Computer and Web Articles

Though it’s universally despised, plenty of people procrastinate when it comes to getting rid of Microsoft Word’s Office Assistant. You know the one - the bouncy paper clip (or perhaps on your computer he comes in the form of an overly-friendly dog?).

It only takes two easy steps and no more than about 8 seconds to make the Office Assistant go away - so you really have no excuses for complaining about how much you *wish* he’d just go away. All you need to do is click on the little fellow, then click on “Options.” Once you uncheck the “Use Office Assistant” check box, you’ll be able to work in peace once again.

• http://tinyurl.com/yt4rc6 - Take a look here if you’re interested in learning how to create individual tracks from one long concert track in iTunes.
• www.DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com - This will likely be one of the most basic looking websites you’ll ever visit - but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful! If you’re trying to access a website but it appears to be down, type the site’s address into the box here and click the underlined link. You’ll find out immediately if the site is actually down, or if the site is just fine and there’s something going on with your setup (internet connection, browser, computer, etc.).
• http://tinyurl.com/yrxuq3 - Show this Wall Street Journal article to your boss if you’d like to have him or her purchase you a bigger, nicer computer monitor.
• http://thepowerxchange.com/category_22.html - A ridiculously comprehensive list of downloadable Photoshop plug-ins. They’re not free, but if you can find the *exact* thing you’re looking for here, my guess is that you probably won’t mind paying a bit of money for it.
• www.roundpic.com - A free online tool that takes your regular digital photos and gives them pretty rounded corners.

f) Finally, consider trimming down that category list. It’s quite frustrating for users trying to browse your blog only to find you have one or two posts in each of those 30 categories.

If you happen to work at a job where access to most websites has been blocked, come a bit closer - I’ve got a secret for you. Shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone I told you this; I don’t want to get anyone in trouble here, so use this information wisely.

All you need to do is visit a third-party website (also known as a proxy) and type the address of the site you wish to visit into a search box. The proxy site locates the site you’re looking for and displays it for you - without you ever actually “visiting” the site.

Take a look at http://proxy.org/proxies_sorted.shtml to see a list of thousands of proxy websites, sorted by country. Also, please don’t be disappointed if you test this out and it doesn’t work for you - this isn’t a guaranteed hack, I’m only sharing it with you as it’s sure to be helpful information at the right place and time.

• www.zwaggle.com - A national network of parents who have come together to share gently used items, from car safety seats to nursery decor to strollers.
• http://tinyurl.com/2c3o33 - “If shutting down Windows cleanly is so important, what happens when the power just goes out?” Visit this link to view the answer.
• www.buykind.com - Attention fellow vegans: Order amazingly delicious food from some of the top restaurants in the U.S., direct to your home. Super-duper yummy, but with the shipping it’s quite pricey. My tip: Order a lot at once because of the very-high flat shipping rate to get the best value. Also, for a serious treat, make sure to try the Portobello Tenderloin from Sublime. So good.
• http://tinyurl.com/228mxd - A neat article that reviews 10 different ways in which you can digitally declutter.
• http://www.davidrumsey.com - An online historical map collection containing over 17,400 maps that focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North and South American maps.

I spend A LOT of time on the web. During this time, I’ve read A LOT of blog posts and have seen some excellent tactics that bloggers have used to draw in more subscribers. Here are a few to consider for your blog:

a) Make sure people aren’t required to be brain surgeons or rocket scientists in order to subscribe. Make subscription options bold, obvious and visible from every page within your blog, and offer an e-mail alternative to RSS.

b) Guest blog. Yep, that’s right. Sometimes guest blogging and providing fresh, original content on a friend or associate’s related blog can win you a bunch of new subscribers. Just make sure that you get to write a byline at the end of your post that contains a link pointing back to your blog.

c) Post in related forums. If you’re an active and helpful participant in a forum related to the content that you blog about, you can be sure that forum members will be checking out your site if you include a link in your forum post footers. You couldn’t ask for more targeted, perfect visitors!

Hello there all you Thunderbird users!

Put these hotkeys to use and you’re sure to become a quicker, more efficient e-mailer:

• Shift + J = Mark a message as “Not Junk”
• J = Mark a message as Junk
• M = Toggle between marking a message as Read/Unread
• Ctrl + O = Open a received message
• Ctrl + R = Reply to a message
• F = Go to the next message
• N = Go to the next unread message
• P = Go to the previous unread message

• http://tinyurl.com/yvpoaf — Learn how to convert your VHS tapes to DVDs.
• www.41pounds.org — Did you know that the average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year? This service will help stop 80–95 percent of your unwanted catalogs and junk mail by contacting dozens of companies on your behalf. As an added bonus, 1/3 of your cost goes straight to the environmental or community organization of your choice.
• http://tinyurl.com/yulskb — Watch this quick, two-minute video and learn how to create a MySpace Photo Album and Slideshow.
• www.fonttester.com — A nice, free, online font comparison tool.
• http://tinyurl.com/25u6dg — Attention Skype users: Did you know about your extra emoticons? Personally, I like the squirrel (heidy), oh, and the face that shows up when you type (drunk) is hilarious.