Six Firefox Tips, Just for You

Posted in: Web Info, Tips & Tricks

  1. Stop those annoying animated gifs - Ever been to a site filled with graphics that kept flashing and looping - you know, like the envelope that endlessly puts itself into a mailbox over and over? Try hitting the ESC key on your keyboard - that should freeze them all. (Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work with Flash animations.)
  2. Change the font size on your screen - Try holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while scrolling the wheel of your mouse (if you have one) up and down. Instant font-size control!
  3. Quick Auto-Complete - Click in the address bar and type in the name of a website without the “www” or the “.com”. For instance, if I wanted to show you this trick using my website as an example, I’d type in “timeforcake”. Now, instead of just hitting enter, hit Ctrl + Enter and Firefox will automatically fill in the “www” and the “.com” for you and take you directly to www.timeforcake.com. (Keep in mind that if you’re trying to go to a .net address you need to hit Shift + Enter and for .org addresses you need to hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter.)
  4. Ctrl + D - This keyboard shortcut immediately adds the page you’re viewing to your bookmark list.
  5. More Screen Space - Free up more space on your screen when you’re browsing the web with Firefox by going to View > Toolbars > Customize. Once you’re there, check the box next to “Use small icons” and hit OK.
  6. Ctrl + T - This keyboard shortcut will open up a new tab for you instead of an entirely new window. MUCH better.

Create Your Very Own PDFs

Posted in: Software Downloads and Tips

Sure, you can read PDFs online, but do you know how to make your own?

Adobe Acrobat is the industry standard for creating PDF files - but it’s not your only option. Currently, Adobe Acrobat 8 (Professional version) will run you about $450, but why spend that if you can make PDFs for free?

Here’s my little secret: it’s called PDFCreator, and it allows you to easily create PDFs from just about any Windows program (sorry, Mac users). Use it just like a printer in Word, Publisher, or Excel, and make your very own PDFs without straining your checkbook.

Download PDFCreator, for free, here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator.

Grab Bag: Five Links of the Week

Posted in: Email, Website Links

  • www.jimdenevan.com — Absolutely lovely art. No paint involved.
  • http://www.iwantsandy.com — Free automated virtual assistant that’ll send you reminders, keep track of to-do lists, and keep you organized.
  • http://tinyurl.com/j4vd4 — Flowers. Leaves. Grass. Fruit. Colors. Trees. Snow. A rainbow of nature screensavers for you to choose from.
  • http://www.boxcloud.com — Very affordable, super simple online file-sharing. No more e-mailing huge files or dealing with ftp logins and passwords.
  • http://tinyurl.com/2p7duo — Two GMail features that few people know of that’ll help you make your inbox spamproof.

Zoom, Recover, and Resize

Posted in: Software Downloads and Tips

Three great downloads for the week:

  1. Zoom — With ZoomIt, you can use an assigned keyboard hotkey to quickly zoom to any portion of your screen. ZoomIt is a free download and a great tool for anyone who’s ever wished they could view the contents of their monitor in more detail. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/2xv7eu.
  2. Recover — The Asterisk Revealer download for Firefox lets you reveal the contents of ANY password field (you know, those fields where the text is hidden by a string of asterisks). My guess is that at some point in your online ventures you’ve stared at a line of asterisks on your screen wishing you could see through them, not remembering the password you chose … If my guess is right, download this tool and keep it around; it’ll likely come in handy for you in the future. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/2mtxyf.
  3. Resize — Ever run into a pop up window on the web that was too small? Did you try to resize it … but found it was too stubborn and wouldn’t budge? If so, the free Windows download, ResizeEnable, is the tool for you. It’s way tougher than those “no-we-won’t-let-you-resize-us” windows but just sits quietly in your system tray until you need it. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/378gpa.

Cool Tech Tool: Wi-Fire Range Extender!

Posted in: Gadgets

One of the blogs I subscribe to, Cool Tools by Kevin Kelly, featured a great range-extender for the wireless card in your laptop. Weak wireless signals, no more!

Unlike a Wi-Fi antenna (which requires special cabling and connectors), the Wi-Fire simply uses a standard USB cable.

The manufacturer, hField, claims that the Wi-Fire actually allows you to access a wireless connection from up to 1,000 feet away, which is approximately three times the range of standard internal wireless adapters.

You can learn more about the Wi-Fire here: www.hfield.com.