(personal) Worthy Free Updates of the Day.

. Firefox 3.0.6:
Hold on to your seats, the bird is flying higher and stronger.

. Java Runtime 1.6.0.12:
I always feel that these updates go hand in hand with the mozilla browsers. XP users probably have noticed improved performance in the Java Quick Start AddOn that came with the previous version. Vista does not need this AddOn due to its only brilliant way of handling/managing processes prefetching.

. Microsoft NET 3.5 SP1:
Hat offs to these blokes, for finally working cross-browsers with the Net Framework Assistant AddOn - read more about what it is all about here at ClickOnce.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/142dbbz4.aspx

Please feel free to contirbute your "worthy" updates of the day, keep in mind that this is not a most downloaded software thread.

cheers ...

Stumbling on this cool Firefox Addon this morning. I used Cooliris before and felt that it was kinda bloated. But this offspring has been tip-top, using it for 1/2 day now.

"
CoolPreviews 2.7
Browse faster -- Preview links and images without leaving your current page. Just mouse over any link, and a preview window immediately appears to show you the content. To speed through multiple search results, news, and listings, mouse over additional links while the preview window is open."

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2207

cheers ...

Another file sharing dingy, or something cool within FF?

http://drop.io/howto

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8482
"Drag & drop your files directly into Drop.io drops!

A drop is a chunk of space you can use to store and share anything privately (pictures, videos, audio, documents, etc.), without accounts, registration, or an email address. Drops are not "searchable" and not "networked;" they just exist online as private points for exchange between individuals or groups.

Create as many drops as you want in as little as two clicks and set things like a password, whether others can add to the drop, and how long you want it to exist (you can renew later). Drops can be flexibly used in a range of ways from sharing family photos and videos to collaborating on group projects."

cheers ...

Stumbling on another theme add-on for Firefox:

Canvas - Your photos, your colors, your images. Make it your browser... Boom!

"1. Purely personalized. Any picture from your computer is easily displayed in the browser.
2. Highly stylized. Any image from the web can be added to the browser for the look you want. You can even use Firefox Personas images!
3. Simply, Boom! Brand Thunder's Boom! system allows you to install any Boom! and switch between them for a completely fresh browser experience any time you like.

We have also included the popular extension for search enhancement, Surf Canyon. For Surf Canyon settings, simply go to the TOOLS section of Firefox.

Be sure to check out the tutorial at http://brandthunder.com/canvas/firstrun.php"

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12059

Make sure that you disable any other theming add-ons (personas, any color ...) first.

Update:
. be careful for an add-on of Surf Canyon along with this extension. It can cause your other search engines to blow.
. this can be disabled within FF Tools Add-On

cheers ...

Firefox 3.5

. http://www.filehippo.com/download_firefox/

Changelog:
"# Use the new Private Browsing Mode and the updated Clear Recent History function (in the Tools menu) to keep your browsing habits a secret.
# Tear tabs off the tab bar to create new windows, and drag and drop them from one Firefox window to another.
# Watch a video in your browser without needing any plugins or external media players. (this I like very much)
# Control the Smart Location Bar results with special characters."

Happy and safe surfing.

cheers ...

Browser speed is relativity ;-)

cheers ...

Page rendering on FF3.5 is simply awesome! NBF never looks so good before ;-)

cheers ...

Microsoft Search Engine BING

A cool (Bing) add-on for Firefox:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12205

cheers ...

Firefox 3.5.1

Firefox

update with post #24

cheers ...

MyDefrag (formerly JkDefrag) 4.0

"...disk defragment and optimize utility for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/X64.

MyDefrag is a disk defragmenter
and optimizer (a maintenance utility to make your harddisk faster) for Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008, and for X64. It is freeware, no time limit, fully functional, no advertisements. Fast, low overhead, with many optimization strategies, can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. Included are a set of easy to use scripts for endusers, a scripting engine for demanding users, a screensaver, and a combined Windows plus commandline version that can be scheduled by the Windows task scheduler or for use from administrator scripts.

MyDefrag is extremely solid because it is based on the standard defragmentation API by Microsoft, a system library that is included in Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, and 2008. Most defragmenters are based on this API, including the free defragmenter that comes with Windows and many commercial defragmenters. Basically all MyDefrag does is send "move this file to that location" commands to the API. The API is part of the operating system and can safely move almost any file on the disk, without risk and while the computer is in full use. "

Hot right out of the oven!

cheers ...

Some more "truth" behind 3.5.1 update.

"To fix a critical security flaw within the browser's TraceMonkey JavaScript engine."

Read in full here!

cheers ...

CrossLoop 2.51

CrossLoop 2.51

"The CrossLoop application allows a person at one computer to view and/or control a remote computer. The person accessing the remote computer will be able to see the desktop, use the mouse and use the keyboard. The CrossLoop application works great for helping or being helped by friends and family or for being helped by CrossLoop's support specialists."

Get it here!

I have been using LogMeIn for a while and find this new tool much easier to use. We tested out connections from Hamburg to Riverside and it works perfectly, with both notebooks behind routers and firewalls. The use of "access code", randomly assigned at start (new session) means that one cannot easily got peeked into.

cheers ...

7-Zip 9.04 Beta

7-Zip 9.04 Beta

(from 4.65 to 9.04)

"- 7-Zip now can update solid .7z archives.
- 7-Zip now supports LZMA2 compression method.
- 7-Zip now supports XZ archives.
- 7-Zip now can unpack NTFS, FAT, VHD and MBR archives.
- 7-Zip now can unpack GZip, BZip2, LZMA, XZ and TAR archives from stdin.
- 7-Zip now can open/copy/compress disk images (like \\.\c from \\.\ folder.
- 7-Zip File Manager now doesn't use temp files to open nested archives stored
without compression.
- New -scrc switch to calculate total CRC-32 during extracting / testing.
- New -scc{WIN|DOS|UTF-8} switch to specify charset for input/output (default =
DOS).
- Some bugs were fixed."

Free here!

cheers ...

Firefox 3.5.2

Firefox (recommending update via internal update process)

Update with post #24

cheers ...

Avast! Home Edition 4.8.1351

Avast! Home Edition 4.8.1351

"avast! antivirus Home Edition represents the best free antivirus protection currently available on the market. This edition is FREE OF CHARGE for non-commercial & home use. Its features include:

* Anti-spyware built-in
* Web Shield
* Anti-rootkit built-in
* Automatic updates
* Strong self-protection
* Virus Chest
* Antivirus kernel
* System integration
* Simple User Interface
* Integrated Virus Cleaner
* Resident protection
* Support for 64-bit Windows
* P2P and IM Shields
* Internationalization
* Network Shield"

Update via "Updating Program Update" option from system tray or here.

cheers ...

Foxit Reader 3.1.0824

Foxit Reader

Update with post #22

cheers ...

7-Zip 9.07 Beta

7-Zip 9.07 Beta

(:-) I have yet not known 7-ZIP outside its perpetual beta mode)

"The main features of 7-Zip are:

* High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
* Supported packing / unpacking formats: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
* Supported formats for unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
* Compression ratio for ZIP and GZIP formats: 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
* Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
* Self-extracting capability for 7z format
* Integration with Windows Shell
* Powerful File Manager
* Powerful command line version
* Plugin for FAR Manager
* Localizations for 74 languages
* It's now possible to specify Diff program in options (7-Zip File Manager). "

Download here!

cheers ...

OpenOffice.org 3.1.1

OpenOffice.org 3.1.1

"OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. "

Download here.

cheers ...