Done! I'll gladly give a donation or join a membership site, but don't turn off my adblocker for anyone. Too much bad stuff out there that comes through Ad networks.

Has anybody used ADWCleaner? I'd love to see some efficacy tests on that package.
https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownload/1-adwcleaner/

Some good things have been said about it.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

Cheers.

Wow! For a moment there I thought I'd found a replacement for PicPick, but no.
ShareX... I can't print from the 'annotate' (edit) window. What are you thinking??
How the heck do I print an image after I've edited it without saving it then printing from another program? Hoo, boy. Add a 'print' feature and you've got a winner.

If Nimbus sync'ed with Google Tasks which I can see in Thunderbird on my PC, it would be perfect. At the moment I'm using GTasks which does, but I believe it is Android-only.

I really cant understand why Executor is not on this list.

http://executor.dk

Even if the last update was on 9 nov. 2013, IMHO it is the best launcher so far. I cant imagine my PC without Executor. I had it from windows 7 up to now (win 10) without any problems - running smoothly like a charm. It is enough just to look at the web site, to see that sky is a limit for this peace of software.

I tried out the Find and run robot, Launchy and SlickRun (all on win7) but Executor was the fastest, and with much more options than all of them. It is good for newbies but also for the experienced users. And it is completely free!

If you try it, you wouldnt be disappointed.

We are the developers of the Dns Jumper , Dns jumper is not relevant to Dns changer, and unfortunately Dns Helper's developer (he has stolen the dns Jumper's first version's code , please compare The Dns jumper's first version's release date and Dns helper's first version's release dates) spreading childish lies for example ; Dns Jumper caused him to stopping using the internet , or bluescreen ... (nonsense) Dns Jumper downloaded more than 1.500.000 times and it is the world's first portable virus - free Dns changing App , and v1.0.5 ist the worl's firs Portable IPv6 virus-free dns changing App , till now Nobody Complained like that except dns Helper's developer he try to calumniate our freeware , probably because of the lack of ability to develop better Application
Please use Dns Jumper's latest version (v1.0.5)
Best Regards
Sordum.org TEAM

Installed imgburn using download mirror from the authors site, then soon had snap.do hijack my chrome home page. I don't know for sure if imgburn was the reason but feels suspicious. New install of Win7 x64 with McAfee Enterprise 8.8, Zemana anti-logger, anti-malware bytes, and AnVir task Mgr free. I could not get AnVir task mgr window to open (even though windows task mgr showed it as a running process), so I uninstalled, re-downloaded and then re-installed it, during re-installation it gave the two message warnings of new startup items videosaver and snap.do. I opened the browser to look-up their names and found it redirected to snap.do. Maybe the AnVir download was corrupted with malware. I don't know for sure. I am reverting to a backup image from this morning before installing imgburn...

Another satisfied customer of AirVPN here. I've been with them for over a year and I believe that they do meet all of your requirements.

My false positive sample was detected when I uploaded it to virustotal.
I then submitted it 3 times to virus_research@mcafee.com (leaving at least 7 days interval). My file was never whitelisted there.
The new email adress virus_research_gateway@avertlabs.com works better for samples that are flagged as McAfee-GW-Edition.
If you are interested I can provide the report-links from virustotal.

Yes, correct, thanks.

Forget my above comment.
I was not aware that "MicroWorld-escan" is already listed under "eScan"

eGambit (from TEHTRIS) is not listed. Submission-link for false-positiv and false-negativ is:
https://tehtris.com/egambit_fp.php

Stopped using ADBLOCK (plus or non plus) a while ago - uBLOCK - way to go !

Thanks for contest. The program is very interesting. I would like to test the full version.

I think it was the cookies that don't translate when you access your sites while Hola is on.

I guess a more appropriate title would have been "When your favorite Gameboy game turned into a Free Game". I know I'm being picky... Good job on digging this up though.

When it will not work without a valid registration, It is not considered "Free".

Just d/l'ed and installed JLC's Internet TV. At startup, the program offers to update channel list but fails to contact the update server repeatedly. Went to their page to see if I could do a manual download, clicked on their Forums page, got a phpBB : Critical Error Could not connect to the database. Guessing that means I'm SOL on this one.

Re: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/clip-layer.htm -- Jojo's page has no contact, so, here.

My Samsung Galaxy S III (S3) uses long-press on the home key to bring up the running-apps list.

Hi, Everyone, and here is my latest discovery- 7star browser.
Yes, it is chinese product, which some won't use (being afraid of spying-for one of reasons), but..
I'm working with it for a few days now and found it to be fast ( it's base- Chrome ), reliable (it gives me foreign radiotranslations and videos, which some browsers refuse to do, and plenty of functions; also, it has another engine- Internet Explorer ( which isn't all that exciting these days ) and auto or manual switching - depending of which site you want to open.
Try it, boys and girls, I'm quite sure You'll be glad You did. ARaa.

Hi, Anupam,
info on AOL Shield can be found thru Google Search , link for Secure Browser can be found on Softpedia.
ARaa.

Every Co praises its product, good example- Nano Browser does it in minute details, even repeating some statements .
BUT REALLY IMPORTANT INFO comes from consumers, and THIS IS WHY DIGGING THRU SEARCH IS IMPORTANT.
Such is the reality. ARaa.
Nano Browser...It installs with "CCCP (that's USSR/Soviet Union for those in need of deciphering) setting" ,doesn't import bookmarks, doesn't have settings, its search doesn't work...nothing; that big bunch of boys & girls, pictured on Co home page, produced... what?! No wander not one download site is offering it.
Perhaps, this one "ll be to Your liking, bhai Anupam.
Ciao.

Hello there, Gizmoguys, and, before tech staff,- congratulations with so nicely redesigned format;
now: recently I"ve discovered Polarity browser and B.O.B Rapid browser, both are extremely small- 1 mb and 826 kb accordingly , both downloading in .exe form, to be open on the screen all that is required is to click on the icon and click 'run"; both are very fast and do everything that their big brothers do, Youtube works fine, every page I called on the screen, including foreign, opened fast, there is no freezing, nor crushing. So, I"m quite content. Perhaps, someone else will be too, when tried. Thank You. 'till we meet again. A.Raa.

Hello again ,
just have to add to my prior comments: there's one more browser- Maxthon Nitro ( from FlashPeak ), and it is fast; it isn't yet stable, also, it doesn't import Favorites ( You have to create them from scratch), BUT it is fast, no glitches, no crashes. Try. I'm quite sure, You'll like it. A.Raa.

Hi,

I have noticed that Online Armour
looks like they NO longer offer their firewall as freeware!

They have updated their page.
That says it no longer free..

Always enjoy this site - Keep up the good work

Steve

Try a free program called Insomnia, which keeps the computer awake when it would otherwise sleep.

I'd include a link, but the site flags it as spam. Search on insomnia lifehacker.

I'm using EagleGet as my Youtube Downloader. It works perfectly on my Chrome and Firefox.

You're right that it would be clearer if they specifically stated "free version," but to give them their due, they do say that ""The FREE [emphasis in the original] download of the PDF-XChange Editor ***may be used without limitation*** for Private, Commercial, Government and all uses," etc. "May be used without limitation" says to me that the software is free to download and use, but I agree wholeheartedly that it would probably be clearer and better for them to state outright that they have a "free version" available. I would even go further and add that it would be better still for their statement about the "free version" to be more prominent than the "free download" statement I originally quoted, which was rather tucked away on their site.

Hi, Jojoyee,

Thanks for the info. I've never downloaded any app from any source other than the Google Play Store, so I'm sure it was that version of Ringdroid. I scanned with AirPush Detector, which found that Ringdroid contained AirPush, because I'd noticed occasional app icons on my home pages ("Slotto" and others). The unwanted app icons would only appear occasionally while I had Ringdroid installed, but they have never appeared since I uninstalled Ringdroid.

As I said, I really liked Ringdroid; it's a great program, does what it says it will do, and does it well, but until I'm sure that it's not going to load junk onto my phone, I'll only install it long enough to create a ringtone (which I rarely do), then immediately uninstall it. However, if others have better or newer information to the contrary, I'll be glad to hear it.

Hi, mr6n8,

Thanks for your post, but I understood that difference. I was simply trying to use that difference to explain to the previous poster that one of the reasons that I knew that I had downloaded the original Ringdroid app and had NOT installed the "social edition" version from the alternate developer was that I had NOT seen that additional blue and white emblem before. Just to be sure I'm being clear, the Ringdroid I downloaded was the original Ringdroid with the icon that had only the reddish note and yellow scissors you described and did NOT have the additional blue and white emblem.

I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

Cheers

Like many of the others who've posted here, I prefer LastPass (or Keepass) to keep my passwords safe, but if I need to write some down for any reason, I can do so with no security concerns. When I create passwords, remembering strings of random characters is way beyond the capacity of my aging brain, so I find it easier to just create little blocks of characters that I can easily remember and give them code names that will mean nothing to anyone but me.

For example, let's say that your sister's initials are PDG, born on the 27th of April, and your brother's initials are MJD, born on the 6th of May, and that you all grew up at 673 Clarkson St. Your password could then be pdG30673mjD06. Your written-down code for that could be "SisClarksonBro" (without the quotes), or even SClarksonB, if that's all you need to remember what it stands for.

Using this procedure (though you can easily invent your own - and should!), you could add blocks for Dad and Mom or anyone else you choose. However, if you want to get extra uses out of fewer blocks, especially for lower importance sites where a security breach wouldn't be life-destroying, you could, using this system, keep the "Sis" and "Bro" blocks, but vary the middle one (or the first or last, as you choose). For example, if your best friend Mike lives on Dogbreath Drive, your password could be pdG30DogbreathmjD06 and your written code for that could be SisMikeStBro or SMikeStB. If you do a series of these and can remember the constant bits, all you have to write down is your middle block (or whichever block you vary), so your written-down password list would look like:

Site 1: Clarkson
Site 2: MikeSt
(Etc.)

Also, please remember that you're not limited to only three blocks in a password (longer is always better), nor do you have to only vary one block. It's important to make up your own system [this is not the one I use, which is of course Top Secret, but just an example I made up for this post], with the key point being to use character blocks you can easily remember because they have meaning to you, and for which you can have a simple code that will jog your memory, but no one else's.

There you have it, a written-down list of password codes that are meaningful only to you and will be utterly useless to anyone who might find your list.

Hope that helps.

I have used AxCrypt for some time now and have nothing but good things to report about it. It is excellent software, is dead simple to use, and does what it says it will do. When I had a question about something, I emailed the developer and got a prompt and informative answer.

As to OpenCandy (OC), it is of course appropriate for Gizmo's to note in any review that OC will appear during the installation process and to inform potentially unaware readers as to what OC is and how to avoid installing something they may not want. However, the AxCrypt developer is very open and honest about why he includes OC and provides clear and easy instructions for installing AxCrypt without OC.

By way of comparison, look at how Adobe tries to trick the unaware into installing McAfee Security Scan Plus during Adobe Flash Player updates. Is the Adobe update process "McAfee-infected?"

Instead of calling any program "OpenCandy-infected," it might be better if Gizmo's were to have a standard advisory note which could be inserted into the review of any software which contains OC. That brief note could then refer those readers who are unfamiliar with OC to a Gizmo's reference page which explains OC in more detail and explains how to avoid installing OC software if you don't want it.

I really appreciate all the hard work that Rob and the other Gizmo's reviewers put into researching and presenting free software choices, and I highly value the reviews in Gizmo's, but I have to say that using the term "OpenCandy-infected" for AxCrypt is unfair and unjustly maligns an elegantly simple and useful program which is well-designed, safe to install, and works well. Based on my personal experience, I recommend AxCrypt highly.

Even "stunning" doesn't begin to do this justice. Thanks so much for sharing this profoundly useful site!

Just FYI, I've installed the software and it comes up as Version 9.5.

I wish I could explain it, but I can only say that I downloaded and installed the software on a total of three machines owned by various family members and each time it installed perfectly. One thought: When you copied the registration code from the original email, did you by any chance happen to include a space at either end of the code? If there was anything other than the exact characters in the code, even an extra space at either end, that could be the source of the problem. Computers are anal-retentive little beasts and demand that things be exactly as they want them; otherwise, if they don't get exactly the input they want, they get surly, dig in their heels, and refuse to cooperate. Not sure if that's the cause, but it might be worth a quick check.

Good luck. Hope that helps.

Well, my friend, if you're happy with W10, I sincerely wish you the best of luck with it. However, I have a question with regard to "The privacy issues are a non-starter as far as I am concerned. Who cares?" If "privacy issues are a non-starter" for you and you don't care about them, then are we to take it that you have no objection to posting your home address, phone numbers, date of birth, medical reports, love letters, Social Security Number (if in the U.S.), pay slips, and your list of passwords to your banking and other financial accounts? I'm not asking this to be contentious, but merely to suggest that it is quite likely that privacy issues are indeed a "starter" for you, as they are for many of us.

As to your "unshaven operatives in that seedy basement with .... earphones," that's a cute image, but a little out-of-date. Think high speed servers in a shiny new office building with software that can trawl through your personal data at lightning speed to look for whatever information MS decides it wants to take from your computer without your permission. Perhaps you're comfortable with that; many of us are not.

Why do people sign in "to let everybody know how much they're not buying in?" For the same reason that W10 enthusiasts sign in to "boast" about their latest installs: We all have our individual opinions and Gizmo's kindly offers us a place to express them. It's just that not everybody worships at the MS shrine and many of us - in my case after a 30+ year "marriage" to MS software - have finally gotten tired of the abuse and, now, the unconscionable invasion of personal privacy, so we're speaking out, and in some cases, filing for a divorce. Personally, I've already started dating Linux Mint and have found that I get treated much better and my privacy is respected, which is what I want - and deserve - from an operating system. I wish you well with yours.

Thanks for the review of this potentially useful app. However, I have two questions/concerns:

A) When I clicked on the link given to the full review page, the Pros and Cons section lists the following Con: "No way to delete notes in-app." If that's the case, how are unwanted or old notes deleted, or do they just accumulate forever?

B) The bigger concern I have is that this app apparently "uses Google's Speech recognition technology." Since Google has a well-deserved reputation for violating users' privacy by acquiring, storing, and using the personal information of its users when they use Google apps, is it possible for a user to use this app (perhaps in offline mode?) without Google recording and storing every spoken/written word? For those of us who still remember and value the concept of privacy, this is a make or break issue.

It would be very helpful if someone can shed light on this.

@olamoree

As a recommendation: I NEVER download ANY software without first scanning it on VirusTotal. I use Firefox with the VTzilla add-on and ALWAYS run a fresh scan on any software file before accepting or opening the download. Even if the pop-up says that the file was just scanned on VirusTotal only an hour or two before, I always run my own fresh scan. My computer's health is way too important to me and I have neither the time nor the patience to rebuild my digital life after accidentally downloading something malicious. Some people get in a hurry and think it's unnecessary and takes too long, but it normally takes only a few seconds. As the saying goes, there's never time enough to do something right, but there's always time enough to do it over. Or, put another way, better safe than sorry.

Regarding those times when VirusTotal shows 1 or 2 of its many scanning programs reporting an issue, just go by the weight of the evidence. If, for example, the ratio is 67/1, meaning 67 programs show the software is clean and 1 says it isn't, it's highly unlikely that 67 programs are wrong and only one is right, so the 1 is almost certainly a false positive.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the find, Rob. It sounds like a great system, just as long as users don't care about the privacy of what they're speaking/writing. On the "About" page of the Speechtexter site, it says:

"SpeechTexter is based on Google's high-end speech-recognition engines. All your speech is sent to Google, there it gets interpreted using powerful parallel servers and algorithms, and gets sent back to SpeechTexter as a stream of possible transcription results."

Anything sent to Google is kept and stored on Google's servers, so as long as users don't mind Google keeping a permanent record of their spoken and written thoughts for Google to use as it sees fit, SpeechTexter should be very helpful. Those of us with enough grey hair to remember the concept of personal privacy and value it will keep in mind that "what happens through Google stays with Google" and continue to avoid Google-related products whenever possible. As always, it's a personal choice; mine is for privacy above convenience. YMMV.

If there's a free speech-to-text program that does NOT involve sending personal thoughts to Google or Micro$oft, I'd appreciate learning about it.

Thank you, Gizmo, for your eloquent posting, especially with regard to the ever-tightening noose around personal privacy. Even a cursory study of human history clearly shows that individual liberty, freedom of expression, and personal privacy are extremely rare and precious flowers that can only bloom where those values are deeply valued and jealously guarded. Sadly, that is not the trend in our current age.

You say that "there are other alternatives to these services. Not quite as powerful perhaps or as convenient but they do exist. Yet most of us choose not to use these options." That is a shame, but it reflects a civilization that is so entranced by the glamour and excitement of its new technological toys that it fails to see the grimly smiling face of totalitarian control which ever lurks in the technology behind them.

For myself, I do what I can to preserve such personal privacy and liberty as can still be found. Unwilling to allow Microsoft and Apple access to my data, I have blocked W10 and am in the process of slowly trading W7, not for iOS, but for Linux, once I am sufficiently schooled in it. Until the smartphones operating on Linux are developed further and have the basic apps I need, I try to do all I can to block the privacy-devouring Google behemoth in every way possible, using VPNs and encrypted messaging services on my Android phone.

I fervently hope that your dream of a privacy-respecting "Web 3" becomes a reality, but if we want it to be so, we must all work tirelessly to that end, constantly reminding those who have forgotten - or who have never realized - the crucial importance and fragile nature of personal privacy. Those of us with enough grey hair to remember what the concept of personal privacy means must also speak out and educate those who have grown up, and are now growing up, in the Internet Age and have never known a time when personal privacy wasn't regularly invaded in return for what you rightly called a Faustian bargain. We must help them to understand that privacy is a choice, a choice worth making, and that to passively accept invasion of their privacy is in fact to choose to surrender it.

We who still care about it must fight to keep the light of personal privacy from being extinguished, lest our civilization descend into the darkness of tyranny. In the words of the poet Dylan Thomas:

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

I wish you and all the members of the Gizmo's community a very happy, healthy, peaceful - and private - 2018.

As others have said, I've been using DDG for several years and like it, even making it my default search engine in the search window of the various browsers I use. However, I also like the privacy offered by Startpage.com and Ixquick.com, and their Advanced Search page is excellent for really refining my searches, so I've set the Startpage Advanced Search page as my Home Page in each of my browsers.

Although, as others have pointed out, there is no such thing as a guaranteed 100 percent solution to protecting our privacy on the Internet, I've found that the Epic Privacy Browser (www.epicbrowser.com/) comes closer than anything else I've found when I really want privacy (which is nearly always). Epic has its own search engine, or you can use DDG/Startpage/Ixquick from within the Epic browser.

Hi, Rhiannon,

Thanks for the tip. It might be handy in an emergency if I'm using a VPN (e.g., in Opera), but if the extension is using Google Docs to open documents, I'm afraid I'll have to pass. Google has demonstrated an insatiable appetite for gathering every conceivable scrap of information from those who use any of its services and I value my privacy way too much. It's hard to avoid using absolutely everything Google, given the tentacles it has spread into the online world, but I'm sure as heck not going to surrender any info to Google knowingly if I have any alternative, and in the case of opening these documents, I do.

That issue aside, many thanks for all your hard work and the many finds you share on this site. I really appreciate everything that you and the other Gizmo contributors do to make this site so excellent.

Wow! I certainly understand the value of a fresh installation, but given Firefox's breakneck pace of updates, you must be reinstalling FF about once every week or so! Do you likewise reinstall all your add-ons? If so, I probably wouldn't get all of my add-ons reinstalled before the next FF update came along and I'd have to start all over again. :)

Many thanks for the suggestion, Jojo. Am I correct that "&&" separates three different commands which are to copied, pasted, and executed one at a time, or can the above string be copied and pasted wholesale, then executed together? That's probably a very newbie question on my part, but there may be lots of other Linux newbies who will wonder the same thing.

Cheers.

Gizmo's has saved me countless hours in researching software online and countless dollars which would have been spent in buying and trying second-rate software, only to end up disappointed. Many thanks to Gizmo and to all the many volunteers who make TechSupportAlert possible. You all are superb!

P.S.- If you ever need financial help again to be able to keep Gizmo's free and independent, please ask. Gizmo's is the best bargain on the web!

To delete photos on an iPad tap edit on the top right hand corner in your photo library then tap the pix you want to delete and it will put a tick on the ones you select then press delete on the top right hand side

how can i make mashup music?

I came across a requirement where-in my client wants to send print command to physical printer and they want a pdf file as well created. So instead of issuing print command twice, they want it done in single print command to send print command to two printers.

I am a developer but the software being used for this printing is developed by some other company and they are not responding this requirement. If it was through coding, I would have sent print command to two printers when print is clicked.

I just wanted to know if there is any facility or utility be used to create pdf as well as send print command to printer in a single print command. There is one its commercial. I am searching freeware or opensource.

Errata regarding my 15 July 2013 post about Clonezilla: It does indeed create a folder, after asking you to input your own name. It defaults to the current date-time-img, example being 2013-07-16-14-img. An undocumented feature is a warning screen comes up if you enter an already existing folder name, and asks if you want to overwrite it. The overwrite works fine. If no, it asks again for a name, defaulting again to the current date-time-img.

Paragon is clunky regarding folder naming, defaulting to an obscure and very long name, such as arc_100713031548958. I enter a shorter, dated folder name, whereupon the long folder name is created in my folder name, then the file(s) in it, with the same name, plus adding more onto the name, such as: _0001p.000, .001 etc if you split the image. At least for the Windows app.