Not wanting to be outdone [...]]]> Last week we discussed Internet Explorer 7, the latest browser offering from Microsoft, and decided that whilst long overdue did go some way to addressing the functionality gap between the rather dated IE 6 and newer alternatives such as Opera and Firefox.

Not wanting to be outdone Mozilla today released the latest version of its browser, rather imaginatively entitled ‘Firefox 2.0’ which once again ups the stakes in the long running browser wars. Since I have talked about features such as tabbed browsing many times in the past I will today focus purely on the differences between version 2 and version 1.5. For those of you that missed my review of 1.5 towards the beginning of this year please remember that it can be found on the free Click archives website at www.computerarticles.co.uk.

The most apparent change in the new version of Firefox is the interface which includes new shaped glossy icons, reorganised windows and a slightly clearer layout. Of course there is a limit to how much you can change the appearance of a browser but generally the interface is just that little bit more pleasant to use now. Tab browsing has been enhanced so it is now easier to manage open tabs and individually close down single tabs that you are currently using. Additionally, you are now able to reopen accidentally closed tabs from where you left off which is an extremely useful feature as I have discovered several times today.

Protection has been added to the browser by the way of advanced anti-phishing security which pops up whenever it detects that you are visiting a webpage trying to imitate official sites such as Barclays.com in an attempt to steal your personal details. This utility checks against the regularly updated Google black list to provide maximum protection. With technologies such as this becoming commonplace in new browsers hopefully it won’t be long before we put the scammers out of business.

Firefox now includes a spell checker which checks the text entered by a user in to any multiple line text boxes for any spelling mistakes. Whilst this won’t be popular with those who write in ‘text speak’ I personally welcome the new addition as not only will it hopefully encourage affected individuals to become more literate, it will also make life easier for the rest of us.

Further improvements include bundling the browser with JavaScript 1.7, enhancing the search bar, adding live titles to make organising your bookmarks easier, a session restore function and an improved RSS reader. Personally I feel the session restore feature designed to save whatever you were doing in the event of a crash may be redundant as despite my best efforts this afternoon I haven’t yet been able to fault the stability of this new browser.

For those of you still using Firefox 1.5 it is worthwhile noting that whilst support will be provided in the form of updates for the next 6 months that there really is no argument against upgrading immediately. Visit www.firefox.com and download the latest version this afternoon – It will take you literally a couple of minutes and the new features and enhancements will definitely make it worth your while.

My original review last year focussed [...]]]> With a new version of Firefox recently released I thought it was well time that I recap on this fantastic browser as far too many people are still using what I would consider to be the inferior Microsoft designed Internet Explorer.

My original review last year focussed on the main improvements over the Microsoft offering and these include:

Tabbed Browsing – This allows you to only have one browser open but with multiple tabs (pages) that you can then switch between quickly and easily. This leaves your taskbar a lot less cluttered than having multiple instances of the same browser running simultaneously.

Downloads Manager – Rather than downloading software to a selected location on your hard drive you can use Firefox to manage all of your downloads in the same place. Should you choose to then save a download permanently onto your hard disk this is quick and easy to do.

Pop Up Stopper – A fantastic feature that has only recently been added to Internet Explorer. The Firefox pop up stopper does exactly what it says on the tin as it simply stops intrusive pop-ups from getting in the way of your browsing experience.

Simplicity – This browser is extremely compact and simple – We have no flashy graphics or fancy menus to contend with which ultimately makes the software easier and quicker to use.

Since we are now only recapping old ground I feel that we should focus on what has improved in the new version 1.5:

First off it is worthwhile noting that the software hasn’t bloated and all and as such is still a tiny 5mb download whereas IE 6 can be up to 75mb in size. Now only does this make the software extremely quick to load and use but due to some new intelligent caching the performance of moving from page to page has also been improved.

The tabbed browsing interface has been improved so that you can now change the order in which you flick between pages from within the software. Whilst a small improvement on paper this does really improve the usability of the software.

Possibly the most important feature is that Firefox will keep itself secure by automatically updating should a security hole be found. For example should a security vulnerability be found in the software the developers of the package will be able to make the browser automatically update without the user even being aware.

The way in which third party additions to the software are managed has also been changed which will mean that many of the older extensions designed for previous versions of Firefox may not work however you can rest assured that you won’t have to wait long for an updated version to hit the public domain. Since we’re now on the subject of extensions can I suggest that along with the basic browser that you download the Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/) as this provides several improvements to Firefox including an auto form fill utility and a spell checker which is especially useful to those that use web based e-mail programs. As one may expect the Google Toolbar also includes the ability to use the Google search engine and news services from within the toolbar without having to actually visit their website.

The Firefox browser has already captured approximately 10% of the browser market which is extremely impressive when you think that not only is Internet Explorer included with every version of Windows but also that Microsoft have a huge amount of resources available to them to develop their browser. I certainly prefer Firefox over Internet Explorer and would recommend that you at least give it a trial run by visiting www.firefox.com.

[...]]]> I have featured a number of sites in the past which offer free downloads of fantastic utilities and assorted pieces of software. Unfortunately such sites often contain software which is simply trial versions or shareware rather than completely free of charge which makes finding the completely free goodies slightly more difficult.

Recently I came across the site www.freewarefiles.com which has an absolutely huge selection of files that are completely free and delimited. These programs will not ever ask for money or expire after a certain period of time whilst still being legal which is the way that I like any piece of software to be.

There’s not a huge amount that I can actually comment on when it comes to the site itself as the layout is a pretty standard affair but the quality of the files is what sets it out from other sites on the Internet. Online we have simply thousands of files that can be viewed by the most downloaded, highest rated, title, date, category and additionally you can choose to search the files on the site by a particular keyword. The site doesn’t suffer from pop-ups or intrusive adverts but they simply make their money by participating in a Google AdSense scheme like the one that I featured in Click last week.

Additional features include a number of free articles and ‘how to’ features along with the option to sign up for a monthly newsletter with a selection of editor picks and new additions to the site.

As mentioned above the most important thing for a site like this isn’t the layout or the interface but ultimately the quality of the files that it hosts which is where Freeware Files excels. A selection of the completely free files that caught my eye follows below – I have been careful only to feature programs that haven’t ever featured in Click before.

TV 2.0 – A program designed to allow the user to search for and view TV stations LIVE from around the world. I’m quite impressed by this program so would imagine that it will get a review in Click in the near future.

CDBurnerXP Pro – This is a quite capable piece of software that whilst will not be of interest to those of us lucky enough to be using Nero will be a worthwhile utility for those who currently only use the CD writing utilities built into Windows XP.

ABC Video Roll – Whilst not particularly powerful this utility is designed to allow you to easily mix video clips with special effects, transactions, morphs and so on.

Eraser – This utility allows you to permanently remove sensitive data from your hard drive so that it cannot be recovered by file undelete utilities like the ones I have covered previously in Click.

ImageForge – An extremely small but capable image converter capable of converting images or manipulating them with the use of special effects tools and filters.

To summerise, check out www.freewarefiles.com – It won’t cost you a penny and I would be extremely surprised if after five minutes of looking around you didn’t find some piece of software that will soon become indispensable to you.

This week the following question has prompted me to revise and republish an article that I printed last year as I believe that the program I recommend should still be one that all users have installed on their machine.

A question I [...]]]>

This week the following question has prompted me to revise and republish an article that I printed last year as I believe that the program I recommend should still be one that all users have installed on their machine.

A question I have been asked recently about Broadband & Premium phone number pop-ups; is there anyway of telling whether a pop-up during surfing or of inadvertently wandering on to a Premium site can be avoided. The reason for me asking is of course obvious as I want to avoid the kids, Granny etc running up my phone bill unbeknown to me. This of course can happen on both broadband & Dialup connection.

Tom Blakesley, via E-mail

Before we start I think it is quite important to note that this issue would not affect broadband; there is no way that a broadband modem can ‘dial out’ as such. Although it is true that when using ADSL windows does have to create a dial up connection this is more a placebo effect to allow it to verify your user name and password – The broadband link is always active and your modem cannot dial another number; premium rate or otherwise.

The below program that I am about to recommend isn’t a solution to your problem because as far as I am aware there is no ‘one fits all’ solution to these problems caused by rogue programs although Windows XP service pack 2 does make it harder for these things to install themselves without your permission. Instead it is a utility that can be used to locate already installed programs such as these and potentially avoid your machine becoming infected in the first instance.

It has to be said that quite a common complaint submitted by readers is intrusive software which often installs itself onto their systems with no easy way to remove it; whether it dials out premium rate numbers or not. Quite often the software contains questionable content such as pornographic links and it can be quite concerning if the computer is shared with other members of the family as there is often no way to delete the links that have been created. A piece of software that I’ve always found useful in all these instances is ‘SpyBot Search & Destroy’ which can be downloaded free of charge from http://security.kolla.de

Once you’ve started the program you should scan your system for spyware & adware which takes a couple of minutes to complete and the program then displays a list of the problems that it found on your system along with the option to automatically repair them. It’s surprising how much rubbish many of you will have running in the background constantly as I keep a regularly clean out junk applications and the program managed to detect at least a dozen or so unwanted applications installed on my hard drive. By removing them you can free up valuable system resources and also make your computer slightly more pleasant to use and an important point to note is that the software does make a backup as it goes along so if you find that certain programs won’t work anymore then you can always restore your system to how it was previously. Once you’ve cleaned out all the rubbish which has then the program has the option to immunise your system which installs preventative measures to help prevent rouge software from installing itself again.

If you head to http://security.kolla.de/ then the file is 3.5Mg in size so even on a 56k connection it should only take 10 minutes or so to download and the best news is that it’s completely free of charge although the author does ask for a donation if you find it. To conclude, one of the most annoying areas of the modern Internet is the large number of programmers on the Internet who believe that it is acceptable to install useless software on to your computer without your permission and without any easy way to uninstall just so they can make some quick money. Much of this software exposes you to constant pop up advertising without your permission, tracks your browsing habits or in the case of Toms concern above it can actually end up costing you money; personally I believe that any program which tries to kerb this abuse has to be worth installing.

I can’t exactly remember what I was looking for at the time but somehow last week I managed to come across what can only be described as a remarkable website pretty much by accident. The site in question is the comprehensive online encyclopaedia Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) [...]]]>

I can’t exactly remember what I was looking for at the time but somehow last week I managed to come across what can only be described as a remarkable website pretty much by accident. The site in question is the comprehensive online encyclopaedia Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) which is a non profit site written primarily by reader input and funded by user donations.

Wikipedia was started back in January 2001 and this September announced that in this short space of time that the 1 millionth article had already been added to its database. For those interested where the site gets its’ name from, I will explain that curious name comes about as ‘Wiki’ is the software used by the contributors when they write the articles that are then added to the database.

When I first discovered this page I started testing by typing in the most random words and subjects for it to search for and each time it prevailed by presenting me with some relevant information to take a look at. Whilst the majority of these 1 million articles are very well written, comprehensive and relevant, a few of the more obscure articles do meander off the point slightly which gives you the impression that they were written in several minutes flat.

When viewing a specific topic you will find that the article is nicely structured into appropriate headings and subheadings as well as links to further reading sources present on both internal and external sites. Any technical terms used in the write-ups are hyperlinked so that you can simply click on them and it will be cross linked to a different area of the encyclopaedia that will explain their meaning to you.

The landing page that you view when browsing the site includes a number of interesting links to take you to articles about items currently in the news, featured articles of the day as well as details of events happened this day many years ago. These features make the encyclopaedia more interesting to view as it means that you can use it not only for looking up specific areas that interest you but also it can be used on a daily basis more out of interest sakes than for a specific purpose.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article the site is funded by user donations and not by advertising so you don’t have intrusive adverts popping up whilst you browse. Donating isn’t mandatory however, and their suggestions that you might like to make a payment are very discreet so you could use the site every day and never pay a penny although if you do find it a useful resource it may be worthwhile donating a small amount to ensure that it continues growing.

If you take a look around you will also find links to sister sites also operated by ‘Wikimedia’ and such sites include an online dictionary & thesaurus, a site offering free textbooks and manuals and one offering a collection of quotations; again all sites are operated by users for users as opposed to being bankrolled by a large corporate company. These are all certainly worth a look.

To conclude this article, the Internet is often a very confusing place to find relevant information and although search engines such as Google use advanced algorithms to try and ensure you get relevant information from your searches, this isn’t always apparent. An online encyclopaedia such as this really does organise such a vast amount of information very well and the fact that such a site is maintained by users on a non profit basis is commendable. All students should keep this site bookmarked as it will no doubt become invaluable in homework assignments and further reading but also many home users would benefit from visiting once in a while to look up those curious questions that we all want the answer to every once in a while.

This week sees the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2; another monster update developed by Microsoft to close a number of holes in their Windows XP Operating System. Most of you will know the procedure by now – Go to the Microsoft website, download [...]]]>

This week sees the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2; another monster update developed by Microsoft to close a number of holes in their Windows XP Operating System. Most of you will know the procedure by now – Go to the Microsoft website, download a huge file, install it on your system and whilst the majority of users won’t see any visible change in the way you will be safe in the knowledge that your computer is more secure and stable than it was previously.

I can’t overemphasise how important this service pack is as only last week I was setting up a new system and before I had even finished setting it up it was infected with half a dozen viruses due to the large number of security holes present in the initial release of Windows XP. In addition to addressing these vulnerabilities this service includes a number of new features to make life a little easier and I will feature some of the better changes below.

- Enhanced Windows Firewall – Most importantly this is turned on by default unlike previous versions of Windows XP which required the user to manually enable it. Should you turn the firewall off it will start to nag you and warn that your system could be vulnerable although these warnings can be disabled.

- Security Centre Dashboard – This feature will pop up whenever Windows detects that your firewall, anti-virus or automatic updating is turned off, absent or out of date. This could be a very useful tool for many home users although you can ask it to go away and stop bugging you if you would rather take care of these things yourself.

- Pop-up stopper – Internet Explorer now blocks annoying pop-ups from displaying when you visit certain sites although this feature can of course be disabled.

- Improved Bluetooth support – Windows XP initially shipped without support for Bluetooth technology and whilst this has been gradually resolved with software updates, Service Pack 2 sees huge improvements in the way that Windows detects and interacts with this emerging technology.

- Enhanced Wireless Network capabilities – I wasn’t completely happy with the way that Windows handled wireless networks in the past as they were tricky to set up and very often insecure. This resulted in many people being hacked by their next door neighbour or businesses being attacked from someone parked outside their building with a wireless network enabled laptop. Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes a nice wizard to help you set up a secure wireless network on your PC and will then create a disk so that you can put these settings on any other PC’s that require use of the network.

Bottom line is that if you don’t install this update then you are either very brave or very stupid and more than likely it will be these very brave, stupid people that continue to e-mail me in months to come when their systems have been attacked. I must be honest in saying that the download is huge and so in a fantastic move of compassion Microsoft have agreed to send out a free CD to those who cannot get the update online which would be useful for those who don’t have access to a broadband connection.

In an ideal world our software would be safe and secure from day one and the people who search tirelessly for security vulnerabilities would have lives and not bother with trying to make life so difficult for the rest of us. Unfortunately we do not live in an ideal world so there really is no excuse for not taking steps today to protect your system for tomorrow so head to www.microsoft.com and either download the service pack or order the CD today.

Once again, I’m going to use this weeks article as a forum for readers questions and comments.

Thanks for recommending the Spybot program. The amount of junk that it detected and cleaned up on my computer was [...]]]>

Once again, I’m going to use this weeks article as a forum for readers questions and comments.

Thanks for recommending the Spybot program. The amount of junk that it detected and cleaned up on my computer was incredible. There is a program called eAnthology which may be the most invasive program ever; It leaves bits and pieces of itself everywhere so even after it has been uninstalled it was no surprise when Spybot found more of it even though nothing was showing up in the Program Files.

Thanks again for your helpful column.

Ian MacMillan, via e-mail

I’ve had a lot of useful feedback regarding Spybot and personally speaking it is now on a CD in my toolbox which travels around the bay to help customers suffering from intrusive advertising and pop-ups. For those of you who haven’t downloaded this free ad removal program, go to www.security.kolla.de

My 3 months free trial to Symantec expires 27/7/03 and they want an extra £13.65 to expend my subscription to be paid by credit card. Could you recommend a virus protection for my computer as I am new to this and don’t know who to sign up with although I obviously want my computer protected. Thank you for your help and good column in the Herald Express

Linda Livermore, via e-mail

One which I have always recommended and had a lot of positive feedback from readers for is the excellent AVG Anti-virus which can be downloaded free of charge from www.grisoft.com. Simply download it, install it and set it to download updates automatically and then forget about it; it will run transparently in the background, updating itself when necessary and will never cost you a penny! Remember to uninstall Norton Anti-virus first though.

Great, informative article Chris! Any downloads to get rid of those annoying and irritating ads that pop up when using Windows XP? One of them, from Endads supposedly to stop this happening is apparently a scam

Barrie Elton, Paignton

Whether or not Endads is a scam or not I’m unsure although I would be loath to give money to someone popping up messages on my computer offering to stop pop-ups for me.

The problem you mention is a big problem with Windows XP which Microsoft clearly didn’t think about enough before releasing the Operating System onto the mass market. Basically a spammer can trigger a pop up on your computer using the ‘Windows Messenger’ service without your consent and without any specialist software being installed.

Fortunately, all you have to do is disable Windows Messenger service and please note that this will NOT stop MSN Messenger or Outlook from functioning correctly. The Windows Messenger software was originally designed so that messages from a Network Administrator could be relayed to all of those on a Network simultaneously to cut down on internal e-mails and memos. For example, the administrator at Bookham Technologies could send out a message to all the staff at once saying that the e-mail server was currently down and the message would pop up on all of their screens informing them of the current situation. I cannot see a viable use for the Windows Messenger service for the majority of home users so for those of you with Windows XP, you may as well disable it now as it can always be re-enabled later if needed.

Assuming you do want to stop this “service”, click Start button on your toolbar then ‘Run’ and enter in “Services.msc” without the quotation marks and click OK. Scroll down the list until you find “Messenger” in the name column and double click on it. Then click on ‘Stop’ and choose “Disable” in “Startup type” drop down box , click on OK and the pop-ups will no longer annoy you.