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IN THIS
FREE EDITION:
0. EDITORIAL: Never re-install Windows
again
Call for Help:
Try Your Hand at Reviewing Please read
1. TOP TECH SITES AND
RESOURCES
1.1 More
Online File Format Conversion Sites
1.2 Free
Browsers Galore
1.3 Free
Security Scan of Your Running
Processes
1.4 Tools
for Techies
1.5 How to
Read Those Annoying Outlook .DAT Email
Attachments
1.6 How to
Slim Down Windows
1.7 Drive
Imaging Resources
1.8 How to
Move Your Outlook Mail to Gmail (Premium
Edition)
1.9 Top
Web Radio Site (Premium Edition)
1.10 Recreate Your Windows Desktop on a
USB Drive (Premium Edition)
2. TOP FREEWARE AND SHAREWARE
UTILITIES
2.1 Top
RSS Reader is Now Free
2.2 Selecting the Best AV Program /
Security Suite
2.3 Make
Firefox Look Like IE7
2.4 Quickly Switch Between Open
Applications
2.5 Get
Top Commercial File Manager for Free
2.6 Another Excellent Free File
Manager
2.7 Free
Time Management and Productivity
Utilities
2.8 Best
free Windows Media Player Replacement (Premium
Edition)
2.9 Top-Rated Commercial Media Player
Now Free (Premium Edition)
2.10 How
to Copy Large Folders or Drives Unattended (Premium
Edition)
3. SECURITY PATCHES, SERVICE RELEASES AND
UPDATES
3.1 Microsoft Security
News
3.2 Another Zero-day Exploit for
Microsoft Excel
3.3 Multiple Patches for Oracle
Products
3.4 Another Set of Critical Flaws in
Adobe Flash Player
3.5 New
Sandbox from ZoneAlarm
3.6 Top
Spam Filter Now Available for
Thunderbird
3.7 Free
Virus Check Using Kaspersky
3.8 Viruses on the Decline - Social
Networks the Next Target
3.9 Recoding Industry Dirty Tricks
Exposed
3.10 Corrigenda - HxD Binary
Editor
4. OTHER USEFUL STUFF
4.1 A
Quality 4GB Flash Drive for $19.95
4.2 The
Meaning of Avast!
4.3 See
the Future of Computing Now
4.4 How to
Stop Flash Movies/Ads on Websites Playing
Automatically
4.5 Useless Waste of Time
Department
4.6 Learn
How to Draw (Premium Edition)
4.7 How to
Backup Your Data Online Cheaply (Premium
Edition)
4.8 Best
Free Portable Applications (Premium
Edition)
5. TIP OF THE MONTH
5.1 How to
Create a Bootable Rescue CD
6. FREEBIE OF THE MONTH
6.1 The
Best Free Minimizer
6.2 How to
Run Your CDs/DVDs Without the Disks (Premium
Edition)
7. MANAGING YOUR
SUBSCRIPTION
0.0 EDITORIAL
Over the last few months I've talked
about setting up your PC to backup your Windows
operating system using freeware utilities. It's a job
that's divided into three phases: drive partitioning,
data relocation and drive imaging. This month I'll show
you how to partition your hard drive and move your
data. Next month, in the last part of this series, I'll
show you how to image your system drive.
But I need to start with some
caveats:
First, these instructions are written
for average users, not beginners. No, you don't need to
be an expert, but you will need to know how to do
operations like locating, moving and coping files
without me telling you how. These
instructions are not for technical experts either. The
partitioning and data schemes I'll be outlining are
extremely simple, rather than optimal. I've
deliberately kept things simple so they are within the
scope of average users. Besides, if you are a true
technical honcho you know how to do this stuff already
:>)
Second, I'm only going to give
instructions for Windows XP Home and Pro. That's
because some of the freeware products I've chosen only
work with XP. They may also work for Vista but I've not
tried them out. Windows 9X and ME users are, I'm
afraid, out of luck.
Third, I'm assuming your PC has only
a single partition on the hard drive and that drive has
plenty of free space. You can check this in "My
Computer". If the only hard drive shown is C: and it's
less than 60% full then you are fine.
Fourth, it's essential that you
backup all your personal data to removable media or an
online backup service before you start because it's
possible that you may lose your data permanently if
something goes wrong. For the same reason you'll also
need a copy of your Windows setup disk handy, just in
case you have to re-install Windows.
Finally, and most importantly, you'll
need at least two hours of time to complete the
necessary steps. If you don't have the time, wait until
you do.
Enough qualifications; let's do
it.
The instructions are far too long for
this editorial so I've written a guide on my
website.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/partitioning-hard-drives-2.htm
This step-by-step guide covers
partitioning your drive and moving some of your data to
the new partition. When completed, your PC will be
functioning normally using the new partition scheme.
Well, I hope it will be functioning normally
:>)
The process of imaging your drive
will have to wait until next month. That's because I
want you to do some preparation in advance.
The preparation involves the creation
of a "UBCD4Win" boot CD. Don't panic; I've set out
instructions how to do this in the Tip of the Month section at the end
of this newsletter. So there's your
homework.
See you next month.
Gizmo
editor@techsupportalert.com
PS This month I'm giving away
six free copies of the top rated anti-virus NOD32. For
details, see below.
Support Alert is not produced by a
giant publishing empire, it's the work of one man,
working alone, namely me.
Support Alert relies on paid
subscriptions to the Premium Edition to survive. If you
feel that you've benefited from reading the free
edition perhaps you would like to consider subscribing
to the Premium.
The Premium 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.
When you subscribe you'll also get
immediate access to the archive of all past issues of
the Premium Edition where you can catch up on the
hundreds of great utilities you missed in the free
edition. If you like the free edition you'll
love the premium. At $10 per year it's just the cost of
a few coffees.
This month I'm giving away to new
Premium subscribers, six free copies of 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.
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 products.
How to subscribe to the
Premium Edition: 12 months subscription to the Premium
Edition costs $10 which can be made by credit card,
PayPal or eCheck. Use the link below to subscribe
now:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/se-edition.htm
Call for Help: Try Your Hand at
Reviewing
For the last two issues I've asked
for volunteers to help with the new Wiki-style version
of the "46 Best-ever Freeware" list.
For this project to succeed, each
software category needs an editor to moderate user
comments, so I'm looking for experienced individuals to
fill these roles.
The response has been good, but more
volunteers are needed because there are still quite a
few software categories needing editors.
If you feel that you are
knowledgeable about a particular software category such
as "program editors" or "disk encryption" then why not
share your knowledge by becoming the editor for that
category in the "46 Best-ever Freeware
list."
As a category editor you will be
fully credited for your efforts, unless, of course, you
wish to remain anonymous. It's a great way to get your
15 minutes of fame. It's also a way of becoming an
internet "giver" rather than just a "taker". And you
will be surprised at just how much you will learn from
the suggestions of others; I certainly have.
As of now, nearly 30 subscribers have
volunteered. but more are needed. If you are
interested, check out the list of still-vacant
categories here [1] and select the categories that you
would like to edit.
Then email coordinator@techsupportalert.com with your selections plus a very short description of
your background and experience. If you have any
commercial affiliations related to any of the
categories, please state them.
Feel free to select as many
categories as you like or to suggest a new software
category if you feel it is needed.
Thanks
Gizmo
[1] http://techsupportalert.com/allocation.htm
1.0 TOP
TECH SITES AND RESOURCES
1.1 More Online File Format
Conversion Sites
Converting files from one format to
another is a common problem. A good solution is to use
a free online conversion site where you can upload a
file in one format and then download it converted to
your desired format. Here are two of the best such
sites. Each has its strengths though it's worth noting that the Media
Convert site offers a solution to one of the
most common conversion needs - converting Adobe Acrobat
PDF files to Microsoft Word DOC files. Both sites are
advertising-supported so turn your pop-up blocker on. Thanks to
subscriber Stuart for the suggestion.
[1] http://media-convert.com/ (up to 150Mb
files)
[2] http://www.youconvertit.com/ (up to 300Mb
files)
1.2 Free Browsers
Galore
In
this world there are many browsers; this site lists but
some of them. Well more than 100, actually. Thanks to
subscriber Mukund Kumar for the link.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/11/21/web-browsers-you-have-never-heard-of/
1.3 Free Security Scan of Your
Running Processes
Software vendor Uniblue is offering a
free process scanner [1] that you can download and run
on your PC. There are many excellent free process
scanners but what's different about this one is that it
cross checks each of your running processes against
Uniblue's huge internet catalogue of legitimate and
known malware programs. If one of your programs is a
security risk it is flagged. It works quite well, and
if you use it together with a good rootkit scanner such
as Panda [2] you should be able to pick up just about
any secret malware infection lurking on your PC.
[1] http://www.processlibrary.com/processscan (901KB)
[2] http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/downloads/docs/product/help/rkc/en/rkc_en.htm
1.4 Tools for
Techies
If
you work in tech support you really should bookmark
this site [1]. It has as good a collection of freeware
and shareware technical tools as I've seen anywhere.
The downloadable set of utilities is a must-have. If
you need more try this downloadable repair kit for
flash drives [2].
[1] http://www.technibble.com/categories/computer-repair-tools/
[2] http://dailycupoftech.com/usb-drive-systems/3/
1.5 How to Read Those Annoying
Outlook .DAT Email Attachments
If
you don't use Outlook as your email client you've
almost certainly run into the problem of receiving
email from Outlook users with unreadable winmail.dat
attachments. This site, suggested by subscriber Geoff
Worboys, will help you decode them. Well worth
bookmarking.
http://tud.at/php/tnef/
1.6 How to Slim Down
Windows
Windows includes a lot of components
to allow it work in a huge and diverse range of
environments. As a result, your version of Windows is
bloated with a whole lot of stuff you will never use.
There are various ways of removing this fat. For
example, the Black Viper site [1] provides excellent
guidance as to what services you can disable. There is
also nLite [2], a freeware program that allows you to
create a customized cut-down version of Windows geared
to your specific needs. Both of these are valuable
options, but there are many traps here for beginners.
If you want to slim down your version of Windows, I
suggest you read Bold_Fortune's "Complete Guide to
Slimming down Windows XP" [3] first. It will not only
tell you what to do, but also alert you to the pitfalls
you need to avoid. Highly recommended.
[1] http://www.blackviper.com/
[2] http://www.nliteos.com/
[3] http://www.bold-fortune.com/forums/index.php?showforum=13
1.7 Drive Imaging
Resources
Subscriber Grover Hatcher has sent in
a very useful list of articles on drive imaging
available from the Wilders Security Forums. Here's what he has written:
a. A new option is now
available thanks to Paul Purviance (a.k.a. "Mudcrab").
He has provided us with guides showing how to make an
external USB drive act in place of the Acronis True
Image Rescue CD. An external drive can be made bootable
with the TI Rescue program so that it boots directly
into the TI Rescue program and can also contain your
backup archives for easy backup or recovery. "How to
Create an Acronis Bootable USB Hard Disk"
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176958
b. For those who are new to
Acronis TrueImage (or find their user manual too
daunting), I have created "Need Help These Beginner's
Guides May Fill That Need!" There are two PDF files
Beginner's Guide to creating a basic full disk archive
Beginner's Guide to restoring a basic full disk
archive
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=168165
c. In your June 2007 letter,
Item 2.6: "Get Acronis True
Image for Free", this version according to Acronis is
customized for the vendor and support must also come
from Maxtor/Seagate. The link below by "Mustang" lists
the limitations
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=175584#7
d. Also, be aware of Mustang's
excellent "Beginner's Guide to Creating a BartPE CD
with a TI Plugin"
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=162424
** These items appear only in the Premium Edition
**
1.8
How to Move Your
Outlook Mail to Gmail
1.9
Top Web Radio Site
1.10
Recreate Your
Windows Desktop on a USB Drive
Got
some great tech sites to suggest? Send them to:
editor@techsupportalert.com
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2.0 TOP
FREEWARE AND SHAREWARE UTILITIES
2.1 Top RSS Reader is Now
Free
FeedDemon has always been one of the
best RSS readers, but it was a tad expensive. Not any
more; the company has announced [1] that it is making
the latest version available to home users for free.
And it gets better. They are also making available
their other consumer products free for private use as
well, including NewsGator Go! for BlackBerry/Java. I've
looked into it and there are no catches as far as I can
see apart from the fact it only works with Internet Explorer. OK, support is now limited to forums, but you can
hardly expect more. Thanks to regular
contributor Leib Moscovitz for letting me know. Free
for personal use, Windows 98 and later with IE6 and
later, 3.8MB
[1] http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2008/01/free-demon-yes.html
[2] http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx
[3] http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2004/05/hidden_feature_.html
2.2 Selecting the Best AV Program /
Security Suite
Who
do you believe when trying to work out the best
anti-virus products? You can't believe all the testing
"authorities" because they often disagree. Regular
contributor Briard has addressed this problem head-on
by bringing together, in one report, an impressive
analysis of how the top AV products are rated by the
major testing organizations. He uses this to produce a
short list of the top products. Briard then goes on to
look at the latest Security Suites from some of the top
rated vendors and comes up with some definite
recommendations. This is another outstanding report
from Briard. It's comprehensive, well researched and a
delight to read. Furthermore, I agree with pretty much
everything he has to say. Highly recommended.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/review-security-guards.htm
2.3 Make Firefox Look Like
IE7
Regular contributor Rick Farrow
writes "Hey Gizmo. I have finally started trying out
Firefox again and it sure feels better this time
around. I have the usual add-ons but frankly I like the
layout of IE7. Then the other day I found a FF theme
that looks nearly identical to IE7 that is called
myFireFox [1]. I guess there are a number of the Vista
aero type themes for FF nowadays but MyFireFox is the
only one I have used without any quirks." Nice find
Rick, thanks. You can find some more ways to make
Firefox look like Internet Explorer here [2].
[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4129
[2] http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/firefox_internet_explorer/
2.4 Quickly Switch Between Open
Applications
Experienced users know that they can
switch between running applications by using the
Alt-Tab task switching feature built into Windows. The
only problem is that to get to the program you want,
you have to cycle through all running applications by
repeatedly pressing the Tab key until you get to the
required program. TaskSwitchXP is a replacement for the
standard Windows Alt-Tab task switcher that overcomes
this problem by displaying all running applications in
one screen, thus making it quicker and easier to find
the program you want. It also adds a whole bunch of
features, including the ability to minimize
applications to the system tray, terminate programs,
show process information and more. All of this in a
tiny 445KB program that takes up virtually no memory.
This is a utility that should be on every XP PC. Thanks
to subscribers Toby Knott, "Schtrudel" and Brad Taylor,
all of whom suggested this product at different times
over the last year. Freeware, Windows XP and 2003,
445KB
http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp.html
2.5 Get Top File Commercial Manager
for Free
In
a recent issue I recommended the file manager XYplorer.
It's a great Windows Explorer replacement and has an
outstanding non-indexed file search facility than can
search both for file names and content within files
with surprising speed. I noted that XYplorer was
shareware but the last free version was still
available. Now some good news: Richard Craggs and
others have written in to let me know that the author
of XYplorer has released a new free version called
XYplorerFree. It's an old version of the current
commercial product but at version 5.55 it's much more
recent than the other "last free version" that I
mentioned. If you haven't yet tried XYplorer then
please do so - it's a great product. It doesn't require
installation so you can try it without risk. Freeware,
All Windows versions, 837KB
http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php
2.6 Another Excellent Free File
Manager
When I recently asked subscriber Jim
Campbell to prepare a comparative review of Windows
Explorer replacements, he was stopped in his tracks by
Free Commander. He was so impressed that he abandoned
the comparative review and wrote a review [2] on Free
Commander instead. I agree with Jim that it's a nice
product, but I find the Norton Commander style
interface old fashioned. I also miss having inbuilt
file viewers. That said, I'm aware that a whole group
of users swear by Free Commander. It's free so why not
read Jim's review [2] and check it out yourself?
Freeware, Windows 2000-Vista, 2.16MB
[1] http://www.freecommander.com/
[2] http://www.techsupportalert.com/review-free-commander.htm
2.7 Free Time Management and
Productivity Utilities
The
folks over at DonationCoder have been running a contest
for their programmers to write some little utilities
geared to personal productivity. They have had quite a
response. Some of the programs are very specialized,
but others are for more general application. The
usefulness of these products depends on your individual
needs, so do check out what's available; you may find
something that you have long been searching for. I did
:>) Yes, they are all free.
http://goe2007.donationcoder.com
http://www.donationcoder.com/nany2008/
**
Additional Items in this Premium SE Edition
**
2.8
Best free Windows Media
Player Replacement
2.9
Top Rated
Commercial Media Player Now Free
2.10
How to Copy Large
Folders or Drives Unattended
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
January's set of security patches
from Microsoft contains just two fixes, one of which is
rated as "important" and the other as "critical." If
your PCs are set to download and install updates
automatically then you should already be protected, but
it's always a good idea to visit Microsoft's update
website [1] occasionally and opt for an automatic check
to ensure that you're not missing any important
updates.
The "critical" rated patch, MS08-001,
fixes a problem in the way the "Windows kernel
processes TCP/IP structures that contain multicast and
ICMP requests." The flaw could allow a Windows PC to be
compromised simply by being connected to the internet
and without any user action required. The flaw is rated
"critical" for Windows XP and Vista systems but only
"important" for Windows 2000 and 2003 server
editions.
The "important" patch, MS08-002,
affects Windows 2000 through to XP but not Vista.
Microsoft says it "resolves a privately reported
vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Local Security
Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). The vulnerability
could allow an attacker to run arbitrary code with
elevated privileges." This sounds worse than it is; the
attack can only take place if the attacker has access
to valid login information.
Further details of the Microsoft
November updates can be found here [2]. All of the
updates are distributed automatically via the Microsoft
Update Service. Dial-up users in particular need to be
aware that these updates are large files and will
require a considerable period of time online to be
successfully downloaded. If you are not certain that
you have received the updates, then visit the Microsoft
Update Service [1] now.
[1] http://update.microsoft.com (Requires IE5
or later)
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-jan.mspx
3.2 Another Zero-day Exploit for
Microsoft Excel
Security firm Secunia has reported
[1] an "extremely critical" flaw in Microsoft Excel
2000/2002/2003 that could allow a user's PC to be
compromised simple by opening a specially crafted Excel
.XLS file. Rather disturbingly, the flaw also affects
the Microsoft Excel Viewer 2003. It's disturbing
because it means using viewers to open Office documents
is no guarantee of protection. It appears that this
exploit is currently being used against high value
targets and is not yet in mass circulation. Even so,
users should treat all email .xls attachments from
unknown sources with caution. If you must open them do
so in a sandbox or make use of Microsoft's free
Isolated Conversion Environment [2] that automatically
converts older Office formats (.xls, .doc, .pps etc) to
the more secure Office 2007 Open XML format. The
Isolated Conversion Environment only works with Office
2003 or later.
[1] http://secunia.com/advisories/28506/
[2] http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935865
3.3 Multiple Patches for Oracle
Products
Oracle's latest batch of security
updates, which it releases on a quarterly basis,
appeared in January 2008 and contains 26 updates for
various Oracle products, including the Oracle Database,
Application Server, E-Business Suite, Collaboration
Suite, and its PeopleSoft product line. All of the
updates are described as critical, and Oracle is
advising customers to install them as soon as
possible.
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/critical-patch-updates/cpujan2008.html
3.4 Another Set of Critical Flaws
in Adobe Flash Player
Adobe has released fixes [1] for nine
separate flaws in its popular Flash player. Some of
these are extremely serious and could allow an attacker
to seize control of your PC merely by visiting a
hostile website. I strongly recommend that you visit
the Adobe site [2] and update your flash player to
version 9.0.115.0 or later. The player is available for
Windows, Apple and Linux.
[1] http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb07-20.html
[2] http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
3.5 New Sandbox from
ZoneAlarm
CheckPoint Software, the developer of
the popular ZoneAlarm firewall and security suite, has
released a beta of a new virtualization product that
allows users to surf safely while sandboxed off from
their PC. Other features include privacy protection,
anti-phishing, anti-keylogging and hostile download
detection. On paper it sounds like a great solution to
a pressing problem, but I'll suspend final judgment
until I put the product through some tests.
http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/forcefield_x/index.html
3.6 Top Spam Filter Now Available
for Thunderbird
The
network-based Cloudmark spam filter has always been one
of my favorite programs for removing spam. It has good
spam detection rates, but its best feature is that it
virtually never classifies your real mail as spam.
Unfortunately, Cloudmark has only been available for
Outlook and Outlook Express. Not any more; it's now
available for the Thunderbird email client as well.
Combine it with the Thunderbird's excellent built in
Bayesian spam filter and I suspect spam in your in-box
will become a rarity. It's not free - it costs $39.95
per year for a license covering two PCs. It's worth
every cent; that's why I have it on my laptop and my
wife's PC as well. Commercial software, trial available,
Windows 2000-Vista, 3.5MB.
http://www.cloudmark.com/serviceproviders/media/releases/?release=2007-12-03
3.7 Free Virus Check Using
Kaspersky
The
Kaspersky anti-virus scanner is one of the most
effective anti-virus scanners available. You can get
the benefits of this power without buying and
installing the product by using their free online scan
[1]. It's not totally online, because you have to
download a small program and a 9MB signature file as
well. It's well worth the effort, though, just to make
sure no nasties have sneaked past your security
software. Note that you need Internet Explorer for this
because it uses ActiveX controls. Subscriber Rick Farrow has written to
let me know about another way of using Kaspersky for
free. The company is now offering a trial version
of their scanner called S.O.S. [2]. They claim that you
can install S.O.S concurrently with your existing virus
scanner and compare results. Normally running two AV
scanners together is not a good idea so let's hope
Kaspersky has done their homework. However you can
uninstall S.O.S. by disabling protection and running
the program unins0000exe in the S.O.S.
folder.
[1] http://www.kaspersky.com/kos/eng/partner/default/kavwebscan.html#
[2] http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/free-virus-scanner.php
3.8 Viruses on the Decline - Social
Networks the Next Target
AVG
Research has released an interesting report on the
changing malware landscape. According to AVG, viruses
now account for less than 15% of total threats, with
phishing scams, backdoor worms, Trojans, keyloggers,
spyware, adware and web-based exploits making up the
rest. For 2008 AVG predicts an increase in the number
of web attacks on legitimate web sites, particularly
social network sites, in order to use these sites for
the illegal capture of user data and for the
propagation of malware. Folks, over the last year I
have been advising you to run your browser in a sandbox
or with reduced rights. This is one of the reasons why.
In the future you may not be able to assume that those
"trusted" websites you visit have not been temporarily
compromised.
http://www.avg.com.au/index.cfm?section=news&feature=83
3.9 Recoding Industry Dirty Tricks
Exposed
MediaDefender is a company paid by
the entertainment industry and other content owners to
poison P2P downloads of copyright material. Its
practices have long been held in poor repute but its
reputation got a further setback after a leakage of
internal MediaDefender email revealed that the company
had been involved in an entrapment plan called MiiVi.
MediaDefender had previously denied any connection with
MiiVi, but the truth has now been exposed. Read the
full article [1] for the juicy details as well as this
follow-up [2]. Thanks to Lex Davidson for the
links.
[1] http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070916-leaked-media-defender-e-mails-reveal-secret-government-project.html
[2] http://www.chillingeffects.org/weather.cgi?WeatherID=593
3.10 Corrigenda - HxD Binary
Editor
In
the September 2007 issue I mistakenly stated that Dario
Valenzo was the author of the excellent HxD binary
editor / disk editor. It was, in fact, Maël
Hörz
http://www.mh-nexus.de/hxd/
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In this race there are really only two runners worth
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4.0
OTHER USEFUL STUFF
4.1 A Quality 4GB Flash Drive
for $19.95
Buy.com is currently making this
offer on 4GB Kingston Traveler drives. I suspect that
the day when we get these drives free in Corn Flakes
boxes is not far away.
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204134644&adid=17070&dcaid=17070
4.2 The Meaning of
Avast!
Avast! is a popular free anti-virus
program. It's a strange name that's made even stranger
by the exclamation mark at the end, but it now makes
total sense, after I received this explanation from
subscriber Andrew Fung. Andrew, who has a seafaring
background, notes "In a maritime context 'avast' means
specifically, to stop or cease what you are doing
immediately lest you endanger yourself, your shipmates
or the ship. Usually it is a command given by the
Master (aka Captain) or the highest ranking officer on
watch. It's a great name for an anti-virus software
program."
http://www.avast.com/
4.3 See the Future of Computing
Now
There seems little doubt that, in the
future, many of us will be using web based applications
rather than running software on our own PCs. Indeed, if
you are using Webmail, Google Apps, or even Flickr, you
are already on the way. The apps are not the problem;
the real challenge is to integrate web apps into the
desktop and provide offline as well as online access.
There are several competing platforms to make this
happen and the path forward is not yet clear, but if
you want to see what is happening, check out the Prism
project at Mozilla Labs. This is exciting stuff.
http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/
4.4 How to Stop Flash Movies/Ads on
Websites Playing Automatically
I
hate it; you visit a website and some unwanted Flash
movie starts playing automatically. You can fix this by
blocking Flash altogether, but that's cutting off your
nose to spite your face. A better solution is to use
the free Firefox "Stop Autoplay" extension. It not only
stops movies from playing automatically, it also gives
you the option of playing them if you wish.
http://hemiolapei.free.fr/divers/sap/sap-en.html
4.5 Useless Waste of Time
Department
Stunning, awesome; what can you say?
You simply must check out these examples of how modern
computer games employ the laws of physics to give
lifelike effects. Thanks to subscriber Lex Davidson for
sending this in.
http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=6231
**
These items appear only in the Premium SE Edition
**
4.6
Learn How to Draw
4.7
How to Backup Your Data Online
Cheaply
4.8
Best Free Portable
Applications
5.0 TIP
OF THE MONTH
5.1 How to Create a Bootable
Rescue CD
Sooner or later it will happen to
you. One day you'll turn on your PC and it won't boot.
No matter how many times you desperately retry, Windows
simply won't start up. All the time you will be
thinking "why didn't I backup my data."
The good news is your data is
probably OK; it's just that you can't get to it. Unless
of course your hard drive has died. In that case maybe
you really should have backed up your data
:>)
Assuming your hard drive is OK, you
can access your data and copy it onto removable media
or another PC using a bootable rescue CD. With a bit of
luck you may even be able to use the rescue CD to fix
the problem with your PC and get Windows to boot
again.
A rescue CD works by allowing you to
launch an operating system directly from the CD so you
don't need Windows to be running on your PC. From that
CD-based operating system you can then access your hard
drive and all your files.
There are lots of rescue CDs
available based on different disk-based operating
systems. Some use DOS or a DOS clone such as FreeDOS.
Others use Linux, but my favorites CDs make use of a
cut down version of Windows called the Windows
pre-installation environment, the best known of which
is Bart's PE [1].
Of the half dozen or so rescue CDs I
have in my tool kit, the one I use most frequently is
UBCD4Win [2]. It's a Windows-based CD that uses Bart's
PE Builder to create the operating system. What I like
about it is the huge range of tools included. Yes, you
can set up a Bart's PE disk yourself with the same
tools or even more, but it's not a simple process,
while UBCD4Win comes ready to go.
One of the many valuable tools on the
CD is the free imaging program, DriveImageXML, that
allows users to create and restore images of their disk
drives.
It is particularly valuable because
it allows you restore an image of the drive containing
Windows even if your Windows system is not booting. For
this to work, though, you must have created an image
before your system failed. That's a topic I covered in this month's
editorial.
You can even setup UBCD4Win to boot
from a flash drive, providing of course that your
computer's BIOS supports USB drive booting. Personally
I think you are better off with a CD. CD booting is
supported by all but the most ancient PCs and a CD is
only marginally less convenient to carry than a flash
drive.
By far the easiest way to create a
bootable UBCD4Win rescue CD is to order the preparation
CD from the UBCD4Win website [3]. It contains
everything you need except the Windows installation CD
that came with your PC. Note that the preparation CD is
not a complete ready-to-go boot CD but rather the
components you need to build one. However, full
instructions are included. At $5.95 for US customers
and $7.95 International it's a bargain. Hey, you even
get a free CD burner program thrown in!
If you are too impatient to wait for
the CD to arrive by snail-mail or too stingy to pay the
$5.95 then you can download the various files from the
UBCD4Win website [2]. The instructions on the website
are excellent. Be aware, though, that the download is
around 230 MB and the boot CD building requires around
2.5 GB of free disk space.
If files that big sound too daunting
then try one of the many Linux based rescue disks [4].
Many are smaller and simpler to set up; just download
the ISO file and burn it to a CD. The popular Ultimate
Boot CD [5] for example is an 87 MB download. Usage
though can be a little daunting for those not used to
the Linux environment but there's an excellent Linux
rescue disk guide for Windows users here
[6].
Whatever option you choose, do take
the trouble to set up a bootable rescue CD. One day you
will need it. This, I can assure you.
[1] http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
[2] http://www.ubcd4win.com/
[3] http://www.ubcd4win.com/ordering.htm
[4] http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
[5] http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/
[6] http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/
6.0
FREEBIE OF THE MONTH
6.1 The Best Free
Minimizer
This review was prepared by
subscriber Joe Bennett as a part of his contribution to
the new Wiki style "46 Best-ever Freeware List." Joe is
one of 30 or so subscribers who have volunteered to act
as software category editors for the project. If you
feel you would like to assist as well you can get more details here. Here is his
edited review:
If you are like me you probably have
lots of different programs running on your PC at the
same time. If so you'll know how quickly your task bar
can become a confusing mess of many different
programs.
A great solution to this mess is to
minimize programs, not to a bar in the taskbar, but to
an icon in the system notification tray. This takes up
much less space and is also a more effective way of
quickly switching between programs. (The system
notification tray is, by the way, the fancy term for
the right hand side of your taskbar.)
Some applications have an inbuilt
feature that allows minimizing to an icon, but most
don't. Enter the application minimizer. Each of the
free minimizer programs listed here allows you to send
any of your programs to the system tray instead of the
task bar.
The product that impressed me most is
TrayIt! [1]. First, it requires no installation; just
double click the program file and it's up and running.
Second, it can minimize open windows to the tray either
temporarily or permanently with just one click. Third,
it handles "difficult" windows such as skins with ease.
Fourth, it works with all versions of Windows (95
through Vista). Fifth, it's a tiny 44KB! Finally, it's
free. A little gem.
A good alternative is PowerMenu [2].
It works slightly differently because it gives the
option to minimize to system tray on a context menu
rather than by using the Ctrl key. It also has
additional options to keep the window always on top and
also set priority and transparency. Like Trayit!, it
doesn't need to be installed. However, PowerMenu hasn't
been updated for some time and has some features that
only work for Windows NT and later.
4T Tray Free [3] is another option.
It is the only one of the programs reviewed that allows
you to minimize programs to the system tray in multiple
ways, either by using keyboard shortcuts or by clicking
on additional buttons on the applications title bar.
This feature alone will make it an attractive option
for some people. It is highly configurable, easy to use
and very intuitive. However, unlike the TrayIt! and
PowerMenu, it is not portable and needs to be installed
before use.
[1] TrayIt!
Website:
http://tinyurl.com/2wfjb
(Editor's note: I've used a tinyurl link as McAfee Site
Advisor incorrectly rates this site as "red." The site itself is fine though
there are links to other sites that are not OK. You can however download
TrayIT! with confidence - Gizmo)
Author: Igor Nys
Date: 7/26/2007
Version: 2.11.11 (Stable), 4.6.5.1 (Release Candidate)
Download File size: 35 kb
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 95-Vista
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable version available: Yes
Other languages supported: Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch,
French, German, Hungarian, Russian and
Spanish
[2] PowerMenu
Website:
http://www.veridicus.com/tummy/programming/powermenu/
Author: Thong Nguyen
Date: 11/23/2002
Version: 1.5.1
Download File size:
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: 95-Vista
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable version available: Yes
Other languages supported: None
[3] 4T Tray Minimizer Free
Website: - -
http://www.4t-niagara.com/tray.html
Author: 4T Niagra Software
Date: 3/24/2007
Version: 4.40
Download File size: 801 kb
License: Free for Personal Use
Operating systems supported: Windows 95-Vista
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable version available: No
Other languages supported: None
*** Bonus Freebie in the Premium Edition ***
6.2 How to Run Your CDs/DVDs
Without the Disks
Wouldn't it great to be able to run games, encyclopedias, DVDs etc without
having the physical CD or DVD loaded in your CD drive.
Well you can. There are programs available that
allow you to do exactly that.
Unfortunately many are commercial programs
costing anything up to $69.95 but I've found two free programs that do the job
surprisingly well...
Full details in the Premium
Edition.
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7.0 MANAGE YOUR
SUBSCRIPTION
Subscribe:
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Back
Issues: A searchable library of back issues
is available at:
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The 46 Best-ever
Freeware Utilities
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
The Extended List of the Latest
Freebies
http://www.techsupportalert.com/more/extended.htm
For lots more free IT newsletters
see
http://www.TechNewsletters.com/infobase.asp?TPubId=79
Thanks to subscriber
Roger Keeny for copy-editing this issue. If you have a
need for such services, contact Roger at liddlebigboy@gmail.com. Thanks also to
"Oblias" and Maurice Rich for additional editing assistance.
For convenience North American
subscribers can contact this newsletter by snail mail
at:
Support Alert
PO Box 243
Comstock Park, MI 49321-0243 USA
Support Alert is a registered online
serial publication ISSN 1448-7020. Content of this
newsletter is (c) Copyright Support Alert Ltd,
2008
See you next
issue. It will be published on Thursday the
21st of February, 2008.
Gizmo
Ian Richards
editor@techsupportalert.com
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