Looks like a good resource. There's also the Grasshopper app from Google, for learning JavaScript on smartphones. Just did a quick search on Gizmo's, and found you had covered it last year: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/learn-code-your-android-or-ios-device.htm
"... Keeping your system up to date mostly involves invoking more than a single package manager. This usually results in big shell one-liners saved in your shell history. Topgrade tries to solve this problem by detecting which tools you use and run their appropriate package managers ...":
https://github.com/r-darwish/topgrade
www.colorinhtml.com seems to be down:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
"... Heimdall Application Dashboard is a dashboard for all your web applications. It doesn't need to be limited to applications though, you can add links to anything you like. There are no iframes here, no apps within apps, no abstraction of APIs ...":
https://heimdall.site
Do you have any citations for that information? I would appreciate it if you know where you saw it and would pass it along.
My understanding is that Google Drive and Google One are two different services.
Google Drive is a free storage service provided to anyone with a Google account and isn't shutting down according to Google.
Google One is a paid subscription that gives you more storage across Google services and isn't being discontinued as far as I can determine.
Google Photos is not closing or shutting down according to Google.
Google Plus recently shut down. Photos there needed to be moved to Google Photos or downloaded before the April 2, 2019 shut down date if you wanted to retain them. All other Google Plus data could be download via Google's Takeout. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Strange? I heard or read that Google Drive was no more, and had become Google One. Further I heard that Google Photo's was being decomissioned, much like iTunes. This could be a step in that direction?
Zemana has a portable version for v2.74 and an installer version for v3.0. I have reviewed v2.74 in this article because it's better than v3.0 which removed some cool features of v2.74, and their creator has left the company, I believe.
Zemana like other Second opinion scanners here doesn't have real-time protection, which is why it's listed as trial version in download page with an option to upgrade. However scanning and removal of malware is totally free.
As far as I can make out this is the freeware link and I've also changed this in the product details. MC - Site Manager https://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Zemana-AntiMalware.shtml
"The free version of Zemana AntiMalware isn't exactly packed with features, but the upside is that new users should have no problems figuring out how everything works. A scan can be launched in just a few seconds, and it will be over almost as quickly. No scanning options need to be configured, as one click is all it takes."
I may be missing something, but after going to multiple websites ,including the link in your article,I cannot find a free version of this app. Only a 30 day trial version appears to be available. I did find the portable version but that too is a 30 day trial.
Dear Mr. George, you write "Portable installer".
That is an oxymoron.
If it has an installer it ain't portable, if it's portable it doesn't need/have an installer.
But more importantly and seriously:
Why are you clameing to look for on-demand scanners only?
Emsisoft full version and Malwarebytes can in their paid-for versions run as full resident AV programs. And they both are WAY lighter on system resources than the functionally overburdened McAffee, Norton and so son crap programs (IMHO at least).
I regularly clean up lots of older machines and see it all the time that slow and sluggish systems start to run "nicely" the moment any of these "big name" systems are finally removed.
And you write about Malwarebytes' "nag screen". Heck, Malwarebytes need to make some money, right?
Had you taken the time to look through the settings you might have found the switch to tell it NOT to start with every Windows startup. So the user gets ONE reminder to upgrade to the for-pay version when he/she starts the on-demand scan once a month. Small price for the fastest and in my experience currently by far best malware scanner out there that never ever has conflicted with Windows Defender and/or MS Security Essentials. Again, only my experience.
YMMV
Please read the article text. "Second opinion scanners are neither meant to replace traditional antivirus suites nor to be used in real-time on your system". Real-time protection software is reviewed here. MC - Site Manager. https://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-anti-virus-software.htm
Excellent review but you say to use weekly and to use only on demand -- what about a free REAL-TIME PROTECTION as opposed to just scanning on demand, IF the user remembers to do the scanning?
Thanks Panzer,
I still had trouble finding the latest Win 32 download.
I think I found it here -
https://sourceforge.net/projects/lightfirefox/files/49rc/
"... rga is a line-oriented search tool that allows you to look for a regex in a multitude of file types. rga wraps the awesome ripgrep and enables it to search in pdf, docx, sqlite, jpg, movie subtitles (mkv, mp4), etc. ...":
https://github.com/phiresky/ripgrep-al
For those with old/weak PCs (like me), these may help -
Top 10 Best Free Lightweight Browsers for Windows 10
https://www.zerodollartips.com/lightweight-browsers-windows-10/
For those that use Windows XP 95% of the time (like me) -
https://www.zerodollartips.com/lightweight-browsers-windows-10/
At least one of those runs on XP 32bit - The one called "Light"
I have had it installed for a few years, and I forgot about it.
It suddenly appeared (possibly my trying to open a .maff saved web page ?).
It was originally known as "FireFox Light"
It is a spin off of FireFox.
I am going to try(keep) using it for a while, but "so far, so good".
The download link in that top 10 Lighweight Browsers does not work, so if anyone is interested, I will do more searching to find a safe download.
My version is - 29
Rob
PS Did you hear about the guy who jumped off the Empire State building ?
It was years ago before air conditioning, and it was a hot day, so most of the office staff had their windows open.
As he passed each floor's windows, the office workers could hear - "so far, so good"
HI ALL! My question is quick and hopefully an easy one. Can I somehow save my Micrsoft office (2016) to something like a thumb drive or Icloud so I can redo my computer? I Really need to wipe it out and pretend it is new again. I have had it for years and now it needs a makeover! Thank you so much for your time!!!
"... Needl will generate random Internet traffic in an attempt to conceal your legitimate traffic, essentially making your data the Needle in the haystack and thus harder to find. The goal is to make it harder for your ISP, government, etc to track your browsing history and habits ...":
https://github.com/eth0izzle/Needl
"... Backer is a visual front end to the rsync command. It allows the user to select mutple folders and back them up to mutiple locations ...":
https://github.com/sysrpl/Backer
I found the below android app that allows you to manage your daily food diary, lose weight successfully.
https://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?ID=321666
Thanks MC. Images don't contain programs or apps as far as I know, and I've posted wallpapers from this site before with no reported issues. Always good to run questionable items through Virus Total.
Well here we go again with Gizmo's giving instructions on how to avoid supporting the big league players. Yeah, they don't depend on donations to survive like this site but I don't think this is a direction that should be pursued. Gizmos has always been a favorite of mine for the excellent reviews of freeware software out there and useful tweaks to make operating systems more effective but we seem to be seeing less and less of that with each passing year. Thanks for letting me add my two cents.
rhiannon:
You nailed it!
I started by disabling any add ons that might conflict one by one. No dice. I then re-enabled Ublock Origin and Bingo! Worked like a charm. Thanks.
My host file does not have the redir.metaservices.microsoft.com line, can I just add it somewhere? Here's what the file looks like.
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
I'm glad you found it useful.
It is a work in progress, the paywalled sites change things regularly to make access more difficult so the dev has to keep up. Washington Post in particular is pretty aggressive in maintaining restrictions.
It's completely understandable, the print side of news is dying and revenue needs to come from somewhere. I have no problem paying for something I use regularly, but most of these I never visit and the few I do, I don't visit often. I'll drop my ad blocker while I'm at the site, but it's not economically feasible to pay for a yearly susbcription when I visit a site two or three times a year. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank *you*.
I'm happy to do it, I know it can be frustrating not being able to connect somewhere you want to go. If you want the Chrome version too, give me a shout out and I'll put it up for download.
I remember going on a tour of NASA's JPL a few years ago. It was a very informative visit, which included live views of current spacecraft construction from a viewing gallery, entry to the control room from which current active missions are being monitored, the launch tracking room from where actual launches are tracked, and of course a lot of spacecraft history. Quite fascinating!
You are more than kind! My thanks. And I just tossed a few pence in the donation fund as more thanks--I have found gizmo's freeware to be an essential site and will try and add more in the future.
Depending on where you live, sometimes your local public library offers access to some of these paywalled publications, and lets library cardholders access these sites from their home computers. Check with your local library to see what services they offer in this area.
Yes, incognito or Private windows worked for some time, but as you say, more and more sites are cracking down on that.
For some time you could access articles at the Washington Post and other sites using Google as a referrer - search for the article title, find the result at the site and you could read it by clicking the link and going to the site. That's being disabled more often as well. Using cached pages in Google Search was an option for a time, but I think most of the paywalled sites have disabled that.
I ran into the ad lock notification, and after disabling uBlock Origin I could read the article.
You re-loaded (Ctrl + F5) the site after turning off Ublock and the overlay still appears?
An odd thing on my end right now - I closed Firefox and shut down the system. I turned my booted my desktop today and I'm on the site with uBlock re-enabled, have 4 different articles open and there are no ad block notifications. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The only thing that occurs to me might be an add-on conflict.
In trying to use this app in firefox on the Washington Post website the following occurs:
I click on a story and immediately get a notification that covers about 1/3 of the screen saying I am using an ad blocker. I am using u-block origin. I turn off u-block on the site and still get same notification and can go no further. Any further actions I can so to remedy this? Thanks.
Hi rhiannon, thanks for your reply. I have been attempting to download the Firefox one and continue to receive a notice that there is a connection problem message. I will keep trying. thanks again for all you do for us.
I've been using the Bypass Paywalls addon for Firefox mostly successfully. Opening the article link in a Private Window used to work well, but some sites such as The Washington Post are cracking down on that.
"... BeGoneAds is a script that puts some popular hosts file lists into the systems hosts file as a adblocker measure ...":
https://github.com/anned20/begoneads
Good tip, I always check that first.
If you use Chrome, the latest release (75) has added Reader view but there are a few steps to access it.
Type: chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode section into the address bar and enable the Reader Mode option.
Restart the browser (required).
To use the reader mode, click the top right dropdown menu and select the “Distill page” option.
I have been attempting to download the bypass-paywalls add on, but as so often happens with Github, a connection is never established. I would hope that an alternative download site for what looks like a really nice add-on will be made available.
The best photo/picture editing software I ever found was Microsoft Digital Imaging 2006, but they had to get rid of it and replace it with a lot of expensive garbage!! I am trying to find a program that does the same thing DI 2006 did without having to use stupid "overlays"!!!
"... The Dissenter web browser is built for The People, not advertisers. Block Big Tech ads and trackers by default. Discover a comment section on every URL online. Welcome to the free speech internet ...": https://dissenter.com
"... The Dissenter web browser is built for The People, not advertisers. Block Big Tech ads and trackers by default. Discover a comment section on every URL online. Welcome to the free speech internet ...":
https://dissenter.com
In Firefox, if the "Reader View" icon appears in the address bar, clicking on it bypasses the paywall without the need to open another tab, then copy and paste the URL. Also, I have set up a macro to run CCleaner, which saves a lot of time clearing cookies to bypass those paywall sites where the Reader View icon does not appear.
Other good resources for free artwork in vector and raster format are
Mighty Deals - https://www.mightydeals.com/free_stuff. This site is similar to The Hungry JPEG
Design Cuts (www.designcuts.com) Free graphic elements are on their page here: https://www.designcuts.com/product-category/freebies/.
Design Cuts also has a Facebook group that features their "Freebie Friday Design Challenge". It is a free graphic element package or font package offered each Friday, with the option to use it in your own creation for a chance to win $25 credits on the Design Cut website. I like to see peoples submissions for create ideas for my own. The Facebook group for the "Freebie Friday" is https://www.facebook.com/groups/designcuts/announcements/
To the best of my knowledge, Quake II RTX will be available as a direct download on NVIDIA's website on June 6.
If you want to play Quake II RTX for free, you need Quake II. It can be purchased at Steam or elsewhere if you don't have a copy.
Originally posted by Nvidia:
How Do We Get Quake II RTX?
On June 6th, at 6am PT, we’ll release Quake II RTX as a direct download on our website. This will include the first 3 levels of the game, released freely in 1997 as shareware, plus all our new technological enhancements, updated textures, and enhanced models.
If you have the original Quake II release, download and install Quake II RTX from our website, run the installer, and point it to the full copy of Quake II when prompted so it can copy over the full game’s levels and assets.
When you boot Quake II RTX, you’ll get to enjoy the complete campaign, and experience multiplayer with real-time path tracing.
I agree - a refresh of this review category would be useful, particularly as I'd have thought it's a software category of interest to users.
I was looking at a computer magazine recently (thought it better to not name it, in case people felt i was advertising it) and they suggested ditching ccleaner for the reasons you've linked to.
I can't remember the alternative mentioned, so went searching.
I've NOT used either of these but just wanted to mention them, to flag that there are open source alternatives (no idea of potency/quality):
- mcleaner (github - last release aug 2016)
- bitbleach (own website and github - currently maintained v2.2 March 2019)
the latter seems to crop up on quite a lot of review / alternatives lists. Dunno if that's just plagiarism.
Must admit i like the ccleaner functionality - it's very easy, for example, to keep cookies that you want to retain (nice search/filter and include/exclude options). I like how you can delete restore points too.
I'm happy you like it, I've been using the site for years and it keeps improving. If I can follow how to make the knots I'm guessing most anyone else could too. :)
You're welcome. I hope you like it. It's easy to use with enough features to be useful for ringtones and other things. I added a note to the article about the program's update notifier. :)
Eschew all things Google (well, with the possible exception of Google Earth), and use DuckDuckGo as your search engine as it will NOT leverage your search information for monetizing purposes.
Yeah, the thrill of getting carpet bombed with the latest version of AOL Online (2.7) on an 800 KB Dual Sided "Floppy" disk (The first of their kind that weren't ACTUALLY Floppy) ... so that you could move up from a 600 Baud BBS to a "Real" online provider at 14.4K Baud (Dialup, of Course.) ... these Whippersnappers will never know it ... .
(I still vividly remember the Fax-Like buzzing it made as it was "Handshaking" the connection [Think 'R2D2 Cursing' ... ] - It's probably just PTSD from it.)
We've both been online since Jesus was a little boy, Huh?
Thank you for that.
I still have the mousepad that amazon sent out to customers as a gift - I think it may have been in their first year or two of business.
to play them ... and HOPE that it keeps on using the LAST version Flash Plugin ... forever ...
just as I hope that iSwiff on the Mac does the Same.
(Or I'm gonna miss these games. My Flash Experiences go as far back as "Radiskull and Devil Doll" - from 20 Years Ago ... back when Amazon was still learning to sell books online. Those were Heady days.)
Couldn't get it running on "Sierra" using "PlayOnMac" ...
I DID get the Flashpoint 6 Folder INTO the PlayOnMac "C:/" Drive, though. I MIGHT have gotten it to run but I read the "Read Me" first: and decided not to graft another head onto my shoulders ... (we might argue).
Just get the .swf Game Files themselves from the Flashpoint web site and use "iSwiff" https://echoone.com/iswiff/
Flashpoint runs a web and proxy server on your computer, changing your computer's proxy settings in order to send web games through our server for the purpose of defeating sitelocks, loading files and playing games. This will redirect web traffic that is not related to Flashpoint through our server while Flashpoint is running. While we do not gather, track or use web data passed through our server, other traffic may be negatively affected or stopped while it runs through our server. If you do not consent to this, do not use Flashpoint. If you use a system proxy on your computer already, we suggest backing up your proxy settings before using Flashpoint. We include the source code to our Redirector program in the Flashpoint FPSoftware/Redirector folder, and the web server is unmodified Apache, PHP and SQLite with a few custom scripts, and you are welcome to browse through them to ensure we aren't using your data for nefarious purposes.
No, I really didn't want all of my web traffic going through their servers ... I would choose something else instead. (I'll Tell.)
For years you've helped Me out, and saved my bacon, with your good suggestions. So, I'm honored that I dragged something in that was useful to YOU, just this once.
But now I'm curious ... what OS are you running? And which of those suggestions was the winner, as far as you were concerned? (I'm on OS X 10.12.6 and "iSwiff" is one of those sweet little 'hidden gems' that I like so much - gotta share that one with my buddies!)
In the future, when you are posting "Windows Only" programs, feel free to add mentions of "Winebottler", and those two "PlayOn ..." Applications: so those of us that are "Windows challenged" might have a shot at using them anyway. This Mac Freeware Category has 3 such choices: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-software-mac-os.htm?p...
Mind you, none of those 3 are "perfect" emulators on the Mac (Nor are "Wine" and "PlayOnLinux" perfect emulators on Linux) ... there are going to be SOME programs that just won't work under them. But it sure gives us "Think Different" types a SHOT at getting the program to work for US!
If they download JUST the Games themselves (As .SWF Files) ... I play all of my SWF games, on my Mac, with "iSwiff" https://echoone.com/iswiff/ ... which you will want to go get and install, NOW, before Adobe pulls the plug on the format. (Get all 103 GB of games and see which ones "launch" ... I'll bet you'll be busy for a while.)
Linux Users COULD Try out "PlayOnLinux" https://www.playonlinux.com/en to see if Flashpoint works under it. (You probably need the MONO Framework, also.)
nnn is a full-featured file manager for low-power, low-frequency, resource-limited devices and the regular desktop. It aims to be one of the fastest and most lightweight file managers.
nnn is also a disk usage analyzer, a fuzzy app launcher and a batch file renamer.
It runs on Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, BSD, Cygwin, Linux subsystem for Windows and Termux on Android.
Several plugins are available to extend its power. New plugins can be added easily.
nnn works seamlessly with DEs and GUI utilities and can be configured as the default file manager.
This is a list of the most recently posted comments on the site sorted so that the most recent comments appear first.
You can however sort the list on Article title by clicking on the column heading. To see actual comments click the + sign.
Looks like a good resource. There's also the Grasshopper app from Google, for learning JavaScript on smartphones. Just did a quick search on Gizmo's, and found you had covered it last year: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/learn-code-your-android-or-ios-device.htm
www.colorinhtml.com seems to be down:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Do you have any citations for that information? I would appreciate it if you know where you saw it and would pass it along.
My understanding is that Google Drive and Google One are two different services.
Google Drive is a free storage service provided to anyone with a Google account and isn't shutting down according to Google.
Google One is a paid subscription that gives you more storage across Google services and isn't being discontinued as far as I can determine.
Google Photos is not closing or shutting down according to Google.
Google Plus recently shut down. Photos there needed to be moved to Google Photos or downloaded before the April 2, 2019 shut down date if you wanted to retain them. All other Google Plus data could be download via Google's Takeout. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Strange? I heard or read that Google Drive was no more, and had become Google One. Further I heard that Google Photo's was being decomissioned, much like iTunes. This could be a step in that direction?
Thanks for this
check out this
https://www.cartecadeaux.ma
Thank for this
Cartes Cadeaux Maroc
Zemana has a portable version for v2.74 and an installer version for v3.0. I have reviewed v2.74 in this article because it's better than v3.0 which removed some cool features of v2.74, and their creator has left the company, I believe.
Zemana like other Second opinion scanners here doesn't have real-time protection, which is why it's listed as trial version in download page with an option to upgrade. However scanning and removal of malware is totally free.
As far as I can make out this is the freeware link and I've also changed this in the product details. MC - Site Manager https://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Zemana-AntiMalware.shtml
"The free version of Zemana AntiMalware isn't exactly packed with features, but the upside is that new users should have no problems figuring out how everything works. A scan can be launched in just a few seconds, and it will be over almost as quickly. No scanning options need to be configured, as one click is all it takes."
Oops, sorry MC. Thought I was posting to the specific review. I'm referring to the Zemana Anti malware
I may be missing something, but after going to multiple websites ,including the link in your article,I cannot find a free version of this app. Only a 30 day trial version appears to be available. I did find the portable version but that too is a 30 day trial.
Most of the games are also listed on popular gaming websites like https://thepcgames.net
You need to click on the name of the Software (eg. Zemana Antimalware) to view the download link or in the "Full review" section.
@Mr. George J.
Dear Mr. George, you write "Portable installer".
That is an oxymoron.
If it has an installer it ain't portable, if it's portable it doesn't need/have an installer.
But more importantly and seriously:
Why are you clameing to look for on-demand scanners only?
Emsisoft full version and Malwarebytes can in their paid-for versions run as full resident AV programs. And they both are WAY lighter on system resources than the functionally overburdened McAffee, Norton and so son crap programs (IMHO at least).
I regularly clean up lots of older machines and see it all the time that slow and sluggish systems start to run "nicely" the moment any of these "big name" systems are finally removed.
And you write about Malwarebytes' "nag screen". Heck, Malwarebytes need to make some money, right?
Had you taken the time to look through the settings you might have found the switch to tell it NOT to start with every Windows startup. So the user gets ONE reminder to upgrade to the for-pay version when he/she starts the on-demand scan once a month. Small price for the fastest and in my experience currently by far best malware scanner out there that never ever has conflicted with Windows Defender and/or MS Security Essentials. Again, only my experience.
YMMV
Please read the article text. "Second opinion scanners are neither meant to replace traditional antivirus suites nor to be used in real-time on your system". Real-time protection software is reviewed here. MC - Site Manager.
https://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-anti-virus-software.htm
Excellent review but you say to use weekly and to use only on demand -- what about a free REAL-TIME PROTECTION as opposed to just scanning on demand, IF the user remembers to do the scanning?
You constantly show these programs, but it is nearly impossible to find the link and this particular "freeware" has no link at all.
Thanks Panzer,
I still had trouble finding the latest Win 32 download.
I think I found it here -
https://sourceforge.net/projects/lightfirefox/files/49rc/
You can get it here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/lightfirefox/
Btw, you can get browser backports for XP here:
https://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/search/label/Web%20Browsers
There's a place for that question: https://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/
For those with old/weak PCs (like me), these may help -
Top 10 Best Free Lightweight Browsers for Windows 10
https://www.zerodollartips.com/lightweight-browsers-windows-10/
For those that use Windows XP 95% of the time (like me) -
https://www.zerodollartips.com/lightweight-browsers-windows-10/
At least one of those runs on XP 32bit - The one called "Light"
I have had it installed for a few years, and I forgot about it.
It suddenly appeared (possibly my trying to open a .maff saved web page ?).
It was originally known as "FireFox Light"
It is a spin off of FireFox.
I am going to try(keep) using it for a while, but "so far, so good".
The download link in that top 10 Lighweight Browsers does not work, so if anyone is interested, I will do more searching to find a safe download.
My version is - 29
Rob
PS Did you hear about the guy who jumped off the Empire State building ?
It was years ago before air conditioning, and it was a hot day, so most of the office staff had their windows open.
As he passed each floor's windows, the office workers could hear - "so far, so good"
"... Wexond is an open-source, privacy-focused, extensible web browser with a totally new user experience ...": https://wexond.net
https://github.com/wexond/wexondHI ALL! My question is quick and hopefully an easy one. Can I somehow save my Micrsoft office (2016) to something like a thumb drive or Icloud so I can redo my computer? I Really need to wipe it out and pretend it is new again. I have had it for years and now it needs a makeover! Thank you so much for your time!!!
I found the below android app that allows you to manage your daily food diary, lose weight successfully.
https://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?ID=321666
Thanks MC. Images don't contain programs or apps as far as I know, and I've posted wallpapers from this site before with no reported issues. Always good to run questionable items through Virus Total.
Typical false positive from the program stated whereas their online scanner clears it. MC - Site Manager. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/ec86f70c6e158dab30f2c2e4afd1b6cb6c3c...
I like the photo Matterhorn Super Moon, but why did (commercial reference removed as per site rules) block the download due to a PUP?
Well here we go again with Gizmo's giving instructions on how to avoid supporting the big league players. Yeah, they don't depend on donations to survive like this site but I don't think this is a direction that should be pursued. Gizmos has always been a favorite of mine for the excellent reviews of freeware software out there and useful tweaks to make operating systems more effective but we seem to be seeing less and less of that with each passing year. Thanks for letting me add my two cents.
That's great to hear! I'm glad you got it figured out. :)
rhiannon:
You nailed it!
I started by disabling any add ons that might conflict one by one. No dice. I then re-enabled Ublock Origin and Bingo! Worked like a charm. Thanks.
Yes, you can add the entry 2.18.213.82 redir.metaservices.microsoft.com to the HOSTS file.
Directions here for Windows 7, 8.1 and 10:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hos...
My host file does not have the redir.metaservices.microsoft.com line, can I just add it somewhere? Here's what the file looks like.
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
That's a tour I would love to take, it sounds wonderful.
I'm glad you found it useful.
It is a work in progress, the paywalled sites change things regularly to make access more difficult so the dev has to keep up. Washington Post in particular is pretty aggressive in maintaining restrictions.
It's completely understandable, the print side of news is dying and revenue needs to come from somewhere. I have no problem paying for something I use regularly, but most of these I never visit and the few I do, I don't visit often. I'll drop my ad blocker while I'm at the site, but it's not economically feasible to pay for a yearly susbcription when I visit a site two or three times a year. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank *you*.
I'm happy to do it, I know it can be frustrating not being able to connect somewhere you want to go. If you want the Chrome version too, give me a shout out and I'll put it up for download.
I remember going on a tour of NASA's JPL a few years ago. It was a very informative visit, which included live views of current spacecraft construction from a viewing gallery, entry to the control room from which current active missions are being monitored, the launch tracking room from where actual launches are tracked, and of course a lot of spacecraft history. Quite fascinating!
You are more than kind! My thanks. And I just tossed a few pence in the donation fund as more thanks--I have found gizmo's freeware to be an essential site and will try and add more in the future.
Depending on where you live, sometimes your local public library offers access to some of these paywalled publications, and lets library cardholders access these sites from their home computers. Check with your local library to see what services they offer in this area.
Yes, incognito or Private windows worked for some time, but as you say, more and more sites are cracking down on that.
For some time you could access articles at the Washington Post and other sites using Google as a referrer - search for the article title, find the result at the site and you could read it by clicking the link and going to the site. That's being disabled more often as well. Using cached pages in Google Search was an option for a time, but I think most of the paywalled sites have disabled that.
I ran into the ad lock notification, and after disabling uBlock Origin I could read the article.
You re-loaded (Ctrl + F5) the site after turning off Ublock and the overlay still appears?
An odd thing on my end right now - I closed Firefox and shut down the system. I turned my booted my desktop today and I'm on the site with uBlock re-enabled, have 4 different articles open and there are no ad block notifications. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The only thing that occurs to me might be an add-on conflict.
I use Adblock Plus with Firefox and have it turned off for the Washington Post and that's been working OK lately.
I uploaded the add-on for you at Firefox Send, it's good for 7 days and 100 downloads if anyone else needs it. :)
Here's the link:
https://send.firefox.com/download/26cf81f99386adb4/#-UqyZEDqvCBzjyKvAG7EMA
Piping server - streaming data transfer server over HTTP/HTTPS: https://github.com/nwtgck/piping-server
rhiannon:
In trying to use this app in firefox on the Washington Post website the following occurs:
I click on a story and immediately get a notification that covers about 1/3 of the screen saying I am using an ad blocker. I am using u-block origin. I turn off u-block on the site and still get same notification and can go no further. Any further actions I can so to remedy this? Thanks.
Hi rhiannon, thanks for your reply. I have been attempting to download the Firefox one and continue to receive a notice that there is a connection problem message. I will keep trying. thanks again for all you do for us.
Done, great tip rhiannon, looks like a work in progress, but better than nothing.
I've been using the Bypass Paywalls addon for Firefox mostly successfully. Opening the article link in a Private Window used to work well, but some sites such as The Washington Post are cracking down on that.
Good tip, I always check that first.
If you use Chrome, the latest release (75) has added Reader view but there are a few steps to access it.
Type: chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode section into the address bar and enable the Reader Mode option.
Restart the browser (required).
To use the reader mode, click the top right dropdown menu and select the “Distill page” option.
Hmmmm. I don't have any troubles accessing it from the USA via multiple browsers. Do you want to download one or both?
I have been attempting to download the bypass-paywalls add on, but as so often happens with Github, a connection is never established. I would hope that an alternative download site for what looks like a really nice add-on will be made available.
The best photo/picture editing software I ever found was Microsoft Digital Imaging 2006, but they had to get rid of it and replace it with a lot of expensive garbage!! I am trying to find a program that does the same thing DI 2006 did without having to use stupid "overlays"!!!
In Firefox, if the "Reader View" icon appears in the address bar, clicking on it bypasses the paywall without the need to open another tab, then copy and paste the URL. Also, I have set up a macro to run CCleaner, which saves a lot of time clearing cookies to bypass those paywall sites where the Reader View icon does not appear.
I cannot get a list of features of the free version, but I wonder how does it compare to SysGauge, on specs SysGauge now looks good?
https://www.sysgauge.com/product_versions.html
Plus if you decide to buy it, it is much cheaper.
Those are great resources, thanks!
Other good resources for free artwork in vector and raster format are
Mighty Deals - https://www.mightydeals.com/free_stuff. This site is similar to The Hungry JPEG
Design Cuts (www.designcuts.com) Free graphic elements are on their page here: https://www.designcuts.com/product-category/freebies/.
Design Cuts also has a Facebook group that features their "Freebie Friday Design Challenge". It is a free graphic element package or font package offered each Friday, with the option to use it in your own creation for a chance to win $25 credits on the Design Cut website. I like to see peoples submissions for create ideas for my own. The Facebook group for the "Freebie Friday" is https://www.facebook.com/groups/designcuts/announcements/
YESSS!!! I can't wait for it to come out!!! I will get it for sure.
To the best of my knowledge, Quake II RTX will be available as a direct download on NVIDIA's website on June 6.
If you want to play Quake II RTX for free, you need Quake II. It can be purchased at Steam or elsewhere if you don't have a copy.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/quake-ii-rtx-june-6-release-date/
Requirements:
OS: Windows 7 64-bit or Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i3-3220, or AMD equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, or higher
Storage: 2GB available space
Do I need to have Steam installed on my computer in order to use the free Quake II RTX?
good post Blackbird
I agree - a refresh of this review category would be useful, particularly as I'd have thought it's a software category of interest to users.
I was looking at a computer magazine recently (thought it better to not name it, in case people felt i was advertising it) and they suggested ditching ccleaner for the reasons you've linked to.
I can't remember the alternative mentioned, so went searching.
I've NOT used either of these but just wanted to mention them, to flag that there are open source alternatives (no idea of potency/quality):
- mcleaner (github - last release aug 2016)
- bitbleach (own website and github - currently maintained v2.2 March 2019)
the latter seems to crop up on quite a lot of review / alternatives lists. Dunno if that's just plagiarism.
Must admit i like the ccleaner functionality - it's very easy, for example, to keep cookies that you want to retain (nice search/filter and include/exclude options). I like how you can delete restore points too.
Regards,
Gary
All tied up in knots? :)
I'm glad you like it.
I'm happy you like it, I've been using the site for years and it keeps improving. If I can follow how to make the knots I'm guessing most anyone else could too. :)
I've always liked knots and this site is really good. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for the correct knot for the situation. THANKS for the link!!
Thank you for the link. But I'm all tied up at the moment.
Seriously, these should be useful. I still keep a Scout manual.
I use best free image hosting 50Mb. Old images not delete.
http://junpix.com
This site is a constant source of goodie's.
Keep up the good work..... :-)
Smoke me a Kipper.....
You're welcome. I hope you like it. It's easy to use with enough features to be useful for ringtones and other things. I added a note to the article about the program's update notifier. :)
Thank you rhiannon. This little program looks like an easy audio editor. I'll try it.
2019
Anniversary Special Offer. Giveaway ends on June 10. Do not miss out.
https://www.winxdvd.com/event/dvd-ripper.htm
He's definitely missed. :)
Thanks for all you've done Rob -- You will be missed!
Eschew all things Google (well, with the possible exception of Google Earth), and use DuckDuckGo as your search engine as it will NOT leverage your search information for monetizing purposes.
Lol many years....Usenet, Bulletin Boards, IRC, ListServ. Then AOL, GEnie, Prodigy.
R2D2 cursing? Oh I love that. :)
Yeah, the thrill of getting carpet bombed with the latest version of AOL Online (2.7) on an 800 KB Dual Sided "Floppy" disk (The first of their kind that weren't ACTUALLY Floppy) ... so that you could move up from a 600 Baud BBS to a "Real" online provider at 14.4K Baud (Dialup, of Course.) ... these Whippersnappers will never know it ... .
(I still vividly remember the Fax-Like buzzing it made as it was "Handshaking" the connection [Think 'R2D2 Cursing' ... ] - It's probably just PTSD from it.)
We've both been online since Jesus was a little boy, Huh?
Thank you for that.
I still have the mousepad that amazon sent out to customers as a gift - I think it may have been in their first year or two of business.
I would just download all 3,000+ SWF files in one massive folder and use
Swiff Player
https://www.globfx.com/products/swfplayer/
to play them ... and HOPE that it keeps on using the LAST version Flash Plugin ... forever ...
just as I hope that iSwiff on the Mac does the Same.
(Or I'm gonna miss these games. My Flash Experiences go as far back as "Radiskull and Devil Doll" - from 20 Years Ago ... back when Amazon was still learning to sell books online. Those were Heady days.)
Couldn't get it running on "Sierra" using "PlayOnMac" ...
I DID get the Flashpoint 6 Folder INTO the PlayOnMac "C:/" Drive, though. I MIGHT have gotten it to run but I read the "Read Me" first: and decided not to graft another head onto my shoulders ... (we might argue).
Just get the .swf Game Files themselves from the Flashpoint web site and use "iSwiff" https://echoone.com/iswiff/
I tried to get Flashpoint 6 running with "PlayOnMac". I got as far as the "Read Me" and gave up.
No, I really didn't want all of my web traffic going through their servers ... I would choose something else instead. (I'll Tell.)
Will give this a try since I have only used APKPure.
I have never used Google Play.
Edit: I just downloaded WhatsApp Messenger 2.19.153.
The apk file is 23.8 MB and yet the site lists the size as 35.7 MB.
For years you've helped Me out, and saved my bacon, with your good suggestions. So, I'm honored that I dragged something in that was useful to YOU, just this once.
But now I'm curious ... what OS are you running? And which of those suggestions was the winner, as far as you were concerned? (I'm on OS X 10.12.6 and "iSwiff" is one of those sweet little 'hidden gems' that I like so much - gotta share that one with my buddies!)
In the future, when you are posting "Windows Only" programs, feel free to add mentions of "Winebottler", and those two "PlayOn ..." Applications: so those of us that are "Windows challenged" might have a shot at using them anyway. This Mac Freeware Category has 3 such choices: https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-software-mac-os.htm?p...
Mind you, none of those 3 are "perfect" emulators on the Mac (Nor are "Wine" and "PlayOnLinux" perfect emulators on Linux) ... there are going to be SOME programs that just won't work under them. But it sure gives us "Think Different" types a SHOT at getting the program to work for US!
Thank you. :)
Sounds like Mac Users could use either "PlayOnMac" https://www.playonmac.com/en/ or "Winebottler" http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/downloads to try to run this "Windows ONLY" Application.
If they download JUST the Games themselves (As .SWF Files) ... I play all of my SWF games, on my Mac, with "iSwiff" https://echoone.com/iswiff/ ... which you will want to go get and install, NOW, before Adobe pulls the plug on the format. (Get all 103 GB of games and see which ones "launch" ... I'll bet you'll be busy for a while.)
Linux Users COULD Try out "PlayOnLinux" https://www.playonlinux.com/en to see if Flashpoint works under it. (You probably need the MONO Framework, also.)
I hope this Helps!!! C. Mc.
nnn is a full-featured file manager for low-power, low-frequency, resource-limited devices and the regular desktop. It aims to be one of the fastest and most lightweight file managers.
nnn is also a disk usage analyzer, a fuzzy app launcher and a batch file renamer.
It runs on Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, BSD, Cygwin, Linux subsystem for Windows and Termux on Android.
Several plugins are available to extend its power. New plugins can be added easily.
nnn works seamlessly with DEs and GUI utilities and can be configured as the default file manager.
https://github.com/jarun/nnn
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