New Folder Wizard is a portable software program for the Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0, runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating system and can be downloaded directly from the developer’s homepage. The software itself comes with a set of interesting features to aid the user in the folder creation process.

The configuration of the software is handled in the main interface. The user needs to select a target folder which becomes the root folder for the folders that are created. It is furthermore possible to add folder prefixes and suffixes, starting and ending numbers and steps for those numbers.

Another option is to load a text file containing names into the program to create folders based on these names. The process can be previewed so that the user knows how the folders will be named. The generated folder names can be copied to the clipboard for external processing.

New Folder Wizard is an interesting lightweight application for the Windows operating system.

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OLK Finder is a software program that has been designed to provide a more comfortable solution. The application will automatically scan for the temporary Outlook folder and list all attachments that have been stored in that folder in its interface.

The portable application can be started from any location. The Microsoft Outlook version has to be selected at the top so that the contents are displayed. Available are all Outlook versions from Outlook 97 to Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. Outlook Finder tries to find the location of the temporary Outlook attachments automatically after selecting the Outlook version. All attachments that have been found are displayed in the lower part of the program’s interface.

It is then possible to select some or all of the files that are listed in the interface. A double-click will launch the selected file immediately. A right-click will display the usual Windows Explorer context menu with options to copy or send the selected files.

Outlook Finder is ideal if you want to restore Microsoft Outlook mail attachments that you have received recently. Users who regularly clear the Internet cache might not be able to use the program to its fullest extent though which means that their only solution are file recovery programs.

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Well, there is actually another option that is provided by the Lazarus Form Data Recovery extension for the Firefox web browser. Lazarus saves form data as soon as it is entered by the user in its SQLite database (lazarus.sqlite in the profile folder). This makes it possible to recover the form data when vising the page the form was on again.

There are obviously some privacy concerns which are handled excellently by the software program. It is for one possible to set a period (minute, hour, day, week) in which the form data is stored. Once the time is up the form data gets erased. Another security measure is that it is possible to create a password that has to be supplied once per browsing session before form data can be restored. The form data in the database is encrypted to prevent that users with local computer access can reveal the form information there directly.

The form data recovery add-on works by right-clicking the form on the Internet website. The user can then select the Recover Text or Recover Form entry to restore the text in that form.

Lazarus works nicely in the background and can be a real life safer for users who regularly post lots of text.

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But no matter what type of user you are, you will appreciate the plugins available for the client. There are plenty to choose from and, unlike the many extensions/addons for Thunderbird, all of them are useful. In this article I will introduce you to a few of the plugins that are must-haves for any type of user.

Make sure you have them

During the installation of Claws Mail you should have noticed the various plugin packages available. If you didn’t install them initially, go back and do so now. It’s simple: Open up your Add/Remove Software utility, do a search for “claws” (no quotes), find the plugin entries available. You will notice all of the plugins available will have the string “plugin” (again, no quotes) listed in their name. Install any/all plugins you feel you might need.

Now, on to the plugins I feel are must haves.

GtkHtml2 HTML Viewer

Figure 1

One aspect of Claws Mail that you will notice quickly is its inability to write HTML mail. This was done on purpose as the dev team felt like HTML mail was not a good thing (I tend to agree). But I do get a lot of HTML mail (mostly from companies that only send HTML mail) and need to be able to read them. In order to do this I load this plugin.

Not all HTML emails will be rendered. But when one does render you will see it appear as you do in Figure 1. You also have to tell Claws Mail to load the images found in the email. When it does get the images, the emails render perfectly. You can configure GtkHtml2 from within the Preferences window.

Notification

Figure 2

This plugin allows you to select a method for Claws Mail to inform you that email has arrived. I set my email client up to check mail automatically, so having a notification is nice. To configure the notification go to the Preferences window under Notification. There are five different types of notifications:

• Banner: A scrolling banner you can configure to tell you what new mail comes in.
• Popup: A small popup that appears when new mail arrives (see Figure 2).
• Command: Create your own method of notification (such as play a sound with the play command).
• LDC: Enable display of message on external LCD monitor – will need an LCD server running.
• SysTrayIcon: Enable a small system tray icon that will display a message.

Mail archiver

Figure 3

I don’t know about you but I get a lot of mail. And much of that mail is work related. Because that mail is critical I have to keep copies for a long time. But I don’t necessarily want those folders to accumulate thousands upon thousands of emails. For this I use the Mail archiver plugin. This plugin will allow you to save a compressed archive of any folder on your Claws Mail client. To create an archive go to the Tools menu and select Create Archive. When the new window pops up (see Figure 3) enter the information you need and click OK. The archive will appear in the folder you’ve chosen. You’re all backed up.

Final thoughts

There are plenty of other plugins to play with for Claws Mail. The three plugins listed above will help extend Claws Mail beyond its default capabilities and make it an even more user-friendly, powerful experience.

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A registration is required which requires entering a name and valid email address. A verification email is send to the mail account. That link leads to a website containing the download link of East-Tec Backup 2009 and the registration code to register the software program.

The backup software program offers four modules in the main interface: Backup, Restore, Tasks and Sync.

New backup jobs are created in this module. One of the interesting – and user friendly – features of East-Tec Backup 2009 are presets that are available. Presets can be used to backup specific, and usually important, files and data. It is for example possible to backup the mail accounts (recognized the email clients Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook and Opera on the test system), Registry keys or user settings from programs such as Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Winamp, Windows Media Player, various web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera but not Google Chrome), Putty and dozens more. It is of course also possible to select files or folders from the computer system.

The data can be backed up to local folders, external hard drives, local area network folders, removable disks, CD, DVD or remote locations using the ftp protocol. The usual set of options are available to use compression and encryption to ensure data safety and integrity. Several backup types can be selected ranging from incremental backups over differential backups to stack backups. Backups can be scheduled and warnings configured.

It is furthermore possible to run programs before and after the task starts and to verify the backup after it has been completed. Another great option is to place backup jobs into groups which can be executed sequentially then.

Backups that have been created can be restored completely. It is also possible to only restore specific files or folders which is obviously great if you only need access to some files or folders of the entire backup.

The Sync option makes it possible to synchronize files and folders between two computers or devices like a local computer and server, desktop computer and laptop or a local computer and a network location.

The interface of the backup software is user friendly, tasks are easy to create. Users who are currently looking for a backup software should take a closer look and download East-Tec Backup 2009 for a test run. It might be exactly what they are looking for.

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The photo maps that are created with the software program can then be published on the web or stored locally. 93 Photo Street is a Java application that is available for Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Users need to import both maps and photos into the software to create the photo maps. Included in the photo software are US road maps which makes it easier for users from the United States (or those that visited the country) to create photo maps.

The photo map creation process is pretty straightforward. It begins with the import of a map and photos. The map is instantly displayed in the application. Pins can be dragged onto the map which represent locations of importance to the user. Photos can then be added to these locations on the map along with a short description (name) for the location.

93 Photo Street supports posting the finished photo map to Typepad or Moveable Type web blogs or to create a generic file using web templates.

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Download Helper for example will automatically identify videos that are played on websites offering the user a download link of that video. Most of the solutions that have been created require at least some manual interaction with the program.

Not so with WebVideoCap. The portable video capture software has been created by Nirsoft, one of our all-time favorite software developers. The software will automatically save videos that are played on websites to a folder on the local computer system. All the user needs to do to start the capturing is to click on the Start Capture button in the application’s interface.

A few parameters and options are available; It is for example possible to select the network adapter, save folder, scan method (between raw sockets and WinPCap) or file types that should be saved automatically. WebVideoCap supports the following web video stream formats:

• Flash video files (with .flv extension)
• Microsoft Windows media files (with .wmv extension)
• RTSP streams. (RTSP protocol is used by many news and live TV/radio Web sites)
• MMS streams. (MMS protocol is used by many news and live TV/radio Web sites)

All videos that match the supported video stream formats are saved automatically once the capturing process has been started. This can be very helpful for users who regularly download videos from video portals. One slight problem was encountered during tests. If the videos contain an age verification (like the 18+ video games over at Gametrailers) then they cannot be saved as the capturing process is interrupted by this). Videos that do not contain this interference are saved without problems.

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Trout can be downloaded as a portable version or installer. It supports a wide variety of audio formats including mp3, ogg, wma, flac and others. Music can be loaded by dragging and dropping files or folders into the interface or by using the menu toolbar at the top. All audio files that have been loaded into the player are displayed in the playlist area in the lower half. This area contains not only information about the names of the songs but also information about bitrates, sizes, artist and album tags and more.

Songs can be sorted by clicking on one of the columns. It is for example possible to sort by album, artist, playing time or filename. Trout offers a set of features that many expect from today’s music players. This includes support for Internet radio streams, freeDB support for audio CDs, compatibility with most tag formats and tag editing, hotkeys, lyrics, album covers or various play modes. Track announcements are another interesting feature that are great when listening to audiobooks.

The minimized music player needs less than 3 Megabytes of computer memory while playing and therefor ideal for low end computer systems. The free music player Trout is compatible with all Microsoft operating systems from Windows 9x on including Windows XP and Windows Vista. It can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website.

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Claws Mail is based on GTK+ so it will install on nearly any Linux machine running X Windows. It features:

• Multiple Accounts
• Threaded Display
• Filtering
• IPv6 support
• Mbox import/export
• Clickable URLS
• Addressbook
• Granular configuration
• Pre and Post processing filters
• Redirecting
• SSL Certificate Manager
• Address Harvesting via folder or messages

And much more.

Getting and installing

If you open up your Add/Remove Software utility and do a search for “claws” (no quotes) you will find numerous listings. Many of these listings will include a vast array of plugins available. The minimum you want to install is:

• claws-mail
• claws-mail-extra-plugins
• claws-mail-plugins

jWhat the “extra-plugins” will do is install a number of the basic plugins for you. Outside of that you will want to go through the list of all the possible candidate to see what you will need. I also installed:

• claws-themes
• claws-mail-pgpinline

Your needs may dictate other installations. There are thirty-three possible packages to install.

Once you have made your choices click Apply to finish up the installation. Once installed you will find the Claws Mail menu entry in the Internet menu of your Main menu.

First Run

When you first open up Claws Mail you will have to walk through a very straight-forward wizard to set up your account. Once you are finished with the account set up you are ready to rock.

The user interface

Figure 1

As you can see (in Figure 1) the interface will be familiar to anyone that has used any email client of any nature.

One of the first things that might be of issue (at least it was for me) is the date. Notice that the form of the date is YY/MM/DD. If you want to edit the date format you have to open up the Preferences window by click the Configuration menu in the main window. Once inside that window click the Summary sub-section of the Display section. Scroll all the way down until you see the Date Format text area. The default is set up as:

%y/%m/%d(%a) %H:%M

You can arrange this any way you like. My preference is:

%m/%d(%a)/%y %H:%M

NOTE: The (%a) displays the day of the week.

Importing mail box

I had 100% success at importing my Thunderbird Inbox with Claws. To do this click on the File menu and select “Import mbox file”.  A small window will open up where you need to locate your Mbox file and a Destination folder. For a Thunderbird Inbox file you will need to then navigate to:

~/.mozilla-thunderbird/XXX.default/Mail/Local Folders/

and select Inbox (or whatever folder you need to import).

Where XXX is a random string of characters created upon installation of Thunderbird.

In Figure 1 you will see some 8,000 imported emails. It worked perfectly.

Harvesting addresses

Figure 2

This is one of my favorite features of Claws Mail. When I have had to move from installation to installation, one of the things I tend to forget it to export my address book. This isn’t a problem with Claws Mail. With all of the email imported into Claws Mail I can then just harvest all of the addresses I need from within a folder. To do this I allow email to collect in my Inbox and then click on the Tools menu and select the Harvest submenu and then the “From Folder” entry. A small window will open (see Figure 2) where you give your address book a name, a size, and tell the harvester which header field to harvest from. Once you do that click OK and the harvesting will begin.

From within my 8,000+ emails the Harvester grabed over 1,400 addresses. The only problem is the Harvester isn’t terribly intelligent as to how to label these addresses. So most likely you will have to go back through and edit each address.

Final thoughts

You can go through all of the features, one by one, of Claws Mail and spend all day tweaking and tinkering. As I said, Claws Mail will make the power user feel right at home. But don’t think this client is only for the elite user…Claws Mail can be used by anyone. It’s easy, it’s powerful, it’s reliable, and it’s all about Linux. Give Claws Mail a try…you most likely won’t turn back.

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The so called MUI Cache is a special cache that contains information about recently launched computer software programs in Windows. The cache does contain application names and paths which can be problematic for several reasons. A system administrator or user with sufficient rights could find out that a user launched applications from removable media. It could also mean that the contents of a hidden or encrypted partition become visible because of this.

Mui Cache View is a Nirsoft application that displays the cache in the usual Nirsoft environment. The portable software program is compatible with several different Microsoft operating systems including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. It is likely that the program will also work under Windows 7.

It basically creates a list of all applications that are located in the MUI Cache with editing and deleting options. It is possible to edit or delete entries so that they appear in different form or not at all in the cache. Users who want to analyze the programs in detail find export options to do so.

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Graphs are shown below the table that visualize the signal strength of the selected wireless networks over time. It is possible to select some or all of the wireless networks and observe their performance.

The visualization can help the user troubleshoot the wireless network. It could for example be that all or most of the wireless networks in the area are concentrating on specific channels for the communication. It could then help to switch to one of the transmission channels that are the least used in the area to improve the speed and performance of the wireless network.

InSSIDer is an Open Source software program that might be useful for users who want to troubleshoot, optimize or configure their wireless networks. Beta 1.2 of the program has been released a few days ago and is available for download on the developer’s homepage.

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To open a link in a new window or tab one would simply right-click the link and select the appropriate option from the context menu. Users who like keyboard shortcuts can press the Ctrl key for opening links in new tabs or the Shift key to open them in new windows.

Thankfully though there is a parameter in the Firefox configuration that allows Firefox users to force the web browser to open links in the same tab unless one of the previously mentioned ways of opening links in new tabs or windows is selected.

Users who want to change this behavior need to type in [about:config] in a tab in the Firefox web browser. This should open the Firefox configuration. First time users need to accept a disclaimer. They then need to filter for the term [browser.link.open_newwindow]. The default value of that entry is [3] which opens links that would normally open in a new window in a new tab.

To force Firefox to open links (no matter if they have been designed to open in a new tab or window) in the same tab one would need to change the value to [1] which will open all links that would normally open in a new window in the same tab. Changing the value to [2] would open new windows in a new window (duh).

Update:

Just noticed that changing the value to 1 does affect links that are opened in external applications as well. These links will now open in the active tab and not a new tab.

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DVD Print is a small program for the Windows operating system. It is a portable software program that will ask for a registration code upon start. This can be skipped however and there are no information on the website or in the application about the registration process (and what could happen if the registration is skipped continuously).

CD and DVD covers can be loaded in the application. A built in search can be used to find appropriate covers. The covers are however not downloaded directly in the software as they redirect the user to the website the cover was found on. It is then the user’s task to download the cover and import it into the DVD printing application.

Various cover presets are available ranging from DVD box covers over audio CD front inserts to Playstation 1 double sleeves. There is also the option to create a new preset in case the existing ones are not suitable for the media.

There is also the option to add image effects to the cover which include the creation of a double-feature cover (for two movies on one DVD), music track overlays or flipping and rotating images around. DVD Print is a portable application that can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website.

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It also did feel strange that Google needed a process to update their programs while other companies like Mozilla did not. Especially if the only software by Google was their web browser Google Chrome.

Google has announced changes yesterday that will please many computer users. They basically changed Google Update from running in the background permanently to a process that would check for updates periodically which basically eliminates the googleupdate.exe process in the background as it will terminate after the check for updates.

Users can check the Task Scheduler in the Windows Control Panel to change the frequency of the update checks. The Google team points out that the process might be running continuously on some computer systems if problems are encountered with the task scheduler and Windows Services.

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Most analysts keep yelling at both companies that their lagging in the innovative space, but based on the numbers RIM and Microsoft are doing just fine. They both have huge market shares and combined still outsell both Apple and Palm. Just in case you’re wondering, there is a reason why both companies are not in a hurry to create the next iPhone, Pre or Android killer. And it lies deep in their strategy.

Ever since Microsoft bought Danger (the makers of the Sidekick), there has been rumors about the company creating its own cellphone. While there might be some truth to it (as the company keeps denying the rumors vehemently), Microsoft isn’t ready to cut HTC, Samsung and Toshiba from their bankrolls yet.

As a corporation, both RIM and Microsoft appeal to a different audience then most attracted to the Pre or iPhone. While the majority of iPhone owners are first time smartphone buyers, those who have Windows Mobile and Blackberry’s are quite aware of what is out there and what fits their needs. Talking to most Blackberry owners you will hear the resounding answer as to why they haven’t adopted an iPhone yet, “it has no proper email support” or “it lacks a keyboard.” While these are “minor” issues to many, to those who have grown to love their Blackberry’s it’s a major deal.

Another reason for the continued success of Windows Mobile and Blackberry is its corporate following. To date the iPhone has a meager corporate base and the Pre is nonexistent. However, both Blackberry and Windows Mobile excel in this arena. To a lot of smartphone owners, buying a smartphone their company approves of is a big deal and with most corporate IT departments still shunning the iPhone Apple has some major hurdles to jump before they cause any real trouble for RIM or Microsoft.

Fancy graphics and cool animations and slick UI’s are not everything in a smartphone. But you already knew that. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that no one is taking notice of Apple and Palm, if they were not there would not be custom UI overlays for Windows Mobile, Blackberry or Android. That said, it still is a fact that not everyone is swayed by them. You’d wonder why people would still use the classic Windows theme even though it’s close to two decades old. Well that is the same reason why people still buy the subject phones here.

Loyalty is the word we’re looking for. According to NDP statistics the average Blackberry user has had two or more devices. Following this same trend, an HTC Touch user is more then likely to grab the Touch Diamond 2 or a similar Windows Mobile device. The loyalty that both companies have built within their customer base is commendable and is one that most cell phone companies seek after.

Last but not least not everyone is a fan of the iPhone or Pre. There are those who categorize the iPhone base as just a subdivision of the Macintosh base who will buy any s_ Apple puts out as long as it’s shiny and expensive. Fortunately this is not the case but Apple has been notorious for its fan boy following and many smartphone users don’t like this.

I won’t say however that RIM and Microsoft need not worry because every update the iPhone gets, it comes closer to gaining a little more acceptance from its enemies. But as is the case with the new players in the game, they are the ones who have to work doubly hard as the seasoned players can relax a bit (however the proverbial rabbit and turtle teaches what happens when seasoned players rest too long).

As the case is right now RIM and Windows Mobile isn’t terribly exciting at the moment. But they both carry functionality, customizability and an avid user base and that’s what counts. However they can learn a lesson or two. As a former owner of both Windows Mobile (MotoQ) and Blackberry (Curve 8330), I can say it didn’t take me much to drop my previous phones for the Palm Pre. Neither can I say it will take a miracle for me to keep my Pre. There are those of us who ride the gadget waves and those are the customers that can make or break a company. Did I mention the new Blackberry Tour and the Toshiba TG01 are looking mighty sexy at the moment?

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The bad news is that it might not work with all Wordpress blogs and that the user who wants to exclude the categories needs to know their category ID. The first problem is easier to solve. Excluding categories from Wordpress feeds works if the Wordpress blog is not using the Feedburner feed redirection plugin or a comparable plugin. The feed redirection plugin redirects all feed requests (no matter if they are category specific or the full feed) to an RSS service like Feedburner. This prevents that users can create individual feeds based on categories, authors or tags. It also prevents the exclusion of categories in the feed.

Finding out the category IDs of a Wordpress blog is the second obstacle. Most webmasters use pretty permalinks which do not display IDs on the website. The only way to find out without asking the website owner is trial and error. Is is possible to open categories with their IDs in Wordpress even if the Pretty Permalinks option is enabled. To open a category with a category ID one would open the following url in a web browser:

http://www.ghacks.net/index.php?cat=23

This would open the Linux category here at Ghacks. This can be a very time consuming process as I have seen categories with five digits. So its probably best to ask the administrator about the category IDs. (Feel free to post additional solutions in the comments).

To exclude categories from RSS feeds in Wordpress one would use the following syntax:

http://www.ghacks.net/feed/?cat=-23

This removes category 23 from the main feed of the website. It is possible to exclude multiple categories from the feed, simply append an & and another cat=-xx in the end:

http://www.ghacks.net/feed/?cat=-23&cat=-9592

This excludes the Linux and Mac categories from the RSS feed.

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Of course the usefulness of a man page is dictated by the create of said page. Some man pages are an outstanding resource for learning about that particular application. Conversely, some man pages are fairly worthless. This article is not about discerning which man pages are worthwhile and which are not. This article will help you understand how best use the man command so you can make the most of this reference system.

Basic usage

Using the man command is easy. The structure of man is:

man COMMAND_OR_APPLICATION

Where COMMAND_OR_APPLICATION is the command or the application you want to read about. But there are more ways to use the man command. If you issue the command man man you can read the man manpage (would that be a recursive command?).

There aren’t too many useful switches to use with the man command. There is one switch, in particular, that is helpful – the k switch. The -k switch will search the collective man pages for the string you declare. For example, if you want to search all of the man pages for anything containing “net” you could issue:

man -k net

Any man page containing the string “net” will appear as such:

tcpd []              (8)  - access control facility for internet services
tcpdump []           (8)  - dump traffic on a network
telnet []            (1)  - user interface to the TELNET protocol

What man pages contain

All man pages are supposed to follow the structure:

1. Name: The name of the command or function with an included description.
2. Synopsis: This is a description of what the command does or what parameters the function takes (and what header file contains its definition.)
3. Description: A full description of the command or function.
4. Examples: Examples of common usage.
5. See Also: Related commands or functions.

Although it might seem the fastest way to learn about a command is to skip immediately to the Description. This is often not the fastest means of learning a command. Often the Synopsis will give you the structure of the command usage. You need this information to know where the switches and/or options go in the command structure. So make sure you examine the Synopsis first. Once you know how the command works you can jump down tot he description which is where much of the commands switches and options will be explained.

Of course most of the time a man page will only contain the bare bones of the information you need. For some it takes a while to grow accustomed to sifting out the useful information from the man pages.

Final thoughts

Man pages are a great first place to look for information about a Linux/UNIX command/applicaiton or function. Many think the man page is antiquated, but there is still much to be learned from this simple information system. Give the man page a try so the next time someone says “RTFM” you can reply “I did, and I still am not sure what I am doing.” (or better yet “I did and now I know everything I need to know.”)

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When Linux Mint was originally launched, it was a version of Ubuntu that offered integrated media codecs. Founded and developed by Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint boasts as one of the most user friendly and reliable distributions that can be found in the market. Lefebvre started out as just another Linux user in 1996. As he became more experienced in the usage of Linux he felt he wanted to give back to the Linux community which led to the development of Linux Mint. The idea came from a mixture of different Linux distros that he got from what he calls “distro-hopping” which is basically trying out different Linux distributions. “I enjoyed many different distributions and for different reasons,” says Lefebvre. Linux Mint is a mixture of many different popular features in varied distros in Linux.

Features of Linux Mint

The features that Linux Mint boasts of are as follows:

• Custom desktop and menus
• Several unique configuration tools
• Web based package installation interface
• Several different editions to fit individual user needs

Because of these features, many users have found this Linux distribution among the easiest to use Linux distros.

Linux Mint also has WiFi cards driver in the file system, multimedia support and screen resolution features which focus on allowing things to work outside the box. Users are not limited to working just within the box when they have this system, which is a testament to the operating system’s reliability.

There are a collection of packages and software that users can get from the distribution that make it quite compatible. The system also uses the Ubuntu repositories. Ubuntu is known for having one of the easiest to use package manager systems, making Linux Mint even easier to use.

Linux Mint is available in ISO images which can be used to create Live CDs and Live USBs. As is is Free software, it can legally be handed out to friends, relatives, etc.

Linux Mint Editions

As already mentioned, there are several different versions of this operating system. These include the main version which is GNOME, x86-32, the 64-bit Edition, the Universal version, and a handful of community editions.

Some of the configuration tools that can be found on the system are MintInstall, MintUpdate, MintDesktop, MintConfig, MintAssistant, MintUpload, MintSpace, MintMenu, MintWifi, MintNanny, MintMake and MintWelcome. These help users perform most of the functions that they expect to have with the OS.

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That’s exactly what the experimental Firefox add-on Hide Tabbar is doing. Hide Tabbar works by configuring a keyboard shortcut to hide and display the tabbar in the web browser. The default combination has been set to CTRL F11 which is not that comfortable as it can only be accessed with both hands.

The keyboard shortcut can be changed easily in the options of the add-on so that only one hand is needed to hide and display the tabbar in Firefox. Hide Tabbar offers an auto-hide function as well which will automatically hide the Firefox tabbar after a certain time. The tabbar will be displayed again if the user hovers the mouse cursor over the area were it was initially displayed.

Hide Tabbar is an experimental add-on for the Firefox web browser that is compatible with all versions of Firefox.

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Three Network Monitor Experts have been released so far, the last less than two weeks ago. Available are the Simple Search, Top Users and TCP Analyzer Experts. Here is a short summary of what these Experts do:

• Simple Search Lets you search frames and comments for raw ASCII text case-insensitively or with regular expressions.
• Top Users Lets you determine the heaviest users of network bandwidth.
• TCP Analyzer This tool analyzes network traces of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections.

The Experts can be downloaded separately and need to be installed before they can be used. It is recommended to close the Network Monitor before installing the add-ons. The Experts become then available in the Experts menu on top of the program.

Microsoft Network Monitor is offered as a free download for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

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