Tech Weekly

Even though when you go to their webpage it says that this is a BETA version. It is a very solid application. Here how it works, instead of a complicated remote desktop application like PcAnywhere or even the easier to use Logmein. This program installs on any PC that you want to be able to access from any other PC on the Internet. For instance right now I have my PC at home installed with it and also my PC at work. What is nice about this program is that it is not only helpful for you, but say you have several family members that have a lot of pictures or even data files that you want to share with them. All you have to do is have everyone join in and decide whether they want to share their whole computer or only say a "Photo's file" in there my documents.

And what is really handy with this application is the "Syncing" function. You can for example have everyone in the family share one file named the same then set them all up to "Sync" regularly. That way every time anyone adds a photo to their file everyone will have it shortly there after.

I have found the "Syncing" function especially handy in keeping my feeds all the same for Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) between multiple computers. The Feed reader that comes with IE7 is nice but that was a real drawback in not being able to keep track of which feeds that you have already read from computer to computer.

One final thing that I like about this application is that it is friendly with my companies Corporate Firewall. I was able to install and use this application even with the security on the Firewall cranked way down.

Here is what the Microsoft Beta site mentions about this application:

Sync Files • Sync your playlists • Share Outlook® folders • No more uploading and downloading to a server • Sync your Internet bookmarks • Find the presentation on your home computer • Never email large files again • Share home movies with friends • Sync your databases • Keep financial data in sync on multiple computers • Collaborate on documents with people thousands of miles away • Work as you work • Create your own peer to peer network • Share anything with anyone • Share your podcasts • Backup your files • Remotely download your files from any web browser • Synchronize RSS news • Secure file transfers • Send and receive large files • Play music from your home computer at your office • Securely share files with encrypted transfers • Sync Trillian between computers • Sync your Desktop • Sync My Documents • Share your digital photos • Collaborate with developers on code in real time • Instant "VPN" • Home office communication and collaboration

Labels: Editorial, IE, Mobile Monday's

Well if you are not currently using IE7 and still happy with Internet Explorer 6 take note.

The IE7 upgrade scheduled to roll out via WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) on Feb. 12 was announced last October, when Microsoft said it would no longer require users to prove they owned a legitimate copy of Windows XP before they were allowed to download the newer browser. Microsoft explained that the move was prompted by security concerns..

If you are a home computer user and have your Windows setup to auto-update you will need to either edit your registry so that it does not implement the auto-update of IE7. You can do that by doing the following:

Create a registry key that will block the install. It is located under this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Setup\7.0

The key name is: DoNotAllowIE70
Setting this to 1 blocks the install, setting to 0 allows the install.

Also Microsoft has a IE 7 blocking tool. It can be downloaded from here at Microsoft's website. Be prepared though it is a command line tool and can be a little tricky to use.

The final option for a home user is to use a cool GUI interface program from IntelliAdmin. There are two different types one for remote administration which can be downloaded HERE.

Or if you are only dealing with your one local computer you can download a local version HERE.

For those of you that are in a corporate environment and have adminstrative access to your WSUS server you can do the following:

"If you have configured WSUS to 'auto-approve' Update Rollup packages, Windows Internet Explorer 7 will be automatically approved for installation after February 12, 2008, and consequently, you may want to take the actions below to manage how and when this update is installed," Microsoft warned in a support document posted to its site. WSUS's default setting for Update Rollups is to not autoapprove them.

Companies that stuck with IE6 must take action, Microsoft said, or IE7 may be automatically downloaded and installed to their workers' PCs. Specifically, administrators who have set WSUS to automatically approve Update Rollups will need to disable the auto-approval rule before Feb. 12 to prevent IE7 from infiltrating their infrastructure. After that date, they must synchronize the update package with their WSUS server and then switch the autoapproval rule back on.

Labels: IE

If you are like me not only do you not want to see those ads that a lot of very good web pages have but you also do not want to fight with pop-up windows that are also ads like the one shown to the left from Snap* Shots. They take up a lot of space in your window and of course most of us are conditioned so that if we see a "+" in the right hand corner of the window we assume that it will function the same as the Windows "X" in the corner of a open window and close it. However, when you click this for one of the pop-ups you get a second helping of advertising. We I have touched previously on how you can block this in Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox. But if you just want to be done with seeing these ads from Snap* Shots quickly they have a javascript cookie you can load from their FAQ site HERE.

I know it sounds a little odd to say the least to tell you to go to the offending companies web site and click on a javascript word but it works and quickly. One thing to remember is that this works best for Internet Explorer and it will only work as long as you do not delete the cookie that this script has loaded.

Please see the snippet below and notice the bottom left corner where it says "SPA true". If you were to click the link again it would say "SPA false" and the Snap* Shots ads would once again be annoying you.

Labels: Firefox, IE, Opera

You can also download it by clicking HERE

Labels: IE

Did you ever wonder why IE 7 has two Search windows in it if you have the Google Toolbar installed? Or why you cannot seem to get rid of the one in the top right corner? Well I did and was happy to find a solution to fix this. There is a quick Windows Registry hack you can perform to get rid of the built in search window that IE7 comes with.

Go to your "Start" button and choose "Run". Type in "Regedit" and look for this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Infodelivery\Restrictions

You will need to right click and choose to create a dword entry under that key:

Name it "NoSearchBox" and set it to a value of "1" this will get rid of IE7's built in search box if you would like to add it back later simply go back to the above registry key and change the value under "NoSearchBox" to "0" and it will then show up.

Of course these changes to the registry may make you uncomfortable. If that is the case and you would like a quick IE7 tweak download that will make the same change as well as also enable/disable the main menu with the File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help buttons. And place those buttons on top like most of us are used to them being in IE6 and before. And will Hide/Show the command bar to the right of the top of the browser with the various icons on it then you can download: IE 7 Tweak Utility

Labels: IE

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

1. Click Start Button and choose Run
2. Type in "regedit"
3. Click on HKEY_CURRENT_USER
4. Click Software
5. Click Microsoft
6. Click Internet Explorer
7. Click Main
8. Click Edit drop down
9. Choose New
10 Choose String Value
11 Name it "Window Title"
12 Double Click it after created
13 In Value data type in whatever you want the Internet Explorer bar to have
at the top instead of "Microsoft Internet Explorer"

I changed mine to "Tech-Weekly's Browser Window". Also below is a quick video
show how to do this

Labels: IE, Registry