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Usually people have problems trying to get to particular content on the web, but there are plenty of reasons why you might want to block particular websites too - especially if your kids are using your computer. There are plenty of commercial services for this, but if you are willing to put in a bit of effort, you can enjoy the peace of mind of blocking annoying or unwanted content for free.

SafeSquid is a proxy server that processes your browser's request for websites, checks them against its internal rules and forwards the content on if it is safe. You can of course set the rules however you like. Unlike a lot of free software, this is actually easy to use - but if you have any problems, don't worry we will be covering it in a full PC Answers tutorial soon. ... read more »

Microsoft has finally pulled out of the security market by ditching its OneCare product in favour of a slimmed down free version next summer. The first version of OneCare was woeful, but 2.0 was actually well received. Major strides is useability and performance by the big secuirty companies like Symantec though appear to have killed off OneCare's future, as well as a rise in Mac popularity where additional security suites are not needed.

Codenamed Morro, the new anti-virus tool will be tailored for lower end machines and be compatible with XP, Vista and Windows 7 - in fact it may well become the new secuirty tool found within Windows 7 itself. Let us know your experience of OneCare and what you'd like to see in Windows 7's security center instead.

The culmination of 75 years of meticulaous archaelogical research has ended up as a new 'layer' for Google Earth. 3D designers have re-created more than 6700 buildings from various periods of Rome's ancient past to create the first detailed virtual recreation of the world's original megacity.

You can download Google Earth and take a stroll up the Paletine by following this link

Unsolicited emails, usually those selling goods, can account for anything between 50 to 80% of all emails sent, which causes a big headache for the IT industry, ISPs and of course individuals. Even though the percentage of email that is classed as spam may be nearing some sort of saturation point, or even be in decline (according to messagelabs), the volume of spam mail seems to be rising. But it may not be as lucrative as it once was... ... read more »

It might sound like the last place you would expect Google to have a presence, but unused space in the broadcast spectrum could well be used for a Google-backed Wi-Fi project. The prospect of a wireless world reaching even sparsely populated areas was the promise of WiMax, yet it still stumbles as it tries to get off the ground. Google’s answer is to utilise the unused “white space” found between TV channels. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission in the US has voted 5-0 in favour of opening up the white space of unused airwaves between broadcast TV channels to be used for enhanced wireless broadband and communications. ... read more »

You have probably seen The GIMP featured quite a lot in PC Answers magazine - mainly because it is a) great and b) free! It rivals commercial software both in terms of features and ease of use, so if you ever need to do any image editing or manipulation, you should really be using The GIMP.

The GIMP development team work hard on the software all year round, and recently released version 2.6 as source code. The easy installers for Windows are now available, so now is a good time to upgrade to the latest version, or if you have never used the software before, a great time to give it a try. Download the Windows installer here.

Finally Google released its long-awaited (and much rumoured) web browser today - Google Chrome. Why the world needs another web browser is a good question, but Google is clearly intent on cutting into a space dominated by Microsoft and Mozilla. We've just downloaded the beta version of the lightweight browser (a tiny 475KB setup file), here's our initial thoughts: ... read more »