I just want to warn you that over the next few weeks you'll be seeing lots of changes to the look and feel of freewarewiki as my web host, pbwiki.com, updates the software on my site.
This update will be adding lots of features that I can take advantage of to make it easier to publish freeware articles and the newsletter. I may also start adding volunteer editors to the wiki because the new features will allow better administrative control over the content.
I also work part time at pbwiki.com as a "support guru". If you ever click the help link at the top of a pbwiki page, you'll either get me or one of my co-workers here. If you need a free or premium wiki website, be sure to try it out. It's simply the best online wiki host in my opinion.
In my day job as an Electronics Technician, I'm on the computer more often than not. One of the nice breaks I get away from the PC is building printed circuit board assemblies (PCBs). Before I start on a new PCB, I have to take information from our designs and convert it into text files that run our manual part placement machine. I have a large Excel spreadsheet program that helps generate the text files but any wrong move on my part can really screw up the final assembly.
Me at Work and some of the stuff I help design
I found a single error while I was building the PCBs and I went back to the Excel sheets to find out what I'd done wrong. I had forgotten to sort a table before generating the text files. That meant that there were potentially many errors. I needed to compare my previous bad text files with the current ones to see how many errors I had made on my PCBs.
I decided to try WinMerge to identify the differences for me. Even though there were hundreds of lines of text to compare for differences, WinMerge found the differences between the files instantly and highlighted them for me. Thankfully I found only the single error that I'd already noticed.
Without WinMerge or a similar utility, I'd have spent an hour going through the text by hand. Not many people will need a utility like WinMerge, but if you do, it can be a huge time saver.
WinMerge is Free Open Source Software (FOSS) and is also available in two different portable versions in addition to the version at SourceForge.
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WinMerge is an Open Source differencing and merging tool for Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, presenting differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and handle.
Two or three weeks ago, there was a discussion in our comments about LinkScanner, a service from AVG. It's similar to SiteAdvisor, TrendProtect, NetcraftToolbar and Web of Trust. These services are generally addons or plugins for your web browser that work when you are doing web searches in Google, Yahoo, or MSN. When the search results pop in, so do the visual indicators from the link scanning services. The indicators tell you if a website is safe to visit and other information.
I believe that a link scanning tool is a must have for any computer that is used by newbies or kids. It will really save you tons of headaches if it's used for every web search.
A.K. chimed in with a recommendation of the new LinkExtend addon for Firefox. I tried it recently and I was really impressed. Here is what A.K. said about it.
I uninstalled SiteAdvisor several weeks back when the new version caused all kinds of problems like window freezes, etc. (many others have complained about it too).
Thanks A.K., I think I can scrap the others and use this one now. It actually uses results from many of the other services to generate it's recommendations. Like A.K. found, the toolbar isn't needed and I recommend hiding it.
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LinkExtend, the ultimate browsing tool. Enhance your web surfing experience getting link information instantly on computer security, company ethics, child safety, popularity, and much more. Data from many free online services is collected and combined to provide you with comprehensive results. LinkExtend is freeware and contains no adware or spyware.
I've been using GoogleNotebook for web clippings. Since Google announced that they will stop supporting it, I've been keeping an eye out for a replacement.
Bob W. mailed me this week with news about the Zotero Firefox addon. It sure looks like it can replace my Google Notebook and I plan on trying it soon.
Here's what Bob said in his letter ...
Hi Clif,
I found a Firefox extension Zotero (zoh-TAIR-oh) which is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.
As you may know, an autorun is a program that starts when Windows boots up and they'll often display an icon down in the System Tray (next to the clock). Some programs don't display an icon down there. Some programs (bad ones) don't even want you to know that they are running. Spyware and Adware like to start without your permission. Lots of other programs love to start little apps silently even though you don't need them to run. Altogether, they'll slow your PC to a crawl if you don't get some control over them.
How can you tell the good ones from the bad ones? I used to use QuickAccessInfoBar, WhatsRunning and WinPatrol to help me identify which autoruns were good and bad. After a certain amount of time, I stopped using the QuickAccess product because it is now too commercialized. I stopped using WhatsRunning as I became familiar with what should be running on my PC. I still use WinPatrol and generally install it on all my PCs.
I recently tried OSAM (Online Solutions Autorun Manager) and I was amazed at all the things it can do. The OSAM utility comes in an installed and a portable version and has more functions than I'll ever need.
According to the website, here are the features.
Functional capabilities:
• support of virtually all known methods of automatic loading using the system registry or special folders;
• automatic detection of the peculiarities of settings on specific user systems;
• validation of digital file signatures;
• color marking of file statuses for better comprehension;
• filtering by statuses of detected objects;
• search by masks using any parameter in any display mode;
• output of additional information for any object type;
• output of detailed file information, validation of file existence and accessibility;
• temporary disablement of registry objects or files without creating additional keys or subfolders;
• generation of two types of report files (text and HTML) with all autoload information.
Unique capabilities:
• protection against rootkits by detecting hidden registry keys and records using the method of direct registry data analysis (without using OS functions);
• comprehensive support of LSP (Layered Service Providers) filters deletion and recovery with rearrangement of the providers chain;
• support of namespace providers (NSP) with rearrangement of the providers chain.
Advantages:
• a completely free application!
• grouping by file objects enables you to quickly find all links to a specific automatically loaded file;
• regular updates of the methodological database after the analysis of in-the-wild malicious software;
• full Unicode support (any national characters, filenames and registry data);
• support of visual themes (skins) for users who do care how their favorite software looks.
My final opinion of OSAM is mixed. It has lots of features and lots of power. That's part of the problem. I had trouble figuring out how to use it and stumbled around for a long time.
I believe that WhatsRunning is a better application for most users. If you need more horsepower, then OSAM is likely what you'll want to use. It never hurts to use WinPatrol all the time because it will let you know every time a new autorun application is added to your PC.
Quote from the website
"OSAM" (Online Solutions Autorun Manager) is a powerful and reliable tool for controlling the 'cleanliness' of components and applications that are automatically loaded or started under certain conditions without user's consent.
"OSAM" provides an easy one-click way of obtaining detailed information about the components that are run automatically at the system start and can potentially affect its operation.
Basically, all types of malicious software that have been around for the last 7-10 years use various mechanisms of sticking to an infected system. With this product, you will be able to monitor and control these activities and, which is more important, eradicate the threat on your own.
SUITEKeys free speech recognition suite - have you tried anything like this?
SUITEKeys is a continuous speech understanding interface for motor-impaired PC users. In contrast to other speech recognition systems, it provides access to all available PC functionality. This is accomplished by modeling speech interaction at the linguistic level of the physical keyboard and mouse.
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 it!".
I have a file on my Desktop that I can’t get rid of. I have Right Clicked and selected delete with no luck. I tried to Drag and Drop the file in the Trash Bin again with no luck. Can you help.
A. Nothing is Undeletable
If you ever encounter a stubborn file that simply refuses to delete there is a way.
Ever wondered where a large chunk of your hard drive disappeared to? If you run XP (this may apply to ME) when you have included in the OS a Restore feature.
The main Administrator account is a hidden user account that is installed with Windows XP. If you have ever booted into safe mode you have seen this user Account (the username is simply “Administrator”). Well if you have forgotten the password (and your username is classified as an administrator) you can reset the password.
Instantly Create A List Of All Files In Windows XP.
This little trick is very useful, especially if you have a drive or folder with a lot of files, subfolders and sub-files. It allows you to quickly list all file names, including their location, size and the date the file was modified in a text file or spreadsheet.
• New. KL-Detector- detect keylogging activity on your computer! (it detects keyloggers, but you should remove keylogger by yourself): http://dewasoft.com/privacy/kldetector.htm
• New. WeFi allows for reliable connection to Wi-Fi anywhere a wireless network is available, see online status and location of friends and find an available hotspot anywhere around the world: http://www.wefi.com/
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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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