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1. 
   Review - WinMount

   3.1.1225 (Dec 29, 2008)

   With Pismo Technic's Pismo File Mount Audit Package (strange name for sure) you get this functionality for ZIP and ISO files for $0 (that is for free). Why waste $50?
   
   I would have not written this if they were more modest with their pricing ($20 and south).

2. 
   Review - FastStone Image Viewer

   3.6 Beta 2 (Aug 27, 2008)

   FastStone Capture is a great program. It takes a very little resources but it does almost all you might possibly need in terms of capturing and it does it with ease and elegance.
   
   In this version, FastStone added the ability to capture "screencasts" which are videos (with audio) of what goes on a screen. The coolest thing in this is the amazingly small video files generated by the program (without compromising on video recording quality).
   
   Recommended!
   
   (p.s., I am a proud registered user of this program - well desrved).

3. Comment - Earth to Europe: You won. Microsoft complied. Live with it.

   3.6 Beta 2 (Jun 12, 2009 - 6:13 PM)

   This is most bizarre. As a Windows user I have all the liberty to choose whatever browser I desire (now it's Chrome, before it was Firefox). A person installs Windows and gets a browser - like anyone installing an operating system from the Internet age. Then one surfs the net and may decide to switch browser if that person is technically oriented and if there is some evident incentive (like a feature desperately needed). Where is the problem here?
   
   The answer is that in the picture above there is no problem as long as one works with Windows. The real problem shows when one works with Linux, Mac or with any of the mobile platforms that have a browser. And what is the problem? it is that some significant number of sites and services (still @2009) do not work well or not at all unless you have IE.
   
   Now how does untying IE from Windows helps here? It doesn't. My mother that runs Ubuntu would still have problem accessing that medical site that only supports IE. One needs to remember that, in fact, the problem the EU set out to solve is not the problem I mentioned above (which is the real problem for real people) but instead, the problem of a European company called Opera who could not compete on merit (like Firefox) and now called EU-Daddy for protectionist help.
   
   If the EU really wanted to solve the real problem, they would have forced Microsoft to open source and fully spec any technology used in IE so that other vendors would be able to offer it to (one solution to mother's problem). Then they would force Microsoft to ship IE in a standards-only mode and allow Microsoft to offer a manual download of a BadBrowserSupport package that would add back the quirks of IE. This way, web site owners will feel the pressure to fix they sites and web applications as downloading that extra package manually (OEMs will not be allowed to bundle it) will be a chore the normal user may be reluctant to run (another solution to mother's problem).
   
   When I install Windows or Ubuntu I want a browser and I want the browser to be fully functional on any site. That's my problem. Selecting a browser is not my problem and is definitely not the average-Joe problem. Selecting or switching browsers has never been so easy. No need for EU's help, thank you.

4. Comment - Microsoft offers $250,000 for capture of Conficker writer

   3.6 Beta 2 (Feb 13, 2009 - 5:57 AM)

   I would have been much productive to Microsoft and the rest of the world if Microsoft would have not conditioned its security update service on active license. I have seen many badly infected PCs in the past with no patch since installation because the owner never 'activated'. Such machines are safe homes for malware targeting other Windows machines.

5. Comment - Has Windows Mobile become a CES wallflower?

   3.6 Beta 2 (Jan 10, 2009 - 6:04 AM)

   Microsoft is trying to pull an Apple trick here. They're working hard on making Windows 7 fit for the next generation of mobiles, in a similar way to that Apple moved it OSX and Google moved Linux. The evidence abound and Microsoft push to the netbooks market is only the tip of the iceberg.
   
   (you heard it here first)

6. Comment - Report: Android will also come with a kill switch

   3.6 Beta 2 (Oct 16, 2008 - 6:59 PM)

   Google is making no mistake whatsoever. Imagine Google putting an application on their market place that, say, change the background based on the week of day. Now the developer of the application has put in it some functionality that allows them to listen (and watch) what the user is doing when they want.
   
   When Google finds out, they want to reserve the right _and_ the ability to kill such application. Since you bought it through them, they have some liability and therefore they do need the ability to nuke such rogue application...

7. Comment - Yahoo usability tests bode ill for OpenID takeup

   3.6 Beta 2 (Oct 16, 2008 - 3:28 PM)

   Bill, your comment indicates that you do not understand OpenID. With OpenID you can pick your identity provider and the authentication mechanism might be anything you can think about starting from regular username/password and ending with those fancy ID dongles or even one-time-password pads.
   
   This is a very promising technology that will take time to evolve.
   
   I highly recommend listening to podcast #95 of SecurityNow for a good explanation or see the link in the show notes of that podcast at http://www.grc.com/sn/notes-095.htm