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Judy wants us to check out SPAMfighter Free!
You might want to check this out at spamfighter.com, and if warranted, let us know your opinion: Download SPAMfighter Free!   SPAMfighter requires: Operating System98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista (Outlook and Windows Mail) Windows 2000, XP and Vista (Thunderbird) Email client Outlook 2000/2002 (XP) 2003/2007 or Outlook Express 5.5 or later and Windows Mail (32 bit) or Mozilla Thunderbird. (Requirements) Memory128 MB minimum Disk Space10 MB. Thanks

Our answer
Well Judy, we did test it and we had nothing but problems installing it on our Windows Vista (32bit) computer. The first installation failed, the second was incomplete, and we weren't to happy with all the registry changes it made. Normally, when a program makes that many changes to the Windows registry - a lot of things can happen - and many of them are not good. 

TC ended up removing the incomplete installation using Revo Uninstaller.

SPAMfighter free is full-blown adware - it displays advertising in its toolbar. Anytime a program displays advertising you can be sure that information is flowing to your computer and from your computer via the program interface. Not good.

SPAMfighter free also inserts advertising into every email you send. You're not aware of it when your composing your email but your recipient sees a rather big, five-line advertisement for SPAMfighter at the bottom of your email. We really don't think people want their emails to become billboards - there's enough advertising in this world already, without your friends inadvertently being besieged by even more ads every time you send them an email.

SPAMfighter free has too many restrictive features - such as the 100 "whitelist" limit. Some folks would use that just by whitelisting everyone in their address book. The whitelist/blacklist limit of 100 is too restrictive. Most users would reach that limit the first day they used the free version - or soon thereafter.

SPAMfighter free - besides the problems it presented in installation on TC's Vista 32bit test computer - seems to be nothing more than a big advertisement for SPAMfighter Pro - which is what they're really pushing. And if you're going to buy spam filter software, there are much better ones, in our opinion, than SPAMfighter. Plus you can use Gmail to filter your email - better than most spam filtering software, and Gmail is free. To learn how to use Gmail as a spam filter for all your email accounts visit this page.

We weren't exactly thrilled either when, about fifteen minutes after we installed SPAMfighter, we received an email wanting us to "buy" the "Pro" version. The website didn't make it clear that the SPAMfighter we were downloading wasn't really the SPAMfighter Pro version - but a crippled version. But we can use the Pro Version for 30 days free...after which will be restricted to the crippled version - which is adware and will turn your personal email messages into billboards for SPAMfighter Free.

We'll have to give a thumbs down to SPAMfighter - if we had problems installing it on Vista, it's likely that many others would too. We just can't recommend it based on our experience with it, because it is adware, because of deceptive methodology, and because it inserts such a huge advertisement at the bottom of every email you send with its free version.

A big "thumbs down" to SPAMfighter. 

We use and recommend the following products. We are paid a commission by the software vendor if you purchase these products, but that's not why we recommend them. There are many programs we could make more money on and don't recommend - for instance firewall programs and security suites like Norton. If you purchase any of the products below, you can be sure of getting the very best software, a fair price, and you'll be helping support us. Thank you!
 

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Reimage is now a Cloudeight endorsed and recommended product
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Before you call a computer repair tech or spend several hundred dollars - consider Reimage! In an era when big companies like Best Buy's Geek Squad spend millions and millions of dollars extolling the virtues(?) of its sundry services, many folks with broken computers will simply pick up the phone and call Geek Squad or another heavily-advertised computer repair service. It's not until the repair is finished that the computer owner realizes how Geek Squad can afford all those cute(?) Volkswagens and that multi-gazillion-dollar ad budget.  The shock is the bill - if you have your computer repaired in your home it will cost $299.95 - if you lug it into a Best Buy near you, you'll pay $199.95. And what do you get for that much money?

If your computer isn't running well and is in need of repair - READ THIS before you call Geek Squad or someone else!

This week's tip from InfoAve Premium reader, Jason:

Google Chrome Frame add-on for Internet Explorer
What is it? An Internet Explorer Add-on for Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8
What operating systems? XP SP2, Windows Vista
How is it distributed? Freeware, Google installer (exe)
How big is the file? 557KB - Should download in 3 minutes or less on dialup connections - and less than 5 seconds on broadband connections

EB loves Internet Explorer 8, TC thinks it runs like a 3-legged turtle in a quicksand pit. Well, we have differing opinions. But facts are facts. As Firefox moves through its newer versions, it too suffers from a bit of slow-down - but not nearly as bad as Internet Explorer 8 (according to TC). Whether you use Firefox or Internet Explorer doesn't matter - it's a matter of personal choice. In either case you're not using the fastest browser - provably Google's Chrome Browser leads the pack when it comes to sheer speed. Chrome opens faster and renders pages faster than any other browser - including Opera, which oft touts its speed as the fastest browser around.

What if you could add a bit of Chrome's speed to Internet Explorer? Would it be as fast as Chrome then? Nah! Not really, but there are experts who claim that our freeware pick this week will make Internet Explorer run ten times faster. Well, we don't know about that, but it does make Internet Explorer run more like a rabbit than a bug-eyed tree sloth dragging a fifty-pound bag of freshly caught mollusks around.

But wait - it's caveat time. This release of Google Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 running on XP and Vista, is an early preview edition - meaning it's "beta" or test software. We know this and we're still picking it as our freeware pick of the week. Why? Because it works and we've tested it pretty well - still, we're obligated to tell you that things could go wrong. While it's unlikely that things could go wrong, and even if they did it wouldn't be system-wrecking, we want you to know if you're squeamish or think your computer and Internet Explorer are just great the way they are, you might want to hold off for awhile longer. Those of you with bravado and intestinal fortitude - or who are, like TC, just plain crazy, give it a try.

Everyone but Microsoft - they're angry at Google - and Firefox - who fears that Frame will make Internet Explorer faster than Firefox, and their fears may be well founded - love Frame and make astounding claims for the way it increases the speed of Internet Explorer.

All we can do is lead you to the water - we can't make you drink. The water today is Google Chrome Frame add-on for Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8. To use it you must be using Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista. It works only with Internet Explorer, so don't go to get it using Chrome of Firefox.

Read more (very little more- by the way) about Google's Chrome Frame add-on for Internet Explorer and get your turtle out of the quicksand.

The end.

definr

I really hate to say something like this because some of you who never bother with stuff like dictionaries will disagree, but today's site of the week is a wonderful and useful tool.

I'm a dictionary advocate, and I've slogged through Dictionary.com and Webster's online and, dare I say it, even the O.E.D. Now, if you don't know what the O.E.D. is then stop reading this and look it up. No, just kidding. It's the Oxford English Dictionary - the frumpy, erudite O.E.D. It is online too. You'll be thrilled to know that their site doesn't smell dank and musty like their dictionaries do. And, you don't have to be a bodybuilder to carry it around. It weighs as much as your laptop - or your netbook or your cellphone or your Blackberry or your iPhone (you yuppie!); it weighs precisely as much as whatever contraption you use to access the Web weighs. And, yes, unfortunately for you, we have a ways to go.

As I am the penultimate wordy man, I have slogged through many an online dictionary, and I'll tell you what, this week's site of the week is, without a doubt, the fastest online dictionary I've ever used. Yes, I know some of you are thinking this article is becoming risible - as you wily ones mentally choke at my mounting spelling and grammatical errors. Honestly, I really do use dictionaries. If only I had access to a site that would learn me grammar. That's what you're thinking ain't it? Admit it, ya slogger! (I'm only kidding. Please don't send me lists of sites that offer help with grammar. As you know I'm only being facetious concerning my lack of grammatical skills. My grammars is impeccable!)

Slog no more, me fellow dictionary aficionados! I have found the world's fastest, greatest, sleekest, ad-less, online dictionary you'll ever lay a mouse on.

Witness their mystifying, Disneyesque logo:

What the heck is that thing?

By now, all of you word addicts want to know more about the site of the week don't you? Of course, you do, because you virtually live for them. Your weight wait is over! Let me introduce you to a man you don't know from Adam, the very man who created this amazingly fast, bauble-free, online dictionary. The one online dictionary created for those of us who have slogged around too many times in the swamp of online dictionaries. The pedestrian online dictionary swamp bedazzled as it is with flashing, floating, bouncing advertisements, sluggish algorithms, boring blurbs and useless jabberwocky. Without further pretense or ado adieu, may I present to you, the one and only Christian von Kleist, developer of definr.

Here he is, Mr. von Kleist!

"Definr.com is a fast, free dictionary based on Princeton's open WordNet 2.0.

The website framework is Ruby on Rails. Looking up words in a dictionary is easy, so we do that with MySQL and cache the top 10,000 definitions in memory.

Doing word completion (a.k.a. auto-complete, auto-suggest, globbing) is not easy, at least not when you have to search through 200,000 words for every keystroke. So our word completion is done in a C module for Ruby, and the word completion server is separate from the rest of the site.

With the DefinrBot algorithm, we can do 190,000 word completions per second without caching, and that translates to about 10,000 completions per second once the Ruby layer is factored in."

Your mother thanks you, your father thanks you and I thank you, Mr. von Kleist.

Now I don't know much about Ruby layers but I know a lot about ruby slippers. I don't know much about algorithms, globbing or DefinrBots, but I know a lot more than you think I do about online dictionaries and I'm going to be using our site of the week, definr.com for all my online dictionary needs - which are many. And, I know all about slogging and I'm not going to slog anymore!

If you've slogged your way through this screedy thing and your still dazzled by the word "risible", why not use our site of week to definr for you?

No, I don't have a site for grammar like definr. If I did, do you think I'd write this badly?

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