Need to find largest files on your computer? So did I when my hard drive ran out of space unexpectedly and I couldn’t save a webinar recording. That is not good and I needed to be able to find the largest files so they can be either deleted or archived on an external disk.

Almost immediately, I found this neat little tool called WinDirStat.

Image courtesy of WinDirStat

Not only does it find the largest files it also tells me where the largest directories are which makes more sense because rarely do the largest files on your computer eat up a chunk of your hard drive. It is the largest folders that do that.

As if that isn’t sweet enough, WinDirStat can show me these files and and folders visually. The cherry on top – WinDirStat is opensource, meaning we can put that wallet away. Yay!

WinDirStat as the name suggests is a Windows application. There is a Mac version too called Disk Inventory X

As our children use the computer more often and begin downloading and saving files, this should come in very handy as well to weed out all that junk they have accumulated.

I don’t care what others say but I am actually really enjoying Windows 7. To satisfy all you Apple Fans – yes, I do have a Mac and enjoy it as well. I just like being a dual platform household. Anyhow, back to Windows 7. There are many features that I like which won’t be listed here. Among them, is the ability to automatically resize a window to half of the screen or full screen when you drag it to the edges.

Hmmm… actually, I thought that would be one of my favorite features because having windows automatically snapped to a right size allows me to place two applications or two browser windows side-by-side. This is something I do a lot when paying our household bills. Pulling up the bank account information on one side and spreadsheet on the other.

It all kinda went downhill when I decided I prefer an older app I’ve been using for ages. This app is called GridMove. It is free and you can find it at Donation Coder – donate and you’ll get a permanent license – Because of the community effort, GridMove has a lot of different grid layouts. So, unlike native Windows 7 where you only get the option of full or half screen, you get as many as 100 different possibilities with GridMove. Here’s an example

I really like this because sometimes you want to listen to Pandora but want it opened so you can interact with it but small enough to stay out of your way. Then, you can still keep in view other things you are actively working on or inactively monitoring.

When GridMove got re-installed onto the system, Windows 7′s native re-sizing kept interfering so I needed to turn it off. Thankfully you can and it is easy. You go to Control Panel > Ease of Access > Ease of Access

Click Make the mouse easier to use

Check the Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen

This blog has been around for a couple of years now, before the iPad, before Kindles and Nooks. If you looked back at some of the early posts you’ll still find several alluding to my old trusty Palm. Oh yes, I’ve been reading eBooks for… about 10 years if not more. A long time and loved every single minute of it.

Steven Coutts

Photo credit:

Because of the long experience with it, I’m quite adept at finding free eBooks. In those days, Amazon didn’t list them out nicely for us. Well, I know you’re itching to jump right to the list. Here you go, my list of eBook haunts.

Gutenberg - the all time favorite. Their search used to be a little cryptic and in many ways still is, you may not be able to find some books that are there but try different search terms e.g. author, subject, title keywords, genre keywords.

Memoware – I used to live on this site. This is the place where most my books were downloaded from and got me truly hooked on eBooks.

Smashwords – I’ve read several books now from Smashwords and enjoyed every one of them.

ManyBooks.net

NetGalley – this is not exactly for everyone. It is meant for publishers, journalists, bloggers etc who may want to read/review books before they are published. I’ve really enjoyed some of the books there and the ability to give feedback is nice too.

epubBooks – one of my long time favorite haunts

DigitalLibraries

Free-eBooks

Neobook

Just keep in mind the books you’ll find at these places aren’t exactly the latest best sellers. If you only read those, buying them is the only way and also the best way to support your favorite author so they will keep writing those books. Many of these libraries also overlap in their offerings. Especially the classics. So you will have to adjust your expectations a little. Despite it all, I’ve enjoyed many hours of reading over the years. You’ll be surprised how many of these old out of copyright books are really good.

Anyhow, next time, we’ll explore how to put some of these books you downloaded into your Kindle or Kindle iPad.

Missing Picnik? A lot of us are. These free alternatives might help fill the gap.

PicMonkey

FotoFlexer

LoonaPix

Photovisi

This service bills themselves as a photo collage maker. I added them because I love collages and they are great for making images to post to Pinterest.

More Powerful Alternatives

These mimic PhotoShop and offer more powerful editing options. Definitely great choices if you don’t want to drop hundreds of dollars for PhotoShop.

Pixlr

They also offer a simpler alternative, Pixlr Express.

Sumo Paint

Splashup

Alright, I have somewhat of an issue here and thought who else to ask but my smart tech-loving mom readers.  We had domains registered for each of our children and created email addresses for them there.

These were originally created for them to give out to friends whom they know at school or activities – in person friends. It worked well for a few years but this summer, thanks to grandpa, my kids now have a computer all to themselves. Because they are also older they are beginning to use game sites that require an account be created e.g. Disney, Club Penguin etc.

Creating an account also means you have to enter an email address and they’ve been using mine. It’s not a huge problem but it is a pain when they keep asking me to reset their password. Also, they’ve been begging to have their own accounts.

I’ve been thinking of finally creating a Gmail account for them because it’s easy to use but I’m still hung up on the ads. I just don’t want them clicking on those ads – who knows where they go to?

How do you handle your children’s emails? I could use some ideas.

School calendars, blog designs, client files, a million photos of growing children, WordPress plugins. Such are the things a mom’s hard drive is filled with. The worst thing, the larger hard drives they make, the more gets stuffed in there. Unlike physical files where you can actually see the clutter, once things get dumped into the hard drive it is so easy to lose track of them.

If you use Windows, you know that Windows Explorer – the file manager that comes with it – is not exactly the best. Actually, you won’t necessarily know much you’re missing until you try a third party file manager. That was exactly the case with me.

After reading glowing recommendations for FreeCommander, I decided to give it a whirl, fully expecting to be disappointed and uninstall it within a day. At first glance, the interface is far from lovely and there seemed to be tons of confusing buttons and options. It wasn’t looking good. I relied on my file manager countless times throughout the day. I really didn’t have time to learn how to use this thing so I could view my files. But I decided to give it a fair trial and stuck with it a little longer.

Screenshot courtesy of FreeCommander

It was actually much easier than I thought. Perhaps I was too used to looking at my files the old way. Stuff I like:

• The two pane interface is great because now I no longer have to line up two windows side-by-side to copy files. It’s a lot easier to locate the folders you want to copy files between using this interface.
• You can also save favorite folders (a must) and there are handy buttons running along the top that go to common folders like My Computer, Control Panel, Desktop and even a button to launch Command Prompt.
• Running along the top of the panels are also quick buttons to go directly to every drive in your computer, CD, DVD drives, removable disks.
• FTP connections. This I really liked. I no longer have to fire up a separate file manager just to copy files. This alone has shaved off minutes every time I need to upload something. My only gripe about it is it seems a little slow to me. Could be just my perception.

Overall, I’m awfully glad I gave this a whirl. I’ve hardly scratched the surface and already hooked. Looking for a good file manager yourself? Give FreeCommander a try. As the name suggests – it is free.

Logged into Gmail on Chrome and keep getting the notice to enable email desktop notifications.

12 years ago maybe I would have said oh yeah! These days I really shudder at that thought. There are way too many emails that come through my multiple in boxes. Even if there weren’t, having email disrupt me each time is really really bad for productivity.

Even on the phone one of the first things I did after activating Android is to make sure all the beeps and vibrate notifications for email is set to OFF.

I try not to make email my first stop after turning on the computer or on the phone for that matter. If I get in there, I’d spend at least 30 – 90 minutes just puttering. So I try not to. Not perfect but is something I absolutely strive to do.

It’s almost like a game. How many tasks can I finish before allowing myself a ‘reward’ for checking email?

However… if there was a way to only get notifications only for emails that you mark which can then be ‘unmarked’ anytime once the need has passed, then that might be something I could use for when you’re waiting on an important reply.

Do you know something that can do that? Do share!

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It may be better for them to actually read but it doesn’t hurt to mix things up a little bit.  If the children have never listened to audio books it’s probably smart to test the waters with some free kids’ audio books you can download. Could add a little bit of variety that might keep their interest in reading. Here are some great places to start.

HighlightsKids - non-downloadable, listen online via the flash player on the site.

Kids Audio Books – can be downloaded in MP3 format. Large list, including some old favorites like Dumbo and The Ugly Duckling.

WiredForBooks Kids Corner – a bunch of Beatrix Potter books.

Kiddie Records – lots of books from the golden age. Very nice and large collection. Available as downloads or to listen online.

Light up your brain

Alvie the little brown burro – unique story about Alvie

Playtime books – MP3 collection

Speakabooks

Stroyline Online – books read by the members of the Screen Actors Guild

Starfall – there’s more than audio books on this site. While there are some books that are read automatically you can also find books that require clicking to listen as the words are being read out. We like this format.

Here’s something I got news of this morning. Vocalpoint is helping BillMyParents with a launch of an interesting product to help parents teach their teens about smart spending.

I’d say this is a very timely product. Well, anytime is a good time to teach kids about money. The earlier the better but considering the world financial situation this is very much on the forefront of many people’s thoughts. It’s tough really but the sooner the learn to live lean the more prosperous their lives will be later on.

This is a snapshot of their email to us.

So how you do learn more about this new tool? Well, you first need to be a member of Vocalpoint. Make sure you are receiving their emails and finally, watch out for emails on Tuesday. That easy.

Just so you know, we are not compensated nor obligated to write this post for Vocalpoint, however, we do from time to time receive coupons for other products from them.

There are notebook cases that protect … and then, there are notebook cases that actually do that – and look cool, too. Check out Twelve South’s BookBook – a leather case for Macbook Pros: it looks exactly like a vintage book or ledger!

According to it’s maker, the BookBook leather case “brings three levels of security to your prized Mac”
… firstly by its hardback cover and spine for impact protection, secondly via disguise as a lookalike old leather-bound (and large!) book. It claims the third level of security is “the stylish case protects you from being like everyone else because BookBook is totally original, just like you.”

Am not too sure I’d agree to the last claim, for it sounds more like marketing-speak more than anything else …

Anyway, it definitely looks cool with such a design. It is closed with hidden twin zippers all-round on the edge of its very authentic-looking “pages”. The leather zipper pulls mimic that of bookmark ends really takes the cake! The Macbook Pro’s LCD screen and lid is secured into the case by way of elastic bands at the top two corners; not too sure about the bottom, though. Photos do not show how that is done – it could be using hook-and-loop strips, or just resting bare on the case without any fastenings. All BookBook cases are handcrafted and its leather hand-distressed, so no two of them are exactly the same … I suppose “one-off” exclusivity is good consolation for anyone that is willing to shell out $79.99 – $99.99 for a notebook case.

Twelve South also makes a similar case for the iPad/iPad 2, which doubles up as a landscape-oriented stand when the cover is folded back. The two halves are prevented from flattening out by way of a cord that attaches to both halves.

Am not too sure about protection via disguise as an old book is entirely a good thing, though … What happens if someone decides to use “that old book lying on the desk” to whack a trespassing roach or two? Oh, dear …