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IN THIS FREE ISSUE:
0. EDITORIAL: Are security programs up to the task?
1. TOP TECH SITES AND RESOURCES
1.1 Major Update for the 46 Best-Ever Freeware Utilities
1.2 New Additions to the "Extended List" of Freebies
1.3 New Name for This Newsletter
1.4 Which Browser is the Fastest?
1.5 New Google Services
1.6 The Best Online To-Do Lists
1.7 Free Programs That Run From Your USB Flash Drive
1.8 One Thousand Free Icons, Free Favicon Service
1.9 Windows Command Line Reference Site
1.10 Free Online Storage Services (SE Edition)
1.11 The Importance of Naming Your Drives Correctly (SE Edition)
1.12 How to Backup Outlook and Outlook Express (SE Edition)
2. TOP FREEWARE AND SHAREWARE UTILITIES
2.1 Free Utilities That Record Streaming Media
2.2 Free Excel Add-in Monitors Your Stocks
2.3 Help for Carpel Tunnel and RSI Sufferers
2.4 Simple Way to Scan Photo Prints
2.5 Add Process Information to Windows Task Manager
2.6 Free Utility Keeps Track of Project Hours Worked (SE Edition)
2.7 ICal Calendar for Windows (SE Edition)
2.8 How to Automate Your CD Ripping (SE Edition)
3. SECURITY PATCHES, SERVICE RELEASES AND UPDATES
3.1 Microsoft Security News
3.2 More Unpatched Flaws in Internet Explorer
3.3 Another Firefox Security Release
3.4 GriSoft Buys Ewido, Intel Invests in GriSoft
4. OTHER USEFUL STUFF
4.1 How to Automatically Download Your Favorite TV Programs
4.2 Get All Your Web Info from One Site
4.3 Fix Your iPod Yourself
4.4 Stunning Sidewalk Drawings
4.5 Install windows XP on a USB Flash Drive
4.6 Useless Waste of Time Department
4.7 Convert Your Photos into ASCII (SE Edition)
4.8 Good Collection of Computer Jokes
4.9 Lots of Free Print Utilities (SE Edition)
4.10 Free Utility Identifies Which of Your Programs Need Updating (SE)
5. TIP OF THE MONTH
5.1 How to Re-organize the Windows Start Menu
6. FREEBIE OF THE MONTH
6.1 Best Free File Manager
6.2 The Best Free Backup Program (SE Edition)
7. MANAGING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION
0.0 EDITORIAL
Yesterday
morning I was in my kitchen reading the Saturday
newspaper while casually relaxing with a cup of coffee.
Then
a headline just jumped off the page.
"Rootkits
on the Rampage" it read.
I
quickly read the article. It was the usual sensationalist
stuff: hospital computers rendered useless, pensioners' life
savings stolen and worse.
But
behind the hype there was an element of truth in the story.
Rootkits are becoming more common. However, what the tabloid
story didn't mention is the fact that rootkits are not only
becoming more common; they are also becoming much more
sophisticated. Furthermore they are only part of a much greater
problem of ever-escalating malware sophistication and the
increasing prevalence of blended threats.
A
blended threat is the malevolent equivalent of a layered
defense. Such threats use multiple means to defeat your computer
security programs. They consist of bundles of different products
and different techniques acting together to enhance the potency
of the payload products.
Hiding
a spyware program by a rootkit is a simple example of a
blended malware threat but they come much more sophisticated
than that.
Recently
I encountered one that used three different retro
routines to try to pull down my anti-malware and anti-rootkit
defenses. It then installed a rootkit to mask a trojan
downloader and then forced a system reboot. On reboot the
stealthed trojan downloader then downloaded two different
keyloggers one of which was further stealthed with another quite
different rootkit. When the keyloggers phoned home with their
payload of captured keystrokes they tried to bypass my Kerio
firewall using an obscure vulnerability in that product.
In
this particular case there were no obvious signs of
infection. No blatantly obvious browser toolbars or popup ads.
The folks who produced this nasty wanted the product to remain
undiscovered.
Worse
still, the rootkit stealthing meant that many security
programs would report the infected computer as malware free even
though every keystroke I made was being recorded and uploaded to
a foreign site.
Thankfully,
there are some rootkit detectors such as IceSword
and Sysinternals' Rootkit Revealer that can still pick even the
cleverest rootkits currently in use.
Thankfully,
too, many security programs are well hardened
against attack by retro routines. Kaspersky AV and NOD32 are
examples and there are quite a few others as well.
But
quite a few security programs are not up to the task of
defending against modern blended threats. An example is the
popular SpyBot Search and Destroy anti-spyware program. It can't
detect rootkits and can be pulled down with ease. The equally
popular Ad-aware fares little better. And you can add to these a
whole lot more.
These
programs were great in their day but the rapid escalation
of spyware sophistication has left them trailing behind. Sure
they will still pick up many malevolent programs but frankly
they are just not up to the task of detecting the latest
generation of threats.
So
what are we to do?
I
can see two ways forward: The first is to reduce your chance
of infection. The second is to only use the best security
products available.
These
are not exclusive choices; both should be pursued.
Neither
path is easy but both can be navigated.
Next
month I'll start a multi-part series of articles to show
you how. It will pull together all the material I've covered
over the last year on layered security protection and safe
browsing into a set of specific recommendations how to protect
your computer.
Furthermore
I'm going to tell you the security programs I've
tested that cut the mustard and those that don't. I know this
won't make me any friends in the industry but frankly the
computer security situation has become so serious that it's time
for some straight talking.
See
you next month.
Gizmo
editor@techsupportalert.com
PS
This month I'm giving away six free copies of the the top
rated Anti virus NOD32 plus lots of Google GMail invites. For
details, see below.
Support
Alert relies on paid subscriptions to survive. If you
feel that you've benefited from reading this newsletter perhaps
you would like to consider donating by subscribing to the
premium "Supporters' Edition" of this newsletter.
The
Premium SE Edition contains almost twice the number of great
tech sites, free utilities, tips and other content as the
free edition. It's also ad-free.
You'll
also get immediate access to the archive of all past
issues of the Premium Supporters' Edition of the newsletter
where you can catch up on the hundreds of great utilities you
missed in the free edition. The SE Edition is a great deal
and at $10 per year it's a bargain.
This
month I'm giving away to new subscribers, six free copies
of the the top rated Anti virus NOD32.
NOD32
is a brilliant program for protecting your PC yet it only
consumes a modest amount of your computing resources. That's why
I use it on my key work computers. At $39 it's good value but
it's even better value when you can get it for free.
The
six copies I'm giving away will be allocated at random but
your chances of scoring one are actually quite good. So if you
have been thinking of subscribing, now's the time.
I'm
also giving away invites to Google Gmail to new
SE subscribers. Last month everyone who wanted one got one and
I expect the same to happen this month. Just email me at
editor@techsupportalert.com after subscribing to the Premium SE
Edition and I'll send your invitation.
Even
if you don't win anything you'll still get my special
report "Gizmo's Desert Island Utilities" which outlines the
software I use myself, including many free product
HOW TO
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PREMIUM SE EDITION
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1.0 TOP TECH SITES AND RESOURCES
1.1 Major Update for the 46 Best-Ever Freeware
Utilities
Yes,
another update, the biggest ever, so if you haven't checked
the list for a while, now is the time. I've also added an index
at the top so you can find things quickly though I still think
you'll get the most out of the list by browsing it at leisure.
The Best-Ever freeware list is an important source of new
subscribers to this newsletter and these in turn help secure the
newsletter's survival. Here I'd really like your help. Please
tell everybody you know about the list; post it to any forums or
user groups and you belong to, mention it in your publications.
Indeed, tell everybody and anybody. If you can post it to Digg,
SlashDot, Furl, Delicious, the LangaList, LockerGnome and other
popular spots that would be really great. If you can do any of
these things I'd consider it a real favor. Let me know if you
do, I'd love to hear.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
1.2 New Additions to the "Extended List" of freebies
The
"Extended List" consists of my latest freeware discoveries
that are reserved just for subscribers to this newsletter. I've
just added eight new items, updated many more and added an index
at the top as well. Remember to bookmark the page as I don't
publish the link elsewhere. May I request you don't publicly
post this link?
http://www.techsupportalert.com
1.3 New Name for This Newsletter
Thanks
to the thousands who voted for the new name for this
newsletter. The clear winner was "GizmoGold." I won't be making
the change until later this year as there is a lot of behind-the-
scenes work that has to be done but I'll let you know well in
advance. Thanks to Jenny O'Neill from Orange County, L.A. who
actually suggested the name. Jenny has landed the big prize I
offered while five other subscribers who suggested the name
after Jenny will each get a lifetime free subscription to the
premium SE edition. Thanks guys.
1.4 Which Browser is the Fastest?
I've
long felt that Opera 9 and K-Meleon were the two fastest
browsers that I've used but this was purely subjective. At this
site they put 24 Windows browsers to the test and the clear
winner for speed is Opera. Well behind are IE 6 and Firefox, who
overall perform rather similarly. Most of the browsers that use
the IE shell such as Maxthon actually run a little slower than
IE itself. Interesting stuff.
http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html#winspeed
1.5 New Google Services
Google
has announced new additions to its seemingly never ending
product array. Perhaps the most interesting is Google Trends [1]
which adds a trend timeline to Google Zeitgeist. It looks very
useful for research. Try a search on "spyware, spam" and you'll
see what I mean. Also of note is Google Co-op [2] which allows
users to subscribe to third party services that provide
annotations to Google search results. For example, I subscribed
to the Digg service so now when I search I see Digg listings for
that search term at the top of the Google search results page.
Also new is a Widget service [3] similar to Yahoo's
Konfabulator. It's available as part of an upgraded Google
Desktop V4.
[1] http://www.google.com/trends
[2] http://www.google.com/coop
[3] http://desktop.google.com
1.6 The Best Online To-Do Lists
In
this comparative review [1] they look at Bla Bla, Ta-da,
Tudu, Remember The Milk and Voo2Do. I've found the to-do
feature at BackPack [2] to meet my needs better than any of them
even though it's part of a web calendar rather than a dedicated
to-do service. As ever, your mileage may vary.
[1]
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/05/08/do-more-online-to-do-lists-compared/
[2] http://www.backpackit.com/
1.7 Free Programs That Run From Your USB Flash Drive
Nice
list from SnapFiles [1] including quite a few five star
rated utilities. If you want more, try the other two links [2],
[3].
[1]
http://www.snapfiles.com/features/ed_usb_software.html
[2] http://portableapps.com/
[3] http://www.portablefreeware.com/
1.8 One Thousand Free Icons, Free Favicon Service
This
is quite special; a free set of 1000 beautiful 16 by 16
icons. Every programmer and web developer should grab these
little gems now [1]. Good too, for webmasters looking for
favicons for their site. If you want to create your own favicon
try the second link [2]. I used this service to create the "46"
favicon now used at techsupportalert.com
[1] http://www.famfamfam.com/
[2] http://www.htmlkit.com/services/favicon/
1.9 Windows Command Line Reference Site
Simply
the best of site of its kind I've seen. Everyone who
visits this site will learn something useful, I certainly did. A
gem.
http://commandwindows.com/
**
Additional Items in the Premium SE Edition **
Got
some great tech sites to suggest? Send them to:
editor@techsupportalert.com
2.0 TOP FREEWARE AND SHAREWARE UTILITIES
2.1 Free Utilities That Record Streaming Media
Sick
of just watching streamed videos and audio tracks but not
being able to save them? So are many other folks and this
demand has given rise to nearly a dozen utilities that will
record them to your PC. The bad news is that the best products
in this category are shareware not freeware with Replay Video
and RM Recorder the standout choices. There are, however,
several solid, if not outstanding, freeware choices. The easiest
to use is StreamBox VCR [1]. It handles many major video and
audio formats including MS and RealMedia though support for
QuickTime and the latest formats is limited. It also can't
handle more than 5 simultaneous streams. The Japanese program
GetASFStream [2] handles virtually all MS video and audio
streaming protocols with ease. There's a catch though: there's
no English translation! Thankfully, usage is dead simple; once
you have installed the product just paste the streaming file URL
into the products address box and hit enter. You can find a
machine translation of the Japanese FAQ here [3]. Another option
is SDP, a free video player [4] that allows you to save most
streamed MS video protocols except RTSP. The later format will be handled in the
next release. Be aware, though, that there are media rights issues with a lot of
streamed broadcasts, so be prudent in what you chose to record.
[1]
http://p082.ezboard.com/fstreemeboxvcrfrm7.showMessage?topicID=27.topic
[2] http://www.urltrim.com/ct/t.php?l=77 Freeware, 697KB
[3] http://tinyurl.com/fwvzq
[4] http://sdp.ppona.com/ Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 2.77MB
2.2 Free Excel Add-in Monitors Your Stocks
Tikr
is "a free Excel add-in application that allows you to get,
monitor and analyze stock quotes and live market data directly
in Excel." For a freebie it's surprisingly sophisticated. It
allows you to set up your own portfolio, create watch lists and
set up quite sophisticated alerts. For each stock you can report
a huge array of statistics from simple P/E through to departures
from various moving averages. You can also track market gainers
and losers and fast moving stocks. All your personal information
is held on your own PC rather than a server and nothing is
transmitted back to Tikr. On the minus side, the company
reserves the right to include advertising at a future date but
that would seem like a small price to pay for such a slick
product. I don't currently play the market but if I did I'd be
using Tikr. Thanks to subscriber Satyendra Dhingra for letting
me know about this one. Freeware, Windows 2000 and later with
Excel 2000 and later, 3.7MB.
http://www.etikr.com
2.3 Help for Carpel Tunnel and RSI Sufferers
Regular
contributor A.K. recently wrote, "Gizmo, I've got a
recommendation for laptop touchpad users with carpal tunnel
woes. Using my touchpad for now even a short period of time
causes wrist discomfort and nerve problems, especially in my
right ring finger. There are several Firefox extensions
designed to minimize mouse use. Of all these, the one I would
currently recommend is Mouseless Browsing [1]. Mouseless
Browsing has plenty of help both in its Mozilla add-ons page and
in the developer's website and allows configurable shortcuts.
It enables easy mouseless/touchpadless scrolling, moving back-
and-forth in history, moving to the tab of your choice and
selecting text boxes. Given that it is only in version 0.4.1
Beta, this already well-done extension shows much promise. Some
current negatives: first, because keyboard numbers (or "ids")
need to be assigned next to each link, pages with many links/ids
load up noticeably slower. Second, there is no current support
for bookmarks, no shortcut to open a new tab nor a shortcut to
close a specific tab. Third, a very rare number of sites may
have their top menus scrambled although, by using a configurable
shortcut, you can quickly and temporarily disable Mouseless
Browsing for those sites." Thanks A.K. for the excellent
suggestion to help overcome a common problem. If any subscribers
are aware of other solutions to work around RSI and Carpel
Tunnel problems please email me [2] and I'll mention your
suggestion(s) in a future issue.
[1] http://www.rudolf-noe.de/MouselessBrowsing.htm
[2] editor@techsupportalert.com
2.4 Simple Way to Scan Photo Prints
Subscriber
Bill Roberts writes, "Gizmo, a friend wanted to scan
a number of old 4x6 prints into her PC as digital images. She
was trying to use the difficult software that came with her
multifunction printer/scanner and asked me for help. Knowing she
had MS Office, I suggested she use MS PhotoEditor but was
surprised to find that utility was not available in Office 2003
and has been replaced by Photo Management software that is
useless to her for that job. With a bit of Googling I was able
to find a download site [1] for the old MS PhotoEditor. The
result is a small, standalone program perfect for her level of
expertise. Now she can easily scan, crop, and 'Save As' where
SHE wants to, in the format of choice (jpg)! No installation is
required and it's easy to make a shortcut on the desktop to the
'exe' file. I hope this may be helpful to someone else in that
position." Nice find Bill. It's a very good example of two
different tech principles: first, new versions of software are
not always better and second, small, specialized utilities will
usually do the job more efficiently than large multi-function
suites. (825KB)
[1]
http://www.weboffice.uwa.edu.au/help/help/__data/page/53450/microphotoed.exe
2.5 Add Process Information to Windows Task Manager
Most
users know that they can find out what programs are
currently running on their PC by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and
bringing up the Windows Task Manager. That's the simple bit;
making sense of the processes listed can be tough going. The
utility company Uniblue has just released a free program called
Quick Access Infobar [1] that allows users to click on any
process shown in the Windows Task Manager and get an explanation
of what that process actually does along with an assessment of
its security status. The information is displayed in your
browser using data from Uniblue's online Process Library
Database. I tried it out and it works well. The information
provided is clear and useful though the online database has
quite a few plugs for Uniblue's products. Also a number of
processes related to some of the obscure utilities I use on my
PC were not listed in the database. You can of course also
access the Uniblue Process Library without installing Quick
Access Infobar by simply surfing to the Uniblue site [2] or
similar sites [3] and looking up the process. Still, many
average users will appreciate the convenience of a single click
lookup provided by Quick Access. Freeware, Windows 98 and later,
316KB.
[1] http://www.processlibrary.com/quickaccess/
[2] http://www.processlibrary.com/
[3]
http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/index.html
**
Additional Items in the Premium SE Edition **
Got
some top utilities to suggest? Send them to
editor@techsupportalert.com
3.0 SECURITY PATCHES, SERVICE RELEASES AND UPDATES
3.1 Microsoft Security News
Another
bad month for Microsoft. In addition to the
identification of two new unpatched flaws in Internet Explorer
(see item 3.2) it turns out that three of the five updates
released on "patch Tuesday" April 11, created serious problems
for users.
MS06-016
created major problems for some Outlook Express users
who found they couldn't open their address books. The patch has
since been corrected and re-distributed as part of an out-of-
course series of releases distributed via Microsoft Update on
the 25th of April.
MS06-015
broke some specific applications including Hewlett
Packard's Share-to-Web software, nVidia shell extension GUID's,
Kerio Personal Firewall, Roxio DragToDisc / Adaptec DirectCD
shell extension and SolidWorks 3D CAD products shell extension.
Again the patch has since been updated and re-distributed
through the Windows Update service.
The
third patch, MS06-013, a massive Internet Explorer update,
created problems with some web sites. This is not really
Microsoft's fault; they had given webmasters many months warning
of the proposed changes and can't be held to blame for their
inaction. This though, was cold comfort for surfers who suddenly
found they couldn't use some of their favorite sites.
The
out-of-course series of updates released on the 25th of
April to patch the April 11 patches has in itself become a
source of controversy as it surreptitiously included a new
version of Windows Genuine Advantage that takes a much tougher
approach to non genuine versions of Windows. Hmmm and we thought
the Windows Update service was only for critical security
updates.
Microsoft's
May "Patch Tuesday" [1] produced only two critical
rated patches. The first covers a flaw in Exchange Server 2000
and Exchange Server 2003 and is not relevant to workstations and
home PCs. The second covers a known problem with older versions
of Adobe/Macromedia Flash. This flaw was fixed in March by
Adobe but the Microsoft patch prevents the flaw being exploited
in computers still running Flash versions 8.0.22.0 and older.
That's fine but the best solution is to ensure you are running
the latest Flash version. You can upgrade to the latest version
from the Adobe site [2].
All
Windows updates are distributed automatically by Microsoft
Update Service. Users who do not have automatic updates enabled
should visit the Update Service [3] now.
[1] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-May.mspx
[2]
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/security/security_zone/apsb06-03.html
[3] http://update.microsoft.com (Requires IE5 or later)
3.2 More Unpatched Flaws in Internet Explorer
Just
days after MS released the massive April cumulative
Internet Explorer update, security specialist Michal Zalewski
discovered a serious flaw in IE involving the way the browser
handles nested OBJECT tags in web pages. A specially crafted
web page could be used by attackers to crash the browser and
potentially compromise the PC. Rated "Extremely Serious" by
security firm Secunia, it even affects fully patched IE 6
versions running under Windows XP SP2. While investigating the
flaw Secunia researchers discovered another flaw that's equally
serious. No work-arounds are available but MS is working on
patches. Until these are available, users should be cautious
about visiting fringe web sites or use another browser. http://secunia.com/advisories/19762/
3.3 Another Firefox Security Release
An
updated version 1.5.0.3 of the Firefox browser has been
released to address a newly discovered flaw [1] that could cause
a system crash or potentially allow a security compromise. The
patch is proactive; no instances of malicious exploitation have
been reported. Users of V1.5x will have the updated version
automatically downloaded via the update service. All other users
should download the latest version from the Mozilla site [2].
[1]
http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2006/mfsa2006-30.html
[2] http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
3.4 GriSoft Buys Ewido, Intel Invests in GriSoft
The
Czech security company GriSoft, makers of the popular AVG
Anti-Virus scanner, has acquired anti-malware vendor Ewido
Networks [1]. According to GriSoft, Ewido's products, including
the popular free version of its anti-trojan scanner, would be
continued and further developed. Indeed a beta of a new version
4, has just been released [2]. Within weeks of the Ewido deal,
Intel announced the purchase of a $16 million stake in GriSoft
along with investment company Capital and Enterprise Investors
who have paid $26 million. [3]. Looks like the smart money
thinks Ewido is a good deal. I agree.
[1] http://www.ewido.net/en/press/20060419a/
[2] http://www.ewido.net/en/
[3]
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/314/lng/us/tpl/tpl01
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4.0 OTHER USEFUL STUFF
4.1 How to Automatically Download Your Favorite TV
Programs
Actually
its' quite easy as there's a free open source program
called Ted that's designed just for this task. It combines with
your BitTorrent client to allow automatic downloads of all
episodes of your chosen programs. Of course you may be violating
copyright laws just like when you record a TV program to
videotape. But hey, you've never done that have you?
http://www.urltrim.com/ct/t.php?l=81
4.2 Get All Your Web Info from One Site
Here's
good news for those who aren't yet into RSS. At this site
you can read the latest feeds from Digg, Del.icious, Furl,
Youtube, Fark, Slashdot, Wired and more. It's a lot to digest
but it's convenient to have it all in one spot. Thanks to
subscriber David Shortman for the suggestion.
http://popurls.com/
4.3 Fix Your iPod Yourself
Why
pay money when you can probably fix it yourself by using the
free guides at this site?
http://www.methodshop.com/mp3/articles/iPodSupport.shtml
4.4 Stunning Sidewalk Drawings
Don't
yawn at the idea. I'm not talking about yet another Mona
Lisa reproduction but stunning, original 3D trompe d'oiel
works. Truly amazing.
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1272/
4.5 Install windows XP on a USB Flash Drive
At
this site you can get details how to install a full Windows
XP installation on your thumb drive. The drive has to be at
least 1GB but that's no problem these days. To see the
instructions click the "Tutorial" tag at the top of the screen.
Be aware that this site runs slow.
http://www.winusb.de/index_en.html
4.6 Useless Waste of Time Department
I
successfully managed to waste an entire hour at this
fascinating site [1] which allowed me simulate road traffic flow
in a variety of situations. Actually, it provided an answer to a
lot of traffic questions about which I'd long wondered. OK, OK,
I am a geek but at least I admit it. If simulation doesn't
interest you try this riddle site [2]. It's not for kids but for
kids-at-heart and is well worth a visit. If you need yet another
pointless diversion then visit this Soduku site [3]. Now that's
another geek thing; I don't find doing Soduku puzzles at all
interesting but I find the algorithms for solving them
fascinating. Hmmm, maybe I am a worry.
[1]
http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/130406
[2] http://www.onlyriddles.com/
[3] http://www.sudokucraving.com/game.php
**
Additional Items in the Premium SE Edition **
5.0 TIP OF THE MONTH
5.1 How to Re-organize the Windows Start Menu
In
issue #127 I showed how you can use the Quick Launch Toolbar
to reduce the number of icons on your desktop.
It
was a simple technique that entailed the creation of
categorized folders in the Toolbar and then moving desktop icons
into the appropriate folders.
Using
the technique you can dramatically reduce the number of
icons on your desktop thus making everything quicker to find.
You
can apply a similar technique to the Windows Start Menu.
Many
users have very long start menus, often with dozens of
items in the "All Programs" listing. Some can be so long they
even run off the screen.
This
needn't be so; it's reasonably simple to organize the "All
Programs" section of the Start Menu into your own category
folders. Here's how:
Right-click
on the Start Menu then click Explore. This will open
Windows Explorer within the start menu folder for the current
user. If you then click "Programs" on the left hand pane you
should see all the programs for the current user listed in your
Start Menu.
These
names are, for the most part, in one big list. What we
want to do is create some category folders then move individual
programs into those folders.
The
categories you create are up to you. I created three:
security, maintenance and utilities. These are the same
categories I use for my Quick Launch Menu. Keeping them the same
makes my filing consistent.
To
create the folders, right click in the any white space in the
right hand Explorer pane and select New/Folder. Name your folder
appropriately, for example "Security."
Then
just drag and drop the appropriate programs into the folder
you have created. In my case I moved NOD32, Ewido, SpySweeper
and seven other programs into the "Security" folder.
Repeat
this procedure for other category folders you want to
create. That completes the job for the Start Menu for the
current user.
At
this stage you may have noticed that some of the programs
listed when you hit "All Programs" from the Windows Start Menu
are missing from the start menu folder. That's because these
programs have been installed for all users not just the current
user.
To
locate these programs, navigate using the left hand Windows
Explorer pane to the start menu folder listed under "All Users."
Repeat the procedure of creating folders and moving programs
making sure you create the exact same folder names as you did
for the current user start menu folder.
When
completed, click the Windows Start Menu button in the lower
left hand side of your screen and you will see all your new
category folders at the end of the All Programs list. Click any
folder and you'll see the programs you moved to each folder.
It's
a good idea to move these category folders to the top of
your Start Menu. You can do this simply by dragging and dropping
the folders from within the "All Programs" listing.
You
may also want to change the folder icons to something a bit
different to the other folders in your "All Programs" list. You
can do this by right-clicking on each category folder and
selecting Properties / Customize / Change icon, then selecting
your icon and pressing Apply.
In
the end you'll end up with a Start Menu "All Programs"
listing with far fewer items together with a series of category
folders. Finding programs using this system is way quicker than
selecting from a long list.
If
sorting out your Start Menu this way sounds a little
daunting, don't worry; there's a free utility that will do it
for you more simply. It's called Tidy Start Menu and you can get
it here:
http://www.tidystartmenu.com/index.shtml (0.98MB)
There's
a free and a paid version but the free will do the job
just fine. The main restriction in the free version is that the
categories folders are pre-defined rather than user selectable.
You can, however, just access the Start Menu folder using the
method above and re-name the categories to whatever you want.
But hey, I didn't tell you that did I?
6.0 FREEBIE OF THE MONTH
6.1 Best Free File Manager
My
long time recommendation has been xplorer² [1] however I've
been using another product called XYPlorer [2] for the last few
weeks and have concluded that it may be even better.
It's
not a two pane manager like xplorer² but rather uses a
tabbed view which is both more flexible and more powerful. It's
packed with features such as batch rename, address bar search, a
filter that takes wildcards, colored visual filters, multiple
views and a highly configurable and extremely useful "new items"
menu. Its killer feature though is the file search which just
has to be one of the most powerful in the business and it's
really fast, too.
When
you start using the product you'll discover lots of
additional hidden gems like the ability to copy a directory tree
structure without the files or the ability to print a directory.
Indeed, after a month of use I'm still discovering new features
and usage tricks.
XYPlorer
is clearly aimed to meet the needs of advanced users
and succeeds brilliantly. Xplorer² however is still a better
choice for average users who will be overwhelmed by XYPlorer's
power.
XYPlorer
was free but on the 21 March 2006 it morphed to
shareware. However, the last free version is still available
from the vendor's site [3] and various freeware sites [4].
[1] http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm All Windows versions, Free for
private use, 867KB
[2] http://www.xyplorer.com
[3]
http://www.xyplorer.com/download/xyplorer_full_lfv.zip All
Windows versions, Free for private use, 633KB
[4]
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2006/PL2006FILEUTILITIES.php#FileManager
**
Bonus Freebie in the Premium SE Edition **
6.2 The Best Free Backup Program
I've
spent the last two weeks trying to locate a decent free
data backup program as part of a major makeover of my site www.backup-software-reviews.com. For some time I've wanted to
offer some free alternatives to the commercial data backup
programs listed at that site so I've been scouring the web for
candidates.
It's
been a pretty depressing experience. It's hard to find
decent commercial backup programs let alone free ones. Most
products have glaring deficiencies, the most common being
difficulty of use and lack of CD/DVD support.
Difficulty
of use is a real deal-breaker for me. If a product
doesn't allow an average user to easily set up an effective
backup then as far as I'm concerned it's pretty well useless.
Let
me explain why by example. Most users want to backup their
email but have no idea where on their computer their email is
stored. Good backup programs provide check boxes for "back up my
Outlook mail" and similar options for other popular email
clients. The same comment applies to backing up bookmarks or the
Windows Registry. Again, most users simply don't know where
these files are located. Well designed backup programs
understand this and make it easy by providing check boxes.
But
most backup programs are not well designed. They require the
user to specify the exact location of files to be backed up and
most users don't know where they are located. It's just dumb.
Of
the 14 free products I looked at I've only found one program
that I feel happy to recommend to average users. It's not
perfect but is easily the best of the products I tried and is as
good as a number of commercial products selling for up to $49.
Indeed most average users will find it to be exactly what they
are looking for to backup their vital data. And it's free!
... full details in the Premium SE Edition of this newsletter.
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This
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of the the top rated Anti virus NOD32.
NOD32
is a brilliant program for protecting your PC yet it only
consumes a modest amount of your computing resources. That's why
I use it on my key work computers. At $39 it's good value but
it's even better value when you can get it for free.
The
six copies I'm giving away will be allocated at random but
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Support Alert is a registered online serial publication ISSN 1448-7020. Content of this newsletter is (c) Copyright TechSupportAlert.com, 2006
See you next issue
Gizmo
Ian Richards
editor@techsupportalert.com
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