Clif Sipe

One of my old Internet friends, Steven Burn , wrote me about finding malware in a program called Kiwi Alpha, which is a peer to peer file sharing client. He found it at Download.com. He also knows I've had bad experiences at Download.com in the ... past. Steven sent me a link to a thread at SpywareWarrior's forums where he had posted his analysis of Kiwi Alpha. It looked bad, but naturally I had to try it for myself. Preparation I created a clean Windows 98 virtual machine using Microsoft's free Virtual PC program. Then I googled for the page at Download.com. I found Kiwi Alpha and installed it ... (view more)

Flock is a free Internet browser based on Mozilla Firefox that is tweaked to let you socialize with the rest of the planet more easily. Last week, I received an email from Flock asking me to try the newest beta version. I tried it out for awhile and ... now you'll know what I think of it. Flock: Setup After downloading Flock and installing it, I was presented with a wizard that tried to walk me through the setup. Flock uses several free services that allow it to do some unique things. I had a few problems getting through its Wizard, mainly because I wasn't signed up for all the services Flock ... (view more)

I've been hearing a lot of hype about this Windows Genuine Advantage program. I especially liked Brandon Dimmels articles about it here at Infopackets (see "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Under Fire"). I don't like programs that needlessly contact ... their home websites to report on me. Many people call that "Spyware" and I also agree that WGA fits the description. It's taken a little while for me to figure out what to do about WGA. The funny thing to me is that I've had the "Fix" on my PC for a long time. Here's what I've done ... Install BigFix Turn off automatic downloading of Windows ... (view more)

File compression is a method used to make files smaller. Most often file compression (sometimes referred to as "archiving") is used to take a collection of files and pack them into a single, smaller file. For a good analogy: compressing a series of ... files would be similar to packing a suit case of clothing before a vacation trip: it's smaller, easier to transport, and when you arrive at your destination, you can unpack it. Compressed files are often used to save storage and for sending files over email because they take up less space and travel faster when they are "packed. ... (view more)

Is it safe to meet online people in person? For the most part, meeting a cyber-buddy for the first time can be a relatively safe experience, providing that you use the proper precautions. Having said that, there are a few guidelines that I'd ... recommend when meeting an online friend for the first time: Get a phone number and call to verify it's legitimate. Always meet in a well lit, public place in a safe neighborhood. Make sure others know who you are meeting and where the meeting is. Don't meet people alone; if possible take another friend along. Here are some additional guidelines from a ... (view more)

After all the warnings and horror stories I've heard about problems with the beta versions of Internet Explorer 7 ("IE7"), it took a little courage for me to try it out. So far, I haven't seen any ill effects from installing IE7 beta, but was it ... worth the download? Short answer: No! Long answer below. ;-) Internet Explorer 7 Beta: Installation I downloaded the 12mb IE7 beta installer from Microsoft and fired it up. Not surprisingly, the first thing the installer wanted to do was to scan my PC to make sure I was running a legitimate copy of MS Windows. Since this wasn't an issue for ... (view more)

Clif Notes Reader 'Gerald' from Africa writes: " Thank you Clif for your help with Tidying up the Start Menu. I have another question for you today, if I may. How can I get spellcheck to work in outlook express? The option appears to be not ... available. " Clif's response: You can get around this problem by using a freeware Spell Checker for Outlook Express. Note that the spell check in Outlook Express won't work (by default) unless you have MS Office installed. From the Major Geek web site: " [SpellChecker for OE is a] free program, made to allow people to use Spell Checker in Outlook Express. ... (view more)

Gerald from South Africa writes: " Dear Clif, I look forward to your weekly letters with great anticipation for I am always finding useful programs to experiment with and some to retain. I now have so many programs in my Start -> Programs Folder ... that there are now 3 full columns. How do I alter the columns into one long column? Also when I right click on the programs in the list I no longer get any response from the right click button so I am unable to remove those shortcuts that I no longer wish to retain. Clif's response: A freeware version of Tidy Menu comes to mind. From the web ... (view more)

How do you know which freeware is safe to download? The fact is that trying out new, free software is sometimes risky. For example: some web sites will purposely mislead visitors by implying that their software is free -- but in fact, the "free" ... software comes bundled with added Spyware or adware . One good rule of thumb is to stick to downloading software from trusted sources (such as infopackets and Clif Notes); but if you're like me and you're always trying out new software on a regular basis, you don't always have the luxury of trusting a source. That's when I break out the big ... (view more)

Quick Access InfoBar is a cool little tool that transforms your Windows Task Manager into a source of information about the processes that are running on your PC. The program comes from UniBlue (the makers of WinTasks Professional ), which has ... always been one of my trusted sources for process information. From processlibrary.com: " As many as 20 to 30 processes may be running invisibly, silently in the background on your PC. Some hog system resources drastically slowing down your computer; others are a threat to security and privacy; others may be harmless. The Windows Task Manager ... (view more)