Surf Safely 1: Scan Links in Real Time. Not a Database.

Over my next few posts, I will be introducing a series of safe search advisors. Why have these? They help you know which sites are safe BEFORE you visit them and if you do visit them, most will warn you or even block the site. This is the first in the series.

Linkscanner (from Exploit Prevention Labs, now acquired by AVG) is back as an individual standalone product no longer requiring the AVG Suite.

Like other safe search tools, it puts tiny color coded icons next to search results showing if its safe. However, LinkScanner literally scans the links in real time rather than getting data off a database. This is a great way to protect from drive by downloads and other threats, but how effective is Linkscanner?

For Microsoft Windows only. Supports Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Download from AVG Site.
Download from CNET Download.com.
The following test was run on Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 on Mozilla Firefox 3.0.9.

Style: Real Time Scanning

Installation:
The installation is straight forward offering you the AVG Security Toolbar. The toolbar has a Yahoo! search bar that cannot be disabled, although the toolbar components can be. The box is checked by default. Remember to uncheck the box if you do not wish to have the toolbar, like me

User Interface:
Yes, it has a GUI. Basically the AVG Security Software one except just for LinkScanner. I found this to be unnecessary to be running in the background all day since Linkscanner isn't an antivirus product; it only runs in the browser.
Performance
Linkscanner's performance is actaully quite well. It barely slows the pages down. It scans each search result one by one, each taking a fraction of a second. The first few come out faster than other site advisors.

Known Malicious Site Test (Search-Shield)
Please do not visit any of the sites listed here unless you know what you're doing. They are known sites distributing malware. We will help but will not be held responsible for what may happen if you visit malicious sites.

screensavers.com: Linkscanner Scanned this as GREEN

warez.com: Linkscanner Scanned this as REDActive Surf-Search
Upon visiting a scanned malicious site, a warning appears preventing you from visiting the page with a small link to click if you really want to go anyway, like the following shown when I entered warez.com into the location bar.
Additional Note: Linkscanner supports Google Search, Live Search, and Yahoo! Search. When I tested it, it didn't work on Yahoo! Search. On both browsers, green ratings shows as a white space and only sites not green have an icon (can't find any yellow or orange), as shown below. Notice only RED ratings are shown here.


Also, I found it nearly impossible to find a site scanned as Yellow or Orange with the majority being scanned as Green.

I recommend having all 3 types of advisors for optimal security: Community Based, Web Crawler, and Real Time Scanner. I use WOT, Norton SafeWeb, and Linkscanner. I used to use McAfee SiteAdvisor, however, from personal experience, it slowed down browsing, has a lot of inaccurate and/or obsolete ratings, and commonly didn't show up on Google searches. The ratings on this blog have been generated by WOT.

I am not affiliated with AVG or Exploit Prevention Labs in any way.
Download AVG Linkscanner here.

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - WinTechpedia™ 2009 Contributors.

Save Ink!

Running out of ink in you're printer is annoying, Do you know how to have that happen less often? Use Ecofont!

Supposedly when you print a document using “Ecofont” it will use up to 20% less ink (a little math, that means that for every 10 pieces of paper that you print using it saves 2 and a half pieces of paper over other fonts) which could save you quite a bit if you're printing lots of stuff all the time. This is because of the fonts design which is modeled off of Swiss cheese.



It looks pretty cool and at a distance it doesn't look any different from other fonts if it's size is set small. I would recommend trying this to anyone that has a printer.

You can get it here:
http://www.ecofont.eu/downloads_en.html
and here's their homepage:
http://www.ecofont.eu/

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - WinTechpedia™ 2009 Contributors

Organize Your Taskbar!

Organization is they key. So shouldn't this apply to your Windows taskbar too? Sometimes you want certain programs next to each other. While many programs let you do this through a little window, with the buttons move left, move right, or dragging and dropping in the window. But wouldn't it be nice, if we could literally drag and drop the actual item on the taskbar without any additional windows for free?

The following program is unnecessary for Windows 7 as the functionality of arranging the taskbar is already included. However, arranging the notification area is not included.

Taskbar Shuffle
For all Windows platforms with a taskbar (Windows 95 and newer)
Currently 32-bit Windows ONLY. 64-bit is not supported yet.

UPDATE! As of April 27, 2009, both 32-bit and 64-bit are now supported!

I'm surprised this wasn't built into Windows. Its so simple, yet so convenient.

It takes the tasbar items as browser tabs. Drag and drop them. Middle click will close the corresponding program. Just like browser tabs. Click on the following image to enlarge.

Group Shuffling too:

And don't forget... Tray Icon (Notification Area) shuffling too!

Tweak grouping and other elements of the taskbar.

I found the middle clicking to close the window or group to be extremely useful. Give it a try today! (Hosted on Freewebs)

There are many programs providing rearranging items on the taskbar, however, Taskbar Shuffle, is 100% free and allows you to literally drag and drop. Other programs are not free and/or use a window where you rearrange them, which isn't nearly as easy as Taskbar Shuffle. The development is a bit slow, however, the program works just as it should and is the best of its kind I've found. In addition, it only consumes around 7-8 MB of RAM while running. I highly recommend this for ALL Windows users. Its important and surprisingly was not built into Windows.

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - Freedomstar & Creastery™ 2009

Microsoft Powertoys - Virtual Destop Manager

Hi all, this is Creastery™ 2009 here posting here again. Before we start, please be warned that what I am going to share is only for Windows Xp Users.

I know that I have not talk about what I have promised in my earlier posts...I need to find time to prepare...

Note to all: We merely to write this blog to share information. If you encounter problems, please consult us but we would not hold responsibility if there is any damage to your computer.

Before you continue, ask these questions to yourself..
Do you like to have more workspace on your computer?
Do you like to multi-task when using the computer?

If the answers are yes..please continue reading.
If not, take note that this post is not really suitable for you.

Well..Is that possible and without virus? YES!
With the release of Microsoft Powertoys - Virtual Destop Manager, it is made possible.

Okay...back to topic. As the title says, I am going to talk about having multiple Virtual Destops.
Note before you continue, PowerToys only work with U.S. English regional settings.

With this program, you can manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar!
Click here to download (This is officially made by Microsoft)

After the download, run the executable file. Then choose the complete installation and then install. After the done message, it has completed.

Now, do a right click on the taskbar (The above picture shows an example of the toolbar.)
Select the options toolbars, now click Destop Manager. Now you are all done.
Let me explain the icons on the toolbar. (By right you should see something like the picture below.)

You can see the shortform (MSVDM)--Allows you to go to configuration faster.
You see a green button -- That's for viewing all 4 stations (default)
Then you see 4 buttons with 1,2,3,4 respectively -- They are the work station's number.
You can always change the wallpaper settings by selecting MSVDM settings to configure.
Also, you can change the shortcut keys.

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - Freedomstar & Creastery™ 2009

Merge Your Browser Tabs

How many browsers do YOU use? Ever wanted to have a certain tab run in virtually any other installed browser without having to install anything? A feature I just discovered was here the whole time. Try dragging say, a Firefox tab, into Google Chrome. Or try dragging a Chrome tab (must drag the star icon in this case) into Firefox tab bar. Neat eh? Here's a short video demo showing this always existent feature.

In Google Chrome, you need to drag the bookmark star.
In Safari, you need to drag the favicon in the URL bar.
In IE, you need to drag the favicon in the URL bar.
In Firefox, you can choose either the URL or drag the tab*

*I did not test this in Firefox 3.5 yet. The new browser adds drag and drop tabs and detachable tabs which may disable merging through dragging the tab, therefore only working by dragging the favicon.

This doesn't seem to work in Opera.

Thanks for reading, actaully watching, this quick tip from WinTechpedia™ 2009! Please leave any feedback you have. Any feedback is important to us.

That's all folks for today! Please comment on tech as we need comments to improve on the tech guide. Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks!
By - Freedomstar & Creastery™ 2009