If you'd like to give your machine a cool looking animated menu bar, ObjectDock offers this and more. I was reminded to try this menu bar while browsing Download.com's recently featured downloads. I didn't actually intend to try it out, but I did want to see if it was offered as a portable download.
Good news! As of May 20th, ObjectDock is available as a portable app. It so happens that I found it a day after it was released. You can find the portable version in the link to the Portable Freeware Collection forums which I've included below.
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ObjectDock is a program that enables users to organize their shortcuts, programs and running tasks into an attractive and fun animated Dock. By allowing users to have more control over how they organize their desktop, users can take control of their desktop icons and shortcuts to have them be available when where and how they need them. This, all with the unique style and top-rate performance that ObjectDock is known to deliver!
Fully customizable, super smoothness in zooming, entertaining alternate mouseover effects, libraries full of high-quality images available for use with the program at WinCustomize.com. The first time you try ObjectDock's trademarked ReadyView weather flyout, there'll be no going back. And good news for fans - more ReadyView flyouts are planned for the future!
Blue Coat® K9 Web Protection is a content filtering solution for your home computer. Its job is to provide you with a family-safe Internet experience, where YOU control the Internet content that enters your home
WHAT VERSIONS OF WINDOWS ARE REQUIRED?
Win2K, XP, Vista and Beta version for Mac.
DOES IT REQUIRE ANYTHING ELSE? (LIKE .NET)
No.
IS IT A LARGE OR SMALL DOWNLOAD?
Small download of 234K.
IS IT AN EASY PROGRAM TO INSTALL?
Yes.
DOES IT COME WITH AN UNINSTALLER?
Yes.
WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?
Thru Google.
WERE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS?
Yes.
WHAT ARE YOU USING IT FOR?
The very purpose that it was developed for ;)
WHAT WERE YOU USING BEFORE YOU FOUND THIS?
Nothing.
HAS IT SOLVED A PROBLEM YOU WERE HAVING?
Yes indeed :)
WHAT PROBLEMS HAS IT CAUSED?
None, so far.
IS THE PROGRAM EASY TO USE?
Very easy.
DOES IT COME WITH HELP FILES?
Control Centre is web-based with exhaustive online help.
WHAT FEATURES DO YOU LIKE OR NOT LIKE?
All though all the features are good but I specially like the feature where you are given an option to unblock a site temporarily for few minutes if you have the password.
WHAT FEATURES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ADDED OR TAKEN AWAY OR CHANGED?
Every time a visitor tries to open a restricted page an alert mentions the reason for blockage. User should be given an option to either display this error message or simply block the page without displaying the reason.
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If you’re like most of us, parenting in the age of the Internet has you facing a new set of challenges. Blue Coat is committed to helping you and all communities through this 'First Generation of Internet Parenting'.
K9 Web Protection is our free Internet filtering and control solution for the home. K9 puts YOU in control of the Internet so you can protect your kids.
Azulstar Wireless Wizard - gives you more info on WiFi networks
Here's a very nice free tool for those of you who do a lot of networking out on the road.
This free tool provides you with the following tools and information.
• Show Network Info
• Renew/Release IP Address
• Enable DHCP
• Show IP Configuration
• Open Network Connection
• Run Bandwidth Test
There are three things I didn't like.
• The installer errors out during installation but finishes okay anyway
• The program want to be an auto-run and live in your system tray forever
• It's ad supported (unobtrusive at the bottom)
You can't do anything about the installer, but you can disable the auto-run in the program's options. Since this is an ad supported application, please let me know if you find any good freeware replacements for it.
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This tool is essential for using any WiFi or WiMAX network. It simplifies setup, improves security and will dramatically enhance the speed and reliability of your connection. It improves WiFi/WiMAX performance.
I tried out the Radio Alarm Clock and it was able to play my local audio files just fine. Every time I tried to play an internet radio stream, I kept getting an error message telling me that I had not filled out the URL section of the Settings. Perhaps Thomas can tell me what I was doing wrong? Be sure to check the comments below.
Give this one a try. It installs well and the uninstaller works just as nicely. It does place itself as an auto starting application, but most of you know how to disable this setting using MsConfig. Let me know if you have the same troubles I had.
If you don't feel like debugging an application today, be sure to check out the other utilities at Thomas's website. Please be aware that his website is tweaked to only be usable in Internet Explorer.
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Streaming Radio Alarm Clock 3.5
Sun, 18 May 2008 14:28:34 US Mountain Standard Time
Windows: All
A streaming internet alarm clock radio. Features include internet detection with backup alarm sound file. 12 or 24 hour display with date. All savings are saved to the registry. No resetting the alarm every day, it is added to the start up. Tray enabled for quick access. Automatic mixer un-muting and 90% volume crank at alarm time. When you press stop on media player after alarm is playing it returns your mixer volume back to the originally set volume. You can also set the media player volume individually for each memory station and it is saved. Up to 5 preset stream links can be set from interface to point to any internet stream you like. I have included a huge file full of stream links to help users to pick stations. This program is full of features you are sure to love !
Requires windows media player 7.0 or up. Your mornings will never be the same. Enjoy !!!
I saw this article at CFJ (Confessions of a freeware junkie) last month. I may have a use for this built in Window's utility some day. I wrote it down here so I don't forget about it. I'm also hoping that someone reading this may also some day make use of it.
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If you have a need to create a self-extracting archive of compressed files and can't get your hands on IZArc or another similar tool - (like in those rare cases you can't get to the Internet) - - or perhaps you can't install a third-party tool on your servers...then you can use the built-in Windows command - 'IExpress.exe'.
While visiting the freeware genius blog, I found a very handy utility that could save you time if you need it. SysExporter will grab text information from a program window that you can't copy from using the Windows copy function.
Note: Some time ago I learned a great shortcut for grabbing text from those pesky error messages that you get in Windows. Just highlight the window and press Ctrl + Insert. Now you can paste the error message text into any window that accepts text. To save it as a file, just paste the message into the Windows Notepad editor.
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What do you do when you have information being displayed right in front of you that you need but cannot simply copy/paste or export? Typically what I used to do in this situation is simply grab a screenshot and perform OCR (optical character recognition) using a program such as JOCR. With SysExporter, however, I could simply locate the application that I want to extract data from in the SysExporter interface, then simply scroll through all of the dialogs associated with that application until I find the information I seek. Simple and quick.
I've seen this utility around for quite awhile now. I've never had time to try it, but someone at MakeUseOf has apparently given it a try. This might help you track down a lost or stolen laptop. There are no guarantees.
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What do you do then? Maybe your machine is covered on your home owners or renters insurance but that still won’t get back your data or computer. So a little application called LocatePC that lives on your Windows-based machine gives you a little more added security. All it does is monitor your IP address. If it detects a change in your IP it sends a pre-configured email. Interesting concept and best of all it is free.
Bob Constans was kind enough to share a list of online services he's been gleaning from different sources. It's not a complete list, but he's taken the time to try some and offer his recommendations.
If you need to share files or work on files with a group, this is a good place to start looking.
Thanks Bob!
From Bob via email:
I figured that I'd better send you this before the info becomes out-of-date. LOL
It's a pretty basic list. I hope you don't mind having to maybe clean it up or format it to taste a little or hey, give it a permanent page.
Here's a good resource for beginning IT managers. Some experienced IT people may also benefit from reading this free E-book.
Qualys is a well known provider of security software. I first ran into them a few years ago when they offered a free browser testing service. Since then, they've discontinued that service, but I've never forgotten them.
Note: To get this free offer, you must register your email address and a few other details at Qualys. I'm confident that they will not send you email that you don't wish to recieve.
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Get all the Facts and See How to Implement a Successful Vulnerability Management Program.
As a business owner, or someone responsible for network security within your organization, you need to understand how to prevent attacks and eliminate network weaknesses that leave your business exposed and at risk.
Vulnerability Management for Dummies arms you with the facts and shows you how to implement a successful Vulnerability Management program. Whether your network consists of just a handful of computers or thousands of servers distributed around the world, this 5-part book will help:
• Explain the critical need for Vulnerability Management (VM)
• Detail the essential best-practice steps of a successful VM Program
• Outline the various VM Solutions - including the pros & cons of each
• Highlight the award-winning QualysGuard VM solution
• Provide a 10-point checklist for removing vulnerabilities from your key resources
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!".
Here's a quick tip from the Webmaster of www.topfreeware.net
Tony says: "Looks good"
I'd have to agree. The website is well organized and it's bound to get better as they add more music. At this time they have compositions authored by:
Alexander Borodin, Alexander Glazunov, Bedr(ich Smetana, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carl Maria von Weber, Edvard Grieg, Enrique Granados, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, George Frideric Handel, Gustav Holst, Hector Berlioz, Isaac Albéniz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Sturt, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Modest Mussorgsky, Muzio Clementi, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Musopen is an online music library of copyright free music (public domain music). We want to give the world access to music, without the legal hassles so common today. There is a great deal of music that has expired copyrights, but almost no recordings of this music is in the public domain. We aim to record or obtain recordings that have no copyrights so that our visitors may listen, re-use, or in any way enjoy music. Put simply, our mission is to set music free.
I tried this online scanner on a whim, just to see how well it worked. I works too good. BitDefender's online scanner requires that you use Internet Explorer and downloads to your PC as an ActiveX application. I don't like ActiveX and I don't like being forced to switch browsers.
The scanner didn't take long to load and I didn't see any settings options pop up. After it scanned for a few minutes, I suddenly saw that it had deleted three files off my system. Wait a minute! I didn't tell it to delete any files!
I quickly stopped the application and checked to see what files it had deleted. From what I could tell, the files it deleted were not even infected files. I think these were false positives, but I can't prove it. After all, the files are gone now.
I checked previous reviews from other people who had tried this app before and they showed that the scanner had options allowing you to choose the files to be scanned and also options to notify before the scanner deletes any files. Either the scanner has changed or there is something different about my computer that made it skip offering me any options.
I cannot recommend this service. If you do decide to use it, be very careful with this one.
Quote from the website
Scan your PC for free
BitDefender Online Scanner is an on-demand virus scanner which incorporates the award-winning BitDefender scanning engines. You can use it to scan your system's memory, all files and drives' boot sectors, and to automatically clean infected files.
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.
Wow! Over 900 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.
Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!
You need a free 6 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.
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.
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