The Best Windows Website

The Windows Club "Best Windows Website Contest 2009" is live and I am privileged to be one of the contest Judges.

The purpose of the contest is to discover and recognize some of the best Windows bloggers and website owners. If you run a website, including a blog or a forum, which primarily focuses on Microsoft Windows, you are invited to participate in this Contest. The first 50 sites entered in the Contest will receive a 1-year license for a-squared anti-malware.

Judges:

The 10 best websites will be selected from the submissions by a Panel of 10 Judges, comprising the following (including me):

Ed Bott, MVP, Ed Bott's Windows Expertise
Lowell Heddings, HowToGeek
Howard Lo, Microsoft Regional Team Manager (APAC)
Emil Protalinski, Arstechnica
Rafael Rivera, Within Windows
Paul Schottland, Microsoft Product Unit Manager
Steven Sinchak, MVP, Tweaks

and representing The Windows Club:

Corrine Chorney, MVP, Security Garden and The Windows Club Moderator
James Fisher, MVP, Windows Talk and The Windows Club Moderator
Anand Khanse, MVP, and The Windows Club Administrator

(MVP = Recipient of Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award)

Following the selection of 10 sites from among the entrants, those sites will be submitted for a community vote. The top 5 vote recipients will be judged again, de nova, by the Panel of Judges and the Winner and the 2 Runners-up declared. While selecting the final 3, the votes received by the top 5 will not be a considering factor.

The submissions will be judged on content, quality, originality, continuity, presentation and overall impression. The website can be in any language, but it must have a language translator widget. The over-riding consideration will be: Does the website have substantial original quality content of interest to Windows Vista & Windows 7 users?

Prizes:

The winner of The Windows Club "Best Windows Website Contest 2009" will receive:

• Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade (when available)
• Windows Vista Ultimate box DVD
• Microsoft Office 2007 box DVD
• "I'm A PC" tee

plus a license for each of the following products:

• Acronis® True Image Home 2009
• Diskeeper 2009
• ESET Smart Security Suite 4
• Extensions For Windows®
• Glary Utilities Pro
• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• SnagIt 9
• TuneUp Utilities 2009
• WinPatrol PLUS

The 2nd and 3rd runners-up will each receive a license for Acronis® True Image Home 2009, Diskeeper 2009, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, TuneUp Utilities 2009, and WinPatrol PLUS.

The 4th and 5th runners-up will each be provided a license for Webroot Internet Security Essentials.

Contest Schedule:

July 1: Contest Announcement
July 5: Submission of entries start, 1.30 PM UTC
July 30: Last date for submitting entries, 1.30 PM UTC
August 1-8: Judges shortlist the top 10 entries
August 9: Open Community Voting, 1.30 PM UTC
August 25: Close Community Voting, 1.30 PM UTC
August 26-30: Judges Decide
August 31: Announcement of Winners

Time Zones: 1.30 PM UTC converts to 11:30:00 PM AEST, 7.00 PM IST, 6:30:00 AM PST, same date.

The Panel of Judges, and the first, second and third place websites from the contest last year are not eligible to participate again this year. However, last years winning individuals may submit different websites, if they have launched a new Windows website.

The blog/site title, Home Page URL, along with a 2-4 line description about the site, should be submitted. If you are not a member, you will be required to REGISTER at TheWindowsClub forum. Registration is instantaneous and you do not have to wait for an email verification.

Submit your entry --> HERE <--

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Declaration of Independence

"IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. . ."

Although our forefathers declared equality in the Declaration of Independence, here we are 233 years later and still seeing a lack of equality and continued discrimination. Let us hope that a time comes when those words will have a real meaning.

Happy Independence Day!

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Parents Beware of Comodo Firewall

Oh yes, Comodo promised to remove the Ask Toolbar and they did. In its place is another IAC product, the HopSurf Toolbar -- also a pre-checked installation. Not only is the toolbar pre-checked, as reported by Consumer Security MVP, Donna Buenaventura, there is no EULA (End User License Agrement) included with the installer.

Donna kindly provided links to the on-line EULA for the HopSurf Toolbar at both Comodo and HopSurf. Reading the EULA, I cannot help but be concerned regarding what sort of material is provided by HopSurf that results in the inclusion of the following:

"1.5.The Toolbar and the Services are not intended for use by or availability to persons under the age of 18.IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE, YOU MAY NOT DOWNLOAD, INSTALL OR USE THE TOOLBAR AND YOU MAY NOT ACCESS THE SERVICES."

Based on the above, as well as the sneaky inclusion of the pre-checked toolbar and missing EULA in the installer, I strongly advise caution, particularly to parents who have young children using the family computer.

As Donna said:

"So Comodo’s promise to remove SafeSurf Toolbar happened but not to finish their agreement with A$k/IAC. Instead, the new version of Comodo is now bundled with HopSurf Toolbar which is IAC/Ask.com too. The installer become worst because there’s no EULA presented in addition to known method of misleading people by offering unnecessary third party service/component in a SECURITY software. Note that it is a security software that should offer clean installer no?"

So much for improvements.

See Donna's complete post in Comodo removed Ask/IAC SafeSurf Toolbar by replacing it with HopSurf/IAC/Ask Toolbar and the accompanying screen shots at CoU.

The following firewall programs are free for personal use and do not include a toolbar.

• Online Armor Free
• Agnitum Outpost Firewall
• Kerio Personal Firewall

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...