Software: Lindows 4.0 is launched

By | November 24, 2011
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 Lindows.com, Inc. announced today the launch of LindowsOS 4.0 ( http://www.lindows.com/40) which “brings industry-first features to Linux desktops such as comprehensive Plug & Play support, ad blocking, spam blocking and pornography blocking along with a continued emphasis on ease-of-use and affordability” (the press release says).
 

 
“The argument from Microsoft against desktop Linux is that it may be affordable from the start, but the long term maintenance destroys those early savings,” said Michael Robertson, chief executive officer of Lndows.com, Inc. “For the first time, LindowsOS 4.0 with its Zero
Maintenance goals makes Linux far easier and lower cost to maintain than a comparable Microsoft Windows XP computer. In addition, we’re leap frogging Microsoft by unveiling a suite of operating system features to help users block spam, ads and pornography from their
desktop.”  
LindowsOS 4.0 is available immediately preinstalled on personal computers from retailers online (http://www.lindows.com/featuredbuilder) and available on CD for $59.95 MSRP (http://www.lindows.com/40) ($49.95 for US digital download only). To locate a retailer visit, http://www.lindows.com/featuredreseller. Users of LindowsOS 3.0 are eligible for a free upgrade to version 4.0 by visiting their “my.lindows” ( my.lindows.com ) account and downloading the software.

Link: Warchalking RIP?

By | November 24, 2011
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 Interesting article by Nick Langley of ComputerWeekly about ‘The demise of the warchalkers’ (warchalkers are those folk who advertise, via street scribblings, the location of publicly available and free Internet access via WiFi points:
“The fall in warchalking has been attributed to the rise in public wireless Lan services, either those that are paid for or laid on by coffee shop owners as an inducement to hang around and buy more muffins. There is also a growing number of community wireless initiatives, providing free wireless broadband in towns and villages – particularly those the broadband providers have passed by.
 
 
“But one comment on www.warchalking.com may give the real reason warchalking is dying. “I am afraid that warchalking is in danger of being washed away by the lack of active chalkers. Perhaps that is the ultimate test. Unless people are prepared to make a record of their netstumbling for the sake of others, warchalking will not last.” “
 

Software: Karen’s Powertools

By | November 24, 2011
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Karen’s Powertools have long been a favourite of mine. Check out her latest: an updated version of her Computer Profiler. The program “displays hundreds of bits of information about your computer and the software it uses. Programs you’ve installed, facts about your disk drives, printers, memory, and network connections, even dozens of details of Windows itself, are all revealed by the Profiler.”
 
This is a bit geeky, but this kind of data can be useful if you need to find out what’s going wrong, or your PC vendor asks awkward questions when you’re trying to get them to fix something. This version not only covers USB devices but also reports every USB device you’ve ever connected to your computer.
 
The software’s free, but if you want to support her, buy a CD of all her work.

Mail: SpamNet

By | November 24, 2011
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Further to my recent column on spam, a reader from Selangor, Malaysia, J. Allen Otten, recommends
SpamNet from Cloudpoint: 
 
“Works rather well and I do not lose emails I really should get.  Cloudpoint places spam (and suspected spam) in a folder called Spam.  If it fails to catch a message that is spam, you can add that message to the filter and next time, you won’t get it.
 
“I get about 30 spams a day.  Cloudpoint gets 28+ of them with no repeats; only the new ones get by.  I do have to delete messages from the Spam folder from time to time and I do have to add a new message source or two a day to the filter.  Short of changing my email address, this program works.”
 
SpamNet costs $4 a month.