Do you know how safe your PC really is? Tests such as those carried out by the BBC show that a computer’s security can be compromised literally within seconds of going online. They set-up a PC as a "honeypot" for potential attackers and watched in amazement as trojans, worms and other nasty beasts converged on it within seconds like a cloud of flies. It found that such attacks happened on average every 15 minutes with Windows Messenger found to be the biggest culprit.

One of the best ways to prevent such a situation is to make sure that your router ports are secure. Programs such as Portslock can help you do exactly this by taking control of your TCP/IP connections. According to the developers, 80% of attacks specifically try to exploit vulnerabilities in your ports which many firewalls fail to protect properly. Programs specifically tailored to port protection such as Portslock circumvent firewalls by going straight to the source of any potential holes.

Another alternative is Atelier Web Ports Traffic Analyzer. Whilst this program does not protect your network ports, it constantly monitors traffic for any unusual activity. Via a simple graphical interface, you can see the real-time flow of traffic through your router and identify attacks whilst they are happening.

Whilst protecting your ports can never replace a professional-standard firewall, these simple and free programs can dramatically reduce the chance of unwelcome attacks on your system.

One of the most outstanding features in Firefox is its built-in search engine from which you can conveniently search many websites, depending on how you configure it. Yes, there's more to this search tool than just asking Google. Try clicking on the "G" logo beside the input field and you'll see quite a complete search engine menu to choose from: Yahoo!, Amazon, Answers... Just select any of them and enter your keywords to search that site right away.

If this list is not enough, you can always add new search engines to it. Click on the logo again and select "Manage Search Engines" from the context menu. Firefox will display a window with all the search engines available in your browser, which you can arrange them in any order you like. Click on the "Get more search engines" option and you'll be taken to the Mozilla Add-ons site to download new engines. Also, if you happen to visit a website that has developed its own search plug-in for Firefox, the search bar logo will blink and the new search engine will be then automatically added to the list.

But what if your favorite website is not featured in this search engine menu, nor on the Mozilla site? Well, we still have an ace up our sleeve and it's called OpenSearchFox. This neat extension allows you to create custom search engines from virtually any website, just by right-clicking on its search field and selecting "Add OpenSearch plugin". You'll be able to have search engines just about for anything!

One of Google Desktop’s coolest features is the social networking tool Orkut. Until now, it was very much an online networking tool allowing you link up with likeminded people or search for “romantic interests” as Google put it. However, Orkut is now branching it out into the offline world by enabling users to send free SMS messages to mobile phones.

At the moment, it’s only available in Brazil where they’ve come to an agreement with a local mobile network but if all goes well, the plan is for a worldwide rollout this year. The new SMS feature means Orkut’s special 'scrapping' feature will be extended to mobiles, allowing you to do it on the move and pretty much anywhere else you’ve got an internet connection. Google also promise some new “hidden goodies” in the new Orkut which only the “adventurous” will find.

Whether this is yet another Google masterstroke remains to be seen. Other similar projects have been plagued with technical difficulties and commercial problems with the networks. Also, the fact that most people text while on the move makes us wonder whether it really will take-off.

In the meantime, keep an eye on your orkut account as when its finally available in your country, there will be a message from Google telling you how to get started.

One of the most hyped features of Vista is its new transparent windows, courtesy of the Aero graphics engine. This is a useful option if you’ve got lots of windows open on a crowded screen and more to the point, it looks good. However, if like many others you’re still not convinced Vista is worth upgrading to, you can still have this classy little feature courtesy of Vitrite.

Vitrite is a tiny app that allows you to manually adjust the level of transparency for almost any visible window. When executed, Vitrite minimizes to the system tray in the lower right corner of the screen. If you wish to make a window transparent, you simply click on the window and press 'Ctrl Shift' plus any number on your keyboard depending how transparent you want to make it with one being the most transparent setting. So no more flicking between tabs or scrolling through your toolbar to see what you've got open - you can see everything at a glance. Obviously, be careful that you don't pile too many windows on top of each other or else everything will start to look incomprehensible.

Note as well that Vitrite also offers the option to toggle the ‘always on top’ feature. Again, just press 'Ctrl Shift' with the ‘+’ key to make the active window float on top of the other windows. So there you have it – one of Vista’s most attractive features for nothing!

It seems that nowadays we're all somehow obliged to enjoy geek hobbies, such as playing videogames, surfing the net or retouching digital pictures. What happened to all those good old hobbies people used to have? Not so long ago, children traded football cards while their parents collected stamps, cooked new cake recipes for dessert or knitted warm sweaters for all the family.

Society has definitely turned hi-tech but traditional hobbies are still a very valid option for those who want to make the most of their spare time –preferably not in front of a screen. In any case, there's always a way to combine both technological and more conventional hobbies.

Regarding software, for example, you can find apps that help you organize your favorite cooking recipes or manage almost any type of collection, from the classical coins and stamps anthology to collections of books, movies or even wines. If you like reading comics, your PC allows you to enjoy a wide variety of daily comic strips right on your desktop.

Finally, there are also software applications dedicated to less common hobbies like origami (the art of making paper figures) or even to really traditional activities like cross-stitching.

Harold the Homeboy has become something of a cult hero in gaming circles now following the success of Icy Tower. However, due to the addictive nature of the game you end up spending so much time with the little dude that it’s possible to become sick of the sight of him (especially if you want to be as good as the player in this video).

The good news is it’s possible to give Harold a makeover using the built-in templates files. Enter the "\icy tower\characters\template" folder in Windows Explorer and click on the paintbrush icon to open a sprite version of the character. Press Ctrl + E to open up the sprites for editing Use the editor to tweak the character’s design, ensuring that every part of every sprite is the same colour. Make sure you don’t go out of Harold’s green outline (though you can change the colour of this outline). Now save the image and play the game with the template character selected.

One of the biggest victims of Vista’s ongoing incompatibility problems has been iTunes. Apple have announced that a new compatible version will be available 'within the next few weeks' but in the meantime, have issued advice to help minimise problems. Apple concede that iTunes 7.0.2 may work for many users using Vista but recommends that they wait until the new version is released. So far, a number of issues have been reported by Vista users that the release will rectify.

One of the most annoying has been that users who purchased music from the iTunes store have found that when upgrading to Vista from Windows 2000 or XP, they suddenly find the music won't play. iPod users have been particularly hard hit. According to Apple, those that have the ''Enable Disk Use' turned off may be unable to manage their device properly using Vista. What’s worse, using Vista's 'Safely Remove Hardware' option can actually corrupt your iPod. It is strongly recommend that users select 'Eject iPod' from the 'Controls' menu in iTunes to avoid running the risk of this.

To prepare for the new release, Apple has also issued a series of recommendations for those upgrading to Vista to minimise any such problems. These include Deauthorizing all iTunes accounts, Enabling disk use on all iPods, and uninstalling the old version of iTunes. Finally, once users have installed the new version, users should select 'Authorize computer' from the 'Store' section in iTunes.

You may have a nice photo that would look much better if you could just add some kind of special touch. Well, let insideTonic lend you a hand: even if you're not the artistic type, you can still obtain really eye-catching results by following this simple, easy-to-use Photoshop trick.

First of all, open your image and select the area you'd like to emphasize using the Marquee tool. Then copy it to a new layer by pressing Ctrl+J.

After having installed your brand-new OS you're supposed to open your mouth in an amazed "Wow!" (not to be mistaken for WoW) but many Vista newcomers have found themselves grimacing in confusion instead. The reason for this unpredicted reaction can be found in one of the features included in Microsoft's new product: the so called User Account Control.

User Account Control is a security feature especially designed to prevent certain kinds of programs from abusing your Windows user account by installing adware or spyware apps without your consent. The problem is that this laudable intention turns out to be a real pain for the average user, who is constantly being asked for permission to perform even the most innocent task, such as launching your web browser.

Luckily you can disable it in a very easy way: go to Control Panel and click on User Accounts And Family Safety. Then select User Accounts and click on Turn User Account Control On Or Off. Just uncheck the box, click OK and restart your computer when prompted.

Microsoft obviously recommends not to deactivate this security option but it's the only thing you can do if you want to stop seeing those annoying windows - as long as you can take responsibility for what you have running on your PC.

iTunes may be one of the most popular media players around but that doesn’t stop it being irritating sometimes. How annoying is it when you come across a classic tune in your Library only to select it and find out the file no longer exists or can’t be found on your machine? While you’re waiting for Apple to put directory synching into the player, grab yourself a copy of Dupe Eliminator.

The program is perfect for cleaning up your Library, and wipes away dead links and duplicate tracks really quickly. Turn on the ‘AutoClean’ option and the app will automatically keep your files up-to-date so you don’t need to worry about broken links ever again. Sorted.

Regarding software licenses, many people think there are only two types of programs: the ones you get for free and the ones you have to pay for. But it's not that easy.

Free programs come in two flavors: freeware (full functioning apps you can use for an unlimited period of time without paying anything) and GPL software, which means that not only the application itself, but also the source code is free. You're therefore allowed to modify and redistribute the program, something that would normally be forbidden by copyright laws.

When dealing with free software, you may have come across a license definition such as "free as in free speech" or "free as in free beer". This metaphor was developed by the Free Software Foundation to explain the concept of free software. If a program is free as in free beer, it means that you can freely use it (i.e. drink free beer at a party) but you have no other rights on it (i.e. take the beer with you or obtain the recipe). However, if the program is free as in free speech, you're entitled the rights to use, modify or redistribute it any way you want. The only restrictions that apply here are credit be given to whoever helped you producing your version and that your new program is a free (as in free speech) piece of software too.

As for paid programs, they usually provide a shareware version, so that users can try it and see if it meets their expectations. Shareware apps can be time or function limited, the latter being sometimes also known as crippleware.

But that's not all. In our years of software testing and reviewing, we've found some pretty funny and original software licenses such as cardware (send a postcard of your hometown to the developer), beerware (buy the developer a beer) and the almost unbelievable sisterware (you're morally obliged to introduce your sister to the developer).

I listen to music at work, only muting the player when I really need concentration or in case somebody talks to me. Otherwise, Winamp is continuously playing a list with more than 4,300 songs in it.

Despite this huge number, I have no problems in managing my song collection without even leaving the application I’m currently working with. I’ve customized a couple of handy keyboard shortcuts that allow you to control Winamp’s functions from any program, so that I can pause music, turn up the volume o go to the next track in list with a simple key combination. You can find these keyboard shortcuts in Options > Preferences > Global Hotkeys.

One of my favourite shortcuts is the one that opens the “Jump to file” dialog. This function allows you to find any song in your playlist by entering the title or the artist’s name, and play it on Winamp immediately. Also, I recently noticed that this dialog offers two other interesting options: you can move a file after the one that’s currently playing or create a queue inside the playlist with, let’s say, the songs you’d like to listen to during the next hour. So whenever I feel a bit moody, I use this shortcut and it only takes me a minute or so to find just the most appropriate song for that moment.

Although Photoshop is the world's leading photo maniupulation tool, its not exactly cheap. If you are looking for a free alternative but don't want to lose all the things that make Photoshop so great, then The GIMP is worth a try.

It's not often that a program migrates from Linux to Windows but that's what happened with The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Programme). The program is completely free, available on all platforms and best of all, it has most of the features that you'll find in Photoshop. You can save and open files in 34 different formats and its also useful for quick-converting image sizes. And what's more, if it's extensibility you're after, the GIMP can handle most Photoshop plugins.

A handy menu at the top of the program gives you access to all of The GIMP's key features and a navigation palette helps you steer your way through an image when you've zoomed-in to work on details.

Of course, The GIMP can't compete with Photoshop in every test (like certain image rendering tasks) but it's about as close as you will get to the real thing without spending the dollars.

As one of the veterans of the P2P file-sharing world, eMule is still used by millions to exchange files over the Net. Although its return on searches is pretty impressive, we’ve always been a little disappointed by the speed at which the client transfers files, which is a tad sluggish compared with the likes of Ares and Limewire.

We’ve just come across a way you can inject a bit more pace into the old nag by changing the ‘Upload Limit’ option within the ‘Preferences’ menu. When you are downloading data, the client must send an 'ack' (acknowlegement) to the server. If your upload stream is running at your connection limit these 'acks' wont get back/will be slowed down so you won't be sent the next little bit. Setting the upload cap to about 70% to 90% of your total upload total capacity should improve download speed and ensure that the client doesn’t get clogged by sending unnecessary ‘ack’ data.

Have you ever been in a situation where you simply cannot delete a file from your computer? If so, you're probably familiar with error messages like Cannot delete file: Access is denied or The source or destination file may be in use.

Sometimes this is for good reason. Windows is constantly running various processes in the background and may need the file to operate properly. Killing such processes could make your system unstable or even crash it. However, if you're sure the file is not essential and its just being stubborn, Unlocker might be able to help you out. Unlocker adds an option to the drop-down menu when you right-click your mouse on a file. By selecting Unlocker, the program automatically overides locked file messages and allows you to get rid of all but the most stubborn files on your computer.