[5/4/07] Game Speed Adjuster [via frwr_news 6/19/06]. I wonder if this'll work with the DOS War2?
[8/31/06] This Windows XP Freeware Game Guide mentions some of the same games below. (So that tells me that they're probably pretty decent.)
[8/30/06] Some commercial-quality games are now available for free downloads including: Abuse (2-D scroller), Grand Theft Auto, Marathon Trilogy (precursor of Halo), Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Star Control II.
[6/3/06] C-evo is a freeware empire building game for Windows.
With a time scope of several thousand years, it covers aspects of exploration and expansion, industry and agriculture, warfare and diplomacy, science and administration. The game is based on Microprose's famous Sid Meier's Civilization and has many basic ideas in common with it. Actually, this project has arised from the wish to correct annoying design mistakes and AI weaknesses of Civ II. The priorities of the C-evo project are considerably different from big commercial games. While those are focused on easy entertainment and mainly compete for the most realistic and exciting up-to-date multimedia, this one aims at ageless challenge. [frwr-news]
[11/26/05] Most of us have whiled away some spare time playing the cheap and cheerful games that come with Windows, while others invest a little more time and money in the latest 3D games. This is an expensive luxury for lots of people, but the good news is that there are plenty of fun games to be had for free. [frwr-news]
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Pluto no longer a planet
PLUTO was stripped of its status as a planet when scientists from around the world redefined it as a "dwarf planet", leaving just eight classical planets in the solar system.
Discovered in 1930, Pluto has traditionally been considered the ninth planet, and farthest from the sun, in the solar system.
However, the first definition of a planet approved after a heated debate among some 2500 scientists and astronomers drew a clear distinction between Pluto and the other eight planets.
The need to define what it takes to be a planet stems from technological advances that enable astronomers to look further into space and to measure more precisely the size of celestial bodies in our solar system.
In addition to the categories of “planet” and “dwarf planet”, the definition creates a third category to encompass all other objects, except satellites, to be known as small solar system bodies.
“The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,” said the IAU resolution, passed in a raised-hands vote after what, by the discreet standards of the astronomical community, was a stormy debate.
Discovered in 1930, Pluto has traditionally been considered the ninth planet, and farthest from the sun, in the solar system.
However, the first definition of a planet approved after a heated debate among some 2500 scientists and astronomers drew a clear distinction between Pluto and the other eight planets.
The need to define what it takes to be a planet stems from technological advances that enable astronomers to look further into space and to measure more precisely the size of celestial bodies in our solar system.
In addition to the categories of “planet” and “dwarf planet”, the definition creates a third category to encompass all other objects, except satellites, to be known as small solar system bodies.
“The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,” said the IAU resolution, passed in a raised-hands vote after what, by the discreet standards of the astronomical community, was a stormy debate.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
fight viruses & spyware
[3/6/13] The best antivirus for 2013. Neil Rubenking the antivirus/security products for 2013. AVG took the honors for the best free antivirus (over avast!). Comodo Cleaning Essentials was the top free cleanup-only antivirus (over malwarebytes, though malwarebytes was the top if you read the review).
[5/11/12] Way back in the day ZoneAlarm set the computer security world alight with a cool, very powerful personal firewall product which defined the world of Windows PC safety for years.
Then the company seemed to lose its way, the technology started to wilt, and their products disappeared from popular use as other products took over. Well they're back.
ZoneAlarm Free AntiVirus + Firewall takes the original personal firewall product and tacks on an anti-virus pack, so you get a two-in-one lock down of your computer where it counts.
[7/16/11] Trying out Multi-AV. "The Multi-AV Scanning Tool is a software utility that provides multiple anti malware command line scanners to find or detect malware as well as remove it from your computer."
Hitman Pro is another one to use to double-check after you used your normal scanner(s).
[1/26/11] Top 10 Best Free Antivirus Software for 2011 (according to SofoTex)
[5/22/05] Free alternatives to Norton and McAfee.
AVG Free Edition
Panda ActiveScan (online scanner)
Trend Micro Housecall (online scanner)
One I'm trying out now is Avast
[8/21/05] AntiVir is another one. I think I tried this before, but decided not to use it. [4/25/10 - Avira has a pretty good review at download.com.]
[8/5/06] Cyberhawk's ActiveDefense technology hunts down and paralyzes threats that are too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional security software. [via frwr-news, 7/23/06]
[8/10/06] Active Virus Shield is free anti-virus for your PC that combines traditional antivirus programs, stopping them before they can infect your computer.
Active Virus Shield is brought to you as a free service of AOL and is based on Kaspersky Lab's award winning Personal Anti-Virus. [frwr-news]
[1/2/08] PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition provides world-leading protection, with rapid database updates, IntelliGuard™ real-time protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your system remains safe and virus free. PC Tools products are trusted and used by millions of people everyday to protect their home and business computers against online threats. [via frwr-news]
[7/12/08] Kapersky removal tools [frwr-news, 2008-06-29]
[8/31/08] a couple more: Rising AntiVirus, Moon Secure AV [via frwr-news]
[10/20/09] new, free Microsoft Security Essentials [via twitter.com/cyberlifepc]
For spyware:
Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Spybot Search & Destroy
[7/4/05] Yahoo! Anti-Spy, which comes with the Yahoo! Toolbar, looks like it has promise. Its partner is PestPatrol and, I suspect, is using PestPatrol technology
[7/4/05] According to the Adware Report (found as a google sponsored link), the best spyware product currently is Aluria Software's Spyware Eliminator
[8/21/05] Spyware Tools
[9/28/05] This guy uses multiple layers of security on his computer (see Reader Feedback)
[12/11/05] From frwr-news, I tried out the EMCO Malware Destroyer. It seemed to catch a lot of junk, though there were two items (NMC.WSN and NMC.WHENU.WEATHERCAST) it found but didn't removee.
[12/20/05] Oh yeah, Microsoft AntiSpyware seems to be OK too, though it's still in beta (for WinXP).
[2/27/06] SpyCatcher
[6/3/06] superantispyware might find spyware that others miss, but it's reportedly slow [frwr-news]
[6/13/06] SpyDefense [from frwr-news / haven't tried it out yet, for Windows XP and the like]
Firewalls:
ZoneAlarm
Sygate
[1/19/06] More firewalls
[8/15/05] more scanners
* * *
[5/26/06] Here's a handy place to download free anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewalls
[11/13/06] GeeksToGo mentions many of the products mentioned above
[11/19/06] Michael Zipf's list
[5/25/08] filehippo lists many of the popular anti-virus and spyware programs
[5/11/12] Way back in the day ZoneAlarm set the computer security world alight with a cool, very powerful personal firewall product which defined the world of Windows PC safety for years.
Then the company seemed to lose its way, the technology started to wilt, and their products disappeared from popular use as other products took over. Well they're back.
ZoneAlarm Free AntiVirus + Firewall takes the original personal firewall product and tacks on an anti-virus pack, so you get a two-in-one lock down of your computer where it counts.
[7/16/11] Trying out Multi-AV. "The Multi-AV Scanning Tool is a software utility that provides multiple anti malware command line scanners to find or detect malware as well as remove it from your computer."
Hitman Pro is another one to use to double-check after you used your normal scanner(s).
[1/26/11] Top 10 Best Free Antivirus Software for 2011 (according to SofoTex)
[5/22/05] Free alternatives to Norton and McAfee.
AVG Free Edition
Panda ActiveScan (online scanner)
Trend Micro Housecall (online scanner)
One I'm trying out now is Avast
[8/21/05] AntiVir is another one. I think I tried this before, but decided not to use it. [4/25/10 - Avira has a pretty good review at download.com.]
[8/5/06] Cyberhawk's ActiveDefense technology hunts down and paralyzes threats that are too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional security software. [via frwr-news, 7/23/06]
[8/10/06] Active Virus Shield is free anti-virus for your PC that combines traditional antivirus programs, stopping them before they can infect your computer.
Active Virus Shield is brought to you as a free service of AOL and is based on Kaspersky Lab's award winning Personal Anti-Virus. [frwr-news]
[1/2/08] PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition provides world-leading protection, with rapid database updates, IntelliGuard™ real-time protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your system remains safe and virus free. PC Tools products are trusted and used by millions of people everyday to protect their home and business computers against online threats. [via frwr-news]
[7/12/08] Kapersky removal tools [frwr-news, 2008-06-29]
[8/31/08] a couple more: Rising AntiVirus, Moon Secure AV [via frwr-news]
[10/20/09] new, free Microsoft Security Essentials [via twitter.com/cyberlifepc]
For spyware:
Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Spybot Search & Destroy
[7/4/05] Yahoo! Anti-Spy, which comes with the Yahoo! Toolbar, looks like it has promise. Its partner is PestPatrol and, I suspect, is using PestPatrol technology
[7/4/05] According to the Adware Report (found as a google sponsored link), the best spyware product currently is Aluria Software's Spyware Eliminator
[8/21/05] Spyware Tools
[9/28/05] This guy uses multiple layers of security on his computer (see Reader Feedback)
[12/11/05] From frwr-news, I tried out the EMCO Malware Destroyer. It seemed to catch a lot of junk, though there were two items (NMC.WSN and NMC.WHENU.WEATHERCAST) it found but didn't removee.
[12/20/05] Oh yeah, Microsoft AntiSpyware seems to be OK too, though it's still in beta (for WinXP).
[2/27/06] SpyCatcher
[6/3/06] superantispyware might find spyware that others miss, but it's reportedly slow [frwr-news]
[6/13/06] SpyDefense [from frwr-news / haven't tried it out yet, for Windows XP and the like]
Firewalls:
ZoneAlarm
Sygate
[1/19/06] More firewalls
[8/15/05] more scanners
* * *
[5/26/06] Here's a handy place to download free anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewalls
[11/13/06] GeeksToGo mentions many of the products mentioned above
[11/19/06] Michael Zipf's list
[5/25/08] filehippo lists many of the popular anti-virus and spyware programs
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
The Expert Mind
A man walks along the inside of a circle of chess tables, glancing at each for two or three seconds before making his move. On the outer rim, dozens of amateurs sit pondering their replies until he completes the circuit. The year is 1909, the man is José Raúl Capablanca of Cuba, and the result is a whitewash: 28 wins in as many games. The exhibition was part of a tour in which Capablanca won 168 games in a row.
How did he play so well, so quickly? And how far ahead could he calculate under such constraints? "I see only one move ahead," Capablanca is said to have answered, "but it is always the correct one."
He thus put in a nutshell what a century of psychological research has subsequently established: much of the chess master's advantage over the novice derives from the first few seconds of thought. This rapid, knowledge-guided perception, sometimes called apperception, can be seen in experts in other fields as well. Just as a master can recall all the moves in a game he has played, so can an accomplished musician often reconstruct the score to a sonata heard just once. And just as the chess master often finds the best move in a flash, an expert physician can sometimes make an accurate diagnosis within moments of laying eyes on a patient.
But how do the experts in these various subjects acquire their extraordinary skills? How much can be credited to innate talent and how much to intensive training? Psychologists have sought answers in studies of chess masters. The collected results of a century of such research have led to new theories explaining how the mind organizes and retrieves information. What is more, this research may have important implications for educators. Perhaps the same techniques used by chess players to hone their skills could be applied in the classroom to teach reading, writing and arithmetic.
How did he play so well, so quickly? And how far ahead could he calculate under such constraints? "I see only one move ahead," Capablanca is said to have answered, "but it is always the correct one."
He thus put in a nutshell what a century of psychological research has subsequently established: much of the chess master's advantage over the novice derives from the first few seconds of thought. This rapid, knowledge-guided perception, sometimes called apperception, can be seen in experts in other fields as well. Just as a master can recall all the moves in a game he has played, so can an accomplished musician often reconstruct the score to a sonata heard just once. And just as the chess master often finds the best move in a flash, an expert physician can sometimes make an accurate diagnosis within moments of laying eyes on a patient.
But how do the experts in these various subjects acquire their extraordinary skills? How much can be credited to innate talent and how much to intensive training? Psychologists have sought answers in studies of chess masters. The collected results of a century of such research have led to new theories explaining how the mind organizes and retrieves information. What is more, this research may have important implications for educators. Perhaps the same techniques used by chess players to hone their skills could be applied in the classroom to teach reading, writing and arithmetic.
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