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Welcome to Clif Notes Newsletter

December 3, 2006

  
Hi Everyone.

Thanks for reading my newsletter. Each week, I will have freeware reviews, tips, tricks, news, and lots of cool websites for you to check out.

I hope you enjoy this week's letter. Be sure to write me for advice or yell at me for messing up.


Click here to chat while
visiting this newsletter!

_Online?


REVIEWS

X-Moto - motocross racing on your PC

review from Tony at TopFreeware, Date, permalink _ Games

From Clif:
We all need a break now and then. Here's what Tony found while he was taking a break.

Quote from the website
X-MOTO PLATFORM: WIN 2000 - XP, UNIX, FREEBSD, MAC link:
http://xmoto.sourceforge.net/

A 2D motocross platform game. Guide your motor bike to the end of each course by manouvering over unstable terrain and running through various objects. Make your own courses with the included editor and also submit your highest score to be displayed on the internet. This game reminds me of an old game I used to play on the commodore 64 called "kickstart", the only difference is, it shows bigger elements, it's a bit more difficult and it's not 2 player on the same screen.

Kind Regards
Tony

www.topfreeware.net - The best freeware downloads and tips to optimize your system


Autumn Brook Theme and Screensaver

review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Desktop Tools

Some time ago, I got sidetracked when I was looking at Autumn Themes. Now I've found a very nice one at Theme World, but it's really time to start putting on the winter themes.

I'm currently using DesktopArchitect to manage my themes.

Remember, be careful when looking for free themes and screensavers. This one is safe, but any time you see that the theme comes with an installer (.exe file) or a screensaver (.scr file), be very cautious. These types of downloads are a favorite way for bad guys to take over your PC.

Quote from the website
This is a beautiful autumn theme setting of a forest stream surrounded by colorful autumn treas. The sounds of water moving swiftly downstream, birds chirping in the trees, and soft piano tones blend nicely for soothing nature sound effects. Wallpaper is available in JPG format for 800x600, 1024x768 or 1152x864 display sizes. Other parts include cutout type icons of various color maple leaves, web view images, system logo screens, and a screensaver that literally makes the steam flow on your desktop.

http://www.themedoctor.com/reviews/abrktts.shtml


Tips from Tiffany

Nov 2006, permalink

From Clif:
Tiffany writes me occasionally to tell me about her favorite websites and new freebies she tries out.

From Tiffany:

Good news! I've discovered 2 great free programs that I'd like to share with you.

Snippy

The first one is Snippy: http://bhelpuri.net/Snippy and here is a brief description of it from their website:

"Snip, and you're done! How often have you carefully selected some text from a Web page and copied it to an email message? Snippy makes this a snap! Simply click on the little Snippy icon in the taskbar notification area, and mark out the region of the screen that you want to copy — that's it, you're done! The cut-out image will now be in your clipboard, and you can paste it in another application."

Here's an example of this ingenious little program at work:

Snippy makes it a snap to email a photo and text in 2 quick and easy steps - no saving of pictures first, etc. You really will wonder how you ever got along without it!

M8 Multi Clipboard

The second program is M8 Multi Clipboard: http://m8software.com/clipboards/freeclip/freeclip.htm

"M8 is the simplest of all multi-clipboard programs. Just have it running minimized and it captures everything you cut or copy from other programs. It keeps the last 25 clips. When you want to paste one back, all you have to do is restore M8 and click on the clip you want. If you prefer to work entirely from the keyboard, you can choose a function key to restore M8 and then paste any clip by typing the letter shown next to it. When you move the mouse over the clips, you can see them in the viewer. If the clip is text, you see several lines and if it is a graphic, you see a thumbnail."

I really like the fact that both of these programs capture not only text, but photos as well, and they do it so simply.

Tiffany

http://tiffanycartier.stumbleupon.com/
http://hello-kitty.group.stumbleupon.com/ =^..^=

Old Newsletter

I like to look back and see what I was thinking about. Here's another letter from the wayback machine.

http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com/ClifNotesNewsletter041205





TIPS AND FEEDBACK

Dave's Computer Tips - special article

Dec 1, 2006

From Clif
Dave has a great newsletter out right now. One of our mutual friends, Tom at TeMerc security, wrote an article you should read.

http://www.davescomputertips.com/Newsletters/20061201.php

  • The current state of spyware - Should you be concerned? - Part 1 of a two part article by Microsoft MVP Tom Mercado of www.temerc.com.
  • Spyware test procedures - I'll explain what I've done so far to set up a test platform, gather spyware, and some basic preliminary findings about each program.
  • Standard Windows Keyboard Layout - Do you ever wonder what all those extra keys do? Carol tells all.
  • My recommended software - This is the software I recommend for a variety of purposes including protecting your PC.
  • The lighter side - Funny videos, sites, and games I find while surfing that I think will lighten your day and make you laugh.
  • A Few Website's You May Find Useful.

Online File Scanners - upload and find out what's safe

review from ClifNotes, Dec 2005, permalink _ Security Tools

Tony from TopFreeware recently wrote to tell me about a free file scanning service. At VirusTotal's website, you can upload a file and they'll scan it several ways and give you report back.

I posted it to TeMerc's security forum and asked them about this. They said this one is good and suggested several others that are good also.

These sites are a great way to find out if something is safe before you install it. They aren't perfect, but they do help.

List of online malware file scanners

  • VirusTotal - free online virus and malware scan
http://www.virustotal.com/en/indexf.html
  • Jotti's malware scan
http://virusscan.jotti.org/
  • Kaspsersky Online File Scanner
http://www.kaspersky.com/scanforvirus.html
  • Norman Sandbox Information Center (email required, not immediate)
http://sandbox.norman.no/live_4.html
  • avast! Online File Scanner
http://onlinescan.avast.com/
  • Dr.Web® Online Scanner
http://old.antivir.ru/english/www_av/

Thanks to Tony at http://topfreeware.net and Tom at http://temerc.com


Crossloop - share your computer screen with a friend

tip, Dec 2006, permalink _ Remote Computing

Mike writes in with something I may try out sometime. Keep in mind, this is a brand new beta service. Even McAfee SiteAdvisor hasn't rated the site yet.

From Mike
Haven’t checked it out yet…
http://www.crossloop.com/

Mike @ Carputers.net

Quote from the website
What is CrossLoop?

CrossLoop is a FREE secure screen sharing utility designed for people of all technical skill levels. CrossLoop extends the boundaries of traditional screen sharing by enabling non-technical users to get connected from anywhere on the Internet in seconds without changing any firewall or router settings. It only takes a few minutes to setup and no signup is required.

http://www.crossloop.com/


A Grandchild's Guide to Using Grandpa's Computer

review from ClifNotes, Nov 2006, permalink

From Clif:
I was reading the Hoax-Slayer premium newsletter and he'd mentioned that the poem below is often attributed to Dr. Seuss. This isnt' so. It was written by Gene Ziegler in 1994. I've shortened the poem up a bit, but you can see the whole thing if you follow the link at the end of the poem.

By the way, drop on by and visit the Hoax-Slayer website. It's a great place to find out the most recent email scams and you'll come away with a good laugh more often than not.

Quote from Gene Ziegler
This poem has probably received more attention and circulation than anything I have ever written. It was created in an hour, late one night in the fall of 1994 after my four year old grandson and his older brother had significantly rearranged the resources on my Macintosh.


If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
and the address of the memory
makes your floppy disk abort
then the socket packet pocket
has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item
followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon
puts your window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause
the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless,
and your system's gunna crash.

You can't say this? What a shame, sir!
We'll find you another game, sir.

If the label on the cable
on the table at your house
says the network is connected
to the button on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel
on another protocol,
that's repeatedly rejected
by the printer down the hall,
and your screen is all distorted
by the side-effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window
are as wavy as a souse,
then you may as well reboot
and go out with a bang,
cause as sure as I'm a poet,
the sucker's gunna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's
getting sloppy on the disk,
and the microcode instructions
cause unnecessary risc,
then you have to flash your memory
and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
quickly turn off your computer
and be sure to tell your mom!

http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/elz1/clocktower/DrSeuss.html

Comments last week

Thanks to everyone who commented on the articles last week. You gave me more ideas and some good advice. If you see comments on an article, you will be missing out if you don't click on them to take a look.

If you commented last week, check to see who commented on your comment!

Here are the comments from last week.
Kiwi Alpha 3.1.1 - a nice P2P client is used to spread adware •
Beneton Movie GIF - creating movies in gif format •
Remote Selector - play DVD's with no worries about region codes •

Matrixor Theme - 9 Matrix desktop themes •
Heroes of the Stoneage - a game that takes you way back •
PhraseExpress - automatic text replacements made easy •

Anti-phishing tools - keep you off the hook •
Ms Mole says Goodbye Windows 2000 •

BoogieJack.com - a new webmaster's first resource •
FreeScience.info - free science books to download •
ThemeDoctor.com - safe wallpapers and desktop themes •





COOL WEBSITES

Snowman Construction Kit dot com - build it and they will come

review from ClifNotes, Dec 2006, permalink _ Cool Website

This is fun. Be sure to check out the snowmen and scenery that others have made.

Quote from the website
Creating your own snowman is easy. Just go to our snowman creation page and drag and drop various snowman parts into the scene. Then you can share your picture with friends!

http://snowmanconstructionkit.com

Websites I've visited recently

Have you seen any cool websites you want to share with us?





NEW NEWS

SnapFiles.com - new and updated freeware

Source - http://snapfiles.com/freeware

News from Sarah in Tampa



Security news from Malware Advisor

blog by TeMerc Internet Countermeasures, source
Infected? Go to http://temerc.com for help





OTHER STUFF

Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!

You need a free 2.7 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. I'll send you an invitation right away if you write me and say I WANT GMAIL.

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.

Get Firefox!


Chatting at FreewareWiki

permalink

Now you can chat with anyone visiting a website by using Gabbly. To see who's gabbing at this website, click here.

Find out more about Gabbly.com

Frapper - you people live all over the world!

Wow! Over 400 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.



Write your own review

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.

Have fun and surf safely.

Clif

http://clifnotes.net & http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com
Devoted to promoting Freeware and Free Information

Want a free 2.7Gb Gmail account?
Email me here.


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