Registry tools

Regshot is a small and open-sourced registry compare utility that allows you to quickly take a snapshot of your registry and then compare it with a second one - done after doing system changes or installing a new software product. The changes report can be produced in text or HTML format and contains a list of all modifications that have taken place between snapshot1 and snapshot2. In addition, you can also specify folders (with sub filders) to be scanned for changes as well.

A tool called "UNDOReg" written by Davide "!bAsH" can be found at neutronstar.cjb.net to undo the changes made to your registry.(english version ,free software)If you can not reach his site, search at google with "Undoreg" or "InCtrl"(like http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/undoreg.html).

You can also find a excellent modification of regshot 1.7 at Paraglider's HomePage,it produce a NT4 .reg format instead of .txt or .html result!! Download it and also check the Usage info. Full source code is provided although the program hasn't been updated in years according to TinyApps.org

Freeware encryption

BladeBox Iron Edition - WinXP/NT 4.x/2Kx - Utilities - Freeware
Company/Author: Liveye, SDCEmail: support@liveye.net
Price: 0
Program Homepage/Download url http://www.liveye.net/bladebox/

BladeBox creates virtual encrypted volumes, which are AES-ENCRYPTED files which can be mounted as if they were disk drives (with a DOS drive letter too). Virtual Encrypted Volumes (VEV) are seen and considered by the operating system as if they were actual volumes (drives), they have a drive letter, a volume name, and you can see them inside your My Computer resources and inside the Windows Explorer. BUT actually they are transparently encrypted files on disk. Every time you write or read data to those volumes, the data buffer is transparently encrypted/decrypted on-the-fly. The key concept for security is that data on disk ALWAYS remain encrypted. [via NewestShareware]

GMail tools listing

Many applications that make GMail easier to use -- a GMail tools list.

Plastic polish

[via redferret] Haagen glass!
I am so, like, fed up with scratches messing up the, like, totally beautiful plastic LCD fascia on my mobile phone. So I do hope very much that this Ice Creme stuff works as well as they say it does. From $19.95.

'Ice Creme allows you to expertly remove the scuffing, scratching and abrasion which tends to occur on highly polished acrylic panels, like those used in several consumer devices and popular computers. Products like the iPod, iBook, PDAs and cell phones can all benefit from the ease of use and power of Ice Creme.'

Direct sound recording

From Lockergnome, here is a listing at download.com for software to record directly from your sound card -- streaming recording.

ADD-itional mailboxes

[via redferret] Gmail. I know I said I wouldn't mention any more Gmail stuff, but I had my fingers crossed behind my back. So here's Gmail Gems, a blog for hints and tips, and Adam's collection of same. 'Gmail supports "plus" addressing, which means that if your address is maryhadda@gmail.com, you can receive e-mail at maryhadda+littlelamb@gmail.com or maryhadda+longaddress@gmail.com, etc.

Why is this useful? Well, Mary (or you!) could use one, er, I'll call it a "plussing," for mailing lists ("maryhadda+lists"), and another for shopping online ("maryhadda+shopping") and so on, and then create filters to put useful labels on the different types of mail.'

Battery life

[via redferret]
Battery U. A great two part document from Battery University on how to get the most out of these increasingly important things called batteries. Example section - How to prolong lithium-based batteries. Well worth a read.

Inksaver

[via redferret]
If you use an inkjet printer - and especially if you use one for things like producing photos - you need to run, not walk to the Inksaver site and download the free demo. I've been trying the full version of this $34.99 software for a few weeks now and it rocks! I looked at it when it first arrived on the scene, but it could only handle a small number of printers. It now copes with everything - and what's more it really works to lower your ink consumption. Dramatically. I have mine set to 65% saving mode for general use, and lower that to 35% when I'm doing photos and they still look great. The one thing this teaches us is that the printer manufacturers are indeed ripping us off. If a software company can do this, why can't the printer makers themselves?

Email receipts

http://www.mailinfo.com
Mailinfo allows you to verify that your email messages have actually been received and notifies you when the message has been read.

The program seamlessly integrates with Outlook and lets you track all or selected emails by simply clicking a button on the toolbar. It inserts a special tracking signature into the message, which also informs the user about the fact that the delivery has been confirmed, so there is not secrecy involved that could be misunderstood by the recipient. A new mail folder in Outlook enables you to review the status of all your tracked messages and also provides information about when and where the message was received.

PC to Cell email

Teleflip™ started when the founder became increasingly frustrated at his inability to send text messages to friends' cell phones from his PC. It was of course possible, but you had to know the cell phone provider, the correct domain name and the correct syntax for the email address. There had to be an easier way....Teleflip™ was born. Teleflip™ is 100% free to use. Your cellular service provider may charge you to receive short mail, email or SMS messages, depending on your plan. Our service, however, is free to use.

[says redferret]: A kind of email to cellphone switchboard. Very clever, but US only at the moment unfortunately. I suppose the advantage it has over SMS is message length?'The next time you need someone to email you directions, a recipe, sales information, or maybe just a few sweet nothings... tell them to TELEFLIP it, at: (yourcellphonenumber)@teleflip.com. It's easy. It's free. It's for your phone.'

Threat update

[via Brian Livingstone]

This week, Symantec, the antivirus and security company, released its sixth semiannual Internet Security Threat Report. It says the firm found a vast increase in the number of "bot networks" that are under the control of hackers. Each network consists of thousands of machines that have been infected with Trojan horses and are now controlled by criminals.

During the first six months of 2004, Symantec detected a rapid growth of bot networks from fewer then 2,000 to 30,000. The number of PCs in each network is said to average around 2,000. Multiply the number of networks by the average population of controlled machines and it works out to 60 million "zombie" PCs — that we know about.Symantec found one bot network consisting of 400,000 zombies, according to an article by John Markoff in the New York Times. Each network can be used to broadcast spam, launch devastating denial-of-service attacks against Web sites the hackers don't like, and more.

Viruses
Four and a half times more viruses and worms targeted Windows systems in the first half of 2004 than the same period of 2003, according to the Symantec report. That's 4,496 new viruses and worms this year so far. More info

About 1 in 12 e-mails carried viruses in the first six months of 2004 that are capable of penetrating firewalls meant to keep them out, according to an analysis of 5.6 billion e-mails by monitoring firm MessageLabs. Up-to-date antivirus programs are capable of stopping most such viruses at this point — but the viruses are growing stronger every month. More info

There are now 1,740 known, unpatched security flaws in Windows and other operating systems, according to statistics collected by US-CERT, a nonprofit security coordination center. That's more than a 300% increase over the 417 vulnerabilities that were known to researchers as recently as 1999. More info

Access to zombie-PC networks is being sold and traded among hackers for about 10 cents per compromised machine, according to reports in The Register, a British high-tech news site. More info

Projection screen Paint

Goo. Screen Goo. Super funky gloop.'Screen Goo is a specially formatted, highly reflective acrylic paint, designed specifically for the video projection industry. Screen Goo acrylic paint allows one to transform any smooth paintable surface into a high performance projection screen...Any rigid transparent surface can now be cost effectively transformed into a high quality dual-sided projection screen.'

Newsletter software

Mailing List Management Made Easy
I always know when a piece of software, a Website or an article is good. If it is, I always come back to it. In my business, we send out a few newsletters -- 9 of them, in fact. We send 5 across a couple of my businesses, and 4 other to clients. Total subscribers? Just over 80,000.

I first used Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) about 5 years ago. It was okay and I used it for a while. But, because it was one of the first I’d used, I assumed that if I kept looking I’d find something better.

I then moved onto Dada (formerly Mojo) Mail (http://mojo.skazat.com/). This was a free service that suited my needs for a while.

Next on the list was an autoresponder service. It had some advantages, but then one big disadvantage popped up: they went out of business (I could have continued with them when they restarted, but that would have meant reconfiguring everything and I didn't have the time. I was also a little nervous they wouldn't last.).

What’s the trend through all this? I keep coming back to Constant Contact. The reasons why:

• Great range of template newsletter designs (or you can custom-design)
• Very simple to use (I showed a client how to set up and go in 10 minutes flat)
• Easy importing of existing email lists
• Sends in html (but converts to a text email if it doesn’t detect an html email reader)
• Excellent reports (from subscribers to email bounces to emails opened to links followed to comparative metrics and lots more)

We have achieved our best results -- in terms of sales and feedback -- with Constant Contact. An alternative to Constant Contact that looks promising is VerticalResponse.com .

Dada Mail
A very intuitive Control Panel makes using Dada Mail as easy as 1-2-3. You’re in complete control of everything! It’s a breeze to use. The developer has an interesting perception of the program -- to him, it’s a work of art. You can read more of his philosophy on the site (http://mojo.skazat.com/). Dada Mail is free software released under the GNU Public License (but if you use it, do send a contribution to Justin, the developer).

Automatic song lyrics

EvilLyrics - Lyrics search tool
«« Version 0.1.7 download it!

Automatically searches for lyrics as your song is played in your player including Winamp.

:: searches over 7,800,000 lyrics »»
:: karaoke: create & share timestamps »»
:: stores lyrics for offline viewing»»
:: translates lyrics
:: searches guitar chords, cover art, posters
:: searches AMG, Amazon etc.
:: Only 300 kB installation file
:: Contains no spyware or adware and is free

How to set up?
Winamp :: WMP 9 :: iTunes :: MusicMatch :: Foobar :: MediaMonkey :: Real Player :: QCD

Put up & create a nation

How do I play?
Click on the Create a Nation link and follow it from there.

You'll be asked to choose a name for your nation, a motto, a national animal, and a currency. Then you answer a short questionnaire about your politics. This will determine what sort of nation you end up with: authoritarian or permissive... left-wing or right-wing... compassionate or psychotic... you get the idea.

Once a day, you'll be faced with an issue, and need to make a decision as to what to do about it. This determines how your nation evolves. goTo NationStates.net

Top search engines

This site lists and monitors top search engines and new search engines. Google isn't all there is.

Microsoft JPEG patch

[via netsquirrel] Long story short, if you have a new-ish computer running any of a host of Microsoft's newer software applications, your computer is probably vulnerable to attack through this JPEG processing vulnerability... even if you have a firewall and an up-to-date antivirus program.

How do you close the hole? Get the patch! But, because this JPEG
processing vulnerability effects so many different Microsoft
applications, there is actually a three step process you must follow
to ensure your computer has ALL of the patches it needs.

1. Run Windows Update by going to Tools > Windows Update in
Internet Explorer. Click on "Scan for updates." Then just
install all of the critical updates available for your
computer by clicking "Review and install critical updates."
You may need to restart after you install the critical updates,
and remember to always rerun Windows Update until it tells you
to go away.

Most people will stop here, thinking they have successfully
protected their computers from this new JPEG processing
vulnerability. And most people will be wrong. You still have
two more steps to go.

2. Run Office Update by going to
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/ and clicking on "Check for
updates." Since the JPEG processing vulnerability is in both
Windows *and* Office, and since the older version of Windows
Update doesn't automatically scan Office for updates, the only
way--well, actually, the *easiest* way--to get the latest
critical updates for Microsoft Office is to manually go to
officeupdate.microsoft.com.

Have your Office installation CD-ROM nearby. Microsoft may
want to "sniff" your disk to make sure you actually own a
licensed copy of Office. But what if you can't find your
Office installation disk? Unfortunately, you're hosed. You
are going to have to borrow a disc from a friend. No disc, no
Office update. And this JPEG processing vulnerability is so
severe that you NEED to update Office as soon as possible.

3. The third and final step is to, in Internet Explorer, go to
http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/200409_jpeg.mspx
and click on "Check for Affected Imaging Software." This
scans your computer to make sure that you don't have any
Microsoft imaging software hiding on your computer that is
also vulnerable to this JPEG processing vulnerability.

Remember, running Windows Update is only one-third of the patch
process. You also need to run Office Update and have Microsoft scan
your imaging programs.

And if you are thinking about putting this off for a few days, don't:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=47212221

One-Touch backup

Quick and easy storage
With its single-button backup, Maxtor's 160GB OneTouch drive not only makes avoiding PC disasters easier, it's also lightning fast. READ FULL REVIEW Costs about $150 and up.

Gutting Longhorn

I'm pulling some text snippets from this Infoworld column discussing the upcoming release of the next Windows version known as Longhorn. Few if any commentators offer a principled criticism of Microsoft's policies. Most columnists diligently serve technical data and functional warnings in a serious fashion but seldom aim barbs at Microsoft's overriding relationship with its customers. I was pleased when I read Oliver Rist's September 10th column. It's truly the time for all of us to wake up and demand better software, if not more practical pricing. We are encumbered with very poor product that needs much improvement. We should be asking for many improvements, but we've not developed adeaute criteria to make our demands known. As a customer base, we are poorly developed for our own good but we are good for developers because we make it too easy to sell us junk products. As impressive as computing is, there are downright silly deficiencies that cost us billions and billions of dollars. Read on...

Enterprise Windows
Gutting Longhorn is a bad idea.
Once again, Microsoft is putting its bottom line ahead of its customers' needs
by Oliver Rist of Infoworld

Microsoft just announced that Longhorn is going to lose features just so we can install it on Redmond's sales schedule. If [you] get dirty in the real world a bit, you quickly see that gutting Longhorn is definitely not a good decision. Certainly not for us, meaning Microsoft's end-users and IT customers.

Several of the businesses with which I work are seriously considering moving everything to Linux -- and absolutely none of them are doing it because Microsoft isn't releasing enough new products. They're considering a change specifically because the grasping fingers in Redmond are releasing too many products, each pulling you toward yet other Microsoft products. It's become a veritable whirlwind of new releases, upgrades, patches, release schedules, and, most problematic, ongoing license fees. Not to mention all the extra bucks spent on IT staff-hours, consultants, and the continuing mirage of security. In the eyes of these IT managers, Linux doesn't represent more features; it represents some peace. A little breathing room. A little yoga-mat time so they can once again figure out how to make PCs a business tool instead of a budgeting burden.

They [major updates] used to occur only every two years or so. But between Office, Exchange, SQL Server, the rest of the nebulous Server family, and the operating systems, I seem to be in several such meetings at least once per year per client. And don't think the suits aren't noticing. In a time that can only be described as "economically troubled," Microsoft is single-handedly making the IT department a bigger cost center than ever. And that's exactly what we don't want to be right at this moment.

If Microsoft wants to keep companies from looking at Penguin migrations, then it must start thinking about its customers. A lack of new features isn't the problem. The security nightmare coupled with this endless stream of upgrade costs is what's driving customers to look at Linux. They're not hunting for advanced features (although they are pleasantly surprised when they find out what the Penguin can do). They're just looking for a stable set of computing tools they can use to work their business without having to worry about some kind of massive upgrade upheaval. Linux gives them that opportunity, Redmond doesn't.

Or you [Microsoft] can keep twisting your customers' arms every year and a half, forcing them to "upgrade" to whatever you've got ready at the time while endlessly dipping your fingers in their piggybanks. See how far that gets you.

Recover crashed hard disk

In this entry, I will point to Restorer 2000

Please note!! Restorer2000 Data Recovery Software uses read-only access to drives and never writes any information on HD. It's STRONGLY recommended NEVER INSTALL ANY APPLICATION (including Data Recovery Software), WRITE THE IMAGE FILE OR RESTORE DELETED FILES ON THE SAME LOGICAL DISK WHERE THE DELETED FILES ARE LOCATED. OTHERWISE YOU MAY OVERWRITE YOUR DATA ON THAT DISK.

Restorer2000 is a data recovery, undelete, unerase and unformat software that can restore files lost accidentally in NTFS or FAT partitions because:

• Recycle Bin has been emptied
• Hardware or software failures
• Power failure
• Virus attack
• Hard drive format (even for different file system)
• System shutdown
• Partitioning or boot-up problems

A free version can scour a hard drive and recover files no larger than 64MB. The paid version ($50) is unlimited. Try the free version if your drive is inaccessible and files look as if they are lost. You may recover many many files that are important.

Folks often send their hard disk to a data recovery firm. I paid over $800 to receive a CD-ROM with about 80% of my lost files recovered. As I learned about data recovery, it seems that there are many downloadable programs such as Restorer 2000 that can save a lot of money and may recover your critical and important data in any case.

Consider this post a reminder. Don't panic. Don't overwrite your lost data. Think about your new target for your recovered data. Get some data recovery software. Take a stab at it on your own.

Like the warning label says, "Remove child before folding baby stroller."

Bar Code Ring

Bar Code Ring

$19.00 in sizes

Part of a series of unique
anti-establishment rings
and pendant jewellery from http://www.marchenoir.com/









Priced each from $38 to $50

Free site stats

DAS is a free tracking system that logs extremely useful information such as hits, uniques, browser name & version, operating systems, screen resolutions, and http referrers. Anyone with a website is welcome to participate! To start tracking the traffic off your site all you need to do is register and insert a small (1 line) of snippit of HTML onto the body of your websites main or intro page. Instantly our servers will begin processing and analyzing your sites traffic!

80 x 15 button maker

This is a user interface to Bill Zeller's brilliant button maker application.

Website eye tracking

Eyetrack III

This is a great article and a must-read for anyone who designs web pages. The study is based on measurements of readers' eyes as they look at news websites. Some results we've seen before in other studies: pictures are 'lighter' on the web than in print (that is, they don't immediately attract the eyes); shorter paragraphs are read more; text ads work better than banners. The eye track was interesting. Readers start at the upper mid-left, move to the upper left, and then to the lower right. A surprise: headlines actually dissuade people from reading capsule descriptions, unless they are close to the capsule and in a similar sized font. If you don't have time for the whole study, at least read the summary. By Steve Outing and Laura Ruel, Poynter Institute, September, 2004

Alternative load balancing

You don't think this is important until five machines want instant answers instantly. Refrigerator stalls washing machine cycle which alarms closet and removes tuxedo from Saturday night until every machine with fuzzy logic purchases new boxer shorts from BananaWasPublic ButNowIsForlorn.

Assign Addresses --- Assigning addresses creates address records (also known as "A records"), which are the bread and butter of the DNS administrator.

These records specify the IP address to which a given name should translate. If you assign multiple IP addresses to the same zone then the server will perform round-robin DNS load balancing. In some ways, this simple load balancing is far superior to expensive load-balancing hardware.

... Not really, unfortunately. On the same subnet, you absolutely cannot run two DHCP servers that assign addresses from the same range. ...
www.winnetmag.com/Windows/ Article/ArticleID/2662/2662.html - Similar pages

---

Advanced Subnet Calculator... Subnet Addresses Will generate a list of addresses for any subnet. This can then becomes the working document to assign addresses.

---

... www.solarwinds.net/Tools/Free_tools/Subnet_Calc/ ...The TCP/IP Guide - IP Address Management and Assignment Methods ...

---

... The original IP addressing scheme was based on classes, and so IANA would assign addresses in Class A, Class B and Class C blocks. ...
www.tcpipguide.com/free/ t_IPAddressManagementandAssignmentMethodsandAuthorit-2.htm

Gmail blog post

[via Lockergnome Web] Thanks to a one determined programmer, you can now make posts via your Gmail account! It’s true. The software is referred to as Gallina and it will allow you to post to your Weblog via the Gmail email system. Pretty cool!

Mr. Hernandez has posted a proof of concept of his software, being called Gallina. Gallina uses Gmail messages as blog entries, [direct link here] and the star feature to signify publish status. Each reply to an email message is posted as comments to an entry. Anyone wanting to use Gallina would need to install the application on a server, which would then store the posts in a Gmail account.

Jeremy Muncy of WebProNews observes, "It is possible that Google may not like Gallina. The company's terms and conditions do not allow screen-scraping technology, the kind used by Gallina."

Office update tool

From a central location, administrators can run the Office Update Inventory Tool on client computers to find out which Office updates have been applied, which Office updates are available to be applied.

To use the Inventory Tool you must also download the latest Inventory Tool Catalog file (invcif.exe). Go to the Inventory Tool Catalog page to download the latest detection information used by the Inventory tool. Usage instruction can be found in the Office Resource Kit article Office Update Inventory Tool 2.1 Checks Installations for Updated Status.

The MS Office update page is here.

Non-profit hosting

Firebright offers a special rate known as Emergency Non-profit ISP

Setup Fee Subscription Fee 1 Month(s) $1.00 $1.00 $1.00/mo. Subscribe

Included Apps

System Administrator Control Panel

Workgroup Administrator Control Panel

SSH

My Control Panel

UW IMAP and POP3 servers 2001a-18

Credit Card Verifier 1.02

SSL for Apache 2.0.40

AWstats 6.0

ZendOptimizer 2.1.0b

SpamAssassin 2.63

Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager 2.1.4

PHP (RedHat-9) 4.3.4

Disk

Disk space quota 1100 MB

Network

Total traffic per month 10 GB

IP

Number of Static IP addresses 3 IP

Number of Dynamic IP addresses 0 IP

Website

Number of mailboxes 1024 mailbox

Number of websites 3 website

Number of databases 10 database

TinyApps.Org

Tiny Applications for your computer: TinyApps.Org
Small is beautiful

Liquid CSS style

Liquid Bleach

Promised one week ago today, this is the next phase in a temporary exploration of page design and CSS layout for Stopdesign. Bleached turns liquid, making this Liquid Bleach. Liquid layouts are easy to create in theory, but can be difficult to implement effectively. Doubling margins, subtractive padding, nested percentages, and differing box models, oh my!