Thanks, Hotdog, this is terrific!

Jaw-dropping indeed. Thanks, I had never visited that site before.

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/10-linux-live-disks-worth-exploring-1.html

Open Source Software: The Mega List for Android, iPad, Linux, OS X, Windows.

A jaw-dropping 1,000+ open source software tools. Open source software for, well, everything: Desktop, security, multimedia, small businesses, enterprises, education....

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/open-source-software-the-mega-list-1.html

http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/AMD-dismisses-numerous-open-source-developers-1745131.html

AMD dismisses numerous open source developers

LinuxCon Europe name tag of a former AMD employee As part of a process to reduce its staff by 15 per cent, AMD has closed the Dresden, Germany-based Operating System Research Center (OSRC) and dismissed the centre's employees.

A look at the patches contributed to the Linux kernel by AMD employees reveals that the closure will cause AMD to lose almost all developers who have recently submitted major changes to support new AMD processors and chip sets in Linux. The OSRC had around 25 employees who also helped integrate important changes for new AMD platforms into Linux distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise. Some of the OSRC developers also worked on open source virtualisation solutions such as the Xen hypervisor.

http://wcitleaks.org/news/

The U.N.'s Internet Power Grab Wall Street Journal
Leaked documents show a real threat to the international flow of information
Keep the Internet Open New York Times
More and more governments are trying to take away the Internet as we know it.
Why is the UN Trying to Take over the Internet? Forbes
The International Telecommunications Union, an agency of the UN, is trying to take over the Internet. Yes, really.
World War 3.0 Vanity Fair
Privacy, piracy, security, sovereignty—the divisions on these issues reflect an even deeper split between those who want tight control and those who want unfettered freedom.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303822204577470532859210296.html

It's easy to understand why countries like Russia, China and Iran would want to rewire the Internet, cutting off access to their citizens and undermining the idea of a World Wide Web. What's more surprising is that U.S. diplomats are letting authoritarian regimes hijack an obscure U.N. agency to undermine how the Internet works, including for Americans.

The failure by U.S. negotiators to stop attacks on the Internet became known only through documents leaked last week.
The process is secret, so it was hard to know what authoritarian governments were plotting or how the U.S. was responding.
Disclosure came when two academics decided to use the openness of the Web to help save the Web. George Mason University researchers Jerry Brito and Eli Dourado earlier this month created a site called WCITLeaks.org. They invited anyone with access to the documents describing the U.N. proposals to post them, so as "to foster greater transparency." These documents are not classified but had not been made public.
The WCITLeaks site hit pay dirt this past Friday. Someone leaked the 212-page planning document being used by governments
"controlling the content that consumers can access online."
Several proposals would give the U.N. power to regulate online content for the first time, under the guise of protecting against computer malware or spam. Russia and some Arab countries want to be able to inspect private communications such as email. Russia and Iran propose new rules to measure Internet traffic along national borders and bill the originator of the traffic, as with international phone calls. That would result in new fees to local governments and less access to traffic from U.S. "originating" companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple. A similar idea has the support of European telecommunications companies, even though the Internet's global packet switching makes national tolls an anachronistic idea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/opinion/keep-the-internet-open.html?_r=0

Keep the Internet Open
The Internet stands at a crossroads. Built from the bottom up, powered by the people, it has become a powerful economic engine and a positive social force. But its success has generated a worrying backlash. Around the world, repressive regimes are putting in place or proposing measures that restrict free expression and affect fundamental rights. The number of governments that censor Internet content has grown to 40 today from about four in 2002. And this number is still growing, threatening to take away the Internet as you and I have known it.
The decisions taken in Dubai in December have the potential to put government handcuffs on the Net. To prevent that — and keep the Internet open and free for the next generations — we need to prevent a fundamental shift in how the Internet is governed.
I encourage you to take action now: Insist that the debate about Internet governance be transparent and open to all stakeholders.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/08/09/why-the-un-is-trying-to-take-over-the-internet/

Why is the UN Trying to Take over the Internet?
Yet another anachronistic regulator is trying to flex its muscles over the Internet. But this time the U.S. government is actually the one trying to stop them.
That’s right. It’s the United Nations. Specifically, the International Telecommunications Union, a 150 year-old
bureaucracy that started life establishing telegraph standards. The ITU has since mutated into coordinating international telephone interconnection and radio spectrum, and became part of the U.N. in 1947. But it has never had a meaningful role in dealing with the Internet.

At least until now.
That could change dramatically later this year, when 193 member nations and hundreds of non-voting private members will meet in Dubai for the World Conference on International Telecommunications, or WCIT.
Worse, Internet users who object to proposed changes may not even know what to complain about or who to complain to. Following ITU rules, the proposals are being circulated and deliberated in secret, making it difficult to know what is being proposed and who users can hold accountable.
Countries like Russia, Iran, and China hope to co-opt the ITU into an agency that provides cover for their long-standing efforts to censor Internet content. The phone companies, meanwhile, are using the WCIT process to propose new ways to tax the most popular Internet content, nearly all of which originates in the U.S.
* As Americans learned in last year’s fight over SOPA and PIPA, and as advocates around the world continue to discover in protests over secret global intellectual property treaties including ACTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership *
“Such expanded ‘monitoring capabilities’ for the ITU fit perfectly into Mr. Putin’s vision of the Internet of the future,” he said.
But that will come as cold comfort in December to billions of Internet users, when a secretive UN agency will convene a rogue’s gallery of repressive governments and economic opportunists, closes its doors, and decides the future of a technology it knows nothing about.
That is, unless Internet users around the world wake up and put a stop to this nonsense.

http://en.rsf.org/european-union-down-with-acta-the-eu-must-protect-02-07-2012,42930.html

Reporters Without Borders hails the European Parliament’s rejection of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) today by 478 votes to 39. This is a victory for freedom of information and Net neutrality.
02.07.12 - Down with ACTA! The EU must protect our commons [Signatories] have a look

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/european-technology/internet-censorship-let-it-rot-in-walled-gardens/1333

Internet censorship: Let it rot in walled gardens
Takeaway: Attempts to shut us up in walled gardens and curb our online freedoms are impossible to implement and police. The nature of the internet sees to it that they are doomed to fail.
The internet was designed to enable military communications to find their way around points of failure in the event of a nuclear war. If one node fails or “drops certain messages because it doesn’t like their subject the messages find their way past that node anyway by some other route”, according to Gilmore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Shield_Project

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International_Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/european-technology/internet-freedom-why-we-must-throw-off-our-online-shackles/1249

If there is a moral here, it is that all attempts to control information are futile because people and technology will always find a way to circumvent them.

https://blog.torproject.org/blog/china-blocking-tor-round-two

https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-partially-blocked-china

http://www.cs.kau.se/philwint/static/gfc/

How the Great Firewall of China is Blocking Tor
chinese filtering infrastructure This study investigated how the Great Firewall of China (GFC) is blocking the Tor anonymity network.
The scan is run by seemingly arbitrary Chinese computers which connect to the bridge and try to


march12.rsf.org/i/Report_EnemiesoftheInternet_2012.pdf

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/enemies_of_the_internet_not_just_for_dictators_anymore.php

But what's troubling about this year's report is the inclusion of two democratic countries: Australia and South Korea. [2010]
Both countries were included in the report's Under Surveillance list - a sub group of the main Enemies list.
Australia's proposed online filtering system is something RWB says it has "never before seen in a democracy." Additionally, in the state of South Australia it's now against the law to be anonymous online if it's in the context of an election.

http://en.rsf.org/beset-by-online-surveillance-and-12-03-2012,42061.html

This report, which presents the 2012 list of countries that are “Enemies of the Internet” and “under surveillance,” updates the report published on 12 March 2011.

http://en.rsf.org/recommendations-concerning-access-02-11-2010,38724.html

The Federal Shield Law must allow blogs and whistleblower websites the same protection as it does to all other media organizations
To regularly assess domestic press freedom issues and the working conditions of journalists throughout the country

http://en.rsf.org/reporters-without-borders-keeps-13-03-2012,42090.html

Reporters Without Borders denies reports that it was “excluded” from UNESCO during this UN body’s most recent executive council session for a supposed “lack of ethics.” False reports to this effect have been circulated by certain media, especially in Latin America, without any attempt at verification.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17350225

Bahrain and Belarus have been added to Reporters Without Borders' annual list of "enemies of the internet".
India and Kazakhstan have also joined Australia remains on the register France

"Enemies of the internet"

Bahrain
Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam

"Countries under surveillance"

Australia
Egypt
Eritrea
France
India
Kazakhstan
Malaysia
Russia
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
It also says that Blackberry's decision to assist the authorities without a prior court order during the London riots is "a worrying development".

http://www.top5ofanything.com/index.php?h=043460fc

The Top 5 Most Blacklisted Websites on the Internet
Blacklisted Website Percentage of Networks Blacklisting
Sources: OpenDNS Report: "Web Content Filtering and Phishing" 2010.
List Notes: Data is for the year 2010. Data is most blacklisted sites where there is a focus by businesses and organizations on preventing traffic to specific websites based on a combination of their popularity and content and thus preventing cyber-procrastination in the workplace or at schools and institutions. Percentages indicate the proportion of networks using blacklisting that reference a given site. OpenDNS is a global DNS service for consumers, schools and businesses which, according to them: "resolves 30 billion DNS queries per day, services 15 million requesting IP addresses per day and handles DNS for 1 percent of all Internet users worldwide."Data is for the year 2010.
1 Facebook.com 14.2%
2 MySpace.com 9.9%
3 YouTube.com 8.1%
4 Doubleclick.net 6.4%
5 Twitter.com 2.3%

http://www.techishare.com/security/skip-open-candy-during-installation-of-softwares/

So How do you skip Open candy?

You have 3 options

See the ad and choose not to install the recommended software

Disconnect Internet when running such an application

Use the /NOCANDY switch to skip opencandy

https://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250543/actually_open_source_code_is_better_report.html

Actually, Open Source Code Is Better: ReportActually, Open Source Code Is Better: Report

http://www.majorgeeks.com/story.php?id=33365

Trend Micro Announces HijackThis to Go Open Source (Update)

The download of the source was made available in Uniz form or individual files. We have zipped the download back up for easy download and use. You can download the source from Majorgeeks here.

The original HijackThis from Merijn was a great tool back in the day for finding and removing some difficult malware. Every geek had (or still has) this on their computer. The program was taken over by Trend Micro and has not been updated in over a year.

in France, the switch takes place at 9:00 AM

finishes at 07:59:59 gmt for me.

Too true. Where I am the giveaway switches over at 3 A.M. If I'm not mistaken, it's 7 P.M. for Bubby. Regardless of time zones, it switches at the same moment for everyone everywhere, no matter what our respective clocks are reading. You then have 24 hours to grab it. The remaining time is always stated on the front page.

The Evernote giveaway ran for 24 hours and completed almost 21 hours ago.

Todays giveaway "memOptimizer" finishes in about 3 hours time, then the next giveaway will begin.

You are correct. today hasn't ended just yet. But Evernote had to be installed yesterday.

It 4:50 pm as I write this. the day hasn't ended. How do i get this Evernote to install?

You'd be surprised how many times I commented/posted about VirtualDub on here ;>

KompoZer is a WYSIWYG HTML Editor based on Nvu. KompoZer provides novice web authors without any HTML experience with a tool to create web sites. It is free, easy to use yet has many features found in FrontPage and even Dreamweaver. The project strives to fix bugs in the NVU project and added new features to it. KompoZer is a continuation of the Nvu project and has corrected many bugs, improved the user interface and updated the CSS editor when compared to the 1.0 baseline. KompoZer is more stable and mature than Nvu. In March 2007 it was featured on Download.com's round up on the best free alternatives to Adobe CS3, where it was favorably compared to Adobe Dreamweaver [source Wikipedia]

What's new:

Developer Notes: I'm very pleased to announce that KompoZer 0.7.10 is finally available. This release corrects many bugs of Nvu 1.0 and includes a usable version of the CSS editor, CaScadeS. Unlike the 0.7.9.xxx snapshots, this release is stable and ready for end-users. KompoZer users are strongly encouraged to upgrade.

Changes:

- Application fixed: the extension manager is now able to use the extensions proper locales
- fixed: the same source code now builds on Linux (gcc4.1), MacOSX (gcc3.5), Win32 (vs7.0) and OS/2 (?).
- fixed: (win**) KompoZer and Nvu can run simultaneously (various similary bugs have been corrected)
- fixed: win98 KompoZer now has its own icon in the taskbar
- fixed: the icon has been changed
- HTML Editor o fixed: the toolbars can be customized without relaunching KompoZer
- fixed: links can be styled in wysiwyg
- fixed: display a clickable label on objects, scripts and hidden form inputs ('normal' & 'HTML tags' views)
- added: red dotted borders around
containers ('normal' & 'HTML tags' views)
- added: undo/redo buttons in the main toolbar o fixed: hiding the rulers improves speed and reliability
- fixed: bug in the vertical ruler that causes Nvu/KompoZer to be stuck in 'source' mode o modified: the markup cleaner does not remove empty blocks with ID/class attributes any more
- modified: the markup cleaner now considers

Source and download for windows --> http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=42335

Other operating systems --> http://kompozer.net/

VirtualDub is a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP), licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It lacks the editing power of a general-purpose editor such as Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations over video. It has batch-processing capabilities for processing large numbers of files and can be extended with third-party video filters. VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and also handle sets of BMP images.

Changelog

[features added]
* Added display option for showing display debugging info.
* Frame rate adjustment can now be entered exactly, including as a rational fraction.
* Jobs can now be reloaded for tweaking.
* Capture: Added several options for fine-tuning timing issues with DirectShow-based capture drivers.
* D3D: Improved bicubic algorithm for ps1.1+ capable cards.
* D3DFX: Extended annotation and semantics support -- see help for details.
* Hex editor: Now supports drag and drop.

Link -->> http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=9649&package_id=9727&release_id=536408

I have downloaded both of the Biathlon games, installed and activated both games with no problem but I cannot get either one to get past the intro screen. At the end of the intro, instead of going to the next screen to begin the game It takes me back to the set up file page. Does anybody know how to fix this problem? If so, please leave a comment with instructions. Thanks a million!

First guess - DEP. (It's happened to me before).

DEP Issue
This only effects certain CPU's using the so called NX bit.
Additionally you MUST have XP SP2, OR Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to add this mod.
You need to disable data execution prevention for vtf.exe

Click Start button. Click Settings. Click Control Panel. Click System. When the System Properties box comes up, you'll see many tabs up at the top. Click Advanced. In the first section of the Advanced box, you'll see "Performance" and a button labeled "Settings". Click the Settings button. You'll see another window come up for Performance Options with three tabs at the top. Click "Data Execution Prevention".

By default, it's set to the top option; "Turn on DEP for essential..."
Click the circle underneath that, labeled "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:" (You'll see a message at the bottom that your pc does not support hardware DEP blah blah blah.)

Click the button on the bottom labeled "Add". A box will come up labeled Open. Click that. It will probably default to showing a view of files under your profile name. At the top, where it says "Look in:" click the down arrow next to whatever folder name is inside the box. Browse to and select "vtf.exe". Double click that. You should now see that it is added to the DEP window as an exception. Click Apply on the bottom of the Performance Options box. Close all the System Properties Windows.

Reboot

Check if that fixes it. If not - just set the option back how it was and reboot.

Secondly - try running without antivirus or antispyware type software running - they might be conflicting or blocking it (incorrectly).

Yesterday I posted (see original post below) about not being able to run "Video to Flash's" main application (VTF.exe).

The other exe files (flvplayer.exe & SAFlashPlayer.exe) run fine.

I have reinstalled twice & verified that I have the correct permissions in my registry.

I am able to view .swf & .flv on the internet and can access Flash files with other programs.

I am at a loss, and hope that someone will post a workable solution.

As much as I want the problem solved so I can use the program, I want it more because of all the time I have put into trying to get it to work. It leaves a bad feeling when a piece of software beats you!

Thanks.

ORIGINAL POST:

[I am having a problem getting todays offering, “Wondershare Video to Flash Encoder” to work.

I downloaded it, activation went fine, installed it without any problem.

The problem is that the main program “VTF.exe” will not open\run.

The program comes with 3 applications:
_VTF.exe
_flvplayer.exe
_SAFlashPlayer.exe

The two player apps work fine, I am assuming that VTF.exe is the main program, but clicking on the shortcut or directly from the programs folder produces nothing. Nothing opens & nothing loads.

I would sure like to use this application, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the help.]

I love firefox. I've got some great customizations on it that make my web experience great every time! As for Thunderbird, or other email clients - I prefer webmail. Too many chances for viruses and malware to infect your computer when you download and open emails, or even just delete them before opening. With webmail, everything stays on the server. And IF your computer needs to be reformatted, everything is still right on the server next time you log in.

I couldn't function without tabbed browsing. I first found tabbed browsing about 10 years ago with http://www.netcaptor.com and I still use it on my laptop because the keyboard navigation is second nature to me now.

I have a multi-threaded brain that tends to just dive off on tangents (or is it that I'm easily distracted) - so multiple tabs allows me to easily branch off in 10 new directions and backtrack easily, when I remember what it was I was originally....

... what was I saying?

Thanks Lee :D

No Avant? I loved Mozilla but it became a hog. Oh so happy when the team released Firefox as a light alternative. Haven't used Seamonkey,..I've read too many negative comments on it. No need for it here, anyhooo.

I tried an early version of Thunderbird and had problems with it hanging and crashing, so I put that on the back-burner for a while. A friend installed it at Christmastime, it crashed and she lost her address book and saved mail. Now she does backups, haahaa!
Ahh computer nerds,..will they ever learn? I'm happy knowing south of nothing.

Tabbed browsing is horses-for-courses. I didn't like it at first - Can't live without it now.

I don't like tabbed browsing myself, I prefer I.E. tabbed turned off.

I have Netscrape oops netscape, firefox, mozilla, seamonkey and opera installed to check web pages I write.

I like Thunderbird, great for my hotmail, gmail and aol emails.

Mozilla Mutt here! Devout fan since its inception. I have to say that Firefox is the best thing since sliced milk (ahh come on, don't tell me you missed it!). Better than Opera, and leaves IE dead in the water.

Feature packed tabbed browser, security enhanced as mentioned in above posts (Switch Proxy & Tor plug-ins also available), with an abundance of themes and more plug-ins than you can shake a sheik at.

Run your media player directly from the browser with Foxy Tunes - Pluck web video from YouTube, Meta Cafe, etc with Video Downloader or alternatives - Forecost Fox for local weather-casts - Use Fox Lingo to translate foreign websites - Footie Fox for live European and English football scores (just for Lee) - Fox Clocks for a 'mouse-over' of world times - Flash Got Downloader.....And that would not fill one page of what must be 100 or more pages of plug-ins (but who's counting).

Tab Mix Plus, All-In-One Sidebar, Add Bookmarks Here, Update Notifier and Quick Restart give your browser added functionality and ease of use.

Check it out...
Firefox Central http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central.html
A universe of Add-Ons https://addons.mozilla.org/?application=firefox

Be a part of the team.
Mozilla Developer Center http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Main_Page
Mozilla Zine http://www.mozillazine.org/

A great backup and restore utility for Mozilla. http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

It's more than a browser,...it's a community.

Foxy surfing!

Thanks Lee,

My favorite browser by far. It's just super!
One of the best Add-ons to install is of course, Adblock Plus with which you can easily remove all ads you choose to. But you can also use it to see exactly which scripts any web page is loading and eventually block it. Another recommended add-on is Flashblock because too much flash on a page is not only annoying, but it eats you CPU power.

G.O.

Released today, the alternative open source browser named FireFox.

The award-winning Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence. Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups.
Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started.

The latest version delivers easier navigation for everyone, including those who are visually or motor-impaired. Firefox is the first browser to support DHTML accessibility, which, when enabled by Web authors, allows rich Web applications to be read aloud. Users may navigate with keystrokes rather than mouse clicks, reducing the tabbing required to navigate documents such as spreadsheets. Firefox 1.5 (Windows version) is also the first browser to meet US federal government requirements that software be easily accessible to users with physical impairments.

Download (various versions) Note latest is top right as you look at screen.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_firefox/

Seems you must be an AOL user.

Your AOL browser when opened starts at the AOL forum.

Like when I finish an install my default browser opens.

If it's a fact you use AOL and use broadband, there is no need to install their buggy software to connect to the net.

I am an AOL user and I set my connection up manually, no software needed.

This is really strange. Everytime I try to run one of the setup programs downloaded for giveaway of the day programs, my system only installs AOL Open Forum. Any idea what can possibly be going on?

I've read just about everything I possibly can, done everything suggested everywhere on these forums for similar problems, and read the readme to the program itself.

My problem's completely odd, it seems, and maybe it has nothing to do with the download or program and everything to do with my computer, but here goes:

I've successfully downloaded, unzipped, installed, and activated the program. All of that stuff works fine. My problem is that when I try to open the program (AVS Audio Editor) from anywhere on my computer, it simply doesn't open. It runs as a process in the task manager, but not as an application. The program does everything but actually open on my computer. Most oddly, I am able to open the program from the installation menu by checking the box for "Open AVS Audio Editor Now" or whatever it says (in the final stage of the installation). The program opens and I can use it, but once I close it, I can't get it to open again. The only way I can seem to open it is by installing the program again and checking that option again. I can't seem to open it any other way. I'm not completely computer illiterate, but I don't get it. I'm really hoping one of you guys can help me out.