BOOT CAMP 542 (16/09/08) – Freeware Top Tens part 6, Network, Internet
& Email
The
growth of home networking has been nothing short of phenomenal and the
expansion of the Internet shows no sign of slowing down so we thought it was
about time we created a new category of freeware applications.
As
usual, if you find any of these programs useful and want to continue using them
then please pay the licence fee or make a donation to the author. Don’t forget
that you use them entirely at your own risk and we cannot answer any technical
questions.
Amic Email Backup,
XP & Vista, 1.3Mb, http://tinyurl.com/63accb
You would be
surprised how many emails we get from people who have suddenly and for no good
reason lost all of their email messages. Usually they can be recovered but is
you use this little program you need never worry because you’ll always have a
backup. Amic is really versatile, it works with all of the popular clients, including
Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Pegasus, Incredimail, The Bat, Netscape and
so on and it is really easy to use.
ETB Email Tracking Blocker, XP & Vista, 370Kb, http://tinyurl.com/6pydct
A worrying number of emails now
contain receipt requests and tracking information that can tell the sender when
you opened it and even who you forwarded it to. Many consider this an invasion
of privacy, in which case you may be interested ion this little program, which
stops the snoopers prying into what you do with your emails.
MailWasher, XP
& Vista, 6.6Mb
http://tinyurl.com/66mo3p
If you are being plagued by a deluge of Spam, and who
isn’t these days, then you are in need of MailWasher. It is a Spam Filter, and
one of the most effective ones you can get, at any price. The free version does
an excellent job but it is well worth upgrading to the Pro version, which is
even more effective and can handle more than one email account
NetMeter, XP &
Vista, 620kb
http://tinyurl.com/2sbxd9
If for any
reason you have a ‘capped’ broadband account then you will want to keep a very
close eye on how much data you download each month, if you want to avoid paying
penalties or high rates for excess data. NetMeter does it all for you, logging
daily and weekly usage and based on your working patterns, predict if and when
you are going to use up your allowance.
NetStumbler, XP
& Windows CE, 1.3Mb, http://tinyurl.com/6jybn6
This one has been a firm favourite with wireless laptop
users for several years; sadly it is XP only but see this week’s Top Tip.
NetStumbler is an advanced Wi-Fi monitoring tool that tells you, at a glance,
how many public and hidden wireless networks and access points are within
range. It also displays their SSID, relative signal strength, which channel
they are using, encryption status, MAC address, graphical data flow and much,
much more. Invaluable for road warriors and keeping a watch on your home
wireless network. A version for pocket PCs is also available.
Outlook Express Mail Alert, XP,
890kb, http://tinyurl.com/pzmdc
Although Outlook Express lets you know
when you have incoming email messages, with an audible alert, it’s easy to
miss. Now there are no excuses, with OE Mail Alert on your PC a young lady
announces ‘You’ve got mail’, it plays a little tune and a prominent pop-up box
appears on your screen. It’s easy to configure, you can tell it which mailboxes
to respond to, and you can set it to launch automatically with Windows.
RSS Ticker, XP
& Vista, 80kb
http://tinyurl.com/ynqdwb
If you are one of those people
who just can’t bear to be out of touch with what is going on in the world then
here’s a nifty little add-on for Mozilla Firefox. RSS Ticker puts a scrolling
news ‘ticker’ across the bottom of the browser window, or under the toolbar and
if you see something that interests you, just click on it for more details.
NeoTrace Express, XP & Vista, 802kb
http://tinyurl.com/clffc
Have you ever wondered where a website is based and who
owns it? There are ways to find out but simply typing the website address into
NeoTrace Express is much easier. Within seconds it displays a map showing the
geographical location of the site, and how you are connected to it, it will
also do a ‘Whois’ lookup on the site host and domain name registrant. Just the
job for checking dodgy-looking sites that don’t tell you where they are.
SurfCanyon, XP
& Vista, 21kb
http://tinyurl.com/5rp5cq
This is another
browser add-on, for Internet Explorer and Firefox, and it is designed to make
your web searches faster and more effective. It works with most of the popular
search engines, just enter you keywords as usual but when the results are
returned click on the ‘bullseye’ icon for a list of ‘recommendations’, which
should get you to the site you are looking for even faster, and save you
ploughing through hundreds of irrelevant hits.
Next Week – Freeware Top Tens part 7
JARGON FILTER
MAC Address
Media Access
Control – unique code assigned to network adaptors and interfaces, enables
product identification
RSS
RSS doesn’t really stand for anything but it is widely
accepted to mean Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. A system using
XML (Extensible Markup Language) for informing subscribers to websites, blogs
and newsgroups of new or updated content
SSID
Service
Set Identifier – unique code, attached to data travelling over a wireless
network that acts as a password and prevents interference from other nearby
networks
TOP TIP -- BONUS UTILITY
Vistumbler, Vista, 1.6Mb,
http://tinyurl.com/6hgnbd
This is the turbocharged
Vista version of the excellent NetStumbler wireless network monitoring program.
It’s an invaluable tool for laptop users on the move, displaying all wi-fi
connections within range, including networks that have been deliberately
hidden.
Don't forget, there's a
full archive of previous Boot Camp Top Tips at www.pctoptips.co.uk
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© R. Maybury 2008, 2008
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