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Submitted by n01getsout on Sat, 01/31/2009 - 09:26
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I like to keep my installation of Firefox free from Microsoft products, but it seems that Microsoft doesn't like that. Today I had Microsoft Update pop up and say I needed to install the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update. It had the update listed as important so I went ahead and installed it. Unfortunately, it changed my user agent, installed an extension and a plugin in Firefox without asking or telling me. Apparently these additions are yet another proprietary Microsoft technology, this time to allow web browsers to run .NET programs as if they were installed locally on the computer. I haven't looked into it much, but that seems like a big security risk to me and if I absolutely need to use it (which I doubt), I can always run Internet Explorer.
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Submitted by n01getsout on Sun, 01/25/2009 - 11:43
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There is a possibility that it is snowing in Hell right now - all because I got a new phone. Yes, you heard me correctly. For those of you who don't know me, I had a Sanyo SCP-4700 from Sprint, which if I remember correctly came out in late 2000 or early 2001. It had a green monochrome screen, speakerphone, and a calculator that wasn't very user friendly. My friends and family have been telling me to upgrade for quite a while now and it is getting to the point that strangers on the street would look at my old phone with curiosity and nostalgia.
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Wormux is a clone of the game Worms, where up to four teams of characters try to murder each other with a variety of weapons (some of them bizzare) in a two dimentional deformable landscape. Players take turns controlling one member of their team and have a limited amount of time to move, aim, and try to kill the other teams.
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Amphetype is a layout-agnostic typing program aimed at people who don't need an on-screen keyboard, but would still like to improve their speed and accuracy. Layout-agnostic means it doesn't care if your keyboard is set up as a QWERTY, Dvorak, or Colemak. It creates graphs of statistics such as WPM, accuracy, least fluid words, most missed words, and viscosity which is a measure of breaks or pauses in your typing.
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Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a free on-demand anti-spyware application that is capable of detecting and removing some of the worst malware that other programs miss, including MS Antivirus (also known as XP AntiSpyware 2009). It also bundles a utility called FileASSASSIN that can delete locked files from your computer.
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XBMC Media Center turns your PC into a media center capable of playing all types of videos and music. It can retrieve thumbnails and info for movies, album info and cover art for CDs, and play slideshows of pictures. It is fully skinnable, can run plugins and addons, and can even get the weather from Weather.com. It supports the ProjectM visualization, which is a based on my favorite visualization Milkdrop for Winamp.
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ArtRage is a painting program where you can paint with oils, chalk, pencil, knife, eraser, and markers. It does an excellent job of emulating the look of the real art media and you can control many aspects such as the size and wetness of the brush. It has support for drawing tablets, multiple undo/redo, zoom, custom canvases, and multiple monitor support. The interface is simple, self-explanitory and does a good job of staying out of your way.
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Dropbox is an online backup / synchronization utility that synchronizes any files inside the Dropbox folder to Dropbox's servers and any other computer linked to your account. It uses SSL and encryption when it transfers your files to protect against interception. It keeps revisions of changed files for 30 days which allows you to easily restore a previous version or undelete a file. You can also access your files from the Dropbox website, allowing you to access files on a computer connected to the Internet without needing to install Dropbox on that computer. You can put files into a public folder which allows you to share them over the Internet, allow only certain users (collaborators) to edit files, and create photo galleries. For a better overview of how Dropbox works, take the tour on their website. Dropbox has clients for Windows, Macs, Linux, and more.
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Submitted by n01getsout on Sat, 12/20/2008 - 15:34
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Recently I decided to switch my website to Drupal. Drupal is an advanced CMS that includes functionality such as blogs, wikis, forums, user management, and more. It's functionality can be extended through a wide variety of modules that can add almost anything. It can be themed to look like almost any way you can think of. If you want to get an idea of what can be done with Drupal, just check out some of the sites using it.
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Submitted by n01getsout on Sat, 12/20/2008 - 14:45
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Extensions
Extensions are plug-ins that add new functionality to Firefox. I recommend the following extensions:
- Google Toolbar - Google's official GoogleBar now works in Firefox. The new version comes with a spell checker and AutoLink. GoogleBar is an excellent clone that works with Firefox.
- FlashBlock - This blocks a Flash files and replaces them with a button that you can click to load the Flash file. Flash animations are usually advertisements and sometimes they can be very nasty (ugly, distracting, or cover up useful information).
- BetterPrivacy -Deletes so-called super cookies - cookies from the Flash player or DOM objects that do not normally get deleted. BetterPrivacy helps you maintain your privacy and avoid being tracked on the Internet. It will silently and automatically delete these cookies so you will can just install this addon and forget it.
- BugMeNot - This plugin connects to the BugMeNot.com servers when you right-click on a log in box and will (hopefully) get a username and password for the site. This is great if you do not want to sign up on a site just to read the news or download a program.
- Redirect Remover - This removes redirects from links. This is when one site sends you to another, but does not link to it directly. This is usually only to keep track of how many people click the link, but can be used for evil.
- SyncPlaces - This lets you synchronize and sort your bookmarks and passwords to your website by using FTP or WebDAV. This is a great way to share bookmarks between different systems and keep a backup in case something bad happens.
- RetailMeNot - When you visit a site like Amazon.com, it pops up a notification bar that alerts you of current coupons. It downloads a list of coupons about once a week and does not send any information to RetailMeNot.com.
- Web Developer - This handy tool helps you work on your website by doing things like allowing you to edit HTML and CSS on the fly right within Firefox.
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