B Y  M A T T   A B E
Twin Cities Chapter

The essential Windows utilities I'd like to have if I'm ever stranded on a desert island.

Maybe that's why I ended up explaining technical concepts to a non-technical audience for a living.

Anyway, these days, instead of watching a little black-and-white TV screen, I stare at a computer monitor for much of the work day. Although I'm not stranded on a desert island, I don't have the limitless resources of a millionaire (or his wife). So I'm a big fan of freeware and shareware utilities for Microsoft Windows 95/98. Since this kind of software is often very good but publicized largely by word-of-mouth, I thought it might be fun to share with you, my fellow Hyperviews:Online readers, my list of very essential Windows utilities, the ones I would want backed up on a Zip disk in my back pocket if I was ever stranded on a desert island (or if my PC's hard drive ever goes south -- same feeling!).

So sit right back and you'll hear a tale of my six essential utilities for Windows.

Fragmentation also happens to Windows memory during every session. Some application programs also have little misbehaviors like failing to release memory when they terminate. This situation can result in reduced performance, program crashes, protection fault errors, and worse. [Gilligan: "Skip-perrrrrrrr!"] Freemem is a little freeware utility that cleans up your RAM. After I started using the Windows 98 Task Scheduler to run Freemem whenever my computer is idle for five minutes, those strange little error messages and crashes that I used to get are, like my favorite 1960s TV shows, a thing of the past.

If you use more than one browser, upgrade browsers often, or just want an easy way to organize your URL collection "just so," WebMarks is for you. With WebMarks, you can just say "aloha" to the chaos of your browser's pre-defined collections of URLs, trying to maintain separate lists in Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, and trying to organize imported and exported URLs. It's the logical way to organize your URLs (oops, wrong TV show).

• WebMarks, Barnstormer Software, Charlotte, NC
  Registration: Postcardware (author requests a postcard)
  http://www.barnstormer-software.com/index.htm

Managing your privacy while browsing, even if you're "behind" a corporate firewall, is a challenge, to say the least. Unless you understand the complexities of Unix, IP addresses, cookies, and HTTP, you're largely defenseless. Sure, you can raise the security shields built into your browser, but you'd be surprised at what HTTP enables clever web sites to reach out and discover about you. (For further information, and a demonstration, see: http://www.junkbusters.com/cgi-bin/privacy.) To solve the browsing dilemma, browsers like Ginger need proxy servers, which act as gatekeepers between you and the wide, wild World Wide Web.

My favorite proxies are Internet Junkbuster and a "technology demonstration" from Lucent, the Lucent Personal Web Assistant. The Internet Junkbuster is a tiny proxy server that runs on your computer. It intercepts the revealing header data sent upstream silently by your browser, and blocks cookies and banner ads sent downstream by web servers. You can also configure it to block entire web sites, whether they contain ads or other objectionable content. It is totally configurable by editing INI files (remember those?), and the source code is even provided for those so inclined. Be warned that there is no graphical user interface, it's all done with INI files and command line switches. The user documentation is complete but very technical. [Skipper: "In English, please, Professor?"] If you can hang in there during initial setup, Internet Junkbuster can provide you with a satisfying level of control over what information is sent to and from your browser.

Lucent Personal Web Assistant is an "anonymizing" proxy that prevents web sites from determining the domain and/or IP address of a browser requesting a page view. (If a web site asks, all it can see is that the request is coming from the Lucent domain in New Jersey.) It also provides a way for you to enter an alias user name and e-mail address when you register at web site. This gives you the personalization features you want from a web site without revealing your true name or e-mail address. This can cut down on the amount of unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) you receive.

Both of these proxies can be combined or "chained" to get the benefits of both, with little if any affect on browser speed. This method and much more information is located on the Junkbusters web site.

A final note: proxies may not be compatible with your local area network or firewall configuration. If you have questions, consult your corporate information services staff.

• Internet Junkbuster, Junkbusters Corp.,
  Registration: None
  http://www.junkbusters.com/
• Lucent Personal Web Assistant, Lucent Corporation,
  Registration: Free
  http://lpwa.com/

Back on the island, Mr. Howell had to settle for Gilligan's pedal-powered taxicab. Back at home, though, he probably had a few Rolls-Royce limos and other exotic cars at his disposal. At his company today, he would probably have those cool "wheel" mice for his computer guys and gals.

Unfortunately, wheel support is only gradually being implemented across the many applications that run under Windows. Luckily, with Flywheel, you can have your mouse wheel and use it, too!

Flywheel lets me use the wheel to scroll in any application, even those without native wheel support. By pressing Ctrl+Alt, I can scroll a screenful at a time, instead of a line at a time. Other control-key combinations allow me to switch between open documents or between applications, all with a roll of the wheel.

• Flywheel, Plannet Crafters, Inc., Alphretta, GA
  Registration: $10
  http://www.plannetarium.com/

Back in the 1960s, the only numbers Mary Ann had in her address book were phone numbers. These days, Mary Ann's address book (perhaps a personal information manager running in a handheld computer) would have to have fields for fax, pager, and mobile phone numbers, plus e-mail and web site addresses. Likewise, our networks, e-mail accounts, dial-up Internet services, web sites, secure applications, cash machine accounts, voice mail, and security system keypads have user names, passwords and/or PIN numbers for authentication.

Tossed in a sea of passwords, without Password Pro 32, I might be stranded as surely as the S.S. Minnow.

Password Pro 32 keeps a data base of your passwords under password protection. It can also generate a random alphanumeric password, keep track of when passwords expire, and keep a history of old passwords. Now you can stop using obvious passwords like your birthday or your kids' names -- and change them regularly -- without fear of being locked out of your office network or e-mail server.

• Password Pro 32, ZDNet
  Registration: Free with free membership
  http://www.zdnet.com/

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