TeeJay3800

Can you explain exactly what HIPS is? I've read about it, but can't quite get my mind around it. Online Armor has program protection that control which programs run and which programs access the internet, but every firewall I've used has done that...even those without HIPS, so it must be something else.

Well I went ahead and tried it, and am very pleased. Online-Armor is very lightweight and only takes 16-17 MB to run. The program control is very effective, and it is the only free firewall I know of with HIPS included. I've only been using it for about 30 mins, but so far I give it a big thumbs up.

Interesting idea, but the machine in question is running Windows 2000 so that isn't an option. I would really like something with outbound protection, and the XP firewall's lack of options/customization doesn't appeal to me anyway. Right now, Sunbelt Personal Firewall's three processes (according to Task Manager), are using 9000k, 9000k, and 17000k. 35MB of RAM used is a bit much than I'd prefer for an app that runs 100% of the time. I'm hoping Online Armor uses less, while not being hopelessly complex like Jetico.

To those who have used Online Armor, is it anything like Jetico Personal Firewall? Jetico uses complex "rules" settings that I found confusing and needlessly complex for my needs. I want something simple like Zone Alarm, Sygate, Sunbelt etc, but that takes up fewer system resources. According to screen shots of Task Managers I've seen, Online Armor looks very light on system resources, but I want to make sure its not anywhere near as complex as Jetico before I use it. Thanks!

Can you tell me more about Online Armor? I'm currently using Sunbelt Personal Firewall and like it a lot, but am looking for something a little lighter weight (ie less memory and system resource usage). Obviously I don't want to give up any protection or effectiveness either. Any info anyone can give on the free version of Online Armor is appreciated.

MRU-Blaster In case you haven't heard of it, its a great piece of free MRU cleaning software.

That did it! Thank you very much! Much better now.

I just installed Avant Browser after seeing how fast IE is on my machine (Avant uses the IE layout engine, Trident). Can someone tell me how to turn off the annoying "click" sound every time I click the mouse in IE? I'm referring to the sound made every time you click a link or a button in the browser. I've dug through all the options, but can't find anything. Thanks!

I've been using Firefox and Opera for the last several years, and just today I tried IE to load a page other than Microsoft Update. IE loads pages instantly, while the other browsers have noticeable and sometimes lengthy delays. This is on my old PII machine. On my newer Dell Centrino notebook, I see no difference at all. I would really like to continue using my favorite browsers, but after seeing how much faster IE is on the older machine, it will be hard to. Why is IE so much faster?

Thanks for posting that, Andavari. Since my Sunbelt Firewall is only using 16MB, so think I'll stick with that. Although seeing how little Sygate is using on these folk's machines, it kinda makes me want to go back to that!

This is a little off topic, but can you check how much RAM that firewall is using on your machine? (go to Task Manager, and add up the total for every process associated with that application...in case you didn't know)

I need some recommendations for an RSS reader. I use Opera which has built in RSS support, but the feeds don't get automatically refreshed like they do in Firefox. New items automatically get added, but old headlines don't get deleted out by themselves, so the feed just gets larger and larger until you clean it out. So any standalone RSS reader/managers that anyone can recommend is appreciated! (I've already seen the readers on filehippo)

Would rebooting in safe mode allow these files to be defragmented?

Thanks for the suggestions, but NONE of the .INF or .DLL files are present on my system. I have NO idea how they would have been deleted. None of the defragmenting software I use is a snap-in for MMC.....I use Auslogics, Sysinternals Contig, and Defraggler.......so I don't know why the built-in defragger files would be missing. Any idea of how I can restore the necessary files?

Nope, even if I select a single file to defragment, and then reanalyze aferwards, the file remains fragmented. Its not just Defraggler that is not defragmenting these files, my other two defraggers aren't doing it either. Its just that Defraggler is the only utility I have that specifically lists which files are fragmented.

Thanks for the recommendation. It seems like an easy fix, but when I select reinstall defrag and then hit the Go button, nothing happens. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Other options under Tools work, but the reinstall defrag part does nothing. I'm running Windows 2000 if that makes any difference.

Every time I defragment the entire C drive using Defraggler, and then reanalyze the drive, there are always several (around 10-15) files that refuse to be defragmented. Most are under the WINNT folder, but some are just regular files like MP3's. Why is it that these files constanly remain fragmented, and how do I get them defragmented?

Somehow the built-in Windows defragmenter got deleted. I tried to reinstall it, but nothing regarding the degramenter appears in the list of windows components to add or remove. Its strange that other defragmenters like the one from Auslogics still function because I thought they used the default Windows defrag API... How do I reinstall the standard Windows defragmenter? Thanks!

Why would you use Firefox when Opera is available?

Thanks a lot! That did it! I had to enable the ability to view hidden files/folders, but I was able to clean up many old folders from App Data.

Thanks for the link, but I'm not sure I see a solution there. The registry entries that the Winapp file points too have already been deleted. I thought getting rid of all Mozilla entries would tell CCleaner that FF has been uninstalled, but it hasn't.

I recently switched from Firefox to Opera and ran FF's uninstall progam. Afterward, FF's Program Files folder was still there (which I deleted) and there were several Mozilla entries in the registry (which I deleted). However, Firefox still appears under the applications tab in CCleaner. Apparently CCleaner thinks Firefox is still installed, even though I've gone to great lenths to remove every FF-related item from the computer. What can I do to convince CCleaner than Firefox is no longer installed?

After testing this for a while, I can confirm (on my PC at least) that it really slows things down. Opera takes approx 4 times as long to start with it running. In other situations, there is no advantage at all as well. I don't see much of a reason to keep this around...

Thanks, Andavari. I've got it running now, but I'll have to use it for a while to really see how much difference it makes.

After using Firefox for many years (since version 0.8 or so back in circa 2003), I recently switched to Opera 9. Wow, what a difference. Pages definitely load a tad faster and the GUI is more responsive. I also like the skins better, and love the fact that it has a built-in mail client.