Windows System History and Cache Cleaner
If you are looking for some software that will make it harder for someone to see what you do on your computer, or even your work computer, then you should check out the free trial of WinVac, which will remove all of the stuff you don’t want seen while keeping some stuff to make it look like you’re not cleaning your system. We all know how obvious it is when you click the address bar and there are no addresses listed, WinVac will erase your history and then re-populate it with some good url’s for you, to make it look like you are just using some business related, or search engines, etc, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Wikipedia, or Tipsdr.com. That’s the key, cleaning your system, without making it look like you are cleaning your system and protecting your privacy. Here are some of the better features of WinVac:
- Keep sites that should not be removed from Internet Explorer’s History and Drop Down URL List
- Keep cookies that store important login information
- Select which files should populate the “Recent Documents” list, even if you haven’t opened them recently!
- Populate history lists in Windows Media Player with fake files
- Deletes Cookies
- Deletes Typed URLs
- Deletes Temporary Internet Files
- Deletes Recent Document List
- Deletes Media Player History
- Deletes Temp Files
- Deletes Internet Explorer History
- Empties the recycle bin
- Deletes Run/Search History
- Over 150 compatible Plugins, all free, that can clear out the history lists of just about any program you own!
- Provides a comprehensive log each time the software is run, so that you can see exactly what the program is doing!
- Password Protection to keep your information safe
- Saved settings can be encrypted for extra security!
It also allows you to keep certain cookies, because if you have ever deleted all your cookies, history, etc, you know you have to remember every password you told your system to remember, forums, blogs, news sites, social networking sites like Myspace, YouTube, Facebook and others. WinVac helps you with all of that and more download the 7 day free trial and see for yourself, or buy it now for only $19.95! It is well worth it.
Now, don’t get the idea that it will all go away and you won’t be able to find it, the way the file systems work on most machines is it will still have all of the deleted stuff on the drive, it just removes the pointers to it, so if you clean your machine, I could still come in and find everything, and I mean everything, maybe some stuff you forgot about, and it will remain there until other files overwrite the sectors those files were in and even then, some of it may still be recoverable. So, don’t do anything on your work machine that will get you fired, because they could bring someone like me in and I could tell them exactly where you’ve been and what you’ve typed.
Vista’s Successors: Fiji and Vienna
A blog titled unnecessary has posted an article about the next two releases of Windows, Fiji and Vienna, listing feature updates, application updates, WinFS, Monaco a music authoring tool, decoders for HD-DVD and Blue Ray, better speech recognition for Fiji, I guess this is why it will be sort of a SP2
Windows Vista has been released for a month now to business, and is going to be released to the general public in a month (January 30). For those who haven?t been following Vista?s development, it is worth noting that even though Vista comes 5 years after XP, it is a rushed product.
It doesn?t really matter if Vista is a success or not, Microsoft cannot wait another five years to release another Windows. People are becoming more aware of the choices they have, and Linux is no longer a hobbyist OS, and that day isn?t far away when it becomes simple enough to be a viable alternative to Windows.
And that is why Microsoft is planning a ?Vista R2″, codename ?Fiji?. From what little information is available we know that this will be a minor release sometime in 2008.
Sounds reasonable so far.
Windows Vienna (formerly Blackcomb) will be a huge departure from current incarnations of Windows, Similar to the transition from OS8-9 to OSX. It will break compatibility with all applications, but the newer, more flexible, richer and secure platform will be incentive enough for applications to be re-written for Vienna. Source: unnecessary
Vienna, or Blackcomb, will have its interface stripped, meaning no start menu, no toolbars or menus, no more shells or taskbars, even better speech recognition, because of WinFS there will be no more need of drives or even files/folders to worry about, but the big thing that doesn’t sound right, is the fact that they will be breaking compatibility with all applications. Something Microsoft has never done in the past.
Robert Claws in a post on his Windows Now blog titled Gees, Apparently Anyone is an Expert These Days says all of the information is made up, plus, it doesn’t help that site that this was its first post.
I love Engadget. But apparently these days, they’ll link to anyone. Consider this post: the blog they link to has a single post in it, purportedly with “inside information” about the next two Windows releases. The problem is, the information they link to is grossly inaccurate. For one thing, Microsoft would never put out a release that “completely breaks backwards compatibility” as a feature, and for another… WinFS as we knew it is long dead. But that’s just the start… almost all of this information is completely made up. Source: Windows Now
Some sites will do anything to get links and traffic, as it is, they have received links from me, Windows Now and lots others, probably a nice start for his blog anyway.
Data Mining and Financial Reporting Software
Crystal Xcelsius Standard is a perfect way to get started in the exciting area of interactive data visualization, with Xcelsius, you get the ease of the standard point and click software, combined with all the functionality you need for innovative data presentations, including maps, animated charts, tools and extensive custom design capabilities. Create interactive Excel dashboards, business presentations and visual calculators from ordinary spreadsheets then integrate them into PowerPoint, Word, PDF and the Web! Or use the workgroups version to connect to your corporate data in record time.
If you are looking for a way to present drab spreadsheet data from Excel in a way that will engage your colleagues, you will achieve it with Crystal Xcelsius Standard. The Professional version which has all of the functionality of the standard version plus you get some more advanced components and key features like drilldown animated charts, one-click export to PDF, broad Excel function support and more. AND, you have the ability to add-on future components, maps, skins and new functionality.
Try Crystal Xcelsius Standard FREE. Download Now
Check out the Excel videos we have added to our video section.
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End of Year Top Lists Debuting Already
They happen every year, the best of and the worst of lists, and about anything you can think of in-between. Here is one of the first that I have seen, I will add more as I find them.
Vaporware ‘06: Return of the King from Wired.com lists the top technology products promised, hyped and scheduled, but not delivered, such as an “iPod killer” to Duke Nukem Forever.
The 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year Always intriguing, often useful, and sometimes surprising, these 20 products showcase some of the best in tech this year. Includes Office 2007, Intel Core 2 Duo, Google Sketchup, the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8100 and more great gadgets.
Think “End OF The Year” Lists Are Just for Bloggers? Top songs and albums of the year buy some musicians I’ve never heard of.
The Lycos 50 Blog: News from the Pop Culture Fast Lane Lycos top 50 search terms for the year 2006.
The best apps of 2006 Best new software and web applications in 2006 from Lifehacker.com.
The Web’s Most Useful Sites The web’s most useful sites according to PCWorld, password managers, bookmark managers and more topping the list.
Next Year in Review: 2007 Predictions I’m not much for my prognostication myself–which is to say that I’m terribly bad at it–but it seems like everyone else in the tech industry can’t get enough of it.
What will they think of next? Napster in 1999. MySpace in 2004. YouTube in 2006. Experts from the tech community look ahead to the innovations that will change how we work, play and communicate in 2007.
Mashable’s 2007 Predictions It?s now only a few days until 2007, and a good time for the yearly prediction posts to start rolling out - including one from Mashable. To add a more interesting spin, we’ll throw in a mini-game of blog tag - a few people “tagged” at the end of this post can blog their own 2007 predictions in their niches, if they wish. They can tag other blogs and so on.
Noah’s 2007 Somewhat Likely Predictions Mashable called me out so now I have to write something smart about what is going to happen next year.
Predictions for 2007 It’s that time of the year - so without further ado, here are my predictions for 2007.
Wild Predictions for a Wired 2007 Here are some predictions for 2007: Google Stock Hits $1,000 per Share.
Know any good lists? Send em to us at webmaster at tipsdr.com.
Free Windows Vista Laptop from Microsoft?
A minor uproar is going on, apparently some bloggers have received some free laptops with Windows Vista, the original post, for me at least, was on Laughing Squid, Microsoft Sent A Free Laptop With Windows Vista, he received an Acer Ferrari 1000 12.1? notebook, with an 1.80GHz AMD Turion 64?2 with 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a SATA 160GB hard drive, loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate. As usual, some people think it’s payoffs for positive blogging, etc.
Ok, so yeah, I’ve been blogging about Microsoft quite a bit lately. I guess their marketing people are doing their job well, since the launch of Windows Vista is next month. Speaking of which, on December 20th I received an email from Edelman, the PR firm who is handling the launch of Windows Vista, letting me know that Microsoft is sending me a present in the form of a laptop with Windows Vista installed on it, no strings attached. Source: Laughing Squid
On Robert Scoble’s blog he calls it his idea of PayPerPost. In a comment, Robert McLaws of http://www.windows-now.com/ says,
AFAIK, AMD is the one that provided the laptops to websites that are members of the Windows Featured Communities program, as well as several other Microsoft influential’s. I think it was more of an AMD ploy to get dual core x64s into the hands of influential’s then it was trying to get people to buy into Vista. Most of these people were relatively Microsoft-friendly to begin with.
BTW, AMD said that the computers could be kept or given away. Most were kept. Source: Robert Scoble
Mitch Denny has posted on the subject, apparently it is part of a viral marketing campaign called the Vanishing Point, and along with he laptop, he received a puzzle piece containing a USB drive with three files on it, Cipher Key 4.jpg, from_Loki.txt, and Loki.wmv.
Back story: About mid-December I was contacted by Aaron Coldiron from the Windows Product Management Group and asked if I would like to try out an Acer Ferrari 1000 courtesy of the Windows Vista team and AMD (the Acer Ferrari has a Turion64 dual core processor and ATI graphics). I was interested in trying out the device mostly because I hadn?t used Vista on a 64-bit machine before and I hadn?t used an AMD processor in I don?t know how many years.
After reading the letter there was a knock at the door (spooky) and our neighbor delivered a box, presumably the courier must have thought it was for them (we live on a split block). Inside the cardboard box was a wooden trick box which took me a few moments to open up. Inside was another copy of the letter and a USB memory stick and on the stick were three files:
Cipher Key 4.jpg
from_Loki.txt
Loki.wmv
I have uploaded the video to Soapbox on MSN Video under the tag of “vanishing point”. I am uploading from an ISDN connection so progress is slow. Anyway - I am off to find fellow decoders and crack some of the puzzles!Update: Folks have requested that I post up the cipher key image. As you can see the key is not a new one as I?ve seen it posted on the Internet is a few other locations - thanks to those who referred me to http://vanishingpointwiki.com. Source: notgartner
The wiki has many links to keys that have been uploaded, sites that are working on the game and more. A couple forums that are actively working on it are Neowin and unfiction. Mitch Denny was contacted by the Windows Vista team, Scott Beale was contacted by the Edelman PR firm and Robert Mclaws says it’s AMD. My question is, why didn’t I get one, this looks like fun. Oh, and to all of those people complaining about the “gifts” saying they will never come back to this blog if they don’t return it, etc., come on, get over it. Most of the posts that I saw don’t appear to be swayed by it, I know I wouldn’t be, it’s just a perk of putting your stuff out there, nothing more, keep it or don’t, I don’t care. Just Send me one! hehe.
Added: Marshall Kirkpatrick writes that Microsoft has informed them they need to give it away or send it back when they are down with the reviews. Indian givers.
Marshall,
No good deed goes unpunished, right? You may have seen that other bloggers got review machines as well. Some of that coverage was not factual. As you write your review I just wanted to emphasize that this is a review pc. I strongly recommend you disclose that we sent you this machine for review, and I hope you give your honest opinions. Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding of our intentions I’m going to ask that you either give the pc away or send it back when you no longer need it for product reviews.
Thanks for your understanding, and happy reviewing,
Aaron *** Source: Marshall Kirkpatrick
Load of crap if you ask me, there will always be someone unhappy with something no matter what it is, so why let a small minority make you back pedal and do something other than originally planned?
Windows XP Support Videos
Here is a collection of Windows XP Videos, including installation, device configuration and installation, user interface help and more.
Windows Vista Videos
If you haven’t noticed, we have added a video section, where you can upload, link to, review and comment on some of the best Windows Vista videos. Check em out, here.
Santa Claus Tracker Google Earth Layer
Added: Just wanted to make sure everyone remembered they could use Google Earth to show thier kids where Santa was on Christmas eve. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
Here is a great new layer for Google Earth, you can find presents hidden all over the Google Earth program, and you can track Santa Claus on December 24th with it. How cool is that? Now you won’t have to look at some stupid radar screen with a dumb outline of Santa’s sleigh on the evening news, now you can actually track Santa Claus kids!
First, you need to download Google Earth by clicking this link, , Google Earth comes as part of the Google Pack, with loads of other software, you can select or de-select whichever ones you want, then you need to get the kml file here. More detailed instructions are available here.
Hello boys and girls. Ready to find some toys? Santa has hidden a treasure trove of presents somewhere in Google Earth (actually, it was a few of his elves, but you get the idea) . Every day from December 12th until Christmas Eve, a clue will appear outside Santa’s North Pole workshop which, if you can solve it, will lead you to a toy hidden in a Google Earth satellite image. And every day, the location of the previous day’s toy will be revealed.
On December 24th, Santa will load his sleigh, take the reins and soar into the skies, delivering presents to good children all over the world. And now you can follow his fabled flight. First, you must download the latest version of Google Earth. Then download the Santa Tracker/Toy Hunt file. You’re done! [tag]Google Earth[/tag] will automatically refresh each day. What are you waiting for? Source: Google
This looks really cool, I will have to get some hot chocolate so the kids and I can bask in the glow of our computer monitors while we watch Santa head our way. Find other layers by clicking here Google Earth Layers.
Added:
Google just updated their blog, with this post,
As you know, every Christmas Eve Santa Claus gets busy on his tricked-out sleigh, soaring around the globe to deliver presents to (presumably deserving) children the world over. This year, even if you don’t have a reindeer team of your own, you can use the Google Earth Santa Tracker.
Technorati tags:
track Santa, Santa tracker, where is Santa, tracking Santa, track Santa Claus, watch Santa
Del.icio.us tags:
track Santa, Santa tracker, Where is Santa, tracking Santa, track Santa Claus, watch Santa
Gears of War Tips
If you’ve been good this year and asked Santa Claus for it, you may find Gears of War under the Christmas tree this Christmas, and if you are like most people, you are just going to jump in online and try to kick some butt. But, you may have a rough time as some gamers have been playing it for a few months. I know my 13 year old boy Davey will be one of them, good thing he doesn’t read my stuff online, and Gamerscoreblog is here to help with some Gears of War Tips.
I wanted to give a few tips to the newbs/newbies/n00bs that I’ve picked up through my matches online. Hopefully these tips will help you guys get over some of the initial learning curve.
Teamwork is key: Stick together, and use voice-chat to update teammates as to which weapons you have, and where you see enemies. Don’t be a hero and run off by yourself or you will quickly get killed, and your teammates will be mad at you.
Initial dash: Most matches start off with a mad-dash to the weapons. During this time, plant your strategy (who’s getting which weapon, what routes will you attack, etc) If you don’t know the maps, tell your teammates that, and follow someone else until you learn them. Source: Getting Gears of War Soon? Newbies Listen Up!
That’s just a coupe of the tips listed, click here for the rest. A couple more comments included, stay away from the shrubbery and watch out for that train. I can’t wait to try it out, which reminds me, I still need to get another controller.
Be sure to check out all of the Video Game Reviews we have added to our video section. Lots of great reviews from Gamespot. Here is one for Gears of War.
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Santa Pwned!
Looks like some hackers were able to get into a gentleman’s, who is legally named Santa Claus, website and added an iframe that tried to install badware into visitors computers, so, Google had filtered it and it had been submitted to Stopbadware.org for review.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, StopBadware, with all your might, help me find the badware on my site.
This week we received one of our more interesting calls for help. A website owner, who is legally named Santa Claus, came to us wondering why in the world his site (santaslink.net) had been submitted to us for review and was being filtered by Google. He had consulted local experts, which we can only assume were elves, but they were unable to identify anything wrong with his site. Away to our research tools we flew like a flash, and with some quick analysis we knew there was much to dread. (I know I should have tried harder to rhyme in this paragraph, but I think you get the point). We noticed right away that nestled all snug in the bottom of his homepage was a nice little bit of code containing a badware link?specifically, an iframe that would attempt to install badware onto visitors? computers via a javascript exploit. Source: StopBadware Saves Christmas
They showed Santa the code and they removed it, so, Christmas is still on boys and girls. If you want to track Santa Claus’ flight on Christmas eve, check out this site, you can do it using [tag]Google Earth[/tag].
