One Tip A Day

Find The Best Cell Phone Deal With Cell Phone Expert

Tony Williams — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:24:11 +0000

Are you confused by the number of cell phones available and the various tariffs? Don’t know what features are essential and which aren’t? Then maybe you should check out Cell Phone Expert, designed to make choosing your next cell phone easier and cheaper. CellPhone Expert will cut thought al the jargon that phone manufacturers and networks try to bamboozle you with, and cut down to the essentials of what you need in a phone and a tariff. This is only possible because CellPhone Expert are independent and are thus able to provide unbiased overviews of hundreds of phones, allowing you to easily compare prices and tariffs.

For every Cell Phone that is available on the site, two links are provided to reviews and plans available for that phone. The cell phone reviews are written in a nice user-friendly way, with the amount of jargon kept down to a minimum. The pros and cons of each phone are listed, and each phone is give an overall star rating out of 5. To add further credibility to the review section, site users are able to submit their own reviews and and star ratings.

To further aid finding the right phone, a number of search options are provided e.g. Cell Phones can be sorted by the most popular or the highest rated. Or, or only phones that have required features such as WiFi, TouchScreen, Bluetooth etc can be listed.

Once you’ve selected the right phone for you, then finding the right plan is a breeze. Phone deals from Sprint, AT&T, Verizon Wirelss, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Cricket and other retailers like Wirefly are all compared. CellPhone Expert continuously update the deals available to ensure only available deals are presented.

So, do you fancy a new phone? Then head on over to Cell Phone Expert.

http://www.cellphone-expert.com/cell-phone-reviews/

Improve Boot Times With Soluto

Tony Williams — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:12:08 +0000

If you still boot your PC up everyday, rather than putting it to sleep, or if your PC just takes forever to boot then Soluto is probably for you. What Soluto does is provide all users with a safe and simple way to reduce their boot time, by providing ultra user-friendly information about the applications that load when your PC starts.

Many users are totally unaware of how many applications load in the background when their PC stats, and each and every one of these applications not only take time to load into memory, but they will drawn system resources. Soluto is a must have utility, that helps all users remove these programs by tracking and identifying them when your PC boots, and then providing clear and concise information on each app, allowing users to quickly pause (load not in boot, but at your command), delay (load not in boot, but later when your PC is idle) or let it load at boot.

To make it easier for users to decide what changes to make, Soluto even groups the apps into categories – No Brainers, Potentially removable and Required. After running Soluto, I was able to reduce my boot from 50 seconds to around 35 seconds by removing or delaying 19 apps:

Installing Soluto is easy and requires no user intervention. To give this great free software a try, click here.

Source: Windows 7 News & Tips

Increase The Number of Rows In Windows 7 Media Center EPG

Tony Williams — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:20:13 +0000

Windows 7 Media Center is probably the best all-round media center available, beating other solutions hands down and with a few easy tweaks it can be made even better. One of the limitations of W7MC is that the TV EPG only displays details for 7 channels at a time – scandalous for users like myself with 50″+ plasma TVs.

With a few quick tweaks it is possible to increase the number of channels displayed to 10:

To Increase the number of channels in Windows 7 Media Center’s EPG:

Close Windows Media Center
Install the Take Ownership registry file
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\ehome and find Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll, Right-click on the file and click ’Take Ownership’
Copy Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll to a temp directory and put this patch in the same directory
Run the patch (you may need to take ownership of the Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll in the temp directory)
copy the new version of Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll created by the patch to C:\Windows\ehome

You now should have extra rows displaying in W7MC.

Source: Windows 7 News & Tips, hack7mc

Increase Windows Media Center Live TV Buffer Size

Tony Williams — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:17:37 +0000

Ever paused a football match or tv show in Windows Media Center and then returned to find it playing rather than still paused? That’s because by default Windows Media Center only pauses live TV for 30 mins. This restriction probably made sense in the good old days of Windows XP Media Center, but now most media center users have GBs and TBs of storage to spare in their machines.

If you want to increase the size of the Windows Media Center Live TV buffer then there’s a great little app available called MCE Live TV Buffer Manager. Just install the app and you can increase the size of the MCE Live TV Buffer in 15 minute increments all the way up to 120 mins. The app works on all Windows Media Centers – W7MC, VMC etc

Download: MCE Live TV Buffer Manager

5 Great Desktop Twitter Clients For Windows

Umar — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:37:20 +0000

Twitter is awesome. I’m sure all other Twitter users like me would agree. Our online social network lets us keep friends and family constantly updated on every second of our day. We can also choose to follow the Tweets of our favorite celebrities and follow their activities the instant they Tweet about them. But while Twitter offers all these things in an easy to use interface, there’s no reason why developers cannot strive to make Twitter even more convenient for Tweetees.

Today we explore five of the best desktop Twitter applications that let you enjoy Twitter right from your desktop, without the need to open your web browser! Read on and find which of these Twitter clients is best for you.

1. Twhirl

Twhirl is a free Twitter desktop client. This small AIR based application compatible with Windows systems from 2000 to 7, packs a lot of features within. Use Twhirl to Tweet from your desktop, view your friend’s Tweets and the ones you’ve subscribed to, send and receive private messages, and automatically find Tweets with your username in them. You are notified of any updates making things a lot easier to handle. Furthermore Twhirl incorporates accounts of other popular websites such as Facebook and FriendFeed (amongst others). Twhirl includes a lot more which you can easily try out after installing this amazing Twitter client.

2. Seesmic

Seesmic is a great desktop Twitter client that also lets us use our Facebook account. We Twitter users can view aggregated Home, Replies, Private and Sent columns. We can also manage and post from multiple Twitter accounts, create unlimited columns for our saved searches and lists created from Twitter. With a brilliant user interface and amazingly cool look, most of Seesmic’s users consider this application to be much better than standalone Twitter. Have a look at what Seesmic has to offer and soon you will use Twitter only through this wonderful desktop Twitter client.

3. Snitter

Snitter has its own unique set of features. Some of the actions we can perform using this application is to easily view our friend’s Tweets and the ones we follow, view and filter friends and followers, use keyboard shortcuts with the application, and execute searches on Twitter. Snitter is a tiny tool which can be minimized to the tray and be used as a nifty extension to complement your Twitter usage.

4. Spaz

Spaz is a desktop Twitter and Identi.Ca and Laconi.Ca client. And AIR based application, it is crossplatform. For Twitter users the ability to shorten URLs (through accounts on Short.ie) is also added within Spaz. Then of course there are the features to read and post Tweets. Having multiple themes to choose from, Spaz will also be a worthy choice for a desktop Twitter client.

5. Twittastic

Twittastic will satisfy all Twitter users. It’s compact and has all the required features to properly enjoy Twitter. Apart from reading and sending Tweets and shortening URLs, we can also simply drag and drop images in this application to be uploaded to Twitpic and files to Drop.io. A cool and unique feature is to invert the text we type. Try out Twittastic for a fantastic Twitter experience.

Top 10 Sites To Occupy Your Idle Time

Umar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:26:30 +0000

Sometimes time can be really slow. Minutes seem like hours and idleness becomes an intolerable botheration. When you find nothing occupying your time, head on over to the internet and take advantage of the countless tools built only to entertain you.

We have gathered a list of 10 of the most interesting websites you can spend your idle time on. Without you even noticing it, time will fly by and you would be left highly entertained. Read on.

1. XKCD

XKCD is a comic strip website which uploads a new strip about every three days. The comics aren’t for everyone’s tastes as they often involve science, math, and even metaphysics. For anybody who has even a little knowhow in these fields, the comics can prove to be quite funny. However not all comics are for “intellectuals;” some strips, as in the image above can be understood by everybody and provide an entertaining read. The number of strips on the site is countless and all can be browsed by the RANDOM button.

2. PlaySEGA

PlaySEGA is an amazing website which lets users play FLASH versions of SEGA games for absolutely free! Games are sorted in categories so you can easily find one that suits your tastes. You can also search for a particular game if you know its name. Although a lot of games can be played for free after a simple registration, the best games fall under the paid plan. Try out PlaySEGA and you’ll be hooked to the screen in no time. And be warned: switching over to the paid plan will become quite tempting.

3. SeeNOW

If you’re lookingfor a way to have fun with your friends’ photographs, pay a visit to the free website SeeNow. SeeNOW can blend any picture of a face you take into different scenarios causing hilarious results. When you upload a picture, the site automatically adjust the contours, brightness, and lighting of the result to achieve better results. Sometimes the results are amazing which makes the picture even funnier. SeeNOW will keep you occupied for a long time.

4. BitStrips

Reading the strips on XKCD might spark the thought of creating your own comic series. The hardest part about that is not coming up with funny ideas but perhaps drawing the characters. With the brilliantly user-friendly interface of BitStrips, comics can be easily created by choosing our characters and placing them in a timeline. We can add text into every frame, giving our comic the final touch. In no time, your funny thought would have materialized as a comic. If you’re not in the mood to create your own comic, then read from the numerous comic strips created by other users. Time will fly.

5. Gizmoz

If you are truly idle then you have the time to spice up your social networking experience in a very unique way. This unique way is Gizmoz. This website lets us create cartoon-like characters out of our photographs. Recently they have joined hands with DAZ3D and now we can even create 3D cartoon-like characters. Short videos can also be made in which our character says anything we want him/her to say. The character or the video can then be shared on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever network you’re on. Gizmoz will let you spend your idle time doing something that will amuse your social networking contacts.

6. Cyclomaniacs

Contless FLASH games can be found on the internet but only a handful are as engaging and addictive as Cyclomaniacs.

With easy controls, various levels of different difficulty, and a good overall feel, Cyclomaniacs has all the ingredients for a good game. The objective is to race our bike and finish first. But it’s not exactly that simple. Along the way we need to gain “stunt points” by performing tricks in the air and making our biker do scary aerobic tricks. A game that will keep you hooked, Cyclomaniacs is worthy option to spend your idle time on.

7. Memoov

If you want more out of your idle time than creating comic strips, then promote to creating animations. You might think special computer programming and graphics knowledge is required to create an animation. But Memoov is one website which not only programming-illiterate users can enjoy but also ones who don’t know how to draw! Pick a character, customize him/her, place him/her in a scene, and choose its actions. You can even have your character speak different dialogs. Create an animation in your free time and share it on YouTube to share it with friends and family.

8. DoodleWall

When bored in class or attending an uninteresting meeting, we often find ourselves doodling on a piece of paper. With DoodleWall, you can do the same on your monitor! Create a username and then a wall, then start doodling. You can keep the private, public, or share it with selected friends. A simple tool, it can lead to a lot of interesting ideas if you put your creativity to it. See how you can have fun with this simple website by visiting it.

9. GoAnimate

A great alternative to Memoov is GoAnimate that provides users with a better interface (and better characters plus scenes plus sounds effects) to choose from. The timeline shown at the bottom of the page lets users easily organize their scenes and create better animations. Once a work is complete, it can be shared on the same site and the URL can be given out to other people. We can also view others’ created animations on the site and gather a lot of great ideas along with getting some quality entertainment.

10. Festisite’s Personalized Money

Ever wonder how you face would look like on a currency note? Well now you don’t have to hire a printing press to get that job done. All you do is head on over to Festisite’s Personalized Money Generator page, upload a picture which you want to appear on the note, and click on FINALIZE. Your custom currency note will be created in a jiffy. The array of different currencies and denominations is quite impressive. Upload a friend’s photo and share the results with him/her to get a good laugh.

How to Edit Photos for Free on Your iPhone

Umar — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:30:58 +0000

Photoshop.com is a wonderful photo editing website. A product by Adobe, the site lets users upload photos and videos up to a total size of 2GB. Our media is not shrunk and stays on Photoshop in its original resolution. The site also provides us with various editing tool such as different effects and photo frames which enhance our pictures. Once we are done editing, we can share our media on numerous social media sites including Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and Photobucket.

Now this great free-to-use site has released a great free-to-use application for iPhone. The Photoshop.com Mobile App for iPhone is a user-friendly tool for iPhone and iPod touch equipped with iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

With this iPhone application we can get access to our media store on our Photoshop account – this means adding another 2GB to our iPhone’s media storage. Moreover we can upload photos to our Photoshop account using our iPhone.

Using the editing tools which the application has to offer, we can perform quite a number of editing tasks. For instance if our hand shook while shooting a photograph, we can quickly straighten it up using the editing tools of the Photoshop application. Other editing features include cropping, rotating, and flipping photographs. Borders and photo frames can also be added.
We also apply a number of special effects to the pictures we open with the application.

With the feature named Soft Focus, we can give our pictures an extra glow. We can use the Sketch effect to give our images a more artistic touch. We can also change the colors of our pictures.

All the edits we make via this application are performed easily using our fingers on our Apple device’s touchscreen. Having quite a small size and providing a user-friendly interface for photo editing free-of-cost, Photoshop.com Mobile App for iPhone is one application I recommend to all iPhone/iPod touch users.

How To Create, Publish and Share Digital Stories

Umar — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:57:09 +0000

Imagine a program that helps you write your thesis, helps your son work on his science project, lets your daughter create comical animations, and lets your spouse create family videos and edit audio files.

Your first response would probably be “That’s too much to ask.” Fortunately however, the developers behind Creaza thought differently and made those tasks possible with their creation.

Creaza is free online tool that offers you an integrated, web-based toolbox for creative work. This creative work can be anything from working on a research project to making videos.

The tool is divided into four main categories which work seamlessly with one another.

Mindomo:

Mindomo is cool way to create mind-maps. While working on your project you should brainstorm before getting your hands dirty. Jot down all your ideas in a map-like diagram and then play around with the collected ideas to squeeze the best ones out.

Cartoonist:

The Cartoonist tool can be especially helpful if you’re creating something for children. Through cartoons you can make learning easy and fun. You can carry forward your mind-map ideas and base your cartoons on them.

You get 8 cartoon scenarios to choose from. Choosing any category will open up a panel where you can create your cartoons:

The panel is user-friendly and all tools are self-explanatory. You can create brilliant slides of cartoons which can not only help you while catering to an audience of children, but also help you with giving presentations. Cartoons can be used to deliver a serious message and sometimes the impact, even though delivered by animation, can be greater.

Movie Editor:

Speaking of presentations, you can take them to the next level by incorporating real videos into them. With Creaza you can create those videos with the help of Movie Editor. You get two options to choose from:

Choose an option to open the video creating panel which has a lot of great tools to make great videos:

Audio Editor:

The fourth tool Creaza has is equally impressive. The Audio Editor lets you mash up and edit different sound clips stored on the site. Like in other of its tools, you can insert your own media (audio, in this case) and build on it or edit it.

Using Creaza for free has a few limitations though: you cannot export it on your PC and the maximum storage size you get is 25MB. Apart from lifting these restrictions, going for the paid version gives you more themes to work with. Details can be found here.

Give Creaza a try and see for yourself that it can be the perfect tool to implement your creativity.

Top 5 Tools To Protect You and Your Data

Umar — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:39:09 +0000

For most of us computers have now become in indispensable part of our lives. From social networking to shopping, computers are now the medium for many of our actions. For this reason our computers often store a lot of our private data which we need ensure is safe and protected at all times. You might think that antivirus and antimalware programs were enough to keep your system safe, but you will surprised to know other ways which further protect you and your data.

Today we will tell you about five security applications/websites which protect your data from being lost or falling into the wrong hands. Read on to know about these tools – you will surely find all of them useful.

1. PeerBlock

PeerBlock is a free 2MB application which protects you from various tools that monitor your internet activity. With this free Windows program, you can block communication with advertising or spyware oriented servers, computers monitoring your p2p activities, even entire countries! PeerBlock protects your data by ensuring your anonymity online and giving you the control of the level of anonymity. If you’re active on P2P sites, or simply require anonymity while downloading either via P2P or HTTP, get PeerBlock right away and achieve the desired results.

2. Jotti’s Malware Scan

Some antivirus programs detect a certain virus while others do not. Using the online Jotti’s Malware Scan you can upload a file (maximum size 15MB) onto the website to have it scanned with over 20 leading antivirus scanners. If you have a suspicious file which your antivirus declared to be clean, Jotti would be a good confirmer of the file’s health.

3. LockThis

Suppose you are working on your computer and now need to vacate it for somebody else (perhaps a friend wanting to check their email). You do not want to close the open windows because your fear losing your work and at the same time, you do not want this other person to be able to look at what these windows contain. In such a situation LockThis will help you protect your privacy. It’s a tiny little tool that sits in your system tray while running; while minimizing a window, simply hold down the CTRL key. Now if you want to reopen or close that window you will be required to give a password which you had earlier assigned to LockThis. This little tool can prove to be quite beneficial particularly for laptop users who often hand over their systems to a person nearby for usage.

4. Conceal

Data encryption is technique by which you can encode your data such that it can only be viewed after decoding. The process can become complex if you do not know what you are doing. However with Conceal you simply drag’n’drop your files/folders into the application and have it encrypted or decrypted by providing a password. This application can be particularly useful while transmitting sensitive over the internet to another user on another computer. If both of you have Conceal, you can encrypt the data at your end, send it to person B and provide him/her with the password which can be used to decrypt the sent files through Conceal. This procedure will ensure that if data is intercepted during transfer and falls into the wrong hands, its contents will never be disclosed. Try out Conceal and see how easily you can protect the integrity of your data.

5. Backblaze

No matter how great a software you install, it will only protect your computer’s data from malwares. But in the case of any physical damage (a fire, for instance) your computer’s hard disk will be ruined; there will not be any hard drive left, let alone its data. Backblaze is a paid online service which can used to upload our data (unlimited data!) to Backblaze’s very secure server for only $5/month. Before the data is put up on the server, Backblaze encrypts your data for extra protection. The price is definitely worth the service which is the ultimate protection against any physical damage to your computer.

How to Add an Online Image Editor to Your Website

Umar — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:13:49 +0000

If you have a website which works with images (for example, lets users upload images or share images on your website to their social media networking accounts) then it would be a great idea to provide your site visitors with the option to edit images online. If a person wants to set his profile picture on your site, he can upload the original photo and then edit it in the online editor (available on your site) then put up the resultant image as the picture. Similarly if you have a funny picture up on your site which users can share on Facebook, enabling them to edit it online makes things more convenient in case they want to crop the image.

You do not need to do anything extremely fancy with you site’s code to add an online image editor on your website; all you need is Picmeleo.

Picmeleo is a free online photo editor that any third-party developers can integrate to their website. To use the service, click on the blue SIGN UP BUTTON on the homepage and create an account by entering yours and your website’s details.

After signing into your account, you can obtain the code for the editor; all you will need to now is embed this code into your site and you will have given your site visitors an online image editor.

You can also preview the editor before actually pasting the code on your blog. The loading process may take a little whole so give it some time. Here’s how it looks

Some of the tools this editor contains are Crop, Scale, Rotate, Auto-fix, and Filters. If you do not want your users to be able to extensively edit the image on your site, you can choose to exclude some tools which Picmeleo offers in its editor. This is a unique feature of this online image editor.

Overall the easy integration of Picmeleo into your website is what makes it so special. Give it a try on your website, and in the comments let me know how your experience with it went.

How To Access/Manage FTP Accounts In FireFox

Umar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:56:34 +0000

Even the most casual Web developer needs an FTP application. But many of the lightweight FTP clients lack comprehensive features and are unintuitive. This is why instead of tools that merely enhance a browser’s FTP capabilities, developers end up installing complete FTP-specific programs and deal with all FTP issues directly via that application, leaving the browser out of the equation.

But FireFTP is the exception to the abovementioned rule regarding lightweight FTP clients.

FireFTP is a browser add-on for Mozilla Firefox; it behaves as a secure cross-platform FTP client which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers. It can handle multiple accounts and remember different logins, passwords, and connection settings for each. It supports authenticated TSL, authenticated SSL, and implicit SSL for secure transfers, drag and drop, and CHMOD changes. There is an even FireFTP extension that works within Portable Firefox.

Along with transferring your files quickly and efficiently, FireFTP also includes more advanced features such as directory comparison, syncing directories while navigating, SFTP, SSL encryption, search/filtering, integrity checks, remote editing, drag & drop, and file hashing.

The add-on offers numerous modifiable options which can be accessed via the add-ons options in Firefox.

Setting up FireFTP is a breeze and it does not interfere with other installed add-ons. The best part is that even while offering such an impressive array of FTP features, it does not slow down the functioning and overall speed of Firefox – no new sluggishness whatsoever!

If you are looking for a great FTP client, your search ends at FireFTP. Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments.

For Chrome: How To Get IMDb Movie Ratings For Highlighted Text

Umar — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:25:03 +0000

One torrents website I frequent is BtJunkie. Every day new music, movies, or television series is uploaded on the site. A large portion of the newly uploaded series and movies are ones that I have not heard of before. To see if they are worth downloading and watching, I refer to IMDb and check out the user rating to get a quick idea of popular opinion has to say about that particular series/movie.

Of course to do this, I search the name of the series/movie in Google and if I have spelled the name right, its corresponding IMDb link is usually the first or second search result. This procedure requires me to leave the BtJunkie page and open a new browser tab.

Fortunately there was a developer who probably went through the same procedure and thought about developing a way to cut back on the time it take to view the IMDb user rating for a particular movie or series. His solution was the tool which I currently use and am writing about today: Go to IMDb.

Go to IMDb is a browser extension for the supremely responsive Chrome internet browser. After installing the extension, you will find a newly placed icon in your address bar. This icon will resemble the logo of IMDb.

Now to check for a movie/series rating, all you have to do is highlight the name the movie/series on the webpage. After highlighting, the extension’s icon will automatically give its user rating in a number beside it.

Clicking on the icon will take you to the corresponding IMDb entry for that particular movie or series.

In case of invalid names, a question mark is seen next to the icon which indicates that the IMDb rating and page was not found for the highlighted text.

Go to IMDb is a commendable extension and will prove to be useful for any user looking for a convenient way to find out the IMDb rating and page for specific movies or series.

How to Set Custom Hotkeys to iTunes

Umar — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:23:00 +0000

My main problems with iTunes include its sheer download size plus the amount of computer resources it hoards up. But what also bothers me is the lack of customizable hotkeys. You might wonder why somebody would want customizable hotkeys in the first place; the answer is that the same set of hotkeys might be used by other program which is being run simultaneously with iTunes. For example your favorite screenshot taking program might have non-customizable keys as well and they might coincide with your iTunes’ hotkeys – a situation that will surely cause problems.

To control iTunes’ functions via the hotkeys you want, a great solution that can be employed is hktunes.

hktunes is an add-in for iTunes which lets us, in a way, set our own hotkeys for iTunes. We can assign hotkeys which will work on iTunes even with it minimized or out of focus (not the window which is currently open). The hotkeys we set can even be the media keys that come with modern keyboards. This is a great feature because iTunes sometimes does not recognize these keys by default which makes them quite redundant. But with hktunes we can have iTunes take advantage of these keys.

The interface of the application is quite simple; the window is minimized to the System Tray from where the application can be opened and hotkeys can be assigned.

Being a small freeware application, many iTunes users will be able to benefit from hktunes. Do not wait around for iTunes to improve its interface; give hktunes a try and get a more convenient iTunes experience.

3 Free Websites to Download YouTube Videos in HD Format

Umar — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:06:59 +0000

There are a number of installable applications available which let us enter the URL of a YouTube video and then download it. Some of the programs are really great and even provide us with the ability to convert the file format of the downloaded video.

Using these applications can become difficult if you are working on somebody else’s computer and do not have the privileges to install the video-downloading application. In that situation or if you simply do not want to install an extra program on your computer, you can take advantage of the various websites which provide video downloading features in the same way as the installable programs. Some of these sites even allow downloading the HIGH DEFINITION (HD) YouTube videos and videos from other video hosting websites.

I feel that the following 3 websites are great such sources; read each entry and use the one that suits your preferences best.

keepHD

keepHD is a very simple-to-use website with a URL field located in the top right. After feeding in the URL of a YouTube video, we can watch it or choose to download it in various formats.

keepHD supports only YouTube videos (simple and HD ones). My favorite part about keepHD is its neat interface and the absence of online ads.

KeepTube

KeepTube is another great YouTube video downloading resource. It even has a Firefox extension which performs the same function. Non-Firefox users can enter the URL of the YouTube video on KeepTube webpage and click on the DOWNLOAD button. We are then taken to the video downloading page where we can choose to download our video in different formats.

KeepTube does not allow users to stream their video before downloading and it has online ads. But it is better than keepHD in the sense that it supports many more video hosting sites and HD videos. A list of KeepTube’s supported sites and formats can be found here.

ClipNabber

ClipNabber, the final entry in my list, is a great tool to download online videos. A great number of video hosting websites is supported.

The downside of this site is that the only lets users download videos in the FLV format.

If FLV formats are not a problem for you, then ClipNabber is a great option to go with. Otherwise this site can help you download the video from sites not supported by KeepTube or keepHD.

Now Access Facebook Within Gmail With Gmail Facebook integration

Umar — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:03:34 +0000

Surely many of readers use multiple social networking sites like I do. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, or any other social media site, it gains members by offering a unique feature (at least to start with). Personally I have accounts on all three networks and use Chrome extensions to manage them directly via Chrome.

I also have email accounts on various servers. The most popular of these servers are Gmail, Windows Live (Hotmail), and Yahoo. So every day, I first check my email on each account and then proceed to check any updates on each social media account. Obviously I could immensely use a tool that would integrate email servers with social media websites. Although there are various ways to fuse our social media accounts together, there has yet to be a great tool developed for merging all our email accounts with all social media accounts.

There is however one tool that seems to heading in the right direction: Gmail Facebook Integration.

GFI (Gmail Facebook Integration) is a great browser extension for Chrome which I have only recently discovered. Expecting its behavior to be like most other Chrome extensions, I was surprised when I did not find an additional icon in my address bar after the installation of GFI. I think that at times Chrome extensions unnecessarily occupy space on the address bar thus the absence of an icon was a pleasant change.

The function of this extension is to add a Facebook field to our Gmail account links which we can see in the left panel, from where we access our Inbox, Sent items, Trash, etc.

The first time you click the Facebook link, Facebook will ask for a confirmation of authorization.

After authorization you will be able to access, view, and operate your Facebook account via Gmail.

GFI is still far from perfect. As it usually is with new ideas, users have encountered a number of problems with GFI. This is why after the installation of the extension users are redirected to a message by the developer providing solutions to the most common problems faced. The page is similar to the image below.

If you plan to use this extension regularly, I would advise you to copy the text from this SOLUTIONS page and save it in a TXT file for troubleshooting any problems you face later.

How To Save Pages And Read Them Later in Chrome

Umar — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:34:35 +0000

The internet offers a lot of interesting reading material to the ones who are willing to read. We often come across stimulating online articles which are greatly satisfying to read. The forms these articles come in are various. Their nature can be anything, from news articles to something of a humorous nature. But we get to miss a lot of these articles due to shortage of time. A person who has to get going in five minutes cannot start and finish a thousand-word article.

One solution would be to keep on bookmarking our to-read articles but that can create a horrendously disorganized bookmarks folder. We could go the extra mile and create a separate folder for our read-later articles but that would require about two more clicks after clicking the bookmarking option.

At least for Google Chrome users, that problem need not exist anymore. Using a great extension titled LocalReadLater, users can always catch up on the stuff they wanted to read but did not have the time for.

After installing this free Chrome extension, you will its blue icon in the address bar.

Now every time that you are on a webpage with interesting reading material which you currently do not have the time to read, press “CTRL+ALT+R” on your keyboard. That particular page will be added to your reading list which can be viewed by clicking on the address bar icon.

LocalReadLater is a great way to never miss out on articles you find interesting. Get this extension for your Chrome today and always be able to pick off your online reading where you leave it.

How To Create Your Own Animated Avatar Online

Umar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:10:33 +0000

Creating animated avatars is the new fad amongst internet communicators. If you do not know what avatars are (in the internet sense), then here you go: an icon or animation to represent a participant used in internet chat and games.

Still images make fine avatars but the fun of having an animated 3D image moving automatically as your avatar cannot be matched by a still image. The internet now has a number of websites and, in some cases, downloadable tools which let users create wonderful animations which for avatar purposes. Today we are going to explore one such animated avatar creation website which is free to use and gives users the maximum functionality. The website is called Avatara.

Before you get started, we suggest that you log in first. You can login using any one of your OpenID accounts (which include Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, etc.). Once you have signed in, here is what your newly created Dashboard will look like:

To start making an avatar, click on the CREATE A NEW AVATAR button. The first page shows you some animated faces from which you select the face of your avatar.

You can upload the image of a real face and the site will generate a closely resembling animated face. Select whichever face you like and then proceed to customize it.

Customization options are quite detailed and include minute details as well. We can customize the clothing, body, hair, eyes, skin, and even the facial details.

When done with the customization, you can go on and start sharing your just-built avatar.

Sharing options include sharing via email or a number of popular online social networks.

Avatara provides its users with great avatar creation and sharing features in a user-friendly interface; in our opinion, it is the ultimate go-to website for avatar creation.

How To Create Custom Toolbars For Your Website

Umar — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:06:27 +0000

Normally when we are browsing a website and want to go over to some other popular site (such YouTube, Twitter, etc.) the only option we have is to type in the URL in the address bar or choose our Favorite from the Bookmarks Menu. How helpful would it if the website were browsing had links to all such popular sites? Not only would that facilitate users but it would also increase the chance of users spreading word about the site.

This task can be performed by site developers creating a toolbar for their website. This toolbar should have links for popular sites (namely online social networks) along with other fun and useful tools such as games or a translator tool.

If you are website developer or owner who wants such a toolbar incorporated into their website, then you need not be aware of any toolbar-specific programming. You can easily create your website’s toolbar with Wibiya.

Wibiya is a website that lets users create their own toolbars for free. After a quick free registration, we proceed to select our toolbar’s theme from a wide range of color options:

The next step is to choose the applications we want included in our toolbar. The applications we choose here are only few of the ones we can add later. These applications range from Facebook to iTranslation. Pick the ones you like:

Next, depending on the applications we chose, we have to enter our Twitter username, Facebook fan page ID, and two RSS feeds for subscription and latest posts.

Finally we choose our site platform:

Simply click on one of the buttons on the left which matches your site platform. Say you click on Blogger, you will be taken to a Blogger page asking if the Wibiya widget should be added to your blog. This Wibiya widget will in fact be the toolbar you have just created.

If your site platform does not belong to any of the buttons on the left, then click on the last button and code will appear to the right which you can copy and paste into your site’s HTML template:

In these easy steps, you will have created your very own site toolbar and added it to your website. Not only will this give your site visitors a chance to integrate Twitter and Facebook but you will also be able to engage your readers and get more constructive feedback.

Wibiya is a tool no site owner/developer should miss out on.

How To Speed Up Search on Google Images, Bing, YouTube, and more

Umar — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:58:06 +0000

Firefox is not the only browser with great add-ons. Google Chrome’s extensions are gradually building up and forcing users to decide between browsers. Recognizing that a lot of users use Chrome and Firefox interchangeably, some add-on developers are now making their add-ons for both browsers, not just one.
Most of these multi-browser add-ons are wonderful to work with and add great functionality to any browser they are added to. One such add-on is Cooliris that creates an amazing 3D wall of the images and video on a site and presents it to you.
The Cooliris version we will be exploring is the Chrome one which can be downloaded here (unfortunately the link on the official Chrome extensions is currently down, for which purpose we are linking you with the CNET URL).

You will notice that the extension’s size is larger than other extensions. That is because rather than building on an innate function of Chrome, Cooliris has to introduce a completely new visual effect.

Let us see what Cooliris looks like in action.

Suppose you have just searched for the word “hippo” in Google Images; here is what your results will look like:

You will only be able to see a limited number of pictures; to see rest of the results you will need to click on a link and turn the page.
To activate Cooliris we click on its icon in the address bar (encircled in the image above). A 3D wall will be generated in a new tab which looks like this:

This wall can be dragged with the mouse pointer. All results can be viewed simply by dragging the wall:

This view more enjoyable and makes finding an image easier. We can use this images/video 3D wall viewing option with multiple websites of which the names can be found in the image below:

A user can click on the Channels button in the top left panel and a list of categories will appear which contains videos and pictures relevant to that category:

By browsing through the channels one can view great images/videos in a similar 3D wall fashion.
Cooliris for Chrome is currently in its beta stage but should still be given a try. This nifty add-on will remarkably improve your Chrome experience.

For Chrome: How To Take Notes Within Your Browser

Umar — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:19:44 +0000

Surfing the web you might feel the need to note down some piece of information which you want for later viewing. Now when you spot this piece of information in your internet browser, depending on whether it is short or long you do one of the following: open up Notepad and paste the information there, or physically note it down on a piece of paper. In both scenarios you are exiting the scope of your internet browser and spending a few extra seconds which could be saved if your browser has built-in note-taking functionality.

A good piece of news for Google Chrome users is that their browsers can now certainly have this functionality by an amazing little tool called Chromepad.

Chromepad, with its fitting name, serves as a Notepad for the Google Chrome browser i.e. it eliminates our need to exit the scope of Chrome whenever we need to note down something.

Like most other Chrome extensions Chromepad has its icon in the Address Bar after installation:

While browsing the internet, simply click on this icon to drop down a note-taking area where you can store your notes:

This note-taking area can be easily resized by the mouse to adjust to the user’s needs.

One issue reported by users of the extension is that when newer versions are installed the notes in this drop down area disappear. The fact is that those previous notes are actually stored and can be viewed and retrieved in the extension’s options:

In conclusion, Chromepad is a nifty extension for Chrome which adds simple but highly useful functionality to the browser.

How to Manage Time More Effectively in Chrome

Umar — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:14:16 +0000

The trick with getting lengthy tasks done is not to do them entirely in one sitting (at least not continuously). One should get started on the task, take a break before boredom takes over, then return from the break and get started again. We can work for a specific time interval, then take a break for a specific time interval, and then repeat.

This type of time management is called the Promodo Technique, which is a way to get the most out of our time. We can turn time into a valuable ally to accomplish what we want to do and chart continuous improvement in the way we do it. The technique was (officially) created in 1992 by Francesco Cirillo. It is now practiced by professional teams and individuals around the world.

As a blogger I have personally found the technique to be quite helpful. Today I would like to share a little tool that eliminates the need of an external timer and lets us employ the Promodo Technique using just our computer. This tool is an extension for the Google Chrome browser and is titled ChromoDoro.

ChromoDoro is a great Chrome extension that lets us manage our time by setting 25 minutes for uninterruptedworking and then 5 minutes for rest. After the 25 minutes are over, we are shown a message that it is now time for a break.

After the 5 minutes of break are over, the cycle repeats itself and can be activated or deactivated by clicking the extension’s icon in the address bar of Chrome.

The number under the tomato icon shows us the time left in our working period.

The 25 and 5 minute intervals are set by default; to change these intervals, we can right click on the icon and access the extension’s options where we can adjust the work and rest timings.

ChromoDoro is a nifty extension that can help countless computer users particularly professional bloggers.

How to Download Video Games Music file in MID Format

Umar — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:24:20 +0000

I remember playing Fifa’99 back in the days of Sony PlayStation(1). Back then PS was the only console to have games on optical media and it was an exhilarating experience for all gamers. We now had games with better graphics, better game play, and amazing soundtracks. Fifa was one of the games that somewhat took full advantage of PS’s potential. Apart from great visuals it has wonderful upbeat songs which kept the menus lively. The game’s music was one of the reasons it was enjoyable.

Similarly there have been many games over the years with songs or scores which were a huge reason for the game’s success. Sometimes during the game we hear a song or piece of music which we like and want to store it in our music library. Doing so is easy if it is an artist’s song and available for download on torrents or is purchasable. However if it is music which the game developers have made especially for the game, then tracking it down could be rather difficult.

Fortunately for us, there is a website which helps us out in this regard and hosts many music files from countless games ranging over all gaming consoles. The site is title VGMusic.

VGMusic is a free website that hosts audio music files in the MID format. We can search for a particular game using the available search tools:

Alternatively we can browse games by choosing our console:

After selecting our console we can browse through games which are arranged alphabetically:

The different music files of a game are listed under the same title. In front of them we can see the size of the audio file:

Depending on your internet browser’s setting, clicking on a music file will either open a new tab and start playing audio or begin downloading the MID file. Here is how the MID file player looks like within Firefox:

If the file starts playing in the browser and a user wants to download it rather than play it, he/she simply needs to right-click on the original link and choose SAVE LINK AS:

From then on we can choose our download location and download the MID file.

In those easy steps we are able to listen to and obtain the music of our favorite games. If you are avid gamer, then bookmark VGMusic – it will help you get your favorite game’s theme music.

How To Easily Edit Image Instantly In Chrome By Alt + Right Clicking it

Umar — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:19:39 +0000

Often while creating a project we need to use an image of something we are describing. My go-to website for images is Google Images where after a little searching, I find my required image. Sometimes however the image needs a little cropping or editing of some other sort. In that case I first save the image on my hard drive and proceed to edit it with my image editing program, Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

If there were a way to edit the images we see in our browser, then my task would be made greatly easier. I could save the time taken to open up Microsoft Office Picture Manager and edit my picture, then save it. All I would need to do is edit my required image within the browser, then save it to my hard drive.

Fortunately for me and for all computer users whose work requires them to find images online, now we can edit our images within our internet browser. The condition is that we need to be Google Chrome users because the tool used to perform our editing task is a Chrome extension titled InstantImageEditor.

The extension works in a very straightforward manner. Suppose we have run a search for “birds” in Google Images and I want to edit a search result:

With the extension installed, all I have to do is right-click on the image while pressing down the ALT key. My image will be opened in the highly popular online image editor Pixlr:

This editor offers a wide range of options which we can use to modify our image. It performs almost all functions which we need while editing our image, including cropping, rotation, resizing, drawing, and adding various effects.

Thanks to InstantImageEditor I no longer have to go through an extra step to obtain my desired image from the internet. Try out the extension yourself and personally experience how easy it makes getting the right image.

Autocomplete What You Type And Save Time With TypingAid

Umar — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:22:16 +0000

If your job requires you to type for extended periods of time then a fast typing speed can do wonders for you. It can increase your productivity as well as leaving with your free time to focus on other non-typing aspects of your job. This is why people who type a lot have usually enabled the auto-complete option in their browsers or word processing software to cut back on the time taken on typing the same block of words again and again. In this respect the auto-complete feature in various programs benefits a lot of us. Moreover a job comprising of a lot of typing poses a serious threat of Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI). By enabling the auto-complete option, we type less and reduce the chances of suffering any RSI.

Today we explore a great little freeware program which lets us auto-complete our texts by predefining our list or block of words. This program is called TypingAid.

TypingAid as the name suggests, assists us while we type. It is a small 200KB program compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Installing it is not necessary; all that is required is that we extract the five files included in the downloaded archive.

Then we run the executable file titled TypingAid. A small window will appear introducing the program. Once this windows disappears, a green icon will now be present in the system tray.

The TXT file titled WORDLIST includes the list of words which appear as auto-complete options. We can add or remove the word in this file by simply editing it in Notepad.

When we type the first three letters of a word or block of words in the WORDLIST file, our auto-complete options immediately appear.

We press the number corresponding to our option and it gets entered.

In this extremely simple way, TypingAid makes typing easier for most of us whose typing speeds are not as fast as we would like them to be.

How To Watch YouTube videos With Friends in Real-time

Umar — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:41:22 +0000

Streaming online video is a pastime for a lot of us. According to our mood, we stream videos of various genres from humorous to educational. At times we like a certain video and want our friends to watch it to. One way to do this is by copying the URL of that video’s page and sharing the URL with our contacts. With the increasing popularity of Facebook and other online social networks, we most video hosting sites like YouTube have a Facebook-share feature built into them.

But how about wanting to know how your friends react to the video as they watch it? Perhaps you can do this with one friend by asking him/her to watch the video and hold a live chat with him/her at the same time. But what if the number of friends is more than one? Suppose you are watching a movie online (via streaming) and you want to watch the movie as a group with the only problem being that you and your friends only have an internet connection joining each other. You might not be able to think of any way that is possible.

However with Synchtube that group-online-movie-watching experience is entirely possible and easy.

Synchtube is a free website which lets user create rooms where we can send invitations to friends and select a video to be seen by all group members together.

At the bottom of the site’s homepage we see an area where we paste the URL of the video’s page. After doing this we click CREATE ROOM.

Our video will start playing in window similar to the image below:

In the top right we can see the URL of this page which we can share with other people we want to watch the video with.

When another user starts watching the video, a new status bar is added at the bottom left of our window where we can see the progress of each video along with the name of each user watching the video:

To make this service a bit more interesting there is a Live chat facility available can be found at the right side of the page. Synchtube offers a great way to watch video with your friends. It can also be used as a strong educational and instructional tool for a group of students.

These kinds of websites are something the internet could use more of.

Restrict The Internet Activity Of A Certain Computer User

Umar — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:50:16 +0000

The educational environment today is much more competitive than it was a few decades ago. In those times the only available sources of information students had were their textbooks and teacher. However today, children use computers to not only grasp what is being taught at school, but also concepts beyond their syllabus. The distance between knowledge and students has been remarkably reduced by computers.

Considering the significance of their supportive role in your child’s education, it is almost essential to buy a computer for your young one’s schooling. However as concerned parents you also have the duty to protect your children from the adult content on the internet. Exposure to such material at an early age can be disturbing and work in contradiction to what you purchased the computer for.

Today we explore one of many free tools available on the internet which parents can use to shield their children from any explicit material. This tool is a Firefox add-on titled ProCon Latte.

Installing and enabling this add-on in your Firefox browser will give you an array of options to restrict the internet activity of a certain computer user. You see a shield icon in the bottom right of your Firefox browser when the add-on’s shield is enabled. The window of options for the add-on looks like this:

In the General tab, the first you would want to do is set a password for the add-on so the options you set are not changed without your consent. Apart from that the General tab lets you set other options such as preventing it from being disabled or uninstalled, locking the link that accesses the browser’s configuration, and hiding the add-on’s entry from the tools menu:

Here is what you can see in the Main Filter tab:

The ‘Edit List’ button will let you modify the words which if present in a site, will prevent the site from being viewed. When a certain page is blocked, you can create a custom message to be displayed as well as page for the user to be redirected to.

The next tab is titled Whitelist:

There might be certain harmless website which include the ‘forbidden’ words in the predefined list or which you have specified. You can add these particular sites to the ‘whitelist’ so the add-on does not block them. (Remember to check the ‘Enable Whitelist’ checkbox to let the whitelist sites through.)

In the final tab, the ‘Profanity Filter’ tab, you can further restrict the words an internet sees/reads:

Suppose an internet user tries to communicate with your young one in a browser-chat window and tries to use profane language. If you have added those profane words to the ‘Profanity Filter’ and specified a replacement word, then your child will never have to read any inappropriate material.

As you have seen, the ProCon Latte add-on provides an impressive array of functionality to help you battle the adult material of the internet and help better protect your young one. If you have a child using your computer, install this add-on right away.

How To Create Your Flash Drive’s Recycle Bin

Umar — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:14:47 +0000

If you have a flash drive, there must have been times where you used it on computers other than yours. On those computers, if you delete a file from your flash drive, it will probably be permanently deleted or be moved to the Recycle Bin. In the first case the file cannot be easily restored. But in the second case you can simply open the Recycle Bin and restore the deleted file. You might face a problem however when you try to restore this deleted file from the Recycle Bin after you are done using the system. For instance if you used the flash drive in an internet café or on a person’s PC who regularly empties his/her Recycle Bin, you might never be able to recover the file.

A developer considered this problem, analyzed it thoroughly and concluded that the best solution was for the flash to have a built-in Recycle Bin. He then created his wonderful program, iBin.

iBin comes in the form of a 700KB ZIP archive. Upon extraction of this ZIP, you will obtain an EXE file which you should copy to your flash drive. Now run the EXE just placed in your flash drive to create your flash drive’s Recycle Bin.

The first three files in the image above are of iBin’s. The last file is a sample file. When we try to delete it, a confirmation appears asking us if we want it deleted by erasure or by moving it to the iBin folder.

By moving it to iBin we can have it available for later restoration. We can adjust the capacity options for iBin along with other options by right-clicking on its system tray icon and opening its menu.

All we have to do is put the EXE file in our flash drive, run it, and we get our flash drive’s very own Recycle Bin.

It is that simple.

Connect To Websites Using Different User Names

Umar — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:36:21 +0000

There are many services which we use multiple accounts with. I personally, for instance, use multiple Gmail and Yahoo Mail accounts. Shifting between them is quite a bothersome task and the constant logging in and out of the sites wastes valuable time.

Some internet browsers offer a quick solution to this by providing their users the option of creating different profiles which store login information and cookies. These profiles do not interfere with each other and function independently making it possible to work with multiple usernames signed in to the same account. Mozilla Firefox is an example of a browser which provides this multiple profiles features.

The problem with profiles however is that a user cannot place the different accounts side by side as at a time only one profile can be chosen and one profile stores only one username of a particular site.

Recognizing these problems, a great Firefox add-on was created to solve them; it is titled Multifox and we will be exploring it today.

With Multifox you can open independent Firefox windows which will have their own set of cookies and let you login on different sites. Let us consider an example with Yahoo Mail. After you open Yahoo Mail’s page, right-click on a Yahoo Mail URL and select “Open in a New Identity Profile”.

A new window will open with a number next to the address bar. If this is the first window you have created with the add-on, then the number will be 2:

The next window you will open will be marked 3, the one after that will be marked 4, and so on. This windows act as a separate profile. The information and cookies stored by them are independent of other windows. Therefore you can log into Facebook with Username1 in the first window (the one with no number), with Username2 in the second window (the one with number 2), and keep logging into different accounts of Facebook. If you choose to save the passwords, then your windows will store that information (meaning when you exit Firefox and reopen the windows, the no-number window will have the information of Username1 and the number 2 window will have the information of Username2).

Reading the above paragraph might have gotten a little confusing for you. However using Multifox is far from confusing. Give it a try today and simultaneously use multiple accounts on a site with unprecedented ease.

Control Your Startup Applications with WhatInStartup

Umar — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:19:20 +0000

If your computer starts up really slowly and takes a long time before you can use your installed applications, there is a good chance that unnecessary programs and files are being opened or initialized at the system startup. Finding out what these applications are and enabling/disabling them can be done by entering Run in the Start menu and typing MSCONFIG. Press the Enter/Return key and in the resultant window, your startup programs can be found in the Startup tab.

This is the most basic way to get control of your startup applications. But as you will soon realize after using this Windows native method, the program you disable often reappear re-checked and cause slower startups. Therefore one cannot rely on this procedure of controlling one’s startup application.

To gain full control of which applications run and do not run on the startup, download and install WhatInStartup.

WhatsInStartup is a freeware utility from NirSoft, creators of other such useful freeware utilities.

The size of WhatsInStartup is less than 50KB and the program needs to installation. Simply extract the downloaded archive and you will be all set to use the program by opening the EXE file titled WhatInStartup.

The first difference you will notice between this program and Windows’ startup applications manager, is that in this little freeware you get to view a lot more attributes of the startup program.

Suppose there is a program listed in the startup list but you are not sure if it is a system file or an unnecessary program file. Checking out the attributes listed ahead of the program entry can greatly help you decide whether you want to disable the program from starting up.

Another feature of this great program is that it helps you permanently disable startup entries. This is done via WhatInStartup’s Permanent Disable Mode feature. This feature can be enabled in the Options menu:

If a program that you previously disabled added itself again to the startup list of Windows, WhatInStartup will automatically detect the change and disable it again.

WhatInStartup is a tiny program yet highly useful; since it supports all Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 till Windows 7, countless people can benefit from it. If you are a Windows user, give WhatsInStartup a try yourself and really control what starts up as you turn your system on.

Download Amazing Photoshop Brushes/Patterns For Free With Brusheezy

Umar — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:59:02 +0000

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard when it comes to image modification and working with graphics. Graphic designers mostly start out with learning Photoshop and a huge number of them stick to it throughout their careers. Although the absolute beginner might Photoshop a bit intimidating, the tools are quite easy to grasp. The best part about Photoshop is the amazing array of features it packs into a single software. All one has to do is familiarize oneself to the tools in the program which, unlike it seems, is not difficult. Since Photoshop is used by people throughout the world, its built-in tools are designed to be easy and quickly graspable. This ease of use is the top priority, right after “great image drawing/editing”.

Photoshop Brushes are a fitting example of such a tool. Painters use canvases to create their masterpieces using different brushes to achieve different strokes and effects. Similar to that are Photoshop Brushes; a Photoshop user need not draw a floral diagram by drawing all the outlines himself/herself because a Floral Brush can be easily used to draw the floral pattern.

Needless to say, Brushes are a big part of any Photoshop user’s drawing experience. This is why one can find countless internet resources which enable visitors to download brushes and use them. Today we cover a similar site which hosts various brushes uploaded by users and lets us vote for our favorite ones. The site is called Brusheezy.

The site is absolutely free to use. You can even download Brushes without having to register for a username. Registration is required however if you intend to upload any Brushes you have created.

The image below shows us only few of the visually brilliant effects that can be achieved by the Brushes available on Brusheezy:

You can find Brushes by either randomly browsing through them, sorting them, or searching for specific ones of which the names you know:

Apart from Brushes, Patterns can also be found on Brusheezy; this makes the site an even greater delight for Photoshop users:

You can access Patterns on Brusheezy for free by clicking here.

If you are an Adobe Photoshop users, you will undoubtedly like Brusheezy. Give the site a visit and experience the cool Brushes and Patterns which you can download and user for absolutely free.

How to Take Quick Notes In FireFox

Umar — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:53:27 +0000

While working on the internet using our internet browsers, there often come times when we need to note down the information we see. The physical way to do this is to have a pen and notebook handy to write down what we see. But in case of a lot of material we usually copy the text and paste it in a text program, notepad usually because of its speed.

The time required to open an external text editing program for our notes can be drastically cut down if we have a browser built-in note-taking tool. Such a tool could perhaps operate in a separate tab thus being superbly accessible.

An application like that does exist for Firefox users in the shape of a browser add-on titled QuickNote.

QuickNote is free small add-on that lets us create notes in a new browser tab, a floating window or a sidebar. The hotkey for the notes is CTRL+F7. The program can also be accessed by the Tools menu of Firefox:

Here is how QuickNote looks like in a new tab (the yellow portion is our note-taking area):

Here is how QuickNote looks like in a sidebar:

Another great way to use sticky notes in Firefox is to use them in a floating mode. This way you will be able to drag it anywhere on the screen and take notes whenever you are browsing. Here is how QuickNote looks like in a floating window:

One of the cool features of QuickNote includes the ability to easily store your notes in a TXT file which you can choose in the add-on’s options. Simply go to QuickNote settings > User Files and select file destination.

Each QuickNote tab is assigned a separate TXT file. The maximum number of tabs QuickNote can store the notes in is four and the options can be set in its options:

You can always categorize your search and save notes according to any specific field by creating multiple tabs that displays in the form of tabs. Here is how QuickNote will look like with four tabs:

Furthermore, you can customize details for each tab. The note-taking area can be customized for each tab by going to Customization tab in QuickNote settings:

Last but not the least, you do not need to worry by failing to find the SAVE button because QuickNotes automatically saves your notes:

QuickNote is a Firefox note-taking add-on which will satisfy all its users; it should not be overlooked.

Choose What Page Opens When A New Tab Is Created

Umar — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:19:06 +0000

Not too long ago the only browser war existed between the Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Even that cannot be really called a war since the choice heavily relied on the operating system: Windows users used Internet Explorer and Mac users used Netscape Navigator.

Today however the browser choices are many and almost all of them are cross-platform. Regardless of what operating system you run you have at least four options of internet browsers to choose from. Finding themselves in this highly competitive situation, internet browsers seek newer ways to excel in every way. During the construction and improvement of a browser, special attention is paid to each and every detail. The focus is on speed and user-friendliness.

But even though teams of people work on a single browser, they are still people, human beings. Mistakes are made and sometimes very basic features are overlooked which could provide great convenience to the browser’s users.

One such overlooked feature is related to browser tabs. When tabs were introduced they provided a great way to minimize the number of our browser windows and have all our pages open in the same browser window. But since then the tabs have not been developed extensively. A common problem is that a user is not able to choose the default page which is opened when a new tab is created. This problem is in all browsers I have tried and so far did not have any remedies.

Today we cover a remedy I found for the mentioned tab-related problem. It is a browser add-on titled NewTabURL.

NewTabURL is a free browser add-on compatible with the Firefox and Flock internet browsers. With this nifty add-on downloaded and enabled, one can choose what page opens when a new tab is created. This can be done by accessing the add-on’s options:

A user can choose to have a blank page, the home page, the current page, or a defined URL open up whenever a new tab is created. You can also choose to have the copied-to-clipboard URL open in the new tab which you create.

NewTabURL is a wonderfully simple solution to a problematic situation. This add-on like a lot of browser add-ons was not created by a browser company but an external developer. This is proof that the browser developers need to build their products more meticulously and pay the maximum attention to the user’s needs.

Save Money With A Sim Only Mobile Contract

Tony Williams — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:02:20 +0000

Getting a Sim only contract can save you money on your mobile contract, and have been one of the fastest growing segments in 2009. Sales of sim card only mobile phone contracts have grown by over 60% in the last 6 months. According to www.simonlyoffers.com there have been a number of drivers behind this growth:

“we have seen an increase in the number of sim only deals which have been backed by an increase in advertising spend to promote these offers to consumers who are looking to tighten their belts since the economic downturn”

Traditionally mobile phone network operators have tried to lock customers into fixed term contracts by subsidising the latest mobile phones. However, because mobile phones are becoming more and more expensive networks have put together sim only deals where customers do not get a new handset with the deal, and because the network does not offer a subsidised contract SIM only contracts tend to give more inclusive minutes and texts for the same amount as a standard mobile contract.

SIM only contacts are hence suitable for people who:

Don’t care if they have the latest mobile phone every 12-18 months e.g they don’t need a multimedia phone like an iPhone or are happy with their iPhone 3G and don’t need the iPhone 3GS
want to keep their mobile bill costs down

Another reason for buying a sim only contract is so you can mix and match network contracts and handsets e.g. if the handset you want isn’t available on the network you want. By getting a sim only contract you can buy an unlocked version of the handset you want, and also a sim only contract from the network that provides the best deal that suits your needs e.g. has the best coverage, most inclusive minutes or texts etc

Finding the best sim only contracts is quite easy and a number of websites have sprung up to support this new market. One such site is http://www.simonlyoffers.com/ who have a section showing all the latest sim card deals.

Easiest Way to Share, Email, Tweet and Bookmark Stuff

Umar — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:56:48 +0000

Social networking can keep us jumping from one popular site to the next, sharing information and media as we go along. With the increasing number of websites people use to communicate with each other, keeping track of the sites individually might become difficult. Say you have an account on Delicious, Friendfeed and Twitter; you have found something that you want to share on all three accounts; normally, you would have to log in to each site separately and do the deed. But the Firefox add-on that we shall cover today can make sharing on multiple social networking websites considerably easier.

ShareaHolic is Firefox add-on that includes shortcuts to all major social networking websites; it tries to make it easier for the user to bookmark a page, and then blog about it, email it, or share it with other people.

After it has been added on to Firefox, here is how the add-on looks like:

We need a webpage to use as an example of something we want to share; let us use the homepage of Yahoo. After reaching Yahoo’s homepage, if the user clicks on any one of the green icons in Firefox’s bar, a drop down menus shows the popularity of that page. Here is how the drop menu looked liked in the case of Yahoo:

As you can see, the menu immediately tells the user that the page has been saved 593 times on Delicious, and has been ‘dugg’ twice on Digg. These statistics are a quick way to find out how popular a certain page is.

Now let us say that I want to share Yahoo’s homepage on my Facebook account: all I do is select Facebook from ShareaHolic’s drop down menu, and a small straightforward window appears in which I can publish the link to my profile like so:

Therefore, I do not have to open a separate tab, access my wall and paste Yahoo’s link there; I can quickly access my Facebook page via ShareaHolic and immediately start sharing. ShareaHolic can also be accessed by right clicking anywhere on the webpage:

ShareaHolic’s options can be accessed to check which websites are shown in its menu and which are hidden. Apart from social networking websites, ShareaHolic also has links to various blogging services, email services, link shortening, online shopping stores, and four miscellaneous links.

For sharing web content on popular social networking sites, ShareaHolic includes over 40 links

Furthermore, you can directly post anything you like on your personal WordPress blog or third party host providers including Blogger(also known as Blogspot) and LiveJournal. Links for these are also included in ShareaHolic

In addition to that if there is something you like and would like to email it to yourself you can do that by checking your Email Service provider. ShareaHoliclinks include the most commonly used email providers including Google Gmail and Hotmail;

After the launch of Twitter there is one noticeable boost in URL shortening websites. Because Twitter does not allow users to write more than 140 characters people shrink their online links using services such as TinyUrl. Shortcuts to these shortening websites are also included in ShareaHolic:

Only two shopping website links are included. But they are still worth checking out. The final tab in ShareaHolic will show you links to other unclassifiable popular websites

ShareaHolic supports over sixty services they are completely customizable i.e. you get to choose the ones you see.

ShareaHolic is the fastest and most convenient way publish/share webpages to your blog or social networking page.

5 Free Websites to Keep Track On Your Website Uptime

Umar — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:27:35 +0000

Being a blogger it becomes really important to know when a website goes down because whenever a site disappears just like that there is nothing much you can do really. But at least you can keep tabs on whether or not a site is online. With the following five services, you will easily be able to do so:

1. WasItUp

With this great online site, you can ask to be emailed at an account you specify if a certain site goes down.

For the more technical reader, here is how WasItUp functions: WasItUp performs a HTTP HEAD request and checks that the status code is 200 OK. If you provided a text to match, the site performs a GET request, checks that the status code is 200 OK, and check that the text is present/not present in the returned HTTP body.

Yes, that means you can also check sites for specific words and be notified if the words no longer exist on the site.

WasItUp checks your sites every five minutes and lets you add up to 10 sites to monitor.

2. WhenDOUP

WhenDOUP performs a similar function and sends you an email if the site you specify goes down. And additional feature of WhenDOUP is that if that site that went offline comes back online, you can choose to be notified.

WhenDOUP checks the site’s status about every fifteen minutes.

3. AreMySitesUp

AreMySiteUp offers two plans: paid and free.

People using the service for free can choose to be notified by email or SMS text messages if a site goes down. The site checks up to five sites in the free plan; the checks are performed twenty-five times a day.

The paid plan includes the keyword inclusion check (which WasItUp offers for free). In the paid plan a user can add up to a hundred sites and have them checked at fifteen minute intervals. In addition to being notified via email and SMS text messages, paid users also get Twitter integration and RSS feeds.

4. MrUptime

This tool is primarily a Firefox add-on that keeps on trying to reach the site in the background, while you continue browsing other sites. Of course this can lead to bandwidth being unjustly consumed however MrUptime can come greatly in handy when a certain site is not currently loading well and needs to be refreshed constantly. At the cost of a little bandwidth, you are able to instantly know if your site is down or back up.

5. Basic State

This website offers great services completely free of charge. It lets the user add unlimited sites, checks them on fifteen minute intervals, and shows a daily uptime report that goes back fourteen days. Basic State will suit most users looking for a site-checking service.

Try all the five services out and settle on the one best for you. No more will you have to unpleasantly surprised about a site going to down.

How to Build Your Own Portable Library of Knowledge

Umar — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:20:02 +0000

Imagine being able to build your very own database of the content your find online. You are able to search for any keyword from this library and within seconds the relevant results will be shown up. How easy would that make life? No more browsing for information online, saving everything interesting on your PC.

The program that accomplishes that is not an imaginary one. It very much exists and is called Favorist.

Favorist is a freeware application that lets you build your own portable library of knowledge. After downloading the small 1.4MB file, you can install the application and get down to business. Remember to restart any internet browsers that were open during the installation.

The program offers a lot of ways to add your information and build up your own library. In this review I will be covering the easiest method to enable users to get started with the application. Detailed tutorial videos of Favorist can be found on its website (go there by clicking here).

When you run Favorist for the first time you will see its toolbar at the top of your screen:

The first thing I suggest you do is assign the program hotkeys. Click on the second button from the left and access Settings:

Enter the tab titled Loocal: Remember to assign hotkeys that are not in use by any other programs. Click on OK and restart Favorist.

Now suppose you are viewing a webpage, reading a word document, or a PDF document, and you find something interesting which you want to save for future access. What you do is highlight the area containing your text (or image or both) and press the ‘New Loocal’ hotkey you assigned. A small window will drop down from the Favorist toolbar above which will save the information you have highlighted. Before it being saved, Favorist prompts you to enter its details:

Fill out the details and click on Save; your content will be saved to your Library. To search for a word included in the content, click on ‘Loocal’ in the Favorist toolbar and type your word in the subsequent search engine:

Using this procedure you will be able to add all the content you want to your library and search for information within it.

Favorist also installs itself as an add-on into Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari internet browsers. While surfing you will find Favorist’s button in the toolbar and you can use it instead of the hotkeys.

This program has immense potential. Various popular software reviewing sites have lauded Favorist. However the reason it has not been as popular as it deserves to be is its user interface. From the online tutorial videos it becomes clear that Favorist needs to majorly work on user-friendliness. If the program is made easier to use and familiarize oneself with, it will be greatly successful.

Transfer Data Up to 2GB For Free

Umar — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:01:51 +0000

File hosting sites provide a great facility to internet users. By uploading files which are simply too large to email, you can share them with your recipient. Conceptually this form of sharing is excellent. However the practical application is where the trouble begins. Today’s file hosting sites have a number of nuisances associated with them: slow upload and download speeds, file deletion without notifying the uploader, and creating a publicly viewable URL which can be accessed by anybody, compromising the security of the content.

Currently at least one of these problems can be found with any free file hosting site. There is one website though that rises above its competition and come close to the ideal file hosting site – WeTransfer.

WeTransfer is a file hosting site with the following features:

Not only is it free but it requires no registration or signups.
WeTransfer offers great upload and download speeds.
You can add up to 20 email addresses for recipients.
For each file upload, the maximum permissible file size is 2GB.
Your files are stored for two weeks.
The recipient can only access files according to a Download button received in the email. No URL is disclosed and no third party/user can access your files. Your data is kept private. The site does not even scan your files, respecting your privacy. The rule is “You trust us, we trust you.”

Providing all those impressive features is definitely not inexpensive. One does wonder that if WeTransfer is truly free, how the site makes money. The answer lies in the background: the background of the WeTransfer changes timely and is actually promoting one company or the other. In the image above you can see ‘Philips’ typed in the bottom right which means the background image is actually an advertisement for Philips.

In the case that you own a company and want to have a WeTransfer page with a fixed custom background, you pay WeTransfer and they provide the file hosting service with the background you specify. Therefore the money is tied purely with the background. For users who are simply looking to upload their files, all that needs to be done is choose the file to be uploaded, enter the recipient’s and sender’s emails, and add an optional message; the advertising background change in back, not affecting your work.

After the file has been successfully uploaded, confirmation emails are sent to sender and recipient; only through the email can the uploaded file be accessed.

Providing a fast and impressively secure way to host your large files online, WeTransfer is one site that deserves to be bookmarked…..

Win $300 Of Crucial Memory For Your PC!

Tony Williams — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:47:49 +0000

For 24 days in December we are running a daily Christmas Giveaway, together with our big brother site Windows 7 News, where everyday we giving away at least $300 of software and/or hardware. To play all you have to do is visit our Christmas Giveaway auction site and start bidding in our reverse auction- all bids are free! To read more and how to play click here.

Today for our top prize we are giving away $300 of free computer memory of their choice from Crucial Technology to the lucky winner! If you’re looking to give your Windows 7 PC a performance boost then adding good quality fast memory will do the trick as upgrading memory is one of the best dollar for dollar upgrades you can do. If that wasn’t enough we are also giving away today:

Uniblue PowerSute Worth $100
WinX DVD Ripper Worth $29.99

Our friends at ghacks we are also giving away hundreds of dollars of software away everyday – click here to visit their Christmas Giveway.

Win $300 Of Free Crucial Memory

Win $300 of high quality PC memory courtesy of Crucial Memory. Winner gets to choose their own memory up to a value of $300. Get bidding now! The lowest bid wins!

Crucial is a key brand in the Lexar Media family of products. As Memory Experts Crucial are the only DRAM supplier that’s part of a major memory manufacturer.

Crucial are one of the leading suppliers of high-quality memory that has been qualified and approved by most major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). On their website you can find innovative tools that will make it easy to choose compatible memory and recommended upgrades.

Visit Crucial Memory now for your next memory upgrade.

Keep Tabs On Your Prescriptions and Doctors Appointments with HeyDoc

Umar — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:16:20 +0000

In life one cannot think of anything more important than good health. It is every individual’s duty to keep a check on their health. But one can find difficult the task of monitoring all those medicine dosages and intakes, keeping a schedule of the doctor’s appointments, and doing so for all the members of your family.

To simplify keeping a track of all those prescriptions and appointment, the internet has a wonderful tool available called HeyDoc. HeyDoc is a freeware program that, when installed, lets you create custom profiles and then for each profile manage the prescriptions and doctor’s appointments. Sized at only 4MB, the program is downloaded and installed instantly. Here is how the main window looks like for HeyDoc:

Using this program, you can create a profile and edit all types of medical information. You can start off with filling out all the details of the person whom the profile belongs to. Next, move on to fill the insurance information. No matter how many doctors a person has, you can add them in the Doctors field. Appointments can also be noted down in the calendar provided to each profile.

A medical history, diet diary, eye examination schedules, and prescriptions of each profile can also be saved within the program.

Apart from all those great features you can view the data you enter graphically in the form of charts:

Accessing the Print option lets you print out any portion of the profile you have currently opened:

The ‘Change Profile’ button will let you change profiles or create new one. As you can see from all its features, HeyDoc can not only benefit patients but it can also be immensely useful to doctors or clinics who want to keep an uncomplicated record of their patients.

Serving doctors and patients alike, such a freeware is a rarity and should be taken full advantage of.

Know How Many People Are Sharing Your Site Content

Umar — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:19:02 +0000

Say you are a website owner. You know that getting traffic to your site is your number one priority. In order to ensure that, you need to know what changes you make positively and negatively affect different forms of traffic your website is receiving. Therefore it becomes important to know not only the amount of traffic your site experiences, but also what percentage of that traffic belongs to what category (e.g. advertisements, people sharing links with friends, etc.).

What we are going to talk about today lets the site owner know how many times his/her site content is being shared by actual users via email. As mentioned earlier, this helps the site owner better analyze the traffic statistics and improve the overall website being run. More to the point however, this tool helps you know how many people are showing enough interest in your site to consider it worthy enough to email to another friend.

Let us end the suspense by revealing what this thing is named: MailCounter. Mailcounter comes in the form of JavaScript or WordPress code snippets. When you add this code to your blog or site, a badge appears which lets users email that particular page quickly, simply by clicking on the badge. Here is how the badge looks like:

Here is how the code snippet in JavaScript looks like (the image has been taken from the homepage of MailCounter; to copy the text, visit their page):

In WordPress:

Once you incorporate either one of these codes into your site, the MailCounter badge will appear. If a user clicks on it, the counter’s value will increase by one and the user’s default client’s email box will appear:

The default message is already filled out. All the user does is specify the ‘To’ section and click on ‘Send’.

The entire process is quite simple and easy, facilitating site owners a great deal.

You will also find at the end of the homepage of MailCounter ten most recent pages shared via the badge. Do check them out; some of them are quite entertaining.

Check out MailCounter

7 Must-Have Free Software To Protect Your Laptop

Tony Williams — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:59:08 +0000

Your laptop (or netbook) is not sufficient with the traditional computer security measures alone but requires extra security measures to protect against various security risks such as insecure public wireless network, laptop theft, laptop search, which you don’t worry about with your desktop computer. For example, your privacy is at risk while you’re traveling with your laptop. Various government agencies, including Homeland Security, can search and even seize your laptop to examine all the contents of your laptop, e.g. personal emails, photos, documents and also to look for illegally downloaded or obtained songs, movies and books.

However, good laptop security does not necessarily cost you money. Here are 7 easy-to-use, useful and free software that can help you protect your laptop, your sensitive data and your privacy.

Encryption. TrueCrypt is a trustworthy encryption program that can protect your data against unauthorized access. www.truecrypt.org
Backup. If you only need a few files (less than 2GB) I recommend the excellent free Sugarsync. For users with big hard drives an alternative is Mozy, which is an online based backup software. www.mozy.com
Antivirus. AVG free edition provides protection against viruses, spyware and other malware. free.avg.com/ww-en/download-free. A light weight alternative is Avira free edition.
Firewall. The built-in Windows firewall, particularly in Windows 7, protects your laptop against hackers while you’re online. (but make sure you use it properly)
Tracking. Prey is open source laptop tracking software designed to track your laptop if it is stolen. www.preyproject.com
Alarm. LAlarm helps prevent your laptop from stolen and is like a car alarm for your laptop. Also it can recover and destroy data in case of laptop theft and more. www.lalarm.com
File shredder. Eraser permanently deletes sensitive data such as passwords, Internet browse history, personal information from your laptop. eraser.heidi.ie

Ad.ly – Make Money Online With Sponsored Tweets

Tony Williams — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:01:55 +0000

Want to know how to make money from twitter? Even if you only have a few hundred followers you could make money by sending automatically one tweet per day featuring a message from an advertiser. Ad.ly is a new service that injects a maximum of one tweet per day featuring advertising. Twitter users get to set their price and advertisers then can purchase those slots. Some bloggers are making more than $100 per ad.ly tweet! There’s also a referral program for users, where users get paid a decent 12% of the income that their referrals make.

Some users may object to receiving adverts from the accounts that they follow, but the backlash is likely to be minimal – how much damage can be done in 140 characters?

Ad.ly is quick to join and setup will only take a minute. Give it a try and let us know how you get on with Ad.ly.

How to Quickly Gather Your System Information with Speccy

Umar — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:05:59 +0000

When you computer messes up and you call the tech support guy, what happens? You are completely stumped when he/she asks you about your RAM’s bus speed or your video card’s model number. Right-clicking “My Computer” and accessing its properties only shows you the most basic system information. What if you are checking a system up for sale and you need to know whether it has all the hardware (and the type of hardware) which is advertised? You can’t start taking apart its casing and see what’s under the hood; that would be simply consume too much time.

In all such situations, when you need to know your system specifications fast, Speccy comes in handy greatly. Speccy is the creation of Piriform, the developers behind the very popular products CCleaner, Defraggler, and Recuva. Speccy, like Piriform’s other great ventures, is a great system utility that presents you with a comprehensive knowledge of your system specifics. With a size of only 1.2MB, this freeware can be quickly installed.

When you run the program, it quickly gathers your system’s information and spends not more than 5 seconds doing it. You are presented with a window summarizing all specifications:

To access detailed information about specific components, simply choose the component from the left panel. Say you choose RAM, a screen similar to this appears:

All sorts of information is presented, including whether or not your RAM is running on Dual Channel and what are their individual and combined bus speeds.

You can even see the current temperatures of various PC components and see if your casing has proper air ventilation. For processors with multiple cores, you can see the temperature of each core! Just click on the CPU link in the left panel:

If your hard drive supports SMART features, you can even check their temperature and see if they are within the ‘OK’ temperature range:

Throughout these tables, the values accompanied with green bars (such as temperatures and bus speeds) can be clicked to show a value-time graph; you will then be able to notice the changes with time:

Equipped with Speccy, you can easily find out what a computer contains. In certain situations, this little program can prove to be mighty useful, saving your time as well as your money.

Download Windows 7 Wallpapers And Themes

Tony Williams — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:24:53 +0000

Windows 7 has been out for just over a month now and many users like myself think it’s the best operating system Microsoft have launched to date. Next year will see many users upgrading to Windows 7 through buying a new PC.

If you have or are getting a new Windows 7 PC next year, then our sister site has some great Windows 7 Tips as well as some amazing windows 7 wallpapers and windows 7 themes that are free to download.

Below is a selection of some of my favourite Windows 7 Wallpapers:

Fix Windows 7 Blue Screen Of Death

Tony Williams — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:01:51 +0000

Many Windows 7 users have been confronted with a blank black screen since a Microsoft security update last month. The ‘Windows 7 Black Screen of Death‘ or BSOD is also affecting some Windows XP and Windows Vista users.

To fix the Windows 7 BSOD:

Restart your PC
Logon and wait for the black screen to appear
Make sure your PC should be able to connect to the internet (black screen does not appear to affect this)
Press the CTRL, ALT and DEL keys simultaneously
When prompted, Click Start Task Manager
In Task Manager Click on the Application Tab
Next Click New Task
Now enter the command: ”C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” “http://info.prevx.com/download.asp?GRAB=BLACKSCREENFIX”

Note this command assumes that you are using internet explorer as your browser, if not substitute your browser path and file details for those of iexplore.exe or use the Browser option of Task manager to locate it.

Click OK and your browser should start up and begin the download process
When prompted for the download Click run, the black screen fix program will download and run to automatically fix the issue.
Now restart your PC and the black screen problem will hopefully be gone.

If the fix above for the windows 7 BSOD doesn’t work for you then you can get more Windows 7 Help here. Thanks to Windows 7 News & Tips for the fix.

Printer Buying Guide For Newbies

mitchbuchannon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:12:36 +0000

Printers are among the most widely used peripherals nowadays and home and business users need to use various types of printers for personal and professional needs. Inkjet and LaserJet printers are most popular among computer users. They both have their share of pros and cons and a user needs to select one that fits his need the best. Entry level printers are quite affordable and they suffice for the majority of home users. LaserJet and photo printers are used mostly in professional studio and business setups worldwide.

Inkjet printers offer unbeatable value for money. If all you need to do is talking text printouts and occasional photo printing then you can count on a compact inkjet printer. The ink tanks used in these printers are way cheaper than the toners used in the more expensive LaserJet. The inkjet ink tanks can also be refilled by third party manufacturers in any places. Therefore, you should go for inkjet printers if you want to keep the running costs on the lower side. However, small offices where lots of text and chart printout is require a Mono LaserJet would be more economical.

If you are a demanding user and own a lot of gadgets you should look for a printer that offers a wide array of features. For instance if you have a professional digital camera that supports Pictbridge standard you should look for a printer that supports this technology. That way you will e able to take printouts directly from your camera without requiring a PC at all. High end inkjets and MFDs also offer Color LCD display where you can preview a photo before taking the printout and perform modification on it as well. The users who do not like wires should look for a Bluetooth enabled printer that can receive images wirelessly from a camera or other imaging devices.

Almost every printer has some amount of buffer memory. This memory is used for storing the pages that are to be printed. A printer with low buffer memory will perform slowly compared to the ones that offer more buffer memory. So users who need to take lots of image printouts should opt for a printer with more buffer memory . Some of the latest HP, Epson and Lexmark printers also allow you to connect t a router on a local LAN by means of Integrated WiFi. These models are ideal for corporate users.

Inkjet printers that come with individual Ink cartridges like Canon Pixma series generally offer better photo quality. However, to obtain better quality you will need to use photo quality papers that are compatible with your printer. If you need to take a lots of printouts everyday and speed is a priority with you over quality, go for the LaserJet printers. The Mono Laser jets offer better value for money and deliver fast output compared to mid range Inkjets. A photography buff can also consider buying portable photo printers that offer excellent output bur cost significantly more compared to the other variants. Other factors like manufacturer warranty, online software update and after sales service also need to be considered by a buyer before he takes home a printer.

How To Turn Off Your Monitor Via HotKeys

Umar — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:21:01 +0000

If your computer stays on the entire day then turning off your monitor when you’re not at your desk can save you a noticeable amount on the electricity bill. But you don’t want to push that button each time you’re leaving or coming back to your system. With the latest monitors, those buttons are getting more sensitive so the less you push them the better. And you certainly can’t keep on accessing your monitor’s preferences in your computer and put it to sleep from there; that would just be consuming too much time.

What you need is Monitor Off Utility (MOU). MOU is a great freeware utility from Dekisoft, creators of Sensible Note Taker and Sensible File Renamer. With MOU, you can turn off your monitor via hotkeys. The download file is merely 350KB large and you can have the program up and running in no time. Here’s how the main window and system tray icon for MOU look like:

As you can see from the image of the main window, MOU offers impressive functionality. You can assign hotkeys to the tasks of shutting off your monitor or turning on the screensaver. You can even setup a delay between pressing your hotkeys and the monitor turning off. You can particularly use this delay when you absolutely have to leave your system but do not want the monitor to turn off (not that an off monitor would disturb the ongoing programs) before a particular file downloads; you can specify how later, in seconds, the monitor will turn off. To turn your monitor back on, just move your mouse or press any key on the keyboard.

If you check the ‘Lock Workstation’ checkbox, your computer will be locked before the monitor is turned off. By ‘locked’ we mean it will require your Windows username password before it lets you back to your workspace after you turn the monitor back on.

Other options include closing the application to the system tray icon, checking for updates automatically, automatically starting up with Windows, and turning off your monitor (or monitors, in case you have more than one installed) at startup.

A neat free application, MOU should be used by all computer users to save unnecessary waste of electricity.

How To Have Your Folders & Files Just a Click Away

Umar — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:08:40 +0000

Imagine all your favorite programs, files, and folders just a single click away. If you’re chatting with a friend and you want to open a particular folder, you don’t start browsing to it in Windows Explorer; instead, you click the middle mouse button and there it will be, right in front of you.

Such amazing accessibility is made possible by MouseExtender, the freeware we will be reviewing today. This little program is your ultimate shortcuts panel. At only 110KB, you can instantly obtain the program and run the executable file; not even an installation is required.

Opening the program for the first time, here’s what you will see:

Three shortcut buttons have been predefined: Control Panel, Restart, and Shutdown (from left to right respectively). The Shutdown button can be customized to perform other actions such as Sleep and Hibernate. You can even set the timer as to when these actions take place and whether or not you want to force the system into them:

Once you have the program opened, if you click on anything else, MouseExtender will automatically minimize to the system tray.

According to the default settings, you can summon the minimized program anytime by the middle mouse button. This shortcut can be changed in MouseExtender’s settings. You can assign any mouse + keyboard combination you find convenient:

If you want the panel to be always visible, simply click the icon to the left of Minimize and Close buttons. Doing so will pin it to the desktop. Here’s how the icon looks before and after pinning:

Now let’s move on to the fun part: creating shortcuts on the panel. Right click on the program window and select the type of object you want a shortcut to:

In the case of File, Program, and Folder you are taken to a menu where you browse to the location and select your object. Once your shortcut has been created you can further edit it (including changing its icon) by right-clicking on it and choosing Edit Item:

If the same icon appears for more than one shortcut, just hover your mouse over a particular shortcut and its title will be revealed.

In case of adding a web address, you are presented with a window to enter the URL:

Once you click OK, you will be able to see the shortcut in your panel.

The shortcut will open with your default internet browser.

Right-clicking however is not the only way to add shortcuts to your MouseExtender panel. A user can drag and drop a folder, file, program, or even an internet shortcut into the panel and a shortcut is created.

MouseExtender also offers amazing organization. You can organize the shortcuts by moving them around, placing them before or after certain shortcuts. If your panel is getting a little crowded, create a new tab by selecting the option in the right-click menu. The program asks you to name your tab before it’s created. While the title is auto-hidden, it appears in orange when you point your pointer to it:

When you have your tab created, right-click on any shortcut and send it to that particular tab:

By categorizing your shortcuts in tabs, you reduce the clutter and give yourself a more presentable MouseExtender.

Overall, this shortcuts program is a great way to increase the accessibility of your items. Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7 it will surely be a timesaver for a lot of computer users.

Win Thousands Of Dollars In Prizes In December!!!

Tony Williams — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:56:45 +0000

Our friends over at Windows 7 News & Tips are giving away thousands of dollars in December!! Each day they are giving away a minimum of $300 in software and hardware to their readers. Prizes include:

$300 of memory from Crucial Memory
Wirelass 802.11n routers and USB adaptors from Belkin
Free Giganews accounts
Free software from Acronis, WinRar, a-squared

Entry each day is free. All you have to do is bid for the items each day in a reverse auction, where the lowest unique bid wins. Bidding is free and you can bid as many times as you want in each daily auction:

To play all you have to do is go to http://www.windows7news.com/auction and register -it’s that simple!

What To Look For Before Buying A Portable Media Player

mitchbuchannon — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:14:24 +0000

Portable media players have redefined digital entertainment for a lot of gadget users. With time these devices are getting more feature packed and versatile. It all started with Apple’s cult defining iPod lineup of music players but now one can take his pick from a multitude of models from various manufacturers. A person who wants to buy a media player for personal entertainment needs should know the basics of these devices. If a buyer knows his requirements well he would be able to purchase the most suitable media player.

To use a present generation portable media player a person needs to have a PC or laptop with USB connectivity. The majority of the media players connect to a computer using this port and gets media from the source. Some of the high end and expensive media players also offer Bluetooth and Internet connectivity out of the box. This is ideal for downloading music from online music stores. Bluetooth is the easiest way to share song or video files with other devices like cell phone or mp3 players on the move.

The storage capacity of portable media players also varies greatly. While the flash memory based media players typically start from 1GB, the hard disk based players like the iPod Classic can offer 20 GB storage space or even higher. If you are an audiophile and always want to listen to the music you should buy a player that has a higher storage capacity. Some of the media players offer expandable storage in the form of SD cards and some others do not. The former category is more flexible considering it lets you upgrade the memory capacity as and when needed.
It is wise to invest in a media player that supports the majority of audio and video formats. Apart from MP3, some of the recent media players support formats like RM, WMA, WMV, DivX, Xvid and H.264 among others. If your media player does not support a particular file format, you will need to convert the files to another format, which is troublesome and time consuming too.

Not all media players sound great with the headset provided by the manufacturer. This is also true of the Apple iPod range of speakers. Therefore, a player that has a standard 3.5mm jack should be chosen by a buyer. It will be compatible with a wide range of good quality headsets. The screen size and resolution of the media players also play an important role in its performance. Some players have screens that look great indoors but become unreadable in direct sunlight. The style conscious buyers can think of buying a touch screen enabled player like the iPod Touch.

The software used in a media player is another factor that can influence the buying decision. Some players restrict the users to stick to a particular application for media transfer. However, a lot of the players enable the user to share files using Windows Explorer. A potential buyer looking for bargain deals on the media players can check out the online stores like Amazon and eBay for discounts and bundled offers.