Applications I have on my pc

I recently switched from Ubuntu to Linux Mint 12. The reason for the change was that after I updated Ubuntu to the newest version I simply didn't like it as much as the previous version but still wanted some of the new things. Here is a list of programs/applications I have on the pc:

Accessories

• 7 zip
• Alarm Clock (timer program)
• Caffeine (tells computer to not go to sleep or activate screensaver)
• Gwhere (CD/DVD database program to keep track of what I have stored on DVDs)
• Gourmet Recipe Manager
• Redshift (Alters colors to help with sleep) if off-line type into terminal the longitude and latitude (okay really all I did was make a command shortcut that automatically launches my location) 
• Slidewall - wallpaper manager that lets me have a slideshow for my wallpaper
• Tomboy Notes (note taking program very convenient)

Education

• Tagaini Jisho (Japanese translator/dictionary)
• Tux Typing (Typing practice program/game)

Games

• Aisleriot Solitaire (multiple Solitaire games)
• Dolphin emulator (Gamecube and Wii emulator)
• Dosbox emulator
• Extreme Tux Racer (racing game)
• FCE Ultra or GFCE Ultra (Nintendo Emulator)
• Free Dink (RPG game)
• Gens/Gs (Genesis, Sega Cd, 32x emulator)
• Gbrainy (logic, math, and memory games)
• hugo 2.12 (Turbographics/PCE Engine emulator)
• Mupen64plus (Nintendo64 emulator)
• PCSX (Playstation Emulator)
• PCSX2 (playstation 2 Emulator)
• QT Nethack
• Steam (play steam games)
• Super Tux (Mario type game with a penguin)
• Super Tux Kart (Similar to Mariokart)
• VBA-M (Gameboy, Gameboy Advance emulator)
• Yabausa (Sega Saturn Emulator)
• Zsnes (Super Nintendo Emulator)

Graphics

• MComix (Comic book viewer)
• Gimp Image editor

Internet

• Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Pidgin Instant Messenger
• Transmission (torrent program)
• WebHTTrack Website Copier

Firefox add-ons

• Adblock Plus
• Adblock Plus Element Hider
• Adblock Plus Pop-up add-on
• Chatzilla (currently disabled only enable it when using it)
• Cookie whitelist with buttons
• DownThemAll!
• DownThemAll! AntiContainer
• DuckDuckGo SSL (Search Engine)
• EPUB Reader
• FireFTP (Currently Disable only enable it when using it)
• FlagFox
• Flashblock
• Ghostery
• HTTPS-Everywhere
• Internet Archive (Search Engine)
• Ixquick HTTPS (Search Engine)
• NoScript
• qrobe.it (Search Engine)
• Video Downloadhelper

Office

• Calibre (E-book organizer and viewer)
• LibreOffice (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.)
• PDF-Shuffler (PDF editing)
• RedNoteBook (Journal/ offline blog)

Sound and Video

• K3B (CD/DVD burning program much better than the one that installs with Ubuntu/Linux Mint)
• Pitivi or Openshot Movie Editor
• SMplayer or GNOME Mplayer(Mplayer frontend that plays VCD's correctly)
• TiMiditty ++ Midi Sequencer (needed to get Wine to play Midi's in old games properly)
• VLC Player (All around movie player)

Science

• Biogenesis
• Periodic Table of Elements
• Stellarium

System Tools

• Bleachbit (similar to Ccleaner for windows - deletes unneeded stuff and keeps privacy)
• FSlint (does multiple things only thing I use it for is to check for duplicate files)
• Jupiter (power management and tells the computers internal temperature and changes screen orientation)
• Ubuntu Tweak (slightly easier way to do some system maintenance or set settings)

WINE (windows programs installed)

• Adobe Digital Edition - ebook viewer for some propriety ebooks
• DVDFAB 9 (DVD copier - used to use k9copy but that stopped working so got this instead)
• Fanfiction Downloader (google has an online version that works as well but prefer one kept on the computer)
• Iso Buster (Iso editing program I use to save Playstation games to the computer since it works better than any of the other similar programs I've tried)
• Several portable apps which are convenient for when I use other people's or public pcs.

Ubuntu 11

For the last nine months the primary computer I use has had Ubuntu Linux running in classic mode as it's operating system. I tried a couple other versions of Linux as well such as Puppy Linux via Live Cd and eventually decided on Ubuntu as the operating system of choice. For the most part I like Linux more than I did Windows. I have had several versions of Windows (98, XP, 2000, and Vista) and I had more problems with them than I have had with Ubuntu since I've been using it.

I do have two pieces of hardware that Linux doesn't run automatically. The first being the dial up modem, which I know I could get to run but would have to download a couple programs and a driver to get to it to run, the second being the finger print scanner which I don't know if I can or can not get it to run via Linux mainly because I never use the thing and have no plans on using it so I didn't even bother to find out. The dial up modem could be useful on occasion such as traveling to some places (but really a lot of places, at least around here, have wi-fi: restaurants, libraries, some parks, government buildings, stores, schools, some entire neighborhoods, etc.) and in a power outage (have several hours of battery power on the laptop and never have had the phone line not work during a power outage) but I don't feel like taking the time to get it to run. I have had hardware not work on Windows as well for example I have a scanner that will not run on Windows Vista, it is several years old and the company didn't update the drivers for Vista. That same scanner does run on Ubuntu just plugging it in though.

Pretty much every program I used on Windows, other than the games, has a Linux program that is comparable though I do run a few windows programs on WINE. WINE is a great program capable of running most of the things I want that is not on Linux (though it doesn't play everything Windows does) including at least one program that I couldn't get to run on Vista (an older Star Trek Trivia game that Windows Vista just would not play even when set to pretend to be an older system). Programs I currently have installed via WINE are: Britannica 11 (I like having an offline dictionary and encyclopedia),  Fanfiction Downloader (there is an online fanfiction downloader that is actually better in that it can download from more sites but I like having the program on the pc), Iso Buster (even though there are several programs on Linux such as K3B that can make and burn Iso's I haven't found one that saves Playstation 1 games to the computer as well as IsoBuster does - I prefer saving the games to the hard drive to play them via emulation rather than playing them from the optical drive), and a few games (Linux has games as well but Windows has a larger selection and since the games can play on WINE I might as well - though not all games can or will play on WINE). Ubuntu software center is also pretty damn convenient for finding programs to do what you want them to do.

Windows vista problems

I occasionally use a laptop that has Windows Vista on it and find problems. I usually can find solutions to the problems via the internet. After fixing the problems I recently found on the laptop I decided to create this post in which to list the problem and the solution mostly for my own reference in case I encounter the same problem again (quicker to find here then search the net for the answer again and easier to find on the blog then in a text document on the computer).

1. Can not delete a folder on the desktop. Receive the error Could not find this item.
Solution:

• Open up Command Prompt (CMD)
• type in cd then the location of the file ( c:\users\jeremiah\desktop)
• type in dir /x
• next to the file I want to delete it will say the files 8.3 name [ex. (SUPER~1]
• type RD then [(SUPER~1] - could try DEL then the file name but that didn't work for this folder

2. Programs list is reset to defaults during logon.
Solution:

• Open Regedit
• Find: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced
• In the right-pane, create a new DWORD value named StartMenuInit
• Double-click StartMenuInit and set 3 as its data

America Recycles Day

November 15 was America Recycles Day. A day that is dedicated to encouraging Americans (though from what I can tell most of the time people say Americans they mean only USA) to recycle and to buy recycled products. I regularly recycle via curbside recycling and Abitibi paper boxes. On this day I dropped off at the zoo, they were having a recycling event in which they took various recyclables that curbside recycling does not, a box of mostly cdrs; though there were some dvdrs, aol discs, and 3.5 floppy disks as well. I used to trade anime fansubs via the mail until high speed internet and dvdrs became common.

I had traded cdrs for several years (mostly through the now mostly dead Noated forum though did so on a few other now completely gone sites) and had amassed a rather large number of cdrs. Over time I had watched them and no longer wanted the particular series, acquired the actual dvds, got better quality versions, received duplicates, put them on dvdrs to save room, poor quality cdrs that had become damaged, etc. as well as various other cds such as AOL, Netzero, old Linux distros, game sample discs, etc. I felt it was a waste to toss them out so I instead would toss them into a big box saying to myself that I am going to recycle them. I kept putting it off until I saw a flier advertising national recycling day and decided to drop them off (I first emailed the company that was doing the computer recycling to see if they took cdrs). I had looked into recycling them in the past but most places I saw that would recycle them charged or you had to ship them to the company which considering the number and weight of discs I had would have been costly.

Prior to recycling the discs I browsed a few of the discs to see if I was tossing anything I did not want to. I only looked at a few but did find some interesting things (though usually not the content). Things like how poor the quality of some of them were but at the time it had not bothered me (I still will watch things with poor video quality on occasion like youtube videos) and how my computer could no longer play some of them. For example, a few videos I looked at had Intel/Ligos Indeo Interactive 4.0 codec which is no longer supported and does not play on Vista (and is difficult to get to play on any video players including players that play most things like VLC because the 5.0 codec does not play 4.0, or doesn't do so well, and the codec is copyrighted and no longer supported by the company that made it). At the time though the codec was pretty popular with Microsoft (Btw I can get them to play by converting them to a different format but did not bother). I was also surprised about how many AOL discs were in that box there had to be at least 50 and also a few AOL 3.5 floppy's. I had a lot of internet discs from other companies like Netzero, Juno, People PC, MSN, etc. How many discs did those companies mail out?

Trying to get linux to run on usb

I am mainly a windows user because my pc came with windows. I have tried and used various linux distributions in the past and truthfully I like some aspects of linux more than I do windows (beyond the price). Windows has been pissing me off a lot recently (crashes a lot and even though the machine is not very old it already has something like 350 program crashes and several dozen crashes in which only turning the power off gets it to work again). I remember using linux on my dreamcast which you can't do with windows and the live cds are pretty helpful when you need to fix a problem in windows.

I recently got the idea in my head to put linux onto a usb drive with persistence so that I can use it on multiple machines. The main reason I wanted to do this is so that I can use the program WINE (a program that can run most windows programs). I was going to install a few programs I commonly use onto that, so that I can easily use them on all the machines I have access to. For example, I wanted to put Rosetta stone on to that so that I can use multiple machines instead of only one. Switching to linux really isn't that big a deal for me I already use VLC Player, firefox, open office, all the emulators I use are on linux as well, etc. and the few programs I use that do not have as good linux alternatives work on WINE (according to Winehq compatibility guide) . Sure the occasional windows game I play might not but I wasn't planning on uninstalling Windows.

I hadn't used linux in awhile and the few times I have done so recently was via live cd of Ubuntu 7.04 which worked on the pc I had for nearly 10 years now. I recently acquired a new machine, which that version of ubuntu does not work on. The machine I use most often (the one I am typing this up on) is a new pc without access to anything but dial up. Ubuntu does not really like this machine, I went and got the newest version of Ubuntu and it had problems loading from the live cd. Talked to the people at the ubuntu forum and they told me it was the video card and they helped me get it working.

I then used a usb thumb drive to create a bootable version that hopefully would work on multiple machines. That went well and was very easy. I used my sisters laptop that has access to wireless internet and added the programs I wanted, then updated what was already there (added Wine, restricted extras, microsoft fonts, realplayer, vlc player, some interesting education programs, turn off system beep, etc.). Everything was going well, programs were easy to install, updating was easy, the programs I wanted to add to WINE worked, etc.

Here is where things go bad. As soon as I tried to boot it again on the computer I use most often it would not work. When I tried to boot it again on the laptop it would not work. I did an integrity check and it didn't pass. So I erased it from the thumb drive and tried again. This time I was able to get it to work on both the the desktop and my sisters laptop but had problems with the desktop. First problem was that machine only has access to dial-up and Ubuntu is not set up to work with dial up. I had to download a few programs (wvdial, scan modem, martian full) and with the help of the linmodem support page I was able to get that to work. Needed to install ATI proprietary drives to get it to work. The driver update thing crashed repeatedly and wasn't able to install them. Worse when I then tried to use it on the laptop, it again would not work and then refused to work on either machine. Even when it was working it is slow to boot and had a couple errors while booting (it really doesn't like my graphics card).

I was getting fed up with it at that point. So I decided to try another distribution. I chose opensuse 11.1 with gnome. That worked very well on the laptop (might be better than ubuntu but I haven't tried it enough to really say -it supposedly can detect modems) but like ubuntu did not want to work on the desktop. Tries to load gnome repeatedly then gives up. I think I'm going to temporarily give up for a few days at least and then try a different desktop environment. I could try the beta for Ubuntu, but I think the problem is with gnome. I'm not sure which desktop environment to try next KDE or Xfce. It is a new pc with plenty of memory (500 gigabyte hard drive, 2.4 ghz, 3gb ram, a video card that can play fallout 3, etc.). Had I just wanted to install linux to my sisters laptop there wouldn't be a problem, but at least the current releases do not like the desktop computer. I could probably play with it and eventually get it to work as a dual boot or using wubi run in windows but I want it to run off usb on multiple pcs, not on just one, and so far I haven't been able to get it to do that.

Spam - Internet variety not canned meat

Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages, the term is also used to describe similar abuses in other media like blogs. Spamming remains economically viable because advertisers have no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass mailings.

I understand why people spam. There is a profit in it. I use multiple email accounts for various reasons. Currently I commonly use four. Each account has it's own purpose. One I use for purchases/trades, one for forums and newsletters, one for writing to government representatives and online petitions and complaining about product/service/business practices, and one in which I use for things online that I expect to get spam like surveys. I also use bugmenot's temporary 24 hour email address for things I expect to get spam but never want messages from. I started with only one email address but later added the others. While they were originally added for other reasons, such as a requirement of using the service or add-on to the service, I came to find it more convenient to use multiple accounts, each for a different purpose, than sub-dividing the accounts using folders and filters than to put everything at one email address. Of these email accounts the one that I expect a lot of spam gets a lot of spam, the one with purchases gets quite a bit, the one with forums and newsletters gets barely any, and the last one has not gotten any since I've begun using it (though it's annoying bulk folder keeps grabbing stuff that isn't spam).

Of the spam I get most of it is for viagra, sex, weight loss, Canadian pharmacy, lotteries I did not enter, and fraud like update account information at a bank I'm not a member of or they are going to send me money if I accept a deposit from them. I wonder how many people fall for these? Some people have to else, even with little cost in sending spam, there would be no point in doing so. Just based on the subject line you'd think that people would not open and click these emails. The tricks with fake lottos you did not enter shouldn't work, since if you never entered these lotteries how is it that you could be the winner? Get a free laptop and such should not work since everything has a price, it's just not always obvious as to what the price is. Fraud in the form of asking for personal information should not work since just about every place you visit online will tell you that they do not and will not ask for your personal information via email. The ones that I can see people falling for the most though is unsubscribe links in spam messages since the person may think they will stop sending them (and are legally required to via a federal law in the USA -CAN-SPAM Act of 2003). Really though clicking the unsubscribe link will often make it worse since they will likely log your information if you click the unsubscribe link, by clicking it you are proving to them that you opened the message and were willing to click on links provided in the message.

There are various websites and agencies in various countries that you can report online scams and spam to. In the case of banks and paypal you can report the spam to the bank or paypal and they will then report it to the authorities. I wonder how many police officers in various countries spend their entire shifts just tracing spam/online scams?

A good forum on spam and fraud is http://www.419legal.org/ It is a forum where people post information about emails or scams that they perceive as fraudulent.

Internet Speed

There are websites that complain about how slow the internet speed is like speedmatters.org.The sites compare the United States' internet speed to other countries like Japan (fyi fastest internet). They talk about how access to high-speed Internet begets opportunities that improve the quality of peoples economic, civic and personal lives. They talk about how the United States is the only industrialized country without a national policy to promote high-speed Internet access. They complain about how the US spends less as a nation on Internet investment than many of its global neighbors, but its customers pay higher prices.

My internet download speed is 23 kbps-48kbps. I connect to the internet via dial up modem. I would like to have even the slow high speed internet connection that those sites complain about. I would like to acquire high speed internet but it's not available/costs too much. I'd get dsl or wi-fi but it is not available to my house. My house is a dead zone for some reason I can not fathom. I do not live in a rural area. I live in a very urban area. There are over 3 million people living within a 50 mile radius of my house. In fact my street alone has more than a thousand people living on it. Yet my house can not get dsl and receives no cell phone signals no matter which service provider is tried (not 100% true T-mobile sometimes gets 1 bar in one of the rooms). I could get cable or satellite internet but they cost too much and most require you get it for your television as well. I have no interest in getting cable television, I prefer to watch things on DVD,VHS, VCD, etc.

This leads me to spending little time online, since I also share my computer with others and require the use of the phone for it's primary purpose of receiving phone calls. While this does annoy me greatly, I still manage to do most of the things I want to online. I just save text, like fan fiction, for off-line perusal and check my email sporadically every few days. Most of the sites I go on are mostly text and I use ad blocking software to not download in page ads which would slow the internet even more. I also download the occasional large file via library computer (using a flash drive), using someone else's internet/computer, and download over night while sleeping.

Statcounter and my blog

I've got a statcounter counter on this blog. I occasionally check it to see who came here from where and the like. I do not get all that many hits but 80% of keyword searches that find my blog, according to statcounter, are from people looking for Ranma hentai. I barely mention Ranma hentai since that is not why I'm interested in Ranma. A lot of hentai disturbs me. I mainly like Ranma for the characters. I do not want to see things like Ranma with a guy, or rape, or anything like that. I do like webcomics and dōjinshi; I don't really like hentai ones. Sadly the majority of Ranma dōjinshi seem to be hentai. Non-hentai dōjinshi are much harder to find, at least for Ranma. I have found that it is much easier to find non-hentai for some other series such as Slayers (I've read more than 20 non-hentai Slayers dōjinshis).

I do not believe that statcounter is the best counter available but it is adequate for my usage. I know it doesn't count every person who looks at this blog since it is fairly easy to prevent statcounter from detecting you. You can prevent its cookies or block it via ad blocking software such as the adblockplus add-on to Firefox and some anti-spyware programs delete its cookie or prevent it from detecting you. Statcounter offers both a free and a pay version; I use the free version that is limited to giving detailed information on only the last five hundred pageloads. It is also possible that people are viewing my blog via an RSS feed and since I do not have the statcounter on the feed I can not tell how many people are reading it through that means (I am aware that it is possible to add the statcounter script to the RSS feed but do not care enough to add it on).

The best thing about a counter is not the counting of the number of people that come to the blog but what search terms are used to find the blog. Quite often the term indicates a question, the answer of which is often times on this blog. The thing is the search engine often directs the person to the wrong posts. I am going to answer, in this post, some of the questions that directed people to this blog, but to the wrong posts. I will start with the Ranma ½ questions and then the one not related to Ranma ½.

Which city does Ranma live in?
He lives in Tokyo, Japan. In the ward of Nerima to be more specific. Nerima lies at the northwestern edge of the 23 special wards of Tokyo.

Does Jusenkyo exist?
Jusenkyo is a group of fictional pools in Ranma ½. It does not exist in real life.

Where is Jusenkyo located?
Nowhere since it doesn't exist but in the manga it is located in the Bayankala (Bayan Har Shan) mountain range, south of Mount Kensei, in Qinghai Province, China.

What order should I watch Ranma anime episodes?
Any order you want. If you want to watch them in the original Japanese order here is the order:

Ranma ½ Episodes 1-16
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 7-9
Ranma ½ Episodes 17-18
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 1-6
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 10-100
Ranma ½ Movie 1
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 101-135
Ranma ½ Movie 2
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 136-143
Ranma ½ OAVs 1-8 (first 8 OAVS)
Ranma ½ Movie 3 (which is the last OAV in the US release)
Ranma ½ Super OAVs 1-3 (OAVS 9-11)

Here is the OAV's by US title in Japanese released order:
OVA 1: "The Curse of the Contrary Jewel".
OVA 2: " "Tendö Family Christmas Scramble"
OVA 3: "I'll be the One to Inherit Mother's Recipes".
OVA 4:"Stormy Weather Comes to School! Growing up with Miss Hinako".
OVA 5-6: "The One to Carry On" parts 1 and 2.
OVA Special 1-2: "Reawakening memories" parts 1 and 2.
Movie 3: "One Flew Over the Kunö's Nest"
Super OVA 1:" Cursed Love Destroying Cave".
Super OVA 2: "The Wicked Demon".
Super OVA 3: "The Revenge Doll".

If you want to look at more of the changes made when Viz adapted the anime for release in America see: Ranma ½ Editing Report

Nabiki one of the biggest expenses for the Tendo's example?
Volume 34 page 10: Tadaimaa, kore zenbu uchino tsukede kacchattaa! (Hi I'm home, and I brought all this on our family's credit!).
---------------------------------------------

NON-Ranma - find these to actually be more interesting then the Ranma ones though this time there weren't very many.

What is the confidential nature of confessions?
Confessions in the catholic church are very confidential. A priest is bound not to break the sacramental seal by thought, sign, word, or deed; to do so he would incur the highest clerical penalty. More can be found at newadvent.org.

All the other keywords were actually directed directly to posts that gave the answer. In the past I have gotten some really interesting keyword searches to my blog and fairly strange ones completely unrelated to anything I have discussed.

Paypal Phishing

I don't know about you but the number of scam emails I've been getting lately has increased many fold. The thing is the email addresses that are getting them are not the ones I have easily found like the one in my profile. Most of those addresses don't even have a paypal account linked to them.

I rarely use paypal and don't really like it but haven't really looked into the alternatives. I know that there are problems with paypal like it not accessible to several countries, them closing/locking your account if someone complains or you sell something they consider offensive or someone makes a purchase with a stolen credit card. If I were to need a service like paypal on a regular basis I'd look into the alternatives because I don't think that paypal is the best, but I could be wrong.

Below is one of the scam emails I got. Most are caught by my spam blocker but this one managed to get through. I suspected it was an attempt to steal from me immediately but wasn't one hundred percent sure until I noticed that the link did not go to paypal.com (was only 95% sure prior to that). I didn't even click the link I checked the properties of the link and it went to some other site. I forwarded the email to paypals spoof mail and they sent me an email confirming what I already knew. I wonder how many people actually fall for these mails, some people have to else the people wouldn't bother sending them.

We recently noticed one or more attempts to log in to your PayPal account from a foreign IP address.

If you recently accessed your account while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have been initiated by you. However if you are the rightful holder of the account,click on the link below to log into the account and follow the instructions.

address removed

If you choose not to complete the request, you give us no choice but to suspend your account temporary.

It takes at least 72 hours for the investigation in this case and we strongly recommend you to verify your account at that time.

If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of PayPal policy to represent oneself as an other PayPal user.Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. PayPal is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related attempts to missapropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request or law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Thanks for your patience as we work together to protect your account.

PayPal Account Review Department.

Spyware

I had just recently read an article about sears and k-mart installing spyware on your computer when you visit their sites. The article is here: Sears: Come see the softer side of spyware This does not surprise me in the least bit. Many sites attempt to install spyware or at the least tracking cookies. Spyware is pretty much unavoidable Microsoft Windows does it. It is illegal but big corporations frequently ignore laws when they want to even starting and fighting wars like the banana wars in 1974-1975. Personally I use several spyware and virus detecting programs to protect my computer but every once in awhile one sneaks in. The hardest time I've ever had removing spyware was setting up a laptop for some one else. The computer came with several different trial softwares including spyware. The most difficult of all programs to remove was all traces of AOL. I did it but it took far longer than it should have.

Software I use

This is just a list of software I use and where I got it. I don't like supporting Microsoft or paying for software when there are free alternatives. Most of the listed programs are for windows; since that is the operating system I use most frequently.

Windows replacement: Ubuntu Linux is a good and a much more secure operating system than windows is. I use the live CD version sometimes but generally I use Windows since the computer came with it and I'm not the only one who uses the computer.

Many of the programs listed below I now tend to use the Portable app version keeping it on a usb stick for easy usage on multiple pcs.

Microsoft Office replacement: Open Office This program does basically every thing that Microsoft Office does but is free.

Internet browser - I have tried several internet browsers, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and Firefox (only counting current ones and not counting non PC ones for example the Dreamcast browsers). The one that I like the most is Firefox with Opera being a close second. Opera has some things already installed which might be useful for some people but I personally don't need and could add via extensions to Firefox. I did not like Internet Explorer or Safari. I had used Internet Explorer for several years then switched to Netscape Navigator for awhile (before AOL bought it). At this point in time I find Firefox to be the best. I use Firefox because it is much safer than internet explorer and faster with many very good add-on for improved internet browsing.

recommended add-ons to Firefox:
-adblock plus This blocks banner ads and ads on the websites. This is good in that I don't like seeing ads, slightly speeds up internet browsing and makes your computer a little bit more secure. I use these filters added EasyElement+EasyList and APB Tracking Filter+Cédrics Liste. Filters can be downloaded from here: Filter List

-adblock plus element hiding helper: This adds additional function to adblock plus allowing you to hide particular elements. I find it to be useful.

-BugMeNot I dislike signing on to view websites for example New York Times with this add-on I can just click log me in with bug me not instead of filling out the form and giving an email address.

-chatzilla I used to use Mirc for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) now I use this.

-DownThemAll - This is a good little downloader that gives me the option to download stuff later, download all the images on a page at once (extremely useful), and resume downloads.

-FireFtp - A good little ftp program.

-Google Toolbar for firefox - I like the cached web page link, highlighter, and translate page options.

-Downloadhelper - I use this to download embedded things like Youtube videos that downloadthemall doesn't

-Customize Google - This add-on gives you more control over google; it blocks google ads, makes google cookie anonymous, removes chat box from gmail, etc.

-Noscript Noscript gives more control over javascript and is good for making your computer safer from things like clickjacking (cloaked web links that look legit but download malware or redirect you).

-Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) installs opt-out cookies in the browser to prevent many online advertising networks from behavioral advertising.

-Flagfox not really a required add-on but I like the little flag showing where the site originates from.

-FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) backups Firefox extensions.

Virus Scan software - AVG Antivirus Free Edition - auto updating, email scanner, best of all free. I have tried others like Norton, Mcafee, and others but really they aren't any better than this free one is. I also use ClamWin portable since I don't trust one program to catch everything.

Browser protection utility: Spyware blaster provides protection against ActiveX based exploits, block hostile sites and discards unwanted cookies as well. Though really I don't need this since I do not use internet explorer anymore.

Anonymous Surfing Service: Tor This is good for surfing the internet anonymously though it does slow your connection down. (Lots of reasons to do this paranoia, downloading mp3's, etc.)

Image editing software: The Gimp or if you prefer it to look more like photoshop than use GimpShop.

Bittorent client: I use Utorrent.

File Destroyer: Use the one that comes with Spybot Search and Destroy.

Registry cleaner: Toni Helenius' free EasyCleaner in conjuncture with CLeaner (portable version).

Disk Defrager: I used Auslogics Defrager for a bit and liked how fast it was but I think that JKDefrag does a better job optimizing and defraging though it does take significantly longer.

Digital Image Viewer: IrfanView and comic rack.

Spyware/ adware protection programs Spybot search and destroy.

PDF writer is PDF Creator This allows you to turn any document that you can print into a PDF by making a PDF printer.

Start Up manager: Currently use either MSconfig or the one within spybot search and destroy/cleaner.

Encryption Utility: Camouflage is very good for hiding files within other files, the container file looks and works like a normal file but can use the Camouflage program to open the file and extract the embedded password protected file.

PDF viewer: Used Foxit Reader for a while but now generally prefer to use Comic Rack which is also a comic book viewing program (.cbr and .cbz).

Audio Editing Software use Audicity.

Cd/DVD recovery: Cd's and DVD's can become unreadable do to scratches or other problems ISOBLaster allows you to extract any usable information from the cd to your hard drive.

Movie Playback: I have used an assortment of video players in the past like Zoom Player and Media Player Classic. Lately though my player of choice is VLC Media player. Part of the reason I prefer it is because it plays dvds region free and I occasionally watch DVDs that are not for my region (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc.).

Real Player Files: I find the windows versions of real player to be an annoying bloated program so I use real alternative player instead.

Video editing software: I used to use VirtualDub with additional filters more can be found at Videohelp.com. I currently use DVDfab the most often, it's just simpler, though the free version is very limited.

CD Ripper: Exact Audio.

Cd Burning software: CDBurnerXP does pretty much everything that Nero does.

Copying DVD's: DVDfab and then to make the DVDs fit onto the DVD-5 blank disks use DVDShrink

Removing copy protection and region codes on DVDs/CD's: I used to use slysoft anydvd though it is a pay for program. A free one is DVD43 but it sucks. VLC Player usually can work and dvdfab can remove pretty much all copy protections if your saving it to your computer (you can do that with VLC Player as well but it's not as simple).

Virtual drive: I have tried several of these including Daemon Tools and Virtual Clone Drive but the one I currently use is magic disc.

Offline Dictionary - Wordweb using the portable option