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Welcome to Clif Notes Newsletter

May 6, 2007

  
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.

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  1. Welcome to Clif Notes Newsletter
  2. REVIEWS
    1. ShellExView - master the right click menu
    2. Tales Animator - make your own cartoons
    3. LimeWire - great file sharing application
    4. The IM Client Formerly Known As GAIM
    5. PasswordSafe - open source password manager
    6. Clipperz - keep it to yourself
    7. FastStone Image Viewer - better than IrfanView?
    8. Old Newsletter
  3. TIPS AND FEEDBACK
    1. Internet Fixes Weekend Windup
    2. Comments on Are Cookies Safe
    3. Comments last week
  4. COOL WEBSITES
    1. CoolSites Newsletter this week
    2. Websites I've visited recently
    3. G.ho.st - online virtual PC
    4. Aggrega - online music videos
    5. Neave.TV - a very cool way to watch videos
  5. NEW NEWS
    1. SnapFiles.com - new and updated freeware
    2. News from Sarah in Tampa
    3. Security news from Malware Advisor
    4. A view from CyberNirvana
  6. OTHER STUFF
    1. Chatting at FreewareWiki
    2. Frapper - you people live all over the world!
    3. Write your own review
    4. What do you have to say?


REVIEWS

ShellExView - master the right click menu

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink System Tweaking

Shell extensions make your computer life easier.

Just right clicking on a file gives you options to do a multitude of tasks. Many programs love to put their own shell extensions into the right click menu. After all, this only makes it easier to use the software.

What happens when you have too many shell extensions?

Your right click could be slow or act weird. You can't find what you are looking for. This happens to me now and then because of all the software I try out.

How can you get rid of the shell extensions you don't want?

ShellExView was designed to help you control the shell extensions. It will list all the extensions installed on your PC and give you choices on what to do with them. It's not a very large program and it can be downloaded as a no-install zip file or in an installer package.

Quote from the website
The ShellExView utility displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html


Tales Animator - make your own cartoons

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Video Tools

I saw this program last year and I just now got around to trying it out. Tales Animator is a simple way for people to create animated cartoons. I installed the 12mb download and opened it up. I thought I'd be able to choose backgrounds and then drag and drop characters around to create my cartoon.

Not that easy. I found that you create the cartoons by using a simple scripting language. Yes, I did say it was simple, but it's not too easy. On the other hand, I don't see too many other programs like this one. If you know of any, be sure to comment below.

Here below is a short cartoon called:
"Why nobody should eat rabbits".

click to view the movie
Quote from the website
DollySoft is the home of the best software animator for kids and their parents. It's name is Tales Animator. Your kids can animate their favorite fairy tales easily. You can animate your presentations or add animations into your digital home videos. You do not need to be an artist. Just screenplay is needed. Another good thing is that Tales Animator is FREE!!!

http://www.dollysoft.com/


LimeWire - great file sharing application

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Internet File Sharing

The good:
Sharing files between computer users is a great idea. There are zillions of cool files out there on the peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks, but you'll have to be very careful what you grab and just as careful about what you share in return.

The bad:
For those of you who aren't familiar with the P2P services, you may want to read about it's dangers here.
File Sharers, Beware!

  1. You'd better make sure you have darn good anti-virus and anti-spyware programs if you plan on using any P2P service. The bad guys love P2P file sharing and they know all the tricks to use that can fool you into loading their malware onto your PC.
  2. I recommend that you never let your teen aged or younger children have access to any P2P file sharing programs. They are easily fooled into viewing adult materials or downloading viruses and trojan horse programs.
  3. If you are sharing files from your PC, make sure you have the right to share them. Also make sure you know exactly what files you have given the application the permission to share. After all, you don't want to share your private data on the internet.

My experiences:
Seriously, I use a file sharing client about once every two years, so I'm not an expert. I used to use a file sharing tool called WinMX but WinMX was nearly destroyed because of a lawsuit by the RIAA. LimeWire was also sued, but somehow they've managed to side step the worst of the cease and desist orders.

LimeWire isn't a huge program and the interface is easy to use. The program works well and my only major complaint is that the search results just don't work very well for me. Those search results have more or less been hijacked by the bad guys on the net. You'll find way too many disguised advertisements and x-rated materials in the most innocent searches.

Quote from the website

  • Ease of use - just install, run, and search
  • Ability to search by artist, title, genre, or other metainformation
  • Elegant multiple search tabbed interface
  • "Swarm" downloads from multiple hosts help you get files faster
  • iTunes integration for Mac and Windows users
  • Unique "ultrapeer" technology reduces bandwidth requirements for most users
  • Integrated chat
  • Directly connect to a computer
  • Browse host feature--even works through firewalls
  • Added Bitzi metadata lookup
  • International versions: Now available in many new languages
  • Connects to the network using GWebCache, a distributed connection system
  • Automatic local network searches for lightning-fast downloads
  • Support for MAGNET links that allow you to click on web page links that access Gnutella
http://www.limewire.com/


The IM Client Formerly Known As GAIM

review from BillWebb, Apr 2007, permalink Instant Messaging

From Clif:
I've got an older copy of Gaim, the free and open source multi-IM chat client. I keep it on a USB thumb drive so that I can take it with me wherever I go. It gives me access to MSN, Yahoo, AIM, and GTalk all in one place.

I was very surprised to find that the name of Gaim has changed!

Quote from Bill:
After several years of threats and arguments with the Big Guy (AOL), all kept under wraps, the issue was settled. The Little Guys could continue building a client that communicated with the AIM platform, but they had to change the name so that it didn't reflect anything about AOL's trademark. read the rest of the article


PasswordSafe - open source password manager

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Password Manager

Comment from PG Wolfe:

I am a firm believer in not using easy to remember passwords. Therfore, having a password application that generates random passwords is needed. One of the differences between Passpack (reviewed here) and Password Safe (http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/) is that Password Safe resides on your own harddrive (or thumb drive, if you prefer), not on their servers.

I have not found any limitations as I have approximately 75 different passwords maintained. I only have to remember one password...the password to open the application's database.

From Clif:
I tried out PasswordSafe and I wasn't crazy about it. I wasn't immediately able to figure out how to get the password from the application into my browser windows. I'm sure it works great. It's free and open source. I have no reason to say anything bad about it.

Thanks for the comment Wolfe!

click to expand picture
Quote from the website
What is Password Safe? Password Safe is an Open Source (free) tool that allows you to have a different password for all the different programs and websites that you deal with, without actually having to remember all those usernames and passwords. Password Safe runs on PCs under Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP).

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/


Clipperz - keep it to yourself

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Password Manager

Last week, I mentioned PassPack, an online service that securely stores your website logins for you online. Apparently some people other than my fine subscribers read these articles occasionally. Imagine my surprise when I read a comment from the co-founder of a competing service.

From Marco:
If you are going to use multiple strong and complex passwords you can't remember all of them and you definitely need a password manager.

Clipperz is an online password manager that can do much more than simply storing your passwords.
- direct login to online services
- offline version
- bookmarklet for quick data entering
- ...

Clipperz can be used to store and freely organize any kind of confidential textual information, such as passwords, confidential notes, burglar alarm codes, credit and debit card details, PINs, software keys, and so on.
Clipperz is free and completely anonymous.

Clipperz lets you submit confidential information into your browser, but your data are locally encrypted by the browser itself before being uploaded.

The key for the encryption process is a passphrase known only to you.
Clipperz simply hosts your sensitive data in encrypted form and could never actually access the data in its plain form.

For any further information refer to our website: http://www.clipperz.com.

Marco
Clipperz co-founder

Marco, thank you for the comment. Your short message did fail to mention something about your product that some of us may find very useful. Clipperz can be downloaded and run as an "offline service". If I'm not mistaken, this means we don't have to worry about always contacting the mother ship for the password data.


FastStone Image Viewer - better than IrfanView?

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Image Viewers

Shortly after last week's review of IrfanView was posted, Bill Webb wrote in with this comment.

Comment from BillWebb:

I love Irfanview's speed, but for ease of use I prefer FastStone Image Viewer with its pop-out menus. It does a good job of bridging the gap between mostly drop-down menus like Irfanview and a panel full of buttons like some others. I also like the way it opens separate work areas -- just personal preference.

Have to admit Irfanview's much faster opening, though -- a much better choice as a primary viewer to replace the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

I haven't noticed a resource issue with either, but given the machines I use them on, I probably wouldn't.

Thank you Bill. I've never tried FS Viewer, but it sure looks cool and it is free for home use. When I get time, I'll give it a go.

Here are some current comments:

From Bill Allin:
I use FastStone Image Viewer exclusively now, having removed the others. It has updates regularly, showing that the product is continually in development. Want something? Just write to them with your wish list.

Ralph Lussey wrote the following:
I found Fastone Image Viewer about a year ago and have fallen in love with it. It is not only a viewer but is a powerful image manager also. It is loosely based on the ACDSee program but much easier to use, and FREE!. This may be one of the best freeware programs I have ever found.I also like their "Fastone Capture"

Paul wrote the following:
Being a true scavenger of freeware, I have to say, this is one of the best image viewing and managing programs I have had on my computer. It is easy to use, has many, many bells and whistles, and is a really topnotch program, with great visual appeal, right from the rounded corners of the frames with the images. This is truly an amazing program for free. Don't be caught without it.

Harmon wrote:
I am also a convert having used Irfanview for years. After installing FSViewer I decided to try their FSCapture. I've given up Irfanview for the new kids on the block.

Quote from the website
FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.

http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

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

Internet Fixes Weekend Windup

tips from Gary at InternetFixes, Windows Tips

From Clif:
Gary at Internet Fixes continues to amaze me with hundreds and thousands of tips for your PC. Whatever your operating system, or how you use it, a visit to Gary's site will soon have you saying "So that's how you do this!".

Sign up for Gary's newsletter?

============================
Mondays News Letter Tips.
============================
1. Copying Desktop Themes To Other Windows XP Computers.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00298.htm

============================
2. Quickly Access Special Characters In Windows XP.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00299.htm

============================
3. Get New Windows XP Desktop Themes For Free.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00300.htm

============================
4. Logon To Windows Vista as Administrator.
http://www.internetfixes.com/vista_tips/IF01168.htm

============================
5. The Windows Vista Customization Of The Control Panel.
http://www.internetfixes.com/vista_tips/IF01169.htm

============================
PC Problems? Login To Customer Support And Use My New Detailed Help Form.
http://www.internetfixes.com/customer_support/

============================
Wednesdays News Letter Tips. 05/02/2007
============================
1. Performance Tips For Windows XP.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00301.htm

============================
2. Optimize Your Display Settings.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00302.htm

============================
3. Indexing Service.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00303.htm

============================
4. Use The NTFS File System.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_and_answer/IF00304.htm

============================
5. Run Pre-Vista Programs In Compatibility Mode.
http://www.internetfixes.com/vista_tips/IF01170.htm

============================
6. Quick-search The Web With IE 7.
http://www.internetfixes.com/I_E_7/IF01117.htm

============================
7. Browsing With Tabs In IE 7.
http://www.internetfixes.com/I_E_7/IF01118.htm

============================
8. Clear the Temporary Internet Files Folder on Browser Close.
http://www.internetfixes.com/I_E_7/IF01119.htm

============================
IF01101 How Can I Stop Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) from opening documents in the IE.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01101.htm

============================
IF01102 I am unable to see full amount of a new hard drive I bought and installed.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01102.htm

============================
IF01103 Is Your Computer Running Slowly?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01103.htm

============================
IF01104 My Web Browser Has Been Hijacked.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01104.htm

============================
IF01105 How Do I Enable / Disable Or Delete Internet Cookies?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01105.htm

============================
IF01106 How Do I Prevent Windows Messenger Pop-ups?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01106.htm

============================
IF01107 How Do I Stop Pop-up Or Pop-under Internet Ads?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01107.htm

============================
IF01108 How Do I Enable And Or Disable The Microsoft Windows XP Firewall?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01108.htm

============================
IF01109 You Can’t Find A Lost Windows Product Key?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01109.htm

============================


Comments on Are Cookies Safe

from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Windows Tips

Last week, I told you my opinion on web browser cookies in my article AreCookiesSafe. Only three people commented, but the comments are so good that I knew I should post them.

Comments:

I'm with you on this.Cookies mostly are a good thing but like anything else can be exploited. I generally don't worry about them. I do have a cookie manager program (Cookie Monster) that I use every so often to weed out the ad cookies but thats it. I have the adware scanners I use set not to scan cookies.
Rocker452

Bottom line, the Internet wouldn't work worth a darn without cookies. They tell the sites we visit regularly who we are, log us in, take us to home pages, keep us from having to remember some unimportant passwords, tell the server what privileges we have...and do the stuff mentioned above. I could go on and on.

If you want to find out just how much a hassle it is to operate without them, go to your browser's cookie cache and delete them all. Then try to function normally until you go back to all the sites, sign in again, and get all your cookies back. But beware! You may not remember some of that login information.
Bill

I find suggestions to reject cookies so ridiculous. I once set my cookie control to request permission just to see how often they come. They're almost constant. Without accepting cookies, many sites won't even talk to you. I used to set the cookie control to reject third party cookies, since these were mostly ads. Some sites, like Yahoo, used them when you try to change a setting. But, now, I find most better security controls, like at financial institutions, use third party cookies. To use the internet you just got to accept them all.
Bruce

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.

REVIEWS
Sieklus - an adventure puzzle for the whole family •
IrfanView - my favorite image viewer •
XPL0 Games - the tiniest games •
PassPack - your secure online password keeper •
Infra Recorder - simply creating your CD •
Galaxiga - free game similar to Galaxians •
CyberDefender - how can they defend themselves? •

TIPS AND FEEDBACK
Check in the mail •
Saving Internet Radio •
Are Cookies Safe? •

COOL WEBSITES
Nintendo Mii editor - what do you look like? •
OldApps.com - find your old favorites here •





COOL WEBSITES

CoolSites Newsletter this week

Here are a few links from Mark's CoolSites Newsletter. Be sure to visit his site and see the rest of his links this week.

May 4 COOLSITES by Mark Donaldson Issue 111

Freeware by IanSharpe.com - Downloads: http://www.iansharpe.com/downloads.php

Freeware By Ravi Bhavnani. TakeStock is an easy to use, powerful, personal portfolio manager: http://www.ravib.com/freeware.htm

Freeware Loonies Software Home Page: http://www.loonies.narod.ru/products.htm

Freeware Tools and Toys hutch's home page: http://www.movsd.com/index.htm

New. PhraseExpress Autotext - Clipboard Utility: http://www.phraseexpress.com/

OpenCourseWare. MIT OCW Home. a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

Quote from the website
COOLSITES is a list of safe, fun, useful, informative and just plain cool websites and programs that are FREE, FREE and FREE. All of the programs and websites I list are free. If I list anything that is so good but isn't free I will list the price with it.


http://luem42.googlepages.com/coolsites.html


Websites I've visited recently

Have you seen any cool websites you want to share with us?


G.ho.st - online virtual PC

review from ClifNotes, May 2007, permalink Web Service

G.ho.st is a web 2.0 online browser application that gives you access to a customizable virtual operating system online. I tried it briefly and it's very similar to many of the online virtual desktop programs. The closest one I've seen to this one is Eye Os, which is also very nice.

Surprisingly, the interface is fairly fast and it's so similar to Windows that I had no trouble getting around in it. This is a good service and I hope it goes far.

Quote from the website
G.ho.st is a free Virtual Computer (VC) that runs in any Internet browser and acts like a regular PC. But unlike your PC, your VC including your data and apps are accessible from any browser in the world and are always backed up, up-to-date and secured.

http://g.ho.st/


Aggrega - online music videos

review from Harmon, May 2007, permalink Web Service

Last week johnpro in Australia complained that he's been dropped by Pandora because they don't want to broadcast outside of the United States. Harmon commented back about this cool website.

A reader's review

There is a new beta site named Aggrega that is pulling in some people that live outside the US and cannot use Pandora. I just tried it out (free of course) and seems OK. It is music videos rather than streamed radio and uses uTube videos but you can set up channels like Pandora and hear the original artist's music. It's not as good as Pandora but it's a choice that johnpro downunder can check out as an alternative.

Harmon

From Clif:
Wow! This is an awesome service for all of us music lovers.
Here's one of my favorite videos I found using Aggrega.


Quote from the website

Create your own music video channels
Using aggrega, you can create your own music video channels based on artists and/or genres that you like. Our recommendation engine will infer your profile from your selections.

Vote for your favorite video
You can tell us which videos and/or artists you love and our recommendation engine will refine your profile. You can also hate (vote down) a video and/or an artist.

Share your experience
You can take your video channel with you and add it to your website. Your visitors will discover videos that you love.

http://www.aggrega.com/


Neave.TV - a very cool way to watch videos

review from Brandon Watts, May 2007, permalink Cool Website

From Clif:
I ran into Brandon's review of Neave.tv last week. It sure beats the heck out of my recent experience with Joost. I just wish there was more of a selection of video. Maybe that is in the future. If you like playing with Neave.tv, then you might also like FlashEarth.

The coolest thing about these programs is that you don't have to install anything other than Adobe Flash, which is probably already loaded on your PC.

Quote from Brandon at Lockergnome:
Paul Neave designs awesome interfaces for his work, and Neave.tv doesn’t disappoint. A selection of videos from blip.tv, Google Video, and YouTube are categorized for your viewing pleasure on the site ... read the rest of Brandon's review

http://www.neave.tv/





NEW NEWS

SnapFiles.com - new and updated freeware

Source - http://snapfiles.com/freeware

News from Sarah in Tampa

Source - http://sarahintampa.com


Security news from Malware Advisor

blog by TeMerc Internet Countermeasures, source
Infected? Go to http://temerc.com for help


A view from CyberNirvana


CyberNirvana: Zia's blog about the web and web technology.
http://www.ziarezvi.com





OTHER STUFF

Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!

You need a free 2.8 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. After more than two years in beta testing Gmail is open to the public. Just go to http://gmail.com and sign up for an account.

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.

Get Firefox!


Chatting at FreewareWiki

permalink

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 600 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


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