Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010

Search for files containing known data with File Searcher

When searching for a particular file on your HDD I recommend “everything” from Voidtools. (here).  With this small application you can search for files that you know the name of and sidestem the resource exhaustive Windows Indexing service. 

We all know that there are times when we’ve saved a file yet have forgotten the name we gave the file. Yet we do remember parts of the text or data in the particular word doc, or PDF file, or Excel spreadsheet.  In these cases I would recommend File Searcher from MariusSoft. (here)

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File Searcher allows you to search any file in any location for any content easily and quickly. File Searcher features a powerful regular expression engine that searches any type of file for any given regular expression or standard string. File Searcher is a huge step up on most other search programs because it is simple. It finds lost text files where you can only remember vague details about them. It is way better than the Windows search function at it.

Size

1.74mb

version

1.2.2

Updated

3/19/09

Downloads

4,548

Download

The problem: Basically, you remember you wrote a report for the boss around the middle of last year, with a special section about current inventory.

The solution: Start up File Searcher, tell it which folders are most likely to hold that report, tell it to look through all files from last April to September. Under the Contents tab, enter items like the name of the boss and company, and of course the word "inventory". That’s it, Searcher will find the file you’re looking for.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

5 Lesser Known Good Features of Google Earth | PCMech

5 Lesser Known Good Features of Google Earth PCMech

If you enjoy tinkering with Google Earth like I do, this post will show you some interesting new ways to use Google Earth!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Access Any Folder With Two Clicks Using Folder Guide

After using our respective system for a while, we all have tendencies towards the folders we use on a regular basis. Be it saving or opening from these locations, the ability to access these folders quickly can be a nice time saver. A utility which make the process of accessing these folders quick and easy is Folder Guide.

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With Folder Guide, you can access all the locations you configure easily from right click menus or save/open dialogs which, again, can really save you some mouse clicks.

A nice thing about the Folder Guide design is that it integrates into the Windows shell with means it uses a negligible amount of system resources. Give this one a try.

Convert Files From One Format To Another With No Middleware

Have you ever received a file which you need to view but don’t have the right program to properly display it? Rather than downloading and installing a one time use program, try using Zamzar to convert the file to a format you know.

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Zamzar is a simple concept: you upload the file you want to convert, select the desired format and then they email a link to download the converted file to you. Zamzar supports lots of file types (although most are pretty common) and also does conversion of video sites (i.e. YouTube) directly to files as well.

The site requires no signup and the files are converted on a first-come, first-serve basis with registered users getting priority over free users. This could mean your conversion may take some time depending on how many people are in front of you.

Fine Tune Your Solid State Drives With SSD Tweaker

You can take a look at the features and a screenshot here, but here are a few items which may be of interest:

  • Windows Indexing Service
  • Windows Defrag
  • Ntfs Memory Usage
  • Disable 8.3 Filenames
  • Windows Prefetcher

This is worth a look for system tweakers who want to experiment a bit what their SSD can do.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Sizer – Ultimate Windows Resizing Utility?

Back when I was using Windows XP, one of my always-had-installed-no-matter-what utilities was Sizer. The reason? Because I like being able to resize any window I want to specific sizes.

Then Windows 7 came along and Sizer didn’t work in it, so I was bummed out about that. FireSizer was good for Firefox and gets the job done in fine style, but only for Firefox.

But lo and behold, v3.32 of Sizer works in Windows 7. Awesome. My oh-so favorite window resizer of all time now has a version that works in the OS I use today.

This is why I champion this little program so much:

1. I can resize any window I want, as said above. Browser, word processor, image editor, etc. There’s not too many windows Sizer can’t resize.

2. It has the option to center the window after resize. This is something that’s not easy to find in other window resizer programs. If you want it in the center, Sizer puts it there. No fuss, no muss.

3. There are several different ways to access Sizer. You can right-click the taskbar icon, right-click the title bar of almost any program or right-click a border of a window and get the Sizer context menu. Very cool.

Here’s an example from a title bar:

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4. I can name my sizes anything I want. Many window resizer utilities only show size names as dimensions, such as 1024×576. I can rename mine to anything, like "netbook” or "laptop" or "smartphone" or whatever I want.

5. I can specify any dimensions I want. You’ll notice above I have a few "odd" dimensions, like 1200×900 and 1300×900. I use 1300 on my 1680×1050 monitor and 1200×900 on my 1280×1024 monitor. They’re just the right sizes for when I need to use them. Some resizer programs strangely do not allow you to specify dimensions outside of known monitor standards (and why some are like that I have no idea).

6. It stays out of my way. I can’t stand a program that tries to butt its nose into everything you do (Adobe Reader comes to mind…), so it’s very much appreciated when one only shows up when you want it to and does so without complaint.

7. You can specify where you want a resized window to "snap" to. Those with high-resolution monitors will definitely appreciate this feature. You can specify how many pixels from the top and left a resized window should snap to. Unfortunately there is no automatic way of doing it and you have to enter the numbers manually, but hey, better than not having the option at all. Yes you can set specific positions for specific sizes, and once set, you don’t have to set it again unless you want to change it.

Limitations?

The only programs I’ve found that Sizer won’t resize are the kind that don’t use a standard Windows UI for window controls. For example, certain instant messenger have a completely custom interface (like Yahoo! Messenger) where the right-click context menu cannot be accessed. However it’s fairly rare you’ll run into programs you need to adjust that Sizer can’t resize for you.

Sizer is free. Go get it.

 

Source: pcmech.com

Why you shouldn’t use the same Username / Password on many sites.

Are you guilty of using the same user name and password on all sites where you have an account? If so then you should really not be doing this.

Consider the following scenario:

You create a new account at SiteXYZ.com using your typical user name and password. SiteXYZ.com has implemented its user and password storage in the database to save this data as plain (unhashed) text.

Now suppose SiteXYZ.com gets hacked with the attacker able to get access to the user and password information (which is stored in plain text) or the owner of SiteXYZ.com is an unscrupulous individual who is simply harvesting login information from people creating accounts.

The person who now has the user and password information starts trying it on common sites (such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and on online banking sites.

So in the above situation, if you had your Facebook account using the same user and password as SiteXYZ.com, your account is now compromised. Worse yet, think about what could happen if that person was able to get into your online banking site…

Of course, some accounts are more important than others but at the very least you should make sure your most important accounts have a unique password.

Windows XP Version of Windows Live Essentials

Windows Live Essentials 2011 is only for Vista SP2 or Windows 7 and not Windows XP. Any attempt to run the installer on XP won’t work. In addition the website makes it appear as if the XP version of the software is no longer available.

It is still possible however to download the XP version of the Live Essentials software, so if you have a computer with XP and require software from that suite (such as Windows Live Mail or Windows Live Photo Gallery), here’s how to go about it:

Quick way

Download the English language wlsetup-web.exe installer from here, run the file and install the software you need.

If that download link becomes broken for whatever reason, or you need a language other than English, use the slow way below.

Slow way

1. Go to this link: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials-xp

2. Scroll down and select your language, which would be English for most people who read this.

3. Click the blue Download now button.

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The file downloaded will be wlsetup-web.exe. Run this installer to install the appropriate software you need.

Important notes

"2009" is the last version that works on XP

The XP version of Windows Live Essentials is 2009. You’ll see this in any "about" screen, like this:

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This does mean that the 2009 version is the last of the Windows Live Essentials suite that will work on the XP operating system.

Standalone installers?

Individual standalone installer files from the suite are not available, or at least not that I know of. You must download the setup file, run it and then choose what you want to install.

It’s unknown how long Microsoft will keep this installer available, but chances are it will be around for a while. Even so, if you do need software from the Windows Live Essentials suite on your XP computer box, I suggest installing the software you need now just in case the software is taken off the site.

This article courtesy of PCMech.com

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