freeware

In their never-ending quest to steal your credit card and bank account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive personal information, malware purveyors go wherever the eyeballs are. Lately, the bad guys have increasingly been targeting the links served up by Web search engines.

Two computer security firms recently issued press releases touting the dangers of searching for popular terms, such as the names of starlets or items in the news. Barracuda Labs' 2010 Midyear Security Report highlights the risks of entering a popular topic in Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The company entered thousands of search terms in these … Read more

The "SIW" in SIW - Freeware Version stands for System Information for Windows, and they aren't kidding. This utility provides users with an amazing array of information about your Windows machine and its contents, performance, and settings.

SIW's interface is plain and easy to navigate, with menus and a toolbar across the top and a tree-style directory down the left side. This directory is split into three main parts--Software, Emulated Hardware, and Network--and expanding each of these displays a bevy of information. The amount of features SIW contains is truly staggering; users can view information about … Read more

There's no killer feature update to TrueCrypt 7 as there was in version 6. Still, the latest revision to the popular open-source and free encryption program for Windows, Mac, and Linux debuts some new features and security enhancements that make it worth the upgrade.

Users whose computers have certain Intel chips are expected to see faster performance because of support for AES encryption. TrueCrypt says that AES is between four and eight times faster than encryption powered solely by software. The company has provided a list of supported Intel chips. At the time of writing, it includes six i5 … Read more

One of the first applications built to find and remove malware and spyware, Ad-Aware's reputation is well-justified. The latest version continues the publisher's tradition of adroitly addressing user concerns, but flaws remain.

Building on the improvements made in version 8, former Ad-Aware users should be glad to hear that the program installs faster than before. This version of Ad-Aware offers two new features to users of the free version that had previously been restricted to the paid upgrades: antivirus protection, and a long-awaited scheduler. The AV protection comes courtesy Sunbelt, makers of Vipre. Ad-Aware 8.3 loads faster … Read more

It's getting more and more difficult to protect your privacy on the Web. Just as we're invited to share our thoughts and experiences with friends, family, and the universe, there's somebody recording it all and looking to make a buck from it, legally or otherwise. The key is to find the right balance between the Web's convenience and your security.

Here are five Firefox add-ons that help keep you safe on the Web without hindering your full use out of its best services. (Note that last month I described free Facebook security scanners, and in April … Read more

When it comes to troubleshooting the Macintosh, there are many utilities available for getting the job done. Some are cheap and some expensive but for most you will have to shell out a bit of cash for a license. However, there are also some very robust free options out there for troubleshooting software problems to managing hardware issues.… Read more

People love Google Chrome, it's as simple as that. But did you know that Google puts out three versions of Chrome? In this How To video, we recap the differences and show you how to jump between builds, also known as channels, in Chrome.

Try jumping between the stable, beta, and developer's channels yourself using the installers for Windows (stable | beta | dev), Mac (stable | beta | dev), and Linux (all versions). Note that at the time of publication, the stable and the beta channels are synchronized, but that's not always the case.

Mozilla's first public beta for Firefox 4 debuts support for future-Web tech, lays the groundwork for better security features, and launches a brand-new look that should be eerily familiar to users of Opera and Chrome.

Want to try it out for yourself? Download Firefox 4 beta 1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It's no surprise that using multiple monitors lets you get more work done in less time. As Farhad Manjoo reported in the New York Times last year, the consensus of the ergonomics experts is that using more than one monitor makes computer users much more productive.

Unfortunately, monitor expansion is not always an option, as anyone who has used a laptop computer on the road knows. A serviceable alternative is use of a screen-expander utility that lets you extend your desktop space virtually.

(These programs differ from Windows' built-in Magnifier utility, which enlarges the contents of the desktop but … Read more