Yes, you have your own set of portable applications – your secret super portable software weapons. I understand, it’s like click and run, your cyber veins are screaming to forget native installation. No more to installation cycles!

You got your portable Firefox, Firebird, Ccleaner, KompoZer, UTorrent, VLC, Gimp and a host of other apps like portable games. Then you fire-up your portable Firefox with your custom set of bookmarks, plug-ins and settings. Then, wham! Sites with Flash design won’t display. Off course you will close Firefox, and install Flash for Non-IEs. Flip open Firefox again with the same issue, Flash won’t cooperate. Itching to display that favorite site with an annoying flash animation? Here’s how to install Flash 10 to Portable Firefox 3.08:

• First thing, Adobe Flash Player 10 is not portable. It requires installation into a native Windows OS.
• The workaround: Install Flash in the PC that you are using then copy the files to you Portable Firefox.
• It is imperative that you close any instance of Firefox first.
• The Flash Player files needed for your Firefox portable is located in the directory where flash was installed:  C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\
• Copy file NPSWF32.dll from C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash to Drive (X) or USB Drive that contains your Portable Firefox. The destination folder is the supposed plug-in directory of your firefox, i.e. E:\FirefoxPortable\App\Firefox\plugins
• Fire-up Firefox portable and voila! All Flash enabled sites will now work.

I was tinkering my way to fetching mail from my other old e-mail accounts like from hotmail and yahoomail when for some reason Gmail won’t let me do so. I found out that you can only fetch mail from your other e-mail accounts (Gmail and others) for up to five accounts. That’s pretty hard to accept for people with more than plenty of e-mail accounts. I hope Google makes this feature available in the very near future.  Say, from the limit of five accounts crank it up to at least ten. 

I know google engineers are now busy implementing stuff like more Gmail themes and Hi-res Video chat, but increasing the mail fetcher limit will win over more email migratory birds!

Rock-Five Five Best Philippine Sites for Finding Deals Online

The following are the Top Five Philippine sites which I find to be relevant and useful in your search for finding great online deals in the internet. In these sites you can sell, swap, trade, auction or buy various items from other users. I have here listed the best sites for the trade, the do’s and don’ts, and my experience in dealing in these sites.

1. ph.88DB.com This giant online company has established a presence in almost 8 countries and provides a free online classified ads service. It is a subsidiary of JobsDB.com, the no.1 Job search site in Asia Pacific. With its innovative way of presenting product and service descriptions and a comprehensive range of categories such as Household, Wedding, Pet, Health & Fitness, gives people the power of choosing the right product or service they require. It is also a great place at finding business franchise deals.

Website Worth: $792,617.94 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 361,926 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $1,085.78 (Cubestat)
Continue reading this site’s review

2. Sulit.com.ph The E-Commerce Sulit.com.ph is definitely a rising star in the Philippine online classifieds scene. What I like about Sulit the most is it’s Service oriented and Community driven approach. The Ad currency system also plays a large part to it’s popilarity.

Website Worth: $847,197.12 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 386,848 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $1,160.54 (Cubestat)

Continue reading this site’s review

3.a TipidPC.com is the leading trade site for buying and selling brand new and second-hand computer parts and peripherals in the Philippines. In this trading site you can buy new or used Add-on Cards, Cables and Adapters, Casings and Power Supplies, CD/DVD-R/RW Drives, Cooling Devices, Desktops Systems, Digital Media Players, Digital and Web Cameras, Game Consoles, Game Controllers, Games and Software, Graphics Cards, Hard Disk Drives and more.

Website Worth: $188,631.27 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 86,133 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $258.40 (Cubestat)

3.b TipidCP.com

This site is the little brother of TipidPC.com. It caters to trading mobile phones, smart phones, and other gadgets or devices. Though carrying the same community members and services from TipidPC, the cellphone trade site has not enjoyed as much success as the former. It boasts meager hits of no more than 400 members simultaneously during peak hours. However, it still is worth checking out since you might find a good deal in getting a cheap refurbished mobile phone or a repriced brand new gadget.

Website Worth: $90,981 (SmartPageRank)
Daily Pageviews: 1,900 (Estibot)
Rank: 111,390 (Alexa)

Continue reading this site’s review

4. Multiply.com Multiply is an international social networking service, I included it since it is very popular here in the Philippines to online traders.
Website Worth: $14,038,462.83 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 6,410,257 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $19,230.77 (Cubestat)

Continue reading this site’s review

5. Auction.ph Auction.ph provides online market services where members can buy or sell goods and services, either through bidding or buying. After a potential buyer chooses an item, the buyer fills up a form and pays thru the site’s payment facilities.

Website Worth: $19,453.77 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 8,883 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $26.65 (Cubestat)

Continue reading this site’s review

PC-Tipid.com is an online trading site almost similar with TipidPC and with a familiar sounding name (reversed letters). The site has an advantage over TipidPC in the sense that all members are premium members for free. They have their own image hosting for your Ads, and they also have an item shipping system included. Compared to TipidPC, they have implemented a site-wide points system for every transaction. The only advantage of TipidPC over them which I clearly see is that TipidPC has been around for sometime thereby establishing their marketability to the online community, and the number of visitors to TipidPC is huge compared to this new kid on the block.
Website Worth: $6,727.68 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 3,072 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $9.22 (Cubestat)

Ebay.ph The buyer pays according to seller’s payment instructions, including PayPal, COD, or Bank payout as written on the item listing.
Website Worth: $330,068.04 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 150,716 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $452.15 (Cubestat)

BuyandSellph is the online version of the popular Buy and Sell Ads paper in the Philippines. What you tend to expect in the paper is somewhat the same in this online version with a few variations in paid Ads and links. The main difference is that it’s free since you don’t buy anything from newspaperstands but browse only the posted ads in the web.
Website Worth: $24,155.70 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 11,030 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $33.09 (Cubestat)

Entrepreneur.com.ph is an online portal of Entrepreneur Magazine published by Summit Digital. Their Marketplace is limited to Forum based membership.
Website Worth: $188,631.27 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 86,133 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $258.40 (Cubestat)

PinoyPC.net is a Forum based Computers and IT marketplace which implements a one thread per seller policy. It has a tight community with friendly members. The problem in selling here is that you are limited to forum members. The small population of prospective traders may prolong and diminish the chances of possible purchase of your items.
Website Worth: $1200 (Estibot)
Daily Pageviews: 250 (Estibot)
Domain Appraisal: $90 (Estibot)

CgeNa.com is a free gadget price compare oriented website. It was made to ensure that consumers will know where to get the lowest and affordable gadget prices in the market. Although it does not just focus primarily on prices, it  also includes the gadgets features, shop names and locations. This website helps users to select and analyze different gadgets in the market. It envisions itself as the leading online medium for gadget retailers, distributors and consumers in the Philippines.
Website Worth: $5,700 (Estibot)
Daily Pageviews: 1,300 (Estibot)
Domain Name Appraisal: $100 (Estibot)

PinoyBuyNSell.com is an Online Classified Ads Website that caters for the Filipino consumers, Merchants, Entrepreneur, Employer and Job Seeker. They offer a place in the web for anybody that needs advertisements space for their goods, sercives, events, and other things that may want to advertise for free. The site disclaims any liability from any transactions conducted over its website.

Website Worth: $490 (Estibot)
Daily Pageviews: 80 (Estibot)
Domain Name Appraisal: $40 (SmartPageRank)

OLX.com.ph is used in over 40 countries in 15 languages. The company was founded in March 2006 and is privately held. OLX provides a simple solution to the complications involved in selling, buying, trading, discussing, organizing, and meeting people near you, wherever you may reside. It’s like your reading a newspaper when you browse OLX. Don’t let the site lay-out fool you since OLX Philippines site also sports online trade capabilities.

Website Worth: $200,001.75 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 91,325 (Cubestat)
Domain Name Appraisal: $273.98 (Cubestat)

ph.88DB.com This giant online company has established a presence in almost 8 countries and provides a free online classified ads service. It is a subsidiary of JobsDB.com, the no.1 Job search site in Asia Pacific. With its innovative way of presenting product and service descriptions and a comprehensive range of categories such as Household, Wedding, Pet, Health & Fitness, gives people the power of choosing the right product or service they require. It is also a great place at finding business franchise deals.

Website Worth: $792,617.94 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 361,926 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $1,085.78 (Cubestat)
Features:

• Over 18 categories and more than 260 subcategories covers practically every area which a customer is looking for.
• Provides Freelancers, with the much needed advertisement or publicity to get their business going at Free of cost.
• Interactive options such as Share Opinion & Share Knowledge enables people to speak their heart out and share their knowledge with others.
• Free of cost registration process which is fast and hassle free.
• Informative and to the point product or service descriptions.

Forte: General Advertising and Trading Services
Pros: Large membership and established online market
Cons: There have been several complaints from some photographers regarding 88DB.com. As for yourself, you may have a hard time immersing yourself to this online market at first glance. However, after placing a few ads and viewing other items, you’ll find it very interesting to trade here.

This review is part of the entry posted Five Best Philippine Sites for Finding Deals Online

Sulit.com.ph The E-Commerce Sulit.com.ph is definitely a rising star in the Philippine online classifieds scene. What I like about Sulit the most is it’s Service oriented and Community driven approach. The Ad currency system also plays a large part to it’s popilarity.

Website Worth: $847,197.12 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 386,848 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $1,160.54 (Cubestat)
Features:

• FREE member account with Paid membership gaining better Ad exposure
• Comprehensive category system
• Advertisement oriented
• Complex WYSIWYG Editor with various advanced HTML functions
• Advertisement ratings and Ad currency system
• Ability to hide e-mail address
• Leave member feedback
• Intact forums community
• Google Maps, documents Upload, Price to Market comparisons

Forte: General Advertising and Trading Services
Pros: Very large audience and advertising capabilities. You can post an item from the littlest of services to trivial personal items. Likewise, it also is a established Ad site for Real State and Car purchases.
Cons: Since it is saturated and densely crowded community with various types of services, your type of Ad may not have the exposure it needs and it might have gained compared to when you have it posted in trading sites which cater to specific items.

This review is part of the entry posted Five Best Philippine Sites for Finding Deals Online

TipidPC.com is the leading trade site for buying and selling brand new and second-hand computer parts and peripherals in the Philippines. In this trading site you can buy new or used Add-on Cards, Cables and Adapters, Casings and Power Supplies, CD/DVD-R/RW Drives, Cooling Devices, Desktops Systems, Digital Media Players, Digital and Web Cameras, Game Consoles, Game Controllers, Games and Software, Graphics Cards, Hard Disk Drives and more.

Website Worth: $188,631.27 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 86,133 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $258.40 (Cubestat)
Features:

• Free account registration with paid membership for highlighted ads
• Comprehensive category system
• Feedback system is vital to all Traders
• Limited HTML functions for Ad placement
• Good bookmarks ability and user item interface
• Forum system
• Most transactions here are done by personal meet-ups
• Get a chance to purchase vintage PC systems to the most recent ones
• Population of 1400 to 1900 members and visitors at a time in peak hours

Forte: Computers and IT
Pros: Very professional traders and great community feedback system. Most of the people here are very friendly. This site is a must-have for any Computer expert, consumer and entrepreneur. Traders here encompass small-business scale proprietors to established corporate entrepreneurs. There is a clear-cut category for every computer item and accessory and your option of getting a good deal is very positive.
Cons: All is well in TipidPC except the fact that some scammers maybe lurking behind a username and dupe you into an anomalous transaction, like this one. As a precaution too, you might also find yourself in a situation where a careless moderator will delete your Ads posted without notice. My suggestion to site administrators, put in place an appeals system and a protection scheme for Users from abusive moderators. The site has a feedback system for traders but you have not an inch of protection from a moderator playing god. My account has been suspended or banned from this site for the obvious reason that I appealed for my deleted Ads. None of those Ads violated any rules or site policies. In one day, ten of my hard posted Ads were removed, and I was told that it was deleted because it bore CAPitalized letters in the title. The moderator also reasoned out that I posted several banned characters in my Ads. I told the moderator that those posts never had any of those things and asked if he can give me a screenshot or evidence in my post, unfortunately, my plea turned to deaf ears. The last Ad I placed was a Computer and IT Loans Service for TPCers, posted in IT Services category, it was deleted and the god-moderator ccl2003 told me that I was dishonoring and treating the TPC site like they are a bunch of pigs. And how did I do that by posting Ads? No wonder their site policy state that “defamation and hostile remarks are not allowed”, and this guy is making a mockery of it. Even if he was in any form of reason, I could have been advised in a professional manner. I don’t know how this guy managed to be a moderator. His behavior did not show any civilized response. I have been an administrator and moderator in several different sites both foreign and local, but I have not made such barbaric remarks to a user. Worse, the god-moderator-in-one even told me that I should be happy since TipidPC is free and gave me freedom to post my Ads. Yes, definitely I am grateful that there is TipidPC site to help out Tech entrepreneurs like me, but don’t boast to me that this site is doing a charity by being free and doesn’t rake bulky financial returns with the plethora of paid advertisement to that site. Your site needs Users to increase your Ad revenue so don’t point your finger to innocent users. And don’t use Friendster, Multiply, Google nor Yahoo since it’s free and you’re a firm believer of a paid online living. My account has been banned or suspended since then without a way to vindicate my posts, this was done though my account bears 19 positive feedbacks from co-traders and no negative response whatsoever. All my remaining posted User items which never violated any site rules, were intentionally deleted too after my account was deactivated. Unless TipidPC does something about the rights of it’s users, it’s reputation to the users will be tarnished by such an apathetic and incompetent moderator.

TipidCP.com

This site is the little brother of TipidPC.com. It caters to trading mobile phones, smart phones, and other gadgets or devices. Though carrying the same community members and services from TipidPC, the cellphone trade site has not enjoyed as much success as the former. It boasts meager hits of no more than 400 members simultaneously during peak hours. However, it still is worth checking out since you might find a good deal in getting a cheap refurbished mobile phone or a repriced brand new gadget.

Website Worth: $90,981 (SmartPageRank)
Daily Pageviews: 1,900 (Estibot)
Rank: 111,390 (Alexa)
Features:

• Free account registration with paid membership for highlighted ads
• Comprehensive category system
• Feedback system is vital to all Traders
• Limited HTML functions for Ad placement
• Good bookmarks ability and user item interface
• Forum system
• Most transactions here are done by personal meet-ups
• Get a chance to purchase old mobile phones to the most recent ones

Forte: Gadgets and Mobile devices
Pros: Cheap alternative to Greenhills Cellphone stores and with feedback protection for traders. Some services like Special, rare mobile phone numbers are up for sale. It is also worth monitoring for any trader in urgent need of cash to post an expensive item for a lower price.
Cons: No protection for Users from abusive moderators who deletes legitimate posts without evidence of named offense just as with TipidPC. This site must emplace a protection scheme or an appeals committee for bereaved Users. In my own experience, one of my posts was deleted without notice. When I asked the moderator what was the fault of my posted ad, I was told it was the word ‘Rush’. Nowhere in their rules nor policies was it noted that ‘Rush’ is a banned word. Since no User appeals or protection is in place, you have no right but just to move on.

This review is part of the entry posted Five Best Philippine Sites for Finding Deals Online

Multiply.com Multiply is an international social networking service, I included it since it is very popular here in the Philippines to online traders.

Website Worth: $14,038,462.83 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 6,410,257 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $19,230.77 (Cubestat)
Features:

• Users can limit if their item can be viewed by setting security settings to Public, Private (network only), or Private (invite only) for each item on their site.
• Users can also upload unlimited photos, hosted in the photo module. There are also modules for music, reviews, links, and recipes.
• The marketplace section is designed to be a way to showcase items that a person may want to pass on to contacts or to search for an item that a user’s contacts may have.

Forte: Personal Online Store or Marketplace
Pros: If your store is popular enough, you’ll have a potential in drawing loyal buyers to your online shop. It may also be posted in other media like TV and blogs and your products might be linked and referred by other satisfied customers.
Cons: If you seldom use multiply, you’ll have a hard time drawing a number of customers. You must also have a small group or at least a stable number of fellow viewers and posters in your store to keep the popularity of your online business afloat. Another is the trouble with Multiply is that its tools are quite rudimentary. You can’t, say, drag and drop a large batch of photos for uploading. Instead, you must select them one at a time. You can’t use the WYSIWYG in the Marketplace as you do in your blog page.

This review is part of the entry posted Five Best Philippine Sites for Finding Deals Online

Auction.ph Auction.ph provides online market services where members can buy or sell goods and services, either through bidding or buying. After a potential buyer chooses an item, the buyer fills up a form and pays thru the site’s payment facilities.

Website Worth: $19,453.77 (Cubestat)
Daily Pageviews: 8,883 (Cubestat)
Daily Ads Revenue: $26.65 (Cubestat)
Features:

• Implements Escrow system.
• Payment methods of E-Money, RCBC Bills Payment, Megalink, BancNet Online, Globe GCASH, Smart Money.
• Good member feedback rating system
• Privacy protection for users with various security measures including SSL.

Forte: Auction system
Pros: Very intuitive interface. Reminds me of thinkgeek.com. They also implement a good and secured escrow system. Escrow is the process after a successful bidding or buying, which is an essential service for the security of transactions between buyer and seller to facilitate payment and receipt of purchase money. It is provided for the purpose of protection of every member, and for trust and safety of mutual members’ transactions, so Auction.ph cannot be a proxy or any buyers or sellers throughout this service. In my opinion, this is the safest transaction system for the online traders.
Cons: The type of payment facility may steer away some new users, although the online help is very informative for those wanting to get the best out of Auction.ph.

This review is part of the entry posted Five Best Philippine Sites for Finding Deals Online

Rock-Five Five Best AbandonWare of 2009

From Wikipedia: Abandonware refers to computer software that is no longer sold or supported, or whose copyright ownership may be unclear for various reasons. While the term has been applied largely to older games, other classes of software are sometimes described as such. Definitions of “abandoned” vary; generally, it refers to software no longer available for legal purchase, or of a certain age. Software companies may change their names, go bankrupt, enter into mergers, or cease to exist for a variety of reasons.

Here are is my Rock-Five list of the Five Best Abandonware of 2009. The following are my most recommended software which are no longer supported or updated by their respective authors, or inactive for some reasons, but are generally very competitive or still superior than with other recently released software. As an added bonus, all of them are also freeware.

1. Geoshell

GeoShell is the best replacement shell for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It replaces the default Explorer interface. It features menu bars – called geoBars – that can be dragged-and-dropped anywhere on the user’s screen. It also has plugins that add stuff like mp3 player, rss readers, weather forecasts, mail checkers, web search bars, virtual desktops and more.  In it’s default installation geoShell also uses less resources than Windows Explorer, and is particularly effective when combined with third-party web browsers and file managers to completely upgrade your basic Windows interface. Easy to customize and readily skinnable. I have never used the default explorer again after stumbling upon Geoshell.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: GeoShell Development Team
Last release: May 27, 2005
Latest Version: R4.11.10
Compatibility: Windows 9x, 2k, XP and Vista (No 64Bit Support)
License: GNU General Public License
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: Yes
Requirements: 20mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Advanced
Issues: Not compatible with some software like Pitaschio
Ratings: 8/10

Regcleaner is a simple and minimalistic program that is more than capable to perform registry editing chores. It has start-up customization and software uninstall capabilities. It features a very powerful registry fixer and cleaner which to my opinion is better than other recent retail cleaners. If by mistake you delete an important registry entry, you still have a very handy back-up utility right down the interface. Good program for the elite and newbies alike.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Jouni Vuoro
Last release: January 1, 2002
Latest Version: 4.3.0.780
Compatibility: Windows 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: No
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 6mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: None
Ratings: 9.5/10

RK Launcher is a free application that will allow the user to have a visually pleasing side or dock bar at the side (or anywhere) of the screen that is used to quickly launch shortcuts and executables. With support for themes, PNG’s and ICO’s and with smooth amazing animations, RK Launcher is a versatile and great taskbar replacement. In a sense, it rivals Rocketdock in some aspects and at times bests that great application in areas like memory footprint.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: RaduKing
Last release: October 17, 2005
Latest Version: 0.4 Beta
Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP does not work in 95/98/Me/NT
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 8mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: Problems with Start-Up and freezes at times
Ratings: 7/10

CWShredder finds and destroys traces of CoolWebSearch. CoolWebSearch is a name given to a wide range of different browser hijackers. Though the code is very different between variants, they are all used to redirect users to coolwebsearch.com and other sites affiliated with its operators.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Trend Micro Inc
Last release: November 15, 2005
Latest Version: 2.19
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 20mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: No recent definitions update
Ratings: 8/10

Powerful default Notepad replacement. It offers customizable syntax highlighting, built-in function tips, tag completion, template support and much more. Besides the standard text editing functions, it also includes various convenient features, including browser preview, file insertion, bracket matching, line numbers, word count, export to Rich Text, HTML color picker and more. With color themes and useful for web-developing, programming and scripting. I use this frequently to edit and view the ‘ini’ files in my Red Alert 2 Mod PROJECTALPHA.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: David Gabrielsen
Last release: December 7 2005
Latest Version: 1.12
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 9mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: Sometimes have trouble opening very large text files, other than that, flawless.
Ratings: 10/10

Special Mention: Abandonware which could have made it to our Top Five.

Very nice app launcher with a tabbed and colorful, customizable design. It can give RKLauncher and RocketDock a run for it’s money and acts clearly almost the same albeit with a tabbed twist. It looks more of a folder organizer and ledger in one. The good thing about it is the plethora of launch options and the relatively tiny memory footprint.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Sergio Santos
Last release: April 30, 2007
Latest Version: 2.1.0.5
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 3mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: None so far
Ratings: 8/10

Orbit is a program similar to Apple’s dock and another of the long list of clone windows app launchers. But it’s different in many ways. It is a program that instead of taking up space on screen, it stays hidden and only shows up whenever you call it. Orbit has some very nice effects too when it comes to animating the icons: Spinning, sliding, and zooming are all included in the animation if you choose. And it’s rounded!

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Lucas Mendes Menge
Last release: September 3, 2005
Latest Version: 0.3.5
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 6mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Advanced
Issues: Requires managed DirectX Libraries and Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0. Everything has to be added separately, drag-n-drop isn’t working. All overlays are always drawn behind the icons.
Ratings: 6.5/10

Orbit is a program similar to Apple’s dock and another of the long list of clone windows app launchers. But it’s different in many ways. It is a program that instead of taking up space on screen, it stays hidden and only shows up whenever you call it. Orbit has some very nice effects too when it comes to animating the icons: Spinning, sliding, and zooming are all included in the animation if you choose. And it’s rounded!

Installation Instructions:

• Install the .Net Framework 1.1
• Install DirectX 9.0/9.0a/9.0b or 9.0c (9.0c is recommended since it’s the latest version)
• Unzip Orbit to a folder on your hard drive
• Run it! You’re done.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Lucas Mendes Menge
Last release: September 3, 2005
Latest Version: 0.3.5
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 6mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Advanced
Issues: Requires managed DirectX Libraries and Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0. Everything has to be added separately, drag-n-drop isn’t working. All overlays are always drawn behind the icons.
Ratings: 6.5/10

Very nice app launcher with a tabbed and colorful, customizable design. It can give RKLauncher and RocketDock a run for it’s money and acts clearly almost the same albeit with a tabbed twist. It looks more of a folder organizer and ledger in one. The good thing about it is the plethora of launch options and the relatively tiny memory footprint.

Features:

• Multi-language still not complete, at the moment it’s being translated
• Configurable separators can change image and add text
• User friendlier options menu with many new configuration options
• Keyboard control TAB and ARROW keys to select;
• ENTER and F keys to execute; ESC to close
• Support for Playlist files Only .PLS (.M3U will be supported soon)
• MiniBrowser Add a folder, and select the option Browse Folder,
  then click on it
• Draggable Tabs Try adjusting the tab’s position by dragging them
• Open With Drag and drop files over an application to open them
  with this application
• Tab Icon Support for more file types with drag and drop
  (*.PNG;*.BMP;*.JPG;*.GIF;*.ICO;*.EXE;*.DLL)

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Sergio Santos
Last release: April 30, 2007
Latest Version: 2.1.0.5
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 3mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: None so far
Ratings: 8/10

Powerful default Notepad replacement. It offers customizable syntax highlighting, built-in function tips, tag completion, template support and much more. Besides the standard text editing functions, it also includes various convenient features, including browser preview, file insertion, bracket matching, line numbers, word count, export to Rich Text, HTML color picker and more. With color themes and useful for web-developing, programming and scripting. I use this frequently to edit and view the ‘ini’ files in my Red Alert 2 Mod PROJECTALPHA.

Features:

• Keyword Highlightning of the most common script/program languages
• Keyword Editor which lets you modify/create keyword definitions
  
• Automatic Function Help for almost every function (Perl, VB, C/C++, Java, PHP, Deplhi/Pascal, StreamServe)
  
• Supports Regular Expressions (NFA Traditional)
• Source Code Compiling with its own Output Window
  
• Powerful Search/Replace with Regular Expression support
  
• Supports up to 10 Live Templates with dynamic variables
  
• Unlimitied Undo/Redo
• HEX Viewer
• Auto-identation/Auto-pairs completion/Auto-completion of HTML and XML tags
• Supports multiple color-schemes
• Powerful Text-based functions
• Powerful HTML-functions
• Supports both DOS and UNIX files
• Extremely Customizable
  
• ASCII Table, shows you the ASCII-codes with its respective decimal and hex code
• Base64 Encoding/Decoding
• URL Encoding/Decoding
• Word Wrap

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: David Gabrielsen
Last release: December 7 2005
Latest Version: 1.12
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 9mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: Sometimes have trouble opening very large text files, other than that, flawless.
Ratings: 10/10

CWShredder finds and destroys traces of CoolWebSearch. CoolWebSearch is a name given to a wide range of different browser hijackers. Though the code is very different between variants, they are all used to redirect users to coolwebsearch.com and other sites affiliated with its operators.

Features:

1. · Redirections to CoolWebSearch related pages
2. · Redirections when mistyping URLs
3. · Redirections when visiting Google
4. · Enormous IE slowdowns when typing
5. · IE start page/search page changing on reboot
6. · Sites in the IE Trusted Zone you didn’t add
7. · Popups in Google and Yahoo when searching
8. · Errors at startup mentioning WIN.INI or IEDLL.EXE
9. · Unable to change or see certain items in Internet Explorer Options
10. · Unable to access Internet Explorer Options at all

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Trend Micro Inc
Last release: November 15, 2005
Latest Version: 2.19
Compatibility: Win 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 20mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: No recent definitions update
Ratings: 8/10

RK Launcher is a free application that will allow the user to have a visually pleasing side or dock bar at the side (or anywhere) of the screen that is used to quickly launch shortcuts and executables. With support for themes, PNG’s and ICO’s and with smooth amazing animations, RK Launcher is a versatile and great taskbar replacement. In a sense, it rivals Rocketdock in some aspects and at times bests that great application in areas like memory footprint.

Features:

• Zooming: When the mouse is moved over the dock, all the icons will automatically grow: this is called zooming. The advantage of zooming is that the user will be able to have a very small strip of shortcuts that virtually take no precious screenspace. Only when interaction with RK Launcher is required, the shortcutbar will automatically zoom in to allow the user to pick the icon he wants.

• Taskbar: Minimized windows will normally be shown on the Windows Taskbar. RK Launcher provides an eye-pleasing replacement for the taskbar: whenever a window is minimized, it will automatically be placed on the shortcutsbar and will be represented by a small image of the contents of this window. This way, the user will quickly see which windows are minimized.
• New Applications: It’s always hard to track newly installed applications: where did they go? To solve this problem, RK Launcher will automatically place a shortcut on the launcher when an application is started for the first time.
• Customization: All parts of RK Launcher can be fully customized. From the number of icons that gets zoomed on mouseover to the background and icons; the user can set it all as he likes. With support for themes, users can exchange their favourite looks and change the look of the launcher with one click.

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: RaduKing
Last release: October 17, 2005
Latest Version: 0.4 Beta
Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP does not work in 95/98/Me/NT
License: Freeware
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 8mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: Problems with Start-Up and freezes at times
Ratings: 7/10

Regcleaner is a simple and minimalistic program that is more than capable to perform registry editing chores. It has start-up customization and software uninstall capabilities. It features a very powerful registry fixer and cleaner which to my opinion is better than other recent retail cleaners. If by mistake you delete an important registry entry, you still have a very handy back-up utility right down the interface. Good program for the elite and newbies alike.

Features

1. With RegCleaner you can easily get rid of those old and obsolete registry entries created by software that you have destroyed ages ago.
2. You don´t have to be an expert to use this program. Note that this program is not like those other so called registry cleaners, they search any filenames from registry, then if the file doesn´t exist anymore they remove the registry key or value where this filename was.
3. But RegCleaner shows you the list of software that are registered in the registry and by checking checkboxes you select which software you don´t have anymore and RegCleaner removes all registry created by those programs automatically.
4. You can also remove start up programs that are started behind your back and can dramatically decrease your computer´s performance. Small in size, free and very easy to use!

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: Jouni Vuoro
Last release: January 1, 2002
Latest Version: 4.3.0.780
Compatibility: Windows 9x, 2k, XP and Vista
License: Freeware
Portable: No
OpenSource: No
Requirements: 6mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Issues: None
Ratings: 9.5/10

GeoShell is the best replacement shell for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It replaces the default Explorer interface. It features menu bars – called geoBars – that can be dragged-and-dropped anywhere on the user’s screen. It also has plugins that add stuff like mp3 player, rss readers, weather forecasts, mail checkers, web search bars, virtual desktops and more.  In it’s default installation geoShell also uses less resources than Windows Explorer, and is particularly effective when combined with third-party web browsers and file managers to completely upgrade your basic Windows interface. Easy to customize and readily skinnable. I have never used the default explorer again after stumbling upon Geoshell.

Features:

1. Replaces your taskbar with smaller floating bars which can be moved anywhere you want.
2. Allows you to “skin” (customize the appearance of) these bars so they look the way YOU want, instead of the way a cold corporation thinks they should look.
3. Allows you to use only the features YOU want, keeping resource and memory usage to a minimum; or it can provide more features than you can shake a GeoBar at.
4. Allows you to launch programs from buttons, from menus, from hotkeys–in any combination! (How about a hotkey that pops-up a menu of your most used applications?)
5. Gives you complete control, allowing you to group similar tasks into one button, and minimize or restore (or even exit) them all at once.
6. Gives you access to advanced features: you can lock a window so it stays on top of others while you work, and in Windows 2000 and XP you can make any application semi-transparent at the click of a button.
7. Lets you keep an eye on things by providing plugins for monitoring system resources, battery life, web-pages, news… even the weather and other GeoUsers!

Download: Link
Website: URL
Developer: GeoShell Development Team
Last release: May 27, 2005
Latest Version: R4.11.10
Compatibility: Windows 9x, 2k, XP and Vista (No 64Bit Support)
License: GNU General Public License
Portable: Yes
OpenSource: Yes
Requirements: 20mb memory free and 500mhz CPU
Installation Difficulty: Advanced
Issues: Not compatible with some software like Pitaschio
Ratings: 8/10

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The popular website h33t.com had been down since January 2, 2009 and has never been back up until now. Some members expressed concern that the famed torrent site might have been hijacked. Apparently, according to some users it was only temporary since it was a router issue and it’s on the way to being fixed.

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UPDATE: H33t is now Up

• H33t is down for the first time in almost 3 years. It happened because the server payment didn’t make it due to the holidays.
  LD has addressed the issue and it will be up as soon as the host clears the payment.
  I’ve had direct contact from LD and the issue should be resolved shortly.

  There is no problem with the servers. The server is new and purchased by the membership. A brand new server was recently
  purchased and put online. The forums and other items run on a second server. Thats why both sites went down. It was due to hosting rather than server. H33t actually owns it’s servers rather than renting them.

  Blazer
  H33t Salamander

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Here I present my acid test of the service provided by Innove’s Globelines Broadband in Makati. I have been a subscriber to their ISP in Quezon City before and was satisfied from the very beginning, but things are slightly different here in Makati as I presently see it. I applied for their wired 995 Plan which offers 1mbps bandwidth. Their Sales Rep told me that there are no lock-in periods for Globelines subscriber in my area and anytime I wish to terminate the connection, I can do so without hassles. Obviously, that’s not the case. It also took them a good 10 days to process my request and the technicians sent to my place had a hard time getting the DSL light in the modem steady. They spent almost three hours troubleshooting and configuring the lines and the switch cabinets I guess.

Now comes the fishy part. You should remember that I applied for 1mbps but the speed I am having is dismal, and visibly in all the tests I performed of the connections – produced only a maximum of only 384kbps. That’s the speed of Smartbro. So as of now, I’ll write nothing against Globelines and the speed they are currently providing. I will be spending the whole month monitoring the speeds, and if need be, ask for rebates and compensations. If they produce the speed I’m paying for, then I guess I’ll commend the great service here in Makati. However, if things go south, rest assured that my observations and rants will not go unnoticed. So let us wait and see until Globelines comply and deliver as they promised.

As of the meantime, these are the rated speeds I got from the tests I performed:

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Modem Test Prolink 5200 Hurricane

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Globelines Bandwidth Meter

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CNET Speedtest

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Speedtest.ph

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Speedtest.Net

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Speakeasy Speedtest

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So there you go, we’ll be waiting for any developments in my bandwidth and post here as soon as possible.

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When you buy a PC in Manila or the NCR belt, your best choice is only PC Options and RSun. Here’s why:

PC Options in Gilmore Quezon City by far in my honest opinion offers the best service and price range for PC consumers like myself. The price range of PC Options merchandise compared to other stores is most of the time 300 to 400 pesos (VAT inclusive) lower than what you can acquire in the market. They also offer purchases via Credit cards. The drawback and main downside with this store is they don’t have a website, and they only offer one year shop warranty. Most of the retail technicians too don’t use grounded straps when they open computer components, thereby at times damaging the parts before you can even use them.

PC Options also do not give out their pricelists, the lists are only placed at the top of their cashier counter. If there are many people in the store, you have to wait for the long queue before you get your turn to choose and buy your own. I also don’t know what’s the problem with their stockmen for it takes a long while before they manage to eke out the ordered components to their buyers. With regard to processors, though they sell really cheap processors, if you only buy a separate Intel or AMD procie without the board, then you have to pay extra 200 pesos. They also don’t offer volume order discounts.

My suggestion, PC Options (I heard somewhere that it stands for Peter Chua Options – correct me if I am wrong) must have a website, and somehow a roomy expansion of their congested Gilmore branch. Though in my experience it is better presently (half an hour or more) compared in the past when you have to allocate half a day to buy your precious PC parts here. I think PC Options is a phenomenon in itself in Gilmore (being the first ever PC store there), a PC store for the masses. They also have a branch in Shaw.

RSun stands in close second here. They offer almost identical or sometimes slightly higher prices than PC Options, have volume order discounts, and the main advantage is the whopping 2 years warranty! RSun also offers a site http://rsun.com.ph for online purchases from COD, Shipments and On site pickups. It’s like a local E-bay with updated Pricelists, full parts specifications and sumptuous component pictures, only negative side is they don’t offer Credit Card outright online purchase. Their prices are VAT (Tax) exclusive. They have branches in Shaw and Taft.

One store that I believe is also worth mentioning is PC Domain in SM Fairview. They occassionaly lower their component prices when you buy by bulk orders. They also offer a one year warranty. The biggest issue with this store is that when you buy in their store, you’re always greeted with loads of carton boxes and greasy technicians. Other than that, you get a better buy for your PCs.

I admit I’m a bit late in publishing this scandal involving the PLDT call center agent who was caught cursing a customer on tape. It has spawned into a viral case which prompted the blogosphere and other related social-networking services to capitalize on the heat of the scandal. It was uploaded in 2006 and made more than 200,000 hits and almost two hundred ratings, but nevertheless still important for those considering a service from PLDT. I certainly feel the weight of this being a customer of PLDT myself. Take note that I am dissatisfied myself and I feel betrayed by this ISP giant if I may say. You can read here my past tech rant on PLDT myDSL. PLDT certainly employs a lousy customer service and ill-equipped agents at worst.

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I do not condone how the customer bullied, cursed and belittled the agent. It was wrong and downright unprofessional. It is a social and moral decay of sorts for any person to treat anybody like that. As we say, “Your right as a person stops when the rights of others begin.” The person over the phone is not a machine nor a dog – whom you can lash with shame and be stripped of dignity. However, the agent involved made the worst out of that scenario. I was a call center employee before and I knew the task and the weight of the load it carries to satisfy the needs of an irate customer. Had the agent taken control of the situation and not let her emotions cloud her judgment, it couldn’t have gone the way it went. Muting your microphone while you curse back the customer is never an option.

It is what we call “Customer Service”, not customer disservice. We must bring not our emotions over the very job which we took an oath to provide with utmost responsibility. It is a moral obligation of a CSR to assure the customer how the company is doing its best to provide quality service and meet the very needs they pay for. The bad thing here in our country, bureaucracy and personal upliftment is higher in priority than selfless customer service. It is a social norm like a lingering cancer that must be eradicated so that we as a nation can progress.

The CSR or agent could have made steps to avoid the unnecessary heated altercation with an irate and disappointed client or customer. One’s effectivity in communication is crucial in not only assuring a satisfied customer but also avoiding substancial loss of a number of dissatisfied customers for your company:

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The damage has been done and nobody can stop it from spreading. May this somehow alarm the PLDT execs of how weak their customer service is, as perceived by the general public. This is a reflection of a rotten bureaucracy. Reforms should be made to ensure the quality of service provided. Do not take your customers for granted, unless you intend of losing them.

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This is my simple Do-it-Yourself tutorial on how to properly and safely clean your PC without the unnecessary hiccups. I have included the pertinent steps that we must undertake to ensure the best possible cleaning regimen.

Step 1

Before all else begins, power down or shutdown your PC and remove all power cables. Ensure too that we remove all cables from peripheral devices. As a rule of thumb, it is prerogative that we label all cords, cables and devices properly either with a masking tape or labeling sticker so as to ensure we never forget to put them back into place during re-assembly of our unit. For precaution, make yourself properly grounded using a wrist grounding strap before opening the PC case. Place all the screws in a secured place so you will avoid losing it.

Step 2

Use isopropyl alcohol moistened into a lint-free fabric to wipe dirt off the external case and monitor. Be gentle in wiping and not force your hands too hard on delicate parts like DVD drives. For the keyboard, use a nylon brush to take-off dust and turn it over to force accumulated dirt out off it. Disassemble the mouse, remove dirt from inside with a cotton-bud soaked with alcohol. Remove also the mouse ball and cleanse it with lint-free fabric moistened with alcohol, reassemble afterwards.

Step 3

If your PC is a busy workstation, then your case fan and/or exhaust fans should be clogged with dust, dirt, hair, cottons or if there insect infestation in your area – spider webs. Air can’t pass through dirt and dust and it may cause instability, overheat and sub-performance for your PC. It is necessary that we eliminate these gremlins. And for smokers (though I myself ain’t a smoker), it makes dust sticky and gum-like, making it more susceptible to soft shorts.

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Step 4

Some tech heads will probably advise you to use an air-pressured aerosol to clean the internal of your workstation. I ask for some amount of caution however for if we do this with neglect we may damage certain delicate parts of our unit. The same goes with vacuums. I choose portable vacuums over others as it draws lesser power and light pull from your PC. Placing a big vacuum over your PC may cause permanent damage to sensitive PC parts. So be very weary in performing this step. Hold still your fan while cleaning with a vacuum or airspray to prevent damage to its bearings. Remove all dirt, cobwebs, insect dungs, cockroach eggs, dust and grime from your PC. Other people might also ask you to use paint brush other materials to clean your motherboard or other PC parts, but I am against this as it may unnecessarily cause permanent damage or make certain parts static.

Step 5

Prevent further accumulation of dust. Use an airfilter, like the ones provided bundled with your motherboard, and place them over your exhaust fan to prevent dust from coming inside whilst allowing air to come out still. After sometime, ensure that the airfilters are washed and dried, ready for reuse. Elevate your PC and place it away from dust sources. I also suggest we use magic fleece to dampen sound emanating from PC peripherals. Keep it also away from Pets or other wool or hairy fabric to prevent hair from accumulating inside your unit. Avoid placing other clutter and unnecessary objects, like ash tray near your PC which may cause dirt or dust to come inside it. And please, do not place your PC near a window with air blowing next to it, you might as well place it outside your house and invite the dust bins to party. That’s it. Happy cleaning!

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	Internet Explorer	Mozilla Firefox	Opera	Safari	Flock	K-Meleon	Konqueror
Software Engine
Creator	Microsoft, Spyglass	Mozilla Foundation	Opera Software	Apple Inc.	Flock Inc.	Dorian, KKO, et al	KDE
Cost USD	Free, (requires a valid Windows license)	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
Open Source	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Software Licence	Free, (requires a valid Windows license)	MPL MPL/GPL LGPL tri-license	NA	LGPL	GPL/MPL LGPL tri-license	GPL	GPL
Engine	Trident	Gecko	Presto	Webkit	Gecko	Gecko	KHTML
First Release	August 1995	September 2002	September 1996	January 2003	October 2005	November 2000	October 2000
Compatible OS
Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial
Mac OS X	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Linux	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
BSD	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Unix	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Usage Share
OneStat	83.27%	13.76%	0.55%	2.18%	-	-	-
Net Applications	75.06%	17.35%	0.67%	5.78%	-	-	-
TheCounter	78.80%	15.87%	0.79%	3.32%	-	-	-
Adtech	76%	18%	1%	1.6%	-	-	-
Acid 3 Test
Stable Release	14/100	53/100	46/100	75/100	-	-	65/100
Development Release	18/100	71/100	100/100	100/100	-	-	73/100
Secunia Security Report
Present Vulnerability Report	37	7	0	0	-	-	0
High Severity Vulnerability	1	0	0	0	-	-	0
Present Vulnerability Issues	39	8	0	0	-	-	0
Present Relative Danger	160	24	0	0	-	-	0
Highest at one Time Relative Danger	204	44	27	16	-	-	1
Benchmark Jordan Nielson
Rendering Speed (s)	21.02	19.02	32.27	5.98	-	-	-
Ajax Speed (s)	4.06	17.14	12.59	3.27	-	-	-
Javascript Speed (s)	29.99	12.56	6.28	7.96	-	-	-
Start-Up Time Speed (ms)	339	12.56	469	300	-	-	-
Features
Bookmark Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Download Management	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Password Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Forms Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spell Checker	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Search Toolbar	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Accessibility
Tabbed Browsing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pop-up Blocker	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Incremental Finding	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ad Filter	Partial	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes
Page Zooming	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Partial	No
HTML Access Key	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tabbing Navigation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spatial Navigation	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Caret Navigation	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Disabled	Yes
Mouse Gesture	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Text to Speech	Partial	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Voice Control	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
W3C Standards
CSS2.1	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Frames	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Java	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nav Links	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	Yes
XSLT	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
XHTML 1.0	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
XHTML 1.1	No	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MathML	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
XForms	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
RSS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Atom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Web Forms 2.0	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Voice XML	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
WML	No	No	Yes	No	?	No	No
JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ECMAScript3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DOM1	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DOM2	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DOM3	No	No	Partial	Partial	No	No	Partial
Xpath	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
DHTML	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
XMLHttp Request	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rich Editing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Protocols
HTTP	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
E-mail	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
FTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes
NNTP	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
SSL	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
IRC	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Gopher	Disabled	Yes	Partial	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
IDN	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
data:URL	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
BitTorrent	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
IPv6	Yes	Yes	-	-	-	-	-
Image Formats
JPEG	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
JPEG 2000	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	?
GIF	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
PNG	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
APNG	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
MNG	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
TIFF	Disabled	No	No	Yes	Partial	No	Yes
SVG	No	Partial	Partial	Partial	No	No	Partial
PDF	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
2D Canvas	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No

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Hello THE11thROCK,
We are pleased to inform you that Demonoid.com is finally back online

The rest of the message I have no intentions presently to post online, but what a relief for all the waiting fans and general public to finally confirm that the popular torrent tracker has finally landed home. It appears that Umlauf has replaced his friend Deimos indefinitely as site admin. I personally checked out the site and without a doubt, the site is definitely back, hopefully for good.

For the uninitiated, a BitTorrent tracker is a server which assists in the communication between peers using the BitTorrent protocol . And Demonoid (again, the name itself is not in anyway related to any of the site activity or of the supernatural realms) is one favorite site tracker for file-sharers alike. Note: In most countries, it is illegal to distribute copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder. So be sure to share only legitimate files.

In wikipedia I read this story and I quote:

On April 11, 2008 the RSS feeds of the site came online, however the links still pointed to the placeholder message. On the same day, approx. at 20:30 GMT the site came back online with the following message in the news section:

“Welcome back!

Since a few months ago, Deimos, the site administrator, lacks the necessary time to take care of the website, because of personal matters he’s been needing to attend to. For this reason, he has decided to leave the site staff.

Before leaving, he assigned a new site administrator from among his friends to take care of the site. The old moderator team will continue helping with the site, unchanged. We will try to keep running everything just as it always has been.

The trackers and website seem to be working properly, and should any issues arise, they will be taken care of as soon as possible. The site might be going on and offline over the next days as we work out any problems.

Welcome back, and enjoy your stay!

- Umlauf

Demonoid Site admin”

So there you go, I believe the general majority of file-sharers are very pleased with the news and hoping that this time, the site will never go down indefinitely once more.

Here are the things I encountered with Samsung:

Lesson: Don’t bother buying Samsung drives. Stick with Seagate or Western Digital. Never had any issues with them. I never tested a SATA Samsung drive yet so I cannot post a review for it. And please, forget about ATA. SATA is now the norm. Faster, stabler, cooler temperature, thinner cables and more efficient. Unless Samsung will be able to fix-up and ensure that we don’t go through the horrific experiences consumers like us goes through, I won’t recommend it. Easily corruptible, cheap but also cheaply manufactured. Sorry for the word but I am hoping Samsung will improve its harddrive line. The only product I trust where Samsung’s name is stickied in it are their monitors. Yes the CRT ones.

For starters here’s a nifty way to filter those unwanted websites off your computer. For either Vista and Windows XP, go to the directory C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc (If C is your default Windows directory). Back-up first your Hosts file in another secured directory. Next, open the Hosts file with Notepad (or any other text editor like Vim or Darkroom). Most probably the file is in Read-Only attribute so you cannot edit the Hosts file. First off, right click on Hosts, click Properties and uncheck Read-Only. Now go open and edit it in Notepad and you will see this:

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Add the following on its own line in the hosts file below 127.0.0.1 localhost:
127.0.0.1 www.google.com (we will use it as an example).

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Save the file and make sure you don’t save it in txt extension but choose all files, exit notepad and make sure you check read-only attribute again in properties. Make sure you have cleared your browser history or flush the DNS cache, otherwise you will still see the blocked site. If you cleared the history, fire-up your favorite browser and Voila! You cannot access Google but you can still access other sites. Accessing your listed site will return a Server not found error.

Just a note, For Macintosh fans, just go to /etc/ folder and edit Hosts. In Windows 2k the directory should be C:\Winnt\System32\drivers\etc (if c: is the default drive) in Windows 98 and ME it is C:\Winnt if (if c: is the default drive). In Ubuntu and other Linux distros do this in your favorite text editor echo “127.0.0.1 www.google.com” | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts.

There is a downside if you have a very big list of blocked sites in Hosts file. It can slow down your machine. It seems to affect PCs in the 2k kernel and Vista but not the 9x Windows systems. To avoid slowdowns, do this: Type services.msc in Run dialog box. In the new Services window scroll down to DNS Client and double-click it or just right-click and hit Properties. Click the drop-down for Start-up type then either select Manual or Disabled. Hit ok, exit the window and restart your PC.

Of course, anybody with a depth knowledge in Hosts files and ports like myself, even proxy settings can bypass this technique and browse into any intended website. But what we are concerned here is the easiest way to block sites from common users without them even knowing that somebody blocked their ability to browse specific sites. It is better to have a layer of protection, than nothing at all. Now apply it, test it, and have a happy filtered browsing!

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• Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives.
• Pause and resume file transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click.
• Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer.
• Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files.
• Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual.
• Full Unicode support.

Let me say that I am quite impressed with its’ performance. I highly recommend it to replace the default windows copy handler. The copying ability of Teracopy is pretty much faster than Windows default. What you can copy in several minutes and hours can be chopped down by Teracopy in mere seconds or minutes. The interface is pretty cool too and gives out a detailed analysis of what file you are copying, even the errors and the date the file was modified. The only issue which I personally noticed with it is if you try to copy folders which have its’ personal set of icons and wallpaper. In this case like a Music folder which have a nice background of notes and the folder itself is distinguishable with an icon. You can copy all the files but the design you have for your folder would not be copied. It’s a trivial matter but nonetheless important for guys like myself who frequently tweak every folders and the Windows shell. I hope the guys over Code Sector can fix this in the next version. And by the way, I recommend the first version which is 1.22 and not the new 2.0 beta. The newest beta messed up my new system – so stick with the older version. All in all, Teracopy is a must-have.

Verdict: 8/10
Version: Ver. 1.22
Licence: Freeware, Pro version sports more features
Open Source: No
Installation Difficulty: Novice
Operating Systems: Windows XP, 2000, 2003 and Vista
Portable: No
Requirements: 500 Mhz CPU and 10mb memory free
Developer: Code Sector
Link: Teracopy

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I have my own technique so that you will not be affected by too many disasters from the game’s heroes. Here’s how: Try to choose a map which is not located near a river or does not have a very big mass of water. Provided that you have chosen a map with very minimal water, you will not experience floods brought by unhappy heroes. Moreover, try not to build your buildings near large bodies of water and near places where you have violent animals like a panda or tiger. The only thing you have to worry when not giving tribute to heroes are earthquakes or plagues. A destroyed building of one or two is better than a massive flood which ruins most of your structures.

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Ever heard of Disk Knight? How about Brontok, Bacalid, Kopa, and Ravmon trojan viruses? I came across several hundreds of these gremlins lately whenever a client asks for a PC repair. Most of the time it will start-up with your PC or hijack some processes which make it impossible for you to access C drive, and sometimes even replaces your default copy command. There was also one time when I chance into one of these which collaborates with one virus to hijack the Hosts file in Windows.

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How do we get rid of it? Solution – proper tools and information. Disk knight is one of the best known Autorun trojans. It is even known to some tech people to be a beneficial virus. Are you kidding me? When do we associate beneficial to a PC virus? And worse, at the time of my writing – AVG, Avast and Kaspersky cannot detect most of them. Going back, here are the steps to follow:

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You have to remove them from your PC as well from your USB drive.

• The Processes

First hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, in the processes tab, look for any suspicious name say knight.exe or any references to the names I stated above. Click on the those names and hit End Task. A better way to this is to be very familiar with the processes that run in your PC whenever you install a new software or patch-up with some updates. It may wiser to jot down the usual running processes in your PC in case something new suspicious process pops-up.

• Hidden Files

Open up any folder go to Tools then click Folder Options. Next is click the View tab, check the “Show hidden files and folders” and uncheck the “Hide protected operating system files“. Another way of doing this is go to the command line. Hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc then click file then Run and type cmd. Go to C: drive in the prompt, if it’s not shown first, just type cd.. until you reach C:. Now type in black window attrib -r -a -s -h and it will show you all the files in your C drive. You should not have an autorun.inf file in your C drive, so delete it. All references to the viruses I posted above should be deleted. For example, knight.exe or Ravmon.exe should not be present there. What do we do? Highlight the file and press Shift+Del.

• Registry

Now, to cut the lifeline of these viruses go to the registry. Following from my last step mentioned, go to the command line and in the Run dialog box type regedit. Go to Edit, then Find and type all the names I named above like Brontok, Ravmon or Knight. Delete any and all entries found.

• Autoplay

Last step would be to ensure that it will not happen again in case somebody inserts an infected USB drive into your PC. Disable Autorun. You can either do this using a third party software like TweakUI or technically do the neat stuff yourself. In the Command window again Go to Run then type gpedit.msc. Go to Computer Configuration, then Administrative Templates, next System and last, Turn Autoplay off. Double click it and you will see a pop-up. It will give you options Not Configured, Disabled and Enabled. Check Enabled, exit and restart your PC.

• Hijacked System

Well, how about we get more geeky? The virus itself hijacked the Task Manager or Regedit? To fix it, go to Run again and type HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f .

Do the same with your USB drive or any other infected drive for that matter. As a precaution it is better to do these stuff in safe mode. You can go to Safe Mode by pressing F8 while your PC boots up. All the necessary steps are just the same. Easy? Now you’re back to a cleaner PC. Have fun!

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Too good to be true?

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If you’d like to verify my qualms about this business titan of ISPs in the Philippines, go check out the hordes of discontented and frustrated clients for myDSL from the Petition Online site. The petition header reads, “We endorse the A complaint to PLDT Petition to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).” As I presently finish this article there are currently 851 signatures (probably those who are only aware of this petition including myself) and counting. Further below the header it states, “The A complaint to PLDT Petition to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) was created by and written by Isamu Shinozaki (isamu@urithium.net). The petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.”

I for one had so much confidence in PLDT before I even engaged to acquire of their ISP service. I am actually a satisfied customer of Globe Broadband and Smart Bro, I never had any issues with them both with the billing nor the technical matters. I am an owner of a chain of Computer Cafes here in Metro Manila so I would definitely know what a reputable service from an ISP means. Even heard of that free PC for the Entrepreneur package? And you see those celebrities like Ogie and Marvin praising myDSL service for their business success story. Right. I dare say those endorsements doesn’t truthfully reveal what’s real and what’s not.

In my two cafe’s I tried the myDSL entrepreneur package which states you’ll be receiving a Free PC and heck both of my outlets never received even a PC accessory for more than 7 months. Big time hoax I say. You try to call billing, tech support and customer service and they give you the same scripted story, “we’re trying our best to give you your free PC but we’re out of stock please wait for a month and we’ll have it delivered right to your doorstep. We’d even upgrade it to a laptop from desktop, you just have to add..”. There’s even this one time that they called my cafe and said, “your free PC is ready please drop-by in our office and get your package today”. Guess what, when I came to their branch I was told that it was a mistake, I fumed over at their store manager and I was pointed to another branch and there my PC awaits. I came over to the guilty office and there I was told by the supervisor that the PC is somewhat defective and I’ll have to wait for a month for a new unit. See what I’m saying here?

If that was over the top, I was still composed even if I waited for consecutive months for cancerous lies and promises. What turned me overboard was the intermittent online connection for a period of one week in a month for the span of six months. It was too much for a computer cafe to bear. It doesn’t matter if you get a refund, the sales loss in my businesses were too big not worth of comparison. What’s the next move? Try some other ISP and get that true service which you deserve as a paying client. You might just be out of luck if your area is not yet covered by the other ISPs.

Maybe PLDT is doing its’ own share of service. And maybe it’s just bureaucracy in this giant corporation which betray its’ consumers trust. Probably just a few rogue engineers or managers. Now if PLDT doesn’t fix-up its own ranks, maybe just maybe – we might see a big shift in consumer loyalty to a better ISP service. Better change now than be sorry later.

Note: Here’s a link of those people not happy with the current state of PLDT service. I for one am leaving myself open for a reply from PLDT, if they’d like to clarify things or express their reaction over this matter.

LINK 1

LINK 2

LINK 3

LINK 4

LINK 5

LINK 6

• Lose IE (Internet Explorer) and use Firefox, K-Meleon or Opera instead
  • Forget about unfixed bugs, worms, and unpatched holes. I prefer Firefox and it’s better equipped due to the tons of plug-ins. It also lets you handle phishing and harmful javascript with ease.

• Use a Firewall
  • Ever used ICS Firewall for Windows? Whew. Trash it and use Comodo or Sygate firewall. Keeps hackers and unauthorized intruders at bay.

• Use an Antivirus, Antispyware, AntiAdware, AntiMalware, AntiKeylogger, Trojan and Worm remover
  • Its a cruel world out there. Without the necessary security measures, you are left defenseless. Like a lamb led to slaughter. Use AVG for real-time defense, and install Avast and NOD32 (but don’t activate them automatically) handy for manual scanning. AVG antispyware and Spybot Search and Destroy for those bots. Ad-aware cleans-up your PC from those pesky adwares. Threatfire is great for security threats and malwares. For CWS worms use CWS shredder.

• Always clear your internet history and cache
  • Tweak the settings in Firefox so that it does not remember history. And CCleaner will finish the clean-up job. Just a note, if you are using a public PC, don’t forget to log-out from your e-mail, online accounts and IM (chat) sessions. This way, you’ll not be crying that someone messed-up your MySpace or Friendster account.

• Hack your hosts file to filter harmful websites
  • I will discuss hosts next time. This hack actually helps you filter the sites you browse. Eliminate finally those porn and warez sites.

• Never download or use browser toolbars
  • Yep, you heard it right. Whatever toolbar it comes from, don’t use it. It’s better that way.

• Update your OS to the latest security patches
  • It’s like a new car without oil. Patch-up and be secured.

• Avoid peer-to-peer programs and be cautious in downloading vb scripts and executables
  • You can use a firewall and IP blockers to better manage your Torrent clients and Peer-to-Peer programs. But to be safer, avoid these.

• Use Linux or Mac (I prefer Ubuntu Linux or DSL) instead of Windows
  • Finally, yeah we got Vista and her better and much secured engine. Linux has been around some time. Install and use it. You compare which is better secured.

• Don’t open spam messages in your mail, and don’t give out credit card information to unsecured sites.
  • When in doubt, don’t act. Double check if the e-mail or site is secured or not. Google it for some reviews and ensure that it is legitimate and not a scam. Check if the site is using SSL which will show https:// – if not be careful in giving information. Also ensure that you have a stronger password than “password” . It means that you have to use at least a 9 character password, alpha numeric, include symbols if possible, and upper and lower case. If you have made an online payment, be sure that it is a reputable service like Paypal or Xoom. And last, if you are used to storing passwords, try the freeware Keepass.

There it goes. May the golden rules lead you to the righteous path . It’s not fool-proof, but it’s a safer world for you WWW warriors.

Google Notebook is an interactive scratch pad for any visited web pages, offering to collect web findings within the browser window.”

I really like Google Notebook. It’s like a scrapbook, bookmarker, GTD-lister, clipper and organizer all-in-one. The main problem with it is that it consumes too much browser space. The notebook extension for Firefox is pretty pale for minimalistic purposes. Solution? Try this:

All you do is bookmark this link, then open the Properties for the new bookmark and check the box labeled “Load this bookmark in the sidebar.” Now, when you open the sidebar and click the bookmark, voila: your favorite scratch paper and post-it will now be lurking in your Firefox sidebar.

via [Mitchelaneous]

Last year I named the top Firefox add-ons for 2007. This time around, I have accumulated several add-ons which I believe should have been included in that list but which I had not bumped into last year. Why darkhorse? Well most of them I did not notice at first glance, but whew! What a blunder. Check this list, these extensions simply rocks!

Fission: Fission combines address bar and progress bar (Safari style). Very nice eye candy indeed.

Fancy Numbered Tabs: Replaces the close tab graphic with numbers to help with quick tab navigation via CTRL + [1-8] or Alt + [1-8]. Easy swapping by using the ctrl key. Looks great too.

Googlepedia: Shows you a relevant Wikipedia article along with your search results. Clicking links in the article will trigger new Google searches, making it a very useful research tool… When you start using it, browsing google will entirely be in a new level.

Disable XPI delay: Disables default delay when installing… Yeah, those delays suck big time!

QuickRestart: Ever needed to restart Firefox after enabling or disabling an extension, switching to a new theme, or modifying configuration files (such as userChrome.css or user.js)? Finally the best way to restart.

Split Panel: Open panel to left, bottom or right (left,middle or right click) with current URL from Split on context menu (right click on page) of the tab’s page. It lets you focus on one page and still gives you the reason to check on other tabs.

Tiny Menu: Replace the standard menu bar with a tiny menu popup. Nice for kiosk browsing.

Menu Editor: Customize application menus… Pretty slick.

Extended Copy Menu: Provides the option to copy selection as plain text or html. Very good for blogging.

Download Helper: The easy way to download Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites. This works also for audio and picture galleries. I actually replaced Ook with this. Sorry Ook!

Download Status Bar: View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing. Lets you stay in one window.

Customize Google: CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhance Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam). All features are optional and easily configured. Very nifty for checking the other engines and eliminate those pesky ads!

Colorful Tabs: The most beautiful yet the simplest add-on that makes a strong colorful appeal. Colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish while beautifying the overall appearance of the interface. I don’t remember the day I did envy this!

Better Gcal: Adds collapsible header and sidebar, event title text wrap, colored weekend days, week numbers, and skins to Google Calendar. Just like a swiss knife for Gcal.

Better Gmail2: A compilation of the best Greasemonkey enhancements for the NEW Gmail interface, compiled into one extension. This gem is gmail’s new version. Never leave home without it!

Woot! What a list. Keep them coming and flowing! Forget IE. Yeah, that’s the way to do it.

These are the steps to make OpenOffice launch faster either in XP or Linux. Just remember that these steps are also RAM intensive.

• Go to Applications > Office > OpenOffice.org Word Processor for Ubuntu (Linux)
• Or just hit OpenOffice shortcut for Windows
• The OpenOffice.org Word Processor is launched. Go to the Tools menu and select Options. The Options window is opened.

• Highlight Memory on the left panel, change the setting as shown below.
• Reduce the number of Undo steps to a figure lower than 100. I use 20 steps.
• Under Graphics cache, set Use for OpenOffice.org to 128 MB (up from the 6MB).
• Set Memory per object to 20MB (up from .5MB).
• Set the number of objects under Cache for inserted objects at 20.
• At your own risk, you can enable or disable the quickstarter for OO. I prefer to disable it myself. To permit it, check OpenOffice.org Quickstarter.

• Java is a performance hog. You can disable it entirely but if you use plug-ins which rely on java, it is discouraged. Now highlight Java on the left panel, uncheck Use a Java runtime environment

• Restart OpenOffice and voila! Chop off more than 10 seconds off the loading time.

• For final notes and to prevent OO from stealing precious performance from the OS itself, uncheck OpenOffice start-up in MS-config. To do this, hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc and click File then hit Run. In the Run dialog box type msconfig and look for the open-office entry. Uncheck it, hit OK – restart PC and you’re good to go.

• Optional – Disable the OpenOffice Start-up Screen:
  • In Ubuntu Linux: Go edit the “sofficerc”-file via gedit, type sudo gedit /etc/openoffice/sofficerc . Next, you have to change the variable Logo to 0 which will show:

• • In Windows, Go to your default OpenOffice directory, usually C:\Programmer\OpenOffice.org 2.1\ and go further directly to C:\Programmer\OpenOffice.org 2.1\program\ and locate soffice.ini. Open it with your text editor like Notepad and fine the word Logo=1. Change the value from 1 to 0. which will show Logo=0. There’s an alternative way of doing this through the command line. Type using the command line – “C:\Programmer\OpenOffice.org 2.1\program\swriter.exe” -nologo

That should perk OpenOffice up and let you do your homework without the hiccups .