Computer and Web Articles

Oh how I wish this program worked on PCs! But alas, it doesn’t – so listen up and listen up well, Mac Mail.app and Entourage users: MailTemplate increases your productivity and saves you time by streamlining the process of composing email messages.

MailTemplate uses predefined templates that integrate directly with your address book and OS Finder to help you quickly generate new or reply messages with pre-written content.

Individual licenses are cheap – just $14.95. And for all the skeptics, you can download a trial version of the program for free and take it for a test run.

Learn more at http://mailtemplate.mactank.com/.

This summer, Google added a piece of nifty translation functionality to its Web search.

To try it out , all you need to do is open up www.google.com (or click your cursor in your Google Toolbar’s search box) and type in translate followed by the word you’d like to convert into English.

So if I was listening to a conversation in Spanish and heard an unfamiliar word – say “zanahoria” – I’d visit google.com, type in translate zanahoria, hit search – and I’d instantly discover that zanahoria means carrot.

Turning things around, let’s say I wanted to learn how to say the word carrot in Italian. Once again I’d pull up google.com–but this time I’d type in translate carrot into Italian – and after clicking the search button I’d learn that the Italian translation is . . . “carota”.  Cool.

• www.goodguide.com – A relatively new online resource detailing the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home. Learn more so you can make smarter choices.
• www.notified.tv – “Never miss your favorite TV shows ever again …. Get notified before they are on.” Receive notifications on your cell, in your email inbox, or on your favorite Instant Message client. (Do people really miss their favorite TV shows, though?)
• http://tinyurl.com/22gqfh - Become a Craigslist power user with this thorough list of tips and tricks.
• http://tinyurl.com/6e5×4a - Is Wall Street too real, too scary, too risky for you? You’ve heard of fantasy baseball and fantasy football before – so now allow me to introduce … fantasy investing.
• www.calcoolate.com – A simple, easy online calculator and conversion tool. You can even replace your standard Windows calculator with Calcoolate.com’s online calculator, if you’d like.

Question: I’m having a hard time understanding the difference between my computer’s “Hibernate” and “System Standy” energy-saver options. Can you please help me out?? -Andrea, Breckenridge

Answer: Sure thing, I’d be happy to help. Hibernate and Standby are different sleep options found on computers with Windows XP. People can set their computers so that after a determined amount of idle-time, the computer enters one of these energy-saving modes.

A computer entering Hibernate mode saves an image of your desktop (including open files and windows), then powers down your computer–just as if you’d shut if off. When you turn your computer on again, however, you don’t need to wait for your computer to run through its standard (and often lengthy) startup process; instead, your windows and files are open just as you left them.

When a computer enters Standby mode, the power to your computer’s “non-critical systems,” such as the hard drive, monitor, fans, and peripheral devices (mouse, printer, etc.) gets cut. Power to your computer’s memory (RAM) is not shut off, though, so you’re essentially running your machine in a very looooooow power mode – and your computer *is* still on.

A computer in Standby mode will wake upon mouse, keyboard, or other peripheral activity whereas a computer in Hibernation mode requires a push of the power button. Computers in Standby mode also wake and restore more quickly than those in Hibernation. On the other hand, if there’s a power outage, unsaved files on the Standby machine could potentially be lost or corrupted, whereas files on the Hibernate machine would be saved.

Sometimes you just know you want to delete a file-that there’s simply no reason for it to first temporarily be placed in the Recycle Bin.  Sometimes you just know it would be silly to clog up your Recycle Bin with files that you’ll absolutely positively never need again.

In cases such as these, use the “Shift Shortcut” to bypass the Recycle Bin and delete your files for good.  To use the shortcut, press and hold down your keyboard’s Shift key as you press Delete (or select the Delete command from a right-click drop-down menu).  A confirmation request will pop up. Say yes and-BAM-the file gets permanently deleted into the ether, never to be found on your machine again.

Question: On my Microsoft Internet Explorer homepage (which is Google news) the conventional toolbar at the top comes up but so does an unwanted Yahoo toolbar. I can right click on the Yahoo toolbar and get a list of options which includes a checkmarked ‘Yahoo Toolbar’ item which I can uncheck and get it to go away, but it always comes back. How can I permanently keep it off?  - Robert, Breckenridge

Answer: That checkmark you’re fiddling with simply toggles the display of the Yahoo! toolbar on and off; it doesn’t remove it from Internet Explorer completely.

To remove the Yahoo! toolbar once and for all from your browser, you’ll need to click on the little Pencil button that sits in the toolbar. Then click Uninstall and close your browser. All done.

Alternatively, if you run into trouble trying to remove the toolbar using the first method, you could alternatively go to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, scroll down and click on the “Yahoo Toolbar!” item, then click Change/Remove.

If increasing sales or encouraging visitors to contact you are on your “Goals for my Website” list, I recommend taking a few moments to review the quality of the text within your site. It’s important to make sure you’re not needlessly losing customers or visitors due to poor writing - something that’s so easily fixed.

An effective way to hunt for hidden text problems, silly as it may sound, is to read your site’s text out loud to yourself. Listening to your own voice sound out your website’s text often uncovers typos, awkward sounding phrases, and confusing instructions in ways that visually-skimming the text cannot.

As you review your site’s text, check to see if you’re finding calls to action. Calls to action are simply words or phrases that encourage website visitors to take action. Examples of calls to action include “Call Us for Your Free Consultation Today,” “Purchase a Shirt by December 31st to receive 30% off,” and “Click Here to Book Your Reservation.” Ensuring your website contains clear calls to action encourages visitors to do something - other than leave your website.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/134 - A popular Firefox extension that allows you to copy text from the Internet, Thunderbird, Microsoft Office, etc. and then paste it without all the related formatting.
• www.ScreenToaster.com - Create screencasts, tutorials, demos, and more with ScreenToaster, a free online screen recorder. Register once and use it anywhere, anytime (no download necessary). Simple and easy - just record your screen with one click. The one bummer: no love for Windows XP users. ScreenToaster is only compatible with Windows Vista, Mac OS and Linux.
• http://www.npr.org/multimedia/2008/11/atlas/ - A fascinating slideshow displaying several world maps based on information *other than* land mass. Check out world maps created and colored according to net car exports, projected population, malaria cases, and private spending on health care.
• http://tinyurl.com/6xqu9 - Ever seen a roll-up keyboard before? They exist. And you can buy them for right around $25.
• http://tinyurl.com/lutsb - Watch this mesmerizing video and take a peek into the interactive touch-screen world of the future.

• http://tinyurl.com/283hxz - Hoping to see strong sales from your online store this holiday season? Make sure you read this article to learn which factors most annoy online shoppers and cause them to bail out prior to finalizing their online purchases.
• www.getharvest.com - Fabulous, affordable online time-tracking software.
• www.ourgreatlife.com - Just launched a few weeks ago, OurGreatLife.com was dreamed and created by Jolina Ewing of Frisco, and the site has been more than four years in the making. OurGreatLife is all about promoting the “little guy” in Summit County through promotions, photos, video, a Summit County business directory and more. Make sure to visit - even if it’s only to sign up for the monthly sweepstakes prize! (November’s prize was $500 cash.)
• www.solimpressions.com - A Breckenridge massage studio that’s embracing technology by allowing customers to book all their massage appointments online right from their website. What conveniences are you providing your online customers?
• www.walletproof.com - A quick and easy-to-use tool “that enables you to track your spending and set monthly budgets for yourself.”