Google Adsense Account Closed with No Warning

So today I logged in to check my email and I look and I see the following message:

From: Google AdSense adsense-adclicks@google.com
To: xxxxxx@spamcop.net
Subject: Google AdSense Account Disabled

Hello xxxxxx,

Your AdSense account was found to be related to an account previously
disabled for invalid click activity and we have therefore disabled your
account. Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed
further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further
payment. The earnings on your account will be properly returned to the
affected advertisers.

As outlined in our program Terms and Conditions, Google reserves the
right to terminate any publisher's participation at any time.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Now, I have no clue what prompted this or why I got this. This came out of the blue. At first I thought it was a phishing email or something similar. But, I went to log into my Adsense account and I got an error saying my account was disabled.

Now, I have never once been paid by Google and last time I checked I think I had like $20 total in my account, after like several YEARS of using Adsense. So what's the deal? I never asked anyone to click on my ads, and I only used the Adsense code on two sites. This one, and another one that's currently under construction and has like zero visitors.

I recently started getting some very strange flash ads taking over the top of my page. I thought this was Adbrite using their new intermission ads, which I disabled. So, I contacted them and they said that it absolutely wasn't theirs and as far as they knew, Adsense didn't do this either. They were very nice and their rep, Katie, took the time to look over and try to find out where they were coming from but after examing the source code and having one of her managers look at it, she was at a loss to find out where it was coming from, calling it "very suspicious". I was worried to, but after examining the source code of the page I could find no details about any kind of ads. The only thing I'd recently added was the Bravenet poll on the right that runs in javascript. It shows a bravenet ad on the page when you click to vote or view the results, which I have no problem with, but I thought that maybe it was their script that was generating the ads.

Bravenet has a lot of very cool free services for websites and blogs, so I decided to use them. Blogger's help recommended them as one of the free polls to use, and because they said they didn't use popups. I posted a message on their forum asking about this, and haven't heard back from anyone at Bravenet.

However, apparently I am not the only one who has gotten this email. After doing a Google Search for adsense "invalid click activity" it seems there are quite a few people having this problem. A site called Google-adsense-sucks.com is apparently filing a class action lawsuit against Google for a similar problem. Google has a Better Business Bureau report, but it seems most of the complaints have been resolved. There also are no results for "Adsense" on ripoffreport.com.

Hopefully my issue will be resolved though. I sent them a response email asking them what they were talking about and hopefully they will review my account and see that there was some kind of error. I wish they would actually investigate the problem first and send out some kind of warning before totally disabling peoples account. If there was some kind of problem, I would like to know about it so I could correct it before having my account totally closed and then getting an email being accused of fraud.

I have personally had it out with quite a few sites that claimed to give out free gifts for completing offers and referring people, and had to end up using a collection agency to recovery my funds. I hope I won't have to go to great lengths with Google to try and get 20 bucks and my account back online. I really just want to write this blog and my other site and hopefully make a little money from showing ads that might be relevant to the people reading this. I'm obviously not trying to rip off Google for huge amounts of money as some site owners do, using techniques like iframing and other fraudulent methods.

If anyone has any suggestions or stories to share, feel free to post them.

Still no word from Google! Check the link below for the Google Adsense Class Action Suit...




UPDATE: My Adsense Account has been reopened. See here for my story.

Titus and Wife Captured!

UPDATE 8/7/2010: An update to this story is available here Whatever happened to Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan?

Craig Titus and wife Kelly Ryan have been captured in the Boston area this evening.

(CBS4) CANTON A pair of professional bodybuilders has been arrested in Stoughton, wanted for a murder in Las Vegas. The husband and wife were captured Friday afternoon at the Shaws Plaza, by the FBI.

Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan were wanted for the December 14th murder of a 28 year-old woman. Her body was found in the trunk of a burning car in the Las Vegas desert.

Melissa James of New Jersey was apparently strangled before the car was set on fire. She was found earlier this month in the trunk of the burning car.

Police say James was found dashed with lighter fluid and duct tape on her face.

According to a police report, James was a personal assistant living with Titus and Ryan before her death, and Titus admitted having an affair with her. Titus and Ryan accused James of stealing from their bank accounts. (Full Story)

Sounds like the FBI must of gotten involved with this. Possibly for crossing state lines in an attempt to avoid authorities? Another interesting tidbit about Titus' earlier arrest in federal prison:

He [Titus] pleaded guilty in Louisiana in April 1995 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the party drug ecstasy, and served two years in jail for steroid-related offenses from 1997 to 1999.

I am still waiting on the LVPD to respond to my request for information on the arrest and information on the specific nature of the charges filed against him, autopsy report of victim Melissa James, and other information. Because of the upcoming holiday, I expect a delay in the response, but hopefully we'll have this information soon. I've emailed the editor at The Smoking Gun to tip them off about the case so hopefully they can get the info faster than I can. Filing FOIA requests is a real bitch. Sometime in the future I'll do a writeup on how to file one.

Thanks to danielle for posting an update to the story, and again thanks to freecraigtitus.com for the constant updates.

Check out the Bodybuilding.com Podcast (RSS) by Dan Solomon and Bob Cicherillo about the Craig & Kelly situation!

IFBB Pro Craig Titus & wife Kelly Ryan Wanted for Murder

UPDATE 8/7/2010: An update to this story is available here Whatever happened to Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan?




NEW! Craig Titus's Federal Bureau of Prisons Record

On Wednesday, December 21st, Las Vegas Metro Police Dept. issued a statement saying they were looking for IFBB Professional Bodybuilder Craig Titus, and his wife, Kelly Ryan, to charge them with murder of an unnamed women. The woman's remains were found in the trunk of a burned out car. So far, one individual, Anthony Gross has been arrested in association with the case. The police have not named the woman killed, or any other information about the case. The website, freecraigtitus.com has amassed a great deal of information on the case. Although I have no idea what affiliation they have with Titus (and the fact that he is still at large) they are soliciting donations. So far, they have posted several news stories, video clips and interviews. According to one post by user "Iabadman" on professionalmuscle.com's forums, Titus and wife were heavy into the party scene and used recreational drugs frequently.

..... within mintues they seemed to like me ,and Craig
pulls me aside and asks me if I could score them some
E ........I looked at him like he was a fool and said
,"I dont do drugs, I havent even juiced in years "...
he smiles and laughs ,"yeah right ,you are like 280
,whatever bro".....I swear to god he looked at me like
I was freaking crazy for not doing drugs .....

Obviously, many of us know that professional bodybuilding involves steroid use, and rec. drug use has been reported to be common. Many are now concerned that because of the current backlash against steroids, this will cause more heat to be placed on the topic and cause more concern for the community.

This is also a great shock for everyone in the bodybuilding community. Both Craig Titus and his wife wrote many articles for magazines, both online and off, and offered up their email addresses for questions and consultations. They both made themselves actively known on the forums, and endorsed and sponsored several well known companies.

At this point, I have requested several Freedom of Information Acts on Craig Titus from several agencies, and am in the process of looking into seeing what I can find out from the Las Vegas police about the case. At the moment, both Craig and Kelly are on the lamb. One source puts them in Greece, and obviously they could be anywhere -- but with their body types they will have a hard time blending in, not to mention coping with their possible drug dependencies and coming off of gear with no ancillaries (although if they're in Greece...)

This story is pending, with further information coming soon. Thanks to freecraigtitus.com for the photos and information. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Craig Titus or Kelly Ryan, please contact The Las Vegas Police online here or at (702) 229-3111, the FBI online or (202) 324-3000 or possibly even INTERPOL online or (202) 616-9000. Stay tuned...

CAPTURED!

Be sure to check on the main page for frequent updates!

	Anthony Gross
Recent photo of Titus	Kelly Ryan

Stop Iran

Iran is quickly becoming a complete totalitarian regime with it's recent ban on music and comments on holocaust denial. Although for sometime it was not quite clear of what Iran's nuclear intentions were, it's obvious now with this dangerous comments that it's current leadership cannot be trusted with nuclear capabilities. The hardline Islamic republic has shown that it follows in the steps of other previous governments based on flawed ideology that is not only dangerous in nature, but is slowly removing individual freedoms and creating tension with the rest of the world in it's views.

"They [the west] have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets." -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran

This clearly indicates that the leadership of Iran speak of an obvious ideology of hatred and anti-semitism.

It's quite unfortunate that the people of Iran have let this type of discussion to be allowed and will face consequences that will most likely lead to more hatred of the West and the brewing of a terrorist firestorm. The ADL is calling for sanctions against Iran which would do the following:

UN sanctions. The United Nations Security Council can agree on a sanctions resolution in the light of Iran�s continued nuclear defiance.

Asset freezing. Foreign assets held by the Iranian regime can be frozen.

A travel ban on Iran's leaders. This would prevent them from addressing their message of hate to the international community, as President Ahmadinejad did when he spoke at the recent UN World Summit.

Ending bilateral ties. Governments and parliaments around the world can cut diplomatic links, cooperation and trade agreements and other links with the Iranian regime.

Breaking sporting and cultural links. Iran can be denied the privilege of participating in international events and competitions, such as the football World Cup, which will be played in Germany in 2006 in front of an audience of billions. [link]

Although Iran and other Muslim nations have a legitimate concern about the Israel and Palestine conflict, holocaust denial comments are quite common in these states. Many Arab papers reportedly post many anti-semitic viewpoints, and the Protocols of Zion is viewed as fact. This problem will not be solved by a war against any nation in an attempt to "reeducate" them on their views, but by a process of giving them access to factual information. Regimes like Iran ban internet access to allow it's citizens to read non-government approved mediums. In this type of culture of religioufanaticismcm combined witpropagationon of hatred toward all western views and skepticism of ideas that most regard as basic truth, it can only lead toward more and more isolation between other countries.

We have seen this play out in the terrible effects of UN imposed sanctions on Iraq. While many people were denied basic medical aid, food and so forth - it also breed a terrorist revolution of sorts that caused an even further hatred of the west. We must view these countries with pity and see them for what they really are, as ignorant ideologies of a flawed utopia. Countries like Iran believe that they can sustain themselves in a world economy and wars can be won on noexistencece fronts.

The only way for Iranians to pull themselves out of this regime of madness before it starts attempting to build up it's own "Reich", they must organize and educate themselves and their fellow citizens. The first step towards ousting of their ever growing maelstrom government is to break free of it's own bans on censorship. Iranians should begin accessing services like TOR (an anonymous proxy system) and creating their own blogs.

One of the most basic forms orebellionon is communication. Communication is essential for rebelling against these types of regimes, and is exactly why they type of censor it. There are many ways to communicate anonymously and privately, such as instant messaging, IRC, VoIP and etc. Once communication has been established, organization must be made to organize a sustained campaign to remove the regime.

The only way to halt the growing Iran problem is twofold.

Sign the ADL Petition to start UN Sanctions. This will stop some of Iran's power base by blocking a large amount of it's money and income, and prevent it from being accepted internationally.

Promote an internal Iran counter revolutionary organization. This cannot be government funded and should not bchosenen on it's "western friendliness". This always leads to problems. How to do this I do not know for sure. Comments are welcome, as always.

UPDATE from the ADL:

Iranian Aggression: When Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," ADL put pressure on the international community to hold Iran accountable, spurring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cancel a trip to Tehran. Just
last week, Ahmadinejad renewed his threat and sunk to a new low by calling the Holocaust a "myth." We increased the pressure on world leaders, and the Swedish Parliament was the first to respond by cutting off all contact with the Iranian regime.

Hopefully more countries will follow Sweden in it's blockade of Iran.

Huge List of Free Software

Huge List of Free Software

All this software is absolutely 100% freeware, unless otherwise listed, or unless it was JUST recently changed and I was not aware of it. If you find any of this software to not be free, broken links or etc. please PM or email me and let me know so I can correct it. If you know of any other software that is free and you recommend, please let me know or post it below and I will add it to the list!

Graphics Software
GIMP for Windows GIMP is a free graphics creating/editing software, comperable to Photoshop or other expensive graphics manipulation software. It is free and open source, this version is for Windows
IrfanView The best freeware graphics viewer, convertor, with basic editing functions

Audio Software
AudioGrabber Free CD Ripping Software. Allows you to rip an audio CD and convert it to MP3s.
CDBurner XP Pro Freeware CD Burning Software
winLAME Converts WAV files into MP3s
GX Transcoder Converts just about any audio format into any other format
Nero Plugins plugins for Nero that allow you to burn most all audio types as an audio CD without having to convert them
Audacity Audio Editor

DVD/Video Software
VirtualDub General Purpose Video Editing Software
TMPGEnc Converts AVI Files to MPEG1 for burning to VCDs
SmartRipper Freeware DVD Ripping Software
DVDX Allows you to convert ripped DVDs to various formats, including VCD and AVI
DVD Shrink Free software to burn DVD movies to DVD-R discs
DVD Decrypter Allows you to rip DVD discs to your harddrive
DSPlayer Freeware DVD Player
OpenDVD Another freeware DVD Player

Audio/Video Playback Software
WinAmp The standard for audio players
VideoLan Movie/Video Player with built in Codec functionality
Media Player Classic Great Freeware Alternative to bloatware WMP
BSPlayer Another good movie/media player with lots of options
Commercial Audio/Video Playback Software:
The following are free versions of commercial movie playing software. Although you should be able to use the alternatives to them, under some circumstances you will need to them to view content
Apple Quicktime
RealPlayer
Microsoft Windows Media Player

Office/Document Software
OpenOffice Freeware alternative to Microsoft Office. Comes with a Document editor, HTML editor, Email Program, HTML editor, Spreadsheet program and more. Also check out OpenOffice Extras for templates and addons for OO.
PrimoPDF Freeware PDF Creator
FoxIt PDF Reader Free alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader
Microsoft Office Viewers & Convertors Allows people who don't own MS Office to view or convert Office files (ie: Excel Spreadsheets, Powerpoint, etc)
CutePDF Writer Free PDF Writer & Viewer
Adobe Acrobat Reader the original

System Utilities
Crap Cleaner Cookie and System Cleaner, also includes registry cleaner
TugZip Comp/Decompression Utility, Supports most archive types
ALZIP Same as above
EasyCleaner Registry Cleanup Tool
Cacheman System Optimization Tool, and memory cleaner
Windows 98 Unofficial SP If you're still using Windows98, this will install all the necessary updates and patches to keep your system working flawlessly
Windows Update from Microsoft. Run frequently, or turn on auto update to keep your system up to date with the latest security patches.
Office Update from Microsoft. Keeps your Office software up to date
DirectX Multimedia functionality booster, works with games and audio/video drivers to improve performance
DocMemory Free Memory Tester Utility. Will test to make sure your RAM is functioning properly.
Ultimate Boot Disk Free Startup Disk Utility for diagnosing and troubleshooting problems with your computer hardware and software

Anti-Spyware/Anti-Virus Software
SpyBot Search & Destroy Cleans your system of harmful adware and spyware. Also includes a system startup editor, hosts editor, spyware immunizer, file shredder and more!
Lavasoft Adaware Another great spyware cleaner
Microsoft Anti-Spyware former Giant Anti-Spyware. Includes background fulltime protection against spyware, along with auto updates and scheduled scans.
CWS (Cool Web Search) Shredder If you become infected with CWS, this tool will completely remove it from your system.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition The free version of AVG Anti-Virus, with auto updates, email scanning, and more
avast! Home Edition avast software's free anti-virus
SpywareBlaster Installs blocking protection into your browser to keep you safe from spyware and adware. Needs to be updated frequently and manually.
Script Sentry Will keep you from accidentally clicking on potentially harmful files which can contain viruses or other system exploits
XP Anti-Spy Allows for removal MSN messenger, and disables information being sent back to Microsoft and protects your privacy through various background settings

Software Firewalls - Only Install One of These!
Kerio Personal Firewall Free Edition
SyGate Personal Firewall
ZoneAlarm Free Edition
If you are using Windows XP SP2 firewall, it should work fine, unless you want more protection, disable it and use one of the above.

Download Tools
Free Download Manager Download Manager, queues files for download and makes multiple connections to speed up downloads. Supports pausing and resuming. Great for dialup users, and even works great for DSL/Cable if you're having trouble downloading a large file
DeluxeFTP Freeware FTP Client
FileZilla Same as Above

Email Clients and Tools
Eudora E-Mail Client Paid, Ad Supported and Free versions of email client. One of the oldest out there.
ThunderBird The Mozilla foundation's free email client. This is what I use. Nuff said. ;)
Pegasus E-Mail Client Freeware Email Client
SpamFighter for Outlook and Express Addon for Outlook and OE which works as a spam p2p community to block spams from your inbox
Spamihilator Freeware Spam Blocker, learns a series of rules based on your settings to block spam

Browsers and Tools
Mozilla Suite The full Mozilla Suite with a browser, email client, HTML composer, IRC client and more
FireFox Mozilla's very popular stand alone browser
Opera Free Ad-Supported Browser
Avant Browser Another good free browser alternative to IE
Maxthon (formerly myIE2) Kind of like a shrunken IE with a tabbed browsing interface
Google Toolbar for IE. Allows you to search Google with IE and block popups. Great toolbar!
Java JRE Plugin so you can view Java applets from within your browser
Macromedia Flash Player to view flash movies within your browser
Macromedia Shockwave Player allows you to watch and play Shockwave based games and movies from within your browser
The EFF's TOR Proxy System A free proxy system that works similar to a P2P network, whereby you connect to multiple users to spread your IP address out and be invisible on the internet

HTML & Website Creators
I have not used or tried either of these, as I do my webmaster work in DreamWeaver, notepad and CuteFTP.
Namu Web Site Creation Software
LoGraf HTML Editor

Instant Messenger/Chat Software
Trillian Freeware chat client with the ability to access AIM, Yahoo IM, MSN IM, ICQ, and IRC all in one
AOL Instant Messanger with AdBlocker and Spyware/Junk Remover and AIM Encryption for secure conversations
Yahoo! Messenger
Mirabilis ICQ
MSN Messenger
Jabber
mIRC Internet Relay Chat Client
GAIM Freeware IM client. Connects to AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.

Weather & Misc Software
Weather Watcher Freeware tool to check the weather from your system tray
Dimension 4 For those of you who don't have or don't use Windows XP's built in time service, D4 will automatically update your computer's clock for you
Daemon Tools Creates a virtual drive so you can mount BIN/ISO files and run them without having to burn them
BugMeNot.com Allows you to lookup logins and passwords for public sites that require registration (like news sites, and most other major sites). Downloadable plugins for Mozilla & IE

Games
Gravytris Free OpenGL (3D) Tetris with Ambient Music
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Free multiplayer version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Doom Legacy Opensource Freeware port of Doom
Danger from the Deep Freeware Open Source German WW2 submarine game
LBreakout2 Freeware opensource Breakout (Ball Breaker) game
List of Free Games from Wikipedia

P2P Clients
Fasttrack - The Fasttrack Network is home to Kazaa, Grokster, and iMesh. All these clients have major spyware and adware with them, so below are some clean versions. Although this network is probably the most popular, it has become increasingly filled with fake files, and been the main target of RIAA and MPAA lawsuits recently.
Kazaa Lite Resurrection
iMesh Lite
Articles & Help
Slyck's Guide to Fasttrack
Wikipedia Article on Kazaa
Wikipedia Article on FastTrack
OpenFT - OpenFT, is the reverse engineered protocol of FastTrack. Although there are less users overall, it is probably safer and has less fake files.
KCeasy Connects to OpenFT and Gnutella
Articles & Help
Slyck's OpenFT Clients List
Wikipedia Article on OpenFT
Gnutella - Gnutella is one of the older P2P clients. It was developed by Justin Frankel, of Winamp fame, as an answer to the centralization of Napster and the problems it faced. It is a decentralized network, and operates with peers and nodes, making it somewhat slow. However, the open source operation has advanced the protocol, but there have been some conflicts between developers about it.
Shareaza Connects to Gnutella, Gnutella2, ED2K, and supports Bittorrent
LimeWire Basic
BearShare Lite
Articles & Help
Slyck's Gnutella Guide
Wikipedia Article on Gnutella
Ares - Decentralized network, similar to gnutella
AresGalaxy might contain adware
Articles & Help
Slyck's Ares Guide
Wikipedia Article on Ares Galaxy

eDonkey/ed2k/Overnet/eMule - eDonkey is a centralized network, but servers are operated by individuals, similar to OpenNap. Newer eDonkey clients, and eMule come with their own decentralized networks installed alongside the regular eDonkey client/server connections. Both eMule and eMule Plus are open source versions of the original eDonkey client, and both clients have their pros and cons. This network is best suited for large files. I use eMule Plus.
eMule
eDonkey Connects to ed2k and Overnet
eMule Plus
Articles & Help
Slyck's Guide to eDonkey2k
Slyck's Guide to Overnet
Wikipedia Article on eDonkey
Wikipedia Article on Overnet
Wikipedia Article on Kademlia
Wikipedia Article on eMule
Emule Router and Firewall Help
eMule Help & Support
eDonkey Support
MP2P - The Manolito P2P is a relatively new network, and only supports audio file transfers. It is not that widely used, but the client is pretty good for single songs.
Piolet Has ads, but no spyware last time I checked
Articles & Help
Slyck's Guide to MP2P
Wikipedia Article on Manolito
BitTorrent/Exeem - Slyck's Guide to BT & Wikipedia Article on P2P. I have never personally used or know anything about BT, so I cannot comment on it or any of these clients. They should be free of any type of ads or spyware, however.
Exeem Lite
Exeem
Bit Tornado
TorrentStorm
Azureus
BNBT EasyTracker BT Tracker for Windows
DirectConnect - DC is a network based around large hubs, which you connect to and browse for files, in a similar fashion to an FTP, but you can also chat with the users like an IRC network. Most hubs require sharing or exchange inorder to download.
DC++ Open Source DC client
Articles & Help
Slyck's Guide to DC
Wikipedia Article on DC
OpenNap/WinMX - OpenNap, like OpenFT, is the Napster servers reverse engineered. WinMX is one of the only clients that still connect to this network. It also has it's own internal network for sharing. It has been quite large in the past, and has a lot of files available.
WinMX
NapMX Not a client, but a program to add a recent list of OpenNap servers to WinMX
Articles & Help
Slyck's Guide to WinMX
Wikipedia Article on OpenNap
Wikipedia Article on WinMX
SoulSeek - This network is mostly for hard to find or rare files. It has increadibly long queue times, and they encourage you to pay to increase your queue time.
SoulSeek
Articles & Help
Slyck's Guide to SoulSeek
Wikipedia Article on SoulSeek

Other P2P Utilities
MP3Shield Scans your songs while you're downloading them to determine whether or not they are corrupt or fake
DietK If you're using regular Kazaa, you will want to install this addon to remove all the spyware from it. It also improves search results, and adds a lot of other nice features to Kazaa. Most of the same can be accomplished by using Kazaa Lite
BlockList Manager Downloads fresh IP blocklists to ensure that you will be protected against the RIAA/MPAA and other enemies of P2P
PeerGuardian Blocks inbound and outbound TCP connections to known bad IPs. Has it's own IP list or can be used with the Blocklist Manager
ProtoWall Blocks ALL inbound and outbound connections to known bad IPs. Has it's own IP list or can be used with the Blocklist Manager

Big Free Software Sites
Free Serif Software Includes free software for Desktop Publishing, Photo and Image Editing, Website Design and Publishing, Graphic Design and Vector Drawing, and 3D Animation and Modeling. I have not used or downloaded any of these, but they claim them to be "100% free".
TheOpenCD Links to many free software utilities, some of which are already listed here.
Final Builds Site (formally Kazaa Lite) Includes free software such as the K-Lite Codec Packs, Real Player and Quicktime Alternatives with the bloat removed, TMPEnc, Nero CD-DVD Speed, FFDShow, McAfee Anti-Virus, NOD32 Anti-Virus, WinRAR, WinAce, and much more
Kool Lite Tools List of completely free software, some of which is already listed here.
AXCEL216's Max Speed Windows Tips & Tricks Tips, tricks, tools, hacks and addons for all versions of Windows. For those who like to tweak and play with their system settings, this is the site for you.
Gibson Research Includes tools to disable unpatched Windows flaws like UPNP, Windows Messenger, the DCOM service, and more (although most of these have been patched by SP2). Also hosts ShieldsUP! which will test your system to see if you have open ports or services, which can leave you vulnerable to hackers and attacks.
Wikipedia List of Open Source Software Packages
FramaSoft Free Software List Large List of Free Windows Software
FSF/UNESCO Free Software Directory Another large list of free software, some for Windows and other platforms
Doom9 and VideoHelp.com has guides and free software downloads to help you rip, edit, and burn DVDs, VCDs and other video files
OSSwin Project List of all Open Source Software Available for Windows
List of Free Software from Wikipedia
OPD's List of Open Source Software
OPD's List of Freeware
Finally, there is also download.com and tucows.com which have huge listings of software of all types.
Have any other free software you think should be on this list? Please post them in a comment or email them to me!

First Post

Welcome to my blog. Should be some good stuff coming up soon.

Contact Me

I've had to change my email address to a new one recently because of the enormous amount of spam I get to my Yahoo account. So, I have a new email address that I will be using for comments and feedback from my blog. Feel free to email me anytime using the address below.

If for some reason you can't read this or see the image above, please leave a comment below with your email address and I will respond once I'm notified about it. You may want to hide your email address to prevent spambots from harvesting your address, otherwise I can delete your comment once I've responded if you request me to do so.

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If you are interested on advertising here on Pogue's Blog, please use the Contact link on the right side of the page and let me know what you are interested in advertising.  I am able to show you my site statistics and visitors analytics so you can know who you are advertising to.  Rates very for what you want to advertise (text link or banner) and where you want it placed, but I am very reasonable and willing to negotiate for low prices.  In general, $50-100 for a month or two of text or banner placement is my ideal range and I can also work with you to help promote your site or product with an article on my blog, depending on what it is - contact me for details.

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I, pogue, do not keep any type of tracking information when you visit this site. I do not log emails, IPs or any other private or personal type of information. However, my host, Blogger.com probably does. Blogger.com and some of the other services used in my site set and place cookies, log IP addresses and possibly more for various purposes. My attempt is to try and provide you (the reader) with the best possible viewing experience and readability for this site, and hopefully in doing so, not compromising your privacy and security.

Rest assured I will not spam you or share, sell or rent any personal information disclosed or divulged to me by any readers of this site. My site's feeds and feed email subscription services are not controlled by me and are managed by a third party.

However, I cannot control the content of some of the services used on my site. The following services privacy policies that I use to enhance the content of my site are listed below.

Blogger.com Privacy Policy
Feedburner.com Privacy Policy
Haloscan.com Privacy Policy
Imageshack.us Privacy Policy
Google.com Privacy Policy
AdBrite Privacy Policy
Feedblitz Privacy Policy
AltaVista (Babelfish Translation Service) Privacy Policy
BlogHarbor (Blogpolling.com) Privacy Policy

By visiting this site you agree to these policies. If you have a problem with any of them, please contact the individual provider listed above or contact me for further information.

This policy may change at any time.