Top 100 Antivirus Tools

Internet is still far from a secure place, and viruses are still an annoying menace which we must fight on an everyday basis. Here’s our list of 90+ tools for removing virus, spyware, adware and other infections which affect system performance. The list is classified according to their functions(Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware), availability (online/offline), and platform (Cross-Platform/Windows/Mac).

Anti-Spyware

Ad-Aware – A very commonly used anti-spyware application providing advanced protection from spyware related problems. The free version sports all the major features.

AntiSpyware 2007 – AntiSpyware 2007 for Windows provides users a safe experience by protecting computer against spyware threats. The free version enables the users to scan the computer for infections.

ArcaClean – A free tool for removing all copies of internet worms (Blaster Beagle, NetSky, Sober and others).

Bazookaâ„¢ Adware and Spyware Scanner – Bazooka detects infections which are typically not recognized by Anti-Virus software. Examples of these are spyware, adware, trojan, keylogger, foistware and trackware components. Bazooka can remove CoolWebSearch, Gator, GAIN, Bargain Buddy, CommonName, FlashTrack, IPInsight, nCase, SaveNow, and WurldMedia.

CWShredder – CWShredder eliminates CoolWebSearch which is a type of browser hijacker. It is a small utility with very focused functionality towards eliminating this browser hijacker in instant time.

Dr. Web CureIt – Dr. Web is one of the most popular free anti-virus scanners for Windows. It removes all kinds of infections like spyware, malware and W32 viruses.

NoAdware – A real time protection solution for spyware and adware removal. Its special features include advanced level of protection for the IE browser.

Outpost Security Suite Pro – A fast and effective anti-malware, and personalized anti-spam solution. It keeps the computer updated against latest OSS that will keep user’s computer protected against all major Internet security threats.

Panicware’s Pop-Up Stopper and Blocker – A free popup blocker and spyware removal tool for both Windows and Mac OS X.

PestPatrol – PestPatrol is a powerful security and personal privacy tool that detects and eliminates destructive pests like trojans, spyware, adware and hacker tools.

Prevx CSI – Prevx is a very powerful scanner for home and business users. Its quick scanner will check your computer for infections in less than 2 minutes.

Spybot Search & Destroy – Spybot is a popular and free for personal use anti-spyware program. It is extremely effective for preventing adware and spyware from entering your system. The new version of Spybot also features support for Windows Vista, more compatibility with Wine and support for bootable Windows CDs.

SpySubtract PRO – SpySubtract PRO has recently changed its name to Trend Micro Anti-spyware and the latest version includes an enhanced spyware scanning engine. The trialware of Trend Micro Anti-Spyware is available for 30 days.

Spyware Begone Registered Edition – A desktop based free spyware scanner for removing adware, checking browser infections, preventing ID thefts and speeding up the computer.

Spyware Doctor – Spyware Doctor is recognized as the best spyware and adware protection solution with a very high degree of efficiency. It detects, removes and protects your PC from thousands of potential spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, spybots and tracking threats.

Spyware Guard – A tiny protection solution against browser-hijackers and malware. It has a quick real-time scanning engine, and most importantly – it’s free.

Spyware Nuker XT – Spyware Nuker is an anti-spyware software produced by Trek Blue. Its special feature called Active Protection tracks the execution of all programs at kernel-level and alerts if a program is suspected as a potential threat.

Spyware Terminator – A highly popular spyware removal tool offering thorough scanning of memory, registry, and drives. What separates Spyware Terminator apart from others is that it is a freeware utility (for both personal and commercial use) and it also has an option of antivirus integration with an open-source antivirus program ClamAV.

Spy Hunter – Spy Hunter is an extremely fast and efficient scanner for detecting spyware/adware in Windows machines. The scanner is available as a freeware.

Spy Sweeper – Spy Sweeper is a popular award winning software offering protection against dangerous spyware which infect system during internet browsing. It is available at a price of $29.95 for one year subscription.

StartPage Guard – A handy freeware protection mechanism for protecting the internet browser’s pages from unauthorized activities.

Sunbelt CounterSpy – Sunbelt CounterSpy is a top quality anti-spyware protection program. It includes a 15-days full version powerful trial which removes all types of Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) in its tests.

SUPERAntiSpyware – An extremely thorough application with the ability of removing spyware which is generally not detected by other scanners. The basic version is free for home users and the professional version comes at price of $29.95.

The Cleaner – The Cleaner is a collection of programs designed for safety from trojans, worms, rootkits, keyloggers, spyware, adware and types of malware. It is available as a freeware for personal use and the paid version costs $19.95.

Trojan Hunter – TrojanHunter acts as a complement for Anti-Virus software by searching and removing trojans residing inside the system. The 30-day trial version is available for free and the one year version can be purchased for $39.95.

Webwasher – Webwasher Classic clears unwanted ads, crushes cookies and prevents organizations from profiling surfing habits. The users of Webwasher can eliminate banner ads and new larger “skyscrapers” it takes to view Web pages.

WinCleaner – A freeware solution for protection of Windows computers. It provides protection against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware.

Windows Defender – A free program from Microsoft that enhances system performance by providing protection against unwanted software. The real-time protection provides recommendation action every time it detects spyware.

W32.Blaster.Worm Removal – W32 Blaster Worm removal from Symantec clears all infections of the Blaster worms which exploit the DCOM RPC vulnerability.

XoftSpySe – XoftSpySe by ParetoLogic is a good anti-spyware application that can remove about 43,000 deadly spyware and adware infections.

Cross-Platform

Norton AntiVirus – Symantec manufactures the world’s most popular and trusted antivirus program for Windows and Mac OS X.

RAV Antivirus – A powerful mail server providing antivirus and antispam protection to system administrators. The package is available for multiple operating systems including Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE Linux and other operating systems.

Sophos – Sophos security control provides cross-platform virus detection on Mac, Windows, Linux, UNIX, Net App Storage Systems and Mobile.

Virex – Virex protects Mac OS X systems against all types of viruses, malicious code and unknown threats.

VirusBarrier – A cross-platform antivirus solutions from Intego. A fully functional 30 day trialware is available and the single user licensed version is available at a cost of $79.95.

Desktop

Anti-Virus&Trojan – Anti-Virus & Trojan provides protection against all viruses. It scans for infected files and shows a warning message if it finds any.

avast! Home Edition – A free antivirus solution for scanning disk, CDs, in E-mail, HTTP, NNTP, IM and P2P.

AVG Free Edition – AVG Resident Shield provides real-time protection executions of files and programs. It features a smart e-mail scanner, virus updates and virus vault for secure handling of the files which are infected by viruses. The base version for windows is Free for private and non-commercial use.

CA AntiVirus – An antivirus program from Computer Associates for comprehensive security against worms, trojan horse programs and viruses. The basic version is available for a 90-day trial.

ClamWin – ClamWin is a free antivirus project for Windows.

CyberScrub AntiVirus – A powerful virus cleaner with a trialware version, while the paid version costs $49.95.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus – ESET NOD32 Anti-virus is available as an anti-virus for small businesses, individuals and for large networks. The trialware enables the user to try the application for a period of 30 days.

Fprot – A free ant-virus application for Linux, FreeBSD and DOS (personal use). It also provides a Windows Evaluation version.

HandyBits – A free for personal use virus ‘scanner integrator’ with features like auto-search which scans for already installed virus scanner. It scans for files using installed virus scanners there by utilizing the strengths of installed programs.

HijackThis Software – HijackThis is a small application for scanning and cleaning spyware, malware infections in computer. It enables the user to save the scan log in a txt file which can be examined later for system security analysis.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Pro – A commonly used virus protection solution offering full protection against macro-viruses and unknown viruses. It offers reliable data integrity control and protection of e-mails from viruses.

MWAV – A free utility for scanning anti-virus, spyware, adware or other types of malware. The specialty of this utility is that it does not require installation and can be run directly.

Nanoscan – An instant scanner that can detect viruses, spyware and other threats in less than a minute.

noHTML – A service allowing users to access emails from Outlook Express in a secure way by converting them into simple text format and removing the dange of email borne attacks.

Norton AntiVirus – Norton AntiVirus is the most popular and secure virus scanner for checking boot sector records at startup. The live update feature automatically installs new updates for regular protection against viruses.

Panda Antivirus Platinum – A complete virus protection package for home and business users. It comes with an easy installation and automatic protection from latest viruses.

PC Tools AntiVirus – PC Tools AntiVirus is a handy free anti-virus program for Windows.

Protector Plus Antivirus Software – A perfect anti-virus solution for Windows systems against all types of viruses, spyware, trojans and worms.

PROTEA ANTI-VIRUS – Protea Antivirus works with Lotus Domino. It automatically cleans the body of the message, checks attachments and also the OLE mail objects. It is available in both trial and paid version.

Solo Anti-Virus – Solo Anti-Virus gives protection from new viruses on the internet and also scans the system for removing worms in the system. The unique unique System Integrity Checker provides protection to the user new Internet Worms, Backdoor programs, malicious VB and Java scripts.

Sophos – Sophos is a Windows anti-virus solution for removing viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other potentially dangerous applications.

Stinger – A stand-alone application for automatic detection and removal of viruses. It acts as more of an assistance for administrators and is not meant to be a full time anti-virus replacement. It is available as freeware for Windows.

StopSign – StopSign Threat Scanner is an effective protection solution against all types of internet threats viruses, spyware, trojans, adware, keyloggers, worms, browser hijackers and all forms of malicious code.

SurfinGuard – SurfinGuard constantly monitors programs with .exe file extension for malicious threats. It automatically blocks any Trojan or worm that violates the security norms.

Symantec Virus Removal Tools – Symantec offers suit of free virus removal tools for infections like: W32.Netsky.B@mm, W32.Beagle@mm, W32.Welchia.Worm, W32.HLLW.Anig, W32.Mydoom@mm and more.

Tenebria SpyCatcher Express – A powerful protection solution from unknown spyware. It provides powerful, immediate protection from known & unknown spyware as well as rootkits. SpyCatcher is available as a freeware for Windows.

ThreatFire – A feature rich anti-virus software for real time protections against viruses, worms and other types of malware. It is available as a freeware for Windows.

TotL.net – An anti-virus solution of a different kind. It is an effective human detector enabling users to scan themselves and their friends.

Trend ServerProtect – Trend Server features a windows console for management of viruses, updates, remote installation and removal. It supports Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows NT 4, and Novell NetWare servers.

Vexira – Vexira provides full protection solutions to organizations, websites, schools and government agencies from the attack of viruses, trojans, spyware, adware and spam.

Mac Anti-Virus

Agax – A free Mac antivirus program for Mac with features for standard and advanced scanning.

ClamXAV – A free virus scanner for Mac OS X. It uses the open source antivirus engine ClamAV for scanning.

Online Anti-Virus

a-squared Web Malware Scanner – a-squared enables users to scan for Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Dialers, Spyware/Adware, Keyloggers, Rootkits, Hacking Tools, Riskware and TrackingCookies.

Authentium VERO – An online security solution built especially for site operators, financial institutions like banks and other service providers. In a nutshell, it provides a secure, private environment for trading, banking transactions and other activities being carried across the internet.

Avast! Online Scanner – An online virus scanner from alwil software for scanning files smaller than 512KB.

BitDefender Online Scan System – BitDefender Scan Online scans system’s memory, boot sector, all files and folders and also comes with automatic file cleaning option. Overall, it scans for over 70,000+ viruses, worms, trojans and other malicious applications.

CA Anti-Virus – A comprehensive virus scan utility for protection against all types of viruses, trojans, worms and malicious threats.

Dr. Web – Dr. Web is an online scanner for curing system viruses. Users can select viruses from system and can scan selected files.

ESET Online Scanner – ESET is a powerful user-friendly scanner for removing malware from user’s computer.

FortiGuard Center – FortisGuard online scanner allows users to check for malicious files by simply scanning the uploading files. The files have a size limit of 1MB.

Free online Trojan Scanner – An online scanner for detection and removal of Trojan horses.

Freedom Online Virus Check – Freedom Online Virus Check is an anti-virus scanner for scanning hard drives, diskettes, CD-ROMs, network drives, directories, and specific files for any hidden viruses.

F-Secure – An online virus scanner for detecting and clearing viruses.It supports Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Kaspersky Online Scanner – A fast and effective online scanner for checking individual files, folders, drives or even files related to emails.

Mcafee Virusscan Online – A trusted VirusScan service for search and display of infected files. Once the infected files are displayed McAfee scan provides detailed information about the virus, its type and removal instructions.

Panda ActiveScan – Panda ActiveScan is a powerful online virus scanner and provides detection of over 1, 85,000 viruses, worms and Trojans on user computers.

Pc-Cillin Trend Micro Housecall – Trend Micro is one of the very few online scanners to offer cleaning of infected files. Users can scan the whole system or choose from specific drives and folders.

Symantec Security Check – An effective online scanner for testing various types of viruses and threats on user computers.

Tenebril Spyware Scanner – The free Spyware Scanner from Tenebril enables users to search for thousands of viruses, worms and trojans. For removing the infections users need to obtain the paid version which is available at a cost $29.95.

VirusChief – VirusChief is a free online virus scanner for detection of viruses throuhg multiple antivirus engines.

Virus.Org – Virus.Org is a malware scanning service that scans and upload files with several common anti-Virus tools to detect system infections.

Virustotal – An online scanner for files with size less than 5MB, it only detects threats, but doesn’t clean the infiltrations.

X-Cleaner Micro Edition – An online scanner from FaceTime Security Labs for different types of adware, keyloggers, Trojans and many other forms of unwanted software.The offline version includes a trial version of X-Cleaner and a deluxe version with a wide range of cleaning solutions.

Registry Cleaner

Abexo Registry Cleaner – A Windows registry defragmenter tool that can drastically improve the performance of your computer.

CCleaner – CCleaner is a free tool for system optimization and security. It clears system infections, cleans registry, removes unused startup items and allows windows to run faster by freeing hard disk space.

Clean My Registry – A freeware utility developed for keeping the system registry in perfect condiction.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner – Eusing is free registry cleaner software that allows users to clean registry infections instantaneously with a few mouse clicks.

MISPBO Registry Cleaner – MISPBO Registry Cleaner is an advanced level registry cleaner for removing unnecessary keys from the Windows registry.

RegAuditor – RegAuditor gives a quick snapshot at the adware, malware and spyware installed on user’s system by showing colored icons. Icons in red indicate infections in computer and green icon means that a specific object is safe.

Registry Mechanic – Registry Mechanic can clean the registry, fix PC errors and optimize the computer for better performance. The trial version fixes bugs in specific sections of the registry and its usage is limited by time.

Registry Trash Keys Finder – Registry Trash Keys Finder removes unwanted data quickly by clearing out dead registry entries which are left by trial software. (via)

Top 10 Free Desktop Blog Editors for Windows

Although many users have gotten used to updating their blogs directly on the web, desktop blog editors have certain advantages, and it would be a shame not to try them out. We’ve gathered 10 free desktop blog editors for Windows; some are plugins, while others are full-featured standalone applications.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer comes from Microsoft and you will have that familiar feeling of working with an Office application while using this desktop blog editor.

When it comes to features, Live Writer is the most complete desktop blog editor of the lot. It has everything that you would like to see in a blog editor – multiple blog accounts, compatibility with multiple blog platforms, rich text formatting, draft saving, post categorization, picture and tag insertion, spell checking, pinging search engines automatically, and synchronizing draft changes on the editor with the blog.

What takes Windows Live Writer a step ahead are features such as inserting maps and videos. Its web preview page scores ahead of the rest since you can see your draft just like the way it will appear in your blog online, complete with design, color, and format.

After its last upgrade, you can now use Windows Live Writer to upload images straight to Picasa for your Blogger blog. Furthermore, Writer is now available in 28 additional languages besides English, which is likely to increase the number of its international language users. One small irritation about Windows Live Writer is that it could be still a little buggy, even after the upgrade.

ScribeFire

ScribeFire is a popular Firefox addon and a blog editor that you can use to post to your blog directly from your Firefox browser. After installing ScribeFire, you will see a tiny notepad like icon on your Firefox Status Bar. Clicking on it will open the ScribeFire blog editor on the browser’s active page. This editor will take up half of the screen space. If you right-click the ScribeFire icon, you can choose to open the editor in a new tab or in a separate window.ScribeFire is pretty convenient in a way that you don’t need to install a heavy program and you can open the editor on your browser in a jiffy. It has a rich text formatting feature, HTML page editing, and a live preview option for your posts before publishing them. Image uploads are possible on FTP accounts. You can categorize your posts, insert Technorati tags, and access your del.icio.us page from the ScribeFire page. You can access your last 10 posts and save unpublished drafts as notes, but you cannot insert tables like in Live Writer.

You can have multiple blog accounts with ScribeFire. It is compatible with multiple blog programs like WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, Drupal, Textpattern, MetaWeblog, etc. Finally, there is a support forum in case you want to ask any of the other ScribeFire users for advice.

Qumana

Qumana has one feature that other blog editors don’t have – it has its advertising network, Q ads, integrated into the blog editor. So when you write a post on the editor, you can insert an ad on the blog editor itself. You can define the type of ad that will show up by specifying ad keywords. However, the irony is that Q ads don’t seem to have many ads to display. One ad that was coming up on every post, irrespective of any keyword I type, was about Qumana itself.

This aside, Qumana has all the requirements of a good blog editor – rick text formatting, multiple blog accounts, insert tags and categories, download recent posts, video insert, etc. The editor is light and I didn’t experience any hang-ups.

Another things that sets Qumana apart is the DropPad – a small clipboard-like utility where you can drag and drop text, links, and images. You can double click on the DropPad to open the blog editor with all your items inserted already.

w.Bloggar

w.Bloggar comes in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish versions. It supports a number of blog platforms including Blogger, Movable Type,Typepad, Drupal, WordPress, Live Journal, and others. It can ping your posts to Weblogs, blo.gs, Technorati, and Ping-o-matic.

Configuring w.Bloggar for your blog, particularly Blogger blogs, can be a bit of a pain, especially if you are not very tech savvy. However you can get certain workarounds written by w.Bloggar users on the w.Bloggar homepage.

w.Bloggar comes with a number of formatting options, supports multiple blog accounts, has spell check and categories features, and many more. You can set up your FTP to upload files and pictures. The editor comes in the HTML mode and you get to see all the code in your post itself. This might be a bit confusing for new bloggers, but there is a preview mode that should help.

The best part of w.Bloggar is the speed with which it publishes posts – it’s lightning fast.

Zoundry

Zoundry provides an easy set up for your blog accounts. You need to provide your blog url and let Zoundry’s auto-discovery feature find your blog platform and API settings. You can download up to 500 of your blog’s previous entries onto your computer and this can serve as your local blog backup.

The editor has a WYSIWYG and a HTML interface. You will find plenty of options in the formatting toolbar. Setting post categories and tags for Technorati are supported. There is a also a spell checker and a language translator as well.

You can use Zoundry to add affiliate links on your posts and earn commissions whenever someone buys through your links.

Zoundy has a browser toolbar for Firefox and IE that has a ‘Blog This’ feature, and links through which you can share product recommendations on your email or social networking pages. You can also earn shopping rebates using the toolbar.

Thingamablog

Thingamablog is an open source blog editor and a feed reader combined into one cool desktop application. It runs independently of any blog host and you can use it for posting to your FTP or SFTP blogs. Thingamablog also provides a set of some blog templates as well if you want to create a new blog.

Configuring your Thingamablog for the first time might be a bit taxing if you are a newbie. However if you head off to the Thingamablog site, then there is a good tutorial available.

Thingamablog’s post editor has all the basic formatting options complete with a spell checker. You can see your posts in WYSIWYG or HTML source view. Images can be uploaded from the computer or you can link to an image online. You can set up multiple blog accounts, import entries from RSS feeds, and organize your entries by category.

Thingamablog requires Java Virtual Machine to be installed on your computer.

Flock

Flock has an easy to use blog editor that works with blogging platforms like Blogger, Blogsome, Livejournal, Typepad, WordPress, Xanga, and other self hosted platforms. You can configure multiple blog accounts on it.

You can use Flock’s web clipboard to collect snippets while surfing the web, add pictures from your Flickr or Photobucket accounts or upload a picture from the computer. Flock also has a Quick Uploader that you can use to upload files on the web.

Flock’s editor however has a few formatting feature and you are limited to a few font families and font sizes. There are no ‘Insert table’ or ‘Strikethrough’ buttons. Although you can tag your posts, you cannot categorize them.

Final verdict: you might want to use Flock for quick posts, but the advanced blogger who needs a feature-rich editor might find Flock a bit lacking.

Blog Desk

Blog Desk comes in English, German, and Spanish versions and supports multiple blog platforms. However it seems strange that they do not have Blogger on its list of supported blog platforms, which means that those using Blogger have to configure their blogs manually. Blog Desk has some pretty cool features such as the Image Wizard that lets you insert pictures on your blog and edit them as well, dictionaries in 14 languages, frequently used phrases, and a notebook. There is support for Technorati tags, a pinger, and a spell checker too.

If you are using Blog Desk on Vista, you might have to download the dhtmled.ocx file from the Microsoft download page. Details are given at the Blog Desk FAQ page.

Post2Blog

Post2Blog is very light and there are some good features on offer as well. The formatting bar is rich with options and you can insert smileys, strike texts, and add music. There are options to add ads from Amazon in your posts. Other features like Technorati tags or pinging are there as well. Post2Blog also provides good integration with RSS readers like RSS Bandit and Sharp Reader. You can upload images along with your posts on Flicker, Imageshack, or a chosen FTP site. You can download your recent posts and create PDFs of them if you wish.

Post2blog has Firefox and IE addons and a MS Word toolbar as well so that you can post directly from these places. You can export Post2blog files and settings to any portable device as well. One feature I couldn’t find was inserting post categories.

Post2Blog is compatible with multiple blog platforms including Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, MovableType, LiveJournal, and Blogware.

Bleezer

Bleezer supports multiple blog platforms like Blogger, Movable Type, WordPress, Drupal, etc. and works on Widnows, Mac, and Linux systems. This WYSIWYG tool has the basic formatting options, spell checker, support for Technorati and Del.icio.us tags, post categories, and ping service. You can upload pictures using its ‘Upload File’ feature and by setting up your FTP site.

Bleezer is a no-frills blog editor whose biggest upside is its lightness; you won’t even feel it’s running, which makes it ideal for users with older computers. (via)

Top 20 Apple TV Plugins And Hacks

Leopard is coming soon, and some reports claim that the new Front Row is going to borrow its look from New-Digital-TV-Boxes Mar-08. In the meantime, Apple TVs themselves are cheaper then ever, but Apple is strangely quiet about it. Is Apple TV the future of home entertainment or is it Apple’s blunder which will probably disappear from the market in the years to come? You decide. In the meantime, we’ve created a toolbox with over 25 plugins and hacks to make all you AppleTV owners smile.

Plugins

Apple TV RSS Plugin – Configure and read various RSS feeds right on your Apple TV.

ATVLoader – Install many plugins from a large database. This one is great for those that want a simplified and easy way of installing plugins without a lot of hassle.

nitoTV – The biggest and best plugin of them all. Network and USB mounting, mplayer, and DVD playback with VIDEO_TS files or ISO files.

Road Trip – GPS plugin that works with any USB GPS adapter, fetches maps from MapQuest.

Sapphire – Best way to manage TV Shows and Movies.

Sports Scores – This plugin allows you to check sports scores.

Streamer – Stream internet radio through your Apple TV.

MPDControl – Control your MPD server easily from your Apple TV.

ATVTorrents – Finds torrents in your Home directory and automatically starts downloading them with rTorrent.

Firefly – Allows the streaming of music on your Apple TV to iTunes.

Omelette – A fun puzzle game designed to run on your Apple TV.

Perian – Although not truly a plugin, Perian allows playback of many file types.

JamanTV – Download movies from the JamanTV service onto your Apple TV.

ATVWakeOnLan – Wakes up remote media servers nearby.

Applications Menu – Run applications on your Apple TV easily with this launcher.

Hacks

Firefox – This hack shows you how to get Firefox up and running on an Apple TV, step by step.

Component to RGB – How to convert from component to RGB for TVs that don’t have component ports.

How to Play DivX From a NAS – Explains how to play DivX files on your AppleTV from a network storage device.

Color Output – How to easily get color output from the AppleTV’s component ports.

Asterisk – How to get Asterisk running on an AppleTV.

Keyboard/Mouse – How to get a USB keyboard and mouse working on an Apple TV.

Mouse Pointer – This tutorial explains how to enable the mouse pointer.

OS X – Install OS X on an Apple TV.

USB Drive – A tutorial that tells you how to boot your Apple TV from an external USB drive.

Enable VNC – Tutorial explaining how to enable Remote Desktop/VNC.

SSH and AFP – Explains how to enable SSH and AFP on Apple TV. (via)

Top 20 Database Tools & Resources

It’s never too late to start learning about databases, because they’re pretty much ubiquitous and you’re bound to bump into them sooner or later. We’ve gathered 20+ tools to help you get started working with them.

Cacti.net – Works with RRDtool to provide more graphing options, advanced templating, and more.

Database Administration and SQL Scripts – A large collection of database scripts and articles.

dbForums.com – A very active forum for database developers of all types.

Dev Shed – A large collection of tutorials on working with MySQL.

FirebirdSQL.org – An open source relational database with SQL standard features and cross-platform compatible.

FlameRobin.org – A database management tool for use with FlamebirdSQL.

Ganglia – A scalable distributed monitoring system that works with RRDtools.

How To Forge – A collection of articles on how to do some “out of the norm” tasks with MySQL.

ibWebAdmin.net – An administration front end for Firebird and InterBase databases.

MySQLQuickAdmin.com – A free graphical user interface for use with MySQL.

Oracle FAQs – A collection of FAQs about Oracle database administration.

pgAdmin.org – An open source project for administrating and developing PostgreSQL projects.

phpMyAdmin.net – Probably the best known database manager out there today for SQL.

phpPgAdmin – A we-based admin tool for PostgreSQL.

PostgreSQL.org – An open source, object orientated SQL database system.

RRDTool – A “round robin” database that keeps the data footprint a constant size.

SQLite Aministrator – A tool to help create, design, and administer databases.

SS64.com – A collection of commands for Oracle and SQL.

ToadSoft.com – A database development tool for Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and more.

TurboDbAdmin – An AJAX powered Database management solution.

Zmanda – An open source backup solution for your MySQL projects. (via)

Top 40 Media Players That Are Not iTunes

iTunes is arguably the most popular media player for Mac & Windows, with a recent update for the iPhone…but is it the best? Check out the competition: 40 other popular media players.

Cross-Platform

Amarok – Amarok is a cross-platform intuitive music player for Linux, UNIX and the Mac operating system. Its features include lyrics support, Wikipedia integration, music statistics and a contextual browser.

BHplayer – BHplayer doubles as a media player & DVD player with its support for many audio and video formats.

BMP – A compact, open source multimedia player for Ubuntu using skinnable interface based on Winamp skins.

GLM FLV Player – GLM is a feature rich standalone application to view FLV files without any codec.

JW Media Player – JW Media player supports media playback of files which are compatible with Adobe Flash player. Examples of files are MP3, FLV and SWF etc.

Kaffeine – Kaffeine is a power packed multimedia player for systems runnning the KDE (K Desktop Environment).

Kplayer – Kplayer is an open-source multi media player for the KDE desktop environment.

MediaFrame – An open-source Java based streaming media platform offering support for playing Mpeg formats.

Mplayer – Mplayer is an open source cross-platform media player and is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac etc.
Ogle – Ogle is an open source DVD player for Linux, UNIX and similar operating systems.

RealPlayer – A cross-platform media player with support for playing MP3, MPEG, Windows Media, QuickTime & Real media file formats.

Rhythmbox – An iTunes inspired music management application, designed to work with GNOME desktop.

Songbird – Songbird is a Firefox-based new age cross platform media player and web-browser jukebox built by the ex-team of Winamp and the Yahoo music engine.

Totem – An open source media player for GNOME desktop environment with added functionality like webcam utility, video thumbnailer and Firefox plugin.

VLC media player – VLC is an extremely portable multimedia player capable of supporting many audio, video codecs and DVDs, CDs and streaming protocols.

Xine – Xine is an open source cross-platform multimedia engine having API for video processing and playback. Xine offers support for Linux, Mac and Solaris.

XMMS – XMMS called as X Multimedia system is a multimedia player for UNIX systems. Its features include support for files like MP3, WAV and MOD etc.

Zoom Player – Zoom player is a customizable DVD media player that offers support for the latest media formats.

Windows

Ace Media Player – A single player to watch QuickTime, Real, DivX and Windows Media files.

ALShow Media Player – ALShow provides inbuilt codes which offer support for playing FLV and MP4 files.

BS.Player – BS.Player is one of the most popular video players and has very low CPU and RAM requirements. BS.Player has over 60 million users worldwide and is available in more than 90 languages.

Core Media Player – A DVD media player for Microsoft Windows.

Crystal Reality – CrystalPlayer features video playback for all types of sources for various versions of Windows operating systems.

FLV Player – FLV player is a media player for playback of Flash video from your computer and websites such as YouTube, Google Video etc.

GOM Player – GOM, expanded as Gretech Media player offers support for playing .flv and other files without obtaining a codec.

jetAudio – A software multimedia player with advanced features like the ability to rip CDs, encode audio & video files and recording capabilities.

Kantaris – Kantaris is based on Videolan client (VLC) source code and can play almost all types of files, audio & video CDs and DVDs. Kantaris is compatible with all versions of Windows and is open-source.

LAVA FLV Player – Lava FLV player is used to play flash video files used in Google video, Youtube, Metacafe etc.

Media Center – Media Center is a Jukebox style media player. It has an interface similar to iTunes and enables users to organize and play various types of media files.

MPC – Media Player Classic (MPC) is a handy media player for Microsoft Windows and uses the look and feel of the earliest Windows Media Player.
PowerDVD – PowerDVD doubles as a video and music player for the Windows operating system. Users can play DVD movies or movies stored on their computer. It also offers support for Blu-Ray and HD DVD.

Quintessential Player – A media player for Windows featuring support for popular audio formats. It comes with advanced features like streaming internet radio and CD ripping.

RadLight – RadLight is billed as the first type of an all-in-one multimedia solution which allows users to experience DivX, DVD and MP4 audio. Apart from the free version it also has a pro version with special features like subtitles, double resolution etc.

The KMPlayer – A dynamic media player capable of playing all audio & video formats. Its special features include subtitle handling & media capturing and screenshots.

TrayPlayer – TrayPlayer is a customisable media player and embeds easily into the Windows taskbar.

Winamp – An immensely popular media player written by Nullsoft. Users can enjoy free music, play around with its cool skins and synchronize it with the iPod.

WinDVD – WinDVD is a video and music player enabling users to watch their favorite DVD movies without any interruption.

VidLizard – A DVD, video and audio player for Windows with easy-to-use interface and optional control panel for screen play.

Others

CorePlayer – CorePlayer is an advanced multimedia platform allowing users to manipulate multimedia content on their mobile phone, PDA, GPS or convergence devices.

NicePlayer – A Mac OS media player using Quicktime library and providing support for any codes available with Quicktime. Its special feature is the open-ended plugin system which allows anyone to write a plugin.

Xbox Media Center (XBMC) – XMBC is a media player for the Xbox gaming console. Its features include music, image and video playback. (via)

Top 10 Free E-books For Bloggers

E-books aren’t as great to read as old school hard-bound books that you can cuddle up with in your bed. But, with some topics, like blogging, you’ll find more useful e-books than regular books. That’s why we checked out all the e-books for bloggers and handpicked ten contemporary ones that we think are the best of the lot.

Authority Black Book

Authority Black Book – What is an authority presence on the web? Why is it important to have an authority and how can you attain authority? What are the web 2.0 tools that you can use? Authority Black Book is a 64-page ebook by Jake Humphrey explaining how to get the best out of web 2.0 technology including blogging, RSS marketing, social bookmarking sites, social media marketing sites, and video marketing in order to attract more traffic to your site. There is also a list of web 2.0 resource sites.

You would already be aware of what is written about in the ebook if you have been blogging for quite some time. But the ebook is a good resource with plenty of links of the top sites and services in different categories related to blogging, and you can take it as a starting point if you are newly starting out in the blogosphere.

Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization

Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization – For many a blogger, search engine optimization is the next thing they want to understand once they set up their blog and are couple of weeks into blogging. If that’s the case, this is the ebook that they should get their hands on. Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization is a good newbie’s guide to SEO practices from SEOmoz explaining how search engines operate, how to conduct keyword research, building a traffic-worthy site, and growing a site’s popularity.

The ebook can be downloaded in MS Word or Open Office Text Document format. There are single page and 9-page versions of the ebook as well that you can read online.

BlogBash: Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging – learn from 30 experts

BlogBash: Deep Secrets of Successful Blogging – learn from 30 experts – What can you say when you get 30 of the top bloggers from across the globe writing down their secrets in one free ebook? This ebook is a must-read for every blogger.

Some of the articles include – Synergy between SEO and traditional marketing by Aaron Wall of SEOBook, Driving traffic using Delicious by Neil Patel of ProNetAdvertising, 7 ways to make your content search engine friendly by Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips, Staying Connected-the secret to keeping those loyal readers by Liz Strauss of Successful-Blog, Help me – my mom is my blog’s only reader by Darren Rowse of Problogger, Advertising in the blogosphere by Chris Batty of Gizmodo, among others. This ebook is a product of BlogBash – the 30 day event featuring expert bloggers from across the blogosphere.

Blog Profits Blueprint

Blog Profits Blueprint – Starting off with how he discovered blogging, Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey explains in this 54 page ebook the strategies and tactics you require to start blogging successfully. Some of the subjects he talks about include key ingredients of attracting attraction to your blog, how to choose your blog traffic – passions vs profits, creating pillar posts, marketing your blog, etc.

Yaro also details blog monetization methods including Google AdSense and other alternatives. There is a section on RSS and blog advertising too. The writing is easy to comprehend and Yaro has included some genuine experiences that you can learn from.

Dive Into Web 2.0

Dive Into Web 2.0 – This is a comprehensive guide to Web 2.0 sites and technologies including search engines, SEO, wikis, blogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social media, tagging, web monetization, APIs, mashups, widgets, gadgets, RSS, web 2.0 business models, and rich media applications like AJAX, Silverlight, Google Gears, and many more.

Maybe you can say Wikipedia is there for all these terminologies. But what this ebook brings you is the entire set of web 2.0 technologies in one go, exposing many tools that you might not have heard about before.

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber Dissidents

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber Dissidents – Reporters Without Borders is an international organization that works for press freedom. In this ebook, the organization provides tips to blog anonymously and get round censorship for free expression in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. In their own words, bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Sometimes, only bloggers provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest. Plenty of bloggers have been thrown in prison for their writing.
One unique tidbit that you won’t find anywhere else is the chapter on Blogging ethics that talks about thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, transparency, and independence. There are also personal accounts of bloggers who have been writing from Internet-censored countries.

The ebook also dedicates the final chapter to the countries that censor the Internet including China, Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. This is truly one read that reminds us that blogging is not all about keeping a personal diary or being just a business tool. It can play serious socio-political roles in different parts of the world.

Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com

Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com is a comprehensive ebook on everything you need to start a blog and maintain it successfully. Written by John Chow, one of the most outspoken bloggers on blogging, the ebook explains blogging tips for beginners and then goes into blog monetization tips with examples of various affiliate links, blog promotion tips, and Google Optimization. There is a chapter on WordPress as well.

The ebook has 9 chapters spread across 59 pages. A must read for beginners and something that even a veteran blogger might find useful.

Unleashing the Idea Virus

Unleashing the Idea Virus – This is a mega 197-page viral marketing ebook by marketing guru Seth Godin. He explains why ideas matter, and reveals the secrets on how to unleash an ideavirus. He also presented many case studies to prove his point.

The book answers tricky questions like why is it foolish to launch a new business with millions of dollars in TV ads, why the market leaders in every industry are more vulnerable to sudden successes by the competition than ever before, what’s the single most important asset a company can create—and what is the simple thing that can kill it, does the Net create a dynamic that fundamentally changes the way everything is marketed, and how can any big or small business use ideavirus marketing to succeed, among others.

Although the book is aimed at marketing professionals, it is also a must-read for professional bloggers, webmasters, and those who are out in the blogospshere to create a successful brand/product for themselves.

Web Style Guide

Web Style Guide – This is a newbie webmaster’s guide to page design, typography, editorial style, graphics, and multimedia. There are sections on web site accessibility, CSS, and flexible page design, information architecture, and site maintenance, coupled with illustrations and examples.

Who’s There

Who’s there – Seth Godin again in his unconventional style reveals a few truths about blogging, and defines three types of blogs – cat blogs, boss blogs, and viral blogs. He also lists down the four laws of blogs and the five components of a great blog.

This is one of those books that’ll make you stop and think. A must-read. (via)

Top 50 Great Widgets For Your Blog

Widgets are a handy, easy and simple way to add some flare to your blog. Whether you’d like to display the number of currently online visitors to your site or simply the weather report for Los Angeles, you can do it with widgets. We’ve assembled a list of 50 useful or simply cool widgets for your pleasure. And remember, the first rule of widgetizing your blog is – don’t overdo it!

MyBlogLog’s Recent Readers – this widget can easily be called a hit amongst blog owners; its popularity even managed to convince Yahoo into buying MyBlogLog. The widget lets you see the avatars of recent visitors to your blog, provided they’re also members of MyBlogLog.

Mashable – get the latest social networking news from this very site.

Flickr Flash Photo Stream Badge – display images from your Flickr profile with a handy Flash photo stream.

Preview Anywhere – see a live preview of outgoing links in a small popup which activates on mouseover. Some find this annoying, while others might find it useful.

Twitter Badge – if your life is so interesting that everyone must know what you’re up to all the time, then a Twitter badge is the ideal counterpart to your blog. It’ll proudly displays your recent tweets.

Digg News – display the latest Digg links on your blog. Themeable and fully customizable.

FEEDJIT – real time traffic data directly in your blog’s sidebar.

LineBuzz – inline comments for your blog. Very handy for blogs with frequent lively discussions.

Flixn – display a stream directly from your webcam, so your blog visitors can always see what you’re up to.

3Jam – lets your visitors send messages to your mobile phone, without them knowing your phone number.

Jaxtr – with Jaxtr, your visitors can actually call you to your mobile phone; again, your number stays private.

LinkedInABox – show off your LinkedIn profile. Perfect for personal blogs.

Box Widget – enable visitors to use box.net’s online storage directly on your web site.

Price of gas – displaying gas prices on your blog might seem unnecessary to some, but it’s cool if you have a traffic/travel related blog.

iBegin Weather Widget – Display weather information in your sidebar. Just like with Price of Gas, works great with travel-related blogs.

ClockLink – display time in various time zones with these nifty Flash clocks.

Film Loops – display the latest loops from your FilmLoops account.

Daily Painters – display paintings from famous painters on your blog.

WhoLinked – show your visitors which sites have recently linked to your web site. Works with all major blog platforms.

Criteo AutoRoll – displays links to blogs similar to your blog.

Bitty Browser – embed a cute, fully functional mini web browser to your blog.

Leafletter – create a mini website and embed it into your blog.

WikiSeek – search Wikipedia with this simple widget.

FeedCount – show off the number of visitors to your blog with this handy little button.

Technorati Link Count – display the number of links your website has from one of the biggest blog authorities – Technorati.

MyPageRank – another good way to show how “big” your blog is is to show off your Google PageRank.

CheckPageRank – in addition to showing your PageRank, this widget also shows your Alexa ranking.

BlinkxIt – embed a link to related videos directly into your website.

Skype button – display your Skype online/offline status on your blog.

RockYou Horoscope – not something I would personally use, but some people are into horoscope. Hell, most people are into horoscope. Anyway, this widget shows horoscope (doh!) and does it in a nicely designed colorful box.

del.icio.us Tagometer – display how many times have del.icio.us users saved your page.

del.icio.us Linkrolls – this badge shows your latest bookmarks from del.icio.us.

Timelines – need to create a timeline? Seek no further. This widget makes it really easy.

PollDaddy – PollDaddy lets you create beautiful polls in no time, and display them at your blog.

Vizu – another poll-making widget, compatible with all major blog platforms.

AnswerTips – display definitions from Answers.com for various terms on your blog. The definitions are shown in bubbles which are activated on doubleclick.

AnswerBoxes – give your visitors a chance to enter a term themselves, and get a definition from Answers.com

Now Playing – if you got to share your current playlist contents with the world, Sigamp will do the trick. Works with most popular music players, including Foobar, Winamp, iTunes and others.

BuzzBoost – display headlines from your RSS feed on any website.

LibraryThing – show off the latest books you’ve been reading.

Plaxo Address Book – let your most faithful visitors access their address books direclty from your site.

AuctionAds – a widget that displays auctioned items on eBay, and gives you a percentage of the price paid when sometimes buys an item.

aStore – similar to AuctionAds, only for Amazon. Create a mini-store on your site and receive profit when someone buys an item through your store.

Plazes – show your current location on a Plazes map.

Stockalicious – track your portfolio with this widget, and share it with others. Let everyone know how much money you’ve lost.

Yahoo! For Good – create a charity badge and ask for donations for a worthy cause.

Giftspace – your friends never know what to buy you for birthday? Let them know what you really want with this nifty widget.

MixMap – see where are the visitors to your MySpace profile from on a map.

Google Map Widget – display a searchable Google Map on your website.

Google Video Search – add a video search form and selected videos to your web site.

Odeo player – display an Odeo player for and podcast right there in your sidebar. (via)