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Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For more cool websites and web app reviews subscribe to MakeUseOf Directory.

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Bounce – Website annotation is a great way of sharing websites when you want to say something about specific parts of a site. You can leave comments anywhere on a webpage through website annotation thereby fully expressing yourself. Bounce is one site that lets you easily perform this task. Read more: Bounce: Tool For Marking & Annotating Websites.

		FamilyShield – is a great free service that provides protection from phishing schemes. But that is only its secondary object; the primary objective is to block all types of adults websites and save your children from viewing them online. Read more: FamilyShield: Block Adults Websites & Other Malware.
		Anti-Theft For Mobile – There are a number of phone apps that provide great security for iPhones and Android based smartphones. There are 3 basic features these security apps offer: the ability to know where your phone is when lost, the ability to remotely lock your phone and the ability to remotely wipe all of your phone’s data. Read more: Anti Theft For Mobile: Recover Lost/Stolen Cellphone & Protect Your Data.
		Wordgames – If you love smart online games, then you should check out Wordgames. This website is a collection of fun word games and puzzles including popular ones such as Crossword, Sudoku, Hangman, and Typing. There are also more complicated word challenges that you can play here. Wordgames features a new game every week. Read more: Wordgames: Comprehensive Collection Of Fun Word Games online.
		MyJobChart – If you are a working parent then you’ll agree that managing daily household chores and getting kids to do simple tasks is not easy. Before you give up, you might want to try My Job Chart. It’s a nice online tool that introduces a reward-based chore tracking system for kids to get them involved in some daily household work. Read more: MyJobChart: Manage Daily Household Chores With Family.

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It is one thing to play a fighting game like Street Fighter where you battle out computerized opponents. In time, you eventually learn the tricks and techniques of the computer, and you can usually conquer the opponent once you get enough practice in. But when you’re playing other real players who, like you, have been practicing their moves and tactics for some time, the level of excitement and competition multiplies.

I used to be a major video game player, until I had a family and then only turned to video games in times of high stress. It is usually now an outlet that I use when I just need to set my work down and forget about the world for a while. So, I was very excited to stumble across a very cool fighting game online this month called Hero Fighter that I could install and play right on my laptop.

We’ve covered a number of places where you can play fighting games online at MakeUseOf before. Simon previously covered three pretty cool games including Manga Fighter for kids, the Lost Saga, and of course the very cool Toribash fighting game. Hero Fighter is a bit different than these in that it’s an arena game with no real plot other than taking out your opponent using whatever means at your disposal. And it’s a very cool way to relieve stress.

Hero Fighter is a desktop download for Windows, and it includes a second add-on “Room Server” that’s packaged up with the install. When you launch the game, you’re presented with the option to either start playing immediately in single-player mode, or you can connect to a network game.

I wanted to warm up a bit, as it’s been quite some time since I’ve had time to play fighting games online. After clicking on the key settings and adjusting them to my preferences, I clicked on Start Game. After setting up myself as player 1 and adding the computer opponent, game play (in easy mode) started up.

The first thing I noticed about gameplay is the quality of graphics. The background, objects and all of the scenery are well done, and the effects of hitting objects, like logs or rocks, are realistic. I also thought the soundtrack was pretty cool too. After a few swings, the computer apparently got pretty fed up with me and went into a full charge, as you can see here. A couple more swings of my hefty sword and he was down for the count. I was victorious in my very first round, and feeling pretty good about myself.

Feeling pretty confident, I went back to the main menu and chose network mode. Connecting is pretty easy, you just select the official room list first and you’ll see a list of available servers.

I was thinking there wouldn’t be anyone online because it’s so late here, but then glancing at the list I remembered that we’re talking a global gamer world here. There were a few folks online in Hong Kong and Germany – and people coming online and offline constantly. After browsing down the short list of servers available this late at night, I decided to join the folks over in Hong Kong to show them what a western boy is capable of.

A few things that I noticed about network play is that your latency is heavily dependent upon the location of the server you choose – so try to stick to your own country if possible. However, even playing on a Hong Kong server wasn’t too bad. Game play was relatively smooth, even with six players hacking it out against each other.

The moment I entered the battlefield with these seasoned gamers from Hong Kong, I immediately entered into a charge against an unsuspecting player that had just run off-screen to the lower right. Now, if you look up and to the right of me, there’s this innocent looking red-headed girl holding a huge spear. Well, she wasn’t eyeing me because she thought I was cute. Within about four strides, she was all over me, and within five or six swipes of that spear, I was flat on my back – game over. So much for that!

One thing that I can tell you about this game is that it is easily one of the most addictive network fighting games that I’ve ever played. The controls aren’t overly complicated – it’s basically four directions, guard, attack and jump. The secret is practicing with getting the timing and placement just right. The game is so intuitive and easy to learn, that a few rounds with the computer in single player mode, and before long you’ll be battling out in tournaments as well as the best of them.

Have you ever played Hero Fighter? What do you think of it? Do you play of any other fighting games online that are as good or better? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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To draw a comparison, the internet is like the badlands of the Wild West. Full of opportunities but also a free-for-all, where you don’t know when the next attack is going to come from. The browser is one of the most vulnerable soft spots.

The browser remains our main porthole for viewing the web. It’s also the main entry point for malware, Trojans, and others browser attacks of their ilk. Then there are the plug-ins like Firefox add-ons, Active X controls etc. There are many ways for a malicious code to punch a hole through. One of the worst is the ‘Man-in-the-browser’ attack.

Let’s all be paranoid by default and get ourselves a good anti-virus and firewall to begin with. Then, it’s always a wise idea to keep our software and sundry apps patched with the latest security updates. But most of all it pays to keep eyes and ears open to what’s happening around us. The web may be like the badlands, but it also has heroic sheriffs and town marshals. A few online browser security tools play that role.

ScanIt

ScanIt puts your browser through 19 vulnerability tests. You can run all tests in one go, choose individual tests, or test for bugs specific to the browser (e.g. Firefox has 10 tests). The browser scanning tool supports Firefox, IE, and Opera. The FAQ will give newbies an idea of why browser vulnerability tests are important and the dangers of browser bugs.

Qualys Browser Check

Qualys uses a plugin to check for exploit weaknesses in the browser. Qualys checks Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer for potential vulnerabilities and security holes in your browser and its plugins. It flags insecure and out-of-date versions that put you at risk with color codes like red for ‘Insecure’, or ‘Obsolete’.

For any item that is insecure or out of date, a Fix It button appears. Simply click the Fix It button to download the latest update to fix your security issue.

BrowserScope

BrowserScope to start off is a bit geeky. It is an Open Source online tool to compare your browser against the community and see how it fares on security, rich text implementation, network latency, web standards support, and JSKB tests. You don’t need to sign-in or download any plugins to run the tests.

You can compare all browsers on your computer and see how each scores. The table with the test results can also be used to see which browser in general is doing well. It seems Chrome is leading Firefox at least on security.

Panopticlick

Panopticlick checks if your browser’s configuration is unique. The more unique your browser, the less easily it could be tracked. Web tracking is a privacy risk for users. Online advertisers usually resort to web tracking to collect usage information. Panopticlick collects anonymous data and compares it against its own 5 million strong database to get the score.

Panopticlick is run by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to look into the privacy risks posed by web tracking.

ShieldsUP

ShieldsUP is a firewall monitoring and port scanning online tool. With detailed port testing, the scanning tool displays info on five categories – File Sharing, Common Ports, All Service Ports, Messenger Spam, and Browser Headers. You can also test individual ports (or sets) among the 65535 and lookup specific port information.

The real value of ShieldsUP is in the comprehensive information it provides on firewall security and what you need to shore up your defenses. You don’t need to register to run the tests.

PCFlank

PCFlank is a website that tries to ensure that we stay protected on all sides with its range of six tests (and a connection speed test). PCFlank has Stealth Test, Advanced Port Scanner Test, Trojans Test, Exploits Test, Browser Test (for privacy), and a Quick Test that covers the Advanced Port Scanner, Browser and Trojans Tests.

Firefox Official Plugin Check

Our Firefox browser may have more plugins or addons than fleas on a dog’s back. But outdated plugins pose the danger of a bite that’s worse than a flea. In 2008, we had the first news of a password stealing malware disguised as a plugin. Plugin exploit attacks can be because of poorly written extension code or deliberate design.

I am not sure if Firefox verifies the authenticity of each addon, but the least we can do as users is to keep the ones we have constantly updated. Firefox does it automatically, but the Plugin website is a help.

A browser is just one of the bits that make for a weak or strong computer system. From unsecure Wi-Fi to infected pen drives, a computer user has to monitor both the front and back doors. Fortunately the user has help in the form of more advanced browsers with anti-phishing features, pop-up blockers, private browsing, JavaScript disabling etc.

Some more help can come from our rich list of posts covering everything on computer security and safe browsing:

• Top Five Computer Crimes & How to Protect Yourself From Them
• 8 Best Sources To Follow Computer Virus News & Alerts
• The 10 Best Free Anti-Virus Programs
• 10+ Best Firefox Security and Privacy Addons
• 4 Quick Sites That Let You Check if Links Are Safe

Know any other browser security test tools? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: pasukaru76 (away for 2 weeks)

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Even though it is frowned upon, lots of us download copyrighted content online – legally and otherwise – from questionable sources. Be it may via BitTorrent trackers, Usenet, IRC or file sharing forums, there is no dearth of shady distributors of pirated content online.

Why are so many people willing to offer pirated content to you? To ensure that everyone of us can enjoy over-priced & DRM-ridden copyrighted material? Yes and no. Except for a few, the rest have an ulterior motive for peddling malware & spyware.

Often times software downloaded from these shady sites are tampered with to include backdoors and malware. And in recent times, fake audio and video files in zipped archives which when extracted and played, download spyware in the guise of acquiring codecs.

For the unsuspecting soul who thinks a file downloaded for free is awesome, here is an an opportunity to learn about the digital trapdoors, ways to avoid them and how to verify if it is the real deal before installing so that you can enjoy secure downloading.

Install Proper Tools

Getting an anti-virus is the first line of defense and it is better to get the comprehensive internet security pack complete with a firewall, anti-spyware etc. All of the downloaded files have to be scanned and make sure you have option to scan inside zipped archives turned on by default. Check out some free security tools here.

Secondly, use the most recent version of either Firefox or Chrome. Both the browsers have a fabulous built-in domain name checking engine. If there is a site that hosts & distributes malware, they are blocked and you will be shown a warning.

When you see either one of the following screens, find an alternate URL to download. If you want to be more immune to harmful sites consider installing some Firefox security addons.

Using Internet Explorer (definitely not IE 6) or Opera is alright but lack of security plugins takes them to the bottom of my list.

Find the Right Source

Pirating a copyrighted content is not a gimmick that every Tom, Dick and Harry can do. It needs exclusive access to pre-release material and some ninja reverse-engineering tricks. They are called SCENE groups and there are plenty of iconic names specializing in only one of the verticals (say movies, TV shows, software, games etc.).

Their first point of release would be leading Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels, Usenet groups and Bittorrent trackers. Pointing you towards those sources is not exactly ethical and hence you should do some searching to find the right source.

For example, if you are looking for a TV show from a popular Bittorrent tracker, find the torrent files with the highest number of seeds and find who uploaded it. Check their track record, how long they have been uploading torrent files and most importantly if they have a verified account there. Checking the comments section of the torrent file also will save you a lot of time and bandwidth.

In the case of forums, find the ones with a lot of members and threads. It’s extremely easy to begin a file sharing forum and distribute malware. Also, make sure to get the links from threads started by moderators or long serving members with a significant number of posts and reputation points.

Verify File Integrity

SCENE groups in almost all cases add a checksum file to check the integrity of the file. Checksum is like a unique digital signature of a file generated using algorithms to indicate that the file is its intended form.

Now if the file is tampered with, the checksums will not match the ones that were originally generated. Even a tiny change like renaming a file will result in the checksum error. Some of the common checksum formats are EXF, MD5, SHA, SFV.

To verify the integrity of files using checksum, we will need a free tool like Exactfile. While installing, keep all the checksum formats to be associated checked as it makes it easy to run the verification in just a single click.

Once you have downloaded the file, scan for viruses and extract it. Now, since we have associated all the common checksum file formats to Exactfile, just click on the file with the Exactfile logo (a stylish X) and the file verification will begin.

As you can see, I renamed a file from the same folder and a error is shown after the verification. So you can be confident that the file is in its original form released by the reliable SCENE group and you are good to go.

Final Thoughts

I strongly suggest you to verify file integrity when it comes downloading software from questionable sources. And if you opt to download scripts & server software, I can assure that you will be exposed to serious danger if the files are installed without any verification.

I would not delve into preaching mode by saying that it is illegal & unethical to download pirated files. It’s a judgment call to be made by the individual, however, reckless pirating does hurt the developer/creator ecosystem which is definitely a bad thing. If you like the material you downloaded, fork out a few bucks to support the one who spent a chunk of life creating it in the first place.

Is there a tip you would like to share with the rest of us to escape from malware-ridden content?

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If you’re in the market for a new computer, laptop, mobile phone, games and other accessories; don’t waste your time searching online. We’ve taken the liberty of locating the best tech deals and unifying them into a single post for your convenience.

For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.

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Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set

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