Become an iPhone  super-user with these 20+ handy, but not necessarily well known tips.    They may enhance your user experience or make you an even more savvy pro.

I complied these tricks from iSmashphone.com.  A big thanks to them for spelling these out.  I’m sure at least a few will be invaluable tools for beginners and experts.

1. Scroll to Top of Page

In any application, Safari included, you can automatically scroll to the top of the page by tapping on the “top bar”, which has the time, service bars, and battery. In Safari, this not only brings you to the top of the page, but also brings up the URL bar.

2.  Domain Resolution

read more

There’s been a lot of talk about Windows 7 since it’s launch, most everything has been positive (which certainly wasn’t the case after Windows Vista launched).  In this tough economic client people are asking themselves, “Why should I upgrade and what benefits will I see if you do?”  I’ve been running Windows 7 since August with their Release Candidate and installed the full version as soon as Technet offered it and I’ve found many improvements over previous versions.

(Be warned, this is a long post.  I wanted to get as much information in as possible.  The short story is if you’re getting a new computer definitely get it with Windows 7, if your computer is less than 2 or 3 years old I would recommend the upgrade).

read more

The other day I came across a site that I haven’t visited in quite some time. I’m actually very grateful for the site since some one took the time and effort to write out guides for default services settings in different windows programs.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/registry.htm

Generally if you like to tweak with your services and/or registry , you can sometimes forget to set them back. Or if things really go off kilter , you can just set them right back. Of course you are making backups of anything you change first …right? Generally I have used it when a computer has been hit by a Trojan. The new ones will disable as much as possible , creating havoc  for any administrator to get the system back up and running. I am also of the mindset that formatting is not necessary …..most of the time.

What is the registry-

read more

iPhone Explorer is a free application that enables you to copy files to and from your iPhone or iPod Touch.  You can transfer photos, music and other media to right your computer.  You can also use it as a flash drive transporting files or using it as a storage device.

Here is what the makers say:

Printing anything from a browser – articles, receipts, directions, etc – can be frustrating because what you want gets printed along with  banner ads, page titles, and single lines of footer text, i.e. lots of paper and ink waste.  Now, without a lot of trouble, you can select exactly what you want to print using a Bookmarklet called PrintWhatYouLike.   You have the option to select different parts of a page to print, creating tidy and specific print results.

Bookmarklets are great because there is nothing to install, download or configure.  Simply drag the application into your Bookmark Toolbar.   When you are on the page you want to print, click on the Bookmarklet.  A user menu appears in the left column of your browser providing selection options.

read more

read more

read more

Microsoft put out a series of patches today for all versions of Internet Explorer from 5 to 8 for every operating system from Windows 2000 to Windows 7 to address a huge security vulnerability .

The vulnerability was used in the cyber attacks against Google, yahoo and others over the last couple weeks. If you’re running any versions of Internet Explorer please install any updates from Windows Update that are pending on your system or grab the update manually from Microsoft’s site.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-002 – Critical

Adobe Reader is notorious for eating up computer resources.  If you are looking for a free, light and quick PDF reader try Foxit.  We have been using it for a while now and prefer it to Adobe Reader or CutePDF.  Here is what their website has to say about why it works so well:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is just a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
• Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users’ permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware.

You can try it for free here.  Let us know what you think.

BlackBerrys have a lot of settings hidden in the OS. Here are some of the most popular BlackBerry Tips for any user.

1. Switch the signal bars to decibels – If you want a more precise measurement of your wireless signal, just hold down the ALT button while typing N M L L. The meter on the main screen will change to a number. Do these steps again to change it back.
2. Give the audio a boost – Many people say that the ringtone or music isn’t loud enough on the BlackBerry. Go to Menu > Options > Audio Boost > On.
3. Enable separate app for SMS text messages – Don’t like your email crammed in with text messages? Separate them by going to Messages > Menu > Options > SMS and Email Inboxes > Separate.
4. Quick period – At the end of a sentence, press the Space key twice and a period will be typed automatically.
5. Switch to another program – Hold the ALT key and press Escape. Continue to hold ALT and select the program you want to switch to.
6. Send your PIN – Need to send somebody your PIN so you can communicate with them? Just type MYPIN in an email or text message and the text will change to your actual pin number.
7. Start in Safe Mode – Install an app that screwed things up? Start in Safe Mode so you can get rid of it. Remove and reinsert the battery, then when the light goes off while starting, press and hold the Escape button until the main screen loads.
8. Add more callers – Press Menu while on a call and select Add Participant if you wish to add more people to the call.
9. Reboot – ALT + CAPS + Delete reboots the device.
10. Change ring tone – Don’t like the default ring tone? Change it under Menu > Profiles > Advanced > (Active profile) > Phone > Ring Tone.

post by Oztech

read more

I love having multiple monitors. It makes working in multiple application so much easier. Most of the time I’ll have several browser windows, email, a couple servers, some windows explorer windows and other various things open and dual monitors makes switching between the programs much more fluid. What do you do if you don’t have the room (or budget) for a second monitor? Adding virtual desktops gives you almost the same functionality, for free!

What is the benefit of multiple virtual desktops?  For me, when I’m working on several projects at once virtual desktops allow me to segment the windows into groups and makes it so that I only see the windows that I don’t get lost in the shuffle of open apps.

I’m a big fan of a program called Dexpot.  It’s compatible with all modern verisons of Windows (XP, Vista, and 7) and allows you to have up to 20 virtual monitors (the default is 4) with alpha transparency, fast screen switching options and the ability to move windows back and forth between different virtual desktops.

read more

There are so many antivirus programs out there. It’s hard to know what is good and what is bad. For example, I will never place another norton antivirus product on a machine ever again. Why? Not only does it let viruses get through, but it can be so intrusive that it is a pain just to have sitting in the background.  Luckily there are researchers out there that test these products. In the past I have had some misgivings with the research as they have labeled certain antivirus programs as good , when I know from the field that they are horrible ( yes norton I’m looking at you).

Microsoft’s antivirus has been making waves, yes it’s free and its excellent. If you need a better antivirus , or any antivirus, I would recommend it. As so do independent tests. you can grab it here : Microsoft Security Essentials

read more

Like many people, you may have received a new computer for the holidays.  If you’re already an avid user you know how to set it up, install your favorite apps and get to work/play.  But if you’ve just moved to a new operating system (Windows 7, OS X or even Linux) you may be a little lost as to the new functionality in your new toy.  Luckily lifehacker has put together a great list of tips and tools for whatever system you’re baffled over.  Take a look at this list and let me know if you have another cool trick you’d like to share.

image from bolti22 on flickr

That’s right, my fellow Blackberry addicts, after the short outage on Dec 17th it looks like there’s another Blackberry internet and email outage.  And this one looks like it might last a while.

Reports are coming in from all over the internet but there’s been no confirmation so far from Research in Motion about how long this service interruption will last.  Hopefully everything will be up and running by tomorrow but this certainly isn’t a great early x-mas present for the email junkies out there.

Photo from malyousif on flickr

If you are using Office 2007, you know by now that files are automatically saved in a format (.docx, .xlsx) incompatible with older versions of Word, Excel, etc.  Do you have problems sharing documents because of this feature?  You can, of course, change the format manually when you are initially saving your file – just by using the pull down menu as shown below.

But if you want to alter the default settings in Office 2007 to always save in a format compatible with Word 97-2003, it is easy to do.  Here is how:

read more