Monroe

Well I will start first by saying if a moderator thinks this post belongs somewhere else then please relocate it. I want some input on several software programs that are both free and not free and it was a toss-up just where to place it. There will be two parts as I put it all down from my head. I would like to see what most members are using or like about a certain program. The first part deals with the best free Virtual Machine Applications to use with Windows XP. I found this article a month ago dealing with the "Five Best Virtual Machine Applications" ... four are free although one is for Linux only and another has a basic free and a paid version. I was hunting for a strictly free version ... I was aware of the free one by M$: Windows Virtual PC but was searching for anything else that might be available. I decided to try the free one by Oracle: VirtualBox. I liked working with it and had no install problems so I didn't try the other two free ones. At the bottom of the article there are results of a poll taken and VirtualBox seems to well liked by many. Also, found other people liking it at other Google links. Did I miss any other "free" ones not mentioned in the article? ... what are the feelings at this forum for VirtualBox or another program? Five Best Virtual Machine Applications http://lifehacker.com/5714966/five-best-virtual-machine-applications Now I'd like to ask for opinions on programs like System Restore but probably much better. Today the Giveaway of the Day deal is Shadow Defender 1.2 ... as usual, people will mention something just as good (better) and also free. Two free alternatives mentioned today were Reboot Restore Rx and Toolwiz Time Freeze. I have not heard of either one of them ... I was also checking some programs like this in April and came across some mentions of programs that were not free ... such as RollBack RX an etc ... those two free alternatives mentioned earlier look very interesting and I have downloaded them to try out. Just wondering if anyone has some other programs worth mentioning. Free Alternatives Reboot Restore Rx http://dottech.org/103819/windows-review-reboot-restore-rx/ Toolwiz Time Freeze http://dottech.org/25943/alternative-to-returnil-system-safe-toolwiz-time-freeze-allows-you-to-safely-test-software/ better web site ... http://www.toolwiz.com/products/toolwiz-time-freeze/ I am interested in being able to undo everything when testing some software program and it doesn't work well ... I was also working with Sandboxie in April and liked that program for testing and being able to get rid of something easily. I will admit that VirtualBox by Oracle was really nice for a free program ... I had an XP VM setup but easily could put Windows 2000 and Windows 98SE on it also. Just looking for input on likes - dislikes of the above ... especially Sandboxie, I haven't worked that much with it. I had to redo my XP setup with my Ghost backup so I have nothing installed for now ... thought I post this first to see what others have to say. thanks ...

OK ... thanks for more clarification. You guys have the knowledge of how stuff really works and I learn new things along the way. After jaclaz went into exactly what was going on and also Drugwash, I went to dencorso's Post #45 to check it all out. Here are my results with hovering the curser over the first link. I never knew that there could be something before http:// , just never noticed it before ... so now I can easily check or look for that quickly in the future. From the 1st link in Post #45 : With Proxomitron running normal ... http://www.utdallas.edu/~jeremy.bryan.smith/articles/explorer_spy.html ----------------- With Proxomitron running in Bypass mode ... http://web.archive.org/web/20050212215255/http://www.utdallas.edu/~jeremy.bryan.smith/articles/explorer_spy.html ... really great stuff here for me and maybe others for the future. dencorso ... I have also been wondering about herbalist ... it's really been a long time since he posted anything. I sent him a message with some questions about security but he never read it. Hope all is well. thanks

Thanks Drugwash for the heads up ... so these programs seem to stop webarchive links. Now I will be aware of this in the future. It's funny that I could go to the Wayback Machine web site and all was OK with Proxomitron running normal and I have gone many times to sites that have older software programs available ... Old Software (.com), Old Version (.com) and others and everything runs normal. Like I said earlier, it's not often that I run into something where I have to disable Proxomitron. ...

OK ... just how many Crystal Balls are out there? I think I'd rather like to have one of the Crystal Skulls that are somewhat rare. Anyway, so as not to leave anyone with some bad impressions concerning Proxomitron, should they be new to the application. As I said earlier, have used it for many years with Windows 98SE and now on Windows XP . It took me around two years to finally start to understand how to get the proper adjustments and to understand how it works ... but it was all worth it. I really like that program and most of the time I can just leave it quietly working to do it's thing ... filter various sites and places on the internet. I can go for days and weeks and never have to put it on Bypass ... but every once in awhile something comes along requiring Bypass to be checked, like yesterday. Just wanted to clear a few things up about Proxomitron should someone have an interest in it down the road. It's a really good program. ...

OK dencorso ... mystery solved. Yes, I use Proxomitron and I placed it on Bypass and your links in Post #45 do work. I have used Proxomitron for many years and am aware that I need to set it to Bypass or temporary turn it off for certain web sites. I could swear that I did that earlier this morning ... temporary put Proxomitron on Bypass when jaclaz posted that the links do work ... but I must not have done so or it didn't completely take hold ... anyway, I now know to check links in the forum both ways from now on. Sorry for all the commotion. ...

No misunderstanding on my part ... the three links in post #45 do not work the way are supposed to for me. Since no one else has posted about the links not working for them then I will assume that I am the only forum member who has a problem ... but the link you posted for the Wayback Machine and searching the URLs at that site got me the information that I wanted. For now, I will accept the fact that the links problem is on my end and I will research and experiment with some things ... I may get it figured out or may never find the solution. I have never noticed any other problems with links not working but now I am aware of the fact that there may be problems with some links. thanks ... ...

dencorso ... I have no clue but your earlier posted links do not work for me. I use K-Meleon browser and I tried them in IE8 ... all I get is the guy with the dropped ice cream with: Page Not Found The page you requested does not exist: www.utdallas.edu/~jeremy.bryan.smith/articles/explorer_spy.html You may have arrived here because of: * a broken link, or * an out-of date bookmark, or * a search engine which needs to be updated, or * a mistyped website address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was able to find everything on my own with the K-Meleon browser at the Wayback Machine web site so it's all OK. I just have to do a few extra steps to get the info but it works. ...

Nota Bene: This thread started because of post #45 in the Free Software sticky thread, and the two posts following it. I've split all further discussions to keep that thread on-topic, while providing a place for what seems will be a quite interesting troubleshooting. This note, of course, is a later addition by dencorso. Thanks jaclaz for the tip ... I forgot about the Wayback Machine and now remember that dencorso has mentioned it many times. I've never spent much time at the site but I will get more familiar with it. You asked what I see when I click on the link from dencorso's post, if I understand you correctly ... I get this: Page Not Found The page you requested does not exist: www.utdallas.edu/~jeremy.bryan.smith/articles/explorer_spy.html You may have arrived here because of: * a broken link, or * an out-of date bookmark, or * a search engine which needs to be updated, or * a mistyped website address. link: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At the Wayback Machine site I found a good snapshot dated 13 Feb 2005 and August 22, 2003. Yet Another Method Windows Uses to Log Your Computer Activity Jeremy Bryan Smith aka Helamonster 08 June 2002, Update 04 March 2003, Update 18 August 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- That's pretty neat, I really didn't understand how the site actually worked ... thanks again jaclaz ! ...

dencorso ... I'm finding the three links all dead or no longer "active" and have been searching on Google for links for UserAssist Spy v1.2.0.0 and v1.2.1.0 ... haven't had any luck yet but I am going to spend more time later today. Just wanted to give you a heads up that the links don't seem to be active anymore ... maybe you have some other links or someone else may have better luck than me. Application looks interesting. thanks ... Update: It seems that Javacool's MRU-Blaster may actually clean or delete the User Assist files. I mentioned MRU-Blaster in my earlier post. The company is no longer Javacool, they changed their name just a few months ago. I found this information on the subject ... from another forum: "Javacool's MRU Blaster claims to clean User Assist files, which are details of urls retained in two specific Registry keys. I assume that is what you are talking about, rather than index.dat files?. MRUBlaster hasn't been updated for a long time, but I don't think that affects its capabilities. I've been using it for some time on my 98 comp and my User Assist files are either non-existent or empty." Then I found this entry further down ... "If you use the Helamonster 'User Assist Spy' tool, you can see what is being stored before you try MRU-Blaster. I would be interested to know the result." I found this in another forum: J.Smith has written a very elegant little app to clear and lock these files and also in the "About" box some extra info and advice. User Spy Assist is the application. The article notes the CLSID's. Search the Registry for them... {5E6AB780-7743-11CF-A12B-00AA004AE837} {75048700-EF1F-11D0-9888-006097DEACF9} .... so it seems to be these two registry entries that may be the problem ... If MRU-Blaster does clean everything out then that's another plus for having it on the computer. Found this at the MRU-Blaster website .... Securely Erase Browsing Tracks - MRU-Blaster also supports secure removal of Internet Explorer Temporary Internet Files (cache) and Cookies, with its built-in Plugins. The Internet Explorer cache alone can take up GB (gigabytes) of space on your hard drive. ... the Plugins are there and have to be activated after installing MRU-Blaster. Update to the earlier Update: I found this mention at another forum: CCleaner, CleanCache and MRUBlaster are just a few of the utilities that can remove UserAssist entries - if you want them to. Generally you need to configure cleaners for this task because you lose Start menu icons (unless they are pinned) and a lot of users don't like that happening! ------------------------------------------------------ After checking those two registry entries on my computer ... they are both there but both are "empty". Perhaps MRU-Blaster does clean out the entries as stated earlier. ...

Just a mention of a few older software programs that I used with Windows 98SE that also work with Windows XP. Maybe a few people never heard of them and might find them useful. When I made my move from 98SE to XP a year ago, I was very happy that many of the software programs that I had on my 98SE setup also worked on XP. Helped make the transfer a lot smoother. They may also work on Windows 2000 and most likely will but above Windows XP ... I have no clue. Everything is freeware. Been using this program since 2004 ... don't do it often but every now and then I forget about having a CD / DVD in the drive when I shutdown the computer. Quick ShutDown will keep that from happening again. Small program that's light on resources. Quick ShutDown v2.6 http://www.winutility.com/qsd/ Windows 9x/Me/XP/2000/NT Quick ShutDown - fast and easy-to-use shutdown tool that allows you to shutdown, reboot, hibernate, logoff, standby or lock your computer with the one mouse click. When QSD is running, an accurate miniature icon appears on the taskbar on the end opposite the "Start" button. You can choose to click or double click it with the left mouse button, and it shutdowns or reboots your computer. You can set a keyboard shortcut for any action - shutdown, reboot, hibernate, standby, lock, logoff and media eject. Quick ShutDown allows you to set your own tray icon to be displayed. Click it with the right mouse button to view the context menu. Also, QSD can automatically terminate applications if they are not responding making shutdowns both quicker and safer. In addition, Quick ShutDown can eject removable media drives at shutdown preventing you from losing your disks and CDs by leaving them in the drive when you leave. Quick ShutDown - optionally terminates programs that aren't responding, making shutdowns both quicker and safer. You can easily set hotkeys for each task (shutdown, reboot and logoff). The program meets a real need for millions of Windows users, consumes a minimum of resources, but offers a maximum of features. Quick ShutDown works with Windows 9x/Me/XP/2000/NT. ------------------------------------------- MRU-Blaster works great on XP (also listed for Vista and Windows 7). It hasn't been updated for some time but still will find and remove over 30,000 MRU lists. Run it all the time, especially after getting off the internet. MRU-Blaster v1.5 http://www.brightfort.com/mrublaster.html Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7 Protect your privacy, and keep your PC free from clutter. Find and remove over 30,000 MRU lists. MRU-Blaster is a program made to do one large task - detect and clean MRU (most recently used) lists on your computer. These MRU lists contain information such as the names and/or locations of the last files you have accessed. They are located ALL OVER your registry, and for almost ANY file type. By looking at these MRU lists, someone could determine what files you opened/saved/looked at, what their file names were, and much more! (And, in many cases, the lists are displayed in drop-down menus automatically.) With additional plug-ins that allow you to clean out your Temporary Internet Files and Cookies, MRU-Blaster enhances the protection of your privacy! -------------------------------------------- The last item is another small registry cleaner ... Registry Trash Keys Finder. It's free to download and use but there might be one or two entries (in my case I have two entries) that won't get cleaned out for free. The program developer has a "full" version available for a donation, I don't mind that ... his time involved has some value but the free version will work just fine and clean out most unecessary registry keys. I used this (the free version) on Windows 98SE and now on XP and have never had a problem, but maybe a registry backup with ERUNT might be good till you know for sure with your setup. Registry Trash Keys Finder v3.9.1.2 http://www.trashreg.com/rtkf_eng.html#5 Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7, both 32-bit and 64-bit Registry Trash Keys Finder (TrashReg) is an advanced Registry cleaning tool. The main function of RTKF is to allow the removal of unnecessary keys from the Windows Registry. Many programs leave keys in the Registry, even after programs removal using an uninstallation facility provided with the programs themselves. RTKF allows you to decide whether to delete or leave the keys found. An additional effect (it may be the main aim for some users) of removal of these keys is the "revival" of some programs trial versions after the initial trial period has expired. The program RTKF is not a "crack" but is an addition to other "serious" Registry cleaning software. No breach of software license agreement of the programms in use which "remains" are found by TrashReg takes place: nothing is "patched" into EXE files and their action is not traced by special "spies". I do not distribute any registration keys, and moreover one may not know anything about trial versions of any programs, which for their needs could write something hiddenly. So as the RTKF user you simply clean some trash from your computer Registry. ... as I mentioned earlier, just a heads up for someone that might not know about these older programs. ...

Andromeda43 ... thanks for the great post and going into more detail about XP monthly updates. So both you and CharlotteTheHarlot actually repair (fix) messed up XP computers. This is great to have this first hand information from both of you. As you said, in the case of Windows XP ... "So what is MS really updating anyway? The OS? It's already 12+ years old, so what could be wrong with it at this late date?" That makes sense ... you would think that all the serious stuff has been fixed through the years. I could see a Cumulative Time Zone update being needed every so often since those can change in some way around the world. Well, I really do appreciate all the information that you posted ... and I'm sure some other readers found it informative also, just as I liked reading what CharlotteTheHarlot posted in the other thread in December. I guess I will pass on further updates to my XP setup except maybe a "Cumulative Time Zone update", if one should come along and any thing else that might be along those lines. I will ask you (or anyone) about applying a Root Certificate Update ... they come out every so often ... any harm in that update, is it necessary? As I said earlier, I have a great running system at this time that was backed up exactly two weeks ago with Ghost and so far I haven't found anything wrong or messed up with that backup ... first time ever I went that long and didn't find something. I am still able to get my entire drive on one DVD (with Fast compression) ... I keep my ever changing small amounts of data ... like Money 97, my Favorites list and a few other items backed up to a USB flash drive and larger data files I either put on various USB hard drives (500 GB and lower) or I burn the data to CDs / DVDs. It now seems to finally make sense to me to pass on any future MS XP monthly updates, why possibly screw something up that right now is working just fine. I guess Windows 7 and 8 probably still need to have monthly updates, since they are both yet fairly new, that I don't know ... just an assumption on my part. I mainly use K-Meleon as my browser but will later today go get the latest Firefox Portable download. I was using that last year into 2013 and liked that version. K-Meleon doesn't work 100% for all web pages but seems to work OK most of the time. Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable there's also this version there, which is what I was using early this year ... the ESR version. Mozilla Firefox ESR, Portable Edition http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr Again thanks for the information ... like a good discussion and reading informative posts. I consider myself still in the "learning mode" even though I got my first computer in 1998, a Windows 95 setup. ...

Thanks submix8c for the heads up ... I wasn't sure what version I actually am using. I get my SW download at FileHippo ... which is the full version. FileHippo Browsers and Plugins Downloads http://www.filehippo.com/software/internet/

Just a quick mention about this one registry cleaner that I use for XP and used to use with Windows 98SE ... RegCleaner 4.3.0.780. Maybe some newer people have come along and didn't know about this particular cleaner. This cleaner will show software that is registered to the registry that you may not know is still in your machine. A good example is when I install a newer version of Shockwave ... during the install, there are two check marks for Google junk that I never install ... if I remember correctly, one is for the Google Toolbar and then something with Google Chrome (?). I always remove the check marks but when I run RegCleaner 4.3.0.780 the two Google entries are always there along with the Shockwave entries ... it looks to me that the Google entries were still installed even though I requested that they not be. I remove them once and for all with RegCleaner. Many times when I uninstall a program this program will still show an entry or two by name so then I manually delete them and then run a few other cleaners for a nice clean registry ... plus it does several other things also. RegCleaner 4.3.0.780 http://www.majorgeeks.com/download460.html 01/23/2002 RegCleaner is an easy to use program. With RegCleaner you can easily get rid of those old and obsolete registry entries created by software that you have destroyed ages ago. And by easily, I mean easily. You don´t have to be any expert to use this program. Key Features # Remove file types # Remove entries of old software # Uninstall and remove Software from the Add/Remove list # Remove unused DLL files # Remove unused Shared DLLs (Automatically detected) # Automatic backup feature ... just to add, the last version of Shockwave Player that I just installed (current v12.0.2.122) I only seem to remember seeing one Google entry with RegCleaner even though there were two Google check marks during the install ... there usually were always two Google entries to remove. Maybe there is only one with newer versions, not sure. ...

Andromeda43 ... you bring up an interesting point that I have been thinking about over the last few weeks. Could future MS monthly updates start screwing up my XP setup? I installed the March MS updates and then did a Ghost backup of the whole setup. Everything was working just fine and I cleaned the registry with several cleaners that I use and defragged it ... all my settings were perfect, all the "junk" cleaned out and then a defrag of the whole drive ... anyway, I feel I have the best complete backup that I have ever made ... a 99.9% "Factory DVD" type backup. In the past I always thought I have finally made the "perfect backup" but a few hours later or a few days later I find something that was missed or not cleaned out. So I decided to stop with the March updates and make a good (perfect) copy to have something to fall back on if future MS monthly updates should screw up my XP setup. I installed the April updates and may go 5 or 6 months with more updates and burn another Ghost backup if all is working OK. I don't know if MS would "on purpose" try to destroy or "mess up" a computer with XP installed so as to force a person to think about buying a newer computer. Most people have limited knowledge about fixing or repairing a corrupt installation and might just consider buying a newer computer with Windows 7 or 8 or whatever new OS would be current. I just don't know ... open for discussion. Awhile back I started a thread asking about installing MS updates right away or maybe waiting a few weeks to be sure they were OK. Installing New Windows XP Updates The replies seem to be either way but CharlotteTheHarlot posted a very interesting reply that started me thinking about installing future updates ... just an excerpt from the complete post. CharlotteTheHarlot ... Posted 18 December 2012 "Windows Update is disabled. I haven't even manually ran the update scan in over two years. It is of course behind a router. The Windows Firewall is running ( the XP inbound-only firewall ) but I'd bet I could even kill that without consequence. I am using Opera 99% of the time (version 11.something ), and Firefox for the odd pages and things that cause hiccups. MSIE is very rarely used. And here is the kicker ... It is an Administrator account. ~shudder~ There is no anti-virus ( except for on-demand scan of folders and drives now and then, not because I am infected, but for the odd client devices I am working with ). This computer visits the darkest, deepest and most dangerous corners of the web too. No bull. No drive-by scripts have ever compromised it. No local files have caused problems and believe me I test a whole lot of crap. Try as I may, I cannot think of something that a critical Windows Update would need to fix as far as security that would affect anything positively. I would expect things might get broken by allowing Microsoft to just keep patching system files over and over again though. I always wondered how an ever-changing codebase can be considered "stable" but that's just me I guess. Anyway. I have always maintained that a properly configured Router + Opera is the first line of protection. It definitely works for me. However, I have a never-ending stream of infected computers being brought in for repair and it is always one or both of those ( Router + Opera ) that are missing. They always have Windows Updates on automatic so they are up-to-date, and they have a variety of realtime antivirus programs ( murdering the performance naturally ). Yet still they show up in various states of disarray. Go figure." ------------------------------------------------------------------ .... so I have my good working March backup to fall back on if there should be any future problems ... might be good for everyone to think about a good (as near perfect) base backup to have to fall back on in case the MS monthly updates should start to cause some real problems going into 2014. just to add ... I have Windows Automatic Update turned off and go there on my own and see what updates are listed and then using Google ... I download the updates to update three computers and then store on a CD. So I will have all the future monthly updates to come but may or may not use them. also the current MS monthly updates are always at -X-'s site. http://xdot.tk/updates.html ...

Just a brief update on K-Meleon and XP ... I have become aware of two more versions of K-Meleon that I know very little about ... next to nothing. I have just downloaded them to test with my XP setup later today. Rodocop at the KM forum added some information to a question that I asked JamesD about his version. JamesD has stated that he uses his version with Windows 7 ... K-Meleon 1.6.0 beta 2.4 Win 7 (32 bit) but Rodocop lists a slightly newer Beta version which I just downloaded two days ago and used it all day yesterday (heavy) and it was flawless (again with XP) ... using it now. I asked JamesD about the two different versions ... I got this answer. Posted by: JamesD Date: April 16, 2013 05:39AM The only difference between beta 2.4 and beta 2.5 is the method for calling spellcheck. In 2.4 it is internal and in 2.5 there is a macro. Desga wanted the 2.5 method. I don't remember why. K-Meleon 1.6.0 beta 2.4 Win 7 (32 bit) then rodocop posted some additional information later. Posted by: rodocop Date: April 16, 2013 01:30PM My defaults are KM Twin and Fred's build KM16-S2014. No other browser is comparable in usage convenience with KM up to me. _____________________________________ Using K-Meleon-1.6.17db+ / KM-16-S2014 1.6beta2.5 by JamesD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have downloaded both K-Meleon-1.6.17db+ and KM-16-S2014 and will give them a try. Perhaps some others may want to experiment with their setup ... back everything up first ... I know absolutely nothing about these two versions. They may not work for me but might be great for someone else. As I mentioned earlier, I don't do the Facebook thing and I know some people were saying at the KM forum that K-Meleon didn't seem to work very well with Facebook and maybe some other sites ... I didn't follow those posts very much since Facebook wasn't my interest. I seem to remember someone posting about changing some settings but whether it worked or not, not sure. There might be help there for specific K-Meleon problems. As for my personal experience ... the only site that I now have a problem with that will not work with K-Meleon is the PA State Lottery Site ... the only way I can get that site to fully work is to use IE8. They have made a lot of people mad in the state with this radical change since many people still have older computers, OSs and browsers. I sent an e-mail to them about the inconvenience of not be able to get information from the site anymore ... they sent an e-mail back telling advising me to get IE9, so much for "customer service" trying to be helpful ! ... they could care less about all of us with older computer setups ... I have since found several lottery sites (much better and not in PA) for checking my PA lottery tickets and K-Meleon works just fine with all of them. Just my story on one site that will not work with K-Meleon. However, these two new versions have yet to be tested at that site ... but I never go there anymore anyway so it really doesn't matter but I still will use the site as a "browser test". K-Meleon 1.6.0 beta 2.4 by JamesD https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1522294/K-Meleon1.6.0_Beta2dot4_en-US.7z ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K-Meleon 1.6.0 beta 2.5 by JamesD https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1522294/K-Meleon1.6.0_Beta2dot5_en-US.7z ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K-Meleon-1.6.17db+ http://home.dbdbdugbug.operaunite.com/Projects/content/KMFILES/Download-K-Meleon-db.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KM-16-S2014 (Fred) http://kmext.sourceforge.net/fred/KM-16-S2014.zip ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K-Meleon Twin+ (rodocop) http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,123763 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KM links if anyone wants to also experiment. ...

Jody from Canada ... OK, I'm going to throw something else out that you might care to try. I will admit that I don't do Facebook but for me, K-Meleon has never been better ... now this is with XP Pro Sp3 ... Amazon, Google and pretty much wherever I go these days, all my web pages are OK to perfect using K-Meleon. I have no reason or idea why that is ... I did have lousy looking pages back maybe 6 months ago ... especially at Amazon sometimes. I am using Proxomitron by Scott R. Lemmon also and there are Google filters in there to filter out junk on the left and right sides of the web page and filters for other pages also. I will go into a little detail since it does work well with XP and maybe Vista but beyond Vista I have no idea. Slightly off topic but it may help with some internet surfing and web pages with XP and below, definitely Windows 98SE. I use the Sidki filter configuration ... Scott R. Lemmon has since passed away (age 36) but his work is being kept alive by many people, like what the people are doing here (MSFN) for older OSs. Proxomitron.Info http://www.proxomitron.info/ The Un-Official Proxomitron Forum http://prxbx.com/forums/ ... you will see a forum or thread named Sidki a little down the page ... he has since moved on but his filter set "sidki-config: Oct 23 2010" still seems to be OK ... there are some newer Google changes that you will also see ... others are keeping it updated at times also. ... I see JJoe has a new set of Google filters there dated March 30, 2013 ... he's the Administrator or one of them at the site. 2013.03.30 filters for Google ... I'm using the filters below. Has been working in latest IE9, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, K-Meleon with javascript enabled. Will break in a couple hours. ... JJoe .... I don't want to keep beating a dead horse dealing with K-Meleon but for some reason, surfing the web is OK these days with K-Meleon ... I have no real clue, maybe I did some setting adjustments, maybe Proxomitron is helping ... I just don't really know. .... maybe I'm just lucky in the fact that no matter where I go K-Meleon seems to work just fine. I am using the version by JamesD but the other versions that I mentioned before also seem to be OK. I have no clue for now. Others that understand computers much better than me may have some insight on the matter. ...

Jody from Canada ... we sort of exchanged some information in another forum dealing with the K-Meleon Twin browser. You did mention using SeaMonkey and I tried the portable SM version and it worked just fine but I still like the KM browsers with XP as I did with Windows 98SE. You mention concerns about banking in today's world. I am having no problem (so far) in doing my banking with K-Meleon ... also can still get into my brokerage account with KM. I am using JamesD's KM 1.6 beta 2.5 version and I added some UserAgents from KM Twin and some that I found on the internet ... I had no trouble using the KM default but I have the UA set to Firefox 15. Maybe the banking sites are more picky or stringent in Canada and just don't work well with "older browsers" but when I do have a real problem with a site then I fire up IE 8 and can usually get things to work OK with that. I have 3 KM browser versions on my XP notebooks: KM v1.5.4 ... KM v1.6 beta 2.5 by JamesD ... KM Twin. Maybe some additional modern UserAgents might be of help. I've been experimenting with various UAs and the whole thing is fascinating. Just to add ... I usually have JavaScript off but for banking and other sensitive accounts ... it usually has to be turned on. Just my 2 cents on the matter.

A standing ovation to dencorso ... still clapping !!! I hope you are correct in predicting the future ... I have given some thoughts to getting a newer computer with Windows 7 sometime "down the road" but I really don't want to. It's exactly one year ago that I was making the switch from Windows 98SE to Windows XP Pro. What a great year it's been ... everything working so well, sad to say that in one way ... no more challenges, have all the software programs that I'll probably ever need, I still do a little research trying to understand a few things about XP a little better but it's not really necessary. These days I turn my notebooks on and they work and run better than I could ever hope for. I go along with densorco with the 10 to 20 year thing ... I hope for a another 10 to 12 years, or maybe more ... but when the 20 year mark hits, it probably won't matter much to me, sad to say ... I'll probably be watching "birds and butterflies" and won't have any idea what a computer was or how it worked ... "sad to say" !

Andromeda43 ... liked reading your earlier post, agree with you about the "Permissions" thing. I'm totally happy with my XP setup and everything seems to be perfect these days as far as having a great running Windws XP computer ... but like you, the "Permissions" thing drives me crazy at times. Of course I have Unlocker installed and use it often but always when a person is in a hurry and just wanting to move a simple file from here to there ... well, you know !!! ... I guess I could fool around and "remove" or "do away" with the permissions thing but I prefer to leave it as is for the protection it offers, if I understand the whole permissions thing right. Also agree with your post from yesterday ... "XP will be alive and well and in everyday use, long after I'm dead, gone and forgotten. Count on it!" ... and also what dencorso posted: "That's my take on it, too! Don't worry... be happy. It simply cannot be killed anymore." Look at how Windows 98SE has developed, after being "dropped" by MS ... I see that same thing also happening with Windows XP down the road. ...

OK ... thanks for the "Thanks" ... I like having Stinger handy to check downloads every so often ... that I might not be 100% sure about. Just a nice little program. When I left Windows 98SE last year for XP Pro, Stinger still worked with Windows 98SE at that time. I can no longer be sure it still does but it's possible it still might work. ...

Been keeping McAfee Stinger handy for several years on my computer as I don't have an active running anti-virus program installed. These days it seems to be updated almost everyday but today is the first time I noticed they now have a version for x64 systems along with the 32 bit version ... for anyone interested. It's possible that 64bit version has been there but I don't remember seeing it there a week ago. Build Number: 11.0.0.204 Build Date: 22-Mar-2013 http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/stinger.aspx Stinger McAfee Stinger detects and removes prevalent Fake Alert malware and threats identified in the "List Viruses" section of the Stinger application. While not a replacement for full fledged antivirus software, Stinger is updated multiple times a week to include detection for newer Fake Alert variants and prevalent viruses. ... The current Build Number and Date are always in the Stinger Release Notes on the right side. ...

Thanks ... I just figured I'd ask if anyone was actually using Proxomitron with Windows 7 these days. Since there were no replies, I guess it's no longer in use anymore with a newer OS. Not a big deal, it is an old program ... I've been looking at some used notebooks with Windows 7 and might spring for one later in the year. ...

I don't use Windows 7 ... currently on Windows XP and I was using Scott Lemmon's Proxomitron on Windows 98SE for years and now using it on Windows XP these days. I've always been curious if Proxomitron would still work with a newer OS. Someone here in this forum can quickly tell me if they are still actually able to use the program in today's world with Windows 7 or perhaps there is no longer a need for Proxomitron ... maybe a better program (s) exist for a newer OS today. thanks ...

tomasz86 ... OK, understand ... always good to have help! ...

Tommy ... slightly off topic but you mentioned in your 1st post about Windows 2000 ... "I really can't even use Windows XP since our projects for Windows 2000 make it nearly far superior than Windows XP simply because of the new extensions added to critical system files." What are these Windows 2000 projects you are talking about? Are you working with tomasz86 in the Windows 2000 forum ... I don't remember seeing your name over there but could have easily missed it. I have a Dell Latitude Notebook Pentium 3 with Windows 2000 Pro installed and I am thinking maybe later this year of installing Windows 2000 Pro on one of my Pentium 4 Thinkpads, just to experiment with it and see how it will run. I haven't checked into Windows 2000 running on a Pentium 4 ... would be a summer project. As I asked earlier, do you have a website for Windows 2000 Pro and these projects or are you in another forum on the web or working with tomasz86? thanks ...