Grand Stream Dreams

I don’t really feel quite worthy enough to be attempting to get this info down.  However, I had a problem at work that demanded a solution.

Now that I found it (in two forms) I feel a bit obligated to share, despite my lack of a Microsoft Certification.

Any omissions or incorrect information shared is unintended and I welcome comments from any kind folks more up-to-date in this area.

I want to pick this up by building on my Windows CPU throttling techniques post made about a month ago.

To summarize, we have had a DOS 16-bit program that chewed up all the CPU cycles when running. In finding and testing a solution, I came to realize that the problems wasn’t nearly as sever on our dual-core processor systems as it was on our single-core processor systems.  We have been slowly upgrading and deploying dual-core configurations now for the past two years.

In that process, I discovered that a significant number of our deployed desktop systems that had a dual-core processor were, in fact, only running in a single core mode.  Yikes!

Upon more investigation, I have also identified many of our dual-core laptops also running with only a single core enabled.

What gives?

That turned out to be pretty simple to determine.

How do we get the full dual-core mode turned on?  Well, that got a bit more complex.

Double-Trouble

Turns out that the factory-provided images were flawed.  Seriously.  I just didn’t pay attention to it staring me in the face for the past two or more years.

See when we started deploying these systems, we had a post-deployment configuration step that involved copying some files to C:\Windows\System32.  It was known as the “Hyperthreading patch”.

As all our technicians knew, the files already existed on the system, and were in fact newer than the ones with the same names we were copying, but we were just told to copy them anyway and reboot.  The files were hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe.

Whatever…so we copied them and moved on down the setup guide.  Well…most of the techs copied them.  Turns out it is now clear that a few did not.  I could tell which systems weren’t updated correctly because no sooner did we walk away then our help-desk would get a call of the user’s pc running slower than their previously assigned system.  A quick copy of the files and reboot turned the system back to a speed-demon.

Not only that, but with the latest rounds of laptops, copying those files (which did no harm to the desktops would render the dual-core laptops unbootable.

Not good.

Finally, with my CPU utilization problems bringing to the forefront of my attention that we had some dual-core systems not running dual-core mode, I knew I had to start digging deeper for an accurate understanding of what exactly was going on.

To the Google!

It’s the Processor…Stupid! (Well, maybe not.)

Having the systems in front of me and our technical specs, I had no trouble running a Google check on Intel’s website to verify that the processors we had in each system were, in-fact, dual-core.

Were I not to have that information, I could have used CPU-Z, System Information for Windows (SIW), or even SIV - System Information Viewer to get enough hardware identification information about the processor to do my lookup.

I then opened up the Windows Hardware Device Manager on several of these single-core using, dual-core processors and was surprised to see that XP Profession had correctly identified and was reporting both processors present.

However, a quick launch of the Task Manager (example 1 or example 2) confirmed that the OS was only “seeing” one core as I had no options to show both cores in separate usage graphs.

Maybe it was a driver thing?

I found this post Windows XP Multi Core config - Does your OEM do it for you? - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion that suggested I needed to download and apply a Microsoft patch and make some tweaks.  Only that didn’t “enable” the dual core mode at all.  Nor apparently did it help a lot of other folks who have been reading that thread.

I next turned to a comparison between two otherwise identical systems.  One was showing dual-cores activated and the other was not.  After much digging, I located what appeared to be a key registry key difference:  The dual-core system had two entries in the following locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTIONS\System\CentralProcessor

and 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\ACPI\

Whereas the single-core one did not.

So, stupid grasshopper that I was just exported those extra registry key items and then imported them on the single-core system.  It didn’t hurt anything, but after a reboot, they were removed automagically and the system remained in a single-core state.

It was very clear that something else was going on.  But what.

It’s a HAL and NT OS Kernel Thang

I’ll spare you the extra days of ed-u-fi-cation I put myself through but in the end, I think I got it all sorted out.

(Note: All the following discussion assumes that the BIOS/systemboard supports a dual/multi-core processor AND that it has been enabled as such in the BIOS.)

Turns out that when Windows setup is ran, it should (in most cases) auto-sense the processor and apply and configure the proper HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) file and the correct NT OS kernel depending on the hardware auto-detected.

In our case, either the imaging process or imaging application at the factory failed to take into account a shift from a single-core to a dual-core model, or maybe the pre-build setup of the XP Pro OS wasn’t done correctly.  In any case, every dual-core system that had been deployed from the factory didn’t ship with the supported dual-core processor HAL and NT OS Kernel.

What I came to understand is that our “Hyperthreading fix” was actually patching that error and replacing the single-core files with the proper dual-core ones.  That’s why the file-names, sizes, and dates were different but the system speeded up afterwards…the dual-cores were now being used!

What I discovered is that you can see this difference in action if you have both a dual-core and a single-core enabled system to compare.  Just browse to the installed HAL and Ntoskrnl files and take a look at the file properties, then look at the “Original File Name” field.

• How can I determine which hardware abstraction layer (HAL) is running on my computer? – Windows IT Pro

• How can I determine which version of Ntoskrnl.exe I’m using? – Windows IT Pro

The key thing to notice in those quick tips is that the (correctly activated) multi-processor files will have different original file names than those of the single-processor systems.

Here are some of the most commonly seen ones:

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC
- halacpi.dll (renamed to hal.dll)
- ntkrnlpa.exe
- ntoskrnl.exe

ACPI Uniprocessor PC
- halaacpi.dll (renamed to hal.dll)
- ntkrnlpa.exe
- ntoskrnl.exe

ACPI Multiprocessor PC
- halmacpi.dll (renamed to hal.dll)
- ntkrpamp.exe (renamed to ntkrnlpa.exe)
- ntkrnlmp.exe (renamed to ntoskrnl.exe)¨

Why are they different?  Let me have a Windows IT Pro explain….

• Which files are different between the single and multiprocessor versions of Windows XP and later? – Windows IT Pro

A. The core OSs are the same for both uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems. The only real differences are in the underlying Windows kernel (which is implemented along with the Executive subsystem in Ntoskrnl.exe) and the hardware abstraction layer (HAL--hal.dll). Windows versions earlier than Windows Server 2003 and XP did have some additional files that differed (Windows 2000 also had separate versions of Win32k.sys, NTdll.dll, and Kernel32.dll). When Windows is installed, it detects the processor requirements and copies the relevant file from the media to the standard name (e.g., ntoskrnl.exe) on the installed OS. The Table shows the files that differ between the uniprocessor and multiprocessor versions of XP. Note that the Ntkrnlpa.exe is used only on systems that have invoked the Physical Address Extension (PAE) kernel, which allows access to as much as 64GB of memory. Essentially the uniprocessor version of the kernel doesn't have the mutliprocessor synchronization algorithms, which are more complex and time-consuming, so they're a waste of processing resources for systems with only one processor.

So when Windows Setup is run on a system, it should sort all this out automatically.  But problems come up if that image is Sysprep’ed and then deployed on systems that are similar enough for it to work, but having a different processor core type.

Need more links?  Here are a ton that I found helpful to get my understanding down.

• How to Troubleshoot Windows 2000 Hardware Abstraction Layer Issues – MS KB237556

• How to force a Hardware Abstraction Layer during an upgrade or an installation of Windows XP – MS KB299340

• HAL options after Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Setup – MS KB309283

• HOW TO: Add Support for Multiple Processors in Windows 2000 – MS KB234558

• A geeks guide to Windows XP HAL Replacement – Johan Arwidmark at myITforum.com

• SysPrep in Depth - Part 3 - SysPrep.inf and HAL’s - David Remy’s Blog

• SysPrep Guide: Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) - 3/8 – Vernalex.com

• Imaging machines using different HALs w/sysprep – David Carlin

• Cool Solutions: Loading the Appropriate HAL via a single Image – Novell Cool Solutions Tip

• XP Ghost - HAL Issues – SysOpt.Forums

Fixing the Single-core to Multi-core Problem

OK.

I now clearly (as bayou mud) understood what was going on.  I also knew we had at least one fix method already down.

Seems from a review of multiple forums that I looked into, many home-users with the problem of their system being dual-core supported and the hardware to match, but only seeing a single-core often ended up getting told that the only way to fix this on their XP systems is to just start from scratch and re-run a full Windows setup.  This isn’t something that a Windows Repair was going to fix.

Only I didn’t like the idea of re-running Windows Setup on all these dual-core able, single-core using systems.  Too much time and work for our team.

Simply using our already issued “Hyperthreading Fix” patch which involved (what I know knew to be) copying the multi-core ACPI supported hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files with a following reboot would do the trick.

Kind-of. 

Although this worked great on the desktop systems, it seems it tanked the laptops.

I needed some other solution options.

Method #1: Pugsly0014’s Batch-file Wonder

I eventually discovered a solution (very similar to our “Hyperthreading Fix” patch in a notebook support forum as contributed by Pugsly0014.  Actually Pugs offers two solutions, but I liked the first better in our environment.

Enable Dual Core Support in a Windows XP Single Core Install? - NotebookForums.com

…you are going to have to replace the hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe from the single core version to the multi core version.

Option #1 - Hal / NToskrnl replacement

a. Make a directory called DUO on C:\
b. Copy halmacpi.dll (search your C:\ drive for this) to C:\DUO then rename it to hal.dll
c. Copy ntkrnlmp.exe (search your C:\ drive for this) to C:\DUO then rename it to ntoskrnl.exe
d. Make a batch file called go2core.cmd and put this in the file.

C:
CD\windows\system32
REN hal.dll hal.old
copy C:\Duo\hal.dll C:\windows\system32
REN ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.old
copy C:\Duo\ntoskrnl.exe c:\windows\system32

e. Run Go2Core.cmd from C:\duo directory.
f. Reboot and you should now see two processors in Task manager

Pugs’ second solution involved editing your boot.ini file and pointing it to the multi-core supported files, if that option is selected at boot.  It is another clever solution, but not one I wanted to offer my end-users in our environment.

Lab-testing soon found that the batch-file switch-er-oo worked great, and could be deployed as a server login-script if we so choose to do.

If you don’t find the files halmacpi.dll and ntkrnlmp.exe, you might find them in a cab file or compressed but not “expanded”. 

However, when I tested it on Dell D620/630 dual-core notebooks, it tanked them.  Seriously.

Back to the drawing board.

Method #2: An “Ageless” Solution

More searching and thinking ensued.

I then located this deviation on Pugs’s second “boot.ini” solution.

Dual core not processing two units – Seti@Home Forums

Forums poster “Ageless” offered this elegant solution (which ties into Pugs’ second method I skipped):

…follow the steps:

1. You will need Service Pack 2 for XP for this, so if you do not have it, install it from Windows Update.
2. Use search to find ntkrnlmp.exe and halmacpi.dll and copy them to your c:\windows\system32 directory.
3. Use search to find boot.ini and open it in your text editor then find the following line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

(or something of this sort)

and replace that line with:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”XP Professional MP” /fastdetect /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe /hal=halmacpi.dll

Make sure there are no line breaks in that line.

4. Reboot your computer. It may go through an installation of the new kernel, just continue to click Yes and Install (or which ever you get) until done and that's it.

Note, depending on your flavor of XP and other factors, your boot.ini line might look a tad-bit different.

The key here is to add the /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe /hal=halmacpi.dll part.

So I tried it on the notebooks and it worked!

Hurrah!

Caveat Emptor

Only I now wondered what impact this might have on the notebook when we went to apply XP SP3.  Would the fact that they were pointing at a non-standard kernel and hal file muck things up?

I then attempted to install XP SP3.

And it failed…because it checked the boot.ini and found it wasn’t using a “standard” kernel and hal file!

Bummer.

But wait!

When I went back in to look at the hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files, turns out they now matched the same size, date, and original file-name property of the ones I was pointing to!

Turns out that during the XP re-configuration process (Step 4) where it sensed the new multi-processor changes, it also updated the original single-core hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files to the multi-core supported ones!

What would happen if i went in and re-edited the boot.ini file back to the original?

I tried it and it worked!  The system/OS still recognized the mulit-core processor state.

Now when I tried to install XP SP3 it went on with no issues or complaints!

Awesome!

Claus’s “Ageless” Mod Fix

So here (from the top-down) is what I ended up doing to move the dual-core laptops that were only running a single-core enabled into a fully enabled multi-core processor mode when the simple file switchout trick didn’t work, as founded on “Ageless’s” technique.

1. Ensure system is running XP Service Pack 2 or greater, if not upgrade accordingly first.

2. Run a local file-search (F3) to find the ntkrnlmp.exe and halmacpi.dll files. Copy them to your c:\windows\system32 directory. Note, in some cases they might only find them in the format ntkrnlmp.ex_ and halmacpi.dl_. If this is the case you must “extract” the files in the command line using expand.exe <filename> <output filename> synatax (example: expand.exe ntoskrnl.ex_ ntoskrnl.exe)

3. Browse to the C:\windows\system32 folder and make copies of the existing hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files…just in case you need them later. I just leave the copies in the c:\windows\system32 folder.

4. Use search to find boot.ini and open it in your text editor.

(Or browse to Start -> Control Panel -> System and launch that. Then go to the “Advanced” tab and click the “Settings” button on the bottom “Startup and Recovery” section. Click the “Edit” button under the “System Startup” section and it will launch your boot.ini file in Notepad.)

Save a copy as boot.ini.orig to the root of your system partition (usually C:) just in case.

Then find the following line (yours may look slightly different):

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

(or something of this sort)

and replace that line with:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe /hal=halmacpi.dll

All that is on a single line, by the way!

Save this version as boot.ini on the root, overwriting the original.

5. Reboot your computer.

It should go through an installation of the new kernel and supporting elements.

You shouldn’t get any prompts but if you do, just continue to select Yes or Install.

When completed, you should be prompted to reboot your system to put changes into effect.

Reboot again.

6. When it comes up, you should now be able to verify you are running in dual-core mode by going to <CTRL> <ALT> <DELETE> and opening the Task Manager. Click the Performance tab and it should show both CPU cores in the “CPU Usage History” graph.”

7. Go into the c:\windows\system32 folder and you should also now be able to compare the hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files with the copies you made. You should note that the file sizes are now different, but do match the ntkrnlmp.exe and halmacpi.dll versions you copied in earlier. That’s because they were changed to the multi-core support versions!

8. Go back to your boot.ini file (however you want to find and open it) and open it in Notepad.

Just to be sure, you might want to first save it as boot.ini.multi.

Re-edit it back to the original state you found it in:

Find the following line (yours may look slightly different):

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe /hal=halmacpi.dll

(or something of this sort)

and replace that line with:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Save it again as boot.ini to the root of your system partition (usually c:).

9. Reboot your system again and all should be well!

So, pick whichever method you want and give it a shot.  It ended up working well on our systems at work.  Of course, every system is different in its own way and your mileage may vary.

I’m no Mark Russinovich so I’m not sure I can provide much advice outside of this narrow range of testing and hardware I’ve been working with. I know there is a lot more of the multi/single kernel and hal related technicals that I’ve only just scratched the surface of understanding with here.

I’d also recommend making backup copies of any original hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files first. And, keep a Windows PE 2.0, a VistaPE, or even a BartPE liveCD boot disk handy, just in case you need to liveCD-boot your system to put back any original versions.  It came in dead-useful as I was testing and working out these issues.

Bonus #1 – Controlling the Processor Affinity in a Multi-Core system

So now that you got multiple cores up and running what can you do with them?

By default, a properly configured Windows multi-core supporting system will automatically manage and load-balance CPU usage rates across them.

However, in some rare cases (or with gamers) you might want to shove all of a particular process onto a single processor and not spread it across multiple ones.

There are a number of ways and tools you can use to do this:

• Getting More Bang Out of Your Dual Processing Buck : Getting The Most Out Of Software By Properly Assigning Threads – Tom’s Hardware. – Shows how their freeware tool “THG Task Assignment Manager” can be used to assign affinity on a per-case (non-permanent) basis.

• Or, as Tom’s shows in that post you can also use the Windows Task Manager to set process affinity.

• Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals can also provide that functionality, with a bit more beef in my opinion.

• RunFirst - (freeware) – Also allows you to choose on which processor an application starts. This one is clever as it supports command-line arguments so you could use it in combination with the program to make a special shortcut that will launch your program automatically on the desired multi-processor core.

• Processor Affinity Manager 1.0 - (freeware via Softpedia) – Original location at this pamanager - Google Code link.  Has drag-n-drop support, Current-process details, process defaults, tool to create a shortucut (a-la RunFirst) to launch an app with a particualar processor affinity set.

• SMP Seesaw - (freeware) – Another nice utility for setting processor affinities. (As reviewed by Download Squad.)

Finally, if you really want to get down and dirty and modify the application to launch on a particular core without these tools, you can do it, but it is going to take some extra work, as I previously posted.

You can change an application to run exclusively under a single CPU on a dual/multi-core processor, but it takes a bit more work.

In my case it specifically addressed the ntdvm.exe file tweaking that I was looking at, but could apply to almost any process.

Troubleshooting an MS-DOS application which hangs the NTVDM subsystem in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 -  markwilson.it

Read the post but it comes down to using a Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource kit tool, imagecfg.exe with some detailed command-line arguments.

Related posts on this technique:

• Technical Support : Hyper Threading and Flight Simulator – Reality XP

• JSI Tip 3542. How can I permanently set the processor affinity for an application? – Windows IT Pro

• Set CPU Affinity prior to app launch? – Tom’s Hardware forums

• Set CPU Priority for a Process - Petri.co.il forums by Daniel Petri

Bonus #2 – Miscellaneous Multi-Core posts

I also found these posts as well in all my research.  Don’t really apply to much but are semi-related and I found them interesting, nonetheless.

• No more HAL-hell, the implications of Windows Vista’s hardware independent imaging technology – 4SysOps

• Re: .wim hal issue - TechNet Forums

• Confusion over Multi-Processor Guest OS Support with Hyper-V - Virtual PC Guy’s WebLog

• The Mystery of Hyper-V's Limit Processor Functionality? (Part 1) – Loud Sigh blog

• The Mystery of Hyper-V's Limit Processor Functionality? (Part 2 - Final) – Loud Sigh blog

• The Mystery of Hyper-V's Limit Processor Functionality? (Part 3 - Officially) – Loud Sigh blog

I hope this documentation of all my personal trials and tribulations in the land of multi-core Windows systems ends up helping someone.

The answers are out there, just takes a lot of work to tease them all out.

If anyone has any more information or additional tips, wisdom, or l33t 5k1ll5 to share, please feel free to educate me and us all.

Cheers!

--Claus

cc credit flickr: peasap

Yep, it's another Grand Stream Dreams Linkfest extravaganza! 

Sometimes I wonder if I don’t bring it all on myself.

I’m pretty curious and am always open and looking for new utilities, updated versions, and new )techniques that I can apply to Windows systems both at home and at work.

What I usually end up with is a pile of links to sort out and share, and not nearly enough time to get them all recorded and given their just due in commentary.

So get out the baton, the piñata is full of treats!

How-To's and Cool Utilities

How to Prepare Yourself for System Restore From Scratch - MakeUseOf.com. Nice little tutorial on one method to prepare a custom system restore disk from scratch.  There are a lot of different methods--to each their own--but this guide did take an interesting approach.

5 Ways To Update Your Windows Operating System - MakeUseOf.com. Previously covered on Grand Stream Dreams, there are a wide number of applications that make updating the Windows operating system a bit easier, especially on a large-scale.  Varun Kashyap's line-up of choices is pretty good!  All my favorites were included (c’t offline updater, AutoPatcher) and a new one called Project Dakota which I hadn't heard of before.

USB Office Showdown: Tiny USB Office vs. Portable Apps - MakeUseOf.com.  Which is better? Who knows.  It is cool to know that Tiny USB Office backs a bunch-load of apps into just 2.5 MB of space.  While the PortableApps suite has just about all the mojo you could need for basic to advanced office application management in a slick GUI launcher, but it weighs in much larger.

MobaLiveCD - Run your LiveCD on Windows - Spotted via a recent back room tech post.  While I already have a number of virtualization apps (Virtual PC or VirtualBox to name just two) I use to pre-test "Live CD" burns I am always building, some folks might just want a bit more integrated solution for ISO testing and running.  What makes MobaLiveCD so nice is that once you run and install it, you get an easy-to-use wrapper for QEMU.  So when you want to test an ISO, just right-click on an (bootable) ISO file to launch it in the QEMU emulator. It has a very nice and helpful interface.

Mark Minasi's Newsletter #72 August 2008: Making Pkgmgr Deliver Hotfixes Offline is out and has a great amount of tips on how to use the Pkgmgr to "inject" update patches into (ImageX) WIM files. Turns out there is a bit of trickery required and Mark's got the details down great.

Windows Post-Install Wizard Home - (freeware) - I had never ever heard of this tool before I read Confessions of a freeware junkie's post reviewing it.  I must say I am very, very impressed with this and I haven't even downloaded it yet to play with.  It really seems to be able to open up a number of doors.  While no replacement for SysPrep for image pre/post deployment work, it does and a wicked-cool wizard post image deployment that allows system administrators (or geeks) to add particular applications or system tweaks on a per/system basis.  It appears to be highly customizable from the element lists, to the template styles, to the image used on the wizard's background.  It does have a steep learning curve, but once you get it down, I bet you will be amazed! I'm thinking right now on how I can incorporate it into our post-image workstation deployment process at work.  Any Sysadmins out there must at least take a look at it.

New and/or Improved

Sandboxie version 3.28 - (freeware) -This favorite tool which creates a "sandbox" for programs to be installed or operate within got a recent  update.  While not a common tool for most folks to use, system administrators in general, software testers, and malware avoid'ers might find it beneficial to use.

Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) - (free for personal use) - To get it, go to this Altiris Juice page and scroll down a bit to the "Free for Personal Use" section. A number of download sources are provided from trusted locations.  Basically what SVS does is to manage "virtual software packages" without "installing" them on the host system.  Similar to SandboxIE but a bit different.  There is an active developer and support community out there and a number of popular Sample Applications already built.  For more details from a third-person perspective check out Altiris SVS - review at freewaregenius.com.

AutoRuns for Windows - (freeware) - Gets another version bump to v9.33 and this time brings some command-line options for auto-scanning and exporting of results.

EASEUS Disk Copy 2.0 - (freeware) - Many new features in this version including expanded drive support, partition copy, dynamic disk support, booting from CD, GUI upgrades, and then some more.  Related: EASEUS Partition Manager (free for personal use).

RegFromApp - (freeware) - NirSoft app to monitor registry changes made by an application gets updated for command-line support and drag-n-drop.

OpenedFilesView - (freeware) - NirSoft app to display what application/processes have opened which files on your system now gets an option to mark filenames that their their date/time or file size was changed since the last OFV snapshot was taken.

MozillaHistoryView - (freeware) - NirSoft app to explore and manage Mozilla/Firefox browser history files now is able to support Firefox 3 (places.sqlite) file.  Hurray!

FavoritesView - (freeware) - NirSoft app to explore and manage Favorites/bookmarks in your system browsers is updated to deal with some bug-fixes, but also now supports Firefox 3.0 (places.sqlite).

UserAssistView - (freeware) - Let's let Nir Sofer explain this new utility; "This utility decrypt and displays the list of all UserAssist entries stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist key in the Registry. The UserAssist key contains information about the exe files and links that you open frequently. you can save the list of UserAssist entries into text/html/xml/csv file, as well as you can delete unwanted items."  Sounds handy to me!

KeePass Password Safe - (freeware) - Bumped to version 1.12 brings in lots of new features and improvements.  Still hands-down my most favorite password manager.

xpy - (freeware) - This perennial Windows XP tweaking toy brings in a number of new features and program tweaks.  A must-have for anyone who tweaks and manages Windows XP systems.

 AceBackup - (now freeware) - Lots of tools are out there for making backups and archives of Windows systems some of my favorites are DSynchronize, Toucan at PortableApps.com, SyncBack, Cobian Backup, Comodo Backup, and Karen's Replicator.  Ace Backup has some easy-to-use wizard help and a nice interface to make setting up your backups a breeze. Ace brings some special elements to the backup mix including secure FTP support, file-specific encryption, and multi-file versioning support.  For a brief review check out the one at MakeUseOf.com.

Tiny Apps Two-Fer!

I love the TinyApps.Org site.  It is sparse. and when a post is made, it is always good.  So with delight I found Miles Wolbe's Automatically click OK (or any button) with ClickOff post contained two great finds!

ClickOff - (freeware) - An amazing tool that will "click" a button and then some, automatically. Who might need this?  Well, as Miles points out, if you have ever been confronted by an application that requires an "OK" button press to continue, only there are a ton of windows to clear, you will instantly know and recognize the worth of this application!  Once installed the program files can be copied to USB for a portable version.  The program starts out in German, and it is a bit confusing at first to switch to English. Here's how to change ClickOff from German to English: Once launched, right-click the program's icon in the system tray.  Choose the 2nd option from the top "Einstellungen".  When the window launches, find the "Programmsprache" section and click the drop-down arrow to select the "English.lng" file.  Click OK. Done!

Anyway, the second find was another tool that could be used to scan and remove specific virus files; Trend Micro Damage Cleanup Engine / Sysclean.  I'm going to have to save configuration and usage of this tool for another post, but suffice it to say, it is really easy to use and I really like the ideas that come to mind on using it to perform a 2nd-opinion scan on a potentially impacted system.  Similar to McAfee's Stinger tool as well as the McAfee command-line scanner with Bart Lagerweij's ScanGUI interface.  All three of these will be well worth a GSD post of their own soon.

Thanks Miles!

In Security News...

(IN)SECURE Magazine - latest edition (July 07) has some great articles.  Good PDF reading during slow meetings.

Symantec to Acquire PC Tools - Donna's SecurityFlash - Yep. The Yellow Monster of system security is gobbling up PC Tools which provides a number of great consumer-oriented computer security products (both free and $) such as Spyware Doctor, PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition, PC Tools Firewall Plus, and my personal favorite (running it on all my XP and Vista systems) ThreatFire Free Edition.  I'm really not sure what to make of this.  I just hope these free versions don't get shoved to the wayside and abandoned by Symantec. Official Symantec press release.

Security Vulnerability Research & Defense : IE 8 XSS Filter Architecture / Implementation - New and technical details from Microsoft on how the IE 8 browser will defend against Cross-Site-Scripting malware attack methods.  Interesting stuff.  IE 8 is stepping up to the security plate looking to smash one out of the park. Opera and Firefox better take note!

IE 8 looking like a November release - Bink.nu.  Looks like the IE 8 Beta 2 release for testers might come out at the end of August or early September.  Then the Final Release of IE 8 is still on track (per Microsoft) for an end of 2008 release. Wowzers!  We still haven't deployed IE 7 yet in our enterprise shop.  Yikes!

Anti-Malware Toolkit - (freeware) - This isn't really a anti-malware tool per-se.  What it does do is allow you an (almost) one-click experience to download a majority of anti-malware tools to a target system.  It's available in both an exe installer and a non-install zip format.  See also their informative PC Cleanup and PC Security pages that contains advise and helpful links. This program will download all the major anti-malware and pc cleaning programs, along with some definition files, some recommended web-browsing/email platforms, some anti-virus platforms, firewall, and some very helpful utilities.  I really can't say anything bad about these at all.  It looks like the download files come directly from the specific developer's sites so you should feel confident you are getting unadulterated versions.  Worth sticking on your USB stick as a time-saving download helper!  For more information see these reviews: Anti-Malware Toolkit Keeps Your Arsenal Up-To-Date - Download Squad and Featured Windows Download: Anti-Malware Toolkit Builds a Quick Computer Cleaning Toolbox - Lifehacker.

Windows Incident Response: Browser Artifact Analysis - (post) - Harlan covers a common scenario I run into; not really doing forensics work, but assessing a web-browser session to evaluate clues for system infection.  He provides some great tips and article links to help organize this process.  There are a number of tools and utilities I keep at hand to do this on my USB stick, but Harlan provides even more.

Microsoft Sysinternals Desktop Utility

I'm giving this one a standalone section.

Desktops - (freeware) - is a standalone (no-install) utility from the Yodas of Microsoft (Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell) that allows you to create up to four virtual desktops in XP or Vista.

Who needs it?  Mostly no-one except maybe those who want the dual-monitor effect but can't afford or configure a real multi-monitor configuration.  Or maybe (and I see this as the true use) for those who demo or provide presentations.  This will allow them to quickly and professionally jump between multiple applications quickly like Mark often does during his TechNet Live presentations.

It seems to perform much better than the Virtual Desktop Manager - PowerToy for Windows XP that Microsoft put out a long time ago.  I've used that before and was so (yawn) in awe of it I ended up uninstalling it.

This version seems more flexible as I can run it on demand on whatever system I want to.

Seems to have a few "bugs" but might fit most folks needs and is bound to see feature improvements.

For reviews see this Download Squad review as well as a nice Cybernet News review.

Other (but not by far all) notable utilities that accomplish much the same thing, but with many added features (and not quite the portability level) are:

• Virtual Dimension - (freeware) - unlimited number of desktops and usual features.
• VirtuaWin - Virtual Desktops for Windows - (freeware) - with customizing modules and icons.
• Vista/XP Virtual Desktop Manager - (freeware) - unlimited desktops, multi-monitor support.
• DeskSpace - (limited free trial/$) - 3D cube effect.  Different.
• Dexpot - (free for home use) - Pretty nice and well thought out features with previewing.
• CubeDesktop - (trial/$) - Lots of polish and eye-candy with this 3D cube.
• Active Virtual Desktop - (limited free trial/$) - nice little virtual desktop application.
• Cool Desk - (limited free trial/$) - one more.

Despite the large numbers of applications available for this segment, I wonder just how many folks use them on a daily basis.  Give me a multi-monitor configuration over a virtual one any-day.

That said, I think Sysinternal's Desktop utility will become much loved and used as it is free, portable, and seems to be designed by the Microsoft pros.  As I said, I bet presenters will find the most use for it.

Finally - Firefox

Turns out that Firefox 3.1 will get a MAJOR boost to JavaScript performance.

Firefox to get massive JavaScript performance boost - Ars Technica

Some say it might be up to seven-times as fast. Wow.

It is built into the Firefox "Minefield" nightly releases now. (If you are confused about Mozilla "nightly" versions please read this Grand Stream Dreams primer: Resolving a “Nightly” Firefox Issue…).  However it is disable by default.

John Resig - TraceMonkey post has the method to get it enabled:

If you want to try these out for yourself, just snag a nightly of Firefox 3.1, open about:config, and set the following preference to true:

javascript.options.jit.content

You should be, happily, in just-in-time tracing land. It's still buggy (hence the reason for hiding behind the preference wall) but it should be good enough to handle most web sites.

What's especially exciting is that this code is working on x86, x86-64, and ARM - which means that these improvements won't be limited to just the desktop - you'll be able to receive them on your mobile devices as well.

I'm wondering if even more Firefox 3.1 browser performance with JavaScript can be eked out by combining this feature with Sun's Java SE 6u10-b28 build version which is now available for download.  The 10-b builds promise to bring Next-Generation Java Plug-in Technology to Firefox and Opera.  More here.

I've been running them both (the updated Firefox feature and Java SE 6u-10-b28) without any ill effects, but I don't (yet) really use any heavy-lifting JavaScript programs to allow me to fairly make a conclusive statement.

Whew!

Looks like that linkfest piñata has been beat to death!

Have fun picking out your favorite candies!

--Claus

In case you didn’t know, the icon bar on the left-hand side of the dialog window you get when you “save-as”, browse folders, open folders/files, etc. is called the “Places Bar”.

A slightly modified form of It is also present in Microsoft’s Office line.

Most folks do quite well with the default set of icon/location choices offered them and don’t ever think of going beyond this.

However, a few power-users may find themselves accessing other common folder locations on their system when they browse to open or save a file.  And let’s face it, browsing the folder tree using the “”Look in” drop-menu or the “up folder” icon method can be click-consuming if your folders are well buried.

I was facing that very situation the other day at work.  Throughout the day I kept having to take additional time to browse to a deeply structured folder on my laptop.  And the default location choices just weren’t cutting it for me.

I knew they could be modified, but it had been a long time since I had reconfigured setting them up on my home system, so I had to go back to Google to refresh my memory on how to make the changes.

Turns out there are quite a lot of freeware applications to help you make this tweaking process smoother.  (Note: on some systems you may be required to have “Administrator” rights to make the changes.)  They all work on XP.  Vista is a bit different.

The Tools

First up is Microsoft PowerToys Tweak UI.  Download and install this long-time tweaking favorite.  When installed, launch Tweak UI and expand the “Common Dialogs” item, and select the “Places Bar” sub-item.  Click the “Custom places bar” radio button then pick which additional items you would like instead.  Or you can add your own custom folder locations.  See this post, How To Change Windows Default Save As or Open Location » Raymond.CC Blog for a walkthrough.

PlacesBar Tweaker - (freeware) – This freeware application is a piece of cake to use.  Install then launch.  You will get a nice little interface that lets you preview the Places Bar, select which custom folder you want to use, or use a common special system folder.  You can restore the defaults back, and you can move the icons in the Places bar around.

Shell Places Bar Editor - (freeware) – Very simple interface contains just the elements needed to get it done.  Pick one of the five items and browse to the new folder location you wish to use.  You can rearrange their order, delete items, or save them as a “scheme”.

PlacesBar Editor - (freeware) – A bit more “old-school” in the GUI style, it still is tiny (90K) and gets it done.

WinPlaE O.S. PlacesBar Editor - (freeware) – Basic but serviceable utility to modify the Places Bar. Also allows you to save loadable custom “lists” so you can reload new Places Bar sets depending on your needs (say switching between projects at work).

PlacesBar Constructor - (freeware) – Another very simple and basic places bar item editor. (Located at bottom of page link.) Only “drawback” is an upgrade ad seen when program is launched. Can be ignored with no loss of  functionality.

Additional “Old-School” Methods

As the PlacesBar Constructor page points out, what all of these tools are doing is actually just modifying a particular registry key sub-key value for each of the five item locations displayed.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\Placesbar

I’ve found it on all my systems but I understand if just the defaults are used and haven’t been previously “tweaked”, it may not be present and can be created from scratch or by using any of the tools above to load a “default” set.

If you are using a version of Windows that supports the Group Policy editor (GPEDIT.MSC) then you can browse into there as well to tweak your custom choices.

1. Type GPEDIT.MSC in the Start, Run

2. Navigate to this location:

User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer -> Common Open File Dialog

3. Double-click Items displayed in Places Bar and add your places.

(Note, it’s a bit different in Vista here.  See KB926167: How to customize the Favorites Links list in common file dialog boxes in Windows Explorer in Windows Vista for more info on that.)

The trick with making the changes in the registry turns out to come down to knowing the correct type of registry key to select.  Some custom items need to be created as “REG_DWORD” types while others need to be “REG_SZ” types.

You can use a string (REG_SZ) to identify the target folder for a PlaceX entry. You must specify the folder's full pathname.

You can also use a numeric index (REG_DWORD) to specify the target folder if it's a system folder.

I found in trying the tools listed above that if you make a change and it doesn’t appear in the Places Bar (even after a reboot) then it is likey that program didn’t choose the correct type. Try another utility.

If you know the correct DWORD value for a corresponding system folder, you can quickly make links in the Places Bar to a number of common and oft-used locations.

The Change the Default ‘Save As’ Locations post by windowsxp550 also shows an alternative technique you can use to make these changes in the registry.

Alas, the only drawback I see with this whole thing is that you are just limited to a maximum of five locations.

Tweaking the Microsoft Office Places Bar

If you have done the above tweaks (manually or with a tool) and also use Microsoft Office, you will quickly note that the Places Bar changes you made don’t appear to carry over into the similar one for the Office applications.

I ended up needing to do this as I have a number of common folder locations I am always saving attachments into in Outlook at work.

That isn’t a problem with the aforementioned tools, turns out Microsoft Office uses its own location and methods for its own version of the “Places Bar”.

The bonus is that you are not limited to just five locations in the Microsoft Office Places Bar but can have up to ten at once if so desired.

You just need to take a different approach to add these in.

Customize the Places Bar in Office XP/2003/2007 – Petri IT Knowledgebase

That post spells out the basics

1. Open a MS Office application (say Word).
2. On the File Menu, select an action like “Save” or “Open” that will open up a dialog window.
3. Browse to the folder location you want to add and click once to highlight it.
4. Click on the “Tools” menu item and pick “Add to My Places”
5. There it is!
6. You can move them up/down by right-clicking the item in the list and picking “Move Up/Move Down”
7. You can also resize the icons by right-clicking anywhere in the Places Bar area and selecting “Small icons” option.

The Microsoft KB826214 How to customize the My Places bar in both the Open and the Save As dialog boxes in Office has even more juicy details:

For example you can find the Registry Key location these are saved in, just in case you want to export it for quick re-adding on another system or as a backup.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common\Open Find\Places – Office XP

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open Find\Places – Office 2003

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Open Find\Places – Office 2007

The Places key contains the following two subkeys:

• StandardPlaces

• UserDefinedPlaces

The “StandardPlaces” items are the five default items that show up there in Office.

The “UserDefinedPlaces” are the “extras” that show up after you have added the ones you want.

Graham Mayor’s website page File Operations Places Bar has a great number of details and screenshots about this process/tweaking.

There’s quite a bit more registry information at the bottom of that KB as well that further details the registry key usage out.

Finally, if all this manual editing or inside-office adjusting isn’t your thing, the Zjooj Team has a freeware download utility to help with this process:

OPiE 2.0 Office Places Editor - (freeware) – Neat app in that not only can you add up to 10 Office Places Bar locations, but you can also save multiple lists of 10 so you can conceivably end up with an unlimited number of custom locations to pick from, you just need to load the particular set you want each time.

Miscellaneous Items

Folder Marker - (freeware) – While not really related directly to the Places Bars we have been discussing, this easy-to-use tool lets you quickly modify the Windows folders on your system.  You can select from several default sets of folder colors or iconized styles, or even add your own custom icons from other sources.  I like using this to tweak key folders for visual cueing and organizing the different project management folder stores I use.

Grand Stream Dreams: Weird XP Folder Issue--Solved! – Tips on what you need to look at if somehow your folder icon tweaking doesn’t result in what you expect.

Cheers!

--Claus Valca

In case you don’t know, Batou is the right-hand man and second in command to Major Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell anime fame.

He has been partially “cybernized” (think Six Million Dollar Man for those who remember that ancient TV series) with cybernetic prosthetics; including his trademark eyes.

I say this as this morning I just got back from a long visit in the Houston Medical Center where I received my RGP contact lenses.  These are the very first contact lenses I have ever worn in my life.  And I paid an arm and leg for them.  These aren’t Alvis’s weekly disposables.  With luck and diligent care they should last four to five years, at least.  Better.

About a month ago I blogged about not being satisfied with my recent optical correction checkup and being referred to a Baylor specialist with a likely diagnosis of Keratoconus.  After a two hour examination and testing that bordered on pure torture, the diagnosis was confirmed with indications of a very mild case in both eyes.  The condition in my left eye was significantly greater than my right.  Thus I was fitted for these specialized RGP contact lenses.

Lavie went with me and I’m sure she had her feelings confirmed that I’m really a big baby despite that “don’t mess with me crew-cut” I wear.  Let’s just say the contact fitting-technician was professional and patient and leave it at that.

So today I went back to get my final take-home pair.

After a quick check by the technician (popping them in/out in seconds) I had to prove my worthiness to be trusted on my own with them.  No doubt she still recalled my last session with her.

I felt like I was a pre-king Arthur having to pull the sword out of the stone.

Fortunately I passed the tests on my own and went out the door feeling like I had two large and clear bottle-caps crammed in my eyes (crown-side out), along with a collection of solution bottles and an acclimation schedule.

I was tough and comfortable enough (barely) to drive home in mid-morning Houston traffic.  Only I had forgot that I didn’t have any “plain” sunglasses and while I was quickly gaining tolerance for the weird feeling of the hard-contacts beneath my lids, I was squinting up a storm due to the bright sunlight we haven’t seen in Houston for almost a week.

Near home we stopped and grabbed a pair of cheap sunglasses for now.  Once I get the second mortgage paid off for the contact lenses Lavie said she wants to take me looking for “normal” cool-dude sunglasses at the mall.  (I think that means Lavie likes my new glass-less style.)

After about three to four hours back at home came the second trial-by-fire; removal.

In the doctor’s office, I managed to get them in/out with no difficulty.  Turns out there is a technique to getting contacts out; something that involves a weird dance between pulling the skin around my eye to my ear-then blinking to “pop” the lens off the eye surface.  Apparently most all players for the Argentine and Spanish Olympic teams also have contact lenses as they also demonstrate the technique I am speaking of.

I successfully got the right lens off and out, but the left one turned out to be a horrid experience.  I managed to get the lens crammed all the way to the far outside edge of my eye.  It looked like a horror movie as the lens has a light-blue tint.  After about five minutes somehow (miracle?) I managed to pop the lens out accidentally while trying to get it re-centered.

Hopefully practice will eventually make perfect.

Do they help?

Heck yea!

On the drive home, even though my eyes were watering like I was cutting onions in Houston traffic and the glare was killing me, and those bottle-caps were digging into my eyelids, I could still see better than ever.  And when I got my glasses back on the soreness in my left-eye due to eye-strain quickly returned.

Heck the HDTV now really looks like we have HDTV….that’s another blog-post by the way.

Alvis has been especially supportive to dear-old-dad.  She has offered to help and coach me in the different techniques she has become a master at with her pair. And while Lavie was holding me back from getting a spoon from the kitchen to dig my errant lens out of my eye, dear Alvis was calmly comforting me and telling me all would be well and that I would get the hang of it.

Lucky man to have such a supportive family.

I think one of the reasons my blogging has tapered off for the past month is that my left eye has just plain “hurt” to be parked in front of a computer screen typing.  The (very slight) double-vision thing in my left eye has really psyched me out more than I think I realized.  It has left me feeling quite drained both physically and mentally.  Much more than I either expected or cared to admit to anyone.

I even felt so charged up at the pharmacy after getting my temporary sunglasses that I picked up a copy of the latest issues of Men’s Vogue, Men’s Health, and QC (alas, no Esquire on the stands) to check out the latest fall-fashions for men.

While I’m still an avowed polo and jeans guy, I’m ready to toss out all the old and fading ones and order some new threads…along with a major dress-shirt refresh as well.

How’s that for a positive sign!

Here’s another great link on the condition: The National Keratoconus Foundation

Now…I got Batou’s eyes down, got his boss crew-cut, getting closer to attaining Anderson Cooper’s gray hair.  Just gotta figure out how to get Batou’s muscle mass…

--Claus

Just a few “public service” announcements…for the interested.

It’s a Dell Thing

All of our enterprise notebooks are Dell Latitude models.

When it comes to notebooks at work, I’m pretty agnostic.  We cycle through our notebook leases about every three years.  Unfortunately, our IT department doesn’t get first and frequent dibs on the latest models.  While I always would like to have the latest processors and maxed memory, having a stable and dependable system is much more valuable to me.  Besides, we are all pretty good about putting in the tweaks needed to keep any system running at top-form. (Although it still does smart just a bit when we hand off a brand new system to a user and that system is spiffier than ours.)

So I instantly perked up when I saw this post:

Dell Laptops Affected by NVIDIA GPU Failures – CyberNet News.

Turns out a number of Dell notebooks (including our Latitude line) have some faulty NVIDIA on-board graphic processors.  Dell has released BIOS updates for many (but not all) of its impacted line including the D630 we field.  Seems that what the BIOS update does is cycle the internal cooling fan on more often  to keep things cool.  Our notebooks are covered under a pretty sturdy support plan so I doubt we will have any issues replacing those that fail, but it will be something to add to the deployment guide.

Dell revamps Latitude line with new E laptop series - Crave, the gadget blog

This also got me thinking.  Depending on how many Dell Latitudes are still in the supply pipe-line, it is conceivable that we might be getting some of these new E-series notebooks when our turn at the equipment-renewal trough comes up.   While I bet we get standard-issue black/gray cases, wouldn’t it be neat to get one in a more Texan-like “Regatta Blue” or “Regal Red”?

After playing with the D620 and D630’s dual-core processors for a while, my D610 model is looking a bit shabby.  Fortunately, all of our new systems deploying are dual-core jobs with 2GB RAM (on XP Pro), so they are quite snappy.

It’s a Buzz Thing

I’ve (almost) never sought out a beverage solely based on caffeine content.  Generally for daily consumption, I stick to non-caffeinated drinks.  In the morning I have my double-size cup of tea-bag or loose-leaf brewed tea (black/green).  If I do eat out (rarely now) I might indulge in a large (un-sweet) iced tea.  I rarely hit the coffee beans now.  Still enjoy it, but it’s too high maintenance.  And I spurn the energy drinks like the plague.

I’m not overtly caffeine sensitive, but a Grande Frappuccino (with chocolate) is a sure-fire way to get my heart palpitating.  Only thing I’ve drunk that seems to do that.

So it is with pleasure that I found this handy chart on Caffeine Content.

That Grande brewed Starbucks I used to pick up? 320mg!

Curiously, the Frappuccino only comes in at 115 mg.  Must be Lavie’s presence as she is always with me when I get them.

Meanwhile, my morning tea is likely in the 100 mg range.

I do know that while I was on the coffee thing, if I skipped my regular cup I had a caffeine headache a few hours later, but on my morning tea, I don’t notice if I miss it.

It’s a Freeware Thing

Quite a few new and improved software finds to share today.

EASEUS Partition Manager - (freeware) – New Window-based, GUI controlled partition manager.  Free for personal use.  Looks nice and seems to cover all the regular bases.  Most users don’t normally need a partition manager, but if you ever do, this looks like a non-geeky way to work with one.  Other partition managers worth mentioning are GParted, PartedMagic, Ranish Partition Manager, Cute Partition Manager, Partition Logic. Partition Resizer, SystemRescueCd, BootIt Next Generation (not free but good), and UBCD for Windows.  Spotted on Cybernet News and Lifehacker.

Process Monitor - (updated to version 1.37) – This Microsoft Sysinternals program for monitoring file/registry/process-thread activity for systems just got updated to fix some filtering usage and other bugs.

Process Explorer - (updated to version 11.21) – Another Microsoft Sysinternals program that got a bug fix.

Nir Sofer has been hard at work in his laboratory updating awesome utilities and releasing a new one.

ShellBagsView - (freeware) – Weird name but cool app.  This tool scans a Windows system and provides a list of when folders were opened and associated information.  Could be handy when you are doing “research” on a system looking for activity-related clues.

ServiWin - (freeware) – Use this tool to view, audit, and modify the installed drivers and services on a Windows system.  Again, I like tools like this as I can quickly audit and log system parameters for troubleshooting and documentary purposes..

SysExporter - (freeware) – Many times while troubleshooting a system I am presented with a text-box or window that has a very detailed (and ginormous) error-code message.  Instead of attempting to write it all down, I fire up this application and then can often copy/paste it into Notepad or other text editor for safe-keeping and searching. A screen-shot works, but this is much better in particular cases.

SmartSniff - (freeware) – Packet-capture tool that is quick and easy to get up and running. For guerilla-style tactics, this one is very dependable.  This version update now provides locate/remote MAC address information, IPNetInfo integration, and can be configured to show IP Country of origin.

WirelessNetView - (freeware) – Find and monitor the wireless networks that surround yourself.  New update includes the ability to report MAC address, RSSI, channel frequency and number. Can also report the company name of the MAC address based on hardware.

JavaRa - (freeware) – Just a reminder plug to not forget about this Java uninstaller/updater tool.  Very small, fast and handy.  I keep forgetting about it.

Newsfox - (FIrefox Add-on) – The RSS reader for Firefox now has release version 1.0.3 out.

Totally Free Burner - (freeware) – Yes, there are a ton of good and free CD/DVD burning apps out there.  Just do a Google search of this blog and you will no doubt find the many I have recommended over the years.  This is yet another one.  With a pretty simple interface and all the major burning needs covered, this might be one to pass on to friends and family members who are looking for something a bit more advanced, but not requiring the hand-holding sessions required by many commercial or advanced freeware burning tools.  A good review can be found via freewaregenius.com.

It’s a Desktop Thing

Mandolux has a great multi-monitor desktop wallpaper for all you geeks who think hard-drive mechanicals are sexy.

500gb V2 – Triptych

This hard-drive dual-monitor wallpaper is also bright and vivid as found at DMB (Dual Monitor Background).

dmb – Hard Drive

Cheers!

--Claus

I’ve been sitting  on this growing stack of links for a few weeks now.

Figured I might as well get it out the door—fast and furious.

Seem - System Eyes and Ears Monitor - (freeware) – I’ve mentioned this one a few times in the past and keep wanting to get around to doing a fuller “review” but can’t find the time. (I’m still recovering from that AVG post-fest.)  Anyway, Seem is a nice (and portable) tool for viewing and exploring a whole-lot of system points including processes, system hooks, the kernel module, a service manager, Netstat, network devices (Arp), disk overviews, device viewer, startup manager, the control panel imbedded into the program, and registry tweaker.  While I don’t generally like “all-in-one’s” this utility has a whole-lot of goodness about it.  Certainly handy and worth playing around in. Works for XP systems…I haven’t messed around with it in Vista yet, if it does work, it will almost certainly need Admin elevation to work properly.

oSpy v.1.9.6 the reverse-engineering software - (freeware) – Offered by the l33t cats over at Security Database.  Although it is still in development, this is one crazy-cool tool.

oSpy is a tool which aids in reverse-engineering software running on the Windows platform. [W]hen the sniffing is done on the API level it allows a much more fine-grained view of what’s going on. Seeing return-addresses for each recv/send call (for example), can prove useful when you want to look at the processing code at that spot in a debugger or static analysis tool. And if an application uses encrypted communication it’s easy to intercept these calls as well. oSpy already intercepts one such API, and is the API used by MSN Messenger, Google Talk, etc. for encrypting/decrypting HTTPS data.

You can also use this tool for Forensics purposes. This utility can trace and reconstruct any service launched. Very helpful to bust "hidden" remote connection (malwares and other sophisticated worms.

I’ve played with it just long enough to see how it could be really useful in some network capture work with malware.  Basically you run the app on the target system, then inject/attach it to a running process and start the capture.  You can do all kinds of neat things once your capture is completed with the data.

See this ospy - Google Code page for some very short-but-sweet screencast demonstrations on its finer points and operations.  Also check in at the mov ah, 9<br>mov dx, hello_world_msg<br>int  21h blog for some more programming details and tricks for the program.

AnVir Task Manager Free - (freeware) – Another great utility find!  Spotted in a review on 4sysops blog this all-in-one utility looked too fascinating for me to pass it up.  Once installed, you can copy the program-folder to your USB stick for a “portable” version as well.  It has a well-developed GUI interface that is heavy on the tab-format.  Check out system startup items and get deails on each one/enable/disable, find dll’s and associated paths/processes, look for files in action and which process is controlling them, network connections open, monitor system performance, show information on system Windows (viewable/hidden), drivers, and along with a host of other neat and dead-useful features, you can select and upload files to VirusTotal directly from within the tool.  How neat is that?!!!  This one’s tucked away on my USB stick!

Microsoft® Malware Protection Center : How potentially unwanted software finds a way into our computers – great blog post that has some technical details and investigative work on pathways for malware infection on Windows systems.  Short read.

What is Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (mrt.exe) and how to use it - Windows Vista for Beginners – Most times we all reach for power-house anti-malware/anti-virus tools to clean a system.  However, XP and Vista systems do contain a tool for dealing with specific threats.  This post is a fast read and shows us how to use it.

SANS ISC – Is Anti-Virus Dead? – Thought provoking post on the role of traditional signature-based malware protection.  I don’t think we have seen the end of ant-virus protection, but the threats are changing and heuristic/behavior-based protection is probably a good item to add to your Windows security protection elements.

Windows Incident Response: The Question of "whodunnit?" – Does the “Trojan Defense” still have merit?  Methinks so, but the forensic analyst has their work cut out for them.  Just because something is “discovered” on a pc doesn’t mean the user did it.  A good examiner will look for related evidence of “intent” and other clues to draw a supportive conclusion.  Unfortunately, sometime the issue isn’t with the forensic examination or examiner, the issues may lay in outdated company policy and/or failure of non-system-aware managers who are not able to understand the nuances of these elements technically.  In many folk’s minds it if is on your pc, then you are responsible.  Period.  Or, it can swing the other way…non-technical folks might buy into the “It wasn’t me it was a root-kit” explanation, despite a lack of evidence on the system. Harlan does a nice job covering this angle.

ISC SANS: Securing A Network - Lessons Learned – Great list of things to consider when securing a workstation, a server, or a network.  Good refresher material, because no matter how good you are…it can still happen to you! Hacked! And I didn't like it - URLScan is Step Zero (ComputerZen blog).

F-Secure Rescue CD 3.00 - (freeware) – I’m not sure how I didn’t know about this LiveCD tool for so long!  Download the ISO file and burn to CD.  Use to “live-boot” the target system.  The Linux system will download the latest signatures from F-Secure into memory and use them during it’s scan.  If no Internet connection is available you can load them from a USB key where they have been previously tucked away.  When malware files are located, it will rename them with a .virus extension so you can find them quickly.  Of course, if these are any key system files, it might make the target system non-bootable.  So you had better be ready for some kung-fu troubleshooting work.  Cools stuff!  I’ve added this one to my sysadmin’s CD case.

Seen this “explosive” post on the destruction of Vista security so that it is “…completely game over”?

Neowin.net – Vista’s Security Rendered Completely Useless by New Exploit

Well, turns out that may not be quite the case after all. Just you usual net-security web-hype before folks have RTFM.

Submitted for your consideration….

• Windows security rendered useless? Uh, not exactly - Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
• The sky isn’t falling: a look at a new Vista security bypass - ArsTechnica

Whew!  I can sleep better now with these security bits!

--Claus

This is a “by-request” post for the D-Man.

We were talking in my cubicle/bullpen the other day about images and how files can be extracted from within them for recovery or troubleshooting purposes.

For instance, Symantec Ghost has Ghost Explorer.

And ZENworks Imaging has ZENworks Image Explorer.

Well, you might not have known it, but ImageX users can also mount and explore/extract files from a WIM image.

Here’s how.

Get the Windows Automated Installation Kit and Install

Take your pick:

Download details: Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK)

Download details: Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008

The first is the original, the 2nd incorporates the Vista SP1 updates in the WinPE 2.0 (and then some) files.  You don’t need both.  Either will do.

Once downloaded, mount the ISO using a utility like SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive. Or burn the ISO to CD, then turn around and install it.

Note:  from what I read, if you are clever, you can also just snag a copy of the following files from the C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 (for x86 OS’s) or from C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64 or C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\ia64 for the appropriate 64-bit OS processor type folder where the WAIK has been previously installed on another system.  I prefer just to install the WAIK package myself.

• imagex.exe
• wimfltr.inf
• wimfltr.sys
• wimgapi.dll

Install the WIM Filter

For some reason installing the WAIK does not install the WIM filter your system needs running to mount/manage WIM file images.

To do that you need to again browse to to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\tools. Pick the right sub-folder for your CPU type.

Now, right click on wimfltr.inf and then click on “install”. Reboot. 

This shouldn’t require Administrator privileges to do, but if you have problems, try that instead.

For more details see this post: 4sysops - How to mount a WIM image with ImageX in Windows Vista

Add WIM Filter Options to Windows Explorer

So to make this convenient, I find it very helpful to add a registry hack that puts the WIM filter options in the Windows Explorer’s right-click context menu so I can quickly mount/dismount WIM files from Windows Explorer on the fly.

Jump over to Robert Law’s post: Mounting WIM Images from Windows Explorer - Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition  (Note: Works on XP and Vista systems.)

Download the appropriate REG file from his site,

Add a “mounted_wim” folder at the root of your system partition –> C:\mounted_wim

Run the REG file you downloaded.  Reboot.

Then to see if it worked, browse to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86 and look for the winpe.wim file.  You should now see a pretty icon and if you right-click it from within Windows Explorer, you should see options to “Mount, Commit Changes, Dismount, and Mount Writeable.”

Pretty Cool!

Possible Gotcha!

When preparing this post, I wanted to make sure it still worked as described.

I was using the x86 versions and for some reason, it never did.

I did some looking around and it seems like the REG file downloads from Mr. McLaws sites might actually be corrupted.

I compared the wim-x86 version I was getting downloaded and it seemed to have some corruption in the text.  It just didn’t look right.

The MD5 hash I get from his file dated 11-04-07 is 0b0cd1941bdae4ab24feb31f65f74ca8

The MD5 hash I get from the one that I downloaded months ago and DOES still work is:
1b87e35ee51998b26a8e1a4853cfdf0f.

I’m getting the “corrupted” version on all my systems when I try to download it, independent of browser used.  I’m not sure if this is just something crazy I am running into or a real issue with the files he is hosting.  So you may find different. I just can’t say yet.

I dropped Mr. McLaws a line to see if he can confirm.  I’m waiting for his response.

In the meantime, below is the contents of the working version of his wim-x86.reg file that I have.  Alas, I don’t have one for the x64 file.

If you experience the same thing that I was, you might want to try making a blank wim-x86.reg file in Notepad.  Then copy the following text into it and save.  This might work in the meantime.  Also, this is all Robert’s work.  I’m just passing it on for folks having problems with the current downloadable version from his site…all credit where due!

wim-x86.reg contents

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Windows AIK\\Tools\\x86\\imagex.exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell]
@="Mount"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Commit]
@="Commit Changes"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Commit\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows AIK\\Tools\\x86\\imagex.exe\" /unmount /commit c:\\mounted_wim"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Dismount]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Dismount\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows AIK\\Tools\\x86\\imagex.exe\" /unmount c:\\mounted_wim"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Mount]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Mount\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows AIK\\Tools\\x86\\imagex.exe\" /mount \"%1\" 1 c:\\mounted_wim"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Mount2]
@="Mount Writeable"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Windows.Image.Format\shell\Mount2\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows AIK\\Tools\\x86\\imagex.exe\" /mountrw \"%1\" 1 c:\\mounted_wim"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wim]
@="Windows.Image.Format"

Alternative #1 – Via the CLI

If you don’t want to do this registry trick, just mount your WIM files from the command line.
Windows IT Pro has a great and simple guide:

• How can I mount a Windows Imaging Format (WIM) file so that I can view or edit its content?

Alternative #2 – Via a GUI Utility

ImageX is pure command-line kung-fu.  However, Jonathan Bennett has developed a wicked-cool GUI utility that can also be used to do this.  I like Robert’s method, but if you want, this little guy should do the trick.  Note: since I have already installed the WAIK and WIM Filter before using this, I can’t say for certain that it will work without all that jazz.  I would recommend doing so (as described above) before you use this tool, just in case.

• ImageX GUI (GImageX) – Jonathan Bennett via AutoitScript

Current version was just updated to v2.0.13 as of July 4th, 2008.  So keep an eye open for more updates down the road.  This version is much more robust and feature-rich than the early versions I encountered back when I was getting my feet wet in ImageX usage.

Cool Curiosities for PC Sysadmins

While doing the troubleshooting (before I located the bad REG file), I thought that maybe I had to install the wim filter via an admin account.  As I was using one of the IE App Compat VHD virtual images, it provides a limited user account by default so I wondered how I could install it with Admin rights.

I had already obtained this VHD’s Administrator account password…somehow!

I knew I could do the “run-as” command to elevate but that didn’t work for this particular situation with the wimfltr.inf file.

I could do a “run-as” elevation of CMD as administrator easily enough…which I did.  But can you install an INF driver from the command line and not the GUI?

Yep!

Install INF Drivers From Command Line or Script – Dashken’ I-Blog held the answer.  And dealing with the WIM filter no less!  Definitely worth bookmarking!

See also this MSDN page: InstallHinfSection Function (Windows)

The trick here is in the guide where you see the <filename.inf> noted for you to type, you must type the FULL CLI path\filename.inf, not just the filename.inf for it to work.

Example, to install the x86 WIM Filter system service do this:

%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\wimfltr.inf

OR

C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\wimfltr.inf

NOT

%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 wimfltr.inf

OR

C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 wimfltr.inf

Even if you have the CLI open to the location of the wimfltr.inf file itself.

Clear?

Next find, I wanted to actually work on the IE Tester’s “Administrator” desktop account workspace, but short of booting in Safe Mode, I couldn’t initially get to it.

The first workaround I did to get to the full Administrator account on this free virtual hard-drive image was to download Process Explorer and then use it’s “Switch User” option from the menu bar.  I suppose I could have tried Ctrl-Alt-Del as well.

However, Process Explorer’s user-switching worked and quickly I was logged on to the Administrator desktop.

But I would have to do this at every reboot.

What if I wanted the Administrator login to show at boot?

Yep….one more registry hack.

• Howto Show administrator account on welcome screen in XP | Windows Reference

That did the trick!  Now I can not only log on as the IE Tester user for regular work, but if I have to install or do something with “full” rights, I can choose to log on to the “Administrator” profile as well.

Sweet!

--Claus

Sometimes you need to do some “research” work and putting a web-browser on line to look at internal information might not be the best method. 

I won’t describe this work as “forensics” but maybe you need to extract some data from your browsing session, or maybe you forgot a password for a website that was saved in Firefox.  Maybe you are just curious as to what information is left behind in your Internet Explorer sessions.  Possibly you are a system administrator and need to get some facts down about an employee’s web-activity.

Nir Sofer has one of the best collection of portable, and free utility sets out there. 

Consider adding these to your USB stick and/or system just in case the need ever arises.

The Firefox / Internet Explorer Toolbox

• PasswordFox and IE PassView and Protected Storage PassView and AsterWin IE - (freeware) – These utilities let you view user-names/passwords as stored by the browser.  It picks up the default profile, but other profiles can be manually selected and scanned as well.  Handy when migrating between systems, or recovering data from a damaged system. Or maybe by parents checking up on their kid’s on-line activities… PasswordFox was just released by Nir Sofer this past week. Hurrah!

• MozillaCookiesView and IECookiesView - (freeware) – Handy utility to view, manage, and delete cookies stored by the browser.  Results may be saved in multiple formats.

• MozillaHistoryView and IEHistoryView - (freeware) – Tool to view the history file for browsers. Lots of information and data including first/last visit dates, visit counts, referrer, title page, host name.  All information can be exported.

• MozillaCacheView and IECacheView - (freeware) – Utility that lets you inspect the cache folder of browser and shows all the contents (files) in there.  Along with the file/type, information on the URL, size, last modified time, last fetched time, fetch-count, server name and a few others.  Files can be copied to another location, url copied, and report generated.  Items can be sorted by any column viewed.

• MyLastSearch - (freeware) – Wonderful tool that lets you pull up a list of all the search queries ran on a system (Firefox/IE) using the most popular (and likely) search engines.  Results displayed in a table. Great for finding out just what you search on, or doing analysis of a target pc.

• VideoCacheView – (freeware) – Use this tool to scan through web-browser cache files if present and locate any video files. These can be useful for “review” purposes, or maybe you just want to save that favorite YouTube video for posterity for off-line viewing.

--Claus

Since it’s Sunday thought I would pass this on…

I saw the TinyApps blog post an interesting snippet this week: Christ On Disk update

Denver Reynolds decided to take on a new programing project and ended up getting the entire contents of the Bible (KJV) crammed down into a 1.29 Mb file size.

The result is a highly portable, and very tiny freeware application for you Word fans out there.  And I’m not talking about the Microsoft Office version!

Alvis has been getting more involved in our church’s youth-group and I’ve been looking for a tool to help her with her explorations and understanding.  So I’ve added this program to her computer profile.

However, she isn’t a big fan of the KJV version so I went looking for other potential candidates.

I found two more that bring even more features to the mix.

The SWORD Project – open source – This project is simply amazing in the number of add-in module resources it provides.  A tremendous number of different Bible translations are available, commentaries, Lexicons/dictionaries, glossaries, devotionals, supporting books, maps, and images.  Setup is very simple, and with a bit of configuration, you can then download the modules you wish into the program directly.  This is a great resource for budding students as well as accomplished teachers and theologians.  I’m going to be sharing this with my former pastor-friend who I’m always doing pc-support work for.  There is also a plugin for Charles Spurgeon’s daily devotionals.  He always fascinated me and I have a multi-volume collection of all his sermons that I go back and read time-to-time.

In the beginning was the Word – freeware – Multiple versions from a “lite” one that is just the application proper…you pick the translations you want..to the standard which comes with a minimal set of texts, to the “full” package which contains all 39 text translations and six Greek fonts.  The full version isn’t tiny but it has many items to enhance your study.  Notes can be kept, advanced searches run, multi-column views are supported and side-by-side text comparisons are possible.  Really neat stuff.

Growing up Mom had a New Jerusalem Bible version that I always thought was really cool as it contained extra material that didn’t make it into most Protestant translations of the Bible.  It was a whopper!

When I was browsing through an old used-books store on the Galveston Strand many, many years ago I found a New Testament copy of the Moffatt Translation. I’m not a Bible scholar and I know it comes with a bit of controversy, but it does have a certain flow that is refreshing.

We also had an old German bible that must have been published back in the mid 1800’s.  It’s all German and has some great illustrations.  Can’t read a word of it. The cover was very brittle and the pages yellowed with time but it always was a source of family pride. Not sure where it is now.  Mom probably has it packed away somewhere.

--Claus

Image credit: Designer Aaron Ovadia

Oh my!

I suspect I just bit off more than I should chew.

All I wanted to do was to peek around at some alternative (free) RSS feed readers and see if there was anything worth considering and adding to my arsenal of Windows freeware apps.

Now my Virtual PC system has become crammed to the gills with RSS feed readers.

I took a look at four (4.5) Firefox RSS feed readers and twenty-four (24) “client” based feed readers.

That’s a lot of software to install, play with, and try to capture an impression of.

Methodology

I installed each application one at a time in a session of Virtual PC running XP SP2. Because of application requirements, I did have to ensure I had the latest version of Java installed. One application also uses Adobe’s Air platform.  So that got loaded as well.

I am using my personal (home) RSS OMPL file which contains a total of 111 feeds at this time.  Certainly not the largest amount of feeds, but large-enough to be challenging. It contains a mix of RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom feed formats.

Being a geeky tech-guy, I only read help-files after I have been using a program for a while and need to do some advanced operations.  As such, my experience-reviews are based on thoughts and observations made for each program during the install process, importation and setup of the RSS OMPL file, initial feed update, brief browsing and usage of the feeds, and attempts to play with any customization or application preference tweaking.

In all, I was shooting to try to get “five-minutes” live-fire range work on each one for my initial impressions.

It is my experience that I often can capture a good sense of a program’s usefulness in those first five-minutes, especially if it leads me to play with it even longer.  With the amount of freeware tools and utilities I use and maintain, goodness knows I’ve gotten this down to an art-form.

That may not be really fair, some programs as we will see are much more complex than others, but should provide a balanced overview of my impressions across the board.

Note: While I do keep a copy of my RSS feeds loaded in Google Reader I rarely use it and am not going to be looking at Web-based RSS feed readers…this go round.  If you are interested, Speckyboy has a recent list their Top 10 Web Based RSS Readers pick.  Knock  yourself out.

Firefox Feed Readers

Disclaimer.  I am a Firefox fan-boy.  As such I’m unfairly not spending any time on embedded RSS plugins for the Internet Explorer, Opera, or Safari.  While I do use these browsers, it isn’t for doing daily web-surfing or activity.  They do have embedded RSS feed management support.  I’ve also included some links at the end of this post for the curious.

When it comes to Firefox, there are many RSS-related Add-on extensions available for this wonderful web-browser.  I have chosen to focus on the four that I have found best of class.

They have been listed in order of passion and pleasure to use.

NewsFox - (Firefox add-on) - Yep.  Simply the best. Quick to install. Then makes management of the RSS feeds a breeze.  Uses a side-bar format for the feed list.  You can configure it to show feed-lists and artlcles in either a over/under horizontal format or a three-column vertical format (my preference). You can create as many folders as you wish to organize your feeds by topic/subject. Supports exporting your feed list to RSS and OPML formats for backup. Lots of technical options for feed sorting, notifications, favicons, filtering, auto-refreshing.  Finally, you can encrypt feed articles on your system. I've been a RSS feed-jocky for a while now and this one rocks-my-Firefox boat! If you are code-crafty, you can also tweak additional settings and colors using a css file. Related: GSD Newsfox posts).  As it sits inside Firefox, all the Adblock Plus and NoScript protections also protect my feed viewing.  All around my favorite feed reader.

Sage: a feed reader for Firefox - (Firefox add-on) - I used Sage for a very long time before jumping to NewsFox when it wasn't compatible for the nightly Firefox 3.x builds.  I really liked this feed reader.  The style-sheets were pleasant and pre-done.  They could be easily tweaked to make color or font-size changes.  I really liked the dual-window sidebar view that placed the feed grouping objects on top and the feed posts below.  Now however, after getting used to NewsFox's sorting of available feeds by date/read order that I use, this seems awkward.  It has since been updated for Firefox 3.x compatibility (finally) but no longer fits my style.  It's a bit difficult to quickly sort through over 300 daily posts or so.  Might be great for users with a handful of feeds, although it has no problems handling hundreds.

Sage-Too :: Firefox Add-ons - (Firefox add-on) - This project came out of Sage after it looked like the Sage developers were not going to release a Firefox 3.x compatible version.  Then they did. Supports Firefox 3 and Places, has some security tweaks (whitelist HTML filter and sanitizations), podcasting and error handling updates, tab support, updating checking, ad-blocking.  It stripped out and dropped Sage's search engine support and feed manager (uses Firefox's bookmark manager instead).  All around a good and worthy alternative to the flavor of Sage.

Wizz RSS News Reader - (Firefox add-on) - I flirted with this RSS reader for Firefox while I was between Sage and NewsFox. Integrates with Places, filters for words/phrases, will store feeds locally for a set timeframe (offline reading), does have a handy "Quick Read" to see how feeds will be rendered before they are added.  OMPL import/export is great. Nice sidebar format that has multiple windows for the feed objects, the feed posts, and the article content proper. Also has a basic Gmail checker.  I was a bit frustrated as I couldn't seem to organize objects beyond the default alphabetical sorting.  It is quite colorful and has some eye-candy if that's your thing.  The draw-back for me is that like Sage I just didn't feel I could quickly rip-through a list of over 300 new RSS posts quickly and orderly--speed-feeder style.  Wizz RSS add-on website.

Wizz RSS News Reader Lite - (Firefox add-on) - A slimmed down version of Wizz with a few less features, but not really enough for most folks to notice.  Certainly worth considering if you are looking for a "lighter" version with most of the same format and features.

Cream of the RSS Client Crops

These are the RSS feed readers that knocked my socks off, in one way or another.

I have listed them in order of likelihood that I would use them on a daily basis.  Although I'm not ready to abandon NewsFox as my feed-reader of choice, each of these does now drive how just what I am missing by using a browser-based feed reader.  These are all loads faster at loading feeds. Hands down and deliver varying-degrees of powerful options such as filtering, tagging, management, and statistics reporting.

All Sirens that beckon me to them....must resist....

Feedreader3 - (freeware) – Installation was very simple and provided an option to configure it to run on a portable disk.  Always a nice touch. Once installed, a welcome wizard prompted for the default language of choice, to auto-start with Windows (no thanks), and start off with a collection of preset RSS feeds (no thanks). Once opened, I have a three column view with feeds to the left, feed post list in the middle, and the post reader to the right.  I quickly found the “Import OPML” option right under the File menu. I browsed for my own file and selected all; done!  Perfect importation and the fact that I had my feed in sub-folders didn’t cause any issues.  Surprisingly, it didn’t even sort them alphabetically by default.  Nice touch. I didn’t see an obvious “update” button but I found a “synchronize” command under the Tools menu and that did the trick.  In just about two minutes, all 111 feeds and 1764 posts.  The options are very generous, belying the simple interface. and javascript may be enabled/disabled—a great item for security on the web.  Feed sorting is supported by multiple column choices and articles can be displayed “all news” or just for the selected feed/folder.  Most feed names are displayed by site name, but a few don’t translate well automatically and you get the http:// name.  You can edit each feed’s properties very heavily to make your own tweaks. Finally, you can select from one of three layouts for feed reading.  Light, portable, simple interface hiding option-heavy features.  Nothing here not to like.  Claus is very impressed!

NFReader - (freeware) – Download the packed .RAR file with a compression program and you are done.  Portable. Run the exe file and it launches…by default in German. I quickly found the language options and had it set to English.  I found “File” and import feeds and had my feed list quickly imported. Folders were preserved, but everything was resorted alphabetically. I clicked on the primary folder and clicked a likely “refresh all” feeds button.  Almost instantly it reported back there were 1941 new feeds to look at. Options included to start with Windows, minimize to tray, change the color of highlighting for new feeds, show unread feed count in the list, change the font, select/deselect auto-sort of feed list and show unread items first. Options for updating the feeds on program start, a timeout setting, default feed update frequency, and notification options for new feeds.  It has the feed-list to the left and then an over/under window arrangement with the feed articles on top and the selected post viewer on the bottom.  You can either use the text-view reader (faster-plainer) or the HTML view (rich rendering).  Benefits are that it is very fast for feed discovery and has all the basic options covered.  Drawbacks are that you cannot seem to display all the feeds together for a “master” article feed list, leaving you having to select each feed one at a time to review.  However, so someone wanting some plain, fast and portable, this might just do the trick.  Pretty nice!

GreatNews: The Intelligent RSS Reader - (freeware) – Installation was fast and standard. By default you get a set of selected feeds.  I had to delete each group/feed one at a time.  Might have been nice to have an installation option to start “blank”.  I quickly found and imported my OPML file.  Importation took about a minute to complete.  99 feeds were imported and a total of 1914 post updates found. GreatNews is one of the fastest feed finders/updates I came across. Blazing fast.  All were sorted alphabetically.  The interface is much more icon heavy.  The plus side is that all the icons are very well designed and it’s pretty clear you can do just about all you want from the main window.  While it doesn’t seem to allow you to see all your feeds at once, you can see all the feed articles in each group. Feeds may also be filtered or searched through. Handy if you have a bunch to manage.  An address bar is also included so you can actually browse the web without opening a web-browser proper.  The Window uses the pretty traditional feed list to the left, with and over/under arrangement for the article list on the top and the post-viewer underneath. The reading pane iteself offers six (6) different reading style formats from a newspaper theme to a Sage replica.  Very nice and everyone should be able to find something pleasing. Options are plentiful to handle feed updating frequency, run a cleanup wizard, feed display and presentation, alerts for dormant feeds (no posting recently), the ability to label feed posts and “news watches”, and many more.  This feed reader brings speed and function with a great and balanced feature set for those looking for more than the casual feed-reading experience.  Good recommendation!

BlogBridge - (freeware) – Blogbridge is a bit different as it is Java based, so make sure you have that installed first on your system. Then you still have to download an installer which was fast.  As an added bonus, the BlogBridge website is rich with FAQ, tutorials, testimonials and tons of additional help for the budding RSS user. Once installed, running the desktop shortcut initializes a setup wizard. Nice touch.  You can select from several feeds to get started, or go “blank” which I did. Then you have an optional “Tip of the Day” for program use.  Also nice and it can be disabled for the intrepid like me.   I quickly found that I could go to “Guides” and Import to import my OPML list.  Happened very quickly and before I knew it, 1636 articles were offered that it found.  Guides are like collections of your feeds; master folders if you will. None of my own folders were imported.  Not so good.  On the left of the default three-column view is the Guide list, in the middle is the RSS feed list with neat little “calendar” icons showing how many feeds were posted (clever), and to the right are the feed articles. Post views can be changed into one of three formats (headlines/small images, excerpts/medium images, full text/large images) and some filtering is possible. You can tag your feed posts, search them, and get advanced statistics if that’s your thing.  The application can be themed and fonts changed, sorting options managed, and many, many more options that are well conceived and valuable.  It just leaves me with a generally comfortable feeling all-the-way around. As an added bonus for RSS newbies, they offer their BlogBridge Topic Guides which are OPML files you can download with selected and recommended RSS feed collections.  A great place to get started if you list is a bit weak.  Advanced RSS feed wranglers will be impressed. Well recommended and just plain “fun” to use.

RSS Bandit - (freeware) – Requires .NET 2.0 framework be installed on your system.  Once done with that you can run the msi installer proper and get the application on your system.  That went smooth and no issues observed.  Getting started no wizard appeared and a list of pre-selected feeds was offered. Fortunately I was able to find that by right-clicking the heading bar I could delete all feeds, which I did.  I then quickly imported all my OPML feeds and easily found the update all feeds button.  There is an integrated web-browser bar which is handy. Very quickly all 1428 feed posts were showing ready.  Reading pane and feed article lists can be moved about in one of several nice configurations.  The way I had my folders organized was preserved (although alphabetically) and while I could list all the articles in each folder at once, I couldn’t easily find a way to list all my feeds at once across all folders.  The options are very, very rich. I especially liked being able to set feed updating frequency and removal of feeds after preset ages.  I could also set links to open in the system default browser or via an executable (great for Firefox/Opera if not set as the default).  You can also apply one of six security restrictions for feeds and browsing display. Very nice touch! Attachments and podcasts can be handled. Program fonts changed.  You can also add additional search engines to the search-bar. Handy.  RSS Bandit really comes off as a mature and polished application.  It is very fast and nicely customized.  It is difficult to believe this is a freeware application!  Did I mention that it allows for tabs?  Finally, you can select custom style-sheet formats for viewing your lists/reading window view.  RSS Bandit is no slouch and great for RSS reader users looking to find more advanced features and feed management options.  Very pleasant to use.

SharpReader RSS Aggregator - (freeware) – Installation was very fast. There was no “setup” wizard and a collection of five popular website feeds was provided by default. These were deleted. Importation of my OPML list was very fast and all feeds were updated automatically showing 1943 posts found.  The default system-tray new-feed notifier was overwhelmed and I couldn’t find a way to turn it off.  Basic filtering and flagging is supported. There aren’t a lot of options. Only the basics here. However the overall effect is very pleasing in a simple way.  Nice feed list column to the list. It preserved all my folders on import and you can rearrange their order.  I really appreciate being able to view all my article in a single list, or by folder, or by feed.  That just seems natural and makes sense.  You can sort the list by any of the available columns. Unread feeds/total feed counts are shown nicely.  Finally, although you can't change the default feed reader style, it is very simple and pleasant.  Very readable.  A feed properties window can be toggled on/off.  As an added bonus, the program can find and discover comments to feed posts and display them as well. Very nice.  For new users or experienced users looking for speed feed-reading this might be the perfect choice.  It is like looking a a Monet; powerful in it's simplicity.  Definitely worth checking out.

Snarfer - (freeware) - Installation was very fast and simple. Note the option to auto-start with Windows (selected by default).  Once going you are given a list of feeds to import (suggested). I unselected all. I then easily imported my OPML list and feeds into Snarfer.  Them instantly began to update. Nice. It was a bit slower on the import than some previous feeders covered, but did find them very quickly. Folder order and feed order was preserved from my original configuration. Favicons are used (nice) and a few different view styles are available; titles which give summary text, details (feed posts over the viewer pane), and newspaper where all the posts are listed in a view format.  Tabs are supported as is a search bar. I really liked being able to view all the feed posts at once sorted by date (or anything else) as well as by folder group or by individual feed. Certainly convenient. Options are sparse but all the basics are covered.  While there isn't a whole lot to Snarfer, it works to it's advantage.  Nothing seems to be missing or done wrong. Certainly a nice basic feed reader that is very fast and easy to use with minimal effort.

Newzie - (freeware) - Installation was fast and no-frills. Once up and running one is presented with a very non-standard inteface. It's hard to pin down, but it seems to me to be almost "Apple" like in design.  There is a substantial "bar" area at the top, followed by a column to the left for feed management and a column to the right for feed post viewing.  I added my OPML list quickly with little effort figuring out how (hint: use the Add) item. Importation was pretty rapid and soon my formerly stark white left-side list was now a colorful rainbow collection of feeds. What I was looking at (ListView) was feeds with the most recent articles "hot-red" listed at the top, and those that hadn't been updated for a while a "cool-blue" at the bottom. Clever! If that's too bold for you, switch to the more conventional TreeView format. You can easily run searches on all feeds/posts or just within a feed post.  You can also change the view of the feeds a number of ways. All are pleasant. I did observe some graphical artifacting when switching between views. Minimizing/Maximizing the window cleared things.  There is a neat "SlideShow" feature that composes and presents collections of your feeds to view as a "slide". Not my thing but bonus points for presentation.  There are all the standard options and then quite a few special ones to Newzie.  All are helpful. There is also a handy "Post Sweeper" tool that allows you to set options to clean up/delete posts based on multiple criteria. More bonus points for keeping things manageable!  If you are looking for a RSS feed reader with a style of it's own, this is probably going to be the one. Nothing not to like here and certainly in a class of its own!  Worth taking a look at just because it is so radically different from the rest in its presentation.  Likely to be liked by power-feeders and those who really want to get different statistics on their feeds and the way they are reading them.

FeedDemon - (freeware) - Installation was fast and direct. A configuration wizard ran post install. handy. I was given the option to import my OPML list at the very begining, very classy so I was able to get started immediately. Once finished my list was present (sorted alphabetically) and feeds were updating very fast with no effort on my part.  There are multiple views to arrange the window elements, feed post reader, and feed article formats.  Lots of options.  I eventually found how to change the "style" of the newspaper post reader element. However the post views always seemed much larger and awkward to read quickly. Great on the rich-text element but much more challenging for speed-feed readers to process in my opinion. I liked the way the feed articles were sorted very similar to the Outlook email format (group-by) I am accustomed to. This can be turned off for simple sorting by column selected.  Posts can be flagged as well. Advanced options to email, send or discuss posts are also available. Did I mention how fast feed-discovery and updating was? It is FAST.  For a while I thought that the style formats for posts were being applied on a per-feed basis but I eventually uncovered the way to click on a folder (or main subscriptions folder) and set the style-views globally.  I find this a dual-edged sword.  While it is nice to have that much control on a per-feed basis, it can be frustrating and overwhelming until you find out global option/tweaks exist.  Super plus points for the "panic" button which allows you to mark "all" feeds as read immediately based on some customized criteria.  Worked great and is a really clever extra.  You can add lots of extra columns to your feed list. It's almost like working in an email client.  Almost everything anyone could want in a feed reader.  I just wish I had a few more styles to find one for my particular puritan tastes.  Recommended.

The Rest of the Milk

These RSS feed readers range from the spectacular-but-flawed to the ho-hum.  While any certainly do the trick in providing basic-to-enhanced RSS feed support, none of them really stunned me and generally had something that either frustrated me or made the application unlikely to be used by me.  Certainly, depending on your own preferences, you still might find the love of your RSS –feeding life in here.

Abilon - (freeware) - No longer being developed but shouldn't be forgotten. Not really any setup. Download and unzip the package.  Loading my OPML file was a snap.  The GUI is nice and simple, with layouts in either a "newspaper" mode, three-panel mode and then in a horizontal split or vertical split. Feeds and groupings were preserved but sorted alphabetically. I couldn't view all my feeds at one (minus) but could view each group of feeds at once.  Ran very fast on feed discovery. Options are basic but sufficient for all but the most demanding of feed reader users. You have a number of Styles for the reading pane.  The biggest drawback was that some feed formats didn't seem to be fully supported as some display picture perfect while others show the text, along with the HTML code elements.  Not so cool.  Neither was the fact that they just didn't seem to be automatically marked as read as fast as I had set the ticker to.  Still, all things considered, this is a portable and very pleasing-to-the-eye feed reader.  Only minor quibbles and complaints.

RSSOwl - (freeware) - Download and extract the files from the zip folder. Then just run the exe file. Wow. Simple enough.  Yep. Full set of pre-loaded feeds. Either a plus or minus. These I quickly and mercifully deleted. Importation of my OPML file was easy and direct. Feeds updated immediately and very fast.  You can't seem to display all your feed titles at once in a list, only being able to view on a per-feed basis. Once past that, feed articles are sortable by columns. A number of view styles can be toggled; over/under or side-by side.  The GUI is nice and polished and you can do searches and highlight searched words. There is a nice cleanup wizard to deal with older posts and the search feature is very advanced. Labeling of posts is also supported. Auto-updating of the program is allowed as is choosing to use either the default system web-browser or another (say Firefox). There is a notifier that can be enabled and tweaked very detailed for all new news, or on a group/feed basis as you wish. It can also retain passwords and login id's for sites.  So why not higher on the list? Mostly because I couldn't organize and sort/display my articles feeds with as much control as I wanted.  Very serviceable and a mature feed-reader application. It shows.

Apprise Reader (beta) - (freeware) - What sets this application apart is that it (for better or for worse) depends on Adobe's Air framework to run.  Once you get that on and installed (pretty simple and fast), you can download and/or run the .air file for the reader. The application doesn't include pre-loaded feeds. It does have that Apple'ish feel to the GUI that reminds me a touch of early iTunes.  Getting started isn't as intuitive. After mucking around for a few minutes to figure out loading my OPML file, I eventually got into the "preferences" and was able to find a bar that allowed me to import my OPML file. Only it didn't like it as I had folders in it. So I had to export my OMPL list from another feed reader after moving all my fees out of the folders and into a single list format. That worked fast, but major points off for that.  Options are very thin; autorefresh only in hourly increments (blah!), auto-remove old posts by day, week, month, year (too basic). Check for udpates to the program in days by slider bar (weak). AOL and Twitter can be integrated, OK. Apprise was only able to find 1335 feeds it could handle, much lower than most all of the other feed readers, even the discontinued ones.  Basic search feature is present. I can view all "unread" feeds at once (nice) as well as individual feeds.  However the lack of grouping them is a big weakness in my book. You can tag/check feeds and view only them.  The post summary view was too short and to read the full feed you seem to have to visit the site in the "site" tab for the post.  Good start but not featured enough for most RSS feed users except those with very basic needs.  Even then I think other options exist that are more flexible.

Awasu (Personal Edition) - (free-limited/$) - Installation was very fast. Yes there were the pretty common default category folders, but no feeds.  No configuration wizard either.  The GUI is very polished and mature. This clearly is a highly-feature-rich application.  I was immediately feeling like I was using a professional/enterprise-class feed reader.  It was intuitive to delete the folders, but took a bit more work that I thought needed (one at a time). There wasn't an obvious "import" OPML option, but I was now on to looking also for a "synchronization" option and quickly found it and the means to import my OPML list. There was a high-degree of control for the import process. Only 100 of my feeds were imported as I was using the free personal (limited) version. Feeds were updated, but not as fast as I would have suspected...and in comparison to others I have tested. The notifications were fast and contained helpful information. There is a great search tool. The properties feature for each feed are very detailed and there is a cleanup tool also. Great logging views. Toolbar items can be rearranged and customized in a very Microsoft Office familiar manner.  There are tons of program options and again the program GUI design really shines here.  The GUI can be "themed" and browser windows options picked up Mozilla Firefox and IE. Tabs and multiple windows are present.  In fact there were so many options and configuration settings possible I just couldn't get through them all in under five minutes.  Pluses; very mature product and very polished. Enterprise/corporate class and then some.  Drawbacks--slower than average feed loading, overwhelming number of options, window sizes too large and almost too much happening on screen at once.  Not for simplicity lovers.  Still, it's hard not to like most everything about this feed reader.  Just almost too much to take in for newbies or casual-to average RSS feed cowboys.

CITA RSS Aggregator - (freeware) - Needs .NET framework. Installation went smoothly. I did have to go and make a desktop shortcut icon. Gratefully only two default feeds were included. The list imported fine, but I had to manually confirm each one of the feeds to import. Yuck. Interestingly CITA kept my "folder" arrangements as "categories" and then also lists them by unsorted feeds tab as well. That is flexible. I had to kick off the updating of the feeds manually to get started.  Updating was quick but not blazing fast like some of the others covered here. I couldn't seem to look at the feeds until the loading/refreshing process completed. The GUI is basic but presentable. The default notification window was a bother considering how many feeds I just imported and refreshed.  The options are nicely advanced including tweaks on appearance, feed handling, updating, podcast support, malicious HTML checking, individual feed property handling, feed ordering, and (like most here) proxy support.  Drawback? Well, it's a bit "clunky" in design compared to some of the others. You can change font sizing, but no changes for styles or post viewing.  For that matter, it loads the feed pages up in a full HTML browser window view. Again not helpful for speed-feed reader and mass-feed junkies who have hundreds of posts to read and sort through daily.  I kept feeling there was something I was missing or that there should be more.  While a serviceable and useful application, it just didn't have as many features or options as most all other readers listed here.

RSS Xpress - (freeware) - Installation was fast and problem free. It does launch an browser window to the the website (not needed IMHO). It opens minimized to the system tray so you have to go looking for it to get started. One feed is included by default, for the RSS Xpress news--and can't be removed. Bummer. Importation of the OPML file was a snap and did allow selection of which feeds I wanted (if desired).  Folders were preserved but sorted alphabetically.  I manually got the feeds updating and they did so pretty quickly.  Just about a minute and a half in total. Gratefully you can view the feed articles globally (my preference) or by folder group or by individual feed.  If you find a feed post you like a lot, you can "protect" it and it is locked and added to a special folder for quick access.  Searches and filters are handy and supported. Fonts can be sized normal or small. Again, all the expected options are present. It does have a pop-up notifier that can be adjusted and turned on/off and additional notifier "themes" can be downloaded and installed.  Display is with a tree-view list to the left and the over/under format with the post article list on top and the post-summary below. To read a full post you can click on the "more news" link which then opens up the full post in a new tab.  Again, not really conducive to power-feed-speed readers.  This really seems like a RSS reader for newbies or those with very basic feed reading needs.   While it covers all the basics, it just isn't as user-reader friendly as I expected or would like. That said, it works well and fast and delivers what it offers.

ThinFeeder - (freeware) - Installation was rocket-fast. But again I had to go searching in the Program Files list for the program and copy a shortcut to my desktop. It loads very fast and opens with no wizard assistance for setup. It couldn't handle my OPML file with the folder structure so I had to load the "plain" version I created earlier as a backup. Importation was slow. No way around it. Nor do you "delete" feeds you don't want; you "unsubscribe."  Confusing for newbies used to right-clicking or looking for "delete".  The GUI window can be "skinned" with a small but nice number of themes.  Folders/categories don't appear to be able to be created. Instead you have a list of all your feeds. Period.  Each feed must be reviewed/listed individually. That said, the GUI was actually pretty nice from a speed-feed reader standpoint.  There is one window at the top/left for the feed list, another to the top/right for the article list, and the bottom window is for the feed post reader. The default ost reader style is simple and not HTML rich.  The post list doesn't have columns, only titles so you can't sort it. You can select a web-browser other than the system default which is nice.  Refresh times can be set on a per-minute basis so you aren't locked into pre-set timeframes. Preferences are very basic and simple.  Overall it is a nice and "cute" little RSS feed reader. I'd probably recommend this one to to newbies who don't need anything but the basics.  However, its lack of column details, sorting, grouping, searching/filtering and other more regular features means that it falls lower in the pack.  However, I'm left with a very likeable impression.

Feed'n Read - (freeware) - Installation was a bit longer than most, and the initialization of the program took a while also. No desktop icon was created although I asked for one. Once launched I got a large-number of RSS default feeds.  Those had to be removed. No configuration wizard was offered. Too bad as I am getting to like them. Again, no deleting, nor unsubscribing. This time I had to "remove" each grouping/feed I didn't want.  Luckily importation of my OPML list was very fast and although sorted alphabetically, went fine otherwise. A click of the Update All button and it was all systems go with a very fast and respectable feed update process.  There is a helpful progress window and log tab at the bottom of the program.  Nice touch.  A web-browser address bar is present to be used for general web-surfing if desired. Items can be filtered as well.  I didn't see a search bar.  There are a lot more tabs to this presentation than you would expect. Overall it results in a pleasant GUI interface.  I couldn't get all the articles to display at once, nor by groups, but only by a per-feed basis.  Points off for that. The view-pane for posts was readable. The options are all present for most needs, including archiving, caching, browser handling, podcast handling, feed updating frequency, and general program behavior.  No skinning/theming/styling options.  Property information on feeds is basic. The icon bar is very helpful but the oversized icons cannot seem to be minimized and the resulting bar takes up a lot of valuable screen-space.  However removing it (which is possible) then removes some of the easy function access.  Liked it more that I thought, but just a bit limited for anyone but new RSS feed users and those with very basic needs.  Not as flexible as I would have liked.

YeahReader - (freeware) - Smooth installation with no post-install config wizard.  The usual default feeds are provided. All had to be manually "removed" one at a time.  Importation of the OPML file was awkward.  I found easily where to do this, but I had to browse to the file, the select "read" to begin the importation process. I then had to select the ones I wanted (or select all) but I still couldn't import. Turns out I had to cancel, then create a folder in the feed structure list first. then go back and repeat the process, this time selecting the folder I created before I could import.  Once imported, I lost all my OPML folders and got the basic RSS feed list only.  Any categorizing would have to be done from scratch, again. Not a pleasant thought with over 100 feeds to manage! Feed updating took a while as well. I can't call it "slow" but it was longer than most all other readers.  Searching is available as is filtering on a basic level. There is a feed list to the top-left, an article list to the top-right, and a viewing pane at the bottom.  Clicking on the article column items didn't seem to result in any sorting.  Looks based on date only.  There isn't a way to globally view the feed articles either.  You can select from several basic post-reader styles, but nothing too exciting. Only basic options are present for configuration.  It does have a speech reader.  This is a very basic reader. Does the job, but not much beyond that.

Wizz RSS - (freeware) - This is a "standalone" version of the same one mentioned previously as a Firefox Add-on!  Feature sets are pretty similar. See also: Wizz RSS download - Wizz RSS 3.0.0.2 preview

Omea Pro - (freeware) - Installation was fine. It did automatically launch and offer to install a plugin for Firefox (declined). A helpful configuration wizard opened on first-run. which offered to import feeds from several sources and let me select the OPML file. It also offered to import favorite bookmarks from IE and Firefox. I could add user information if desired (name/email). Omea reader isn't really just a feed reader. It is better described as an information manager as it handled web, notes, feeds, and contacts as well. The interface GUI is very busy with lots of windows and tab areas.  That said, I easily found the "feeds" tab and located that my feeds were imported based on the original folders, but sorted alphabetically again.  Feeds were refreshed automatically at import and a view was displayed showing all the unread feeds by date grouping as well.  Feeds could be viewed in several window pane arrangements. And the application icons and right-click menus made management of the actions I wanted pretty simple to complete. Advanced and basic searches are possible and it appears there are lots of options for managing information here.  Program options are very extensive.  This looks to be a program best-served for information-overload junkies and those who need to really organize their feeds and information from feeds.  Not really for casual users. Nor is it really conducive for speed-feed readers as well. The interface is just too busy for feed reading alone.This is more like an environment for feed management.

BottomFeeder - (freeware) - This may be near the bottom of the list, but it isn't chum! Installation was smooth but I had to create my own desktop shortcut. It also triggered the Windows Firewall to block it (allowed). No config wizard was seen. Two default feeds were provided as examples.  My OPML list was imported, but the folder names were removed. Otherwise the import/update process went smooth. Updating took a bit to complete. Not really as "fast" as I would have expected.  The GUI is a bit Gnome'ish and as it is multi-platform supported, I'm sure this is by design.  Feeds can be sorted/displayed globally, by folder, or by feed. Nice and appreciated.  The window layout is in a familiar feed list tree to the full-left, the feed articles to the top-right, and the feed post reader at the bottom-right.  Not bad. Lots of columns for the feed articles and all can be sorted by clicking on the column header. Lots of operatons can be performed on each post including printing, flagging, emailing tagging, del.icio.us'ing,  There are a number of post-reader "style-sheets" to pick from but they mostly look the same.  You can tweak font sizes and formats. A serviceable and respectable feed reader with more than a few bells and whistles for advanced users and uploaders.  The multi-platform support is nice for folks using it across different systems.

Eluma - (freeware) - Installation was fine, but pay attention to the options. Lots of pre-selected "extras" like IE toolbar, Firefox toolbar, Flash Player install, starting with Windows. I unchecked the lot of them. You are given a config wizard that starts by trying to get you to register an account (pass). A tutorial is offered (nice but pass). Then you can import IE/Firefox bookmarks if desired and/or an OPML file (done).  More category feeds are offered (pass). Finally after much importation work the program launches.  It has a "side-bar" like feel and a media pane shows news topics from a source that isn't from any feed list I chose.  Above that is my feed list that was imported. Folders were preserved.  There are just two menu items "Add" and "More" the later of which displays some additional configuration and action items.  I preferred the "desktop" view rather than the slideout view.  You can't seem to view all feeds globally however, only by selecting each individual feed. Tagging is supported as is a form of searching.  Views and layouts are limited.  Podcasts are supported and there are a number of applicaiton configuration options for feed retention, refreshing and the like. Standard stuff but the non-standard format will probably turn off most old-school users and appeal only to younger and more unsophisticated feed-reader users.  That's certainly not meant in a critical tone. This format just doesn't lend itself easily to quickly reading and managing hundred or more feeds and posts.   It is fun, but light.

KlipFolio - (freeware) - Installation was fast.  Very fast.  Upon running a "getting started" video is offered.  Helpful. KlipFolio reminded me very much of the Vista sidebar. By default there is a module for Flickr pictures, a to-do list, digg, YouTube, weather, Google News and a CPU/memory meter.  These all can be added/removed or hidden. There is a feed-reader module as well.  However, you cannot browse for the OPML file but have to hand-type the path in. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to import the OPML feeds.  You can also add them one-at-at time from URL's .  It looks nice but because it just didn't deliver the ability to import my feed-list, I had to quickly take a pass.Folks looking for an nice Vista'ish sidebar tool might like it however for all it's other pleasant features.  As a RSS reader, it seems outclassed.

Syndirella - (freeware) - Needs the .NET framework to work. Installation was over almost before it began.  Only the developer's feed was included and no config wizard was present.  All feeds from my OPML list were imported very quickly, but no folders were retained (minus).  Feed list is displayed to the full left, the article list on the top right and the post viewer at the bottom right.  No adding folders manual.  Sorting the feed list is done alphabetically.  As such there is no "global feed" list, each feed must be individually selected and viewed.  Unread feed counts are numbered by the feed (helpful) and the reader view is basic and easy to speed-feed read posts.  The post-window can be sorted by columns.  Some feed formats (Atom?) didn’t look like they were supported at all.  In all fairness the developer states on his website that he is now supporting another RSS feed read project listed here so this has been passed by for some time.  Still, it is a light and fast feed reader for the basics.  It doesn't do much more than that, but for some newbies it will be enough.  I think there are more current and RSS format encompassing choices now that would be better starting places for RSS newbies and basic users.  Still worth mentioning.

Well done to all the developers and programmers.  There is certainly a product here to fit almost anyone's preference and needs from the basic to the advanced!

Assorted IE and Opera RSS RSS Feeder Links

As I have mentioned earlier, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Apple’s Safari do have built-in support for RSS feed reading and basic feed management.  For casual RSS feed subscribers, these might just be sufficient.

For those wanting a bit more support consider the following sources and plugins

• TinyRSS – Clean and simple IE plugin. Uses a sidebar format I find preferential.

• Wizz RSS News Reader - Uses .NET and IE 7 engine.  Not really "embedded" in IE7.

• blogbot lite - Pretty simple and basic interface. True "plugin" for IE users.

• Active Web Reader - Looks like it also uses the IE 7 engine but isn't a "plugin" per-se.

• Internet Explorer Add-Ons - Need to do some searching, but a few exist in here.

• Search results - Opera Widgets - Lots of RSS widgets exist for Opera users. Take your pick.

Miscellaneous RSS Readers (of note, but not reviewed)

Certainly, many other applications (such as email clients like Mozilla's Thunderbird) can also natively or with plug-ins, support and manage RSS feeds.

Seeing as there are a ton of freeware email clients out there, I'll save a round-up of them for another day.  Many email clients do now support RSS feeds as part of their application.

Here are some additional RSS "niche" readers you might be interested in.

• RSS basics - Thunderbird - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

• How to add an RSS feed to the Windows Vista Sidebar - Simple Help. For Vista sidebar users.

• UniveRSS - a 3D Windows Vista RSS reader - Gimicky but cool 3-D RSS feed presentation platform from Microsoft for Vista.  Needs some higher-end hardware to run effectively. Certainly interesting.

• Microsoft RSS Blog - Not an application, but insight from the Windows RSS support team.

• Introduction to Windows RSS Platform -  Technical stuff from the Microsoft RSS development team.

• NewsGator Go! - Mobile device application that supports Blackberry, Java Mobile, and Windows Mobile.  I'm going to look into this for my work Blackberry.  Looks very useful and practical.

• NewsGator Inbox - Module for Outlook email client users.

• blogbot for Outlook - Another module for Outlook email users.  Now open-source.

• Paradisoft RSS Popper - Yep. One more freeware RSS feed manager plugin for Outlook email.

• NewsFire (for Mac OS X) - I don't use Mac OS but looks nice....

• Acrylic | Times (for Mac OS X)  - Personally recommended by Dwight Silverman of the TechBlog

More Reviews

A few nice posts that inspired me on this venture.  You might find some more in-depth details here.

• NewsGator updates popular RSS Readers, makes them free! - Download Squad

• FeedDemon and NetNewsWire are now FREE - Cybernet News

• Eluma: Desktop RSS reader, bookmark manager, and more - Download Squad

• YeahReader: RSS reader and blog client in one package - Download Squad

• Snarfer: Easy to use RSS reader for Windows - Download Squad

• Apprise: RSS reader with Twitter, AIM integration - Download Squad

• TechBlog: RSS Archives - Lots of great RSS-related posts from TechBlog editor D.Silverman.

• TechBlog: Times: An RSS reader for people who hate RSS readers - TechBlog review.of Times for OS X.

• TechBlog: One of the few RSS readers worth paying for is now free - TechBlog Review of Feed Demon.

Sources for other RSS Readers and non-Windows Platforms

• NewsOnFeeds.com - List of News Aggregators

• List of feed aggregators - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Happy feed reading!

--Claus