CDBurnerXP Pro 2.2.0 CDBurnerXP Pro 2.2.0 has been released. As you may recall, it's a free burning application. It's not as full-featured as Nero or EZCD, but it's one heck of an app.

Beagle Worm Another mass-mailing worm is making the rounds. It's called the Beagle Worm, and you'll probably see it in your Inbox if you're using Windows. Please update your antivirus software and delete any messages from unknown sources. Above all else, DO NOT OPEN any email attachments, unless you've scanned them for viruses.

Spyware Is your PC spyware free? Allow me to recommend two free spyware removal tools: Ad-Aware and Spybot. I must recommend them both, because each program has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, I use both of them to scan/remove spyware from my PC. Similar to antivirus software, you will have the best results if you UPDATE these two programs BEFORE you scan your system. If you've never scanned your PC with these tools, you'll be amazed at how many pieces of spyware these two programs will find on your system.

Hotmail Popper "Hotmail Popper is a small application that allows you to check your Hotmail account e-mail from a normal POP mail client (such as Eudora, IncrediMail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Opera, Netscape, etc). Unlike standard mail accounts which allow users to retrieve their e-mail through a POP mail client, Hotmail can normally only be checked on the web. With Hotmail Popper, you can use your favorite POP mail client to retrieve your e-mail from your Hotmail account. In addition, Hotmail Popper allows you to send e-mails through Hotmail's service, as if it was a normal SMTP (outgoing mail) server." There is a free trial version, but a license costs $17.50.

Car For Sale My brother has a car for sale: 2001 Ford Taurus SE, 78K Miles, CD Player, $6900. Please email him (sgb AT direcway DOT com), if you're interested. The car is located in Prentiss, Mississippi. I hope to have some photos soon.

Windows XP...Reloaded Windows XP Second Edition? Probably so.

AVG Anti-Virus: Better Than Norton! The March 2004 issue of Maximum PC features an interesting article entitled 'Antivirus Altercation'. The magazine's editors give the free edition of AVG Anti-Virus higher marks than Norton and McAfee. That's right, boys and girls: the free program is better than the $50 programs. Go here now and download it for free, if you haven't already done so.

WinZip 9.0 Final WinZip 9.0 has been released.

CloneDVD 'Sneak Preview' You can now download CloneDVD. (Direct Download Link: 3.8 MB EXE File)

Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X' The IFC has been airing Spike Lee's masterpiece, Malcolm X, for the past several days. If you've never seen this film, do yourself a favor and watch it. You don't have to be interested in Islam, race relations, Civil Rights or Spike Lee to find this film extremely absorbing. It's a fine film and Denzel Washington gives a fine performance. (James Berardinelli, speaking of Denzel's performace, says: "There's not a moment in this three-hour epic when we aren't completely convinced by this performance. We're watching Malcolm X, not Denzel Washington.") I purchased the DVD years ago, and I still enjoy watching it. In my opinion, to date, neither Spike Lee nor Denzel Washington have topped their offerings in this film. You can read Roger Ebert's four-star review here. I should note that a former roommate of mine introduced me to this film. Thanks, Cornell.

Bart's Preinstalled Environment I haven't personally tried this boot disk, but it looks like a marvelous tool. I hope to build and test one soon. "It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on."

Star Wars Trilogy on DVD - Finally The Star Wars Trilogy on DVD

AudioGrabber is Now Freeware Giddy-Up! My favorite MP3 ripper (and encoder front-end) is now FREEWARE. Say hello to AudioGrabber 1.83. I've been using it since 1999. You can choose from a variety of encoders, including Blade and LAME.

Along Came Polly We saw Along Came Polly at the theater this weekend. It had a few good laughs, but it was mostly a waste of good money. If you're not a Ben Stiller fan, don't even rent it.

MyDoom Update For more than five days in a row last week, I received 350+ emails per day as a result of the MyDoom virus. I'm happy to report that my Inbox is no longer feeling the effects of MyDoom. MyDoom had a greater impact on my computing than any other virus. Along these lines, this NY Times article may interest you: Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off. Here's a quote from the article: "The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it responsibly. The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the names in that person's e-mail address book. If no one opened the attachment, the virus's destructive power would never be unleashed."

Spot the Fake Smiles Here's a great little quiz: Spot the Fake Smiles. I correctly guessed 12 out of 20. What was your score?

E-Infectors NY Times: The Virus Underground

New Movies CNN offers a preview of new movies that are coming out.

24 States I've Visited (in Red)

Click here to create your own map.

Let me add that I would like to visit each and every state. I haven't been disappointed in the first 24, so I'll keep on exploring. I've been told by several people that Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii are among the most beautiful. I haven't seen any of them. I've got a lot to look forward to.