The company behind Event Log Explorer,  FSPro Labs, has just released version 4.0 of the application to the public. And while there is no change log, changes are noticeable right away after you start the program for the first time on your system.

Before we delve into that, I’d like to note that the program is still available as a free version that you need to register with a free key after 30 days of evaluation. The only limitation of the free version is the limit to three computer systems.

The program supports both the classic Windows NT log format and the new event log format. The first should display information a tad faster on the screen, while the second may contain additional information that the original log format does not include.

You can select a computer system in the left sidebar, and once you do, you get to select the log format that you want to use, before you see all available logs displayed in a tree.  A double-click opens the events in tabs in the program interface. The developers note that events are loaded into memory and optimized databases for high performance, with memory being the default option. You can configure to use databases instead for individual event types or generally. Event logs can also be loaded from file, for instance if they have been backed up.

You can now browser, search, filter or print the current event log, or use some of the advanced program features instead. One interesting option is the option to create analytical reports. You find this under the Advanced > Analytical Report menu in the menu bar.

Here you can for instance create reports that visualize event IDs or event categories by user, the event type by date, or a event type and resource report.

These information can then be exported to HTML, Excel or Word files.

The application is packed with other interesting features, including:

• The ability to backup event logs manually or automatically
• Options to monitor events, and set alerts
• Create custom filters based on Event ID, Linked Event ID, or Linking Parameter
• Option to look up events in Microsoft’s Knowledge Base or the EventID database
• Color coding of events
• Configure event logs on display to auto-refresh
• Bookmarking support

Closing Words

Event Log Explorer is a professional program, more suited for system administrators than regular users. That does not mean that it is unsuitable for regular users, as it improves the accessibility of Window’s event log by a mile.

The Google Chrome history on the other hand lists the pages that users have visited while using the Google Chrome web browser.

A recent Chrome patch indicates that Google plans to merge Google Web History and the Chrome history. This basically means that Chrome users will not only see the history of the web browser, but also the history of their web searches in Chrome. While those may be identical if Chrome is the only browser used, it may add information to the history if other web browsers or computers are used while logged in to the same Google account.

I can’t really say if the patch has landed in the latest Chromium versions already, as I do not make use of Google’s Web History feature. The core reason for this is that I dislike personalized search results and everything that goes along with it. While Google may still adjust the results according to my location, IP and maybe even a fingerprint of the computer, it appears nowhere near as complete as if I would be logged in all the time with the Web History feature enabled.

It is also not clear how this will be integrated into the browser.  It is however likely that the searches and web history will simply be added to the history in the Chrome browser.

Users who do not want the data to be merged can either disable the Web History on the Google homepage, or log out of Google when they use the browser.

Emsisoft Emergency Kit is a portable tools collection for the Windows operating system that users can run right after download and unpacking. You do get version 1 of the product when you download it, but can upgrade to version 2 beta if you like by enabling beta updates under Configuration > Update. Please note that you need to run a manual update check afterwards in the main interface, and restart the program to complete the update to version 2.

The Emergency Kit ships with four different modules that you can run independently from each other:

• Emergency Kit Scanner – Uses the same virus scanning engine that is powering the company’s commercial products.
• Commandline Scanner – Provides the same functionality as the GUI scanner, but from the command line
• HiJackFree -  System analysis
• BlitzBlank – For advanced removals

You can use the scanner to scan part or all of your system. It features a quick and smart scan option, as well as deep scan and custom scans. Users who want to be thorough should use the deep scan option to scan all files and the memory of their PC. While it will take the longest to complete, it is also the most thorough and complete option available. It is recommended to update the signature files before starting the scan, which the program recommends automatically when you run it.

Signature updates are stored in the same folder the program is executed from so that they do not have to be downloaded every time the program is used. There is not much that you can do besides scanning the PC. The program ships with a quarantine and a whitelist, that you can use to block files from being scanned, blocked or removed.

HiJackFree is the second interesting program in the bundle. It lets you analyze core aspects of the system, including the processes, autorun, services, ports and the system’s hosts file.  What I personally like about the program is that it color codes the items, which gives you an indication whether an item can be trusted. Filters at the top let you hide trusted files, so that you can concentrate on files that have either not been identified by the program, or marked as untrusted.

Changes in Emsisoft Emergency Kit 2

The developers have improved the emergency kit significantly. Existing users will notice the speed improvements during scans right away, with Emsisoft claiming that the new version is on average 4.5 times as fast as the old.

The program is now utilizing the new Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6.x engine, which ships with multi-core optimizations and a dual-scan engine utilizing both Emissoft’s own and the Ikarus engine.

Additional changes include better direct disk access scan modes for improved rootkit detection, improved false positive handling, and options to configure desired actions before the scan starts.

Interested users can download the latest version of the Emsisoft Emergency Kit from the official website. Keep in mind that version 1.0 is currently offered there, and that you need to check the beta update setting to upgrade to version 2.0.

Closing Words

While I can’t vouch for the product’s effectiveness when it comes to detection rates and efficiency, I like what’s offered. You get a portable virus scanner plus some other tools for free, and there is really nothing wrong with running multiple portable scanners on a system from time to time.

One of the programs that I’m holding in high regard is the free Dr.Web CureIt Scanner. And exactly that scanner has just been released as version 7.0 beta. And even though it is a beta, it is worth checking out right now. I would not recommend to run a beta version in a productive environment though. Privacy conscious users may also prefer to wait, as it is currently not possible to disable the sending of statistical information to Dr. Web. It is likely that this option will become available, or be removed, once the stable version of the program gets released by the company.

The program is still working like it did before. You can run it right after you have downloaded it, without the need to install it first. Dr.Web CureIt then suggested to run the scan in a protected environment or regularly. The program basically protects itself in protected mode, so that malware and other malicious software can’t interfere with the scan and cleanup operation.

You can start a scan right away, or click on the select objects for scan link to pick locations and threat types that you want to look for.

Dr.Web CureIt! 7.0 What’s New

The new version is packed with new features and improvements.

• Noticeable scanning speed increase
• Multithreaded scanning options
• Redesigned user interface
• Rootkit search support
• Additional custom scan options to scan specific locations, e.g. memory, boot sectors
• Support for scanning the BIOS for Bioskits
• Option to block network connections during scan
• Improved program stability

Where to download

You can download the beta version of Dr. Web CureIt from the official program website. Just go there and click on the Download Dr.Web CureIt! 7.0 Beta link in the left sidebar to do so. The download has a size of about 80 Megabytes, and the file name will automatically be randomized to sneak past malware that is blocking popular antivirus software from running on a system.

The free portable program Windows File Analyzer lets you analyze a variety of those special files that Windows and some other applications create automatically.

Windows File Analyzer

All you basically need to do is start the program after you have downloaded and unpacked it on your system, and use the File menu to pick one of the supported file types.

• Windows thumbs.db files
• ACDSee fpt files
• Google Picasa .db files
• FastStone Viewer dsviewer.db files
• HP digital Imaging db and dat files
• Prefetch files
• Shortcuts
• Index.dat files
• Recycle Bin information

Depending on the selection that you make, you are either presented with files to open right away or with a folder browser that you need to make use of to select a folder containing the file that you want to have analyzed.

Index.dat files are for instance displayed automatically, while thumb.db files need to be selected manually by navigating to a folder containing one.

Windows File Analyzer displays information right in the program interface afterwards. Depending on the selected file, information may include urls and times the files were accessed, file contents, as well as the file modification and last accessed dates. For thumbnails, it is also possible to view the images in the built-in viewer, and save them to the local system.

The application displays meta information in its interface, and offers to create reports that you can look at right away, or print out for further analysis. There is no way though to save the reports to a file on the computer instead.

While that may it make less usable for some purposes, it is still a useful program for many others. Especially the variety of supported file formats makes the program a viable option. Windows File Analyzer is compatible with all recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

This does not have to be a issue, especially not if you are only using the photos in a private environment. When it comes to photo sharing on the Internet though, you may want to consider removing some, or even all of the contained metadata from the photo before you do so.

Lets say you want to sell something on eBay or Craigslist. Someone with malicious intent could look at the Exif data to find out where the photo was taken (likely your home), which may increase the likelihood of a burglary. Another example are photos of your kids playing, where you also may want to make sure that the location of that playground or place is not there in the open.

Before you start removing photo metadata from all of the digital pictures that you have taken, you may want to find out first what kind of information are saved by your digital camera in this regard.  If the metadata is not revealing anything privacy-related that you would not want to share, then you may not need to run a program like Metanull after all.

If you spot location-based information, or other sensitive information, you may find a program like the aforementioned helpful.

Metanull is a free portable program for the Windows operating system that can process a single image, a directory, or a directory structure.

Everything is completed in three easy steps. First select the source in step one. Most users will probably select the folder processing mode here. If you want, check the scan subfolders option to recursively process all photos stored in subfolders as well.

Select the output directory for the processed, or cleaned, files, and hit the Null It! button afterwards. The program will process photos in those folders. I can’t really say which formats are supported, it did however process jpg images during tests. A log is displayed informing you about the reduction in size that goes along with the metadata removal.

Metanull is a useful portable program. It is dead easy to use, and can process a large collection of photos in record time. The program is compatible with all versions of the windows operating system from Windows XP to the very latest versions. (via Dottech)

The file sharing site went from zero to hero in less than six months time, breaking Alexa’s top 1000, and then the top 300 ranking in that time from its 100,000 starting rank back in January of 2012.

Users who try to open the Rapidgator.net website today are greeted with a page not found, or page not loading message. The site is down for now, and the reason for this is a dispute with the service’s hosting company according to Torrentfreak.

Our hoster have suspended our account. We are working on possible solution,” the company reportedly commented on the downtime.

The good news for users of the service is that the site has not been taken down as part of a legal process. It is however not clear what the dispute is about, and whether it can be resolved quickly or not. It is likely that the site operators are trying to resolve the issue either with the current hosting company, or by finding a new host for their business.

It is not the first time that Rapidgator faced a situation where business was on the brink of being shut down permanently. Back in February the site’s PayPal account was banned, which made the operators think about shutting down the service at that time. The idea fell through and operations continued.

Rapidgator is down for now, and Twitter is already buzzing with news. For now, there is not really much you, or anyone else, can do about it. If the site is taken offline permanently, users would lose all the files that they have hosted at Rapidgator.

Check out Monitor Servers Website And Services With Check Host to automate the check whether Rapidgator is down or up.

If you are running a Nightly version of the browser, you have probably noticed the new PDF Viewer in the add-ons manager. The add-on can be enabled or disabled, but not removed. The same may be true for other add-ons that have been installed automatically by third party software. Security software is known for this for instance, as are application installers that come bundled with adware.

Most extensions that you have installed in Firefox, regardless of whether they are enabled or disabled, are stored in the user’s profile folder on the hard drive. It is not that difficulty to go there right away, for instance by clicking on Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information, and there on the Show Folder button next to Profile Folder.

The very same page lists the installed extensions, and their ID, which you may need for identification purposes, as some extensions use the ID, and not their name, as their folder name.

When you browse the installed extensions in the profile folder, you will eventually come to the conclusion that the PDF Viewer extension is not listed there. While you find all extensions in the folder that you have installed by yourself, you won’t find the majority of add-ons there that have been installed by third parties.

To find the PDF Viewer extension folder, you need to look elsewhere. Instead of going through all possible locations, I’d like to point you in the right direction right away. You find PDF Viewer listed in the installation directory. Here is a short list of the default installation directories.

• Windows 32-bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\
• Windows 64-bit: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\
• Linux 32-bit: /usr/lib/firefox-<version>
• Linux 64-bit: /usr/lib64/firefox-<version>
• Mac /Applications/Firefox.app

Keep in mind that these folders may differ if you have installed a different release channel.

Open the folder on your system and the extensions folder within as well. Here you find uriloader@pdf.js.xpi, the PDF Viewer extension.

I suggest you backup the extension first before you remove it from the browser just to be on the safe side. Please also note that you need to close the browser first, before you can remove it as it is otherwise marked as in-use by the operating system (at least on Windows).

You will notice that PDF Viewer does not appear any longer in the Add-ons Manager once you have removed it from the local drive. Check out How To Uninstall Firefox Add-ons With No Remove Option for additional information about the process and locations that add-ons may be installed by third parties.

Tiggit is a similar tool in a number of ways. It is also concentrating on free games, and you will definitely find games listed by both of the programs if you would go the extra mile and compare the game listings. When you start the program after installation, you see a list of games, sorted into categories and tabs.

The program in its current form is listing about 300 different games, all neatly sorted into categories like action, strategy or puzzle. Each game is listed with its name, a rating, screenshot, and description. If available, the developer website is linked to as well.

A search is provided if you are looking for a specific title, which filters the active selection of games in the interface. Unlike Game Downloader, Tiggit is also listing demo games. You won’t find high profile PC game demos in the list though, only indie game demonstrations that let you play the game for a while to get a taste for it, or not.

Once you have found a game that you would like to play, you can click on the Install button right away to have it installed on the computer. You can alternatively head over to the Game Website first for additional information about it. Please note that you may need to run the game installer and launcher with elevated rights for it to download and install the games on your PC. Games are installed in the same folder that Tiggit was installed to.

Installed games are listed under the installed tab in the program interface. Here you can click on the play now button to launch the game on the system, or on uninstall to remove it again.

The installation process is streamlined, and the fact that you can start the games right from within the interface is comfortable as well. One of the issues that you may run into is that games are not filtered by compatibility automatically. This means that you may install games on your system that you can’t play, because of your operating system, other requirements or compatibility issues.

You may like however that ratings for games are displayed, even though it is not really clear where those come from. The most likely explanation is that user game ratings, which you can make in the program, are synchronized with a central server, and updated regularly in the clients.

All in all an excellent program, and a solid companion of Game Downloader.

Today, additional information about the deal where revealed by Mary Jo-Foley and Paul Thurrott. The promotion starts on June 2 according to their information, which falls in line with the release of the Windows 8 Release Candidate. With Windows 8 rumored to be released in the fourth quarter of 2012, it gives customers buying a PC with Windows 7 ample time to upgrade to the operating system, should they wish to do so.

The two revealed further that the upgrade price will be set to $14.99 for all eligible Windows PCs, and that customers will always receive the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, regardless of the Windows 7 operating system that shipped with the PC (provided that it is eligible of course).

This marks a shift in strategy, especially when compared to the Vista to Windows 7 upgrade promotion. Back then, Windows Vista customers could upgrade to Windows 7, but only to the version closest to the one that shipped with the PC that they did purchase back then.

Windows 8 Pro is Microsoft’s retail flagship product, with the only other version competing on the desktop simply named Windows 8. When you look at the differences between the two versions, you will notice that Windows 8 Pro ships with business related features that the regular version does not ship with. This includes Client Hyper-V, Domain Join, Group Policy, Remote Desktop (host), and Bitlocker encryption.

It is interesting to note that buying a Windows 7 PC and taking Microsoft up on the upgrade offer may come cheaper than buying a Windows 8 Pro PC directly when the operating system comes out.

The upgrade price is more than fair, especially since users get the Pro version of Windows 8, even if they only purchased a PC with an “inferior” Windows 7 version. Keep in mind that this has not been officially confirmed by Microsoft yet.

I’d suggest to check with the retailer first before making any purchases, to make sure that the PC you want to buy is included in the upgrade promotion. (via Everything Microsoft)

This is also helpful for documents with differing page counts, as you can configure the program to compare the first twelve pages of the first document, with pages 1 to 5, and 7 to 13 of the second. This makes it highly flexible, and useful in cases where a different font size or change has made direct page by page comparisons fruitless.

The scrollbar scrolls both documents at the same time, so that you will always have the same page position in sight, regardless of the scrollbar you use.

DiffPDF supports three different comparison types. The default is a word by word comparison that compares all words and their placement in the document, to highlight changes in each of the two documents. Changes are automatically highlighted with red color. You can switch to appearance or character comparisons in the Controls menu on the right side of the two document panes.

Appearance looks at page layout and design, including fonts used, reformatted paragraphs or different graphics,  while the character comparison mode compares individual characters with each other.

The application supports zoning, which can be helpful to compare complex pages with each other, and options to exclude margins from the comparison.

The options allow you to change the highlighting color and parameters, as well as the default cache size. You may want to consider increasing the cache size if you are working with large pdf documents.

Closing Words

DiffPDF is an excellent program, not only because of its feature-richness, but also because it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The developer releases new versions of it regularly that introduce new features to the program.

I also switched the default search engine in Firefox to DuckDuckGo, to make use of the search right from the browser’s address bar. You can follow the link above to find out how this is done in all major browsers.

What you did not get until now where search suggestions or information when you enter a search term into the address bar. This has changed with the release of DuckDuckComplete, a Firefox add-on that is adding the feature to the browser.

Once you have installed the add-on in the browser, you will notice that results appear to be different for some of your queries. You can best test this with simple queries first. If you enter speed of light for instance, you will see the first result returning the speed of light in meters per second, while the second and third result definitions from Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia.

Firefox’s address bar can do conversions and calculations now after the extension has been installed. Not every direct lookup or calculation option is available though. If you check with the official goodies page, you will notice that several are not available directly from the urlbar yet. While you can get a random number immediately by entering random in the url bar, you won’t get the temperature for New York displayed there. As a rule of thumb: All queries that lead to graphical displays are not available, while the majority of textual result queries are.

The extension is especially useful for Duck Duck Go users who work with those special queries regularly. It can speed up things, as it is now no longer necessary to run the query on the search engine’s homepage, as it is already done and answered in Firefox’s address bar.

Enter Menu Editor, a Firefox extension that I reviewed in 2008 for the first time. The extension offers to remove menu items from Firefox right-click context menus, and the toolbar menu. Using it, you can remove the menu items that you never use in the browser. Even better, it also allows you to reorder items of the same menu, which is pretty cool if you want specific items to be more – or less – accessible in the menus. And if that does not convince you yet, how does moving items from one menu to another sound? Lets take a detailed look at the add-on’s functionality.

Menu Editor for Firefox

You access the configuration utility in Firefox’s add-ons manager after installation and restart of the browser. The easiest way to get there is to enter about:addons in the address bar and hit the return key afterwards. A click on the options button next to Menu Editor opens the preferences.

The preferences start up in simple mode. You can select a menu from the pulldown at the top, and see all of the items of that menu listed beneath then. Items are listed with their identification and current visibility.  A double-click changes the visibility state of an item, as does the show/hide button.

To remove the close other tabs menu, you would select Tab context menu from the selection menu, and double-click on the entry. This should display a red x next to it indicating that it has been disabled. The following menus and items are editable:

• Main context menu: No Spelling Suggestions, Add to Dictionary, Undo Add To Dictionary, Open Link, Open Link in New Tab, View User Script Source, Open Link in New Window, Bookmark This Link, Save Link As, Send Link, Copy Email address, Copy Link Location, Play, Pause, Mute, unmute, Show Controls, Hide Controls, Show Statistics, Hide Statistics, Full Screen, Reload Image, View Image, View Video, Copy Image, Copy Image Location, Copy Video Location, Copy Audio Location, Save Image as, Send Image, Set as Desktop Background, View Image Info, Save Video As, Save Audio As, Save Snapshot as, Send Video, Send Audio, Back, Forward, Reload, Stop, Bookmark This Page, Save Page As, Send Link, View Background Image, Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Select All, Add a Keyword for this Search, This Frame, View Selection Source, view MathML Source, View Page Source, View Page Info, Check Spelling, Add Dictionaries, Languages, Switch Text Direction, Switch Page Direction, Inspect Element.
• File menu: New Tab, New Window, Open Location, Open File, Close Tab, Close Window, Save Page As, Send Link, Page Setup, Print Preview, Print, Work Offline, Exit
• Edit menu: Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Select All, Find, Find Again, Switch Text Direction
• View menu: Toolbars, Sidebar, Stop, Reload, Zoom, Page Style, Character Encoding, Full Screen, Show All Tabs, Switch Page Direction
• Tools menu: Web Search, Downloads, Add-ons, Set up Sync, Sync Now, Web Developer, Page Info, Start Private Browsing, Clear Recent History, Options
• Help menu: Aurora Help, Troubleshooting Information, Submit Feedback, Restart with Add-ons Disabled, Report Web Forgery, This isn’t a web forgery, About Aurora
• Tab context menu: Reload Tab, Pin as App Tab, Unpin Tab, Move to Group, Move to New Window, Reload All Tabs, Bookmark All Tabs, Close Other Tabs, Undo Close Tab, Close Tab

Simple mode allows you to remove and display individual menu items, and reorder them in the same menu. There is also a reset and reset all option in case you want to return to Firefox’s default menu layout, or want to start anew.

Advanced mode introduces new features to the configuration. You can now drag and drop menu items from one of the menus to another menu. You could for instance add options like new tab or new window to the right-click tab menu.

Closing Words

Menu editor offers comfortable options to remove and reorder menus in the Firefox web browser. The add-on has not been updated for over a year which is the only concern that I have. For now, it is working fine, with the exception of the bookmarks and history menus, which are not editable at all.

This can even happen when you start playing popular games, like World of Warcraft, Xbox Live or League of Legends, or when you try to connect to Steam. The same is true for applications that require ports to be open to function correctly. And while it is less likely that you will run into issues with programs like Apple Bonjour, VNC or Apple Facetime, there is still the chance that something is not working correctly.

When that happens, you go port hunting. Since games do not come with manuals anymore, you need to find your answer on the Internet. Which ports does it require? Are those UDP or TCP ports? Even worse, testing may take an extended amount of time, as you need to enable the ports, restart the application or game, and see if it resolved the issue. If it did not, you verify the ports again to make sure you did not make an error, and then go port hunting again to see if you missed a port.

Firebind Port Checker

Enter Firebind, a free (mostly) Java-based path scanner that you can run right in your favorite web browser. What I particularly like about the service is that it is listing tests and apps right on its pages. Instead of having to find out by yourself which ports Steam or Heroes of Newerth, or the SSH protocol require, you simply click on the test link, and start testing. These templates work out of the box.

How does it work?

Since virtually all firewalls will leave TCP port 80 (HTTP) open, Firebind uses that port to talk to its server and create a “listener” on the port the user is interested in. For example, if you are trying to test whether port 5190 is open for AOL Instant Messenger, Firebind will tell its own server to listen on port 5190, and will send traffic back and forth from your machine to our server on that port. If the traffic is successfully sent and received, it’s highly likely that the Internet provider is not blocking the use of your application. If the test traffic fails you’ll know immediately that the Internet provider is more than likely blocking the application.

Path scanning [,,] is about validating that your IP device’s “path” to the Internet is free from being blocked for the specific application(s) you’d like to run. Firebind doesn’t ever send IP traffic to a third party IP address. We only send traffic from our Firebind Client on your IP device to our Internet-Hosted Firebind Server.

A click on Apps on the Firebind website opens the available applications and protocols that you can test right away with two clicks of the mouse. The developers have made available clients for Android and iOS (soon), as well as a generic web client, that you can make use of to test custom ports. Here you need to enter a port or port-range, select whether you want TCP or UDP tested, and wait until the program reports its findings directly to you.

Free users of the service are limited to 100 ports per test run, while registered users (also free) can test an unlimited amount. The main Firebind service relies on Java, but there is a web scanner available which you can use to test TCP ports with that does not require the Java Runtime Environment. While limited in functionality, it may be good enough for users who do not want Java on their systems.

Closing words

If you have troubles getting games or apps to work properly on your computer, you may want to use Firebind for the port testing. This is especially useful if a program requires more than one open port, as Firebind will tell you exactly which port is being blocked on the system. And since it is Java and web-based, users can connect to the service from a wide variety of operating systems and web browsers.

Please note that while Firebind helps you find the blocked ports, it won’t tell you how to resolve the situation. That’s still something that you need to do on your own. Great service, nevertheless.

The two core changes introduced in Firefox 14 are the removal of the favicon from the address bar of the browser, and a change to how certificates are displayed in the browser.  The favicons have been removed in an attempt to protect Firefox users from sites that try to look legit by using the secure site icon as their favicon.

The second change modified the way secure sites were displayed in the browser’s address bar. Instead of going overboard with colors, the designers decided to only use colors for SSL certificates with extended validation.  What made matters worse, at least from a visibility point of view was that the same icon was used for regular and mixed content sites. A mixed content site is a site that is loading contents from secure and regular sites.

Mozilla has changed this behavior in the latest nighly versions of Firefox. Mixed content sites are now being highlighted with their own icon, a yellow triangle with a white exclamation point.

Regular websites are still displayed with the globe icon in front. It is not really clear why there needs to be an icon in front of regular sites, as the icon’s only purpose is to provide users with a two-click shortcut to the site’s information panel. If the developers want to be consistent with the removal of the http:// protocol from the address bar, they should consider removing the globe as well.

SSL certificates with extended validation are displayed in a green font and padlock icon, which makes sites using these distinguishable from the rest.

Websites using SSL certifications without extended validation are visualized with a gray closed padlock icon.

What’s your take on this change, and the visibility change introduced in Firefox 14?

The only solution besides buying a device that supports the format is conversion of the media into a format that the player supports.

Free Media Converter

Free Media Converter is a free program for Windows that you can use for many different purposes. The only issue that I ran into was during installation, where it offered to install the all-present Babylon Toolbar on the system. You can disable that by unchecking the selections the program made for you, and hitting the decline button afterwards (note that the screenshot shows the German installer, and that Ablehnen on the left means decline).

If you by accident have installed the Babylon Toolbar, check out our uninstallation guide for a detailed walk through on how to get that thing off of your computer again.

Once you have side-stepped the issue, you will be greeted by a clean interface.  You can load media files into the program by selecting Add Files, and one or multiple files from your computer using the built-in browser. If you prefer drag and drop, that is supported as well.

The program lists all media files in the interface, along with title, length, the current size, and the select output format. As far as videos go, a thumbnail image is displayed as well to give you an indication of the original file’s contents.

Previews are available by selecting a file first, and using the media preview buttons on the lower right corner. The remaining parts of the interface are filled with output setting information, and the toolbar that is linking to actions at the top.

Free Media Converter makes use of output profiles, and ships with a lot of them pre-configured. From general audio and video profiles, to profiles for specific smartphones and media players, to online video and high definition media.

The select output format is highlighted with its parameters under profile on the right side of the interface. You can make modifications here, for instance to the video resolution or bitrate, or the audio sample rate. Once you are satisfied with your selection, you can click on the convert button in the program toolbar to start the conversion of all media files.

But converting multimedia files is just one of the features that Free Media Converter ships with. You can also use it to trim, join, and edit video and audio files.Trimming for instance opens a new window where part of the video or audio can be trimmed.

Free Media Converter besides that offers options to download video from the Internet. The program supports popular video hosting sites like YouTube, Vimeo or Dailymotion, and can download videos hosted on these sites provided that you enter the video url into the program interface. You can furthermore send these downloaded videos directly to the converter to convert them into different file types.

Another option is the video recorder, which you can use to record part or all of the desktop, or webcam.

Closing Words

If you are currently looking for a media converter with light editing options, then you may want to take a closer look at Free Media Converter. The program’s feature set is impressive for a free program. Just make sure you pay attention to the installation to avoid installing third party software that you may not want or need on your system.

With Firefox, I have NoScript which takes care of the popups. I can’t really say when I have seen the last unrequested popup show up in the web browser. For Chrome, things have been different. While you get your assortment of ad blocking scripts for the browser, I found the JavaScript Popup Blocker extension to be more reliable when it comes to blocking popup windows in the browser.

JavaScript Popup Blocker

The extension comes with two modes. First whitelist mode, which is the default mode after installation, and then blacklist mode. Whitelist basically blocks all popups automatically, except on pages that you have explicitly whitelisted in the options of the extension. Blacklist mode on the other hand turns this around by only blocking popup windows on pages that you have added to the list. The latter may be useful if you visit that annoying one site regularly that is spawning popups like crazy.

Blocked popups are indicated in the browser’s address bar, next to the bookmarking star. Depending on the page you are on, you may see icons that indicate a blacklisted or whitelisted page, and a blocked popup.

A click on the blocked popup icon in the address bar displayed information about the page the site tried to spawn, with options to open it by clicking on the link, or by going to the blocking preferences of the extension to add it to the whitelist or blacklist, depending on your configuration.

Closing Words

JavaScript Popup Blocker for Google Chrome is a handy extension for Chrome users who are plagued by popups.

The major reason for this is that add-on compatibility can be forced in the browser. It is rare to find a recent add-on that is at its core not compatible with newer versions of the browser. If you are running beta, aurora or nightly builds of the browser, then you will see a lot of semi-transparent add-on listings on the Mozilla site.

The biggest issue usability-wise is that the add-on information become barely readable in the listings, but see for yourself.

You can click through to access the add-ons profile page which is displayed normally, but if you have lots of hard to read extensions listed on a page, you would spend lots of time doing so. Or, if you are eagle-eyed or do not mind concentrating on the listings, you could learn to live with it.

I on the other hand do not like the different opacity levels on Mozilla Add-ons at all, and would like to share two options to disable them,

NoScript – If you use NoScript you are good to go. Simply do not allow Mozilla.org to run scripts – which NoScript does automatically, to block the page from styling incompatible add-on listings differently. This works nicely and does not really interfere with add-on downloading and installing functionality.

If you do not use NoScript usually, it may feel like overkill to install the extension just to make incompatible add-ons readable again on the Firefox add-ons pages.

This Stylish script does the same thing. While you still need to install an add-on for the functionality, it is not something that is impacting your whole browsing experience like NoScript does. Simply install Stylish first, and once you have restarted the Firefox browser the userstyle to do away with different styles on the Mozilla Add-ons repository.

If you are using a different web browser to browser add-on listings over at Mozilla, you may want to consider disabling JavaScript on the site, or globally for the time being, to get better visuals and improve your experience.

To do just that, Windows 7 users need to open the Windows Control  Panel, select System and Security, and then Windows Firewall. There they then need to select Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall, which opens a list of known programs and connectivity settings. If the program is not in the list, it is necessary to click on allow another program, select it, and make sure that its connectivity settings are not enabled.

The two big issues here are the many steps necessary to block an application with the Windows firewall, and the name of the feature itself. The name of the action, allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall, does not really reflect the possibility that programs can also be blocked in the menu.

Firewall App Blocker

The free software Firewall App Blocker offers an alternative, as it allows you to block programs in a comfortable environment.

When you start the program, you need to accept the UAC prompt that it triggers. Once done, you can add programs to the list by dragging and dropping them into the application window, or with a click on the Add button and the manual selection of the executable on the hard drive.

Applications are blocked automatically, and you can close the program afterwards as it is no longer necessary to keep it open. Programs can be unblocked again either by unchecking their box in the listing, or by selecting the programs that you want to unblock, and a click on the delete button afterwards.

Closing Words

Firewall App Blocker is a handy program for Windows 7 users who use the system’s firewall to protect their system from network and Internet based attacks. The app is provided as a 32-bit and 64-bit portable executable. The software may also work under Vista and Windows 8, according to the developer, but both systems are listed as untested on the program website.

Still, if you feel that CCleaner is not the program for you, then you may be interested in a program like Privacy Agent instead. The program concentrates on options to clean history traces from web browsers, with history being all the things that get saved or recorded by the browser during use. This includes the cache and cookies, the downloads and form history, as well as saved passwords and synchronization data.

The thing that I like most about Privacy Agent is that it is really easy to use. You install it, start it up, click the scan button, and then either directly on the delete privacy traces button, or after you have looked at the program’s findings in the scan report.

And that’s it. The program supports Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer. It feels strange that the developers are not supporting the Opera browser as well. This is actually one of the things to criticize, the other the lack of information that you get when you open the scan report. While you see the number of traces found for each trace type, you can’t delve deeper into the matter. While you may not want to do just that, some users might prefer an option to uncheck some of the traces from being deleted, while keeping others checked for removal. With Privacy Agent, this is unfortunately not possible.

Privacy Agent is fully compatible with recent 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, starting with Windows XP all the way up to the latest versions. According to the homepage, a Mac version is in the making. (via Addictive Tips)