BARRY'S BEST COMPUTER TIPS

MyAlgebra - A free help site for algebra homework

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:29:32 PDT

There probably aren't many parents who can help their kids with algebra homework. My kids grew up with a mom who is a math teacher, so they lucked out there. It's not that we're not smart. It's more that we've forgotten everything we haven't had to use since middle school.

For us there's the excellent website. So now when your kids are stumped by algebra homework, you really can help. Don't you feel better already?

Go to MyAlgebra

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RightThumb - The easiest way to create thumbnail images

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:15:01 PDT

Any web-traveler knows about thumbnails. Those small images that give you the idea, though not the full-sized image. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a thumbnail image must be worth at least 200. Using thumbnails saves tons of room on a website's pages and gives the user the option to click for the full-sized graphic.

But creating thumbnails can be a chore. This little executable app makes it as simple as it could possibly be. Once your started the app and set up your size and other preferences, simply right-click on any selected pics and you'll see the context-menu option to "Create thumbnail(s)."

Get RightThumbs

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Screenjelly - Another screencasting app with a Twitter twist

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:44:04 PDT

I surely don't need to sing the praises of screencasting apps yet again, do I? Good. But this is a nice, simple one that allows you either to email or tweet your resulting screencast. From the website:

"Screenjelly records your screen activity with your voice so you can spread it as a video via Twitter or email.

Use it to quickly share cool apps or software tips, report a bug, or just show stuff you like.

To start recording, click on the red button. No need to install or download anything!"

Go to Screenjelly

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Migrate MS Access databases to Zoho Creator for web-based apps

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:40:01 PDT

How many of my faithful readers use MS Access? For many reasons it's not as popular as Excel or Word (mostly because it's not intuitive). But for those of you who have Access databases, why not try this plug-in? From the Zoho website:

"Zero Infrastructure Cost - You dont have to buy any software/hardware or install, maintain or upgrade on periodic basis. All you need is a web-browser with connected to Internet. While you use your applications in peace, we take care of the rest - Availability , Security and Back-ups.

Easy and Quick Development - Zoho Creator platform offers highly intuitive drag-and- drop graphical interface to build applications for your business. Zoho Creator is integrated with in-built scripting language -Deluge Script which you can use for writing your business rules. You don't have to be a pro-developer to use Zoho Creator."

Get the plug-in.

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Sonic PDF Creator - Makes PDFs from any Windows app

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:44:00 PDT

As an alternative to the gigantic Adobe Acrobat, this svelte application can make you a PDF-creating pro for, as Checkers likes to say, little coin. Besides creating PDF documents from any Windows program (via its virtual printer engine), you can manipulate PDF documents in all kinds of useful ways. (I just turned a huge PDF user's manual into a neat little booklet.) From the website:

"Create professional looking and secure PDF documents from hundreds of Windows applications. A simple to use interface with value added features you'll need, like batch conversion, watermarking, PDF merging and splitting & more."

Get Sonic PDF Creator

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Logitech Vid - A clean and easy way to do video calls

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:18:16 PDT

Yes, there's Skype and Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger, not to mention the ones that you've never heard of (even though I may have posted about them...thanks for paying attention), but this one does video calls much more simply than the others.

Get Logitech Vid

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SpeedBit Video Accelerator - Speeds downloads for better watching

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:42:20 PDT

For a better downloading and watching experience, check out this app. From the website:

"SpeedBit Video Accelerator enables videos to be played from over 150 leading video sites such as YouTube without the frustrating wait. Videos load faster eliminating annoying buffering and freezing. In addition, paying iTunes users receive the fastest possible iTunes downloads speeds. Video Accelerator configures itself automatically and works seamlessly with all major web browsers and with iTunes."

Get SpeedBit Video Accelerator

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Microsoft Holm - Save money and the planet's resources!

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:57:04 PDT

I'm not a very green-oriented person in my everyday life, not sure anyone knows for sure whether global warming is man-made or part of a natural cycle, but I can definitely get on board with saving money on energy.

If you want to use Microsoft's new Holm, a web-based app designed to help do just that, you can get in on the action now that they are in public beta.

Go to Microsoft Holm

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Join the Torrent World - uTorrent and TorrentFetcher

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:35:37 PDT

As an experienced computer user it's not easy to admit that I'm this late to the world of torrent downloads. But, OK, I'm getting upt to speed and I've discovered two excellent tools that'll let me find and download some serious movies, software and TV shows. And more.

First the torrent client that downloads that content. uTorrent is damn good at this and plants a very small footprint on your system.

Second, a fine way to make sense of the chaotic process of actually finding that content: TorrentFetcher.

Have fun!

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SpiderOak - Another free (2Gb) online backup/storage solution

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:02:56 PDT

Does backup intimidate you? There's no need for that with applications like this one. With online backup there's no need to decide where you're going to backup to. And this app allows you not only to use it for backup, but also for synchronization, sharing, remote access, and storage. From the site:

"Whether you need to access a document you have stored on a remote server, synchronize data between a Mac, Windows or Linux device, share important business documents with your clients, or just rest easy knowing all of your data is safely, securely, and automatically backed up - SpiderOak's free online backup, online sync and online sharing solution can handle all your needs!

SpiderOak offers a different approach to online backup by combining a suite of services into one consolidated tool - free online backup, synchronization, sharing, remote access, and storage. This difference is further measured in our zero-knowledge privacy policy - the first one ever employed in this setting. Our flexible design allows you to handle data from any operating system (Mac, Windows and Linux) or location (external drives, network volumes, USB keys, etc...) using just one centralized account."

Get SpiderOak

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Screamer Radio - Rediscover the joys of Internet radio

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:14:06 PDT

There's actually a lot of interesting stuff out there in the world of Internet radio. When you find yourself getting sick of your local media, check out Screamer. You can find any genre from any place in the world. So next time the new Subway commercial (Five! Five Dollah! Five Dollah Foot Lo-o-o-ng!) makes you contemplate suicide, renormalize your mood with something different.

Get Screamer Radio

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GFI Backup Home Edition - A simple and free backup solution

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:46:53 PDT

I won't talk about how you hate the task of backing up your data, because my readers are very intelligent people and I know you already do regular backups. Right? Right. So instead I will suggest that GFI is a free and simple way to accomplish your backup tasks. From the website:
"GFI Backup 2009 allows you to back up all your important documents, photos, music, emails and program settings using a simple but smart wizard-driven interface to nearly every storage device (including local and external disk drives, LAN, CD/DVD, removable devices, remote FTP servers, etc.)."

Get GFI Backup Home Edition

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Microsoft Security Essentials Beta - Available now

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:30:02 PDT

If you try to get the beta app from Microsoft's official site, you'll probably get the message as follows: "Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft® Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time. Please check back at a later date for possible additional availability."

If you visit Softpedia, however, you can get it with no problem.

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Fireshot – Capture an entire web page in Firefox

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:23:03 PDT

There are times when you want a screenshot of an entire web page, including the part that you can’t see unless you scroll down. Most screencapture apps fall down at this point, which is why you may need Fireshot. From the site:

“Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations. Such functionality will be especially useful for web designers, testers and content reviewers.”

Get Fireshot

Firefox 3.5 Final Version debuts today!

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:13:10 PDT

According to multiple sources feeding off each other, today is the big day! Firefox 3.5 comes out of beta and release candidates. What time? Don’t know, but you can keep checking here.

Update: It's out!

Until Mozilla updates their official page, you can get Firefox 3.5 here and here.

ezDRoster - Free employee scheduling software

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:52:57 PDT

If you have a small business with some employees whose working hours need to be scheduled, this app can be utilized as either a desktop or web solution. And it's free! From the website:

"No matter what your business or organization - nurse staffing, medical staff, hotel and hospitality , restaurant, academic institution, delivery services, cleaning and maintenance personnel, trainees, help desk employees, transportation services, flight attendants, real estate, travel agency, retailer, convenience store, construction, volunteers organization - You need to run your business smoothly, efficiently.

DRoster's unique industry neutral design coupled with its rule engine flexibility enables you to customize DRoster to your industry-specific and department-specific employee scheduling needs, regardless of your organization's size.

Another DRoster benefit: DRoster uses a non-proprietary Firebird database. This means you can integrate all your scheduling data with your payroll software or any other data source. Seamless integration gives you an accurate up-to-the-minute picture of your human resources as well as total control of your workforce for crucial instant response. DRoster staff scheduling software is easy to install and use. Upgrade to DRoster's automated, computerized staff scheduling rostering solution today at no cost. It's about time you got your free fully functional copy of DRoster employee scheduling software."

Get ezDRoster

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Lift your writing skills with VocabGrabber

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:08:09 PDT

Anyone who uses writing in life and wants to improve those skills will find the Internet tool helpful. I just threw it an article I wrote recently on Golden Platypus. I was impressed with the fact that I didn't seem to have overused any words, but the visual thesaurus gave me some excellent alternatives to the ones I chose. (See screenshot below.)

Go to VocabGrabber

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Alice - The easy (and cost-effective) way to shop for groceries

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:24:50 PDT

According to the website, everybody needs an Alice. When you're trying to make every penny, and every minute count, this Internet tool can make your life a whole lot better. Eliminate trips to the store, take advantage of comparison shopping and free shipping, get reminders so you never run out of essentials, and...need I go on?

Visit Alice.

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Curious about Firefox 3.5's new features?

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:03:19 PDT

Check out the video to see what's new...

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ThumbView - Get Windows to show thumbnails for unsupported graphics files

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:53:04 PDT

Have you ever been tied in knots over Windows Explorer's unwillingness to display thumbnails unless the graphics in question are "supported"? Say goodbye to the forever with this little utility. From the website:

"ThumbView enables image thumbnails and tooltips in MS-Windows Explorer for filetypes that are not natively supported. It started with PCX, TGA, DDS and PNG images, but now ThumbView supports an amazing 19 image types - directly inside any Explorer window!"

Get ThumbView

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Taskbar Shuffle - Rearrange your taskbar buttons

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:43:10 PDT

I truly despise any advertisement that includes the words "...that's right for you." Seems like pandering to the ultimate degree. Now, before you start wondering where my mind has wondered to, I want to tell you about a little utility that lets you arrange your taskbar buttons into the configuration that's right for you. From the website:

"Taskbar Shuffle is a simple, small, free utility that lets you drag and drop your Windows taskbar buttons to rearrange them. Here’s a full feature list:

* Full 32-bit and 64-bit support
* Reorder your taskbar buttons by dragging and dropping them
* Reorder your tray icons in the same way
* Reorder tasks in a grouped button's popup menu in the same way
* Middle-click to close programs on your taskbar
* Works with UltraMon (version 3+ only) taskbars
* Tweak taskbar button grouping"

Get Taskbar Shuffle

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gdocbackup - Download and Backup all your Google Docs

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:11:13 PDT

This nice little utility app will quickly and easily download an offline copy of your Google Docs.

"GDocBackup is simple utility to backup (export) all your documents from Google Documents to local disk. It's open source, freeware and licensed under the Apache License Version 2.0
It does a simple backup: for each document in Google Docs, it downloads the document if the document is not present on the local disk or if it has a different date.
GDocBackup uses the official Google Data APIs (.NET version). The GDocBackup.x.x.x.BIN.zip file contains all required files."

Get gdocbackup

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Nexus - Free Mac-like launch utility

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:46:54 PDT

No one can argue that OSX looks pretty. For Windows users who want the effect without the actual OS there are apps like Nexus. From the website:

"Nexus is a multi-level (paid version) dock system that nicely complements NextSTART and WorkShelf. Nexus provides super fast access to your most frequently used applications, with flexible options allowing it to dock or float anywhere on the screen, providing a myriad of "On Demand" possibilities. From it's generous use of situational sensitive context menus to it's advanced Drag-n-Drop support, Nexus is not only easy to use - it's a joy!"

Get Nexus

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fotografix - A free Photoshop alternative at less than 1 meg

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:29:22 PDT

When you install a Windows app, the installer just sloshes parts of it all over your machine like an insane painter. That's why portable apps are so cool. Everything's in one file, ergo easily moved, ipso facto portable. This one does a fair imitation of the behemoth Photoshop and is only 680 Kb small.

"Enhance photos
Quickly correct and enhance photos and other images.

Compose rich artwork
Use layers and other advanced features to digitally compose art.

Automate frequent tasks
Make use of scripts to automate repetitive tasks."

Get fotografix

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CrashPlan - Planning for the inevitable

bmahfood@gmail.com (Barry Mahfood) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:57:35 PDT

Computers crash. OK, not always, but often enough that it makes sense to have a plan for the possibility. Here's an app that makes it (relatively) easy to be ready if (when) it happens. From the website:

"No buttons to push or CDs to burn. Simply install CrashPlan and it quietly runs in the background protecting your files without slowing you down.

It's free to back up personal files to your own local and offsite destinations.

Your files are encrypted at your choice of multiple offsite destinations. Only offsite backup protects your files from theft, fire, and other local disasters. CrashPlan insures your privacy by encrypting your files before they are sent, keeping personal files personal.

With CrashPlan you have the freedom to choose your backup destinations. Back up your new Mac to your old PC, your laptop to a friend's desktop, whichever you want. Worried about using too much space on a friend's computer? Just attach a USB drive and back up to it using CrashPlan."

Get CrashPlan

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