All the search engine companies, Google included are getting far to agressive imho.

Use this instead:

http://clusty.com/

It seems kosher enough to me. It’s a couple of hundered milliseconds slower on results but it actually spiders all the other search engines and is therefore technically superior to Google or Yahoo alone.

That said, the default search bar engine is hardly something that is cast in stone. It’s a simple matter for any user to set this in obvious preferences option. To say Firefox (IceWeasel please 🙂 has a default is a little misleading too. Depending on where you download your copy from you have many choices of rpm, apt or other packages that offer no default, or a latching (the one you choose stays) list of many choices.

And that is that people are still using IE, despite the fact
that just about every credible (that is: not funded by Microsoft)
security researcher out there has spent the last several years
shouting “DO NOT USE IE” from the rooftop.

IE is not a web browser any more than Outlook is a mail client.
Both are malware download-and-installation engines that seem
to accidentally have had a few add-ons of marginal use thrown
in to get people to run them. Just perusing the archives of
bugtraq or full-disclosure or others lists reveals an ongoing
parade of security holes in them — many of which are (a) remotely
exploitable and (b) pathways to total system compromise.

Yes, other browsers and other mail clients have their issues,
but none of them come even remotely close to having a record
like THIS. It’s hideous. (And how appalling is it that the
richest, most powerful software company on the planet can’t
even write a friggin’ *mail client* that’s safe to use? Sheesh.)

[ This is why, by the way, I tell people that there is — to a very
good first approximation — no such thing as an “email virus”.
There are (nearly) only “Outlook viruses”, because other mail
clients are usually not insane enough to repurpose message
content as executable code. ]

I strongly discourage friends/clients/colleagues from using any
M$ products, but I tell them that if they’re stuck doing so, then
the single best thing that they can do to protect themselves —
before worrying about things like firewalls and AV software —
is to dump IE and Outlook. Those two steps remove two of
the primary infection vectors, at which point it’s actually worth
putting effort into other measures.

So…if someone does some nasty via IE, nobody should be in the
least bit surprised. It’s not remarkable: it’s normal.

Knock MS if you want, but at least they have advanced beyond the need to edit config files in notepad (Thunderbird).

Back to the point of bundled software and dirty tricks.

Forget Adobe, use CutePDF for creating PDF files. They have a free version that does not watermark the result.

I don’t need another Toolbar in my Browser! Every app out there that wants to keep me as a loyal customer had better stop trying to bundle something else. I am already making a list of what programs do this, and am looking for alternatives to every one of them.

it means there losing against google

CutePDF by Acro Software is outstanding.

It produces PDFs with searchable text and small file sizes.

It installs fast with no unpleasant surprises.

They also have CutePDF Professional (not free) and many other useful products, all reasonably priced, and useful.

btw, I’m just a user, not their employee. :))

This is just ANOTHER wake-up call that should be telling people who haven’t realized it yet…

YAHOO SUCKS.

Wasn’t anyone paying attention when Yahoo joined forces with AOL to support Goodmail Systems’ “Certified Email”??????

Goodmail’s angle: http://www.goodmailsystems.com/senders/

EFF’s angle: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004398.php

Again, for anyone not inclined to visit the links, here’s the executive summary:

YAHOO SUCKS.