers have a new version of IE7 in hand, but confidentiality agreements prevent them from discussing anything about it, including its very existence. (The Mole is fearless in this regard.)
Resellers have found that IE7 has become a platform for Microsoft income streams. MS has many plugins for IE7 which it will happily sell to consumers who don't have the time to look for the same features that are free in other browsers.
Finally, Mole tells me that Microsoft offers a freeware program called Oasis Columbus that will open programs with a huge variety of formats that Windows would not normally recognize. It will only allow reading a program, not operating it, but this would be handy for those who want to see what is available in a program without going through the whole process of installation and test driving. He says Oasis Columbus is available from the MS web site, but it rather bulky so those with slower connection speeds should be aware of this.
I cannot say anything about Oasis Columbus because I have not used it.
Cheers Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' a book about real and inexpensive solutions to community problems most people think are inevitable evils of modern society. They aren't. We just have to look in the right place.
Learn more at http://billallin.com
Contact author Bill Allin at turningitaround@sympatico.ca
Are registry cleaners safe to use?
from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Windows Tips
Letter from Eddie in Australia:
I have read a lot about "Registry Cleaners" and how they can clean up 1000s of unwanted registry entries. Are these programs safe for the "ordinary" person to use, and can you cause any damage to your computer?.
Kindest regards,
Eddie
My response:
There is some risk, but I've been using EasyCleaner for 3 or 4 years. About once a month does it for me. I'm guessing you wouldn't need to clean very often. Once every three months or so.
Have fun!
Clif
What is the Windows Registry?
Your registry is a huge database that holds an inventory or location of many files, folders, programs and processes that reside on your computer. This information is often used to to run and locate the files needed to perform tasks. When files and programs are added or removed, the registry is changed to track these changes. Over time the registry becomes larger and less organized because of the changes. This can lead to poorer PC performance.
Cleaning your registry can sometimes cause problems. I have had only one minor problem in all my time using them. Using a registry cleaner that "backs up" the registry before it makes changes, is the safest to use. Most of those listed below have this feature.
The debate on whether or not you should use a registry cleaner has never been clearly won. I once got involved with a discussion of this at the DonationCoder forum. I think Carol's response in that forum thread was a good warning. However, most folks never have a problem.
The best way to avoid registry problems is to make use of as many stand-alone or portable apps as you can. These types of programs generally don't use the registry or other external files.
More free registry cleaners:
Click on the pictures to go to the website.
EasyCleaner
Quote from the website
EasyCleaner is a small program which searches the Windows registry for entries that are pointing nowhere. EasyCleaner also lets you delete all kinds of unnecessary files such as temps and backups. You can search for duplicate files and you can view some interesting info about your disk space usage! You are also able to manage startup programs, invalid shortcuts and add/remove software list. ToniArts may not be held accountable in any way if EasyCleaner affects your computer in a negative way.
RegSeeker
Quote from the website
RegSeeker is a perfect companion for your Windows registry !
RegSeeker includes a powerful registry cleaner and can display various informations like your startup entries, several histories (even index.dat files), installed applications and much more ! With RegSeeker you can search for any item inside your registry, export/delete the results, open them in the registry. RegSeeker also includes a tweaks panel to optimize your OS ! Now RegSeeker includes a file tool to search for duplicate files, bad shortcuts and more !
CCleaner
Quote from the website
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :)
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
Quote from the website
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner will scan your Windows registry for invalid or obsolete information and provide a list of the errors found. After fixing the invalid entries, your system will be more stable and run faster. For maximum safety, Eusing Free Registry Cleaner will make a backup of the repaired entries. You will be able to restore any changes made using the software by choosing Restore registry backup. Eusing Software products are free of spyware and adware.
jv16 Powertools (last freeware version)
Quote from the website
jv16 PowerTools is a full set of tools to keep your computer up and running. Until now your computer might have been the one who was in charge, but with jv16 PowerTools you can take control. The program contains all the tools you need for cleaning, controlling and tuning up your computer. Including a registry cleaner, duplicate file finder, temp file finder and much much more! Installation note: Do NOT run the program before you have copied it to its final destination. If you move the program after you have used it even once it starts asking for a password and you must re-install the program before you can use it again.
TweakNow RegCleaner Standard
Quote from the website
Do you have any more suggestions?
Make a comment below.
Tips from CC
From Clif:
CC writes in so often, he deserves an entire website for all of his tips. Here is a small portion of the programs he has tried.
December 7, 2006
You say you are running out of material? What everyone is doing is re-writing their apps to be compatible with vista, and I venture to say that was once free will no longer be free ...
Paint.NET
Quote: "Every feature and user interface element was designed to be immediately intuitive and quickly learnable without assistance. It is also designed to be immediately familiar to users of the original MS Paint software that comes with Windows."
This program is in its final stages of testing They ? say that the final version will be Dec. 31 so far the beta versions have been free. It will give PhotoShop a run for its money. The latest version is compatible with anything out there free and shareware. The only thing is that it is time sensitive and you have to re- install to get the next version, its all automatic.
http://www.getpaint.net/features.html
http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html
CleverKeys for Windows
Quote: "With CleverKeys for Windows you can look up words from almost any application, including Microsoft Word, Web browsers and e-mail programs. CleverKeys is easy to use and easy to install."
This is a oldie but goodie if you are still running all of those "free" office apps
http://www.cleverkeys.com/ck.html?p=features&os=windows
cc
Another Adobe Acrobat security flaw
Dec 2006 from E. La Orden permalink
On page http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa06-02.html
(Adobe web site) you may find the following text:
"Adobe is aware of a recently published report of potential vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat. These vulnerabilities would cause the application to crash and, although Adobe is not aware of any specific code exploits at this time, could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.
Affected software versions: Adobe Reader 7.0.0 through 7.0.8 and Adobe Acrobat Standard and Professional 7.0.0 through 7.0.8 on the Windows platform when using Internet Explorer. Users of other browsers are not affected."
On that page there is also a workaround to this problem.
I think that it may help your readers to know it.
Yours truly,
E. La Orden
Hi ELO,
Yes, this is one of many security flaws that have taken place over the years. I now recommend Foxit PDF Reader. Two other useful PDF programs are CutePdf and TomahawkPdf.
I noticed that there is now a new version of Adobe Reader. If you must use Adobe Reader, you might want to try PdfSpeedup.
Here's another interesting page about Adobe Reader.
http://snipurl.com/14izr
Thanks for writing.
Clif
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.
X-Moto - motocross racing on your PC •
Autumn Brook Theme and Screensaver •
Tips from Tiffany •
Online File Scanners - upload and find out what's safe •
Crossloop - share your computer screen with a friend •
A Grandchild's Guide to Using Grandpa's Computer •
Snowman Construction Kit dot com - build it and they will come •
COOL WEBSITES
Tony vs Paul - stop motion video at it's best
from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Multimedia Streaming
Here is one of the best stop motion videos I've ever seen
Patina's Treasures - great Windows themes
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Cool Website
Patina's Treasures is a very nice looking website where you can find clean Windows desktop themes.
Keep up the good work Patti.
Quote from the website
Welcome! My name is Patti and this is my creative home in cyber space. I call it Patina's Treasures because I have always felt that my favorite place on earth has to be the vast oceans and all the beauty within them. Weekend boat trips always seem to put the world's problems back on land for me. While out at sea, I enjoy collecting shells, snorkeling and diving. These are some of the things in life that I treasure most. Now that I've become a "little" computer savvy, I spend my time creating these desktop themes and find them to be something that my cyber friends can treasure as well. I just hope you don't have to dive too deep to find the treasure that's right for you.
Best wishes,
Patti
http://www.patinastreasures.com/
Note: SiteAdvisor has rated this site as risky, however, I've confirmed all of the downloads are safe. The bad rating resulted from links to adware websites. I've contacted Patti and she has reduced the links to other risky sites. Hopefully, her rating will improve in the future.
Qunu - live questions and answers
from Nipun in Zimbabwe, Dec 2006, permalink _ Web Service
Letter from Nipun:
Howzit goin? Help me get the word out about Qunu. It's not a download but its definitely free.
Qunu is a service where, ok let's suppose i can't figure out what a particular HTML tag means. Normally I would have to scour the web. I could post a question on a forum but it could take months to get a response. Instead I log on to qunu and chat in real-time with an expert on HTML. That's basically the premise of Qunu. It hooks up experts with those who need their help. It's completely free and even though I haven't even registered with them I can already see the benefits. Qunu can provide lots of help when you need it. Check it out
Regards
Nipun
Quote from the website
What's Qunu? Qunu is a search engine for people. We use instant messaging to connect -- in real time -- people who have (for now) software or tech-related questions with experts who are passionate and willing to help.
XP Games - nice index of free games
review from Zia's CyberGuide, Dec 2006, permalink _ Games
Latest Updates from cyberguide
GAMING: FREE XP GAMES
A nicely laid-out web page with a list of free XP games available in cyberspace...Now, if only I had the time to play them!
Quote from the site:
The following games are 100% free full games, not Demos or Shareware. None have any Adware or Spyware. Every game listed has been installed and tested for basic compatibility with Windows XP. Most of the Games will work on Windows 2000 and older versions of Windows just check the requirements. Hopefully this will provide you with some good entertainment without ever having to spend a dime.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPGames.html
Drop on by and visit the Cyberguide and find more cool tips.
PasswordMaker - One password to rule them all
review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Security Tools
Here's a great way to safely keep track of passwords online.
By the way, their motto "One password to rule them all" isn't unique. I wrote a review of Password Generator a long time ago with the same caption. That's ok, they can use it anyway.
Quote from the website
If you're like most people, you have a few passwords that you use over and over again on many different websites. You know this isn't secure, yet you do it anyway. Why? Because it's difficult to remember a unique password for each and every web site that requires one. Password Maker is a small, lightweight, free, extension for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Flock, and Yahoo! Widgets which creates unique, secure passwords that are very easy for you to retrieve but no one else. Nothing is stored anywhere, anytime, so there's nothing to be hacked, lost, or stolen.
Websites I've visited recently
Have you seen any cool websites you want to share with us?
NEW NEWS
SnapFiles.com - new and updated freeware
Source - http://snapfiles.com/freeware
News from Sarah in Tampa
Security news from Malware Advisor
blog by TeMerc Internet Countermeasures, source
Infected? Go to http://temerc.com for help
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 400 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.
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