Every so often you hear, often via a long grapevine of some scary vulnerability that has been found in some piece of software. You panic, but then you hear you only have to worry if you are using version 3.4.33.2.8.a release 7b.....
So what version do you have and if you have version 3.4.33.2.8.a release 7c, do you still have to worry?
The solution to this, and more importantly to ensure you stay ahead of the grapevine, is to install Secunia Personal Software Inspector. This clever piece of free software scans your installed programmes and checks them against what Secunia has in its database as known issues. Secunia collects, evaluates, verifies, and analyses security information from public mailing lists, security and vendor websites, coordinated vulnerability reports, and internal research and gives it to us on a silver platter. No worries. And for free.
This is a great addition to the tools you should have in your arsenal to keep you protected for the baddies. You should already be behind a router, have a firewall, have an updated anti-virus installed and have some anti-spyware utility, and now the perfect weapon for a pre-emptive strike.

Link : psi.secunia.com

Labels: free software, secunia personal software inspector, software, version control, vulnerabilities

Posted by eishman at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Most South African radio stations have an online presence complete with a streaming component so you can listen online, from your computer, anywhere in the world.
StrategyOnline have now consolidated many of these stations into one little desktop application called Amaradio. This means you don't have to surf over to the stations website, you simply choose the station of your choice from the menu. Very nifty!
As an added bonus, you can also record directly to mp3. I am looking forward to using this feature. Now I can simply record the shows I enjoy but have difficulty listen to, particularly in the evenings and then listen to them later ala a podcast.

This is a great feature for those of you ex-pats wanting to keep in touch with the motherland.

If I can send a suggestion to the guys @ StrategyOnline for a little feature that would be extremely cool? How about allowing to a timer recording option?

Labels: amaradio, free software, streaming

Posted by eishman at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

From DIY to cooking, technology to gardening, you name it, there is always the need to convert stuff.
The world was supposed to have switched to metric, but the reality is that there will always be remnants of other measurement systems around.

www.online-unit-converter.com
is giving away a little piece of software that will assist you when you find yourself pondering over how many centimeters in a foot or how fast your yacht is travelling when you were 'cruising' at 10 knots in the bay. Not to mention when the commentators start talking about the 22 yard line at the RWC!
There is an exhaustive list of different units of measurement, I am pretty sure you will find any conversion requirement you might have. (If not there is a link you can submit further suggestions on the website)

Download here : You never know when you might need this little beauty!

Labels: conversions, eish, free software

Posted by eishman at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

I took a big parenting step a fortnight ago and installed a pc in my 12 year old daughter's bedroom, with internet access. What could have been an unnerving relinquishing of power and control was made extremely easy when I found Crawler Parental Control.
This awesome, free, package allows you to protect your children in a number of ways. On a pc level you are able to restrict the applications they can use and install, the folders they can access and even dictate the websites they can access. It has a built in website filter that will block inappropriate content and even prevent your credit card details being used without your knowledge.
For me, the most powerful module is the time scheduling. You are able to set, when your children are able to use the computer, by time of the day, day of the week and maximum hours per day, week etc. The same can be done for time spent online.
All this plus details reports of usage emailed to you, for free.

Download here.

Labels: crawler parental control, eish, free software, parents

Posted by eishman at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments

The main reason for me starting this blog was to have an avenue to share things I have found on the internet that can be useful to others.
One of the websites I have been using for a couple of years now is FreewareFiles.com. This is a fantastic site that has thousands of genuinely free applications, drivers & codecs. There is not much you will not find here.
I case in point was this past weekend. I have been using iTunes to rip my cds but for some reason iTunes would not open. I really wasn't in the mood to spend time troubleshooting, so I went to FreewareFiles.com and did a quick search for a cd ripper, downloaded Free Cd Ripper v1.4 and began ripping all withing a couple of minutes.
From games to accounting software, Audio players to web development tools, I am not aware of a utility you will not be able to find here, and it's free.
Sure propriety software will often (but not always) contain a whole load features that these app.s won't but the beauty of the applications you will find here is that they are usually lightweight. That way you don't need to spend hours downloading and installing something that may or may not fulfill your requirements, and then still have to pay to use it.
I especially enjoy checking in every now and then to see what the most popular downloads are and if there is anything interesting in the new files listing.
Another nice feature that each download is rated.
Next time there is something you need some software do yourself a favour and pop into FreewareFiles.com.

btw, no Eish does not get paid to post.

Labels: eish, free software

Posted by eishman at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

With food inflation expected to hit 20% this year, here is something that may help extend the monthly stipend just a little.

There are some good free anti-virus packages available for download.

I have been using Grisoft's free version of AVG anti-virus for some time now. What made me think of sharing this in today's post was a comments made by well-known columnist and blogger John Dvorak (www.dvorak.org/blog) endorsing AVG in the popular This Week in Tech podcast earlier this week. (www.twit.tv)
If he uses it, with all his resources available, hey, it can't be all that bad.

So my tip for the weekend, surf over to http://free.grisoft.com and download yourself a copy. Not only is it free, but it uses way less resources when scanning and updating in comparison with the other commercial competitors, particularly Symantec's Norton anti-virus.

Another open-source option is Clamwin (http://www.clamwin.com/), I have given it a short-term test, and the only frailty is the lack of real-time scanning.

Bye for now!

Labels: anti-virus, avg, clamwin, dvorak, free anti-virus, free software, grisoft, twit, virus scan

Posted by eishman at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments