Posts Tagged: ‘Internet’

WordHippo Website Review (2025-11)

November 2, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

This month I’d like to tell you about a website that I use nearly every day.  I do a lot of writing for the club website, several newsletters and my personal websites. LibreOffice and Scribus are the two main programs I use to edit the written material.  The WordHippo is a site I often use for tools to (hopefully) help me do a better job with my content.

WordHippo is an Australian site that was originally launched in 2008 to find rhyming words.  It has evolved to include a synonym finder, dictionary, antonym finder, word finder and many other word tools.  There are many sites on the internet that do these things.  This is the only one I have found where everything is on one easy to navigate page.

The site’s “Privacy Statement” and “Terms of Service” pages are clear and easy to read.  Although they state that they use a third-party to provide monetization technologies for the site, I have never seen any advertising. I’ve even disabled my ad blockers to test this.

A complete list of word actions include:
• Synonyms – the thesaurus is the default home page.
• Antonyms – gives an extensive list of opposite words.
• Definitions – a pretty much standard dictionary.
• Rhymes – I would have never found a rhyme for lagniappe without this section.
• Sentences – gives several examples of word usage.
• Translations – only translates from English to other languages.
• Find Words – you can select the number of letters and find words for Words With Friends, Scrabble and Crosswords. You can specify starting or ending letters. There are many more finding functions.
• Word Forms – finds plurals, past tense, present tense and more.
• Pronunciations – reads words and sentences aloud.

For the most part, the website is easy to use.  It utilizes a tabbed layout.  Entering a word in one section carries over to the other functions.  There are apps for both iOS and Android.  I haven’t tested them.  Give WordHippo a try.  Everything is free to use and there are no up‑sells for a paid version.

Thanks for reading.

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Check It If You’re Not Sure (2025-08)

August 3, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Has your anti-virus or firewall program ever blocked a site and left you wondering what happened and if you should continue or not?  This month, I’m going to tell you about several internet sites that only do one thing.  All of them help you to stay safe by checking sites while you’re online surfing the Wild World Web.

URL Void is a free service developed by NoVirusThanks that allows users to scan a website address with multiple web reputation engines to facilitate the detection of possible dangerous websites. It’s easy to use. Either type or paste the URL of the website you want to check in the box and click the “Scan Now” button. In a few seconds you will know if you should be wary.

Have I Been Pwned checks your email address to see if it has been hacked.

PwnedList is another site that does the same thing as Have I Been Pwned.  Check if your e-mail has been hacked.

How Secure is my Password? Is kind of a fun site to use.  As you type a password into the box, the site estimates how long it would take to hack it.  At the same time, tips on selecting a good password are displayed.  In 2011, The New York Times had an excellent article about this site.

IP2Location Email Header Tracer searches and finds where an email originated.  Just copy and paste the email header and this site will find the sender.  Bonus – the website will also do a lot of other internet searching.

Blacklight is a Real-Time Website Privacy Inspector.  Just enter the address of any website and it will be scanned to reveal user-tracking technologies on the site.

VirusTotal inspects items with over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blocklisting services.

There are many sites on the internet that do the same as these that I’ve highlighted in this article.  I’ve used these sites many times for many years and can attest that they are safe.  You do not need to create an account to use any of them.  Some of them offer upgraded services,  They are all free to use.

Remember, just because you’ve checked a sites URL, doesn’t mean it is safe.  Common sense is probably the easiest way to stay safe while surfing the internet.

Excuse me, I think I’ve finally found the web site of the real Nigerian prince.  I’ll probably be a lot richer the next time you see me.

Thanks for reading.

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Club Website Revisions (2024-07)

July 7, 2024 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

So far, I haven’t broken anything yet.  As you may or may not have heard, Paul Catrou has ended his duties as the Club Webmaster.  If you see him, please be sure to give him a big thank you for his service to the club.  Our club president twisted my arm and all of a sudden, I’m the guy.

My coding skills are a little rusty, but I hope to make some changes.  If you’ve been to the web site lately, you can see the new interface.  Hopefully, both members and the public will find it easier to navigate and find needed information.  I’ve tried to design it to look good on all devices.  I’ve been cursing phone screens a lot.  The idea is that all content will resize to fit all screens without the user having to zoom in or out.  The hamburger menu should make it easier to navigate.  I am also planning to add site map links to the bottom of each page.

If you haven’t checked it out, I would appreciate it if everyone did and let me know what they think.  I’ve already made some changes based on member input.  There are also some others on the way when I get the time.

So far, all of the changes are on the “front” end.  Registering for workshops, downloading newsletters, etc. haven’t changed.  In the future, I hope to make it easier with a “one click” process.  There are other potential uses for our club website.

Please check the site and let me or any of the club board members know what you think.  Opinions and ideas are welcome.  We want to make things useful for members.

Thanks for reading.

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Cookie Management (2023-09)

September 3, 2023 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Here is a question and answer from the FAQ section of one of my favorite websites that I often visit:
Q: Do you put cookies on my computer?
A: Not very often.  Sometimes a section of my site will not operate without a cookie.  When I do that, I usually use chocolate chip cookies.

Since the passing of the ePrivacy Directive (commonly known as the EU Cookie Law), many websites greet you with a big pop-up window telling us how important our privacy is to them.  To continue viewing, we have to accept cookies.  Actually, we don’t have to accept cookies.  Of course, if we don’t, we might not have an optimal experience on the site.

Cookies are just small information files that are stored on your computer.  When you return to the site, the files are read and you theoretically have the same experience as your previous visit.  The problem is with cookies that are placed by third parties.  These are almost always from advertisers.  They can be read by other parties and are often used to track you across different web sites.

What can we do about cookies?  In your web browser settings, you can block all cookies.  Unfortunately, doing so might cause websites not to work as designed.  Almost all web browsers block third party cookies by default.  If not you should enable the setting.

You could also do what I do.  Add a cookie manager browser extension.  If you search in the browser add-ons store, you will find many cookie managers.  It should not be too hard to find one that works for you.

The one I use and can recommend is “Cookie Remover” uploaded by Adam.  It is a simple extension that does one thing.  When you click on the icon in your browser tool bar, all of the site cookies are instantly removed.  It is available for all browsers.  Over the years, I’ve developed the habit of clicking the icon before I close the tab.  It works for me.

That’s all for this month.  I think I’ll go have a cup of coffee and some cookies.
Thanks for reading.

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Cybersecurity Month (2022-09)

August 28, 2022 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Are you prepared for next month?

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.  It was created in 2004 as a collaboration between government and industry to provide resources that users need to stay safer and more secure online.  Administered by the Department of Homeland Security, this is a perfect time for all of us review our online practices to avoid falling victim to the many attacks that can compromise our lives.

To coincide with the national Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) cybersecurity campaign, Governor John Bel Edwards has signed a proclamation recognizing October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Louisiana.  Here are some links that will hopefully help everyone lock down their electronics.

The city of Baton Rouge has held seminars in the past.  Although there isn’t any scheduled this year, you can view past conferences at Red Stick Ready – Cybersecurity Preparedness.  There are also several links to handouts and other helpful information.  As an added bonus, at the bottom of the page there are links to prepare for many other disasters and hazards.

Some other links that you might find helpful:
• The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency home page has links to information on everything the US Government publishes.  You can read the blog, sign up for the newsletter, view many “how-to” articles and much more.
• Identity Theft is a Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice page on how to prevent your personal information from being stolen.
• Scam Alerts is a Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice page with three sections: 1) How To Avoid a Scam; 2) What To Do if You Were Scammed; and 3) Report Fraud, Scams, and Bad Business Practices.
• The Internet Crime Complaint Center is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) site with detailed instructions how how to report on-line crime.

I hope you can use the links in this article to stay safe.

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Finding Free Software (2020-06)

July 13, 2022 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

This month, I thought I’d tell you about a few web sites where you can find reviews and links for useful, free software.

Before you start downloading, don’t forget the old adage: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  The same thing goes for free software.  The cost isn’t cash out of your pocket, but is usually information of one sort or another.  Read the licensing agreement before you hit the install button.  Often, free software comes with other downloads that you may or may not want to install.  Once again, make sure you read every installer screen and make sure what you are getting is what you want.

Enough warnings.  On to the sites.

One of my favorite software review sites is Gizmo’s Freeware.  This site is staffed by volunteers that review different categories of freeware.  On the main page are links to “Best Freeware Lists” and “Freeware Categories”.  Both links take you to lists of what the editors consider the best free software.  On the right side of the page are links to recently reviewed or updated software articles.  There are also many other areas on the site that you can explore for more information.

Freeware Geeks is a free software directory site.  As I write this article, there are 2204 programs listed in twelve categories.  Clicking on a program title, will give you a short synopsis of the program and a link to the download site.

The Source Forge is dedicated to making open source projects successful.  This site is more technically oriented.  Much of the software is still being developed.  All of the programs are open source, which means anyone can download the code.

NirSoft is a one man website.  All of the programs were written by Nir Sofer.  They are mostly utility software.  All of the programs are freeware.

There are some sites that offer free downloads of commercial software.  Companies often use these to give a free temporary licenses in the hope that you will like their offerings and pay to renew them.  Sometimes the programs are older versions.  There are a few sites that I check frequently.  Occasionally, you can find something useful.
Giveaway of the Day offers one program each day.  You have twenty-four hours to download and install.  One feature of site I like is the user comments.  Free alternatives are often mentioned.  Giveaway Radar is an aggregator site that lists offerings from several sites.  All of the listed software must have a license of at least six months.

There are a lot of other sources for free software besides the ones I’ve listed.  Many of them are very good and can be trusted.  Others are not.  Research before you download.

Thanks for reading and keep on clicking.

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Fun Things To Do on the Internet (2020-04)

July 13, 2022 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

I love going to a carnival.  I don’t go on many of the rides anymore, but I love all the fun things there are to do.  Unfortunately, carnivals can be pretty dangerous too.  There are always pickpockets who will steal everything they can.  We often hear of rides that injure people.  About the only thing that is really safe at a carnival is the healthy food you can buy.

The internet is a lot like a carnival.  Everyone knows about the dangers and we all keep our antivirus programs updated.  I know that all the Cajun Clickers club members have their router firmware updated.  Their firewalls are active to keep the bad guys away.  Since everyone is so safe, I thought that this month I’d talk about some fun things to do on the internet.  After all, many people are spending a lot more time at home trying to avoid the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).  It is keeping a lot of people at home with lots of spare time on their hands.

There are a lot of fun sites.  I know that everyone doesn’t have the same idea of what’s fun.  Maybe if I tell you about my favorite sites, you might find something entertaining.

One of the things you can find a lot of on the internet are free games to play.  If you’re looking for games to play, good place to start is Gizmo’s list of Best Free PC Games.  This site is updated often and all the games are free to play.  My personal favorite online game is Texas Hold’em Poker.  There are a lot of places to play, but you’ll usually find me at World Series Poker at AOL Games.  There are lots of online games on the site, but I haven’t played many of the others.  If you like to play hearts, I recommend you try the Microsoft Gaming Zone.  The Gaming Zone has been around for a while and they have lots of games.

I’ve never been much of a television or movie watcher, but I love to listen to the old time radio shows.  Most evenings I’m listening to The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Jack Benny, or my personal favorite, Fibber McGee & Molly.  My network drive has about 21 GB of radio program files.  You can get them and many more at the Old Time Radio Internet Archive.

In December 1995, Bill Watterson retired from cartooning.  I lost my daily dose of one of the funniest cartoons ever.  Now, thanks to the internet, I can still read Calvin & Hobbes everyday.  You can find a daily comic you’ll like at GOCOMICS, Comics Kingdom or ArcaMax Publishing.  None of the comics sites require registration.

“The Alphabet has been Updated with 15 Exciting New Letters” is only one of the funny satires you’ll find in The Onion.  This fictional, satire paper started in 1988.  They’ve been around more than twenty years, so they must be doing something right.  Their news stories seem so genuine that they have occasionally been cited as real.  I’ve got to warn you though.  There is often adult language used in the paper.  Another satire site I like is the Babylon Bee.  For a great description, check out their About Us page.

I’ll show my age a little. I don’t mind being called a “senior” because it usually includes a 10 percent discount.  If you like senior citizen humor, you also might like to check out Geezer Guff.

As you might or might not know, I’m a transplanted Northerner.  When I talk with my brother and sisters on Facebook, I usually translate into Southern for them.  Everybody gets a few laughs.  Translating into a dialect is easy when you use The Dialectizer.  As I write this you can convert into nine different dialects.  It hardly ever fails to make me laugh.

Here is a sample:
As y’all might o’ might not know, I’m a transplanted No’therner.  When ah talk wif mah brother an’ sisters on Facebook, ah usually translate into Southern fo’ them, dawgone it.  Ev’rybody gits a few laughs.  Translatin’ into a dialeck is easy when yo’ use Th’ Dialeckizer.  As ah write this hyar yo’ kin cornvaht into nine diffrunt dialecks.  It hardly evah fails t’make me laugh.

That’s just a few of the things I like to do on the internet for fun.  I hope you enjoyed them too and found a new site you’ll visit often.  Do you have a favorite place you think everyone should know about?  Let me know and it could become a topic for the new Internet SIG group I’m starting.

Thanks for reading and keep on clicking.

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Owning Your Own Domain (2019-06)

July 11, 2022 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

I purchased my first internet domain name on May 10, 2001.  For several years before that, I had a personal website that I hosted on the AOL free server.  Fast forward to 2018 and I’m the owner of a dozen different domain names.  I’ll admit that most of them are unused.  Someday my grandsons might want them.

I think that everyone should get their own domain for a variety of reasons.  The biggest reason is so that you can easily control your e‑mail.  If your e‑mail address is YourName@yourisp.net, you would lose it if you ever changed your Internet Service Provider to another company.  If you had your own domain, you could have the e‑mail address of YourName@yourdomain.com or .net, or .org, etc.  You would keep that e‑mail for as long as you owned the domain.  Never again would you have to change your e‑mail address.

Another advantage is that you could have many e‑mail addresses.  Most providers let you create at least a hundred separate addresses.  I usually create a new address for different sites.  If I get a lot of spam, I know who sold my e‑mail address.

Owning your domain isn’t expensive. For instance, HostGator, one of several hosting services that I’ve used, charges $12.95 a year to register a domain name.  Hosting services are $7.16 a month.  If you sign up for three years, the rate drops to $3.96.  If you do a web search you will find many companies and many different pricing plans.  For that low fee, you can get unlimited e mail addresses, disk space and bandwidth.  There are several other hosting sites that offer similar pricing.

Once you’ve purchased the service, you can easily make a website to show off your hobbies, a family photo album, or share recipes.  Other uses for personal domains and websites are to give family members their own e mail address, host private chat rooms, backup files, etc.  You can even create your own private cloud storage space.  You could also do like me: plain old fashioned BS.

Although it is helpful, there is no real reason to know HTML coding.  There are several free programs that can have your personal website up and running in just a few hours.  Most hosting companies offer easy installation of these applications.  Web searches will find you many more.  A final place to get help with a website is the Cajun Clickers Club.  There are several members that I’m sure would be more than willing to help.

All of my websites are powered by open-sourced software.  I use several free programs: RV Web Site Builder, WordPress, phpBB, Blue Griffon, to name just a few.  My point is that if you can use a word processor, you can use website software.

I sure hope I’ll be checking out some new websites in the near future.  After all, if I can create a website, anyone can.

Keep on clicking and thanks for reading.

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Gizmo’s Is Back (2022-03)

March 16, 2022 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

I finally found some time to do an update on one of my websites.  Like many other sites, I have a favorite links page.  I immediately noticed that I still had a link for Gizmo’s Freeware.  I knew I needed to delete it because the site closed down in 2021.  It was a sad time for everyone that likes excellent freeware programs.

In 2008, Ian “Gizmo” Richards launched the Tech Support Alert Website.  It featured reviews and links to freeware programs in several categories.  Programs were reviewed by volunteers.  There was an active forum with comments and suggestions from readers.

One of the great things about the site was that there wasn’t any advertising.  It was funded solely by donations from users.  I remember several times there were pleas for extra funds to keep the site going.  Disclaimer: I usually sent what I could afford.  In later years, donations were no longer enough to pay costs and Google ads were incorporated.  In March of 2021, Google Ad Sense canceled their advertisements.  It was announced that the web site would shut down in July.  The site shut down and a farewell page was posted.

I’m glad that I rechecked the link.  Gizmo’s is back online.  It has been renamed “Gizmo’s Best” and has a new web interface.  I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any mention of this happy fact on any of the many tech news sites that I read.

There aren’t as many reviews or programs listed as on the old site.  At first this was a little upsetting, but on further thought, I agree.  Many of the programs on the old site were outdated and no longer available.  The site still lists the ones it has in the same categories: Android, IOS, Linux, MACOS and Windows.  There is a new category for Reader’s Best.  The “Free Wallpaper of the Week” is still on the site.

If you remember how great Gizmo’s Freeware was, give the remake a try. You can find it at Gizmo’s Best (techsupportalert.com).

Thanks for reading and keep on clicking.

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WordHippo Website

January 3, 2021 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

This month, instead of a free program, I’m going to tell you about a website that I use nearly every day.  I do a lot of writing.  LibreOffice and Scribus are the two main programs I use to edit the written material.  The WordHippo is the site I use for tools to (hopefully) help me do a better job with my content.

WordHippo was originally launched in 2008 as a site to find rhyming words.  It has evolved to include a thesaurus, dictionary, antonyms, word finder and many other word tools.  There are many sites on the internet that do these things.  This is the only one I have found where everything is on one easy to navigate page.

A complete list of word actions include:
• Synonyms – the thesaurus is the default home page.
• Antonyms – gives an extensive list of opposite words.
• Definitions – a pretty much standard dictionary.
• Rhymes – I would have never found a rhyme for lagniappe without this section.
• Sentences – gives several examples of word usage.
• Translations – only translates from English to other languages.
• Find Words – you can select the number of letters and find words for Words With Friends, Scrabble and Crosswords.  You can specify starting or ending letters.  There are many more finding functions.
• Word Forms – finds plurals, past tense, present tense and more.
• Pronunciations – reads words and sentences aloud.

For the most part, the website is easy to use.  It utilizes a tabbed layout.  Entering a word in one section carries over to the other functions.  I turned off my ad blocker for the site.  There was only one small unobtrusive advertisement on the right side of my monitor.  There are apps for both iOS and Android.  I haven’t tested them.

Give WordHippo a try.  Everything is free and there are no up‑sells for a paid version.

If you like the website, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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