There is no doubt that Chrome is an efficient browser when it comes to productivity, but the same efficiency goes for a toss when it is the matter of memory management.

The Dire Need To Purge Memory

When you open your Chrome browser, you must have noticed that many times, several tabs get opened from the last session, which means multiple tabs running at a time while browsing.  Even if this is not happening, you yourself will end up opening too many tabs while researching or browsing a lot.

Further, when you start your browser, several extensions that you have added begin to consume the memory irrespective of whether you are using them or not.  So, the problem arises when 20+ tabs are kept open for too long or when too many extensions are installed for your work, which you cannot uninstall.   This can decelerate the speed of your browser to make it sluggish.   However, today’s browsers are such that they can efficiently manage this problem. So, why not Chrome?

I have read online that Chrome seriously has some grave issue when it comes to memory control.  Again keep in mind, this problem creeps when the tab limit exceeds just like in Firefox or when several extensions run together.  In short, the conclusion is that the more time you spend on your browser, the more memory your browser will eat. And on top of this, just imagine the situation if you have a slow Internet connection.

See How Much Memory Is Being Eaten Up Before Purging

Just like the Windows Task Manager, Chrome has a handy, built-in Task Manager that you can access via  the Wrench –> Tools (upper right corner) or through the shortcut key, Shift + Esc.  When you open it, you will see that several extensions are consuming a whooping amount of memory.

Controlling Memory Usage From Chrome’s Task Manager

It is quite easy for you to control memory from the Task Manager by selecting a page/process and clicking the End process button.  This is a good way of saving memory without restarting or crashing the browser.  Moreover, it is useful for ending an unresponsive process that consumes a lot of memory.

However, the latest Chromium version has given you an easier and quicker option, Purge memory.

Purging Memory In The Latest Chromium Build

To enable purging in the latest version of Chrome, you need to right click on the desktop Shortcut, select properties and open the Shortcut Tab.  In the Target field, add the following to the end of the target path:  –purge-memory-button preceded by single space.

Your Target path should look exactly like this at the end: \Application\chrome.exe –purge-memory-button

The beginning portion of the target path is hidden in the picture below; what is important is the space after “.exe”, the two dashes before the word purge and the dash between the last three words

That’s it!  Now close your browser and reopen it (you may have to reboot). Return to the Wrench ->Tools -> Task Manager and you can now see the “Purge Memory” button at the bottom of the Task Manager before the End process button as shown below.

Now, just click this button and you will see a drastic reduction in the amount of memory being consumed for each page/process.  This eliminates the need to select each process one at a time and click End process! Isn’t that cool?

Information credited to  http://www.geekhowtos.com

As a thank you for following CE Gamers and to kick start February, we’re launching a new contest.

And what better way to start February than by giving away a $10 Zynga Game eCard.

This is a amazing prize and all you have to do is follow the simple steps below and you’ll be in with a chance to win.

HOW TO ENTER

Simply enter via our special giveaway box just below to be in with a chance to win.

It’s real easy. Enter the giveaway using either your Facebook login or your email address and you get one entry. Optionally, you can do as many of the following as you like. Each one will get  you an additional giveaway entry and therefore a bigger chance of winning:

• Follow cegamers on Twitter.
• Tweet the giveaway from the widget.
• Answer the following question: “What is your favorite Zynga Game?” in the comments section below.
• Become a fan of cegamers at Hidden Chronicles on Facebook.
• Like cegamers at Adventure World on Facebook.
• +1 cegamers on Google+.
• … and finally, if anyone new clicks on your tweet or share and enters the giveaway, both you and your friend get an additional entry.

That’s all there is to it. And relax, we won’t spam you or record any of your details because we’re nice like that.

Told you it was easy…

DATES

The giveaway starts today, Thursday 2^nd February 2012, and will finish in 7 days on the 9^th February at 12pm (Pacific Time). So get entering!

CHOOSING THE WINNER

Every entry will be given a number. At the end of the giveaway, one number will be randomly generated and the one entry number that match, will win a $10 Zynga Game eCard.

A COUPLE OF RULES …

Just a few things to mention:

• The winners will be contacted through whatever means was used to enter the competition.
• If however there is no any response within 24 hours, We will redo the draw and somebody else will win, so pay attention and no exceptions!
• This giveaway is open to everyone that can be reached by e-mail or facebook and plays a Zynga game
• Any “gaming” of the entry system will immediately disqualify you and all your entries, don’t worry, we’ll know

You might experience today lots of issues on Facebook and FB Games.

Troubles like not seeing gifts, not loading neighbors, unable to post to your wall etc…

For once you can’t really blame it on Facebook nor Zynga.

Zynga servers need to connect to Facebook, and if Facebook is unresponsive it gives errors.

Why is today a day of troubles ?

A few days ago a group called anonymous did a test run to shut down Facebook and remarkably they managed even as it was for like 3-10 minutes, kinda unreal as Facebook has 60,000 servers.

They announced also that they would attack Facebook today the 28th January.

True or not , they did manage to put down the Sony PSN for over a month not so long ago.

Here is a copy of their announcement by tomsguide.com

Last week saw reports of Anonymous taking the form of a virtual wrecking ball and knocking down web sites of organizations related to the SOPA and PIPA bills, and the takedown of file hosting site Megaupload. These sites included the FBI, the MPAA, the RIAA and many others. But Anonymous is far from being done as it clearly showed on Sunday after taking down CBS.com, and in a video released on Monday (the video has been taken off youtube already).

According to the clip, Anonymous is now reaching out to everyone who backs the group’s cause. Why? To knock Facebook off the internet map. “While it is true that Facebook has at least 60,000 servers, it is still possible to bring it down,” the group states. “Anonymous needs the help of the people, the people who want to take a stand against the government, the people who want to make a difference. This is what we must do.”

What isn’t exactly clear is why Facebook is a target at all given its stance with PIPA and SOPA. The group mentions the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but didn’t really explain its ties to Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Anonymous has threatened Facebook. The group released a video claiming that the social network would come crashing down on November 5, but that never happened. Still, if the latest threat holds true and the site goes down on Saturday, the worst that could happen to its users is that they can’t flood the feed with pixilated cartoons or minute-by-minute updates on the dog’s latest trick.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

What do you think? Will they be able to shut down Facebook or cause severe troubles? Let us know.

Today has been a nightmare for lots of users on Facebook, those connecting to European servers seemed to be the victims, some of our admins didn’t see any posts in groups and pages.

Others couldn’t even load Facebook.

Below screenshot shows that at a certain group one of our admins could only see a post of 16h ago when lots of members claimed to have posted and several could see all posts.

Screenshot

So went searching what the potential problem could be for certain people, and we found following information at neowin.net

Credits: Owen Williams

Today, some users were reporting that Facebook was down while others are reporting itermittent issues, but it appears to be widespread. The company keeps track of API errors and slow load times of the developer website and those have almost tripled for around ten minutes. This then trailed off as the site began responding again.

Chart

It appears the issues only affected users in particular countries, as Facebook’s servers are distributed around the world making a DDOS attack hard to execute. Downforeveryoneorjustme.com reports that Facebook is “down” at time of writing.

AnonSec has claimed responsiblity for the issues, citing a DDOS attack underway. Anonymous had an attack planned for January 28, making this attack 3 days ahead of schedule.

It appears it could have been a test, as the group tweeted shortly after that users were “free to play Farmville and Mobwars” again.

screenshot

Developing story…

To follow updates of this story read at neowin.net 

A new Hoax is spreading in gaming communities on Facebook.

This time about a feature Players of various games around the world would love to see happening.

A Accept All button for Game Requests!

Why is this a hoax ? Lets dissect the images being spread.

The above image looks legit but lets see how we can see this is hoax in the following image.

• The Accept All Button isn’t aligned correctly, which is the first indication as nowhere you will find buttons on Facebook not aligned correctly within the table frame.
• The red line shows that the button is lousy put above the game logo, which not a single developer/designer would do, especially not FB with their gridline format.
• The blue lines show correct alignment but again it shows that the accept all button is out of place.

Also question yourself, if this would be true why did Zynga invest and developed their Zynga Message Center to collect them if there would have been a Accept All button made.

And try to find anywhere on the Facebook Platform buttons that are aligned outside the grid. Nowhere will you find one.

What is a HOAX ?

A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth.

Why do people create such false images and spread them around Facebook is beyond our understanding, FB App Developers have new features prior of anyone else on the FB platform but this one isn’t there.

How to know new Facebook Features upfront and not getting fooled by a hoax ?

It’s simple, just login to the beta server of facebook http://www.beta.facebook.com

What do you think why people create such made up images, etc ? Let us know.

Update:

After more research on this and checking the FB beta server this Accept All Button claimed to be a FB Update is a hoax as it’s certainly not from Facebook.

How come some people claim it’s a FB update:

It’s actually a change of the Gamers Unite tool, a clever and semi-controversial application that help you find friends, lets you trade virtual items (when possible) and — what’s frowned upon the most — automatically snags all game bonus items from your Facebook feed, no clicking required. Basically, using the Gamers Unite toolbar can get you banned from certain games, and we know several players who will unfriend people who use this application.

So Gamers Unite changed their old red button to the blueish style of FB and has it blend nicely in FB using javascript and the users that have the Gamers Unite tool installed might think it is a FB Update.

As a thank you for following CE Gamers and to kick start the brand new year, we’re launching the first of many giveaways today in a brand new format.

And what better way to start the year than by giving away All FrontierVille/Pioneertrail Collections. (only the Magic Winter Collection is  not part of it)

This is a amazing prize and all you have to do is follow the simple steps below and you’ll be in with a chance to win.

HOW TO ENTER

Simply enter via our special giveaway box just below to be in with a chance to win.

It’s real easy. Enter the giveaway using either your Facebook login or your email address and you get one entry. Optionally, you can do as many of the following as you like. Each one will get  you an additional giveaway entry and therefore a bigger chance of winning:

• Follow cegamers on Twitter.
• Tweet the giveaway from the widget.
• Answer the following question: “Let us know what you think of cegamers.com at frontierville.” in the comments section below.
• Become a fan of cegamers at FrontierVille on Facebook.
• Like cegamers at FrontierVille on Facebook.
• +1 cegamers on Google+.
• … and finally, if anyone new clicks on your tweet or share and enters the giveaway, both you and your friend get an additional entry.

That’s all there is to it. And relax, we won’t spam you or record any of your details because we’re nice like that.

Told you it was easy…

DATES

The giveaway starts today, Saturday 22^nd January 2012, and will finish in 9 days on 31^st January at 12pm (GMT time). So get entering!

CHOOSING THE WINNER

Every entry will be given a number. At the end of the giveaway, one number will be randomly generated and the one entry number that match, will win all collections.

A COUPLE OF RULES …

Just a few things to mention:

• The winners will be contacted through whatever means was used to enter the competition.
• If however there is no any response within 24 hours, We will redo the draw and somebody else will win, so pay attention and no exceptions!
• This giveaway is open to everyone that can be reached by e-mail or facebook and plays the Pioneer Trail
• Any “gaming” of the entry system will immediately disqualify you and all your entries, don’t worry, we’ll know

One month cegamers loyalty program !

Yes, already one month passed since we implemented the loyalty program to our websites.

The fans that connected to our loyalty program have collected 15,323,100 Loyalty Points !

As a Zynga $10 Game Card can be redeemed for 15,000 Loyalty Points this is a total of 10,215.40 USD in points going to our fans thanks to the service provider and sponsors of our Loyalty Program.

Value=((total points)/15.000)*10

Some stats:

Points credited to connected fans:

 12,470,000 Loyalty Points credited by simply visiting cegamers.com websites.

 250,900 Loyalty Points credited by tweeting cegamers.com articles.

 2,545,100 Loyalty Points credited by Liking cegamers.com articles.

 6,300 Loyalty Points credited by +1 cegamers articles.

 488,000 Loyalty Points credited by commenting on cegamers.com articles.

Top 5 Leaderboard after one month

Top 5 Leaderboard 20 January 2012

If you didn’t connected yet or want to know more about our Loyalty Program check following links:

http://cegamers.com/cegamers/cegamers-loyalty-program-how-many-points-a-day-can-you-earn/

http://cegamers.com/cegamers/cegamers-loyalty-rewards-program/

What do you think of our Loyalty Program ? Let us know.

Facebook gaming communities are abuzz with news of Friendly Gaming Simplifier being closed by Facebook’s lawyers. Ever since the news broke, forums, Facebook walls, Facebook groups and blog comments have been filled with allegations against the games developer Sergey Smirnov.

The allegations claim Sergey, the developer of Puzzled Hearts, Puzzled Dogs and Charmed Gems, fell out with Arkadiusz ‘Flies’ Rzadkowolski, developer of FGS, and waged a campaign of dirty tricks to have Flies booted off the Facebook network.

If you’ve been watching closely you will have spotted a regular commenter to all CNN iReports. The commentator’s name is Virginia Moody.

Virgina is the admin of the 3,000 member strong Puzzled Hearts group. Virginia mediated between Sergey and Flies as they battled to outwit each other’s programming skills. Like so many gamers, Virginia feels Flies has been harshly treated by Facebook and Sergey.

You could guess that Virginia has a lot of documentary evidence to back up her claims that Sergey grudge against Flies obsessed him to kill FGS. That guess would be absolutely correct; and I have that evidence ready to publish courtesy of Virginia’s and Flies’ kindness.

SERGEY’S INTERVIEW AT CNN IREPORT

On January 13th, Sergey gave an exclusive interview with CNN iReporter Robert Kriegar who uses the moniker FightBackNow. During this interview, Sergey denied any involvement in getting Flies banned from developing apps for Facebook, he denied visiting Facebook to tell Facebook to block FGS and he denied there was any co-operation between himself and Flies to develop FGS for use with his games.

When Robert Kriegar asked, “It is being said that you, personally, made it a point to go after this particular browser extension. Is that true?”, Sergey replied “People who believe that I, or any other developers, even Zynga, are able to force Facebook to do, or stop doing, anything are very naive, or have no idea about the Facebook infrastructure.”

Sergey continues to say, “My personal point and point of Facebook are completely different. FGS made the Puzzled Hearts game extremely unbalanced. So, I blocked it more than a month ago. It is not my business to comment how Facebook forces their rules. However, I understand the reasons why FGS has been banned.”

According to Sergey, FGS was banned by Facebook because FGS failed to follow the Facebook Platform Policies that all developers are supposed to obey. Facebook has remained quiet about its reason for targeting Flies with a cease and desist order. The true reason why FGS is banned will remain unknown until Facebook speaks up.

When Robert asked Sergey whether Flies had offered his so-operation to make FGS more acceptable for use on Puzzled Hearts and Sergey’s other games, “I believe that for me, as a US citizen, having any deal (cooperation) with such software is not appropriate (not safe). So, I avoided any contact with FGS developer about FGS.”

Sergey follows up with an attack on Virginia Moody: “At the beginning, Virginia Moody asked me somethings like “What if FGS would click the ads on your pages of the players behalf?”. Just after I realized that those (illegal, BTW) offers came from FGS developers, I ended contact with her as well (so, her personal war began at that time).”

There have been rumors that Sergey visited Facebook to ascertain the legality of FGS. Sergey’s reply is plausible. He explains it as a misunderstanding of his poor choice of words spoken to Virginia re a Facebook Developer Conference hosted at Facebook HQ in Palo Alto that he was due to attend a few days from the time of their argument:

[A] couple days before the event, I argued with Virginia about the legal issue. I said, it was illegal to use it. She insisted, it was good and people should have a choice what to use. At the end, I said “I am going to the Facebook HQ, so will ask them directly whether it is legal or not”

I have no proof he was there but he did comment in a group called Facebook Games Hack 12/8albeit his first comment came one day after the event’s close.

Many comments to Robert’s iReport point out that FGS is a browser extension not a Facebook app so Facebook has no actual control over its distribution and should only be able to ask members of the social network not to use it. I’m not a lawyer but that argument seems reasonable. The extension is still available from Google Code for those who need it.

VIRGINIA’S REBUTTAL

Virginia Moody wrote a rebuttal to Sergey’s claims in Robert’s iReport. For reasons only known to Robert explained in a comment to this post, Robert chose not to publish Virginia’s rebuttal.

Virginia’s steadfast loyalty to Flies and support for the Friendly Gaming Simplifier project brought her to JournalXtra. It is with great gratitude to both Virginia and Flies that I am now in possession of 595 lines of messages between Virginia and Sergey Smirnov. I have read every single line with the nosy enthusiasm only usually derived through secretly reading other people’s computer screens over their shoulders.

The file covers Facebook messages and wall posts between Flies, Virginia and Sergey through November 2011 and December 2011.

So, where to begin. I am not about to give you all 595 lines. A digest of the highlights is all I am willing to give at this point. I will provide further details if asked. I suppose the best place to begin is with Virginia’s rebuttal to Sergey’s interview:

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT AND THIS IS FOR SERGEY.

Rumors have it I “hate” you Sergey. That is the furtherest thing from the truth there is.

I do NOT hate you Sergey, I am extremely ANGRY with you and the way you have not only treated me and my members and ALL the PH, CG & PD players, but the way you’ve gone after Flies AFTER he offered his hand to you in friendship and cooperation, willing to program FGS to YOUR specifications NOT his. You returned that offered hand by stabbing him in the back. You returned my friendship and help by blocking me from your games where I could no longer help my members or the other players on your wall answering questions you never bothered to address.

Understand the difference between hate and anger Sergey. I don’t hate you, I am very angry with you and will go the distance to make everything you’ve messed up right again for everyone, myself included.

From reading the conversations held between all three, I find it hard to believe Sergey’s interview answers. In the interview, he does seem to be attacking FGS and attempting to character assassinate both Virginia and Flies. At one point in the interview he says Virginia asked whether making FGS click ads would solve some of Sergey’s concerns about lost ad revenue. Virginia doesn’t deny saying this but what she actually said is very different to Sergey’s allegation:

Primarily what I’m rebutting is Sergey’s statement that Flies stated he would program FGS to click on Ads. As you’ll see, Flies never mentioned that. I’m the one that was trying to work out the compromise with Sergey and ask if I clicked every ad that came up would that help him and you’ll see his response. - from an email sent to me by Virginia.

On December 4th, Virginia asked Flies to answer security holes alleged to affect FGS:

ok missed you again…………. I have 4 questions to ask you that are VERY important Flies. I hope you didn’t leave the group after putting yourself in because there has been information, I hope false, given to the group regarding FGS. The developer has blocked you from collecting his 3 games, Puzzled Hearts, Charmed Gems and Puzzled Dogs because he considers FGS a security threat to us the players and feels he’s doing us a favor in blocking you.

1. Is FGS a FB authorized application and if not then how can we add it to our FB accounts with all of FB’s so-called security lately?
2. Is FGS secure or does it take control of our browsers, as accused, giving you the ability to hack into our banking and other personal information?
3. How long has FGS been available to FB games and how many users do you currently have?
4. When did you add Puzzled Hearts and Charmed Gems to FGS?

This battle will be won as we are all willing to give up his games to keep FGS and will simply move on to other games you provide us the ability to collect and play. It has now become a battle of developer vs developer and our group, being the largest of his [Sergey's] games, are behind you and not him, but I desperately need the answers to the above questions.

Flies response came the same day:

1. No it’s not authorized. It’s my homemade creation.
2. Yes, FGS has a list of domains (game addresses) it can use to collect data. Also FGS source [code] can be seen by anyone. It was also checked by Softpedia and marked as 100% secure. FGS has also been awarded [GameMaster.com's Golden Game Gear Award]
3. 1,5 year and over 1.5 mln users
4. About 6 months ago PH, and 4 CG.

The file also shows Sergey gained Virginia's trust enough for her to make him an admin of her 3,000 member strong Puzzled Hearts group.

Sergey's actions suggest he ran a premeditated campaign to discredit both Flies and FGS. Firstly by pretending to work with Flies via Virginia to make FGS function properly with Sergey's games; secondly by using Virginia's Puzzled Hearts group as his personal support forum for game players to curry favor; thirdly by spreading rumors about Friendly Gaming Simplifier's security; and fourthly by booting Flies out of Virginia's Puzzled Hearts' group:

He [Sergey] deleted you, I had made him Admin, my mistake, just request to rejoin or I'll see if I can add you back.
We are currently on 7 day boycott of his games because of this issue.

It seems Sergey knew FGS would be banned ahead of the cease and desist notice Flies received on January 6, 2012:

[..]would like to know if you've heard from FB that FGS and all other game collectors are being banned by FB as Sergey is telling everyone? - 19 December 2011, Virginia Moody.

It is hard not to conclude that Sergey played Jekyll and Hyde to rid the world of Friendly Gaming Simplifier.

WHERE DOES THIS TAKE US?

From reading the messages, iReports and Save FGS Group Wall posts, it looks like a game of cat and mouse between two developers grew out of hand. Sergey was obviously increasingly frustrated that his best efforts to stop players using FGS to play his games were constantly thwarted by Flies.

It is understandable that a game developer will want to exercise a level of control over the direction of play of his games; but a developer needs to understand that a percentage of game players will always look for ways to end the game as quickly as possible. Some of us just like to get things done.

Many applications are funded by the ads displayed when players load them. Reading between the lines, Sergey was worried about the ad revenue lost due to players not seeing the ads his applications display when wall and gift requests are collected. It is not cheap to host a game. I know this from experience and fully sympathize with Sergey on this point.

FGS did not make money for Flies through ad revenue. He received occasional donations from FGS users. Through Virginia, Flies offered to place Sergey's money making ads in FGS:

If you want, please pass this message to Sergey: I am willing to go on compromise with FGS and his games anytime he contacts me. I think that wasting both of our time is not worth it and we can resolve it. I suppose no one would be offended by an ad displayed inside FGS PH, CG. That would "satisfy" him financially I suppose and we would both have time to do something more meaningful. - Arkadiusz 'flies' Rzadkowolski, 7th December 2011.

If Sergey did pester Facebook to ban FGS, it would be no real surprise that Facebook flexed its claws just to rid itself of a crybaby.

Sadly, Sergey's frustration with FGS caused him to develop a blind vendetta against Flies. Consequently, many people with hand and wrist disabilities are no longer able to comfortably play Facebook games; people who work and have little time to spare to their games are not able to keep up with those players who can play games their every waking hour; and Sergey is losing even more ad revenue as people stop playing his games in protestation of his alleged actions against FGS, Flies and Virginia.

Another deeply saddening outcome is that Flies has been banned from using Facebook. He may not login into Facebook and he may not develop applications that interface with Facebook. Flies is undoubtedly a very clever man with a strong aptitude for a future in application development. Facebook is one of the biggest markets for applications. Sergey's alleged actions have cost a very talented young man a future in Facebook application development; and as he won't be able to participate in conversations held over Facebook's networks, Flies may find his usefulness to some employers severely limited.

YOU CAN HELP

A number of Facebook groups have rallied support of Flies and FGS. Join them and let Facebook know you support FGS too:

Puzzled Hearts - The Real Game Players

Save FGS

There is a petition at Petition Buzz that you can sign:

Petition to Save FGS

Like the CNN iReport to get the FGS battle onto CNN:

Original CNN iReport

credits: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-730611 and  http://journalxtra.com

Check what apps you granted permission to access your information on Facebook.

You might be surprised to find apps you didn’t even know you had, often scam apps.

Click the icon below to open your permissions tab or click this shortcut link.

There are many legitimate apps and websites which you can give permission to connect with your account – but that doesn’t mean you have to have a free-for-all.

Remember, any application that gets permission to access your profile information potentially puts that information at risk.

And, in the case of Facebook, it could put your friends’ information at risk, as well.

Any permissions can be dangerous, but Facebook is particularly worrisome, given the high number of users who are happy to give their personal information to strangers.

That personal information can be used for identity theft. It can be used for a mind-boggling array of other nastiness, as well.

Did you find apps in your permission you gave access you didn’t even know you gave them ? Let us know

Have your Facebook friends invited you to switch your boring blue Facebook profile to an attractive shade of red, black or shocking pink?

Screenshot

Switch to Pink Facebook (Limited Time!)

[LINK]

Say goodbye to the boring blue profile and say hello to the pink profile!!

Screenshot

Switch to Red Facebook (Limited Time!)

[LINK]

Say goodbye to the boring blue profile and say hello to the red profile!!

So what happens if you click on one of these links? Well, typically, are you are told that you must take multiple steps to receive your differently hue of Facebook.

Firstly, you are told to share the link with your online friends. This should be the first indication that something is amiss – after all, what legitimate feature or organisation would require you to share news of it *before* you have actually experienced what – if anything – it can do for you?

Screenshot

Secondly, you are asked to leave a comment – extolling the wonderfulness of your new pink or red Facebook. Remember – at this point your Facebook is still decidedly blue. Any comment you leave will, of course, act as an endorsement and could be seen by your online friends and encourage them to also participate.

Predictably, the point of all of this sharing is to drive more traffic to the scammers’ link where an online survey will pop-up. The more people who take the survey, the more commission that the scammers will earn.

Screenshot

That’s not to say, of course, that it’s impossible to turn your Facebook pink, red or black if you really want to. For instance, there are number of GreaseMonkey scripts which will work alongside the Firefox web browser to customise the look of Facebook – just as the look of eBay or GMail can be similarly changed on the fly if you choose.

Clearly there’s a demand for such customisation – even if it serves no practical purpose. But just make sure that your hunger for a pink-themed Facebook doesn’t lead you into a scheme designed purely to earn money for scammers.

Screenshot

If you’re one of the many people who fell for this or similar scams, please check your Facebook page to ensure that you are not spreading any messages to your online friends and ensure that you have revoked any Facebook applications, events and “like”d pages that you are uncomfortable with.

Credits: Sophos

Some people bring it even to news site CNN, a user reported it using the iReport feature of CNN.

Actually a interesting move by fans, if it gets enough attention CNN might make it a news topic.

Below a part of the transcript, click the link under it to read the rest at the CNN iReport site.

Facebook, a social media website, is using the threat of legal and financial ruin, under the color of law, to attack a lone programmer.

Going by the internet pseudonym of “Flies”, a lone programmer has created a script, or program, that is added on as a browser extension, for which he does not charge. FGS (Friendly Gaming Simplifier)
This browser extension does nothing more than gather posts to a users Facebook webpage. It collects virtual items, and returns them to gamers who have sent them. It does nothing within the games, nor with the games, that any other player cannot do without it (except save them countless hours of repetitive clicking, and the resultant injuries), and allows players to fairly and equally address others in the game. An untold number of game participants use (and have been using, for some time now) this browser extension-and the world of Facebook has not ceased spinning to date!
These games, i.e., Farmville, *anyville, etc., require users to add, and spam, large numbers of Facebook users in their “friend” lists. This furthers advertising the game,increases exposure and revenue, and is often the only single way to proceed in the game…unless you want to spend real life cash. They are also, largely, games by a company named Zynga.

Received on the day of 6th January 2012 02:05 GMT+1, Perkins Coie attorney company, which is representing Facebook Inc., based in Menlo Park, California, enjoined this programmer of the following:

- Stop offering the FGS Browser Software, or any other software that interferes with Facebook’s intended limitations or impairs the proper working of Facebook,
- Cease and not access the Facebook site(s) and/or services for any reason whatsoever.

Read more here

FGS one of the most widely used bonus collectors for various games had to shut down due to a Facebook Notice from a Law Firm.

Read the announcement by the FGS developer here.

Our thoughts why ?

Facebook is driven on advertising revenue.

Each page visit shows eg 3 small ads, Facebook sells ads on CPM base, in other words per 1000 views.

With FGS which is a browser plugin and not a facebook app, no FB advertisements where shown.

So lets assume the following:

• Reward link -> wall feed shows 3 FB ads
• Reward link clicked -> sidebar shows 3 FB ads

This is already 6 impressions for 1 reward link a player/user would click.

With FGS you don’t see any advertisement when it fetches the wall feed nor when clicked. 

FGS had around a 250,000 active users so lets do some math

• 250,000 users * 1000 reward links * 3 = 750 million ad impressions that FB normally should show
• 750,000,000 ad impressions * ($0.10/1000) cost per impression = $75,000

So each day the 250,000 FGS users that auto collect a 1000 wall feeds, this results in a loss for Facebook of aprox a $75,000 (10 cent for 1000 impressions is cheap is actually more expensive)

This is our thought why Facebook attacked FGS, we doubt that other bonus collectors that are inside Facebook as app will be hit the same and will be forced to close, mainly because those still generate ad impressions for Facebook and not taking away revenue for FB.  And also the reason why FB never will have a one click accept all , the more page views a user has to do , the better for FB.

What do you think of our thoughts why FB attacked FGS ? Do you agree that this could be the reason why ? Do you have other thoughts why ? Let us know.

Looking for new friends to play Hidden Chronicles on Facebook with ? Write ‘ADD ME’ in the comments below.

Note: Be sure to do ONE of the following, so other people can friend you on Facebook:

- Log in to our comments system using Facebook Connect then leave a message. [Recommended]

cegamers comment system

- Include a link to your Facebook page in your message

- Include the email you use on your Facebook account in your message.

Click this link to get started > http://cegamers.com/cegamers/add-me-central/hidden-chronicles-add-me-page/#disqus_thread

Not Zynga or game companies that are the cause of the end of FGS but Facebook itself.

Is this a first of the numerous bonus collectors that have the ability to collect/gift auto.

Following is quoting Flies the developer of FGS.

Source: http://blog.fgs.rzadki.eu/2012/01/end-of-fgs.html

I am really sorry to announce that time of FGS project has finished. After 1,5 year of providing users with a service that was meant to improve their gaming experience, I am shocked that this project ends in such an upleasant situation as I am forced to stop it for good.

On the day of 6th January 2012 02:05 GMT+1, I have received a legal note from Perkins Coie attorney company, which is representing Facebook Inc., based in Menlo Park, California.

According to this note I must follow all of the below demands „In order to avoid further escalation of this matter”:
- Stop offering the FGS Browser Software, or any other software that interferes with Facebook’s intended limitations or impairs the proper working of Facebook,
- I must cease and not access the Facebook site(s) and/or services for any reason whatsoever.

Due to the fact that I am in no position of negotiating this terms (and can’t afford the escalation of this matter) I am going to follow these demands.

On the 6th January 2012 20:00 GMT+1, I will:
– remove FGS website,
– remove all materials connected with FGS (source codes, backups etc),
– will add a big permanent notice on top of FGS with a link to this note,
– log out from my Facebook account for the very last time.

As of this time, sending any messages to my facebook account will be pointless, since I will never ever reply to them. I was permanently presumed as an unwelcome/dangerous person to Facebook infrastructure and any of my activity on Facebook’s site, platform, or network will be regarded as unauthorized access to its protected computer network, which enforses legal actions against me, if I deny to follow those restrictions.

I would like to thank all the people that were supporting this project for such a long time, I am really devastated with this situation, while my one and only intention was to help people without asking anything in return.

If you ever need to contact me, even if to say hi, you are free to contact me via those sites:
– Google plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106132395261281944651/posts
– Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/fliesPL
– Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/flies/

Or even to drop me an email to: flieshunterpl@gmail.com

Once again I would like to thank all those people that cared for this project and were supporting it all the way, for better or worse. I had a real fun learning something new, improving my programming skills, while making true new friends in the process. Too bad it ends this way…

I hope that we will be able to keep in touch somehow or cross our paths again in the different projects someday – that I wish for both me and you.

–
Best regards,
flies

cegamers note: FGS was widely used among players of various zynga games, it fetched the game as wall feeds and allowed manual as auto collecting of the rewards/bonusses. It was one of the so called better bonus collectors. Our question is now, will Facebook shut down all bonus collectors ? Also these on FB as app ? Or is this simply because it was a standalone app not inside Facebook.

What do you think of this action by Facebook ? Do you like it that they shut down a bonus collector ? Do you think they should shut down all bonus collectors ? Let us know 8

The below tips might help to solve this problem.

The main cause : DNS Pre-Fetching Feature

If you’ve been to the preferences page, you would notice a settings in “Under The Hood” called “Use DNS pre-fetching to improve page load performance“. Everyone including me would have ticked this checkbox because it seems to bring only benefits and it sounds promising. However, it is not the case here, while I still cannot explain why this is happening, just untick the checkbox to bring your Chrome back to its speedy glory.

Screenshot

In Google Chrome for Mac, the settings is actually called “Predict network actions to improve page load performance“. Therefore, just untick any similar checkbox.

Second cause : Your PC DNS Cache

Your DNS cache stores the locations (IP addresses) of pages you have recently viewed. If the location of the page changes before the entry in your DNS cache is updated, you will be unable to access the page.

If you are encountering a high number of HTML 404 error codes, you may need to flush your DNS cache. Once you clear your DNS cache, your computer will query nameservers for the new DNS information you require.

For more information about the HTML 404 error code, please visit the HTML 404 wikipedia article.

The methods detailed below allow you to remove old and inaccurate DNS information that may result in 404 errors.

Windows XP, 2000, or Vista Windows® XP, 2000, or Vista®

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Go to Run.
   • If you do not see the Run command in Vista, search for “run” in the Search bar.
3. In the Run text box, type: ipconfig /flushdns
4. Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.

MacOS®

1. Go to Applications.
2. Go to Utilities.
3. Open the Terminal application.
4. Type: dscacheutil -flushcache
5. Press Enter or Return, and your cache will be flushed.

Looking for new friends to play FarmVille on Facebook with ? Write ‘ADD ME’ in the comments below.

Note: Be sure to do ONE of the following, so other people can friend you on Facebook:

- Log in to our comments system using Facebook Connect then leave a message. [Recommended]

cegamers comment system

- Include a link to your Facebook page in your message

- Include the email you use on your Facebook account in your message.

Click this link to get started > http://cegamers.com/cegamers/add-me-central/farmville-add-me-page/#disqus_thread

to take this moment to THANK all of you wonderful cegamers fans.

Click here to go direct to the animation.

Instructions:

• Turn up Volume
• Load http://gametools.cegamers.com/holiday/
• Hit the switch bottom right
• Enjoy

Don’t get tricked by this phishing attempt.

Share this post to warn your friends !

Lots of people seem to get again a message claiming that they have to confirm their account and go to a app to do so !

This is an attempt to steal your account !

Screenshot

If you look closer you will notice all the ingredients of a scam/phishing attempt.

1. Sent by Facebook Security

note the c and k which are special characters

2. link to a app, facebook itself has no apps as the Facebook stuff is integrated in their platform, apps is for third parties.

DO NOT click the link if you received the above message.

3. The copyright network inc, holds again special characters. Note the T and N.

So don’t get tricked, fooled, inform your friends, warn them.

Don’t get tricked by this Scam wall post.

Share this post to warn your friends !

Lots of people seem to get a wall post offering a FB Christmas Theme, this is a scam and will install malicious software !

Wall post screenshot

Clicking the link on the Facebook wall post takes you to the following screen:

Screenshot

This page shows a bit.ly link that automatically redirects to the external website shown below. This should be a huge red flag. This scam has already claimed over 15,000 Facebook users!

Screenshot

Ironically, this screen even gives you a warning about installing extensions, apps and themes.

Perhaps this is to lull the unsuspecting user into a false sense of security. If you do continue with the installation, you are presented with the following:

Screenshot

The end game here is a rogue browser plugin. As the warning above states, only install add-ons from authors you trust. Based on what we have seen so far, this one is far from trustworthy.

You can even see that the name of the add-on is ‘Free Cheesecake Factory’ and the author isn’t verified. We have seen a viral Cheesecake Factory scam already, and this one add-on likely was created by the same person. We decided to stop here and recommend you do the same.

How to Deal with the Scam:

If you follow the scam through to its completion, then you are likely spreading the very same scam message to your friends. They will need to remove the scam message by clicking the small “X” located in the top right hand corner of the post on their wall. You also need to run a complete system scan on your machine to make sure the code didn’t infect your system. You will also need to uninstall the rogue add-on from your web browser.

Credits: Facecrooks scam watch

You can earn points on our site(s) in the following ways; 

Check for a small red ribbon next to supported FB/Google/Twitter buttons and comment boxes.

screenshot

• Visiting our site(s) every day – for the first visit by you every day you will earn 100 points
• Liking our content on Facebook – for the first Like by you on our site every day you will earn 100 points
• Tweeting our content – for the first Tweet by you on our site every day you will earn 100 points
• Google +1 our content – for the first Google +1 by you on our site every day you will earn 100 points
• Commenting – for the first comment of the day by you on our site you will earn 100 points

So every day you can earn a maximum of 500 Loyalty Points !

So within a month you should have enough points to redeem for a $10 Zynga Game Card

More info:

http://cegamers.com/cegamers/cegamers-loyalty-rewards-program/