Flash Creations' Computer Help and FAQ

Looking for Guest Posters

2008-09-07T14:22:00.005-04:00

Are you good with computers? Do you have a cool tip or trick that no one else knows? Do you want to get some more traffic to your blog? Well I have a very simple solution for you. It is the end of summer and this means it is time for classes to resume. I will be attempting the best I can to post new articles, but it is very hard to do over the week. I will be posting on Weekends, though (I am devoting most of my time to the new site layout). That said, this is your chance to become a guest blogger. What a guest blogger does is give articles to the blog's owner in exchange for something. In our case, that would be credit to you and a link to your blog/site. If you think you could write a computer related article, please post it on our Article Submission Board along with your name and your website. I would really appreciate the help. Thanks Everyone!!

FlashCreations

How-To: Download Youtube Videos (Alternative Method)

2008-09-01T12:58:00.003-04:00

In a previous article, How-To: Download Videos From Youtube, we discovered how to get your favorite video or maybe even a song from Youtube. The method mentioned in that How-To was probably the most efficent since there were usually only one or two steps to downloading. Still, I have found an amazing glitch in Youtube that allows you to download the videos without the need for any special programs. Read More...

How-To: Be a Better Note-Taker

2008-08-31T01:24:00.002-04:00

For some the school year is already upon us, and for others, it is just about to be. Note-taking is one of the most important skills for a student to possess. It helps them take in lots of information as the teacher explains it and writes up on the board. Without good note-taking skills, you can be stuck with piles of paper that mean virtually nothing to you. In this edition of How-To, you can learn how to improve your note taking schools (and maybe boost that English Grade!). Read More...

Always Have a Sharp Pencil and an Eraser Near

One of the worst ways to take notes is to write with an dull pencil. As your lines become larger (due to the dull pencil), you writing becomes harder to read. Save a lot of times and keep a few sharp pencils near. If one breaks, simply pick up a new one, and continue. You can miss valuable information if you get up to sharpen your pencil. If you prefer pens, don't use them. Pens not only are hard to erase, they simply allow for less error. Using a pencil can make note-taking much easier. Another bad habit is scratching out incorrect information. While this is quick and easy, it makes your eyes jump around when reading over your notes. Simply erasing incorrect words can save your eyes the headache and make studying a breeze!

Put Your Name, the Date, and other Important Information on Your Notes

If you have lots of classes and lots of notes it might be hard to keep your notes separated by class. Even when using dividers in your binder, papers that are stuffed in might not make it to the right section. To avoid this catastrophe, make sure you write you name (First and Last), the date, the class, the subject or title of the notes, and a little note that explains where to return the notes if lost. Do this for every page, even if they are stapled together. This way, you not only have organized papers, but you have papers that might be returned if lost. Here is a sample of how I head notes:

Robert Example
August 30th, 2008
Computer Science - Mr. Gigabyte
Lesson: Operating Systems
If lost please return to locker #123.

Another way to avoid confusion is to add the page number to the bottom of the page (Ex. 1 of 3).

Related Information Should Always Be Together

Jumbled notes are always a pain to look-over when test time comes. All the information is strewn out all over the place. Keep each important note near related ones so you can quickly access information, without searching every page. A good way to ensure everything is organized on your page is to use a bullet system. Each important heading is a bullet and then beneath it put other supporting topics. Below those are more specific statements that contain the important facts. Here is an example of how I format my notes:

Operating Systems

Create an Environment to Run Programs

Kernels

Contains Common Tasks Programs Can Execute
Makes Up the Operating System

Support for Common Programming Languages

Simplify Computer Use

Easy to Use GUI

The "look" of the operating system
Is what programs call to create windows, etc.

Provide Quick Access to Programs and Files

Start Menu (Windows)
Dock (Mac)
Desktop (Windows, Mac, etc.)

Create Platform that is Compatible with Applications

Common Commands to Run Common Tasks

Mostly Uses DLL's to accomplish common tasks

Include a Definitions Sections in Your Notes

There are always words that you don't know the definition to. Most of the time, your instructor will give you a definition. Instead of breaking you bullet system, you can mark off a portion of the bottom of the page for definitions. As I did above, underline the word that you wrote the definition for, and then write it in the definition section. Even if you don't have the definition just write the word and leave some space. This way you can look the definition up later. Here is a sample definition section:

Kernel -
GUI - Graphical User Interface
Desktop - The screen that contains icons and other shortcuts to programs and/or files.
DLL - Data Link Library

Notice How Kernel doesn't have a definition next to it. This is so you can look up and fill it in later.

Summarize Your Notes

At the very bottom of your notes leave space for a few bullets or a little summary of what is on that page. This way when you study, finding information is much easier. Here is my Summary section from the example notes:

Discusses Basics of Operating Systems
Learned about Kernels
Learned About the GUI

With all these tips you hopefully will have a well organized, clean, and easy to access note system. If you want to see an example page of notes, check out my Example Notes.

Tip: Launch Programs Quicker With Speed Launch

2008-08-23T18:11:00.007-04:00

Microsoft is not the favorite when it comes to software production. Yes they have created the Office suite and Vista and XP and pretty much everything that is on a fresh install of a PC. We always, though, find some major bug with their software that doesn't happen with freeware. Bugs and errors are part of any Microsoft program, and yes they are annoying (This is quite an understatement!), but there are some products that Microsoft makes that are pretty reliable. Anyway, enough with my rambling; let's get to the point. Microsoft Office Labs (I don't know why they are calling it Office Labs since this program has nothing to do with Office) has released a beta program called Speed Launch, and it's aim (Hahaha!! Get it. The icon is a target...never mind) is to speed up access to programs (hence the name Speed Launch, duh!). And remarkably, I haven't had it crash yet (Three days with no crashes, why that's a Microsoft record!!). Read More...

List: My Favorite Online Gaming Sites

2008-08-22T22:40:00.006-04:00

So you find yourself sitting at your computer absolutely bored out of your mind. What should you do? Check your email? Read this blog (This is a good idea too!!)? How about play some online games. There are tons of sites out there, but which one to choose? Hopefully this list, will help you find out which site you will go to. Read More...

Some of the best online games are free. I have rated each of these sites in game quality, how often games are released, and then an overall score. Game Quality is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 and the overall score is a 1-10 score based on the two others.

One More Level
Overall Score: 7.5 (1st)
Game Quality: 7 (4th-Tie)
Releases: Once every Week Day (1st)
OneMoreLevel is a great gaming site that usually releases a game every week day!

Armor Games
Overall Score: 7 (2nd-Tie)
Game Quality: 8 (3rd)
Releases: Once Every Three Days (3rd)
Armor Games is a popular gaming site that lets users upload games!!

New Grounds
Overall Score: 7 (2nd-Tie)
Game Quality: 7 (4th-Tie)
Releases: 1-2 Times Every 3 Days (2nd)
NewGrounds is also a community games site that has cartoons, games, and sound clips.

Miniclip
Overall Score: 6 (4th)
Game Quality: 9 (2nd)
Releases: Once a Week (6th-Tie)
Miniclip is one of the most popular gaming sites online. They have new fun and well designed games every week!

Nitrome
Overall Score: 5.5 (5th)
Game Quality: 10 (1st)
Releases: Once Every 2 Weeks (8th)
Nitrome (pronunced N-Eye-Trome) is a great game making company that always makes fun games!!

Addicting Games
Overall Score: 5 (6th-Tie)
Game Quality: 6 (6th)
Releases: Once Every 6 Days (6th)
Addicting Games is another popular online games website that has some great games!

MoFunZone
Overall Score: 5 (6th-Tie)
Game Quality: 5 (7th-Tie)
Releases: Once Every 5 Days (4th)
MoFunZone is a game creating/hosting website that has games and cheats/walkthroughs for almost any game!

Gimme5Games
Overall Score: 4 (8th)
Game Quality: 5 (7th-Tie)
Releases: Once a Week (6th-Tie)
Gimme5Games is a popular game producing website that has great games!!

So there you have it. Some of my favorite gaming websites. If you have any gaming sites that you think are awesome, contact us through our contact page and we can consider adding it.

Important Note about the New Website: Due to some complications with uploading, I wasn't able to upload the new site. There are also some features that I would like to add so they will be added and then the new site will be posted on our beta blog. For now the release date is on a day-to-day basis. I will post it as soon as I can. Sorry for the delay (It's worth it though!!).

New Site BETA Release

2008-08-19T03:25:00.005-04:00

As the new site nears completion, I will be releasing a beta version for testing online. You can help with the beta testing by taking a screen shot of how the site looks to you and providing your browser and operating system. You may upload the image to photobucket or another photo sharing site and send us a link through the contact page. For help on taking a screen shot see this wikihow article. The beta site will be released on flashcreations-beta.blogspot.com at Midnight on Thursday (In Eastern Time) as long as there are no delays. Once the beta site is up, please help by emailing us your view. If you can't upload a screen shot, you can also describe features that you think need fixed. Any suggestions or tips can help too. If you are an experienced HTML and CSS program you can also contribute by offering your coding knowledge. Any help will aid us in releasing the new site earlier. If you have any questions, suggestions, or would like to offer help with the new site, please email. Thanks!! Also, Don't Forget to include your screen resolution when you send us an email. If you are not sure what your screen resolution is, see this WikiHow for help.

Update: The New Site

2008-08-15T13:12:00.008-04:00

So I am sure everyone has been wondering why there haven't been any posts for the past few days. Did he disappear? Nope. Did he just stop posting? Of course not! Even worse, did he lose his password? Never in a million years!! While none of those reasons were right, there is one that is; I am working on a new layout for the site!!! Click read more to view some sneak previews of the new layout, along with some upcoming articles that you will see in the future! Read More...

List: My Favorite Firefox Addons

2008-08-11T02:14:00.005-04:00

For those of you who are Firefox users, you may know about one of the great features, addons. Addons are created by other Firefox users and can do anything from display sports scores, to remind you what day your sister's birthday is on or the date of your doctor's appointment. There are thousands of these on the Firefox Addons Website, but which ones should you get. It is different for every person's needs, but here are some of my favorite Firefox addons. Read More...

There will be multiple addons that will be divided between the several categories. The best of each will be displayed with a link to the addon. If you do not have Firefox, I highly suggest getting it from the Mozilla Firefox Download Page.

Search Optomizer: Cooliris - While it is sometimes annoying to see the little Cooliris preview button, you can enable it on certain site. Still, this addon is a great feature since you can preview any webpage without actually going to it. This also includes images, videos, and much much more. It also provides you wil more in depth Google results.
Google Extension: Customize Google - This addon provides little screen shots on Google web searches so you can see where you are going. It also removes sponsored links (Ads) and enhances your results. It's a great addon that I couldn't live without.
Tab Colorer: ChromaTabs Plus (ChromaTabs for Previous Versions) - ChromaTabs colors all your tabs based on the URL of the tab and also organizes tabs based on several options you can specify.
Tab Recovery: Undo Closed Tabs Button - Even though Firefox provides this feature, it is buried within the menus of Firefox. This small addon provides a button in the browser to recover your tabs.
Stop/Reload Button Fixer: Stop-or-Reload Button - Some browsers have have a feature that displays a stop button when a page is loading, and then replaces it with a Refresh button when the page loads. While this is not a major feature, this minor fix can provide you with a convenience.
URL Corrector: URL Fixer - Sometimes we mistakenly type .con or .comm or, well you get the point. URL fixer can correct common URL errors.
PDF Manager: PDF Downloader - Ever have problems viewing PDF's in Internet Explorer and occasionally Firefox. Well with this addon, you can convert the PDF to an HTML document and view in Firefox with one click. You can even convert web pages to PDF's for high quiality distribution.
AD Blocker: AdBlock Plus - AdBlock is one of the most amazing addons for Firefox I have ever seen. It really blocks all kinds of ads. Banner ads, flash movie (but not games or other content) ads, or any other kind of advertisement you can think of is blocked. AdBlock Plus is designed so if it does accidentally block content you want to see, you can set rules to allow this content and similar content. If you are only going to download one of my suggested addons, this would be the one.
Form Filler: BugMeNot - By signing up for a BugMeNot account you can simply right click on a form and select BugMeNot. It will fill in all the information you have provided. You will never have to fill out a form again!
Calendar: Reminder Fox - Reminder Fox is a great little in-browser program that can manage all your dates you need to remember and much more!
Blog Editor: SubscribeFire Blog Editor - You can now add and edit your blog from anywhere on the web with SubscribeFire Blog Editor.
GMail Manager: GMail Manager - Now you can do just about anything GMail from this little bar at the bottom of your Firefox browser.
GMail Enhancer: Better GMail - With these Greasemonkey scripts, GMail will be as the title says it, better!
Google Reader Enhancer: Better GReader - These Greasemonkey help you track and read you favorite blogs and feeds with ease.
Amazon Enhancer: Better Amazon - With these Greasemonkey scripts surfing and buying from Amazon.com just got a lot easier.
Youtube Enhancer: Better Youtube - We all have to admit most of spend a lot of time on Youtube. With these Greasemonkey scripts browsing and watching videos from Youtube will be so much easier.

So there you have it. My extremely long list of my very favorite Firefox Addons. Do you have any favorites? Post them in the comments. They might make it into a future article! One thing I didn't cover in this was themes. You may also include your favorite themes or any kind of enhancement including tips! If you have any questions about any of these addons, please feel free to post them in your comments, contact us through CrossLoop, or Youtube. (I am working on a contact page where you will be able to contact me directly)

Quick Tip: Clear All Browsing History

2008-08-10T18:13:00.006-04:00

We have all visited sites that we wouldn't want others to know about. It could have been a personal site, secure banking site, or something else. Whatever the case, someone can easily find where you have been by going to the history. For those that are more advanced they look at your temporary internet files and find where the files downloaded came from. This could reveal personal information about where you have been on the web. We value you privacy so in this edition of quick tips, you will be learning how to clear all traces of where you have been. Read More...

How-To: Update Firefox + 10 Reasons to Switch to Firefox

2008-08-09T15:45:00.005-04:00

By now, everyone has probably heard of Firefox 3.1 and if you are Firefox users, you have probably had some problems updating from 3.0 to 3.1. I have heard over the web that there were some problems with your personal data not being saved. It might be too late for some, but for others who haven't updated or still have Internet Explorer, this is your warning. For some reason the install will overwrite all your personal data such as saved passwords, history, etc. This can be quite a pain if you rely on Firefox to remember everything for you. You are in luck because there is a solution to your problem. Read More...

So what to do?? Well the answer is to back up your Firefox personal data. To do this manually would be a horrible nightmare. You would have to browse through your Firefox user folder for all the files you want to save (and you would have to know their names since the password file isn't called My Saved Passwords!). This would simply be too complicated. The simpler way of doing this would be to use a program to backup all you information. There is such a program (and yes, it's free) called MozBackup that can do just that. MozBackup is a Mozilla backup utility that can backup Firefox, Thunderbird, and pretty much every Mozilla product. Go to the MozBackup download page and click install program next to Download from JasnaPaka.com.

Now that you have done that, you can go to the Firefox download page and download and install Firefox 3.1. For those of you who don't want to get Firefox, here are 10 reasons why you should:

Firefox is nine times faster then Internet Explorer and three times faster then it's previous version.
You can add great addons, plugins, and themes from the Firefox website that personalize your browser to look like you favorite sports team, block ads, etc.
In Firefox you can quickly bookmark a site by clicking on the star in the URL bar. Double clicking it will bring up options such as taging your bookmark or organizing it with folders.
You can add a feed to any reader by pressing the RSS button in the URL bar.
Recently visited sites, favorites, feeds, etc. can all be browsed from the URL by typing a word from their title, a tag you gave them, or some of their description.
You can create your own themes and addons for Firefox to personalize it just for you.
Firefox has great online support and bug reporting/fixing (Unlike Internet Explorer, you have to pay to talk to Microsoft).
Firefox is open source, so if you are a programmer, you can look at and help with coding Firefox.
Firefox has lots of companion products that work side-by-side with it.
Firefox is free (and not to mention, totally awesome)!!!!

If you still don't want Firefox listen to this. I was a die-hard Internet Explorer person. I loved Internet Explorer and even after trying Firefox, hated it. After the release of 3.0, I decided to try it again, and I was hooked. I'm sure your thinking, yea right, but this is actually true. I sometimes have to use Internet Explorer to do thing from Microsoft and I always sit their impatiently waiting for it to open. Not only does it take years to open, but the tabs take a long time too. It is really amazing how after using Firefox for so long, Internet Explorer seems like a turtle. Anyways, look out for my new series: Weekend Project: Organize, Clean, and Clear your PC! Also, I would like to hear what you think about the new Firefox in the comments. If you prefer Internet Explorer., explain why.

How-To: Convert Your Files into a Readable Format

2008-08-07T14:32:00.013-04:00

Have you ever been one step from uploading a video to Youtube, or compiling together that office project when the screen turns red and reads: "The file you chose is not a supported format." It could even be a business proposal someone sent you that has a newer version of Microsoft Word. What should you do? Convert the file to a format that is supported. But how do you do that? You can use freeware/paid programs or websites to transfer your file to a readable file type. This how-to will give you the sites and programs you will need to achieve this. Read More...

As I mentioned above, there are two types of conversion methods. Programs and websites. I prefer websites because they don't require you to download software and fill up space on your computer. Conversion websites do have limitations. They are not as fast as having a program do it directly on your computer and there is a possibility of a record of all the files your converted in the sites database. Programs obviously provide more confidentially in that matter, but if you download them from untrusted sites, you may be downloading a virus to your computer. Always use caution when downloading programs. Which method you chose is your decision, but consider my advice wisely.

Websites
There really isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. Websites are a good choice if you are only doing one or two small conversions since they don't require a download. By far, my favorite site is Media Convert. It provides conversions for pretty much every kind of file you can come up with. For (Rare) files not supported by Media Convert, another good option is Zamzar. Zamzar is most commonly used for it's conversion of DOCX (Microsoft Word 2007) to DOC (Original Microsoft Word). Aside from those there really are that many other online services. Some others I found are YouConvertIt and iConv.

Programs
You probably want to download a conversion programs if you have lots of files or bigger files to convert. It will take less time and you won't have to download your file from a conversion site. Since they are free, you are not going to find a multi-type file conversion program. For audio conversion, try FreeRIP, an all audio file converter with a CD ripper. Video converts are not that hard to come by, but free ones are. I prefer to use AVS Video Converter since it includes not only video file conversion, but an almost fully fledged video editor and DVD creator all for a great price. Free! For other formats you will have to look around for programs since conversions such as DOC to DOCX have a program dedicated to just that. If you have read my Freeware article, you know Googling the word free is horrible and will have you browsing billions of pages all usually for trial versions, or programs that aren't free at all. I have made some improvements to the freeware search and here is the newer version.

Soogle Free Software Search: (Version 2.0)

You can even visit Soogle's New Website!! (Looks familiar doesn't it!) While it is still a work in progress, I am working toward making Soogle a great little search engine.

Tip: Bypass the UAC (Extra Tricks)

2008-08-04T21:57:00.007-04:00

So if you have read my latest tip, Disable UAC for Certain Programs, you may notice some problems. For one, it takes some time for the program to load when you click the shortcut. Also, a black box flashes before it opens. Another problem is the icon's logo is not the program's logo. Wouldn't it be nice if these problems were fixed? In this edition of Tips, you can add bells and whistles to your UAC Bypassing shortcuts. Read More...

Tip: Disable the UAC for Certain Programs

2008-08-03T15:41:00.007-04:00

In my previous article, we learned the two ways to disable the Windows Vista UAC: a command prompt hack and through command prompt. It is not a good idea to disable the UAC for extended periods of time due to security vulnerabilities and programs gaining unauthorized access to your computer. Most of us though, are so annoyed with certain programs being blocked by the UAC. The reason for this is because the program needs to perform an administrative task such as accessing the internet (Browsers are exempt), and editing and deleting files in system folders (Such as Program Files and the Windows folder). In fact, you probably disabled UAC because it blocks one of your programs that you use frequently. There is hope. With a simple little trick using the task scheduler, you can run your programs with administrative privileges without the UAC bothering you! Read More...

So how does this miracle trick work. Well, in Windows Vista (and XP) you have a task scheduler. Since most programs that are scheduled require confirmation from the UAC, Microsoft added a run with highest privileges check box. This would allow programs to run automatically (when scheduled) without the hassle of clicking continue on the UAC prompt. This is how we are going to run your program. Simply create a task, check the run with highest privileges, and make a shortcut to run the task. Here's how to do it in detail:

First click Start and then All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Task Scheduler.
Click allow if you are prompted by the UAC (You should be unless it is disabled).
In the left hand column, right click on Task Scheduler Library and then click New Folder.
Name it UAC Bypass and click the OK button.
Now click the arrow next to Task Scheduler Library.
Right Click on your new folder and then click Create Task.
Name it with the name of your Program and type a description. (Remember the Name, we will use it later)
Make sure to check run with highest privileges at the bottom.
Click the actions tab and then click new.
Select Start a Program from the drop down box.
Click the browse button and find your program (It should be an .exe; If your not sure where it is, see the instructions for finding it's location below)
If you have any arguments such as /AUTO (Which runs in the background) in CCleaner, type them in the arguments box.
Click OK
If you have a laptop, click the Conditions tab and uncheck Start the Task Only if the Computer is on AC power.
Click the OK button.
Now go to your desktop. (You may close the Task Scheduler)
Rick Click and go to New>Shortcut.
Type (And replace [Program Name] with the name of your TASK):
C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn "\UAC Bypass\[Program Name]"
Give it a good name.

Finding the Location of your Program

Right click on the program's shortcut on the desktop.
Click Properties.
It's location is in the target box under the Shortcut Tab.

And there you have it. Now when you try to run the program, it will run without the UAC prompt. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for this tip: include it in a comment, post it on the forums, or PM us through our Youtube Channel.

P@$$words: Securing Your Life

2008-08-01T01:05:00.008-04:00

You just got a brand new computer after the last one was hacked into because of a weak password. Now you are paranoid about having a password that no one can crack. Is it better if you make it long, or complicated, or even short with random characters?? In this article all you password related questions will be answered. Read More...

Cracking Passwords
Before we jump into the password strength discussion, let's first talk about how passwords are cracked. This will give you a better understanding of why using these techniques can help protect your accounts. Windows passwords are called MD5 Checksum Hashes. A hash is a complicated string that is the encrypted form of an original string. The way hashes are created makes it impossible to actually decode. To crack a hash you actually have to guess the password and convert it to a MD5 hash. If the hashes are equal, your guess is the password, if not, you have to guess again. This makes is more complicated to crack since you can't reverse engineer the MD5 hash. You must guess it. There are many programs out there that can crack hashes, but we will not discuss them (This is an article on good passwords, not cracking them).

There are several ways to crack a hash, but there are two basic types. A dictionary attack and a brute force attack. A dictionary attack is when a program tries words from a dictionary as it's guess. After converting to a hash, if the hashes are equal, the dictionary word is the password. For some of those who are more sophisticated, a brute force attack is necessary. A brute force attack it the most common (Because there is almost a guarantee it will find the password), but it is the slowest. This is because it simply starts trying random patterns. For example, if you had a password that was two characters and only lowercase the program would try: aa,ab,ac,ad,ae,af, etc. Once you start adding more characters and character sets (a-z, A-Z, 0-9 + Special Characters) you can see how the time will add up. Take a look at this example. We are assuming that a brute force attack is being performed and it can try 1,000 passwords a minute.

Pass Length	Character Set	# of Passwords	Time
4	a-z	456976	7.6 Hours
4	a-z, A-Z	7311616	5.07 Days
7	a-z, A-Z, 0-9	6060711605323	4208827.5 Days
7	a-z, A-Z, 0-9, Special	10030613004288	19084.1 Years

Notice how the time it takes to crack increases exponentially as you add more characters and make the passwords longer. If you used the last option, the world would have been destroyed by Global Warming before your password was cracked. Armed with this knowledge, you should already have a good idea for a password. Take a look at some of the tips below for good ideas for creating a password that is even harder to crack!

Password Creation Tips
One of the most important things about making your password is to make one that you can remember. If it is so complicated that you have to write it down, make one that is simpler to remember. Aside from forgetting the password, writing it down is one of the worst things to do. If someone got a hold of the paper, they would have all your passwords and would be able to access everything you protected with that password. If you can't remember your passwords, most browsers (including Firefox) include a password remembering feature. Firefox even offers a master password feature. It will encrypt all your passwords, but to use one you need to enter the master password. For other passwords you can try programs like RoboForm can remember all your passwords and multifunction as a form filler. All passwords RoboForm can be protected with a master-password too!

Even though all of these tools are great, nothing beats good 'ol brain power. You can never trust a computer. They can crash or be hacked (Your passwords in RoboForm are encrypted with Government Standard Encryption, it probably won't happen) and are just not reliable. You mind is the best way to bank all your passwords. Just as a side note if you really are a security frantic, you can try a very expensive solution called Iron Key. Iron Key is a flash drive trusted by the military to protect trade Government Secrets. I'm not going to go into details but it is pretty much everything proof. Nothing can break into it without destroying the encryption keys and if you enter the password wrong ten times it will self destruct. Yeah, sounds cool doesn't it. It even has a secure browser and password manager built into it so you can pretty much do everything with your flash drive. All this for a pretty hefty price!!!

If all these solutions seem too expensive or just too much for you, try some of this tips that can improve your password strength so you don't need Military Grade Encryption. One of the most basic passwords is a password that contains just lowercase letters (Ex. password). Now once you have a good word let's disguise it by making some of the letters uppercase (Ex. PassWORd). Don't use a pattern such as PaSsWoRd, make it random to make your password even more secure. Next let's add numbers to it to complicate it further (Ex. PassWORd23). This is pretty common. Most people will use a word and then a two digit number (such as the last two digits of the year they were born). If you want a good password, try a number you like and then disguise it into your password (Ex. Pa2ss3WORd). If this isn't too hard to remember yet, try adding some special characters: @ for a and $ for s or replacing numbers with their symbol: 3 is # 1 is ! (ex. P@2ss#W0&d). This probably looks complicated. You really don't have to use that many special characters, but the more, the better. The example password, P@2ss#W0&d, would take about 71231092.8 centuries to crack. That's pretty long!!

Passwords are some of the most important thing on the web. They protect your sensitive data and provide us access to some of our personal information. Without passwords, the web and computers would be very insecure. I hope this article has help you learn how to protect your accounts with a strong password. If you have any password related questions, post a comment, post it on the forums, contact us for live help from our CrossLoop gadget, or PM us through our Youtube Channel. And as always, thanks for reading!!

Tutorial: A Complete Guide to Youtube

2008-07-30T02:28:00.016-04:00

So you want to learn about Youtube. It is the newest "it" site on the web. It has over 1.75 billions video views and over 45 Terabytes (1000 gigabytes= 1 Terabyte). If you added up all the total view times it would be over 10,000 years. So now that you know those amazing facts it's time to learn about Youtube. How do I create an account, how do I upload a video, how do I delete one? All these questions and more will be answered and more in A Complete Guide To: Youtube! Read More...

Well let's talk about the basics. The first and most basic thing is creating an account. This is pretty simple. All you have to do is (go to Youtube) and click the Sign Up button. Fill out the information requested and then submit. You will have to verify your account by clicking on a link in an email you receive from Youtube.

Register for an Account

The next thing you will want to do is login to your account so you can see your personalized videos. All you have to do is click login at the top and type in your username and password and click login.

Loging In

Now that you're logged in, it's time to watch some videos. Click one that Youtube suggests for you or type in a search term.

Finding a Video

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to rate the video, comment, add to your favorites, etc. This is possible directly from the video's page.

Viewing Video Details

Here is a detailed description of each of the features listed above:

Subscribe Button - This Button subscribes you to the poster's videos. They will appear on your home page and help determine your likes and dislikes.
Video Annotations - These are little popup text bubbles that you can set to appear to give users for details. See the Annotations Page for more.
Related Videos - These are videos that Youtube thinks is similar to the video your are watching.
Share - Under this tab you will find options for emailing and adding videos to your Facebook, Myspace, etc.
Favorite - When you click this you are making this video on of your favorites. This will appear on your home page and will help determine your likes and dislikes.
Playlists - This button ads this video to one of your playlists which can be accessed from your home page.
Flag - This marks the video as inappropriate. If you incorrectly mark a video your creditability will decrease.
Comment - This gives you the option of providing a text comment for the video.

Look forward to our next edition where you will learn how to upload and manage videos.

Tip: Watch Movies and TV Shows Legally for Free

2008-07-30T00:23:00.004-04:00

Wait, did you just say watch movies and TV for free online. Are you sure you typed that right? There has to be some kind of catch. Is it really legal? There is no way you can watch movies and TV shows online for free. It must be some kind of torrent or download. Actually, it's not. In this tips edition I will be showing you how to watch some of your favorite TV shows and movies online for free; and don't forget, it's perfectly legal! Read More...

Update: Our New Groups!

2008-07-29T12:47:00.003-04:00

Just yesterday we launched our all new Groups on Yahoo and on Google. If you have any questions, comments (Which you can post here), suggestions, or would like to submit an article for the site you can post them on one of the two group, the forum, the comments on any article, or as always PM them to us on our Youtube Account. That also reminds me, we are almost in to August and we still don't have any suggestion for the Reader's Request. If you have a suggestion, please post it. If there is only one request, then that will be the Reader's Request Article. Also, if you haven't signed up for the forums, please do (Signup). It is a great and free resource to answer all your computer questions without having to call a tech support line! After the Read More, I will give you links to our new Google and Yahoo groups! Read More...

How-To: Reset Your Windows Password

2008-07-27T19:04:00.005-04:00

So you turn on your computer today to check you email for a very important information about your raise from your boss. You anxiously watch as Windows XP loads. By the time your blue login screen comes up, your fingernails are inches shorter. You are almost there. All you have to do it login...Wait. Why won't it accept my password!! Work!! It's not working!! What's wrong?? I need that email now! Why won't it log me in. But wait, there's a password hint! It's blank! You must have not set it because you didn't think it was necessary. What should you do?? In this article we will be learning a very quick fix that can save you a lot of time and money (Professional Services are Rip-Off's). Read More...

So what do. The very simple thing is to try to remember what you could have set your password. Most people use their name and birthplace along with an important number (Such as their birth day, month, or year). Some people will use pet names with or without numbers. Before we reset the password think for some time what it might be. Even try sleeping on it. You might remember what your password is the next day.

If you can't remember the password after a few days, you will need to reset it. Before resetting your password, see if your computer has another administrator. Ask the Administrator if he can reset your password for you. Give the admin these instructions:

Login to the Administrator Account
Click Start and then Run
Type: CMD
Next type: NET USER
Find the User that needs their Password Reset
Type: NET USER [username] * (Replacing [username] with the exact name of the account's password you would like to reset. Don't forget the Star, shift+8, at the end)
Press Enter Twice
Type exit or close the Window

This should reset the user's password. Remember to set you password again and make it something you can remember. If you don't have another administrator account or you are the administrator you will have to reset the password through Safe Mode. To reset you password this way follow these instructions:

Shut Down Your Computer
Turn it Back On
Immediatley after pressing the power button, repetitively hit the F8 key (Above the 7 and 8 keys)
When you see a screen that says Advanced Boot Options Use the Arrow Keys to highlight Safe Mode with Command Prompt and press enter
Once booted up, there should be an Administrator Account Listed on the logon screen. Click It.
Once in the account select start and then run.
Type CMD
Type NET USER
Find the user that needs their password reset
Type NET USER [username] * (Replacing [username] with the exact name of the account's password you would like to reset. Don't forget the Star, shift+8, at the end)
Press Enter Twice
Type exit or close the window
Reboot the Computer
Click on your Account

Remember to reset you password and make it something you will remember!!

Tutorial: Web Programming Bonus Article

2008-07-25T12:23:00.010-04:00

Now that you have learned the basics of HTML it is time to continue on to bigger and better things. If you prefer to continue with web programming this article is for you. We will discuss some useful programs for HTML design and tools for making programming easier. We will also talk about other websites of interest for other programming topics and further HTML training. Read More...

In terms of other tutorials I would suggest W3Schools. They provide free tutorials and certification in all kinds of web programming. Before continuing anything else. Try their HTML tutorial to fill you in with the latest and greatest new features. The next step is to lean CSS. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet and it is the web standard for formatting you HTML. After that you will want to learn how to code in Javascript. It is the easiest way to program without having to deal with servers or anything like that. Once you have mastered the basics, you can try learning other languages such as PHP, SQL, and ASP. Check out the W3Schools website for more great programming tutorials. It is a great way to learn and it definitely worked for me!

If you need any help along the way you can either post a comment, PM us through our Youtube Channel, or now you can request live support from one of our experts with the CrossLoop service near the bottom of the page on the left hand column. Another good resource is the Web Developer Community Forum. It is a community of coders who can provide support for literally any programming on the web.

Since you have finished you have probably been looking for some really cool HTML editing program. The problem is (and you had the same at the beginning of the tutorials) you are not willing to spend all that money on Dreamweaver. Unless if you learn PHP, Perl, ASP, SQL, etc. and become a full-time coder and web designer, you don't have to get Dreamweaver. There are plenty of great tools out there that are as good and for beginners. Here are some of my favorites:

AceHTML (http://software.visicommedia.com/) - This is the one I suggested in my Freeware Roundup. It has great HTML support and it a good freeware tool for beginners, intermediate programmers, and experts. It even has code coloring for most major scripting platforms. And who can beat the price, free!
Matrix Y2K (http://www.download.com/) - Matrix is a fully functional HTML and PHP editor. It even has Firefox support for all those Firefox users!
CoffeeCup Free (http://www.coffeecup.com/) - CoffeeCup while a free version of a full version is not a trial. It has drag-and-drop HTML code that you can literally drop into your document.

This concludes the Web Programming Series I hope everyone has enjoyed and learned something for these tutorials. Check out site every day for new articles, tips, tricks, tutorials, and computer how-to's. If you have any suggestions for this tutorial or others you can post a comment or submit you idea on the forum. Feel free to PM us from our Youtube Page or contact us for live computer help with the CrossLoop Gadget on the left-hand column of this page.

Thanks for reading!

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Tutorial: Web Programming Part 3

2008-07-24T20:50:00.008-04:00

If you have been following my Web Programming Series you have probably been awaiting the most awaited tutorial on the web. OK, so maybe it isn't the most awaited, but you have been waiting for quite some time and here it is. In this final edition of web programming, we will be discussing text font, color, links, images, tables, and other key features of HTML programming. We will be summing up all you need to know to get started with basic web programming. There might even be a bonus article on other great articles about other kinds of web programming. So stop biting you finger nails (from the anxiety) and get ready to finish the web programming series!! Read More...

The Font Tag
Before learning how to create links and images, we will want to learn how to change the color, size and font face. These are determined with the font tag. I bet you can guess how it's formatted. Yes, you're right! The font tag looks something like this:

This Text is red, size 7, and arial.

The first tag you will notice is the color element. It can contain hexidecimal values. We will not discuss hexidecimal values in depth, but they are basically a six digit and letter code that is preceded with a # (Shift+3). For a full chart of web safe colors (Colors that all browsers that can display) see this HTML Hexidecimal Color Chart. The second element, the size element, is an element that determines the size of the text. The default in most browsers is 3. While this might seem small, it is the equivelant of size 12 in Microsoft Word. When using the font tag, make sure you only use values of 1-7. Once above 7, the text gets too big. There are other tag for these bigger texts, we will discuss them later. If you don't define a size, the text will probably be a little larger then the text in this article. The last element is the face element. It contains the font face (Arial, Times New Roman, etc). As with the colors, there are safe fonts that are installed on to most computers. These fonts are: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif, times new roman, times, serif, courier new, courier, monospace, georgia, verdana, and geneva. Generally Times New Roman will be the default font on most computers. All you have to do is copy (Ctrl+C) one of these fonts and paste (Ctrl+v) between the quotation marks of the face element. Please note, every element that is part of tag is enclosed in either "quotation marks" or 'apostrophes'. You must enclose the font name, color, size, and anything that is after the equal sign of an element. Also note, the order of these elements doesn't matter. You can put them anywhere after the name of the font and before the first >. Here is a demo of the font tag:

Yellow with Default Size and Default Font Red Text with Size 4 and Font Sans-Serif Blue Text with Default Size and Font Verdana Green Text with Size 25 and the Default Font

The output of that would be:

Yellow Text with Default Size and Times New Roman Red Text with Size 4 and Font Sans-Serif Blue Text with Default Size and Font Verdana Green Text with Size 2 and the Default Font


You can test out all of these by creating a new html file with notepad. If you need a little help with writing the file, here's the code:
<HTML>

  <HEAD>

  <TITLE>My Font Tag Test</TITLE>

  </HEAD>

<BODY>

<FONT>This is a font test!</FONT>

You have to fill in the font tag!

</BODY>

</HTML>
Simply save this in a special folder and then right click it and point to Open With. Internet Explorer (or the better browser, Firefox) should be listed. Click on it and you file will open up. You can size you browser down a little (You don't do it a lot, so it's that big button between the red X and the Minimize button) so you can fit both it and notepad on your screen. Make your changes in Notepad and press Ctrl+S (The universal keys for save), or go to File>Save. Go over into your browser and press Ctrl+R (Refresh) and you should see your changes.
The Heading Tags 

Remember how I said there were things you could use if you desired a font size above 7. Well yes you could type the font tag along with the size or you can use heading tags. Unlike the font tag, the heading tags have no elements (That define size). This is because the size is in the tag. Also, notice I said tags. There are multiple heading tags. An example of one is here:
<H3>Heading Three</H3>
Heading tags contain H and then a number from 1 to 6. Heading 1 is the largest and a little too big for use. Heading 7 is the smallest and is almost smaller then regular text. I prefer using heading 3; it is just the right size for titles that need to be big, but not too big. Here is a heading tag sample:
<H1>Heading 1</H1>

<H2>Heading 2</H2>

  <H3>Heading 3</H3>

  <H4>Heading 4</H4>

<H5>Heading 5</H5>

<H6>Heading 6</H5>
The viewer of the page would see:
Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6
Headings are good when you are writing several paragraphs each with it's own title and each nested within another paragraph. The headings will help you keep a consistent title for each paragraph. 
Links and Images

Links are a very important part of web programming. They make up the structure of websites and let users browse with ease. Without links the web wouldn't exist. You've probably seen fancy effects with links (Done in CSS), but in this tutorial we will be working with basic links. Links can contain multiple elements, but we will talk about the most important one; the href element. The href element contains the address that the link links to. So this would be the format of a link:
<A HREF="http://flashcreations-faq.blogspot.com/">FlashCreations'</A>
Links begin with the A tag and they have the href element, which contains the address that the link sends you to. The example above would give you a link to my home page. Links are pretty straight forward at their simplest form. This basic information will open you web pages up to a whole new world.
Now that we have talked about links, what about if we want to include pictures on our site. This is possible with the IMG tag. The IMG tag usually has one element, the location of the image (or src which is an abbreviation for source). A basic IMG tag looks like this:
<IMG SRC="my_image.jpg">
This is the basic form of the IMG tag. The src element contains the location of the image based on the location of the HTML document. If the image you want isn't in the current folder and it's one folder up either you specify the exact location or you use the special parent directory command. Take a look at this example: Say you have a website (www.mysite.com) and in a folder called web (www.mysite.com/web/) you have a image file called image.jpg. Also in that folder you have another folder called HTML. Within the HTML folder is the file that you are currently on (index.html). Here is the directory tree:
www.mysite.com

|            |

image.jpg      HTML

                |

              index.html
Suppose you wanted to include the image into your file (index.html). If you typed "http://www.mysite.com/image.jpg" you would get the image, but what if you website address changed to http://www.mysite.org/. This would mean you would have to go through and change all your image's srcs. That would be quite a pain. There is an easier way. It is the command ../ (Dot Dot Forward Slash). It can be used in place of the "http://www.mysite.com/image.jpg". You could use the parent directory command (../) like this "../image.jpg". Wouldn't that be a lot less typing and a lot less headache if you change you site's location. This is a key fundamental of HTML. Always base you locations relative to the file and not the site. Meaning don't have locations that are static (Contain Unchangeable Things) like "http://www.mysite.com/image.jpg", use code that can be reused where ever it's located ("../image.jpg").
Now we have talked about the link and the image, how about combining them. Well if we think about it, you probably already know. Instead of having text we can put our image in like so:
<A HREF="http://flashcreations-faq.blogspot.com/"><IMG SRC="image.jpg"></A>
Wasn't that easy! All you had to do was replace the text with the IMG tag. This can be used with anything. If you include something between the A tags it will link to the HREF provided.
Tables

Tables are something that you might use to display some data or a bunch of images. Tables can also be used to align data and provide a functional website. According to the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), using tables to align a websites content is not the standard for the web. CSS is now the standard for any web content alignment and placement. See the W3C site for more. The basic structure of a table begins with, you guessed it, a table tag. Before we talk about the tags, lets talk about the elements that each tag can have.

  
    Element
    Use
    Supported Tags 
    Example
  
  
    border
    To define the size of the border in pixels or in precent 
    table
    border="2"
  
  
    width
    To define the width of a cell or the whole table 
    table, td 
    width="5"

    width="15%"*
    
  
  
    height
    To define the height of a cell or the whole table 
    tabel, td, tr 
    height="7"

      height="17%"*
  



  *If used for a cell, x% of the whole table. Ex. 10% cell of a 100px table would be 10px. If used for the whole table x% of the window. Ex. 10% of a 100px window would be 10px.
  Knowing these elements we can learn the tags that go with a table. The first, and most important is the table tag. It is the tag that starts the table. For this tag you must include a width to tell how big the table is. This tag can optionally have a height and border element (the border is suggested to be included). The next tag is the TR (table row) tag. This tag can also have a height element to define a row's height, but not a width element. The final tag is the TD element. It is used for each individual column in each row. This tag can include a width and height element. All together an example table would look like this:
  <table width="200" border="1">

   <tr>

      <td><b>X</b></td>

      <td><b>1</b></td>

      <td><b>2</b></td>

      <td><b>3</b></td>

   </tr>

   <tr>

      <td><b>1</b></td>

      <td>1</td>

      <td>2</td>

      <td>3</td>

   </tr>

   <tr>

      <td><b>2</b></td>

         <td>2</td>

         <td>4</td>

         <td>6</td>

   </tr>

   <tr>

      <td><b>3</b></td>

      <td>3</td>

      <td>6</td>

      <td>9</td>

   </tr>

</table>
  The above code would output:

  
    X
    1
    2
    3
  
  
    1
    1
    2
    3
  
  
    2
    2
    4
    6
  
  
    3
    3
    6
    9
  


You will notice that the code makes a 3x3 multiplication table. You can practice on your own by making tables of diffents things such as TV Schedules, sports standings and/or scores, and scientific observations. If you prefer not to make your own tables, after you can make them on your own you can use my online table generator. Please only use this after master HTML tables; You will not learn anything by just using your comptuer to make them for you. 
Some Notes

One of the last things we will talk about is comments. A lot of tutorials will start with the most basic things such as comments. I do not, becuase I think it is unnecessary to worry you with comments and it makes the last section easier. Comments in HTML are simple tags (again) that you inclose your comment with. A comment is something that is not visible to the broswer. It is only visible to people viewing the source of your code. It is formatted like this:
<!--This is a comment in HTML-->
It is pretty straight forward and simple. If there is a confusing piece of code, use it to explain what it does. If there is a note you would like to make to yourself (be carful anyone can view the comment if they view your HTML source) you can put it in a comment.
Final Assignment

Your final assignment for this tutorial is to make a website about your favorite cady, sports team, car, etc. and try to use all the things we talked about. You don't have to post it on the web, but try to make several pages and use some links.
I hope that you have enjoyed these tutorials and found them useful. If you continue a career in web programming (or just a hobby) that great! If you choose not to, that's OK too. For some people this just isn't their thing. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them in the comments, on our forums, or PM me from our youtube page. I would also like to take this time to say thank you to all my readers, subscribers, and fans. If you haven't yet subscribed please do anddon't forget we offer email updates. I am currently working on a Bonus Tutorial for this series. It will include great help websites, resources, and further learning tools.

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Glary Utilities is a Possible Replacement for CCleaner
2008-07-24T02:40:00.007-04:00


You may have noticed that CCleaner is a great freeware tool for optimizing your computer and freeing up space for more important things. Almost anybody on the internet would suggest CCleaner. I still will, but I have found a solution that is a CCleaner + Shortcut Fixer + Spyware Scanner all in one. It even features a feature called 1 Click Maintenance which runs the Registry Cleaner, Shortcut Fixer, Startup Manager, Temporary File Cleaner, and Spyware Remove all with the click of a mouse (Well actually two, one to scan and then the other to run the cleanup). Even so, this feature is a great replacement for using tons of applications and having to open and run each. Read More...

Even though I have just highly suggested using this new tool, I still would use CCleaner. Glary Utilities lacks one key feature, temporary file cleanup. CCleaner features personalized temporary internet files cleanup for each browser and temporary Windows files cleanup. Glary only provides the first one. The best part of it, it's free! I actually considered changing my freeware article to include this new utility, and you might just see a permalink after the CCleaner entry. While Glary Utilities for Personal Use is free, you can also get a paid version for commercial and business use. So where is it already?? You can find the free download from GlarySoft. For those of you who want to pay for slightly more features you can try or buy the PRO version from their website also.
For the best new articles on technology today, check
out Flash Creations Computer Help and FAQ.


Freeware Roundup!
2008-07-21T12:59:00.018-04:00


I always emphasize to everyone usually if something has FREE! or FREE or even just free in the title it's usually either a) Illegal or b) A Crappy Trail Version (Kinda like all the software that comes installed on your computer when you first get it). Wouldn't it be nice if there was truth to the word free. If you Google anything, do NOT put the word free in it. The word free most commonly comes up with trial software. The website designers use any keyword they can and free just happens to be very popular. Most people search for free software or such, but that won't work. One day I did a search for AVG Free (Investigation Only. I wasn't going to download it) and it can up with free (Well I'm not going to say it, but we all know what it is). Yeah. You heard me right. This is why I have a challenge for all my readers. I challenge you to not search anything with the word free in it on Google or any other search engine. It might actually reduce the use of the word free and then in a few years, we can search free in Google and get some actual results. In this article, I will be rounding up the best free (No trial versions) software out there. So cancel you illegal download, close your torrent program, get a cup of coffee (or tea!) and get those mice ready because there will be a lot of clicking to do!! Read More... 

Before starting our roundup, let's talk about a little Google trick. I mentioned not to Google: Free again, but there is an alternative. You can Google: Free [Software] -intitle:trial. This will simply remove any results that contain the word trial. For a more advanced search try my free Soogle (Software Google. HaHa!!) Search:
Soogle Free Software Search:
   


Ok so to the roundup. There will be multiple categories for different kinds of software. If you have any suggestions or questions about the software feel free to post a comment or post a message on the forums. So here are the categories:

  Office Suite: Open Office  (http://www.open-office.org) - Open Office is a great substitution for Microsoft Word. While it may not have all the cool looks, there are still some other ways it is even better (Hey, it's free! Does that count?) then Microsoft Office!
  Virus Protection: Avira Anti-Virus (http://www.avira.com/ Download Site) - Avira is a great free solution for those who want great virus protection without having to pay a monthly fee or subscription fee. They even have a sense of humor (Their virus scanner is called Luke Filewalker)! For more on Avira and other great virus protection solutions check out my virus protection article.
  Spyware Protection: Spybot Search and Destroy (www.safer-networking.org/) - While I haven't actually tried it yet I have heard great things about it and nothing bad (yet). For more on Spybot Search and Destroy and other spyware protection solutions see my  virus protection article.
  Computer Optimization Tool: CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) - I am a proud CCleaner (aka Crap Cleaner) user and I must say I LOVE it! CCleaner is an easy to use, quick, and compact computer cleaning program. Little know by most users: Your computer creates temporary files and folders when you run programs, browser the internet, and create files. CCleaner finds and cleanly deletes these files and folders and optimizes your computer. For more on CCleaner and other great computer optimization tools see my computer optimization article.
  Notepad Replacement: Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/) - Notepad++ is definitely a great replacement for the simple Notepad that comes with your computer. It comes with features such as tabs, font support, scripting support (Fully fledged HTML, php, JavaScript, etc. Editor), and more!
  Email Client - Mozilla Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird) - Mozilla Thunderbird is a great solution to an expensive option such as Outlook. It has all the features that you would want with an email client and even has add-on support (like Firefox!).
  Audio Editor: Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) - Ever want to start a record or just mess with some music. You find this really cool software that you want, but after looking at the price tag you decide it's not worth it. Audacity is a free audio editing software that has many of the features that professional editing software has.
  Video Editor: VirtualDub(http://www.virtualdub.org/) - Is Windows Movie Maker just not doing it for you? It's limited features are too little for you professional video editing skills. Then you need VirtualDub. It has a lot of those professional tools and features that you would expect from an extremely expensive editor. While it's not a professional editor, it's definitely better than Windows Movie Maker and some professional software. And who can beat the price, free!
  HTML Editor: AceHTML (http://software.visicommedia.com/) - While it might look complicated at first AceHTML is a professional solution minus the price of an expensive suite. It even has support for other languages such as Javascript, php, perl, etc.
  CD Burner: CDBurnerXP (http://cdburnerxp.se/) - You've probably noticed the very high price of some of those CD/DVD burners. They are really expensive, but usually are the only brands that people buy (Nero, Roxio, etc.). Why waste all that money when you can get a great (and possible better than some of the expensive ones), free CD/DVD burner. I must say, for free software, CDBurnerXP is incredibly professional. Note: Do not be worried about the XP on the end. It is compatible with all Windows Operating Systems.
  Web Browser: Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/) - Firefox is one of the best web browsers I have tried. It is said Firefox is nine times faster then Internet Explorer and (3.1) is three times faster then the previous one (2.0). Firefox is not only fast, but it has cool features like themes (Get that familiar IE Look again), and addons (Such as Ad-Blocker, and yes, it really blocks all ads).
  Photo Editor: GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) - GIMP is a very good replacement for the very expensive Photoshop. While it doesn't have all the features Photoshop does it comes pretty close and it's good for those who prefer not to break the bank!! 

All of the software listed above is free and there are no trial versions. I suggest not downloading them all at once, but if you do there will be no harm. All of the programs are relatively small. If you have any questions, comments, additions, or suggestions feel free to post them in the comments section or PM me through our Youtube Channel. 
For the best new articles on technology today, check
out Flash Creations Computer Help and FAQ.


Help Promote Our Site!
2008-07-19T21:18:00.014-04:00


As we expand and get more readers and subscribers our site is growing to be a great source for computer self help articles, tips, tricks, and how-to's. Even so we need your help. Do you have a blog, website, or personal space on the web? Can you help promote us? As more readers come their will be more answerers on our forums, and possible even some co-writers!! Please help support our site by adding a banner or link to your site. Please click read more and create your own banner or link. Read More...




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It's Windows Vista; It's Windows XP; It's a WindowsVista Theme!
2008-07-19T12:51:00.005-04:00


This is a historic moment in the history of the web. This article is the first Windows XP article (XP users rejoice)! We are going to starting off with a very interesting article on Vista themes for XP. I know you XP users want to get Vista (For more on the Vista vs. XP Showdown see my Windows Vista vs. XP Article), but they just don't like some of the features (UAC usually). Wouldn't it be nice if you could get the Windows Vista look in Windows XP. For as far fetched as it seems, it is possible with some tools, innovation, and time. Read More...

So how can it be done? Well you have a few options, but first is the necessities. What would your Vista look be without authentic wallpapers and screensavers? Not Vista, that's for sure. Anyway here are some great Vista Wallpapers:

  
    
    
    
    
    
  
  
    
    
    
    
  

If you want to view to full screen version of the wallpaper click on its thumbnail. To download it simply right click and then click save target as (or save link as in Firefox) and select a location to save to. For all of the Windows Vista Wallpapers download my Windows Vista Wallpaper Pack. Though they are not used as much screensavers are still important to a convincing Vista environment. Here are some I found on my computer: 

  3D Text
  Bubbles
  Mistfy
  Ribbons
  Aurora
  Nature
  Space
  Da Vinci

You can install and use all these screen savers with my Windows Vista Screen Saver Pack. If you want a truly unique Vista look you can get all of Vista's wallpapers and screensavers with my Windows Vista Media Pack.
Another key component to your Vista transformation is the Areo features. You know, the cool 3D Flip, the window previews, and the overall cool look of Vista. First let's cover the 3D Flip. This can easily be achieved with WinFlip. WinFlip is a great tool that simulates 3D Flip with even more features such as navigation with the mouse. The other key component is the little window previews that you can view rolling over the program's button on the start bar. A great program for this is Visual Tooltip. Like WinFlip is goes above and beyond the actual feature in Vista with extra's like rotating the preview, skewing the preview, and aligning your previews like books on a bookshelf. This is a great tool even if you aren't looking to make XP look like Vista. 
There are other little things that Vista has that are just little conveniences that you wish you had on XP well now you can with these little utilities. One of these is Xentient Thumbnails. It gives you those little previews of images and other media that vista provides. It can be downloaded from the Xentient Thumbnails Website. When you rename a file in XP, the whole filename is selected. In Vista only the name (without the extension) is selected. That would save you a lot of time, wouldn't it? With a cool hack from Lifehacker can fix this. Check out their Renaming article for more.
You've probably been wondering, "What about the Vista look"? There are many of tools out there to do this and I if I said I've tried them all, I'd be lying. There is one those that I favor among the others. It is called Vista Transformation Pack and it can be downloaded from Download.com. Vista Transformation Pack provides you with the complete Vista experience. One note though: If you try Vista Transformation Pack the only way to uninstall it is to create a system restore point before running the installation and restoring to that location. The steps to creating a restore point are:

  Click Stat
  Click All Programs
  Click Accessories
  Click System Tools
  Click System Restore
  Chose the Create a Restore Point Option and Click Next
  Type a Good Name Such as Before Vista Theme Installation and Click Next
  After the Computer Creates the Point you can Click Quit 

I hope this information is valuable to those who want a Vista look without investing the money or getting some of the less desired features (UAC). I would also like to take this time to say thank you to all of our readers and subscribers. You are the ones who keep the site running. Don't forget to check back daily for new updates! Thanks!!

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