There were 30 posts there when I entered. Often the comments included not only how many browsers that they had, but which were their favorites. Click the link above to check it out.
Here was my answer:
How many browsers do I have installed?
One and only because it comes with Windows. (IE7)
I don't install browsers any more, but I have several in fact.
Almost every browser you guys have mentioned above has a "portable" version.
(all links above are to portables)
In many cases, that means you simply download a zipped file, then unpack it into a folder on your PC. Next, you create your own link to the executable where you want it.
I always unpack my portables in a folder I named "Portable". Haha, rather unique name eh?
I have over 150 portable programs in my Portable folder.
Why would I want to use Portable apps?
1. No registry entries are written in most cases.
That means far fewer system errors due to invalid registry entries.
2. No new DLLs showing up in my system folder
Another huge cause of system crashes or unexplained problems
3. Easy to uninstall
Just delete the program folder
4. No hidden or "optional" installs
Don't you hate the Yahoo or Google toolbar "optional" installs?
5. Less chances of spyware or malware being installed silently with your app
The bad guys don't really like portable apps. They want to muck up your registry and hide stuff all over your hard drive.
Need help finding a portable app to use? Most are only a Google away. If you really have a tough time finding what you want, it's probably not an easy app to turn into a portable.
Good places to find portables?
http://portableapps.com (some come in exe format, but still only upack in one location that you choose)
What's your answer? You can either comment here below, or join up at the Freeware Forum. My old friend, Coathanger, the forum owner, is happy to see new faces.
Did you know that Ewido offers an online scanner if you have a browser that uses ActiveX (Internet Explorer)? If you don't use IE, then you can download and use their micro scanner. It's a very small download, and all you have to do is double click the file to run it. Once it's running, it downloads the latest malware signatures in preparation for scanning your PC. After I used it the first time, it found almost two hundred tracking cookies that I had neglected removing.
It's only 150k, portable, but does require a live internet connection for updates.
What's the big deal? Who cares if there are few files on my computer that I cannot see and that are doing things I have no control over?
In past issues, I've tried to describe to you what a rootkit is. If you do care about little things like your privacy and your pocket book, this little tool from Sophos will help bring you a little more security.
I tried it and I was truly impressed with how simple they made the interface and the scanning results. I think a five year old child could easily run this scan for me.
The download is a bit over 1 meg and does require installation. I was curious and after I installed it, I copied the program folder into my portable folder. Then I uninstalled Sophos. I tried running it as a stand-alone app and it seems to work fine. This could probably be dropped onto a USB thumb drive and used for scanning a friend's PC.
Quote from the website
Our free software, Sophos Anti-Rootkit, finds and removes any rootkit that is hidden on your computer using advanced rootkit detection technology.
Rootkits can lie hidden on computers and remain undetected by anti-virus software. Although new rootkits can be prevented from infecting the system, if you had any rootkits before you installed your anti-virus, they may never be revealed.
Removing rootkits without compromising system integrity is particularly challenging and needs to be done with care.
I've tried all kinds of download tools and accelerators. I typically stop using them after a short trial.
Since I have a broadband connection, I don't need an accelerator. Most websites throttle your downloads to a speed which is far slower than my connection speed. I'm guessing they do this to more easily handle multiple requests for files and access to their sites.
I don't really need a way to keep track of the links to downloads. I keep most of them right here at freewarewiki. That's the reason I started putting my reviews online many years ago.
I end up using the download tools that my browser supplies in most cases. I'm happy to say that there isn't much to complain about in Firefox. The only real complaint that I have is that the download window pops up and gets in the way for a second or two. I seem to recall that there is a setting to prevent the popup, but I found a solution that I think is much nicer.
I'm using the Download Statusbar and now all my downloads appear below in the statusbar, out of my way, but still visible.
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Quote from the website
View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.
Despite its compact size, Download Statusbar packs in more useful features than the standard download window. The fully customizable interface auto-hides when not in use, allowing full control without interruption.
Features:
• Single-click pause and resume
• Run a completed file with a double-click. Also available: open containing folder, visit source website, and rename the file
• Delete a file from your system from the context menu
• In-line view of percent done, speed in KB/sec, KB downloaded so far, and remaining time, can be customized in the options.
• Updating tooltip provides a more detailed view of the current download, including source, destination, size of the download and the remaining time
• Option to automatically clear files reduces clutter
• Stop downloads and save them for the next browser session.
• Option to start virus scanner when a download completes
• Optional mini mode integrates into the firefox statusbar to further reduce size
Last week I showed you a simple JavascriptPasswordGenerator which I'm using to make my passwords harder to guess. While looking at the coments, I saw that blikksem commented with a suggestion for a simple freeware app called KeyMaker.
It is very similar to the tool I'm using, but it does have one drawback. It isn't accessible online as a web page or a web service. I don't think that's as much a problem for many of you as it is for me.
It has some very nice options, such as letting you choose the number of characters in the password, the types of characters, launching when Windows boots, and a password list generator using a text file.
I was hoping that it was available as a zipped file portable download but it's only available as the typical setup installer. However, I was able to to copy the program folder and run it after I'd uninstalled it. So now it is portable and I've included a link below to the portable version I created by doing that.
My favorite feature was the password list generator. It lets you type in a list of all your logins at websites and it will update that list with a password next to each entry when you run this option. This means you can have a text file that has all of your website passwords in one place. Naturally this isn't a very secure way to store passwords, but you can always encrypt the text file with a password so that nobody but you can open it.
The software's author, Softnik Technologies does not appear to be supporting this tool any more, but I doubt seriously if it needs any support.
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Quote from the website
Do you find it difficult to make up passwords that are not easy for others to guess but easy for you to remember? Here is a simple software to do that.
Key Maker allows you to convert a phrase into a secret password. You can use it to create and use as many complicated passwords as you like without having to worry about forgetting passwords.
Key Maker requires a key phrase. This can be anything that you will always remember (e.g.: I always forget passwords). The password is created from this phrase and will look some thing like 'ghomqca9'. Even though this password is quite difficult to guess or even remember, you can always get it back by running Key Maker and typing in I always forget passwords.
Additionally you can specify two more parameters. These include an optional 'Password Description' and a 'user name'. Please note that the generated password is dependent on these parameters also. Just experiment with Key Maker for 5 minutes and you will become an expert.
You can also specify the number of characters in the password and also if digits are allowed. A different password is generated for the same key phrase with the digits option turned on.
During my recent review of the JavascriptPasswordGenerator password tool that I'm using, I mentioned that I often rely on AiRoboform to remember the strong passwords that I create using my password tool. Chet commented on the article and recommended a nice password manager that he's using.
Comment from Chet:
I'm a fan of both ROBOFORM and a new one I found LASTPASS.COM.
I'm veering more toward lastpass.com lately ... give it a shot.
PS: LASTPASS is freeeeeeee!
Quote from the website
lastpass is a free password manager that makes your web browsing easier and more secure.
• Create strong passwords, knowing you only have to remember one.
• Log into your favorite sites with a single click
• Access and manage your data from multiple computers seamlessly
• Share logins with friends and let others share logins with you
I tried out Snowbird four years ago. It was written by a young programmer in India and it's been slowly evolving into a very good search tool. When I first tried it, Snowbird used to display the search results in a web browser. Since then, it's changed to allow you to view the results in the program interface and also preview some file types.
The amazing thing about Snowbird is it's size. The download is only 22kb. This is definitely a portable tool you can take with you anywhere. No installation is needed. Just unzip the executable file and run it.
I just tried it and searched my hard drive for text files. It finished scanning 40 gigs in about 5 seconds while finding over 3000 files.
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Quote from the website
Snowbird is an extremely small and fast desktop search utility that can search for files and also text inside files. The latest version shows results in real-time as the search progresses and also features a preview pane for quickly viewing common file formats.
The folks at WOT (Web of Trust) are offering another malware educational video. I have it displayed below.
Some time ago, I was called to a friend's home where I've actually seen the malware they show here. It's every bit as nasty and tricky as you will see. I was only able to remove it with the help of security specialist and MS MVP, Tom at Temerc.com.
Fake anti-malware software, marketed under hundreds of different names, scares users by giving false spyware alarms and then tries to deceive them into paying for removal of non-existing malware. The goal of these criminal software makers is to make people pay for the "full" version of their bogus anti-malware product and to collect financial information that can be used for phishing.
Windiz Update - the Firefox alternative to Windows Update
Back in August, I remember reading that Microsoft will be giving you updates even if you don't want them. See this Windows Secrets article. In the article they discuss how to turn off the Windows Update feature. So what should you do to get updated?
Do you want to avoid ActiveX, Windows Genuine Advantage or Silent Updates?
It used to be very difficult to avoid these if you wanted to keep your Windows system up to date with the latest patches from Microsoft. I can always visit Windiz Update website and let them scan my PC for security fixes.
Windiz Update will not work for Internet Explorer and may not work using Opera 5 or Netscape 4. It works great with Firefox and other Mozilla based browsers.
You must install a Firefox extension to use it. I recently had a problem because they haven't updated the extension (addon) to the latest Firefox version. I went to Mozilla and got the latest Windiz Update addon and forced it to install with my nightly tester addon.
It appears to work, but I didn't need any updates and that's just what it reported to me.
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Quote from the website
Good reasons to use WindizUpdate
No personally identifiable information is collected from your computer.
No more unwanted spyware -- Microsoft Internet Explorer can finally be removed from your computer (if that were possible).
It lists just the updates you need. If an update has been superseded by a newer one, it will not ask you to install the older one.
Using enhanced data from MBSA, WindizUpdate will find more security patches needed for your O/S than the "other" website.
If there is a security issue with a component that is not yet installed, it will not ask you to update it. For example, if you have not installed hyperterminal, it will not update it.
It is not restricted to just Microsoft products. Software from other vendors can also be updated.
Upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer is not considered a Critical Update!
Works on Windows versions no longer supported by Microsoft -- Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95
Our plugin is not an ActiveX control.
Integrated download manager with error detection -- you can cancel downloads at any time, and the next time you wish to install the cancelled update, it will continue from where it left off. Only corrupted sections of the file are redownloaded.
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!".
Nothing in this list contains malware/virus/trojan code that I am aware of; although, anything labeled freeware is more likely to contain it than open source. As a matter of fact, I have never had any open source program install any malicious code!
• Read more than 4,000 books online FREE. The National Academies Press Home Page: http://www.nap.edu/
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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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