Windows only: Freeware application DVD43 decrypts DVDs and CDs, removing most copy protections schemes so you can interact with the media using whatever ripping or copying application you please (similar to the shareware alternative AnyDVD). DVD43 runs in your system tray, detects when you’ve inserted a new DVD, and automatically removes the encryption (the smiley face turns green when it succeeds). I’ve always had a lot of luck using DVD Shrink to rip and copy DVDs, but if you’ve ever run into problems working with encrypted DVDs on your PC, DVD43 is worth a try. DVD43 is freeware, Windows only.

DVD43 [via FreewareGenius]

The Firefox Asterisk Revealer bookmarklet reveals the contents of any password field (i.e., a field whose text is obscured by asterisks) in an alert box using a simple bit of javascript—particularly handy for those sites for which you’ve saved the password but long since forgotten what it is. The post itself just includes the javascript, but you can turn it into a bookmarklet by simply right-clicking your Bookmarks toolbar and selecting New Bookmark, and then pasting the javascript into the Location field.

Firefox Asterisk Revealer [AKSN1P3R]

The title says it all.

From my friends at the How-To Geek

How many times have you been watching a long video on your computer and had the screensaver come on? Then you play the game of trying to jiggle the mouse every certain number of minutes to make sure it doesn’t happen again…  seems like it would be easier to have a really quick way to disable the screensaver.

Our solution comes in the form of a little utility named flipss.exe which can be used to easily enable or disable the screensaver via a command line argument… we’ll just have to manually create shortcuts for each task.

Create Disable/Enable Shortcut

Right-click on the desktop and choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

You will need to enter in the full path to where you saved the flipss.exe file, followed by either “/off” or “/on”. For instance, if you saved the utility in C:\MyFiles you would use this path to create the disable icon:

C:\MyFiles\flipss.exe /off

On the next screen you’ll need to give it a useful name, and then create a second shortcut with “/on” which you can use to turn the screensaver back on.

You can give them different icons by going into the properties for the shortcut and choosing the “Change Icon” option. Personally I moved the icons into the quick launch bar for easier access and indexing in Launchy.

Download Flipss.zip from jddesign.f2s.com

So, not ever being a big fan of MSN Messenger and the other Microsoft Items, I have grown to like all of the Live applications, including messenger. I have also gotten the opportunity to start using the Live Photo Gallery for XP, and really like it over Picasa, also I have been using Windows Live Writer for awhile now, and have been using it exclusively to post to my blog. I highly recommend you try these items, and you can get them all in one via the live pack, so download it and enjoy.

Windows Live Pack