Hraefn

Here's a list of some of the best free antivirus software around. Take your pick. =^^= a2 Free AVG Free Edition AntiVir Avast Home Edition BitDefender eTrust EZ Armour Out of all that, I'd recommend AntiVir, though AVG Free runs a close second. If you're interested in looking at some unbiased antivirus comparisons, then you can do so here.

You'll need to decide whether you want a text-based editor or a WYSIWYG one. Since you say that you're sick of Notepad (which is a text-based editor), then you might want to go with WYSIWYG. In any case, most WYSIWYG editors also come with source-code editing capabilities, so you should easily be able to switch to a text-based editing style if you want. Sometimes, though, a text-based editor would be more informative and useful if your intent is to learn how to code in HTML. Just take your pick. =^^= Text-based editors Notepad++ (freeware) features: syntax highlighting, syntax folding CSE HTML Validator Lite (freeware) features: syntax highlighting, syntax checking, HTML validation HTML-Kit (freeware) (recommended) features: syntax highlighting, syntax checking, HTML validation, active preview, built-in FTP workspace WebTide (freeware) WYSIWYG editors Microsoft Frontpage (commercial) Macromedia Dreamweaver (commercial) Nvu (freeware) (recommended) Blaze Composer (freeware) Alleycode (freeware) Trellian WebPage (freeware)

As a personal portable data storage device, putting an internal laptop HDD into an enclosure and using it as an external HDD is certainly the most cost effective method. It's much cheaper than buying a ready-made external HDD (which, to tell the truth, is the deciding factor for most people) and, with a little care, can be just as durable. I use one myself, with a old 40GB Fujitsu HDD which I've cannibalized from a defunct laptop—and it still works. =^^=

And that's the problem with credit cards. Even if you have enough cash in the bank, you still hit a wall when you reach the credit limit. That's why I don't use them myself. =^^=Still, you gotta wonder about that meal. I mean, they're Google, for crying out loud, so they must have had a pretty high credit limit. It must have been one pretty heavy meal. =^^=

Shaun06, here's how you go about fixing your GIMP: Run a search on your computer for the files xmlparse.dll and xmltok.dll. You should see two copies of each file, one in C:\Windows\system32 and one in your GTK2/GIMP folders where you have GIMP installed. The files in your GTK2/GIMP folders are the newer versions of those dll's (you may notice that they're slightly larger in size), but for some reason they sometimes don't install properly. Anyway, copy both files for your GTK folder over to your system32 folder, and that's it. GIMP should work perfectly for you now. =^^=

I've been using AVG for a couple of years and was fairly well satisfied with it. However, I just recently tried out AntiVir and discovered that it caught a couple of viruses that AVG missed. That's a big plus. Apparently AntiVir scans your PC much more thoroughly than AVG can (it can scan compressed files such as ZIPs, too, which I'm not sure AVG does), and by setting the scan priority to low, it's less of a resource hog than AVG. =^^=All in all, it's about as good as free antiviruses are likely to get. =^^=

Heh. This is the first time in a good long while that Microsoft's surprised me in a good way. Lately, it seems as if almost all of their surprises have been bad. Apparently, there is life after death. =^^= A pity that the offer appears good only for the U.S. Although... if it's only for the U.S., I wonder why the country field in the sign up form includes other countries in the dropdown? Eh, but who cares? It's a free USB drive, after all. =^^=

Meh. This thread title's misleading. At first I thought that Google had actually developed their own antivirus program, but then I find out that they just bundled some existing software with their app packs. XD Well, bundling such popular security apps as Norton and Adaware is a good business move for Google, when you think about it. For the makers of those two apps as well. Never underestimate the drawing power of a good brand name—I've no doubt that this move will significantly increase revenue for Norton, Lavasoft, and Google alike. Very nice strategy, that. =^^= I wonder at the inclusion of Norton Antivirus in the Google Pack, though. Given that Google styles it's pack as "a free collection of essential software", I don't think that Norton (which is essentially shareware, not freeware) should be included. Sure, it's a big name among antiviruses, but there are other good free antivirus apps around.

Putting something like that on a website is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you're spreading the word on Firefox and why it's a better alternative browser to IE. On the other hand, your basically telling any IE users who visit your site that they'll just be annoyed with that message every time they visit your site. It runs the potential risk of getting people to not switch to Firefox but rather to avoid your site like the plague. =^^= On the plus side, I like how this message is a lot more subtle than the pop-ups that used to be so frequent in the past. =^^=

Ah, the BricoPack Visat Inspirat desktop theme. I use it myself (see screenshot below), and it looks awesome. Works fine too, despite the fact that I don't really have that much RAM. In fact, my PC is actually slightly faster than before. I don't have the problem pyost was talking about either, the one where the min and max window buttons run together (I'm not sure why he's getting, really). I'm willing to recommend this pack for anyone wanting to spruce up their desktop—this pack is true freeware, no nags, no time limits. Just pure eye candy enjoyment. =^^= A screenshot of my desktop.

For FTP clients, check out this thread titled "Where Can I Find Free Ftp Uploaders?". Post number 19 (my post) has a comprehensive list of FTP clients you could use. By the way, I would suggest using the forums' search functions the next time you have a question. You should usually find what you're looking for much more quickly than posting a duplicate thread would.

One thing I've learned about Google is that when they say they'll do something, they really deliver. The said that Gmail Chat will be out soon, and it is. I just never reckoned on how soon that would be. Barely 24 hours after the initial announcement, Gmail Chat has gone LIVEâat least for some users. I've just left a short chat session with m^e to test out the features of the new Gmail Chat, and I liked what I saw. It's not as heavily decked out as Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, or AIM, but that's exactly why I like it. It's a simple, no-frills type of IM client that does exactly what you'd want an IM client to do: chat. So what do I think of the new Gmail Chat? Here's what. PROS Gmail Chat is light on the browser. â Normally you'd expect a web-based browser to be heavy on browser resources. I'm happy to say that this isn't the case. My browser worked normally the entire time the chat session was open, with no hangups or crashesâand this is on a machine with limited RAM running Windows XP, and using the Flock browser (which is only a developer's preview and not even a beta). Pop-out mode. â I like having a pop-out mode because this allows me to browse other websites and still keep my chat session open without having to return to my Gmail page. It's almost like having a desktop IM client. =^^= The smileys. â m^e told you about Gmail Chat's cute little B/W smileys, right? Well, I just love them! They're certainly a departure from the usual smileys we see everyday, and so simplistically stylish! Realtime chat logs. â Say you accidentally close your chat window, and you didn't get to read your chat-mate's last message. Well, since chat sessions are logged in real time, just head over to your saved chat logs and that message that you missed is there. Nifty, isn't it? Off-the-record mode â If you have a conversation that you don't want anybody to save, either yourself or your chat-mate, then is the perfect way to do it. Ability to block a contact from chat. â Really handy if you have a contact that spams your chat. Just hover your mouse cursor over the contact's name to bring up the following popup, then choose block. Or you could use the 'Options' menu in your chat screen. Ability to quickly add chat contacts straight from your address book. â Yep, you can add a chat contact straight from your address book (you still have to send them a chat invite, though). All you have to do is go to your address book, click the checkbox next to the contacts you want added, then select Add contact to... Quick Contacts, as shown in the screenshot below. Being a new feature, of course there are some kinks they still need to work out. Here's my list of things that I think they should implement or that they could have done better. CONS No conference chat or chatroom yet. â Chatrooms aren't available for Gmail Chat yet, but I have hopes that Google will soon implement it. As mentioned in the Gmail Chat help center: No easily visible warning of new messages when using pop-out mode. â Currently, the only way to be notified of new messages is when you see your contact's name flash in your Gmail screen. However, that's not really effective when you're using pop-out mode because your main browser window is usually looking at other pages instead of the Gmail screen. No text formatting. â This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you like text formatting. Myself, I like it the way it is, but there are times I wish I could use simple formats like bold or italics just for emphasis. No nickname feature available. â As it is now, it's your Gmail account name that's displayed on the screen. Those are the only downsides that I can think of for now, and they're relatively minor ones. Despite it all, Gmail Chat still looks to be the best upcoming IM client. It's certainly one I plan to use in the future, especially once my main Gmail account gets it. Oh, and I almost forgot. For those of you who don't want to use the Gmail Chat feature, you have an option to turn it off. Just go to the bottom of your Gmail page and select to view the page as 'Standard without chat', like in the screenshot below. -P.S.- I just love how efficient Google is about this. They even have a troubleshooting knowledgebase for the new Gmail Chat even though it's been live for only a few hours. Way to go, Google! =^^=

To answer your question, Kovowolf, as long as you're not yet hosted, your credits will remain unchanged even if you remain inactive for months at a time. Once you become hosted, however, your credits act as a countdown timer, where the number of credits refer to the number days you can remain inactive and still be hosted. For every day you remain inactive while hosted, your credits will go down by one point.

Any diligent Windows user knows that what it takes to keep your PC clean is to have a regularly updated anti-virus, a good firewall, and all the dozens of utilities dedicated to keeping your Windows machine squeaky clean. Well, apparently that's not enough. Another source states, Sounds bad, I know, but the good news is that none of these vulnerabilities are exploitable over the internet but rather require local access to the machine. Well, it's good news if you choose to look at it that way. Myself, I'd rather these companies clean up their act. These are programs I use almost everyday, and I dislike that thought that they're eating holes in my system. I mean, how many of these badly configured apps can we install before our OS breaks down? =/

Ah, but that's the nice part, Jeigh—none of your friends have to switch over to Gtalk from AIM, MSN, or whatever it is they're using. As long as they have a Gmail address, they'll be able to use the in-browser Gmail Chat as soon as it rolls out. It's a good strategy for Google, really. Like they said, it's there, it works and it's free, so why not use it? Having the IM client available in-browser through your Gmail account makes everything more convenient, and that's likely to be the deciding factor for those who'll decide to migrate over to the Google Talk network. =^^=

I know I don't have to, but I decided I want to. It's no biggie. Besides, there's nothing there that could pose a security risk—not unless the person's really determined anyway. And if that's the case, I could be compromised even if I didn't post anything. Besides, do you know how many Carolyn Chans there are in the world? =^^=

So I didn't make an intro thread when I joined up. Big deal! I'm making one now, and you can chalk this up to extreme boredom, temporary insanity, or the fact that it's 4:15 in the morning and I haven't yet had any sleep. But no, I'm not on a caffeine high. I reserve that for special occasions. The Quick Facts Name: Carolyn Chan Xisto handle: Hraefn (duh!) Sex (it's not a dirty word!): Femme D.O.B.: May 7, 1980 Age: 25 Enthnicity: Chinese Country of residence: Philippines Credit card number: (what do you think I am, stupid?) The Not-so-quick Facts So who am I, really? Truth to tell, I don't think even I know. I'm a sometime writer, a sometime artist, a sometime musician, a sometime techno-greek (ie. a grrl geek). That's a lot of sometimes, come to think of it. If there's anything I do full time, it's being a managing b****—or at least that's what my siblings would say. But of course I'm the eldest, so they're probably just jealous. =^^= Like I said, I'm a sometime writer. It all started back in highschool when I was picked out of the unwashed masses to become editor-in-chief of the school paper. Since then I've written a few articles—mostly freelance work for a couple of local dailies, with the occasional scathing letter to idiot politicians (did you know used took a semester in Political Science once? it never worked out). But nowadays, I mostly write fiction, or to be precise, fan-fiction (though I have a couple of original works of my own). Did I mention that I'm an anime fanatic? No? Well, I am, and most of my writing is based on various anime fandoms. Ah, the joys of being an otaku! For the art part... well, I used to draw and paint quite well (the operative words being used to). I haven't practiced my skills since forever, so I'm afraid they've deteriorated. What I do now is mostly pixel pushing. If you haven't become acquainted with the wonder that is Photoshop, I suggest you start now. Hmm... I wonder why I said I was a sometime musician? Sure, I can sing and play the guitar, but not well enough to start my own band. But I do love music. In fact, my whole family's musically inclined—all but two can play a musical instrument (one actually has his own band), and the two that can't are fairly good singers. On being a techno-greek (the greek part meaning that I dispute the popular assumption that computer technology is a male-only domain), practically everything I know about computers, I learned on my own—with one or two exceptions. I love computers; I love what they can do. Truth to tell, I don't know what I would do if I lost access to a computer for more than a month (horrible thought, that!) Uh, can I program? Well, I do know some C, C++, and with a few minutes study, I'm usually able to edit existing scripts to make them do what I want. I'm not the hardcore programmer in my family; my brother is. I am rather well conversant with HTML/xHTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP, if I do say so myself. Everything I know about those web scripting languages is self-taught, though, like most of what I know about computers. I actually find it easier to learn through self-study than to have a teacher yammer at you all day. Maybe that's because I'm a quick learner, and because I genuinely find those subjects interesting. So what technical background do I actually have? Very little actually. I do the maintenance of my family's computers (including my cousins'), and I can fix practically anything as long as I have the time to study it a little. I am an unlicensed technician for Nokia cellphones (a necessity, that, since there were times I had to fix my own phone—once the warranty has expired, of course). I also used to work as technical support for PalmOne (stressful job, that. Don't people ever read the f**** manual anymore?!). Well, that's it for my technical background. Uh... this is running rather long, and it's an uncredited post, too. Guess, I'll have to cut it short, especially now that the clock reads 5:15 (wow, one whole hour to type this post!). After you've read this post, please forget about it. I'm not usually this silly. =^^=

I just noticed this myself, too. Now, I don't use Google Talk or any kind of IM service, but being a hardcore Gmail user, this tasty little morsel looks quite intriguing. I'm actually breathlessly waiting for the unveiling of the soon-to-come in-browser Gchat feature. I might even try it out when this feature debuts. =^^= I know how marketing strategies can sometimes hype things up so much that the expectations are much bigger than the actual product, but hey, this is Google! Like m^e said, they have an impressive track record when it comes to their products. I wouldn't be surprised if this GTalk/Gmail integration turns out be exactly like their makers promised. To tell the truth, I would be surprised if it isn't exactly like they promised. I've just had a looksee at the FAQ for this upcoming feature (they already have FAQs for this?), and if it's accurate, then the new Gmail Chat would have some pretty handy features. Applying Google's powerful search functions to saved chat conversations would be a big help (really handy if you've had an especially heavy brainstorming session and you just couldn't remember the details of an idea that was mentioned in passing). What I particularly like, though, is the option to go off the record, which, I assume, is when both parties agree not to save the chat conversations. Am I right in guessing that this is a standard feature of the Google Talk client? If so, then I'm glad they're keeping it. If there is one feature that I truly want to see become a reality, it would be the ability to conference call (or chat, rather) using Gmail Chat. Sadly, Google hasn't enabled such a feature, though I find it heartening to know that they were aware enough of the demand for conference chats (or calls =^^=) to write a Help Center article about it. On the topic of Google's income sources, I did a quick check and found out that they rely solely on their ad revenues. To quote: Risky business that, relying solely on ad income (though I imagine that stocks also play a minor role). But apparently they're doing well with it, if the fact that they netted $1.5 billion during July-Sept quarter of 2005 says anything. According to the article, at last count, Google was worth around $140 billion, and most of that from ads. No wonder Bill Gates is worried. =^^=

Hey, what do you know? Two votes for PaintShop Pro! I never would have believed it myself. =^^= I remember a couple of years back when most, if not all, of the graphic tutorials online swore by PaintShop Pro. There were even a couple of books touting it as the best graphics software around. Of course as you can see, times have changed. =^^= Was there ever a time when PSP equaled Photoshop? Frankly, I can't recall. Maybe it did, in the past, but it doesn't now. While I haven't used PaintShop Pro, I can tell from the features and screenshots listed on the website that it falls far short of Photoshop's high-quality professionalism. Practically everything than can be done on PaintShop Pro can be done on Photoshop, but the reverse isn't true. So what if PSP is easier to use? It's not like you can do much with it. If there is anything about about Photoshop I don't like, it's the hefty price tag. It's worth it if you want to do any and heavy graphics editing, but most people don't even use half of what Photoshop can do. For those people who don't want to pay big bucks for a quality graphics software but want something better than PaintShop Pro (which also isn't cheap, by the way), I recommend GIMP. It's almost as good as Photoshop and has some features that even PS doesn't have. In fact, I use both GIMP and Photoshop—they make a great team. =^^=

Twitch, while I don't know you personally, I do know how it feels like to have a close family member pass away. My own dad passed away last Jan 21 (he was only 46, too), and I was there the entire time he was in the ICU. My family and I did everything humanly possible that we could but it wasn't enough, and even now, we couldn't help but feel a sense of grief and disbelief that someone who we genuinely thought would be around forever is no longer around.I know from experience that words, no matter how kindly said, are not enough to assuage the grief. However, words are all we have. My condolences and prayers go with you and your family.

There are quite a few good FTP clients out there that are freely available, some of which have already been listed on this thread. I also have a few recommendations, so let me list them down for you so you can take your pick. =^^= Desktop FTP clients (programs that need to be installed on your desktop PC) FileZilla (freeware) (recommended) — This is my personal favorite. Supports FTP and SFTP. FireFTP (freeware) — A FTP client that installs as an extension of the Firefox browser. SmartFTP (shareware) — Features FXP support. SSL/TLS encrytion. WS_FTP (shareware) — Supports file transfers over HTTP and HTTPS protocols, as well as other Internet data management standards as FTP and SSH. Built-in compression. Core FTP LE (freeware) — Supports FTP and SFTP. Ace FTP 3 (freeware) — FXP support. Firewall and network support. Open multiple FTP sites simultaneously. RootFTP (freeware) — Multi-threaded transfer engine. FTP Commander (freeware) — Claims to offer all the functions of WS_FTP. Portable FTP clients (programs that can be run from a portable device such as a USB drive or an external HDD) Portable FileZilla (freeware) (recommended) — Also a personal favorite. Has all the features of the regular version. i.FTP (freeware) — A graphical FTP/SFTP client. PSFTP (freeware) — PuTTY version of sftp for windows. FireFTP (freeware) — It becomes portable when installed on the Portable Firefox browser. Web-based FTP clients (FTP clients that can be accessed from any web browser as long as you have an internet connection) net2ftp SurFTP IS&T If these aren't what you're looking for, then tell me and I'll go looking. I love practicing my mad Googling skillz. =^^=

I'm all for putting a stop to terrorism, but hey, this is going overboard. This has the poetential for abuse. Privacy online may be a myth, but that's no reason for Big Brother to actively dig into our closets just so they could go on a witchhunt. It'll be different if they're doing it as part of an active criminal investigation, but they're not. They just want to snoopâthey don't even know who they're looking for! Don't the Feds have anything better to do with their time than to indulge their voyeuristic tendencies? Once thing I'm wondering about is why the search records? It seems like a waste of time as this article shows. So why not the records of the websites that are listed in Google's database? Surely it would be more profitable to, say, go after the webmaster of a porn site than those people who search for porn? Or how about all those websites that teach people how to make bombs? Why target the users? All I can say is that Michael Moore will have a field day with this. Okay, this next section of my post was written after some time after the previous one, and so I stand corrected on several issues. To know more, just read on. Updates: One of the most comprehensive articles convering this issue can be found at Search Engine Watch. The article is being regularly updated. For those to lazy to read the whole thing, here's the gist of the story: ... the requests do not involve user data at all. According to the report, they [the US gov't] wanted a list of one million web addresses. Not who went to the web pages and when, just a list of URLs picked randomly. ... this case is not about stopping child porn. It's about trying to get a law passed that would help the government shut down sites that allow children themselves to access porn. ... AOL, MSN and Yahoo all received requests from the Department Of Justice along with Google. ... Ask Jeeves did not provide data, as they were not asked. ... Justice Department confirms that AOL, Yahoo and MSN complied with gov't order. ... AOL sends a statement saying they didn't comply but apparently they did, at least partly. Given the fact that the Fed's order apparently had nothing to do with personal data, you might be wondering, "So why didn't Google just comply in the first place?" Well, according to the same article I linked to, here are two reasons why. Out of all the search engines involved in this fracas, Google apparently made the best choice. At least, Google currently ranks highest in the trust division. =^^= -P.S.- Danzarely, porn is illegal. =^^=

Wow, this thread's a regular zombieâit's been revived to many times. =^^= Anyway, for the sake of whoever may find this thread useful... I personally use a 128MB USB flash drive from PQI Corporation (it was a gift), and despite its low capacity, I'm relatively happy with it. I do plan to get something with more storage space eventually, though. However, if space is what you're after, a USB flash drive is not the best way to go. After all, why shell out $100 for only 512MB when you get 40GB for less than $80? Interested? Well, here's the trick. Look for a reputable dealer of laptop parts and buy a good capacity (read, 40GB or more), 2.5" internal laptop HDD (examples). It shouldn't cost you much more than $70. Then buy a 2.5" enclosure that matches your HDD specs (look for the ones with good features, ie. supports USB 2.0, gets power supply from USB port, etc.). It might be a good idea to make sure both your HDD and the enclosure are compatible before making your purchase. Put your HDD into the enclosure, connect the whole thing to a PC via the USB port, and voila! you now have a 40GB external HDD which didn't cost you an arm and a leg to pay. =^^= (Disclaimer: I am in no way endorsing the online shops that I linked to. Those links were provided only as examples; you are free to make your own decision where you want to buy your stuff.)

Okay, I finally tried Pictiger out. So far it seems a pretty good service and they seem to deliver exactly as advertised. They also have a couple of features that just might sway me over from ImageShack (my current fave). I especially like the ability to crop or resize your uploaded images. =^^= If there is one beef I have with Pictiger, it's that you apparently can't transfer images between albums. It seems that the only way to get an image into an album is to go into the album you want to upload the image to and use the upload form there. Frankly, that's a rather cumbersome way to do. I hope that in the near future Pictiger will implement some form of file management system that allows you to transfer or copy your images from one album to another. If they do, Pictiger will definitely be my number one image host. =^^=

How much custom themes could slow down your machine depends on a variety of factors: your PC hardware (processor and RAM), the software (both your OX and the theme software), and the theme itself. I've tried a variety of custom themes, and while most have slowed my PC down considerably, there were a few that didn't. My current theme (screenshot below) is the much downloaded Brico Pack Vista Inspirat, courtesy of CrystalXP.net. It's a really cool theme, and one I'd generally expect to slow down my computer. But to my surprise, my PC runs just fast as it did with the default XP theme. Sometimes it ran even faster than it did with the default theme—and that's on a PC with only 120+ RAM to boot! =^^= screenshot