Home  My Programs  Freeware  Game Maker  Articles  Links  Misc  Contact

Recent reviews and articles.

Free online Flash game -- Learn to fly.
27/Feb/10

Another flying game, in the same vein as Fly Hard (see below), but this time you are trying to get a penguin airborne.
With each flight you make, you earn money, which can be spent on gliders, rockets, fuel, acceleration, lowering air resistance and ramp upgrades. The objective is to achieve a glide of 6000 feet, in the least days possible, the best I managed was 26 days.

Your penguin starts off very slowly, basically just falling off the end of a ramp. So you need to buy the cheapest glider as quickly as possible.
There are five different ramps to use and a new ramp is unlocked once you have completed two tasks on the current ramp. It often pays to move to a new bigger ramp, before finishing all the tasks on the previous ramp, as the new ramp will pay much higher bonuses.

The game is pretty good, once you have managed to buy your first glider, although it would have been nice to have some bonus items to collect when gliding, as there isn't much to do, on the longer glides.

Note: You will need Flash enabled in your browser and loading time is approx 9 minutes on a 56K connection.

http://www.maxgames.com/game/learn-to-fly.html

Free online virus scanner -- Quick DNAScan
23/Feb/10

The majority of online virus scanners are of little use to those computer owners with a slow internet connection, as they usually require a virus signature download of 50+Mb. Quick DNAScan is far more useful, with just the scanning engine to download, which is around 400KB.

The reason that DNAScan is so compact, is because instead of comparing each file against a signature database, it analyzes the structure and behaviour of a file for characteristics commonly found in malware.
DNAScan doesn't scan your entire hard drive, limiting itself to those areas most likely to harbour malware. This makes scanning very fast, just a couple of minutes on my computer.

DNAScan does have a couple of downsides, it doesn't cure any problems it finds and there is no mention of exactly which areas of the computer it is checking.
However the small download and fast scan, makes it far more useful for a quick check, than any of the other online scanners.

Note: You want the second scanner on the page, Quick DNAScan, not Quick Heal Online Scan, which is a normal online scanner.
Requires Internet Explorer to run and installs an ActiveX.

http://www.quickheal.co.in/freescan.asp

Free online Flash game -- Fly Hard.
21/Feb/10

The Earth is under threat from an approaching comet (although it looks like a meteor to me) and you must build a space rocket to intercept and destroy it.
You begin with a very basic rocket, which struggles to get off the launch pad. But you can earn money to upgrade your rocket, by collecting crystals, achieving altitude and speed goals and bumping helicopters, planes, satellites and flying saucers.

The game starts rather slowly and will only suit those players with a modicum of patience. But after day three things start to get more interesting. Your success is measured by how many days you take to save the Earth, I managed after several attempts, to do it in four days.

The game is a mixture of luck and skill, if you don't get enough fuel and speed powerups, you wont get very far. And a poor choice of upgrades will also impair your rockets performance. Careful throttle control is essential, particularly when using the more powerful stages, it wastes fuel to keep burning when close to full speed.

As well as saving the Earth, there is a survival mode, where you start with a fully equipped rocket and travel as far as possible. There is an online score feature, but some of the ridiculously high scores are obviously cheats. The best I managed was 58,228.

An entertaining game, if you don't mind the slow start. I particularly liked using the spring launch pads.

Note: You will need Flash enabled in your browser and loading time is approx 23 minutes on a 56K connection.

http://www.bubblebox.com/play/action/1620.htm

Amateur actress makes her own film
Born Of Hope
12/Feb/10

I thought this was rather interesting. Thirtyone year old Kate Madison enjoyed the Lord Of The Rings films so much, that she decided to make her own.
The film cost just £25,000 to make, with everyone working for free. The sets and costumes look just like the original films and what I saw of the film seemed very well made (I didn't watch it all, as I'm not a big fantasy fan).
Just shows what you can do with lots of determination.

Note: By default the film starts in HD, adjust in the settings (bottom right), unless you have a super fast BB connection.

http://www.bornofhope.com

Free online Flash game -- One Button Bob.

Your task is to help Bob reach the treasure, by avoiding pits, bombs, spikes etc and the boss at the very end.

The game has a nice and simple control system (I hate lots of buttons), just the left mouse button.
The only problem is, you don't know what Bob will do when you press the mouse button. He may stop, run, jump or throw his boomerang. And you cant waste too many clicks finding out, as your score is the number of clicks you make, the less, the better.

The game is quite fast, as Bob darts from level to level and I found timing some of the jumps particularly tricky. My best score was 271 and I got a silver award, which unlocks some goodies on the web site.

Note: You will need Flash enabled in your browser and loading time is approx twelve minutes on a 56K connection.
The game loads an advert before the game plays.

http://www.ninjadoodle.com/one-button-bob/

Web site link -- The Straight Dope.
10/Feb/10

A web site that attempts to answer questions that may, or may not have puzzled you. Such as "Could you be frozen solid, then broken into a million pieces?", or the somewhat ambitious "Could we move Mars or Venus into Earth's orbit and live there? "
The questions are answered in depth and seem to be researched very thoroughly. You can even ask your own question.

http://www.straightdope.com/

Freeware utility -- Sumatra PDF reader.

Sumatra PDF is a fast and compact alternative to Adobe Reader. Weighing in at a trim 1.2Mb it can be either installed, or if you download the zip file, run as a portable app. The online help file shows how to set the installer version as the default PDF file viewer, so files open in Sumatra if clicked on.

PDF files are displayed almost instantly and when scrolling appear smoother than with Adobe.
Printing works, but does take a long while to start, so if you regulary print PDF documents, Sumatra may not be the best choice.
I have been using Sumatra for a while and have been impressed with its speed and page rendering. It has displayed all the PDF files that I have tried, with no problems.

Free (open source) -- Download 1.2Mb -- Win 7, Vista, XP, 2000

http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html

Demo game -- Red Ace Squadron Pro

I normally stick to freeware games and utilities for my reviews, but I greatly enjoyed Red Ace and the demo has quite a lot of missions, so I decided to make an exception.

Red Ace is an WW1 arcade type flying game, rather than a simulator. So is easy to learn, using just two buttons and the mouse. There are three training missions and ten full missions that follow a simple story line, five as the Allies and five as the Germans.
Once you complete all ten missions, you can play the master mode, which is the same missions, but with more enemy fighters and anti-aircraft guns.

The graphics are definitely not cutting edge, but they do the job and look quite nice (imop). As my computer is well above the graphics requirements, I did try setting the graphics detail higher. But for some reason this made the plane much harder to control, so I stuck with the default settings.

There does seem to be a slight problem with the menu screens. My mouse pointer was very jerky, which made selection a bit tricky, but that may be an issue with my computer.

The sound effects are reasonable, with some engine noises, firing and crashing effects. The background music is stirring military music.

I managed to complete all ten missions on the easy setting (enemy planes can take more damage and go faster on harder settings) and most of the master mode missions.
The variety of missions kept the game interesting and the dog fights were the best I have played, with the enemy planes moving more naturally, rather than just going in circles after your tail, as is often the case in flying games.

A thoroughly enjoyable demo, I was even tempted to buy the full game but managed to restrain myself. Should you succumb, the full version has 14 more missions and a multiplayer online mode, which I would love to try.

Demo -- Download size 16.1Mb -- Price $19.99 -- Windows 95b / 98 / ME / 2000 / XP

http://www.smallrockets.com/

p.s. I have finally completed all the Master Mode levels, apart from the last German level, where an British fighter ace, with flames painted on his wings, shoots me out of the sky every time .
I found that with a bit of practice, it is possible to amuse myself, by flying through the caves.

Is all-in-one security protection the answer?

Beta test of Norton 360 v3.0
17 Jan 09

Please note: this is beta software, so is less reliable than the finished product.

I was given the chance to beta test the next version of Norton 360, an all in one security system. Being penniless, I'm usually restricted to testing freeware, so I leapt at the chance.

Norton 360 strives to cover all aspects of your computers security. It incorporates antivirus, antispyware, antiphising, firewall, secure online storage, drive cleaning and maintenance tools and the option of antispam and parental controls.

Installation was straightforward and mostly automated, with no options. A fairly large antiphishing toolbar was added to Internet Explorer, to help you surf safely, but this can be turned off by right clicking on it.

The main interface is divided into four sections:

PC security, handles virus scans and the firewall.
Identity Protection, guards against identity theft and checks the safety of some web sites.
Backup, performs automated (or manual) backups to hard drive, disc, or online.
PC Tuneup, cleans temporary files etc and defragments the hard drives.

You may have noticed the label CPU Usage, at the bottom of the window. This opens a window that shows the recent history of Nortons CPU and memory usage. Obviously Norton are proud that the software is no longer a resource hog and didn't impact on even my modest computers performance (apart from when the beta software threw the odd wobbly).

The default set up is quite good, with most features fully automated, which would appeal to those users, who want a fit and forget system.
If however, you like to delve around in the workings of the software and set it up, to suit yourself, then it's not so good. When moving beyond the main window, lots of the settings are tricky to find and most features open in separate windows, which is messy and annoying.

I liked the antivirus scanner, which is superior to most of the freeware antivirus software I have tried, producing no false positives, although it did delete three programs without asking. They were a password revealer and two joke programs, so it is acceptable to class them as a mild risk, but Norton should ask before deleting (restored with no problems) items.

The identity theft features I didn't really try, as the web site checker doesn't work with Opera and although the identity safe offered to store a couple of passwords, I prefer to store them in my head.

The backup feature was rather buggy (which is why I have disabled it) on this beta version and tended to slow my computer to a crawl. But I did manage to backup and restore a few MB, to the free online space.

The PC tune up feature cleans your computer of temporary files, internet files and history etc. It can also clean the registry and there is a useful startup manager. The defragmenter appears to use Windows own system and caused a massive crash the first time I used it, although subsequent attempts were successful.

The firewall seems to be good at blocking incoming traffic, but in my tests appeared to let all outgoing traffic past!
I prefer Zonealarm, which queries anything unusual and shows its internet activity icon in the system tray.

While testing I ran a program called Scoundrel Simulator, which simulates the actions of a possible threat, writing to the start up section of the registry, changing your homepage, etc. Norton let it perform all five actions without a peep, which was a bit worrying.

In conclusion, I liked some of the Norton 360 features, the antivirus scanner and PC tuneup tools were good. But I didn't really trust the firewall, I didn't like the interface much and the software does tend to make a lot of decisions for you, not something I'm very keen on.
Personally I wouldn't buy it. But if you want an all in one solution to your PC security and prefer it to quietly look after your computer, without asking any confusing questions, then it would be a good choice.

Price $79.99 -- Down load size 71MB -- Windows XP, Vista.

http://www.symantec.com/norton/360

My head hurts!

Freeware puzzle game -- Rubokube
29-0-08

Rubokube combines the colours of Rubiks cube, with the grid pattern of Sudoku, to produce a game that's simple to play, but hard to complete.
To complete the puzzle, just rearrange all the coloured blocks into 3*3 blocks of the same colour.

Move a block, by clicking on it and then using the arrow keys to move the entire row. As you can see from the picture I've already completed two colours and proceeded to finish the game less than a minute later.

If you enjoy Rubiks cube, this should be entertaining. If like me, you enjoy Sudoku, it will probably drive you mad.

Freeware - Download size 4.35MB - Win ME, XP, 2000, Vista

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/launch/59785

Clockwise, or anticlockwise?

Optical illusion

Note: If you find optical effects disturbing please skip past the next image.

This effect works really well, just blink, or move your head to the left, or right, to alter the rotation of the Ferris wheel.

Stack 'em high.

Free online Flash game -- Super Stacker.
23-Nov-08
In this simple, but entertaining game, you must stack a variety of squares, triangles and circles. You can stack them however you like, but the stack must be stable for ten seconds, to complete the level.

There are twelve levels, with some quite tricky ones toward the end. The time you take for all the levels produces your score, which you can submit online. I took about ten minutes and was ranked about 440th

Note: You will need Flash enabled in your browser and loading time is approx nine minutes on a 56K connection.
The game loads a thirty second advert before the game begins to load (you need to click play at the bottom of the advert, twice).

http://www.thegamehomepage.com/play/super-stacker/

History through the eyes of those who lived it.

Eyewitness to History.com

History made interesting. Rather than a dry description of events, this site provides eyewitness accounts of important historical events.
The site covers ancient times, up to the mid 1970s. As well as text reports, there are a few videos and some voice recordings (the voice recordings require Real Player).
A very interesting site, I'm still working my way through it.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com

Drive Sentry, one of the new generation of antivirus software.

Drive Sentry v3.1.2.32 -- free for home users.

Drive Sentry is one of a new generation of antivirus programs, using not only virus signatures to protect your computer, but also a community based whitelist of trusted software and HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System), which monitors the behavior of programs and intervenes if the code appears to be performing suspicious, or malicious activities.

Drive Sentry is a pretty hefty download, at 42MB and the installed size is 260MB!! (look in documents and settings -- all users -- application data -- drivesentry)
After installation, Drive Sentry updates its definitions, or synchronizes its data base, if you want to be geeky. The update took quite a while on broadband, so I would imagine that Drive Sentry would not be practical on dialup.
For the first 30 days Drive Sentry will update using "trickle feed" technology, which updates in the background, after that it switches to manual updates, although you can upgrade for a fee.

Drive Sentry runs in the background displaying an icon in the system tray. Right clicking the icon gives a menu, or double clicking opens the main window.
Drive Sentry monitors your computer while you work and displays a popup if a new program is run, or if a program tries to perform a possibly virus like activity, such as writing to the registry. You then have the option of allowing, or blocking the activity, rather like setting the rules for a firewall.

You can perform a virus scan of your computer, with the options of a full, quick, or custom scan. Suspected infected files are quarantined, rather than deleted, which is just as well, as it quarantined seven files on my computer, but only one was a threat (the Eicar test virus). So treat scanning results with caution.

Drive Sentry did have a few problems. The interface is a bit buggy, never displaying the righthand side of the window correctly. I thought this could be because my monitor runs at 800*600, but altering the resolution made no difference.
There was also a problem with the use of system resources. Most of the time Drive Sentry would use 10 to 15MB of memory, but sometimes this would jump to 150MB and it would be using 90% of the CPU, slowing my computer to a crawl, with the only cure being a computer restart.

Overall, Drive Sentry has some good ideas, I particularly like the system of granting program permissions. But it needs some more development and the system resources problem makes it too unreliable for everyday use (IMOP) and I wont be keeping it on my computer.

Free for home use -- Download size 42MB -- Win 2000, 2003, XP, Vista

http://www.drivesentry.com/


Important notes: Uninstalling Drive Sentry proved tricky, it just didn't want to go, lol. It caused Windows to crash very badly and I eventually had to use safe mode to remove it.
I always create a image of my drive before testing this type of software, so it wasn't a great problem, I just reloaded the image to repair Windows. But I would not advise trying Drive Sentry, unless you take similar precautions.

Puzzled, perplexed, confused, I am????????

This picture puzzle was sent to me by Jan.
The picture rearranges itself every ten seconds, or so.

Count the men and wait!
Count them again after the picture has changed.

The number of men has changed, where does the extra man come from, or go to?

I've watched this for ages, I even took the picture apart in my editor, but I still cant figure it out. If you know the answer drop me a line.

Update 06/Sept/08
Free game -- Command & Conquer Red Alert*.

To promote the imminent release of C&C Red Alert 3, Electronic Arts are giving the original version of Red Alert away for free.
I haven't actually played the original version yet, but I am a big fan of Red Alert 2 and C&C Generals.

From the few images I was able to find, the original version looks quite similar to version 2, if not quite as polished in the graphics department. So it should be a good strategy game and will run on a low specification computer.

The download is rather big, at two 500MB disc images, but depending on your browser, you can pause the download, to spread the load on your bandwidth over several days (which is what I'm doing, broadband is great).

Red Alert will run on Windows 95/98/Me/XP and possibly Vista. The web site has tips for getting Red Alert to run on XP and Vista.

http://www.ea.com/redalert/news-detail.jsp?id=62

Additional note: I have now tried Red Alert. It's showing its age rather, but is still playable, although I did have to fiddle with the control options, as my computer was too fast (never thought I would say that!).
Red Alert 2 and C&C Generals are much better games and not very expensive nowadays.

Update 26/July/08
Free online Flash game -- Totem Destroyer.

Totem Destroyer (surely that should be Totem Saver) is a skill/puzzle game. Your task is to remove the specified number of blocks, without allowing the totem (the gold idol) to touch the floor, or fall from a great height.
The game has twentyfive levels of increasing difficulty. Your progress through the game is saved and you can return to any level you have unlocked.

There are three types of blocks, normal, slippery and indestructible. Only the first two types can be removed, by clicking on them.
The game is entertaining and moderately difficult, with some levels requiring several attempts, a little puzzling, some quick clicking and a dash of luck.

Note: You will need Flash enabled in your browser and loading time is approx ten minutes on a 56K connection.

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/totem_destroyer

Updated 09/July/08
Free edition -- Easeus Partition Manager personal v1.6.4

It can be very useful to partition a large hard drive, if only to reduce the amount of time required by your antivirus software, to scan everything on your hard drive.
For example I store about 17GB of software, music, pictures etc. But because I have my drive split into three partitions, my antivirus only needs to scan my 8.5GB "C" Windows drive, which is naturally much faster than scanning the entire 25.5GB of data.
There are other benefits, creating a image of the "C" drive is quicker and uses less strorage, defragmenting can be quicker and stored data is safer, if Windows throws a wobbly.

Easeus Partition Manager is a very good free partition manager. Amongst other features, it enables you to create, delete, resize, move and format partitions.

I successfully reduced the size of partition "E", created a new logical partition "F", formatted to Fat32. Then deleted "F" and added the unallocated space back onto "E".
The software is very easy to use and experienced partitioners will hardly need the very good help file.
Easeus, reboots the computer to apply changes and then Windows insists on rebooting every time as well, which gets a little wearing, but everything does progress smoothly.
Only Fat and NTFS file systems are recognized, Linux formats are ignored, but this isn't a great problem, as most Linux distros come with their own partitioning software.

A useful feature is the ability to password protect Easeus, which prevents anyone you share the computer with, from fiddling with the partitions.
There is also the option to create a bootable floppy, or CD, which contains a basic version of the partition manager.

Easeus Partition Manager is very good and easily a match for Acronis Partition manager, which I usually use. It doesn't have all the features of the open source software GParted, but it is a much smaller download and its easy to use interface and useful range of features, make it a winner in my opinion.

Free -- Download size 4.53MB -- Win 2000 Pro SP4, XP

http://www.partition-tool.com/

WARNING. Like all partitioning software, this program can damage your computer if used incorrectly, do not use it unless you know what you are doing and have taken sensible precautions. I take no responsibility for any damage you may do to your computer.

Update 07/July/08
Web site -- Fred Langa: What comes next?

Some readers might remember Fred Langas excellent computer help and advice column, the Langalist.
Sadly, some time ago Fred Langa merged the Langlist with Windows Secrets, (which isn't a patch on the Langalist) and then seemed to vanish.

Well I was looking at Windows Secrets the other day and decided to Google for Fred Langa, as I thought he might have restarted the Langalist. He hasn't, but he has got an interesting new blog, covering lots of subjects and with the odd article about computers.
You can find it here: http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/

Freeware game -- Vibrant.

Vibrant is a puzzle platformer. To escape the world of Vibrant, you must guide your character (a block with legs) through fifteen varied levels.

I'm not going to describe much of the game features, as it would spoil the game. But the levels are quite logical (even if they don't initially seem to be) and clues are often given in the level comments.
To complete each level, you must touch the purple star, if there is more than one purple star, you need to touch the correct one.

Vibrant lacks any presentation, or help file, but it is a bit different and kept me entertained for ten minutes.

Freeware -- Download size 5.6MB -- Win ME, XP, 2000, Vista

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/launch/42188

Update 07/June/08
Freeware game -- Rox v1.4

Rox is a primarily a puzzle game, but does require speed and dexterity on some levels.
You control a toothy character called Thresher, who munches his way through levels, looking for unids, once he has collected all the unids, he can exit the level via the portal.
Along the way Thresher has to negotiate falling rocks, explosives, spider like creatures and annoying gnats. There are also one way conduits, switches, keys and a discharger.
Thresher does get some help, with a selection of powerups, invulnerability (my favorite), freeze, missiles and explosives.

The graphics are pretty good, with some nice animations and effects, although I did find everything a bit on the dark side for my taste and found myself getting closer and closer to the screen (getting old).
The background music tracks (4 included, more on the web site) are quite catchy and there is the option to set the volume.

There are 69 levels in the standard game and there are hundreds of fan made levels available on the web site, simply unzip the level file and drop the .clvl file into the levels folder, then select your new levels using the "collection" option in the menu.
An easy to use level editor is included with the game, if you are inspired to try your hand at creating your own levels.

It takes a while to learn all the features of Rox. But once you have mastered useful techniques, such as pressing space and an arrow key to eat a nearby object without moving, the game becomes very interesting.
There is an excellent help file, which is accessible in-game, by pressing F1.

Rox is a very polished and entertaining (if somewhat frustrating) game and with the addition of fan levels will provide days, weeks (months, years!) of fun.

Freeware -- Download size 11.1MB -- Win 98, ME, 2000, XP.

http://www.bd-fans.com/RoX.html

Update 01/June/08
Free CD/DVD burning software -- Romeo Lite v2.3.0.71

Romeo Lite is a (very) cut down version of the full Romeo burning sofware and can only produce data discs. The main interface is very simple, just drag and drop files, or folders to the window. Or you can use the file selection window.

After you have made your selection, use the burn button to open the burning window, where you can choose whether to make your disc multi-session, or add to a previous session. You have the option to erase (quick, or full) rewritable discs, before burning.

I liked Romeo Lite, it's quick and fuss free and maintains the folder structure on burned discs.
There is a downloadable help file for the full program on the authors web site, which gives information on the data burning options, but the mouse over hints should provide enough help for most people.
If like me, almost all your burning is data discs, you might find Romeo Lite to be a good choice.
Note: A command line version is also included, for those people who like that sort of thing.

Free -- Download size 2.61MB -- Win 2000, XP, Vista

http://www.romeoburner.com/
Note: You will find the Lite version in the downloads section

Update 06/May/08
Free CD/DVD burning software -- ImgBurn v2.4.1.

ImgBurn, as the name suggests, is focused primarily on creating, reading and burning image files (ISO, BIN etc). But it can also burn data discs, audio CDs (from a wide variety of file formats) and DVD video discs.
The initial interface, with just six options is very simple, but this hides a plethora of options and settings, which appear on the secondary interfaces.

Note: To reduce image file size, this is a simplified graphical representation of the program window.

ImgBurn isn't the easiest burner to use and it doesn't follow the standard layout of most burning software. But it is remarkably powerful for its size and offers a lot of control for keen burners.

There is no built in help file, but there is an online help forum with comprehensive guides, describing the various burning features and after some study, I had no problems performing basic data and audio burns.
However, ImgBurn does not appear to support multi-session data discs, which limits its appeal for me (I may be mistaken, but I eventually got fed up of wading through the reams of information on the forum) and creating audio discs is a convoluted process.

Overall, ImgBurn is an impressively featured burner, when working with image files and advanced users will appreciate the control it gives you.
But for burning standard data and audio discs, there are simpler and better choices of freeware.

Free - Download size 1.8MB - Win 95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista

http://www.imgburn.com/

Update 30/April/08
Freeware game -- Block Manoeuvers v2.0

Block Manoeuvers is a puzzle game. Your task is to complete all fifty levels by collecting the strawberries (if there are any) and reaching the exit.
To accomplish this task, you can push blocks and boulders out of the way and use them to bridge water, or as numbered keys in later levels. There are also pop up walls, rolling balls of flame and flamethrowers.

Level 29 completed, that was a lot of block pushing.

The graphics are very basic and a bit too small for my tastes, but they do the job. Sound effects are minimal, which is sensible with a puzzle game and the background music tracks are quite good (you get more tracks, as you progress through the game).

The help file is very basic, but there are additional comments as new objects are introduced. Your progress is auto saved and you can skip levels by pressing "S".

The games learning curve is perhaps a little too long and the puzzles don't become taxing until around the twentieth level (depends how good you are at puzzles). But the later levels are varied and challenging and gave the grey cells a good workout.

Freeware -- Download size 3.02MB -- Win 2000, XP, Vista

http://www.geocities.com/shooeymooey/index.html

Update 23/April/08
Freeware antimalware software -- Spybot Search & Destroy v1.5.2

I was updating the entry for AVG Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido), when I realised that I don't list Spybot S&D, which is odd, because I have used it for years, so I thought that I'd better give it a review.

Spybot S&D is one of the longest established anti-spyware programs. It has two modes, default and advanced and I would advise using advanced mode, as it has lots of useful extras.
The main feature is a manual drive scanner which scans for and (hopefully) fixes spyware problems. The results window can be split in two, so that the right hand pane shows additional information on any possible threats.

The immunize feature adds potentially dangerous web sites, to the restricted zone in Internet Explorer, preventing them from running possibly malicious code, through IE. Known tracking cookies are also blocked. Immunize also helps to protect the Opera browser, from bad plugins and cookies.

Spybot has a good selection of tools, the most useful being the Secure Shredder and System Startup, which lists all the programs that start with Windows. System Startup often gives a description of the program, but I would advise double checking an item using Google, before disabling or deleting it.

Spybot has some real time (resident) protection, in the form of SDHelper for Internet Explorer, which blocks bad downloads and TeaTimer which monitors the processes that your computer runs and keeps a watch over some sections of the registry.
I use SDHelper, but not TeaTimer, as RegProt protects my registry and I'm not convinced that continuously monitoring running processes for spyware is necessary (depends how paranoid you are ).

Updating is straightforward and you can select which items you wish to download. Note that if you update the immunize database, you have to manually immunize again, never really understood why it isn't automatic.
Spybot used to have a problem with updates failing, but since its recent major overhaul, it seems to be better and I've had no recent problems. If the update does fail, just select a different update location and try again.

Spybot is my favorite antispyware software and the only antispyware application that I always keep on my computer. Its reliability, reasonably accurate detections, useful selection of tools and comprehensive help file, combine to make it an excellent program.

Freeware -- Win 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista.

Note: Spybot also has an "easter egg" (a good one for a change), you can read about it here: misc.htm

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Update 20/April/08
Freeware game -- Icarus Flight.

Icarus Flight is based on the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, melted his wings and died. In this 3D game, you zoom around the sky collecting feathers and points, while avoiding birds, typhoons and water spouts. Also, true to the story of Icarus, you mustn't get too close to the sun, or your wings will melt.

You stay aloft by flapping your wings, using the mouse button, but your finger doesn't get tired, as you only have a very limited amount of flaps. You can replenish your flapping reserve, by collecting feathers.
You can also fly through speed rings, to give yourself a boost, but be careful, as it's easy to boost yourself either into the sea, or too near the sun.

The 3D graphics are pretty good by Game Maker standards and there are some nice sound effects.
The menu system is excellent, with a good help file. Note, F4 switches between running the game full screen, or in a window.

At first I wasn't very impressed by Icarus Flight, as it takes a while to get used to the controls and the 3D perspective is a little tricky. But after a while, I found that I was soaring around the sky collecting feathers and points and was quite pleased with myself when I managed to score 830 points.
So I went online and submitted it to the online score, I then saw that Gullesnuffs had the top score of 4696!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, I thought I was doing well.

Freeware -- Download size 4.33MB -- Win 2000, XP, Vista

Note: Does not require installing, just unzip and play.

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/launch/32727

PC Advisor -- IE, Safari, Flock, Opera and Firefox: tested and rated.

PC Advisor, the web site of the popular computing magazine, has an interesting article on site, detailing the pros and cons of the latest browser versions.
It focuses primarily on IE, Safari and Firefox, although Flock and my favorite, Opera, do get a mention.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=12764&pn=1

Freeware game -- I Wanna Be The Guy.

After my review of The Worlds Hardest Game, Ovrkllr suggested, that for a very hard game, I try, I Wanna Be The Guy (IWBTG).
After a quick Google, I found the game site and downloaded the demo version, as the full version is a whopping 68MB! and the author doubted that I would get past the first few screens anyway.
IWBTG is a very unforgiving platform game, where your character, resplendent in a red cape, must avoid a variety of deadly (and very quick!) obstacles.

This is as far as I got.

I was mown down by spikes in the first few seconds and then died numerous times, trying to complete the first section of the game, before giving up in disgust (the computer nearly went through the window).
The game doesn't come with a help file, so you might want to save the web site pages. Note that you can alter the game difficulty when you choose a game save slot.

IWBTG is so difficult, that I doubt many people will enjoy it. But highly skilled gameplayers that sail through normal games, should enjoy the challenge.

Freeware -- Download size, demo 15.5MB, full 68MB -- No spec given, tested on XP.

http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/

Game suggested by Ovrkllr:
Comment: "TWHG isn't even close to the hardest. I Wanna Be The Guy is definitely harder".

Update 17/April/08
Free online Flash game -- The Worlds Hardest Game.

The Worlds Hardest Game is quite a title to live up to. But TWHG is certainly in the top ten for difficuly.
It is a very playable game and the thirty levels are possible, they just require speed, timing, coordination and sometimes some thought.

The object of the game is simple, using the arrow keys, move the red block to each green area, collecting any yellow dots and avoiding the moving blue dots. The less times you die, the better your score (which can be recorded online).
The difficulty, is that space between obstacles is often very tight and your red block doesn't move very fast.

Your progress through the game isn't saved, so you would need to complete the game in one sitting, which is a pain. But apart from that, it's a playable, if very frustrating game.

Note: You will need Flash enabled in your browser and loading time is approximately 3 minutes on a 56K connection.

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/the_worlds_hardest_game

Note: You will find more freeware game and utility reviews in the Freeware section of my site.

Rob Goldfish Web Site