continuing along the computer path

continuing the catch up and filling in entries with the babble about the new computers, I still haven't hooked up the new 21" monitor and Mac yet because this (Saturday) was the first day this week I had time to sit back and explore the laptop in depth and I'm still doing that… I installed enough software to drop the free memory down to 22.9 GB (how did I find 7 GB of software to install?... I think maybe most of Office did not uninstall… wiping the drive and reinstalling the OS would be wise, I suppose, if I had the OS disk, but since I don't, I won't and then I don't have to find time to search and find and reinstall all the software that was on the machine when I bought it…

so catching up on the week and computers, like I was saying in comments, Spybot is always on my computers, though I found Adaware to be problematic when I used to use it years ago... IE7 has ad protection and that is boosted by IE7Pro, a plug in I found... I installed a bunch of other plug ins from the IE7 site and they do interesting things, but they are too new to my brain to tell you about them... though one sort of checks spelling in IE, like here in the comment box, which is cool once I figure out how to use it... I also found a plug-in that is supposed to let me download YouTube and MySpace and other videos, which is fun...

I checked out that link about security and found this:

Preliminary Internet connection refused!
This is extremely favorable for your system's overall Windows File and Printer Sharing security. Most Windows systems, with the Network Neighborhood installed, hold the NetBIOS port 139 wide open to solicit connections from all passing traffic. Either this system has closed this usually-open port, or some equipment or software such as a "firewall" is preventing external connection and has firmly closed the dangerous port 139 to all passersby. (Congratulations!)

Preliminary Internet connection refused!
This is extremely favorable for your system's overall Windows File and Printer Sharing security. Most Windows systems, with the Network Neighborhood installed, hold the NetBIOS port 139 wide open to solicit connections from all passing traffic. Either this system has closed this usually-open port, or some equipment or software such as a "firewall" is preventing external connection and has firmly closed the dangerous port 139 to all passersby. (Congratulations!)

yay!... maybe I know what I'm doing, aye?... but before we go congratulating me, let's see what the rest of the tests tell us:

GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2007-10-07 at 06:35:11

Results from scan of ports: 0, 21-23, 25, 79, 80, 110, 113, 119, 135, 139, 143, 389, 443, 445, 1002, 1024-1030, 1720, 5000

0 Ports Open
25 Ports Closed
1 Ports Stealth
---------------------
26 Ports Tested

NO PORTS were found to be OPEN.
The port found to be STEALTH was: 25
Other than what is listed above, all ports are CLOSED.
TruStealth: FAILED - NOT all tested ports were STEALTH, NO unsolicited packets were received, A PING REPLY (ICMP Echo) WAS RECEIVED.

well, the "allow ICMP echo" box is checked and grayed out in Windows Firewall and I don't know how to fix that… apparently the same is set on the DSL firewall… so a hacker could use more invasive techniques to get through the firewalls, but at least the ports are all closed to ordinary legal queries… the pop up blocker works well and the IE7 security is set to high, so only sites I allow in get in… I might explore more serious protection if this computer cost thousands or if I had any financial or seriously private info on here, but I don't and even my birth date and other questions asked by websites is usually bogus cuz I know how identity theft works and it shouldn't be as easy as it is…

so I think all I need is a virus program and after the next entry (isn't time strange?) I should be able to get one from our dear sandeeeggo connection now that I hooked up a file transfer program… I still need to explore and decide on the best (for me) programs for audio and video and FTP and such, so if anybody knows anything about any of this, like:

what's the best music player around now?

what I've got is Windows Media Player, iTunes, Real Player, RealTek, and Quicktime

what's the best image browser around now?

I really liked ASeeDSee (or something like that) way back in the in 90's… I have Adobe Photoshop Starterm though I haven't checked it out yet… ideas?

what's the best image editor around now?

same as above, though AseeDsee was limited in how much it could do…

what's the best CD copier now?

I think I have an older version of Roxio around somewhere… and Nero too… I remember Roxio being simpler to use, but maybe Nero had more features… there are others I remember too…

what's the best DVD copier around now?

again, besides the standard ones, I have VLC Media Player…

what's the best decrypter around now?

I have DVDFab Decryper, but never used one of these, so I'm open to suggestions…

what's the best FTP program around now?

I have a couple of old ones… I forget what they are called, but I remember a favorite back in the 90's…

what's the best movie player around now?

yeah, anything better than the usual?...

what's the best file browser around now?

I remember one that eliminated duplicate files that was handy… and another that batch renamed files and another that had other helpful features… so many to choose from as alternatives to Windows Explorer, which has few features… I have Directory Opus, though it's probably the demo version ling expired…

what else?...

tell me everything you know, everybody and send me everything you've got in links or files or CDs or whatever, cuz you love me, right?... codes and keys and activation stuff would be most helpful too cuz I'm not looking to spend much on software at the moment… I wonder if this entry will even get noticed by anybody but you few dear souls who actually pay attention to me online… I'm open and hopeful for much information :)