Niche Software Steals Microsoft's Thunder

Written by Jim Edwards


When you think of software and personal computers (PCs), you think Microsoft.

The global software giant dominatesrepparttar PC market in both penetration and pocketbook.

It seems you can't go a single day without seeing at least one news story and several advertisements for Microsoft or a Microsoft product.

But that doesn't mean Microsoft dominates in every corner ofrepparttar 107216 market; in fact, asrepparttar 107217 software behemoth gets bigger, numerous niche software offerings spring up to fill inrepparttar 107218 gaps left in Microsoft's wake.

As you'll see, a couple of these niche software programs have managed to either beat Microsoft torepparttar 107219 punch, or even steal market share away fromrepparttar 107220 seemingly invincible company.

** FeedDemon ** FeedDemon software ($29.95) enables you to subscribe to and read RSS Feeds (Real Simple Syndication).

RSS has emerged asrepparttar 107221 preferred way to share news and other content with subscribers acrossrepparttar 107222 Internet withoutrepparttar 107223 use of email.

The advantage to subscribers: as news, blogs, or other content updates somewhere online, subscribers receive virtually instant notification just by opening up their reader.

This represents a huge time savings since subscribers can receive updates without surfing individual sites to chase down stories or wading through piles of spam to findrepparttar 107224 content they actually want.

The advantage to publishers: no worrying about whether email notifications, news releases, or blog updates made it pastrepparttar 107225 spam filters or unreliable mail servers.

Though many free RSS reader software packages exist (just do a search on Google.com for "free rss reader"), FeedDemon offers an unmatched suite of tools that enable serious RSS subscribersrepparttar 107226 power and flexibility to mix and match feeds, includingrepparttar 107227 new "POD Casting" craze where content providers syndicate audio content (MP3) overrepparttar 107228 web.

Available from www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/, FeedDemon setsrepparttar 107229 standard for RSS readers in a market that Microsoft has yet to even address with any of its software products.

I'll make a daring prediction here: watch for Microsoft or another large player to purchase FeedDemon rather than try to reinventrepparttar 107230 wheel and build a product brand themselves.

Lavasfot Ad-Aware - Free Spyware Removal

Written by Steve Perlow


Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal is a free for personal use spyware removal tool is widely regarded as a top anti-spyware application. It has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times, which is a testament to its strong reputation.

This article will not tell you everything there is to know about spyware, or even everything about this software. What it will do, is guide you through runningrepparttar program to clean your pc of as much spyware as possible, quickly and easily.

Briefly, what is spyware?

According to Answers.com:

“Software that sends information about your Web surfing habits to its Web site. Often quickly installed in your computer in combination with a free download you purposely selected fromrepparttar 107215 Web, spyware transmits information inrepparttar 107216 background as you move aroundrepparttar 107217 Web. Also known as "parasite software," "scumware," "junkware" and "thiefware, spyware is occasionally installed just by visiting a Web site.”

Spyware can also change you homepage, cause pop-up ads, slow down your computer, and more, all without your knowledge or real consent. If you’ve been affected by spyware through pop-ups and strange homepages in your web browser, you know exactly how realrepparttar 107218 problem is. Even if you haven’t, ridding your computer of spyware should speed up it up, along with your overall internet experience. Removing spyware will also help restore privacy to your web browsing.

Let’s get started with Ad-Aware

When you’re ready to begin cleaning your computer, close all your open applications and go to www.lavasoft.com and click onrepparttar 107219 link for www.download.com. Downloadrepparttar 107220 file to somewhere on your computer you can find, stay online if your connection is not always on, and then openrepparttar 107221 file to startrepparttar 107222 installation. Readrepparttar 107223 licensing agreement, and when you are ready to agree, acceptrepparttar 107224 standard installation options unless you have some special need to change them. The final screen ofrepparttar 107225 install looks like:

I uncheckedrepparttar 107226 “Openrepparttar 107227 help file now” box because I didn’t want to see it. If you do, just leave it checked, andrepparttar 107228 help box will open inrepparttar 107229 background whilerepparttar 107230 rest ofrepparttar 107231 program begins and runs.

The other two buttons should be left checked. The program will actually updaterepparttar 107232 definitions first, and then scan your system withrepparttar 107233 new updated definitions. One note, be sure your computer calendar is onrepparttar 107234 correct day or elserepparttar 107235 definitions will try to update twice for no reason.

Here isrepparttar 107236 web update. You can seerepparttar 107237 definitions file is from September 13, 2004. The web update will downloadrepparttar 107238 newest definitions, most likely fromrepparttar 107239 last few days.

Whenrepparttar 107240 update is completerepparttar 107241 scan of your computer will commence with this screen:

The scan will take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour or even longer, depending onrepparttar 107242 size of you hard disks,repparttar 107243 speed of your computer, andrepparttar 107244 amount of spyware found. I checked my e-mail while this scan was running, but your best bet is probably to just let your computer be whilerepparttar 107245 scan runs. The scan will be faster this way as well…

Asrepparttar 107246 scan is running you can seerepparttar 107247 number of errors found, and whenrepparttar 107248 scan is complete, you can seerepparttar 107249 results one by one and decide how to deal with them. On this machine there were 57 potential spyware objects. Don’t be worried if you have more, that’s why you’re running this program, to getrepparttar 107250 problem under control.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use