KSFO's Web Wanderer

The Links for September 21, 2002

Task List Programs - Jack from Goshen NY

Jack from Goshen NY says: "Ever do a CTL-ALT-DEL and wonder what all those things listed are for? This site allows you to check the items in the 'close program' list and tells you exactly what program they are associated with and whether it is needed or not. Use in conjunction with MSCONFIG and you can stop unneeded items from loading on Start Up."

Jack continues: "I was able to eliminate 2 items on the list that I was afraid to take off because I did not know what program they were part of. It gave me insight as to what the other items were for also."

I killed off 4 processes, and my machine is running fine.

The site is very clear. It's probably a good idea to not be running junk you don't need or use.

Check this out. Thanks, Jack!

Airshow Action Photo Gallery - Rich from Petaluma

Rich from Petaluma found this site put up by a photographer. He photographs Airshows in United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and the United States (California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico).

Some of the photos are amazing. The site makes nice use of thumbnails to let you preview the pictures. Click on any - you get the full sized one.

Great site for military or plane buffs. Check it out.

Thanks, Rich!

Ghost Sites - Solinas

Ghost Sites is like a tour through a ghost town. The bust of the dotcoms is well known, but I really don't think people understand the magnitude of what happened. A trip to Ghost Sites can put it in perspective.

>From the site: "This exhibit is an image gallery that attempts to actively preserve the home pages of sites that have either died, or will likely disappear in the next few months. Our collection now is at 1,174 screens from approximately 850 defunct Web projects that gave up the ghost between 1998 and 2002. To view an image, simply click on any "blue link" below: this will launch the screenshot in a new browser window."

It's staggering. Give it a look.

Museum of Hoaxes - Dudley

Dudley says: "Here is a site that describes hoaxes that have been perpetrated since the Middle Ages. Don't be smug. You may find one or two that you always believed were true. There are references at the end of each explanation so that you can do further research if you doubt the results as presented."

The hoaxes covered are pre-1700 through contemporary.

There's a special area for the "Hoax Website Gallery". Many are still active. Those that are not are linked via the Wayback Machine I mentioned a couple of months ago. This is the first use of the Wayback Machine I've seen on the web!

Also - special areas: "Hoax Photo Gallery" and "April Fool's Day Gallery."

This site is great to browse. Check it out.

Thanks, Dudley!

Free For All!

"Free For All" picks are hot, FREE items or services. It can be software, online services, you name it - but it's got to be free, with no strings attached.

GT Ripple - Stanimal

Stanimal says: "Here is a couple freewares at same site, one is a moving ripple effect for your desktop great for a water wallpaper, has a mirror option to make any photo look like it's sitting by a lake."

It's very cool. You can take pretty much any landscape, add a lake with the mirror option, and make it ripple like it's a live web cam. I like this little program.

Check it out. Thanks, Stanimal!

Sub Desktop - Stanimal

Stanimal says: "SubDesktop puts all your icons in a window pane that can be moved, minimized so you have a clean desktop."

OK, this is KILLER.

My little Sony Vaio has a 1/2 height screen, and is pretty much FULL of icons. I'll be installing this program.

I tested it on my work machine - Windows NT. Download the installer, run, and run the program. Instantly, I had one window (scrollable and resizeable, of course!) with all the icons in it. My desktop was clean - only had the taskbar and office toolbar on the bottom, and the one window with my icons. I clicked on MINIMIZE, and got scared for a minute. I didn't see anything new in the taskbar! Then I found the new icon in the system tray.

It's a very cool program. I'll be using it on all my systems.

The practical joke potential of this little program should be obvious.

Thanks, Stanimal.

Tile Images - Solinas

Poking around the same site Stanimal sent, I found Tile Images. Small graphics designed so they are continuous when placed next to each other. If you use one for a background, and select "tile", your background will be a very cool pattern and colors, filling up seamlessly.

Nice stuff. Use with Sub Desktop to keep your desktop colorful and clean.