Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware WinFlog Extreme is a tiny Windows utility that lets you add a handful of useful items to your right-click context menus. That includes the ability to turn Aero desktop effects on or off in Windows Vista, eject a CD or DVD, or turn on the Flip 3D Windows switcher in Windows Vista. You can also add an option to turn off your display from the context menu. Don't worry, it will come back on as soon as you move your mouse.The utility lets you pull up these features when you right click your My Computer...
The error message “There Are No Active Mixer Devices Available” appeared after clicking on the Volume icon in the Windows System Tray. Audio worked fine before shutting the computer down yesterday and clicking on the icon was one of the first actions of the new day. MP3 playback was still working but games would not launch anymore stating that no audio devices could be found. A check of the sound hardware in the Control Panel was positive. The audio hardware was listed and reported as working properly. Next step was to check whether the Windows Audio service was up and...
Windows XP only: When you right-click on your desktop or on a file, do you have to go through two dozen useless menu items before you hit the one you want? Free utility Mmm offers an easy interface for hiding and organizing context menu items—into a "Rarely used" subfolder, for example. With Mmm running, hit the colored button it adds to the top left of the menu to see the configuration area, shown here. Check out the before and after photos of my context menu using Mmm. Before: After: Recently, the How-To Geek explained how to clean up your...
Quoting text on a website usually requires to include the url of the website the quote was found. Some webmasters prefer not to do this but visitors like the possibility to check the source for additional information to research the topic further. And sometimes it comes in handy to check if the article on one site is actually putting the quote into the right context. The small Firefox add-on Quote URL Text adds a new entry to the context menu of the web browser. The Quote Text entry can be used to copy the selected text and the url of...
Only two and a half months after announcing Picasa 3 beta, Google has done the uncharacteristic and has committed to a full product release. Here's the clincher: Picasa 3 (download it here when Google updates the file) is the exact same desktop organizer and editor it was under the beta flag. (This is a good wagon for the Gmail team to climb aboard--Google's e-mail service has been in beta since 2004 and its latest releases have been earthshaking themes and emoticons.) Although Version 3 beta users won't see changes in this release, those switching from Version 2.7 will enjoy...
I used to be addicted to sticky notes. There I said it… The kids in the mail room were bringing me a few new packs daily. I stuck them everywhere. On monitors, servers, laptops even on interns. (Hey I have problems remembering names more than IP addresses!) So when I came across this simple <1MB application that brought stickies into my computer world I was in love. If you are a “sticky” person then this is an application you won’t want to miss - and of course it is free. So go grab this Windows only installer from here. You...
Most Linux users would agree that “apt-get” is one of the many best things to happen to Linux. For those of us who have a dual boot system and miss the apt-get functionality on Windows, here are some ways to get that functionality in Windows. For people who are not familiar with apt-get, it’s basically a tool that allows you to download and install (or upgrade) software from a central location in one simple step. You dont have to go to the actual download location, save the file on your computer and then click on it to install. All of...
Filed under: Software, DeveloperSince getting schooled in the comments on my last mention of Versions (a favorite of Robert's), I've reacquainted myself with Subversion ... and come to really enjoy using this polished and highly usable SVN client. Git may have its benefits, but for a lot of what I do (especially solo web design), Subversion (and Versions) make a lot of sense. Versions is, as of yesterday, officially out of beta and available for purchase. I even received a 10% discount for being in on the beta test. Versions 1.0.1 is already out, which fixes the registration issues that...
One of the more visible changes of the Windows Vista operating system was the Windows Vista Sidebar which made it possible to put so called gadgets on the Windows Desktop. Gadgets are small applications that can display all kinds of information such as RSS news feeds, contacts or system information. Many Windows Vista users like the Windows Sidebar, others feel that it is to restricted to one part of the screen. Microsoft has already announced that they will change that behavior in Windows 7 so that users can place gadgets wherever they want on the desktop. It was only a...
FragExt is not your usual defragmenting software that you point at a system partition and let it do its work. It can be used to defragment selected files much like Defraggler with the difference that it integrates more nicely into the Windows operating system. It does have one slight disadvantage that will be explained later on. After installing the defragmenting software it can be accessed by right-clicking a file or directory and selecting the FragExt entry in the context menu. That’s a natural way of performing defragmentation on files. It is however problematic for users who want to defragment their...
Windows only: Free, lightweight application RBTray minimizes any app to your system tray. Once it's running, you can tray your windows in a couple of ways: You can either right-click the bottom-right corner of the minimize button to instantly send the app to the system tray, or you can right-click anywhere on the title bar and select Minimize in tray from the context menu (which also offers Always on top and a useless My size feature). The app doesn't require any installation, so you can also toss it on your thumb drive and take it with you. Even better, RBTray...
Scanning a computer system with a computer security software like ESET SysInspector can reveal security related problems in short time. Those security software programs are by far not the all-knowing and -seeing eye but they provide an in depth analysis of a computer system that can be used to find some of problematic files that could be a security risk. ESET SysInspector does that by scanning the computer’s hard drive and Registry. It assigns a risk level to every item that has been analyzed which ranges from fine (1) to risky (9) with three always bundled together. Risk levels 1...
Music jukebox and Web browser mash-up Songbird has begun to pull away from the beta gate. In its first release candidate for Windows, Mac, and Linux, the Gecko-powered browser aimed at audio junkies locks down a final list of features. Songbird mimics the iTunes interface, but rolls in Firefox-powered Web surfing and Web-based music discovery.(Credit: Songbird) The improvements over the previous release, version 0.7, make changes both important and minor. Absolutely the most noticeable is that the program runs and feels faster. Responsiveness had been an issue, too, but this release candidate marks a strong improvement in that area...
Windows is storing information about file extensions and the actions that can be triggered when right-clicking the files or folders in Windows. A right-click on a spreadsheet file would for example reveal options to open the file in Microsoft Office or Open Office. That might include actions added by applications that are not used by the user at all for that purpose. A way to manage the context menu entries would be to edit them right in the Windows Registry. A more secure solution is by the use of software like Shell Menu View by NirSoft. The portable software displays...
Most of us don’t give the humble context menu much thought. We right-click, a menu pops up, we choose what we want and that’s about it. However, user interface designers are always looking for ways to improve that interaction and one possible idea is the radial or pie menu. Jono DiCarlo, a user interface designer at Mozilla recently suggested some possible changes for the content menu that might make it a bit easier to use. DiCarlo thinks that the pie-shaped menu might have some advantages over the simple list — all the possible choices are equidistant from your mouse, there’s...
We last took a look at the iTunes plug-in The Filter way back in 2006, so it's high time to see what this alternative to the Genius playlist is up to. Of course, when it first came out there was no Genius playlist, nor a Mac version--now that there's both, does it hold up? Certainly the most obvious benefit is that although you do need to register to use the playlist, you don't need to hand over your credit card number to this Peter Gabriel-supported plug-in. These days many people probably don't care, but to me this is a...
Cruz is a very slick new entry in the Mac OS X browser world. Built on WebKit, the same engine that powers Apple’s Safari, Cruz looks and renders just like Safari, but layers on power-user features that raise it far above Apple’s default offering. Among the many features that set Cruz apart from Safari and other Webkit browsers: Built-in Greasemonkey (userscripts.org) support — every script I tested just worked. Open Plug-in Architecture — so far Cruz’s developer is the only one creating plugins, but the option is there for any developer to extend the browser. BrowsaBrowsa Plug-in for Sidebars...
Last.fm is one of the largest music websites on the Internet. Users can listen to music on the site, discover related musicians and communicate with other users. The music portal provides access to a feature called Radio which essentially makes it possible to stream music that is related to artists, tags or users. This radio feature is being used by Last Sharp, an application that can be used to download music from Last.fm. Last Sharp requires the Microsoft .net framework 2.0 and an operating system that is either Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista. The application itself can be...
Cfont Pro (via Techyard) is a free font manager that comes with options to preview all installed fonts on a computer system and to install or uninstall selected fonts. The main program window lists all installed fonts of a system which can be selected with a left-click. The preview window will display the chars of the selected font in various sizes with the option to add bold, italic or underlined attributes to the displayed font. It is easy to scroll through all installed fonts by selecting the first font in the list and using the mouse-wheel to move to the...
