013 - untried portable vista tweakers

These portable vista tweakers have not been tried by me.

http://www.ajuaonline.com/software/vistatweaker/ is the home of version 0.5 Beta Released on: 2007-10-25 portable vista tweaker

It looks promising; it appears to use microsoft.net?? (obviously it is not for use on windows xp).

Vispa is another popular Vista tweaker. http://vispa.whyeye.org/

It is from the same maker as xpy (see also http://jcpma.blogspot.com/2009/01/010.html)

McAfee antivirus says it is an "unwanted program"?? (see below)

It is probably a very good program though.

012 - gasoline update 2009-02-21

gasoline update 2009-02-21

↑ 4 cents| The last 2-3 weeks saw gas go up by 4 cents/Litre. That is, from $0.839 to:

$0.879/L. (Gas station = safeway or coop)
↓ 2 cents| This week, the gas dropped by 2 cents/Litre to

$0.859/L.

This screenshot is from the FPS "cube" August 29, 2005 game.

http://cubeengine.com/cube.php4

011 - I tried Ultimate Windows Tweaker 1.0 Beta

I tried ultimate windows tweaker 1.0 Beta from WinVistaClub

Feb06-2009
As you can see Ultimate Windows Tweaker (UWT) will not work on Windows XP. It is made for Windows Vista.

The interface is simple. It has a similar feel to Power Toys' TweakUI for Windows 98 or TweakUI for Windows XP. Each category of tweaks is selected via the left hand
panel; there are 8 categories. (I include the "about" section as a category as it appears there are a few tweaks available in that pane.) Hovering the mouse-pointer over a checkbox results in balloon tips explaining the tweak. You either check the desired box or move a horizontal slider. It does not take long to enhance Windows Vista this way. It however took me more time to read about the changes and to decide if I wanted to apply them.
With my limited knowledge of computers and Vista especially, I still proudly was able to improve the OS to my preferences. I only changed the settings, using UWT, which I understood. If the explanation of the tweak was still foreign to me, I just ignored it. That probably is a good general rule to follow.

My mission was to make Vista less "pretty" & to free up some computing power/ resources that most-likely were being eaten up by services/features that were not needed nor necessary. The enhancements I undertook included some of the following:
Launch folder Windows in separate processes (Thus if 1 folder crashes, the others should remain ok)
Menu show speed
Taskbar settings
Internet explorer
Turning off the Aero appearance
Adjusting shutoff wait times dealing with apps/non-responding apps/services
Unload DLLs from memory
Turning off un-used services (eg.s):
Disable file indexing service
Disable Automatic Folder View discovery
Readyboost
Superfetch
Error reporting
... others etc. ...
Disable automatic restart after Windows Updating
Tab Browsing



It worked like a charm.

Pros:
It is a small, portable app (384 KB). It does not require installation.
(lower left) there is a button to create a System Restore Point before you begin tweaking. This is quite thoughtful!
Intuitive user-interface
Balloon tips explain the tweak.

Cons:
You must hit the "apply" button for each category. if you navigate to another category before doing so, you will lose all your choices for that pane.
The descriptions are short. not all tweaks are explained adequately for average "dummies" (like us).


download link for Ultimate Windows Tweaker:
http://www.winvistaclub.com/download/Ultimate%20Windows%20Tweaker.zip

010 - some windows xp tweakers

some windows xp tweakers (most here don't require installation)
These allow you to tweak the operating system, or certain registry settings, or some security vulnerabilities.

Startup Control Panel 2.8 by Mike Lin: very very nice.

seconfig XP 1.1 - easy: (2007) secures some common threats to a windows xp machine & some ports too. very user friendly.

safe XP 1.57 - medium: a tweaker with a medium friendly interface; still, .. it is quite easy to use. This version is a little dated (July 2005) but I still recommend it. On its status bar, beside the pics of the international flags, is the area which holds the description of the tweaks if you hover your pointer over the item.


tweak ui 2.1 for XP - easy: This app is from Power Toys. It is elegant & excellent. most items are explained.


xp antispy 3.97 - medium: good explanations; colors of checkboxes can be confusing though. I think the green means profile choices, the check mark means what will be applied when you click the button; I think red means it does not match the profile. (other colors exist too.)


xpconfig 1.1 - medium: (May2008) This may appeal to some people. There is lack of description or help files/documentation, although the ui looks promising. (I haven't used it.)


xpy 0.10.9 - easy: This one is elegant too! On first run it saves an undo point. The colored check boxes indicate whether the parameter is already activated. the explanations are ok. i think green means the tweak WILL be added and red means the tweak is already in place. A white checkbox is neutral.

009 - small review of portable antivirus

small review of portable antivirus

http://grandstreamdreams.blogspot.com/2008/11/portable-anti-virusmalware-security.html

I reviewed some of the portable antivirus apps at the above site.

Trend Micro's Sysclean: easy to use & straight forward ui

Panda Command Line Scanner UI: not reviewed. requires WindowsXP &/or Microsoft .NET installed first. (it looks promising though)

Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool: not reviewed. requires WindowsXP &/or Microsoft .NET installed first. (It sounds like Kaspersky is popular amongst users.)

McAfee Command-Line Virus Scanner: This is a fast program. It works very well.

a-squared Emergency USB Stick: Pros: nice ui. simple/intuitive. works on older Windows 98 PC's with adequate RAM. looks for some spyware too. Cons: It sets itself up as a service & this can cause Windows XP to "hang" on shutdown. (to disable this go to RUN-> MSCONFIG or
RUN-> SERVICES.MSC and uncheck the appropriate box).

Clam-Win Portable: simple to use. slower than the McAfee scanner though.

Malbytes Rogue Remover Free: not reviewed. requires WindowsXP &/or Microsoft .NET installed first.

Ikarus T3 CLI scanner: works ok. It seems thorough. no gui though.

Multi Virus Cleaner 2008: for certain viruses only. This works on Windows 98 and has a nice user interface.

008 - gasoline update 2009-01-24

gasoline update 2009-01-24

↑ 12 cents since last blogpost |. My local safeway station since about the last 10 days (approx. 2009-01-14) have increased the price per litre to $0.839

[↑ 6 cents. At the other safeway station, safeway(mj) (see sep.12.2008), the price of gas went from $0.839/L to $0.899 on Saturday 2009-01-17,
↓ 6 cents. and then back to $0.839/L on Sunday 2009-01-18 (to be competitive?),
↑ 6 cents. and then back up to $0.899/L on Monday 2009-01-19. Once again, it appears this station is a leader in raising gas prices. ]

007-does-AssaultCube-have-a-virus?

Does AssaultCube have a virus?

AssaultCube is a single/multiplayer firstperson shooter. It is welldone and plays very well.
Here is what happened to me recently.

AssaultCube_v1.0.2.exe with an MD5 checksum of: fde659fb405a35dc0c08686a6d2e06bc

40.2 MB (42,192,549 bytes)
was downloaded on this date, Sunday, January 04, 2009, 12:59:32 PM

from this URL http://assault.cubers.net/media/

=======================================================

After playing this on my Windows XP computer,
it appears the computer received a virus, or it behaves
like it has a virus.

Symptoms:
---------
On startup of the computer, the cursor is missing from
the windows login password screen. You can still login though.
The monitor appears to be de-interlaced in appearance and not
very clear.
The computer responds a little bit slower.
The Desktop Wallpaper is replaced with the Windows Login screen.
The computer hangs when you try to restart or shutdown.
Rebooting the computer does not fix the problem.

Actions Taken:
--------------
Scanning the file AssaultCube_v1.0.2.exe & its resultant files &
the computer itself showed no virus files (McAfee)
Restored my system. The computer appears fixed.
Played another game of AssaultCube.
Rebooted. ... The viral symptoms reappeared.
Restored the system again.

I think it has a computer virus but I can't prove it.


==============================

non-related topic: Last Week gasoline prices went up 6 cents per Litre. ($0.779/L)

↑ 6 cents| The last week saw gas go up by 6 cents/Litre. That is, from $0.719 to: $0.779/L. (Gas station = safeway or coop)