So what is Gizmos Freeware?

1. Gizmo’s freewareA Review of some of thegizmo’s Freeware & some which has been made available recently!Their Website is worth checking out, So if you have not done so,We’ll have a quick look here tonight.

2. So what is Gizmos Freeware? It is a community websitewhere you'll find the very best freeware programs each selected by “Tech Support “independent editors because of their quality and performance. Many of these programs are as good as ,or better than their commercial counterparts so why pay for what you can get for free? E.G. The Web site covers areas such as- Tech Tips Tech treats Hot finds Popular , and much more if you haven’t done so, Check out the TechSupport website yourself in your own time and consider subscribing to the daily Gismo’s e-mail

3. Subscribing to Gismo’s Freeware I personally subscribe to Gismo’s freeware and have done for the past few years. I receive an e-mail daily covering the latest freeware that their tech people consider is worth distributing. Many of their tips / hints are worth looking at. I do install / use some of them, but I also discard some that are of little interest to me. I have also established a folder containing lots of their past releases!!! The following slides cover a selection of Gismo’s that I thought were worth sharing with you. The next slide is the latest Gismo’s alert which arrived today!

4. Use this Free Website to Check Whether Your PC is Infected By the Sneaky GameOverZeus Trojan Posted: 10 Jun 2014 03:12 AM PDT Last week, law enforcement agencies across the world, including the FBI, co-operated to shut down the servers behind the GameOverZeustrojan. This particularly nasty piece of malware steals your passwords from a variety of web sites, including banks, in order to try to take your money.Experts were warning that the criminals behind the servers, to which the malware sends details of the passwords it finds, will probably get them back up and running within 2 weeks, and urged everyone to ensure that their PC protection was up to date. So if you haven't checked your antivirus software in a while, or if your subscription has expired, now might be a good time to do something about it.F-Secure has set up a web site which, the company claims, can tell you whether your PC is infected by the GameOverZeus malware. Here's how to use the site to test your PC:http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/check-instantly-whether-your-pc-infected-gameoverzeus.htmq

5. View 85,000 Historical Newsreel Videos For Free View 85,000 Historical Newsreel Videos For Free From 1910 until it closed in 1970, Pathé News was one of the world's best-known news agencies. Based in Britain, and indeed originally known as British Pathé, it produced tens of thousands of filmed news reports, covering major stories and events all over the world.Last week, its entire archive of 85,000 videos was put online, on a dedicated YouTube channel that you can browse and view entirely free of charge. So whether you're interested in coverage of the Hindenburg airship disaster from 1937, Arnie winning Mr Universe in 1969, or baby chickens hatching in a frying pan, you'll find it all online.http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/view-85000-historical-newsreel-videos-free.htm

6. How To Tell If You're Running Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Why You Need to Know Microsoft has announced that from May 2014 onward, users of Windows 8 and 8.1 will no longer receive regular monthly updates. In the future to receive these you need to be running the latest version of Windows 8 which is called Windows 8.1 Update 1. So how do you know whether you are running Windows 8.1 Update 1? Unfortunately it is not obvious but once you know what to look for it is actually quite easy. Here's how:http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-tell-if-youre-running-windows-81-update.htm

7. How To check If You're Running Windows 8.1 Update If you're using Windows 8, you've probably clicked on the reminder at some point to get the free upgrade to 8.1, which fixes a whole load of gotchas and makes the operating system slightly nicer to use. But what about the much-publicised Windows 8.1 Update, which is an updated version of 8.1?  Have you got that yet and, if not, how do you get it? Unlike the switch from 8.0 to 8.1, the move to 8.1 Update isn't something that you need to elect to install.  It will happen automatically if you have the Automatic Updates feature switched on.  And it's important that you do run 8.1 Update, as Microsoft has said it won't be producing any further bugfixes or security updates for Win8.x users who aren't running 8.1 Update. Trouble is, there's no easy way to check that the 8.1 Update has installed on your computer.   Cont’d next slide

8. How To Tell If You're Running Windows 8.1 Update- cont’d There's no command that lets you check it out, and the Windows version number stays the same.  So if you're puzzling your situation, here's how to find out. 1.  If you don't have a touch screen, and your PC now boots straight to the desktop, then you're running Windows 8.1 Update 2.  If your Start screen now sports a search button (a magnifying glass icon) in the top right hand corner, you're running Windows 8.1 Update 3.  If you can right-click on a tile in the Start menu and you see a menu, then you're running Windows 8.1 Update If none of these 3 things applies to you, then you're not running 8.1 Update yet.  Make sure that you have turned on automatic updates, and it should be downloaded within the next few days.

9. Get A Disposable, Secure Email Address On Demand. For Free. You click on an email link, or you see an advert in a newspaper maybe, that offers something for free. You're tempted to sign up. Trouble is, the site wants your email address in order to let you register, and you'd rather not give it out to companies you don't know. But without a valid email address into which you can receive your registration code, verification number or password, there's no way to sign up for the snazzy service.Sound familiar? What you need is an instant source of free, disposable email addresses. Then, when some site asks for your address, supply one of those disposable ones. Use it to retrieve the password or verification code, and then forget all about it. You'll never need to check it again. Next time you need to register for something, just get another disposable address. Here's how to do it:http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/get-disposable-secure-email-address-demand-free.htm

10. Create Reminders On Your Desktop. No Software Required Sometimes I like to be able to put a quick, short reminder on my Windows desktop. However, I've never really been a fan of "sticky note" apps. Where do they store their data? What happens if I accidentally delete a note? Will all my notes still be there next time I start up my PC, or do I have to remember to run the sticky note app again before they appear?When you think about it for more than 20 seconds, you realise that Windows has had the ability to put reminders on your desktop built into the operating system ever since it allowed support for long filenames. Here's how you do it:http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/create-reminders-your-desktop-no-software-required.htm

11. Get The Professional Version of MiniTool Partition Wizard for Free! The free home edition of MiniTool Partition Wizard has long been a favourite with Gizmo's readers and is currently our Top Pick for this category of software. Now, Gizmo's readers can get for free the professional version of MiniTool Partition Wizard with numerous additional features not found in the free edition. To get the free edition you need to subscribe to the MiniTool newsletter but you can unsubscribe at any time.This software enables you to create, delete, move, resize, recover, copy, convert and a host of other functions applicable to your Windows disk drive. This offer is time limited so go grab it for your PC toolkit while you can.http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/get-professional-version-minitool-partition-wizard-free.htm-0

12. Why Are Your Photos Upside Down? When you use a mobile device and rotate it to take a photo, your device may capture a rotated image and save it in a jpg file with an Exif orientation tag indicating that the photo is rotated. Either one of these orientation tag values, 1, 8, 3 and 6 is often written to the jpg file when you take a photo by rotating a camera 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees counter clockwise (ccw) respectively. The diagrams here show how an image may be saved using a camera or a smartphone: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/why-are-your-photos-upside-down.htm

13. Five Small Free Utilities to Help with Windows Tasks There are a lot of free programs that do big tasks or have many features but sometimes it’s the little things that count. Here are five little programs that do some specialized Windows chores. They may not be for everybody but they have their own particular appeal:1. Personal hotkey for a favourite program 2. Hide and unhide the taskbar with a hotkey toggle3. Resize non-resizable windows4. Make a collection of icons from your Windows files5. Replace the arrows on Windows shortcut icons with any Image you wanthttp://www.techsupportalert.com/content/five-small-free-utilities-help-windows-tasks.htm

14. Updated: The Best Free Security List in the World I haven't mentioned this list for a while and in the interim dozens of new products have been added. If you haven't checked this list out lately you'll be surprised at just how many wonderful free security products are now available. As ever, why spend a cent when you can get it for free.http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm

15. Another Program To Check For - Software That Needs Updating A few days ago I wrote in this column about Secunia PSI, a free utility that helps to advise you which of the programs on your PC needs updating. A couple of you suggested that SUMo (Software Update Monitor) as a program which does a similar job, so I have been taking a look at it.Like PSI, SUMo scans your computer looking for all installed applications. It then advises which ones have an outstanding update that is available for download but which you haven't yet installed. You can then choose to download the update (manually or though the SUMo program). If you don't recognise a particular program in the list of items found on your PC, there's also an option to open the relevant directory/folder in Windows Explorer so you can take a closer look.SUMo is free, and is a 1 MB download that's malware-free according to VirusTotal and Web of Trust. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/another-program-check-software-needs-updating.htm

16. How to Deal with the Ransomware Called CryptoLocker- Something called CryptoLocker is one of the most prevalent examples of ransomware. Everyone should be on guard against this pernicious malware. A valuable resource for dealing with CryptoLocker is the extensive guide put together by BleepingComputerat this link.  Here is a few samples from the Table of Contents: What is CryptoLocker Known file paths and registry keys used by CryptoLocker What should you do when you discover your computer is infected with CryptoLocker? Is it possible to decrypt files encrypted by CryptoLocker? Will paying the ransom actually decrypt your files? How do you become infected with CryptoLocker CryptoLockerand Network Shares What to do if your anti-virus software deleted the infection files and you want to pay the ransom! How to increase the time you have to pay the ransom

17. How to Deal with CryptoLocker-cont’d How to restore files that have been encrypted on DropBox folders How to find files that have been encrypted by CryptoLocker How to prevent your computer from becoming infected by CryptoLocker CryptoLocker2.0: New version or Copycat? CryptoLocker Timeline Please note that BleepingComputer makes the following comment: “There is a lot of incorrect and dangerous information floating around about CryptoLocker. As BleepingComputer.com was one of the first support sites to try helping users who are infected with this infection, I thought it would be better to post all the known information about this infection in one place. This guide, or Frequently Asked Questions, will unfortunately not help you decrypt your files as there is no way to do so. Instead, this FAQ will give you all the information you need to understand the infection and possibly restore your files via other methods. In many ways this guide feels like a support topic on how to pay the ransom, which sickens me. Unfortunately, this infection is devious and many people have no choice but to pay the ransom in order to get their files back. I apologize in advance if this is seen as helping the developers, when in fact my goal is to help the infected users with whatever they decide to do.”

18. Heart Bleed Firefox and Chrome Browser Extensions that Check for Heartbleed. The Heartbleed bug is a very nasty Internet problem that affects us all. Dealing with it is complex and not clear-cut at this time but one thing that many Internet users want to do is check sites to see which ones might still be subject to the bug. A previous article gave some ways to check sites, but a simpler method is now available with new browser extensions for Firefox and for Chrome. How accurate these extensions are I don’t know and they have some other limitations but I still thought it worth pointing them out. 

19. Heartbleed-Ext 3.0 for Firefox browser This extension is available here. It places a small bleeding heart icon in the browser menu bar. When you go to a website, the heart icon shows green for a site that is “safe”, red for a site still vulnerable to the bug, and yellow for possibly vulnerable. I found that it stayed white for many sites, indicating that it could not determine the status of the site.  The extension does not itself check a site but uses the web service of FilippoValsorda mentioned in our previous article. The green icon does not distinguish between sites previously vulnerable but patched and sites that never had the problem. Added: Unless you refresh a tab, it seems that you may get a result that is left over from a previous site.   http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/firefox-and-chrome-browser-extensions-check-heartbleed.htm

20. Chromebleed for Chrome browser The extension is available here. A bleeding heart icon is placed in the browser menu bar. If you go to an unpatched site, a popup warning will appear. Popups also show indicating some sites as “safe”. This extension also uses the web service of FilippoValsorda. As with the Firefox extension, a “safe” rating does not distinguish between sites previously vulnerable but patched and sites that never had the problem. Unfortunately, instructions are lacking but I found from the reviews that you have to enable the extension setting “Allow access to file URLs” and also the extension option “Show all notifications” and restart Chrome.  I found that there was sometimes a delay of 15 seconds or more after I went to a site before the popup window appeared. A note of caution At the time of this writing, there are questions about the effectiveness of patches for the Heartbleed bug. The recent problems reported about the patches issued by Akamai means that there may be ambiguity in the rating “safe” given to some sites. There are still no easy solutions to this major security problem.

21. Is That Really True or is it a Hoax? Eight Places to Find Out Can you believe everything you read on the Internet? Of course, Gizmo’s readers know that you cannot – not by a long shot. Many things you see are obviously a hoax or a scam. But sometimes it isn’t all that clear whether something is true or not. Fortunately, there are some websites devoted to keeping the facts straight. So, when you want to know whether something is just a con, an unfounded rumour, or made-up story, here are some places to go. Cont’d next slidehttp://www.techsupportalert.com/content/really-true-or-it-hoax-eight-places-find-out.htm

22. General hoaxes, myths, scams, and rumours- cont’d Urban Legends (Snopes)This site has been researching “urban legends” since 1995 and is one of the best known of its type. All sorts of subjects, not just Internet material, can be found here. Hoax BustersA very large collection of Internet hoaxes can be found here. This is another site that has been around for quite a while. Hoax SlayerSite for checking out email hoaxes and scams. Federal Trade Commission scam alertsUS government list of scams of all sorts. Not limited to the Internet. OnGuardOnlineA US government site with a list of online scams. Virus hoaxes A type of hoax that has caused trouble for many people involves fake reports about computer viruses. Many anti-malware software vendors have sites that report on these fakes. E.G. Sophos Threat CenterEmail and virus hoax information. McAfeeCompilation of virus hoaxes SymantecCompilation of virus hoaxes

23. Six Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 8.1 Update Keyboard shortcuts are always popular, but they are especially useful in Windows 8.x on non-touchscreen systems. A previous tip gave some of the common keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8 and here are six more for Windows 8.1 Update.

24. Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 8.1 Update 1 & 2 Winkey+T– If you are on the Start screen, you can use this shortcut to open the taskbar there. This is a new feature in Windows 8.1 Update. 2.Winkey+period+right arrow– Allows you to place up to four full screen apps side by side. The combination Winkey+period+left arrow can also be used. Personally, I find pressing all three keys used in this shortcut to be awkward. Another new feature in Windows 8.1 Update.

25. Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 8.1 Update cont’d 3 & 4 3. Home key– If you are using the desktop interface and the desktop has the focus, pressing the Home key takes you to the first desktop icon. This seems to be new in Windows 8.1 Update. Pressing the End key supposedly moves the focus to the “last” desktop icon. However, I am not sure how “last” is defined and personally I find that it is hard to predict which icon will get selected when the End key is pressed. 4. Escape key– Returns from Start screen to the desktop interface.  Similar in some way to pressing Windows key but does not work as a toggle. Pressing the Escape key again does not take you from the desktop back to the Start Screen.

26. Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 8.1 Update 5 & 6 5. Winkey+down arrow– This closes a Start screen app but the app remains running in the background. It will still be present in the desktop taskbar. 6. Alt+F4 – This is not new but is very useful and worth mentioning. It shuts down a full screen app completely so it doesn’t take up memory. If you are using the desktop, this shortcut will bring up a dialog for shutting down the computer when the desktop has the focus. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/six-useful-keyboard-shortcuts-windows-81-update.htm

27. That’s all Folks. Hope you enjoyed the presentation. Bryan