From the SD Times News (one of the more technical ezines I’m subscribed to) I got this link:

http://blogs.lessthandot.com/index.php/ITProfessionals/EthicsIT/how-to-enable-godmode-on-windows-7

All settings and tweaks together. It works on my notebook (Vista 32-bit). But read some of the notices before trying.

It just makes you wonder: What else is there that is just undocumented or that they don’t want you to know? If you find a good trick, let me know…

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Windows, Operating system, Windows Vista

I had much fun at the office today with this application. You upload your photo and it tries to match you to lookalikes celebrities. Now I’m not too keen to look like anyone, and certainly not celebrities. But it’s much fun when you do it and watch it with a few people.

Here is the link:

http://celebrity.myheritage.com/FP/Company/try-face-recognition.php

No that’s not a typo. I’m not a web designer. I can’t make beautiful websites easily. And I’ve used a ton of different website creation software. There are the obvious one’s like Coffeecup, Frontpage, Seamonkey and even oldies that I can’t remember the name of. This was in the time that Netscape was still out there. I’ve also dabbled with WebPlus and even Dreamweaver but found them too much hard work. The problem is that you have to create pages, menu’s, graphics, links, rss feeds, paste in scripts and it’s all disjointed. Where is this feature hidden, where can I find that, how do I do this. It’s allright if you make websites for a living but if you only do it every now and then, or if you do it as part of a marketing campaign or even service to others it’s a nightmare. Enter the solution…

I came across XSitePro website design software and got me a copy of that. What a relief! You see webdesign does not have to be hard work. It all start with a Project management tree. Define your website, select a template and there are plenty of them and they are all beautifully designed. Them just start typing as if it was your favourite wordprocessor. All the normal features that you would expect are there. No need to go into them. But there are some very special tools available to you.

• Design wizards for testimonial boxes, buttons, headlines and bullet points;
• Adsense to put a revenue stream on your website (and others);
• Easily insert Audio and video;
• Widget wizard for email cloaking (to prevent spam), Banner rotator, FAQ script and lots more;
• RSS syndication links and social networking;
• Email caption forms using aweber, getresponse and others.

XSite Pro takes an integrated view on all elements of your website. If you change a name of a page or other link, there is no need to go through all pages again, everything updated for you. There is this Other page with 18 buttons on it and they provide you with all kinds of advanced stuff like:

• Design your breadcrumb trail (it shows you where you are in the website: home / electronics / mobiles)
• Manage your links page
• Robots text file and seach engine and other site maps
• Design how your menu looks
• You can even create a mobile website from your own website to allow mobile too
• Redirect links to get rid of the ‘ugly’ affiliate links
• and lot more…

I can take this program and teach it to others in minutes. Even my kids are able to create their websites and have fun with them (www.rockgirlnews.com and www.sporetive.com). If there was one thing that I would like to have is the integration of the Affiliate wizard with the redirect links. Click brochure_v2 to download the brochure.

You can get more information here:

If you want to listen to a recording:

This tool has become my trademark tool. Every website that I’m creating apart from content management websites are done with XSitePro. Highly recommended.

Technorati Tags: design, tool, website

Hi,

I’m always on the lookout to help me secure my pc and those of my family. Below is a list of top 10 security measures I’m using and recommend:

1. Always try and use a hardware firewall. For home users, this
   would normally be an ADSL firewall/router. These offer a lot better
   protection than Usb ADSL modems.
2. Secure your Wireless connections. Follow the manual or ask a friend or your child but do not let unsecured wireless connections exist for a long time.
3. Avast – I’ve been using this Antivirus program for quite a while now. It caught a few nasties over the years. Easy to install, regular updates and not too much strain on the system
4. ZoneAlarm – Now owned by CheckPoint. The personal firewall is easy to instal and use. Does not have too much annoying messages. A personal firewall is an essential tool to have on your pc. Any firewall is better than nothing. Windows firewall is ok but doesn’t give you too much information. It’s fine for a casual user however.
5. Firefox NoScript – The plugin allows you to selectively select which sites are allowed to run Javascript. It’s a pain when you’re continually browsing new websites, but offers good protection.
6. Stay up-to-date – Microsoft offers regular updates that also fix security issues. If you stay up to date with your Windows Update it will offer better protection.
7. Educate yourself and your family. Safe internet use is also how to recognise a scam, phishing, virus, spyware, adware and other nasties.
8. Use safe passwords, if you can’t remember them you could consider using Roboform, Password Safe or KeePass. I personally use KeePass a lot. If you absolutely have to remember them without software then use something that helps you to remember like a phrase at the bottom of your watch or a model number on your glasses. An acronym could also help (as in: I Like High School Musical 3 becomes: ILHSM3)
9. Run anti-spyware programs such as Ad-Aware, Spy Sweeper, Spyware Blaster or Microsoft Defender. Don’t get programs pretending to be anti-spyware, get them from a reputable source. Either direct from the manufacturer or from a reputable download site like Tucows.com
10. Make backups. Maybe this should be #1! If it can go wrong it will someday. Better to be prepared. It’s a pain and can will cost you money but get an external harddisk and get backing up. What and how to back up is not in the scope of this article.

Bonus tip: Get a spam filter on your email client.

Technorati Tags: Internet, security, Software

Google is 10

Larry Page met Sergey Brin in the summer of 1995. They started their search engine named BackRub in 1996. On the 15th September 1997 they registered google.com. On the 4th September 1998 they file as a US corporation. The rest is history, as they say. But I don’t think the story is over yet. It’s an interesting read nonetheless. See more on this entertaining website:

http://www.google.co.uk/tenthbirthday

Up to the googol indexed page Google. Cheers!

And the next bit already visible with the introduction of the Android platform mobiles. That T-Mobile should come out with a first is not really a wonder since a founder of the original company that Google bought (Android Inc.) was once VP of T-Mobile.

T-Mobile

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7630888.stm

see more on Google’s pages:

http://code.google.com/android/

and Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Android

Is this the next generation iPhone? The companies are locked into this battle and, for a change, are about equal in size:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/15/apple.apple

Interesting times.

Gerben

Google Chrome is a new browser. Do we need another one? Well, looking at the features and knowing the might of Google is behind it, it’s worth looking at. Google released a comic strip that explains Chrome in more detail. A fun way of releasing what could be a boring list of features. See it here:

http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/

And an official blog entry here:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Even though release date is announced as 2nd of September, there is nothing on the official site as yet:

http://www.google.com/chrome

I will be checking back regularly and give it a go. I’m not ready to abandon Firefox yet, but I guess the Mozilla foundation will be slightly more worried. Probably more than Microsoft with IE.

Technorati Tags: browser, google, Internet, Software

How to retrieve protected content and cached websites using 2 little known tricks.

As a reader of the excellent IT News site I receive daily updates. The following article caught my eye:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/accessing_restricted_sites

The writer, Dan Goodin, pointed out that you can use cached pages to access content that otherwise would have been password protected. Website creators can allow the search bots access to index their sites and get them higher in the search engines listings.

The downside of this is of course that Google as a side effect also caches the page and makes it available. See following link for more information.

http://www.google.com/help/operators.html

Using the cache: operator is gives the same results as using the cached link in the normal search results pages. To take this one step further you would have to act as a Google bot yourself. You can easily do this with Firefox if you install the User Agent Switcher plugin:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59

After the installation is finished and Firefox restarted, go to the plugins options page and add another User Agent.

The Description is: ‘Googlebot 2.1 (New version)’

and the User Agent is: ‘Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)’

(do not include the single quotes please)

That’s it. Done. You can test it by selecting the User Agent in Firefox’s Tools->User Agent Switcher menu. Try it by browsing to the article’s sample website:

http://forums.inkdropstyles.com/index.php?showtopic=4227

Note: not all websites that have protected content will work using this method.

Technorati Tags: google, Internet, Software

I like Firefox as a browser. I’ve got the feeling that it’s more flexible than Internet Explorer. I started using it when I saw the tabbed approach and was sold immediately. I hesitated a while when Firefox 3.0 came out as I like to keep my Bookmarks synchonised between all my computers. I used Google Browser Sync for that but from Firefox 3.0 it stopped working and will not longer be supported.

I found a great replacement in Foxmarks so I’m back using the latest version. So here is my list of top 10 Addons:

1. Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer – It keeps all bookmarks synchronised between all my computers. I use two at work and several at home.
2. FireGestures - I like going back with the flick of a wrist and right click button. It’s something I use all the time. I personally don’t use much else, but even this one is worth it.
3. PDF Download – I just hate it to have to wait for a plugin to load and a part of a PDF on top of that when all I want is to download the PDF. This plugin just allows you to do either by asking the question.
4. NoScript - A bit of a pain but gives extra protection.
5. Firefox Companion for eBay – Gives you easy access to your EBay and alerts you in time.
6. IE Tab – From time to time you come across these website that still don’t adhere to common website standards. IE Tab allows you to open a tab within Firefox with the Internet Explorer browser embedded. Also handy for testing if you’re doing webdesign.
7. DownloadHelper – To download these elusive Youtube video’s or flash presentations.
8. Google Notebook- Great tool to take notes and scribbles without leaving your browser
9. Adblock Plus – If you want to get rid of specified ads
10. Cooliris Previews – I tend to forget it’s there but once you have a website that implements it and you remember to click on the blue play button, the result is fantastic.

These are a selection of my favourites. I have some more installed. I do that either to try them out or I used them but stopped using them for one reason or another:

• British English Dictionary – I’d like to keep to the original version. OR at least the one of the country I’m living in. Before you start complaining I’d like to point out that I would have installed the US verison if I was living there. I don’t really use it actually. My english is ok so I’ve been told.
• Cookie Culler – I use it occasionally to clean out my system.
• Fast Dial – Shows a quick 4×3 grid with your favourite websites. Nice but I could live wihtout it.
• FoxClock – Handy if you talk or have webinars on the other site of the globe
• GMarks – Google Bookmarks, Installed on some systems but I stopped using it.
• Linked In – Plugin for the network. I could live without it as I only occasionally use it.
• Stealther – If you don’t want to leave a trace.
• StumbleUpon – Great for browsing without aim and purely for leasure. I get some ideas from sites that I otherwise would not have seen.
• Undo Closed Tabs – For those who are trigger happy and close their tabs without thinking. I’m one of them every now and then.

A great place to look is the suggested Addons in the Get Addons tab. You can see that by using the Tools menu, select Addons.

As long as you keep safe and get your Addons from the official Firefox site they provide a welcome addition and make your browsing experience a nice and personal one. Happy to hear from your favourites.

Gerben

Technorati Tags: browser, firefox, Internet, Software

I’ve used laptops for work and home for quite a while now. I’ve always liked to use a mouse rather than the touchpad or even worse that ‘thing’ between the G, H and B key. Of course it helps if you have a desk. Does anyone use a mouse with a mechanical trackball inside? Optical mice are a major leap forward.

The next thing is a keyboard. It can be a bit awkward to use an external usb keyboard without an extra screen, because the laptop screen us normally too far away. So tha tbrings us to using an extra monitor. You can get an extra monitor for reasonable prices now. I’m using the extra monitor as my main monitor when I’m in the office. The keyboard is in front and everything is placed ergonomically (as far as I’m aware). The tingling in my fingers that I had a few years ago went away after I started using a wrist pad for the keyboard and mouse.

I found that it doesn’t make a lot of difference if you use the VGA or the DVI connector, if you have one. DVI should have a better signal since it’s digital.

Once you got it all connected you can start setting it up. You have a few options here.

1. Use Windows control panel
2. Use Driver control panel
3. Use other software

To use the Window control panel: right click on the desktop and select Properties (XP) or Personalize (Vista). For Vista select Display Settings. This is how it looks like:

Display Settings on Vista

It’s pretty much self explanatory except for the bit that even Microsoft had to explain on screen: “Drag the icons to match your monitors”.

Once you identified the monitors you know which way around the monitors are. Just drag the monitors on this form to match what you have on your desk.

If you are running Vista’s Sidebar you can choose on which monitor it is by right clicking on the Sidebar and select Properties. There you can select the monitor number using the combobox labelled: “Display Sidebar on monitor:”.

The manufacturer of the graphics card in you laptop normally delivers some configuration tool. When I right click on the Desktop I see NVIDIA Control Panel. This gives me an alternative to the Windows Control Panel. It doesn’t provide more features though.

One tool I personally like is Ultramon. This tool gives you lot’s of nice extra’s like a taskbar that stretches over both monitors and show the running tasks for that monitor. Show different backgrounds and screensavers per monitor. You can buy a single licence for about $40. A free time limited trial version is available. Check it out.

Gerben

Technorati Tags: Hardware, Software