Newsletter Archive Reviews Archive 
August 26, 2007
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. Email me Click here to chat while visiting this newsletter! |
I didn't have much time to work on reviews this week but I found a couple of items you all wrote me about. Be sure to tell me all of your freeware adventures so I can share them with everyone.
I did include some search tips this week to help you find that special freeware that you want.
Clif

comment from Clif, Aug 2007, permalink Cool Website
Here's another tip from Lesley:
I just found this awesome paper plane throwing game. Thought you might like it. Thanks Lesley. It's a great game and it's also an advertisement from Microsoft. Not a bad one because I didn't even notice it at first. The game is extremely challenging and I had to give up from frustration.
comments from ClifNotes, Aug 2007, permalink File Management
Jeca wrote:
I replied:
Jeca follows up:
click to expand picture
Quote from the website
FileMenu Tools lets customize the context menu of the Windows Explorer. It lets configure the following aspects:
http://www.lopesoft.com/en/fmtools/info.html
I like to look back and see what I was thinking about. Here's another letter from the wayback machine.

Come and visit Scott's little slice of the net. Make your yourself at home and browse through all the freeware listings. Scott also hosts the Freeware Revolution forum, of which I'm proud to be a member.
Most of the freeware reviewed there has been tried by Scott himself. You've gotta respect that.
Here's an easy way to search for what you need at FreewareArena ...
I think Snapfiles has the best organized freeware website. They also typically have no shortage of people who comment on each piece of software. Snapfiles is very similar to Download.com but at least they do separate out the freeware from the payware. They have lots of advertising but they've gotta make a few bucks to keep the gears greased.
Here's an easy way to search freeware at Snapfiles ...
NoNags has a great collection of freeware and you can trust them. They support the site by having a paid membership. I'm not sure what advantages that brings, but they offer most downloads to everyone. You gotta love that.
Here's an easy way to search freeware at NoNags ...
Some of the best advice on freeware is always found at the alt.comp.freeware newsgroup.
Not only do they chat constantly about freeware, they also provide a great website at PricelessWare List. Their list of the year's best freeware is the best in the world in my humble opinion. Anything you find there is bound to be good.
Here's an easy way to search the newsgroup for info ...
If you ever have a question about any freeware application, or are looking for freeware for a specific job, go to ACF (news://alt.comp.freeware) to ask. You will rarely find this group at a loss for words of advice. One easy way to join the discussions at ACF, is to join them at the Google Groups site. Most of the people at ACF use a news reader application to access the group.
To view or reply on a comment, click on the blue name
The best part of this newsletter for me is the comments. Thanks for speaking up!
otes from ClifNotes, Aug 2007, permalink Windows Tips
So what do you need? Write it down below and I'll see if I can find it. If you know the answer to someone else's question, add your answer there.
Previous "What Do You Need" comments
Aug 19 2007 - last week
Jun 29 2007
Jun 22 2007
Jun 15 2007
Search all the comments
comments from ClifNotes, Aug 2007, permalink Rants and Raves
I recently received this email from Ann. I'd like to see if anyone here can recommend existing software that fits her dream. I've got a couple of ideas that may work.
Thanks for venting Ann.
Letter from Ann:
Never write or email but thought ...heck, I want SOMEONE to hear me lol! So here's my brilliant idea.
You mentioned 2 free site advisors and my brilliant idea IS:
Have some brilliant program writer, make a site BLOCKER....FREE, FREE, FREE please.Heck, make Microsoft and Mac etc. put it on ALL THE NEW computers they sell from now on!
It would BLOCK ALL SITES THAT DON'T HAVE A GREEN CHECK MARK...that would do several things:
1 Would show only the GOOD websites and give them the attention and clicks they deserve!
2 The lousy and ad pop up, virusy sites would HAVE TO clean up their act! That's why I want it free and preferably on every new computer for the poor newbies ( that I was not long ago ), who don't have a clue as to what to add to protect their computers.
3 Whoever does the program would be loved by computer users and hated by virus loving, computer crashing idiots....you'd never know that I'm a nice Christian woman, would you lol.....sorry, but I'm passionate about fairness and getting rid of hmmmmm, dare I use the word idiots again lol.
4 Not only would the PROGRAM be loved by the PROGRAMMER would be loved and more than likely get a great job offer from some big computer company lol.
5 The bad sites would shrivel up and die from lack of use!
So that's my idea and my venting email lol. Ann
tips from Gary at InternetFixes, Windows Tips
From Clif:
Gary at Internet Fixes continues to amaze me with hundreds and thousands of tips for your PC. Whatever your operating system, or how you use it, a visit to Gary's site will soon have you saying "So that's how you do this!".
Sign up for Gary's newsletter?
Weekend Windups are now available online
http://www.internetfixes.com/weekend_windup/
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2. My comp has been incredibly slow for a while now. i thought it was an installed software's problem, but now I’m sure it's permanent, since the software was uninstalled. I own an HP 3200 AMD Athlon with 512MB Ram and it runs Windows XP Home edition. I have tried lots and lots of software like registry cleaners, I have Zonealarm and Norton with windows defender, and Malware Guard and have used CCleaner recently as well as Spybot S&D and ad-aware, and a-squared. But somehow, even after lots of bad files and viruses etc have been deleted my comp is still very slow. Please Help. Thank you!
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01720.htm
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3. I have a problem with my son's computer that I hope somebody can help me with. It is a Compaq with Windows XP SP2. It sometimes runs very slowly and the cooling fan runs quite loudly. Other times it runs and sounds normal. I used msconfig to turn off the programs that I didn't need running and am constantly running virus and antispyware software. I also use Cleanup! regularly.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01721.htm
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4. I ran a registry cleaner and now I loose connection to IE or Firefox within 5 to 10 minutes of starting up my PC.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01722.htm
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5. I gave my laptop to somebody to fix my blue screen of death and now I have this error message - when I start the system - Windows - System Error - A duplicate name exists on the network. Please would somebody help me with this.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01723.htm
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6. I just discovered 20 of these files in the C: root directory in one of my computers and have never seen them there before. This is what the file name looks like: sqmnoopt00.sqm through sqmnoopt19.sqm I did a Google search on it and it appears to have something to do with MSN Messenger 8.0. If that's the case, I did install the 8.0 beta version about a week ago - which originally worked, but no longer does. I haven't uninstalled it yet.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01724.htm
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7. My problem recently has been when I boot my pc up I get this black screen asking if I want to start Windows XP or XP Professional and give me the options to pick of the 2. I never had this problem until 1 day ago and I tried to do a system restore but it seems to had been disabled and all restore points erased anyways any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01725.htm
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8. When trying to log onto my laptop with Windows XP Pro I get the following message: Unable to log you on because your account has been locked out, please contact your administrator. How can I log on?
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01726.htm
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Click The Link Below To Join My News Letter.
The Form At The Link Below Covers Both Monday and Wednesdays News Letter.
http://www.internetfixes.com/newsletter.htm
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PC Problems? Use My New Detailed Help Form.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question.asp
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TIPS WITH FULL GRAPHICS! ALL ONE LOCATION!
http://www.internetfixes.com/tips_with_full_graphics.htm
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Have a Friend Or Colleague That One Of My Tips May Benefit? Forward This News Letter To Them!
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Backup Your Registry.
http://www.internetfixes.com/registry/index.htm
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Last Wednesdays News Letter Tips
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1. Speech Recognition in Windows XP!
http://www.internetfixes.com/speech_recognition_in_xp/
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2. Change Your XP Sounds
http://www.internetfixes.com/change_xp_sounds/index.htm
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3. I've been battling to send faxes since I switched to DSL (via digital/analogue landline) I can't get my fax printer to recognize my PCI soft 92 modem. Any suggestions?
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01727.htm
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4. I have a laptop that was given to me in bad shape. When I turn it on, it almost immediately freezes, even when not connected to the internet.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01728.htm
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5. Yesterday I added some memory (RAM?) and was very careful to ground myself and I didn't use any tools - magnetic or otherwise. When I rebooted the keyboard and mouse didn't work
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01729.htm
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6. I recently got a couple of BSOD's with the 0x000000D1 error, irq_not_less_or_equal. I ran the debugging app that Microsoft offers and it found out that the wanarp.sys is to blame for the error.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01730.htm
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7. For a reason unknown to me I am not prompted to specify the download directory when downloading files from the web.
http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF01731.htm
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Hardware And Software Vendor Phone List, A-K
http://www.internetfixes.com/IF01051.htm
Hardware And Software Vendor Phone List, L-P
http://www.internetfixes.com/IF01052.htm
Hardware And Software Vendor Phone List, Q-Z
http://www.internetfixes.com/IF01053.htm
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PAST QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK!
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IF01101 How Can I Stop Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) from opening documents in the IE.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01101.htm
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IF01102 I am unable to see full amount of a new hard drive I bought and installed.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01102.htm
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IF01103 Is Your Computer Running Slowly?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01103.htm
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IF01104 My Web Browser Has Been Hijacked.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01104.htm
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IF01105 How Do I Enable / Disable Or Delete Internet Cookies?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01105.htm
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IF01106 How Do I Prevent Windows Messenger Pop-ups?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01106.htm
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IF01107 How Do I Stop Pop-up Or Pop-under Internet Ads?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01107.htm
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IF01108 How Do I Enable And Or Disable The Microsoft Windows XP Firewall?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01108.htm
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IF01109 You Can’t Find A Lost Windows Product Key?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01109.htm
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IF01110 Hyperlinks Not Working In Internet Explorer 6.0.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01110.htm
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IF01111 Your Windows Installer Could Not Be Accessed Error (Windows XP).
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01111.htm
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IF01112 How Do I Create A New User Account Profile In XP.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01112.htm
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IF01113 Hyperlinks in Outlook Express Messages Stop Working.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01113.htm
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IF01114 Correct An NTLDR Or NTDETECT.COM Not Found Error.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01114.htm
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IF01115 Rectify A Missing Or Corrupt NTFS.SYS Error In XP.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01115.htm
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IF01116 The Text In Web Pages Appears Too Blurry In Internet Explorer 7. Is There A Setting To Fix This?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01116.htm
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IF01117 How do I fix the "Details" view in Explorer?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01117.htm
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IF01318 Resolving Most Hardware Conflicts.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01118.htm
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IF01319 How can I remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from My Computer.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01119.htm
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IF01320 How can I change the Screen Resolution in Windows XP?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01120.htm
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IF01321 I Need a Step By Step on how to do a Clean Install of XP?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01121.htm
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IF01122 Any attempt to access files on the old HD shows a message that the HD is not formatted. Other utility programs (Norton) show the HD has no partition. What happened and what can I do to retrieve my files, favorites, and Thunderbird E-mails??
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01122.htm
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IF01323 I often get an error message of MDATA.DAT every time I restart my computer. What does this mean?
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01123.htm
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IF01324 I cannot open Internet Explorer flashes and quits every time I try and open it. This is a real pain and I am hoping you can help.
http://www.internetfixes.com/question_of_the_week/IF01124.htm
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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.
Review
WinPatrol - puts you back in control of your PC •
HijackThis - free analysis tool helps identify malware •
Alcohol 52% - 6 virtual CDs on your PC •
Google Pack adds some real treats •
Secunia Personal Software Inspector •
Anim8tor free animation studio •
Tip
Gtalk has group chat feature? •
Did you know Opera has widgets? •
The Tale of The Killer Biscuits •
Cool
Perpetual Motion Found - an endless energy source? •
Scam Warners website •

Here are a few links from Mark's CoolSites Newsletter. Be sure to visit his site and see the rest of his links this week.
Quote from the website
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.
http://luem42.googlepages.com/coolsites.html
Have you seen any cool websites you want to share with us?

Source - http://snapfiles.com/freeware
Source - http://sarahintampa.com
blog by TeMerc Internet Countermeasures, source
Infected? Go to http://temerc.com for help

CyberNirvana: Zia's blog about the web and web technology.
http://www.ziarezvi.com

Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!
You need a free 2.8 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.
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
Wow! Over 800 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.

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.
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
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