Tech Weekly

Labels: Tech Videos

If you are like me and tired of going to sites and having either a Snap shots, intelliTXT, Contentlink or the like pop up just because I move the mouse pointer over a word that has been associated with one of the contextual ad service. Well if you are using the browser Opera they have built in a quick and easy way to accomplish this.

What you need to do is download this .ini file. Then you will need to replace the one that is currently installed in your system for Opera. Chances are if you check your blocked content list you will find nothing in it currently. Here is how you check your blocked content.

• With Opera open click the "Ctrl" button and the "F12".
• Choose the "Advanced" tab
• Choose "Content" on the left
• Click on the "Blocked content" button
• This will bring you the list of current sites that are being blocked

If you have not added a lot of items to this list already then this fix is for you. What you need to do is this to accomplish it:

• Close Opera
• Download THIS file
• Go to your "My Computer" icon and click to open
• Click to open on Local Disk "C:" drive
• Click to open "Documents and Settings"
• Click to open whichever user you are doing this for
• Click to open "Application Data"
• Click to open "Opera"
• Cick to open "Opera"
• Click to open "Profile"

There you will find a filed called urlfilter.ini you will need to rename that to urlfilter_old.ini. Next you will need to copy the file you downloaded and paste it in there. Once you did that and re-open Opera you will be current with all the annoying sites that you need to block. To stay current you can come back to this article as I will keep the file up to date or you can search online for an updated version periodically.

Hope this helps make your browsing the web a little less cluttered.

Also take a look at my previous post on how to avoid intellitxt pop ups in IE, Firefox and Opera:

http://www.tech-weekly.com/2007/04/browsing-tip-of-day-block-intellitxt.html#comments

Labels: Opera

So the other day I get a notice from my Firefox browser saying that version 2.0.0.10 has been downloaded and installed. I had forgotten that I had Firefox set to automatically update whenever there is a version available. So I think great I am now up to date and so I follow the instructions to restart the browser and get on with things.

Well no sooner had I done just that then I start having errors with Firefox. Everytime that I would go to file and click "open new tab" firefox would freeze up and I would have to close it. Anyway I could hardly have Firefox open other than one window and things were not looking good.

I decided there must be something a little buggy about this Firefox release and I wanted to go back to the version that I had been using 2.0.0.8. I must have looked for and hour and had no luck all of the sites that had Firefox only had the new version. Then I found OldApps, it had almost all the versions of Firefox that there have been. Also on this site are a multitude of other programs that have been updated if you are looking for something that cannot be find elsewhere.

Labels: Site of the Day

Labels: Tech Videos

Search Engines. You got to love ‘em! The time they save us from having to search through various books, magazines, newspapers, media guides, etc. They have blessed us with more time to be lethargic and lazy in front of our flat screen computer monitors, but that’s another post all in itself.

Have you ever taken the time to think about a Search Engine’s Query? Is there an easy way to monitor links to your site through these queries? How advanced can “searching” really get? Within this post I will show how Google, Yahoo and MSN have created “shortcuts” for their Search Engines.  

VIA: http://www.hybridsem.com/blog

Check out this ultimate guide to advanced searching various engines HERE.

Labels: Site of the Day

Picture credit: Google

I am sure we have all seen those helpful maps at the mall or some other larger place showing all the shops etc... laid out and a big arrow designating the current maps location with the words "YOU ARE HERE".

Well today Google release something similar for Mobile Google Map for Mobile which is called My Location.

See your location on the map, with or without GPS. Save time and tedious keystrokes finding where you are, what's around you, and how to get there.

If you have a GPS-enabled device, this blue dot corresponds to your GPS location. At times, or if you do not have a GPS-enabled phone, you might see the blue dot surrounded by a light blue circle (as shown on the right) to indicate uncertainty about your location.

Labels: Google

So you have been using Windows Vista for a while and there are something's that you would like to change about it but you do not want to dig into the registry just yet. Well Vispa may be what you are looking for. Vispa allows you to easily tweak your Windows Vista for better privacy and security, even system performance. Do a few clicks rather than finding the write registry keys or program settings. Note that the program authors do note that even though this is a stand alone application some anti-virus software may report it as spyware or a trojan.

One handy feature of Vispa is that it gives you the option of undoing all of your previous changes. But if you've already manually changed some of the settings included in Vispa, you might want to be careful about choosing the restore option, as it might undo those changes as well.

Labels: Vista

Labels: Tech Videos

Ideal Workplace

Via: KezNews.com

Ergonomic Workplace

Via: KezNews.com

Labels: Tech Pics

Okay if you are looking at the article chances are you have either used one of the multitude of hard drive imaging software such as Norton's Ghost or True Image. You are probably wondering okay this is a download but is it beta ware? No it is currently freeware and Driveimage XML seems to work pretty well and get this you can make a hot copy of your drive if you have another location that you can save it to such as a second hard drive or an external one. Here a couple of the features from the download site.

The program allows you to:

Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.

Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools. Never again be stuck with a useless backup!

Restore images to drives without having to reboot.

DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista only. The program will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.

You can download your copy from HERE.

Labels: Download of the day

Ever get somewhere with you laptop only to realize that you have left your wireless mouse elsewhere. Or the battery is dead in it? Well that has happened to me on more than one occasion.

That's why this little gadget is featured today under the "Gotta have" section. The Mogo mouse is small, about the size of 4 credit cards stacked up and will fit in your laptops PCMCIA slot. It also charges there as well when you laptop is plugged in and charging.

The Mogo mouse does require Bluetooth on your laptop in order to work. So you would have to have a Bluetooth enable laptop or currently Newton Peripherals is offering a free Bluetooth adapter that you can plug into your USB slot if you were to buy it from them.

Here are a couple of cool pictures via: The Gadgeteer and a quick and cool tech video showing the Mogo in action from YouTube:

Labels: Gadgets

Have you ever thought "I had better create a restore point" before I make the changes to my system that I am thinking of only to forget to do it and have a mess of a system because of it? Well I have so this quick little blast from the past tutorial should help to make it just a click away from doing.

I am telling you this little beauty of a program works and quickly. And the best part is you will never see the window to the left if you use this method.

The System Restore utility automatically creates a Restore Point if it senses a change to the system, or even some application, files. If you'd like to instantly create a Restore Point, read this Windows XP tip to find out how all it takes is two lines of VBScript.
However, there's a great method for creating a Restore Point with just the click of your mouse. All you have to do is create a simple two line VBScript file that uses the WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) moniker to access the SystemRestore class and create a Restore Point. Here's how:

 

1. Launch Notepad.
2. Type these two lines:

   Set IRP = getobject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore")
   
   MYRP = IRP.createrestorepoint ("My Restore Point", 0, 100)

3. Save the file as InstantRestorePoint.vbs.

Labels: Windows XP Tips and Tweaks

Labels: Tech Videos

Labels: Tech Pics

If you are like most folks even though you may now have a fast Internet connection that is still not enough. You are still looking to wring just a little more speed out of your surfing experience. Well here today we have some quick tips for speeding up your web surfing experience using one of the three most popular browsers. If you do not have a broadband type connection to the Internet these tips will not be as helpful but you will still notice some improvement in your web surfing.

Internet Explorer: Remember to always make a backup copy of your registry before you make any changes. This can be very helpful if you make a small mistake and need to change it back. If you make a big mistake there's not much help for it so please be careful.

• Go to run window type "regedit"
• Click HKEY_CURRENT_USER
• Click "Software"
• Click "Microsoft"
• Click "Windows"
• Click "Current version"
• Click "Internet settings"
• Select New > DWORD Value from the Edit menu
• Name the new value MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
• Right-click the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server value and choose Modify
• Under Base, click the radio button next to Decimal
• In the Value Data: box enter the number of simultaneous connections you want to set (for example 10 is a good value), and click OK
• Select New > DWORD Value from the Edit menu
• Name the new value MaxConnectionsPerServer
• Right-click the MaxConnectionsPerServer value and choose Modify
• Under Base, click the radio button next to Decimal
• In the Value Data: box enter the number of simultaneous connections you want to set (for example 10 is a good value), and click OK
• Close Regedit and try IE again should notice a speedup. May need to close Internet Explorer and re-open

FireFox:

Search for the following entries and make the listed changes to them below.Use the entire entry up to the equal's sign. If an entry does not exist by default which several of them do not then you will need to create them. To do this right click below the filter window and choose new -->integer or new -->boolean. To know which one you need to choose it goes like this. Choose integer if the value you are going to add is a number and choose boolean if the value you are adding is "true" or "false" statement.

• network.http.pipelining=true
• network.http.proxy.pipelining=true
• network.http.pipelining.maxrequests=8
• content.notify.backoffcount=5
• plugin.expose_full_path=true
• ui.submenuDelay=0
• content.interrupt.parsing=true
• content.max.tokenizing.time=2250000
• content.notify.interval=750000
• content.notify.ontimer=true
• content.switch.threshold=750000
• nglayout.initialpaint.delay=0
• network.http.max-connections=48
• network.http.max-connections-per-server=16
• network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy=16
• network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server=8
• browser.cache.memory.capacity=65536

Firefox is allocated 4096 KB of memory by default and in this configuration we give it roughly 65MB as denoted by the last line. This can be changed according to what is used.

While there are some extensions and improvements that have been made with Firefox since some of these tweaks were first posted on the net I have found that they really do speed up Firefox noticeably

Opera:

Increasing total connections

• Type about:config in the address bar
• Enter connections into the search field
• Change the value of Max Connections Total from 20 to any value between 32 to 65
• Do not change the Max Connections per Server
• After you are done with the above just save the settings and restart browser

Name completion and local network machine

• Go to Tools> Preferences> Advanced> Network(or click Control and F12 same time)
• Select Server name completion
• Now you have two options within it.
  "Look For local network machine"
  "Try name completion"
• If you uncheck both of the above options, i.e.; Try name completion and Look for local network machine, Opera will stop cycling your CPU, trying to guess what you’re typing in the address bar
• Restart the browser after applying the settings. You’ll see the speed difference

Reduce the amount of visited pages in history

• Go to Tools> Preferences> Advanced> History (or click Control and F12 same time)
• Reduce addresses to 100 instead of 500 by default

Opera loading

• Go to Tools> Preferences> Advanced> Browsing> (or click Control and F12 same time)
• In the loading window choose "Redraw Instantly"

Tooltips

• Go to Tools> Preferences> Advanced> (or click Control and F12 same time)
• Uncheck "Tooltips"

Labels: Firefox, IE, Opera

If your mouse contains a wheel for scrolling, you can change font size on the fly when viewing a Web page.

• Press and hold Ctrl.
• Scroll down (or towards yourself) to enlarge the font size.
• Scroll up (or away from yourself) to reduce the font size.

Also if you either do not have a mouse that has a scroll wheel or you are say working on a laptop and the scroll wheel is not an option then you can use these keyboard shortcuts to achieve the same effect.

• Hold down "Ctrl" and "+" to enlarge the font size
• Hold down "Ctrl" and "-" to reduce the font size

Labels: Tech Blasts from the Past

By default since Windows 2000 your computer is set to automatically synchronize its internal clock with either ntp://time.windows.com or ntp://time.nist.gov servers? So why does your computer clock at work seem to be weirdly off from the "Real World"? Well I know when I used to have the correct permissions to set the time on my PC at work I would change it to match the "Real World" and sure as heck as soon as I rebooted that hunk it would go back to having the wrong time. Well unfortunately in a company or corporate network you most times either do not have "sufficient permissions" to change your clock setting or the network is sending a script out each time you reboot you box to sync. all the computers across the company to have the same time, adjusting for time zones of course if applicable.

So what does that have to do with this post and download you say? Well as far as work goes I right clicked on my "START" button went to properties and choose the "Taskbar" tab and unchecked the SHOW THE CLOCK option. Might not be the best fix but I have plenty of clocks with the right time on my person and desk to keep me on time at work.

At home its a different story I searched around to find a good way to insure that my clock would reflect the correct time since a lot of my life is based off of either using my Home PC to do something or my laptop. What I found was Dimension 4.

“Simply put, Dimension 4 v5.0 is the fastest and easiest way to synchronize your PC’s clock for Windows-based operating systems. Once Dimension 4 is installed, you’ll most likely forget that it’s even running. It’s that automatic.”

You may think that the incorrect time is a small annoyance that you can handle. Well, so did one of my ‘geek’ friends, until he could not make his encryption work. The authentication for the encryption program was based on the correct current time. If there was a discrepancy in the time, the encryption codes would not work. It took him a good weekend, plus a few days, to find out what the problem was. VIA: Dogreader

If you are a bit more comfortable with your computer and do not mind tinkering with the registry a bit here is a solution for you that will not involve running a program in the background.

1. Open the "CMD" window Click: Start --> Run --> Type CMD
2. Stop Windows time service type: net stop w32time
3. Add tick.usno.navy.mil and tock.usno.navy.mil as primary and secondary time servers, retain time.windows.com and time-b.nist.gov as third and fourth servers: Type the following into the CMD window
   
   reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 0 /t REG_SZ /d tock.usno.navy.mil
   reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 1 /t REG_SZ /d tick.usno.navy.mil
   reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 2 /t REG_SZ /d time.windows.com
   reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DateTime\Servers /v 3 /t REG_SZ /d time-b.nist.gov
4. Start the Windows time service back up type: net start w32time
5. Check everything is setup correctly by typing: W32tm /resync

Labels: Download of the day