I have several email addresses – a couple for each of my domains, some old ones I can’t afford to abandon, and some disposable ones where I don’t care how much spam accumulates.  To manage all these email addresses reasonably I need a local email client that handles such a scenario elegantly.

Mozilla Thunderbird did the job swimmingly for many years, and I enjoyed it very much while I was still using Windows XP.  Thunderbird gave me the option of segregating each inbox or pooling them in a virtual catchall, did wonders with spam filtering, and was overall lightweight and responsive.  Unfortunately Thunderbird wasn’t without its foibles, and overall is a bit of an afterthought for the Mozilla team which meant there were long lulls between sometimes much-needed patches.  When I moved up to Vista I started looking for a replacement when I realized Thunderbird did not hook into the OS-level search engine.

After writing off Microsoft Outlook Express as a bullseye for viruses for over half a decade I was extremely surprised at how much I enjoyed the default Windows email client, Windows Mail.  It’s an elegant and simple piece of software that isn’t much more sophisticated than Outlook Express, but it played nice with multiple email addresses and it was a dream to be able to search my mail right from the Start button search box, even when my mail client was closed!  I was even more impressed by its successor, Windows Live Mail, which I use to this day, for having an even nicer interface.  Windows Live Mail doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles but it interfaces very nicely with many Windows apps, not the least of which being Windows Desktop Search which is core to Vista and 7.  It’s very handy to be able to call up any email by searching for some text I remember existing somewhere in the body, or to find a contact to look up a phone number or address, all without the mail client being open.

My only gripe surfaced when I installed Microsoft Outlook, which I use exclusively for work.  I have a zillion emails spanning many years in my work Inbox so search is essential, but what’s frustrating is that both Vista and 7 seem to prioritize the placement of Outlook search results over those from Windows Live Mail.  I tend to only search Outlook mail from the client itself since I’ve always got it open when I’m working from home, but when the client is closed and I’m on Brian time I have no need to search my work email from the Start button.  Worst of all, I always have sufficient hits in work email for any given keyword that my Outlook results fill the entire Start menu, so if I want to see more results I have to open the fatter search window which ends up giving WAY too much information.

I can find no way to prioritize my Windows Live Mail search results over Outlook.  It’s frustrating that I have no control over the search services which are so central to Vista and 7.

It’s inelegant, but I’m thinking of making use of Windows 7’s XP virtual machine for this situation.  I’ll uninstall Outlook (and my work VPN client while I’m at it) and reinstall them on the virtual machine, effectively making a dual boot to completely segregate my work tasks from my personal-use OS.  I suppose I’ll have to share files with the virtual OS as well, install the rest of the Office suite on there, and who knows what else.  I’ll have to make some network shares and map drives, no doubt.  It’s a kludge and I don’t like it.

How about some search love, Microsoft?

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Two haystacks, one needle

The claim isn’t entirely inaccurate. Lucky for me I know the easiest (but not only) way to appease Windows Genuine Advantage.

I own a legit copy.

I tried Windows Vista back when it was still in beta and I quite liked the experience, but after it went gold I heard almost nothing but horror stories. I had no intention of even touching it until my curiosity was piqued by good reviews of SP1. I downloaded a pirated copy with SP1 slipstreamed and I loved it. I think it’s Microsoft’s best OS so far.

I loved it so much that I went out and bought it a few months ago. I’ve been dreading having to reinstall so I haven’t done so yet.

I rebooted and was stopped by a dialog before reaching the desktop. I was given the option to enter a new product key now or later. I chose now, typed in my legit key, and successfully activated. For some reason I still had a message in the corner saying “This copy of WIndows is not genuine.” One more reboot took care of that.

I don’t (only) mean to be self-righteous here. I just wanted to warn the 3 or 4 other people who use a pirated copy of Vista to curb their enthusiasm for Windows 7 (that’s why I SEO’d the heck out of the title).

I just wanted to volunteer to be an unpaid quality control agent for their multi-billion dollar cash cow, but I suppose Microsoft felt I wasn’t giving quite enough.

The scary thing is that I honestly feel a little relieved to be using a legit product key right now, even though I didn’t reinstall. For a split second a product key felt like a tangible thing.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

If your Vista is not genuine don’t dual boot Windows 7 Beta

This was a bit of a shock as I’d visited the site a few hours before, using the same browser, with no such message. I was quite sure I’d disabled Firefox’s phishing filter, though perhaps not since I upgraded to version 3.0 recently. There was no logo or brand on this warning page, and my NoScript extension showed that the page was being generated by my PC and not from a remote web server. I decided to click “Ignore this warning” and proceeded to the Gamasutra site. (I’m not hyperlinking it in case there’s a real threat)

So I’m greeted by this red dropdown warning. I can’t right-click it so it’s not an element being rendered by the browser. It’s part of my browser’s UI. I went back a page and clicked “Why was this site blocked?”

Google. And the report said there were no threats found. I looked through Firefox’s options.

The phishing filter was turned on. I don’t want to send Google a receipt for every single website I browse. I disabled it.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

How very forward of you, Firefox

Having just upgraded my computer I was admittedly surprised when my years-old copy of Windows XP validated online without a hitch, but it was to be no more than a delayed double-take as the mandatory re-validation failed after installing my new video card a few days later. “Your product key has been used on too many computers. Please enter a new product key.” Snort. This wasn’t the first time.

I rung up the 1-800 number and spoke with India. They’re doing well. It’s hot out. Yes, I really do own this copy of XP. No, it’s only on one computer. 10 minutes of cell phone time later my XP was working again.

My “Genuine Advantage” was that I got to speak with Ripu and Omvati consecutively!

What better way to humble my new machine than with Microsoft Flight Simulator X? I installed it, updated it to the long awaited Service Pack 1, and fired it up. WGA. Really. I was exasperated.

I looked for a Flight Simulator X activation crack (if you’ll pardon my SEO) but couldn’t find any that worked with SP1. Rather than uninstall, reinstall, crack, and then install SP1, I bit the bullet and called India again. How’s the wife? Eat any good tikka masala lately? Oh, and if you’re not too busy do you mind if I use the product I purchased from your fine company?

“You know, I’m getting awfully tired of your company calling me a thief. I know people who pirate your software whom Microsoft treat with more respect.”

“The activation procedure is sensitive and reacts this way when you change your hardware, sir.”

“Isn’t that what I just said to you?”

I want to keep my copies of XP and Office in pristine working order but I’ve had it with WGA. I’ll be cracking all my other Microsoft software from now on. It’s just plain insulting. It’s none of your damn business whether and when I upgrade my computer, Microsoft. No other software company demands that information of me.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Namaste, Microsoft

Meh.

The real kicker is advertisements. We can’t stand them. At all. I block ads from the web, we refuse to pay a movie theatre that crams ads down our throats before and after the lights go down, and we religiously mute the TV when a commercial comes on. I understand cable TV was introduced as a commercial-free alternative to advertising-supported aerial broadcasting, but just like satellite radio this promise was reneged before long. So where does my $50/month cable bill go?

I called Rogers a few weeks ago to cancel my cable TV service. They were very nice and even offered to waive the reconnection fee should we change our minds. A personable install tech visited us a few days later and collected our digital terminal. I kind of felt like my lifeline was cut. However, we opted to upgrade our cable internet service to Rogers Extreme (8Mb down, 1Mb up) so that softened the blow.

A day or two in I didn’t think I could handle it. The apartment was so quiet and I missed the reruns. I’m known to my friends as a naysayer of passive entertainment and a vocal champion of interactive media, but I’d come to the sudden realization that a little downtime is nice sometimes – especially since my wife and I eat dinner at our computer table every evening.

I scoured the internet but couldn’t really find any conclusive answer as to whether it is legal to download television shows – merely speculation that the absence of clearly stated rules was close enough to a blessing. I decided to take my chances and have been collecting the entirety of several animated series. The quality is, for the most part, crap, and many shows even have (skippable) TV commercials left intact. That’s a bummer, but it’s a real treat to be able to watch and pause shows as we please. If we learn that downloading TV shows is in fact illegal we will of course delete our archives.

For some reason, the same old reruns are inexplicably less watchable when you have the power to stop or skip them, so this ever-growing repository felt flaccid and unsatisfying from the get-go. I turned elsewhere.

I dabbled with Miro, formerly Democracy Player, a few months prior and was amused if not impressed by its wide breadth of free “television” series. However, I wasn’t interested in leaving the fat client running 24/7 and it was a burden having to wait for a show to download on demand before watching it so I kicked it to the curb. Faced with my small screen absentia this requirement didnt’ seem so bad anymore. I installed Miro, perused the broader-than-ever content guide, and subscribed to several shows.

Miro is fantastic, albeit currently better in theory than in practise. It’s even better than downloading traditional shows. There are series based on Windows Server administration, video game reviews and previews, wacky vignettes from High Times magazine, various computer nerd video blogs, educational and instructional videos, a homebrew science fiction series (Infest Wisely) from Toronto, and so very much more. The only thing cooler than the variety of programs is the freedom of the media – commercials – if any – are very succinct and far-between (and skippable), shows are not limited to the half-hour time block format making them easily digestible, old episodes are available on demand, and new series are added every day. Also, the player is easy to use and almost sufficiently bug-free to be called version 1.0. I’ve been participating in the user forums to voice my cheers and jeers, as is my privilege with this open source software application.

Television seems like a huge waste of money by comparison. My $50/month mostly paid for 100 channels I didn’t watch, and 3 or so channels I watched for maybe 4 hours per week. Almost every show I’d ever want to watch is available on the 6 or 7 channels I get in perfect clarity over my mostly-crippled cable, and the only show we miss is Jeopardy which isn’t worth $50/month.

Give Miro a try, browse and do some searches, and check out some of the content. There’s so many options you’re bound to be at least amused by something. If you’re like I was last month, mindlessly paying a TV bill you don’t use, it’s in your best interest to explore your options. Roll your own cable package at no extra cost.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Untethered

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

I don’t want to not uninstall

I repair PCs in addition to my day job, so I get an intimate look at the ways people use, misuse, and abuse their Windows operating systems. One thing that’s consistent between all my clients is that they have about 5 years of compounded Start Menu folders and icons. These listings are woefully neglected, listed in the order they were installed, often take two or more columns to list, and comprised of largely unused and undesired software. We are creatures of habit, though, and often accept cards as they are dealt, flawed though the hand may be.

Not I! Unlike my desk, closet, kitchen, and just about every other physical domain I occupy, I pride myself in my meticulously maintained Start menu. Despite my reliance on the venerable Keylaunch I still occasionally trawl through my Start menu, and I’ll be darned if I have to waste a solitary moment doing so.

Thus, the first thing I do when I install Windows fresh is create organizational folders in which every application I plan on installing will reside. Then, as I install software drivers and applications, I move their folders into my own. This guarantees that when I click Start / All Programs I am not rendered catatonic by the epilepsy-invoking flash of a screen full of individual application folders.

The coup de grace (“coop de Gracie” as Daffy Duck would say) of this ritual is performed by right-clicking any folder or item in a list and clicking Sort by Name. This arranges the items in the list alphabetically.

If it’s been many a moon since you installed Windows this procedure might be a bit lengthy, but rest assured knowing that the longer this one-time organization takes, the more time you’ll have saved yourself every time you look for a program in the future.

Adding Explorer Buttons

The user interface presented upon the fresh installation of Windows XP is decidedly minimalistic. The desktop is devoid of icons, few Start menu items exist, and Windows Explorer is configured with few features. This presentation is neophyte-friendly, revealing few jarring or confusing elements upon this first glance, but is rather crippled in terms of usability.

I’ve greatly enjoyed the benefits of adding buttons reflecting my commonly-performed tasks. If you’ll note my screenshot below you’ll likely recognize a few buttons not present on your own Windows Explorer UI. Starting from the View pulldown icon and going rightward are a refresh button, a delete button (surrounded by separators to minimize accidental clicking), cut, copy, and paste.

The astute among my readers might interject, noting that every one of the buttons I added have corresponding keyboard shortcuts (F5, del, ctrl-x, ctrl-c, and ctrl-v respectively), all but rendering my additional efforts pointless. However, the true power users among you will mirror my enthusiasm for this redundancy as you often find dual-finger keyboard shortcuts to be impossible due to common hand-disqualifying variables such as soft drink cans, deep fried potato products, and ice cream spoons.

The most accessible software applications present multiple ways to perform any one task. My sweet tooth and I grant our kudos to Microsoft for succeeding so thoroughly in this endeavour.

Disk Partitioning

It happens to each and every one of us at some point, kind of like chicken pox, so if it hasn’t happened to you yet you’d better be prepared. I’m talking about loss of data, logical partition corruption, total disk failure, clutzy human error, and what the Russians refer to as kaput-ski. Aside from backups, mankind’s number one unfulfilled new years resolution, the prescribed preventive maintenance for this inevitable catastrophe is strategic paritioning.

The vast majority of my repair clients are not even aware of the option of partitioning. For those who don’t know, partitioning is the act of logically splitting a hard drive into separate sections, each represented (in Windows, anyway) by a separate drive letter. As illustrated in my screenshot below, before installing Windows I am careful to plan a partitioning scheme based on my perceived needs, granting sufficient diskspace to each resource. Once Windows is installed I assign a drive letter to each partition that clues me as to the planned contents.

How does this help protect one from information apocalypse? Well, as outstanding as Microsoft’s operating systems are, it’s likely that a nasty bit of spyware, a virus, trojan, sloppily programmed application, or other misfortune will befall your Windows system at some point. When this happens and you are forced to reinstall Windows you will almost certainly need to format, ergo obliterate, your system partition including the entirety of its contents. Wouldn’t it be nice if your re-installable programs, and not your irreplaceable data, were the only victims of Hurricaine Hard Drive?

Partitioning doesn’t protect against physical disk damage, so it is a poor substitute for backups or multiple physical disks, but it is sufficient to protect against most “soft” disasters. It also makes categories of data easier to find, as I can be sure I need to look on my M drive for music, my T drive for television shows, and my S drive for my, er, stuff. Hey, it may be a mess but it’s an organized mess, mom.

For more of my informative tiddlywinks be sure to check out part one of this ever-growing series of Windows XP customisation tips.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Why my Windows XPerience is better than yours – part deux

I never really used the old Mozilla web browsing suite much in its heyday since I didn’t really care about the other bundled apps. However, one feature that I wish had carried over to Firefox is the quickload agent that loads some of the browser code into memory at boot in order to speed subsequent loads. Firefox is a powerful and zippy browser but the more functionality you add via extensions (I guess they’re called add-ons now), the slower it loads up.

And so, having played with the outstanding and free 4t Tray Minimizer several years ago, I wished for a way to minimize Firefox without having to load a third-party app. Lo and behold, the benevolent Mark Yen (Mook) and Brad Peterson (helix400) have granted my wish with their fantastic MinimizeToTray add-on!

I copied the Firefox icon to my Start/Programs/Startup folder and set the properties to minimize on load. When my PC boots I’m bothered by a single dialog asking whether I want to start Firefox fresh or open the previous tabs (I opted not to disable this for convenience) and Firefox stands at the ready for immediate browsing at any time! Note the cute little Firefox icon on my icon tray – minimizing or closing (the latter is togglable) the browser plunks it down next to the clock!

A word of warning; Firefox is a memory hog. I’ve spied with my little task manager Firefox guzzling upwards of 150MB of RAM while minimized with a few tabs open! I had found a tweak some time ago that freed about 95% of consumed RAM when Firefox was minimized, but I think this extension overrides that. My 2 gigs of DDR2 more than compensate for this so it’s no skin off my DIMMs.

Get the fantastic MinimizeToTray add-on here!

KeyLaunch by xFX Jumpstart

I saw this app reviewed on The Screen Savers several years ago and was so impressed that I immediately bolted downstairs and downloaded the program. The author had exercised exceptional generosity by offering Screen Savers viewers a free copy of this payware app, which I gladly accepted and hoggishly milked for years. Long after, upon reinstalling Windows, I decided that I couldn’t live without it and purchased it (for something like $12).

KeyLaunch is a realtime local search app. Though it can be configured to search any folder on your computer, its primary function is to quickly launch any icon located on your Start menu. Any XP user can attest to the frustrations caused by gently navigating the mouse over one, two, three, four subdirectories on the Start menu, only to accidentally nudge the cursor and have to start all over. KeyLaunch makes this a thing of the past!

Just hit the Scroll Lock key (you haven’t used that one in a decade, I bet) and the KeyLaunch menu pops down from the top of the screen. Type a few consecutive letters of the desired icon and all matching entries appear nearly instantly! KeyLaunch is intelligent as well, so even though typing “inter” will yield many entries with the words Internet and Interactive, the most frequently executed entry will become the default first choice the next time you type that same query.

I can’t sufficiently recommend this app. I am perhaps the most frugal cheap-ass on earth when it comes to shelling out the bucks for such seemingly innocuous shareware, but KeyLaunch absolutely takes the cake as the most innovative and timesaving app I’ve ever used. I’ll likely still use it with Windows Vista even though the OS features built-in search functionality.
Try KeyLaunch for just one day. If you uninstall it the morning of day 2 you’ll miss it by noon.

Get info and the installer for KeyLaunch here!

Royale Noir and Zune themes by Microsoft

The day I first installed Windows XP I marvelled at the attractive new Luna desktop theme. 20 minutes later I wondered where the rest of the themes were hidden. Little did I know that Microsoft was holding them hostage!

Well, not exactly. The blue, olive, and silver colour schemes for Luna were pretty much all she wrote until the advent of Windows XP Media Center Edition which featured a slightly darker and slick-looking blue theme called Royale. I was thrilled with Royale the moment I tried it, but after about a year it’s getting tougher and tougher to keep finding blue desktop wallpapers to suit it.

Between Luna and the public release of Royale for XP I’ve used apps like WindowBlinds and StyleXP to shake up my desktop. These are both fantastic, easy to use programs, each with a huge user base and thousands of contributed desktop themes. My issue with these apps is that they introduce an extra layer of arbitration between the user interface and Windows’ blood and guts which sucks up extra RAM and CPU resources. Even with both apps’ “zero resources mode” I still ran into UI troubles, and that’s unacceptable.

Thus I was thrilled to find some easy-to-install dark and colour-neutral themes released by Microsoft! After 6 years it’s about damn time! Royale Noir is a very low profile, dark but sheeny theme that is very easy on the eyes and suits any wallpaper. The brand new Zune theme borrows heavily from Noir but introduces bright orange Start button and sidebar options. Be sure to back up your wallpaper before implementing the Zune theme because it insists on installing an absolutely hideous picture of Generation Y alternadrones reaching skyward. Spluh.

These new themes appear in the Display Properties option set under Royale and Zune respectively and can be switched-to as easily as the built-in Luna themes. You’ve got nothing to lose but a bright blue suntan to check them out today! They’re free!

Get the Royale Noir theme here, and the Zune theme here!

MP3ext by Michael Mutschler

You illegally download music. I caught you. Don’t deny it. It’s okay, it’s a stupid law that will be defunct pretty soon. You use a program like Limewire or SoulSeek or a BitTorrent site like The Pirate Bay to download music you may or may not have paid for, you burn it to CDs or stick them on your MP3 player, and you rock out without a care in the world. I forgive you. In fact, let me help (more).

Whether you’re downloading or ripping MP3s there’s a pretty good chance that they won’t be uniform. They’ll probably be encoded at different bitrates which greatly impact the quality of the highs and lows and the overall presence of the sound. Ever made a mix CD with a random sampling of your favourite music du jour? You had to dance with your partner as well as with your 10-band mixer, didn’tcha? Wouldn’t it be nice if bitrates of a feather flocked together?

Well, flock on! MP3ext is a Windows shell enhancement utility that changes the icons of MP3s to display bitrates in a big, bright font! While compiling a mix CD, just give the song icons a once-over before dragging them into DeepBurner (or some other.. ugh.. RETAIL burning software) to ensure consistent high (or low) quality audio pipes through your sound system throughout the disc.

For the truly meticulous, MP3ext also adds a properties tab to all MP3 files which enable you to enter ridiculous sums of data about each song. Some such fields include lyrics, artist website URL, classical conductor, a custom icon specific to that song, and even as many as TEN graphics embedded right in the file! (presumably viewable only on computers with MP3ext installed)

The download is teeny tiny and many alternative icon packs can be used to match your desktop colour scheme. Check it out! It’ll cost ya squat!

Download MP3ext here!

Letter Icons by anonymous

You may notice my two-row taskbar at the bottom of my Windows desktop. Yeah, it’s large and most of my friends think I’m dumb for using it. Nuh-uh, I say, because it unlocks the potential to populate that valuable real-estate with all kinds of goodies!

In truth, said goodies have mostly come and gone from from my taskbar. I’ve tried sticking desktop search utilities, virtual desktop enhancements, magnifiers, an address bar, and other seemly helpful UI extensions that ended up just wasting space. However, my beloved Quick Launch icon bar has remained there for years and I trust it always will. I keep that space populated with my most frequently-opened apps as well as quick-access icons to the root of my hard disk partitions and optical drives.

Even before trying Linux where the practise has always been the norm, I’ve always been a huge proponent of disk partitioning. I keep my operating system and installed apps on my C drive, music on M, games on S, and other stuff on T. Don’t ask how I came up with those letters, but that’s how they’re named and I’m used to it now.

Why all the bother? Well, ever had your hard disk crap out on you? Chances are the entire disk wasn’t dead – just your one and only partition. By putting my important stuff on separate logical partitions on the same physical disk I greatly minimize the risk of losing more than one partition worth of data. Want to know how to partition your drive in a similar fashion? Failsafe answer – format your hard drive, configure partitions, and reinstall Windows. Risky answer – maybe the gigabyte gods will be kind and Partition Magic won’t corrupt your precious data as you attempt to partition a “live” drive. Maybe.

Anyway, I’m all partitioned up and sticking four identical HDD icons on my Quick Launch bar was confusing. I happened across these handy dandy letter icons more than a decade ago and found enough uses for them (the aforementioned is one of many) that I’ve retained them after all this time. I can’t find them hosted anywhere on the web so I offer them to my readers for the high, high price of reading this drivel!

Get the letter icons here!

Is your XPerience even better than mine? Well, please don’t say it in those words because I’ll probably start bawling like Ballmer. But if you’ve got a handy dandy timesaver I haven’t mentioned please leave a comment!

And if you’ve found this article informative, you might want to have a look at part deux of this series.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Why my Windows XPerience is better than yours

Believe it or not, Vista is an even better blogger than I am since this entry is taking longer than when I type.

In addition to dictation I’m particularly impressed with how easy it is to navigate native and third party applications without touching the mouse. To click any button on an ordinary windows application interface I can either say out loud the name of the button (you can cover the mouse over the button to see the tool tip if you’re not sure) or I can say “show numbers” to overlay numbers on top of every button on the interface. I then say the corresponding number out loud, followed by OK, to click that button. Using “show numbers” I can even click elements on a webpage, such as a link or text box, to browse the web or even use the message forum.

I admit to this point I’ve been speaking fragments rather slowly and in a monotonous tone, so just for fun and all read an excerpt from Douglas Coupland’s JPod verbatim:

“Brea told me this great story. She was assigned to show around a visiting middleware consultant from France. Nobody was sure if he was gay or not. His name is surge to quote—which is sort of funny in itself, because in high school, the fictional guy in my French textbook was searched and quo. Everyone my age in my school district has the same surge to call die in their ads, forever asking where the metro is.”

For comparison hull type the same paragraph:

“Bree told me this great story. She was assigned to show around a visiting middleware consultant from France. Nobody was sure if he was gay or not. His name is Serge Duclos—which is sort of funny in itself, because in high school, the fictional guy in my French textbook was Serge Duclos. Everyone my age in my school district has this same Serge Duclos guy in their heads, forever asking where the Métro is.”

Aside from having to be mindful enough to say punctuation marks out loud, to my great surprise dictation works phenomenally well. While this may not spell a new era in data entry (imagine the noisy workplace) it is certainly a testament to how far personal computer accessibility has come. I admit, though I’m sure I look like a raving lunatic, I’ve really enjoyed controlling my computer without touching it.

Release Candidate 1 of Microsoft Windows Vista has just been released, so it is currently only available to those who signed up previously. Check this website periodically if you would like to beta test the next version.

Audibly yours,
Brian Damage

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Speak softly and carry a big mic

My torrent client of choice until today, µTorrent, (not “youTorrent”, but “myooTorrent”) is admittedly an absolutely brilliant bit of programming. The tiny client (about 300kB) doesn’t require installation, uses only about 6MB of RAM (vs. up to 150MB by competitor Azureus, and is totally packed with features. It would pretty much be the torrent client of my dreams if only it were open source.

And therein lies the uncertainty.

A story on Slyck reports that the sole programmer of µTorrent, Ludvig Strigeus, has recently been employed by PeerFactor, a company hired by such organization as the RIAA to pollute P2P networks with fake and damaging files, and which also rewarded residential volunteers with cash for turning in their neighbours. The PeerFactor website confirms this in some dialect of English I am unfamiliar with.

PeerFactor is reportedly not the unscrupulous company it used to be, but an offshoot formed by former employees of the old company, now RetSpan, who disagreed with the predecessor’s anti-P2P agenda. (what better way to distance yourself than to keep the infamous name?)Retspan went on to mount a huge attack on Suprnova, once the star atop the P2P xmas tree.

PeerFactor seems to deny their past, however:

““We do not distribute any fake file over P2P, but only useful content,” Frenchman Richard Rodrigues, head of PeerFactor told Slyck. “We have never distributed fakes file (unreadable) because no user would [Â…] want to distribute [them].”

Ludwig shakily pleads ignorance over the identity of the company he has agreed to assist for 6 months:

These seem to be (legally) two totally independent entities. I have a contract with the second, while the first one is clearly Anti-P2P.

The same people (at least one person) are behind both of them. They are probably confused mortals that realized that Anti-P2P isn’t the right way to go, so they made another company related to the positive effects of P2P.

When challenged on the correlation between his popular Bittorrent client and anti-P2P agencies, Ludwig spoke up, as he rarely does, on the Slyck forums:

It’s not like this will affect µTorrent. We did not sign a deal about µTorrent, we signed a deal that I will provide them with code that implements the Bittorrent protocol. This code will be used in an ad supported file distribution system webmasters can use to publish big content.

Apparently Peerfactor considers advertisements to be “useful content”. Regardless, web advertising plus Bittorrent equals bad news. Bittorrent is a protocol designed to spread files between average internet users to offload server uploads. This likely means that Ludwig’s contribution to Peerfactor will assist in forcing the average user’s desktop computer to upload ads appearing on web sites to other users. In my experience, such programs do not ask you nicely whether you’d like to trade your bandwidth for pay in order to make money for advertisers. Summation: this is very bad for the internet.

–edit– Perhaps I’ve misinterpreted Ludwig’s words. He may also be talking about writing a Bittorrent client that displays ads. In this case, he is guilty of affixing adware to a public protocol where ad-free alternatives are available. –edit–

Conspiracy theorists are running wild on this series of events, as well they ought to since it’s tough to believe that Ludwig didn’t even google Peerfactor before agreeing to work for them. Such a claim is akin to accusing Bungie Studios, developers of Halo and Microsoft’s poster child, of working for Macintosh. (Eh? Marathon? What’s that?)

In the end, however, whether or not there is any nefarious plot afoot regarding µTorrent is irrelevant to me. The summation of the facts is just too disturbing for me to ignore. The sole progammer renown for his rare but glib replies to user queries, takes a job at a (former?) P2P antagonist, claims not to know that this company is in conflict with his freeware endeavours, gives a shady interview in which he denies little, becomes uncharacteristically vocal on his project’s home page (click “read more” beside “µTorrent is not associated with any anti-P2P organization”), finally admits to writing some form of adware that utilizes the Bittorrent protocol, and all the while refuses to open the source of his software. These facts compounded are too much to ignore.

I’ve no proof, in the end, that Ludwig is guilty of anything more than association. But that’s enough. I have deleted µTorrent and will never use it again. I’ve been banned from the µTorrent discussion forum for saying so which won’t instill much faith in anyone.

I’ve switched back to Azureus and am very pleased with my decision. µTorrent is undoubtedly a very advanced and effective Windows client, but Azureus is better. The distributed hash table yields on average 30000 times more distributed tracker peers (nearly 1 million vs about 300), the client supports plugins including Safepeer which automatically downloads lists of corporate investigative agencies and blocks their IPs, and the client is open source and thus has been scrutinized by dozens of programmers.

When it comes to free software, pledging allegiance means nothing. If a piece of software doesn’t suit your needs, get another freeware alternative. µTorrent serves my needs quite well, but the programmer is an untrustworthy fellow who I’d no sooner invite into my home than onto my hard drive.

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

We are Not Aµsed

In the early 90′s the Norton software family expanded to include Norton Antivirus (largely made popular by the infamous Michelangelo virus fiasco) – a high quality preventive maintenance application backed by some of the cleverest security experts in the industry. Other products intended for the corporate sector, such as Norton Ghost, helped expand the brand by equating Norton with cost savings, automation, and security.

Fast forwarding to the days of Windows 95 – a renaissance of personal computing – Symantec made a big push for the prime real-estate on home PC users’ desktops. Their new annual utility suite, Norton SystemWorks, brought to light some of the behind-the-scenes operations and bottlenecks of Microsoft’s glorious new operating system. Unfortunately, the ironically titled SystemWorks was one of the first examples of bloatware; the various hard disk, CPU, and memory monitors had a huge clock cycle and memory footprint. Still, Symantec prevailed due to their tried-and-true marketing tactic: FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). The suite’s boxart proclaimed that within the plastic wrapping resided “Powerful tools to solve PC problems and protect data,” and “additional advanced problem-solving tools.” Translated, this can more or less declares, “You’re having computer problems. The most serious problems are the ones you don’t know about. You don’t only need tools, you need ADDITIONAL ADVANCED tools. Can you afford not to buy this software?”

In Symantec’s defense, despite their viral marketing schemes, the company did not rest on its laurels when it came to their signature products. Updates for Norton Antivirus became more comprehensive and frequent, and Ghost became more powerful and flexible. In the case of Antivirus, this increasing complexity came at a price – later iterations consumed upwards of 50MB of RAM while simply idling. The oblivious novice PC user paid little mind to this, largely unaware of the software’s huge tax on system resources, or of the existence of competitors’ products. To Symantec’s chagrin, this popularity made their Antivirus a prime target for virus authors who took on a crusade to break their security products and to punish consumers for subscribing to the mainstream, the growing corporation, and primarily, the FUD.

Release after release, bloat after bloat, Symantec snowballed into a publisher of software by other companies, acquiring recognized brands and\or diluting them. The corporation’s recent acquiry of Sygate Inc., the former makers of my favourite free firewall Sygate Personal Firewall, have resulted in the discontinuation of their products and obfuscation of legacy downloads. Other recent acquiries include tech companies Bindview and IMLogic who no doubt face similar fates.

Even competing not-for-profit companies face persecution and blackballing by the bludgeoning giant. Spybot Search & Destroy was falsely labeled as spyware by the Norton Internet Security suite, and was removed only when Patrick Kolla, Spybot’s sole programmer, threatened Symantec with legal recourse and bad publicity. Symantec pleaded with Mr. Kolla to keep the “oversight” quiet, and to handle the situation in an “honourable” fashion, even though the company did not question or inform him about the false positive. Since this incident in April 2005, Symantec has ostracized Spybot once again, claiming that the innocuous software is incompatible with their Ghost suite. After the mutually agreed-upon week’s leeway expired, Mr. Kolla made public his opinions of the recently rival company.

With the facts established, my editorial begins.

Symantec is not in the business of providing security. They are not interested in cleaning your inbox or making your system run smoothly. Not anymore.

Symantec are experts in marketing, in snake oil, and in FUD. They’ve even added the Symantec ThreatCon to their website, akin to the never-safe-to-go-for-a-walk American Department of Homeland Security Advisory System. Note that neither system can possibly indicate a state of peace; the lowest point on Symantec’s scale is 25% danger, while the baseline of the DHS Advisory is “Low risk of terrorist attacks.”

Not only has the company’s marketing and corporate strategy become more aggressive, but their resources have seemingly (I speculate) been transferred largely to advertising and securing good press. For instance, it is curious that Download.com rates Norton Antivirus 2005 an excellent 4/5 stars, yet at the time of this article 314 users rate the product an average of 2.5/5 stars. I$ it po$$ible the average PC u$er i$ deprived of $ome point of con$ideration known only to the web$ite’$ profe$$ional reviewer$?

There are many freeware and low-cost third-party solutions to many issues Symantec falsely purports to resolve on home PCs, and they are far more deserving of your patronage. Don’t be dazzled by the company’s illustrious brand. As a PC repair technician I’ve had untold difficulties with Norton products; particularly Antivirus. Once you get a virus that targets NAV specifically, it’s all over. You can’t uninstall NAV and you can’t install anything else because most AV products don’t install if an existing one is detected. I urge all my clients and all my readers to uninstall ALL Norton products from your computer NOW, even if you’ve paid for an active subscription, and truly ensure the security of your data by downloading any of these free applications:

Antivirus
Avast Antivirus
Grisoft AVG
Kaspersky Antivirus

Firewall
Sygate Personal Firewall (mirrors)
Zonelabs ZoneAlarm
Kerio Personal Firewall
Outpost Firewall

Anti-Spyware
Spybot Search & Destroy
Lavasoft Ad-Aware

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

Norton Futilities 2006

You can find extensions “officially” supplied by Mozilla at addons.mozilla.com, or by clicking Tools / Extensions / Get More Extensions from the Firefox pulldowns. This site lists extensions endorsed by Mozilla and is granted install permissions in Firefox by default, so installing software from the site couldn’t be easier.

To install an extension, click the installer link from a web page (“filename.xpi“), click the Install button that pops up, close all instances of Firefox, and launch Firefox once again. I’ll include a link to the latest version of each extension in addition to the homepage for convenience, but please note that these links may not work for long as hardworking programmers update their programs frequently.

Note: You may need to grant install access to some websites to install an extension. Watch for the yellow bar at the top of the browser window.

Adblock – homepage – latest version

This plugin blocks images and Flash animations on a user-supplied list from appearing on web pages. Images can be blocked one-by-one or with wildcards. This is a powerful extension so don’t be over ambitious by blocking entire domains or you might break your favourite website (until you delete the entry in your blocklist).

Adblock Filterset.G – homepage – latest version

Apprehensive about creating your own blocklist? This extension periodically downloads a huge list of known advertisers and advertisements and plugs it right into Adblock. Thanks to this extension you may never see another ad on the web again!

ForecastFox – homepage – latest version

Do you take internet breaks by going outside, instead of the inverse? If so, you’ll love this extension! ForecastFox displays a highly customizable weather forecast for specific locales with accurate data and detailed descriptions. Later versions even show AccuWeather satellite cloudcover imagery. Secure yourself against driptorrent!

Mouse Gestures – homepage – latest version

Extra mouse buttons are to navigation what the mouse wheel is for scrolling. If you’re stuck with a 2-button mouse you can increase its browsing functionality with this extension. Borrowing liberally from the gestures feature in the Opera web browser, holding the right-mouse button while dragging the mouse enables users to go forward or back, resize text, open or close windows or tabs, and a whole lot more. Gestures can be added or deleted very easily, and mouse trails can be added. Try it for 15 minutes and you’ll never know how you managed without it.

BugMeNot – homepage – latest version

Want to read content on a members-only page but don’t want to give them your vitals? You’re not the only one. This extension draws upon the resources from the BugMeNot webpage, allowing users to right-click a login form and choose a pre-made user-submitted account. A great way to improve your web browsing security and privacy.

Have I made any glaring omissions? Please leave me a comment and I’ll check out your favourite extensions!

This article was written by Brian at demodulated Original post:

5 of my favourite Firefox extensions