Hott Notes

Lets you create various post-it style notes on your desktop, in various colours, fonts, transparencies, etc. It also has various options for alarms, reminders, and other features.
http://www.hottnotes.com

Audio Editor

Wavosaur is a free digital audio editing software which allows you to perform various operations with audio data such as visual editing, creating, recording, and playing audio files, applying VST audio effects,adding loop points, mastering your tracks.
Check it out at:
http://www.wavosaur.com

AIM Tip

Did you know,
you can text any mobile phone from your IM window?
Instead of a screen name, just type in "+1" (without quotes) and the 10 digit number.

Another Way To Take Notes Online

While browsing the internet, I sometimes take notes by capturing selections of a site using Paint Shop Pro. If it's just text, I'll copy and paste in either an email or here in my blog. I sometimes paste first in Notepad to remove the formatting, and then paste.

Here's another nifty way to capture notes. It's called Snippy.

Check it out: http://www.bhelpuri.net/Snippy/

MS Powertoys

Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows XP include many great tools. These include a better calculator, image resizer, slide show generator, tuner to make fonts clearer on your monitor and more.
CLICK HERE

Text 2 Speech In XP

Ever tried the Windows XP text-to-speech software? You can use it to read text from files. Type in any word-processing program, and your computer will read what he's typed.

To enable it, click Start>Control Panel. Double click Speech and open the Text To Speech tab. You can select from the voices in the Voice selection dropdown box. There should be 3 by default.

To test each, click Preview Voice. You can use the Voice speed slider to control the speed. When you're finished, click Apply and then OK.

The text-to-speech controls don't automatically appear, but you can easily display them. Just right-click on the taskbar, and choose Select Toolbars>Language Bar.

A small blue box containing "EN" will appear in the notification area. Click it and select "Show the Language bar." In Word, for example, it docks at the top of the window, beside the other toolbars. To have text read, simply click Speak.

FavIcon's For Firefox

Create FavIcon from Pics:

the first web tool for creating still / animated favicons from regular images

Saves time. Just decide which picture you want to use, and go here:

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/

Favicon Picker » Overview

Favicon Picker 0.2.6, by Torisugari, released on Jun 2, 2005

This extension adds UI for replacing bookmark icons.

Works with:

1

Firefox

1.0+ - 1.0+

ALL

Install Now (7 KB)

Great Site For CPU Information

This is a good site to compare CPU's and find all kinds of information about them.
http://www.techarp.com

Tiny Spell

Neat little program
Allows you to easily and quickly check the spelling of words in any Windows application.
tinySpell can watch your typing on the fly and alert you whenever it detects a misspelled word. It can also check the spelling of text that you copy to the clipboard.
tinySpell installs itself in the system tray for easy access. It comes with an American-English dictionary containing more than 110,000 words.
The tinySpell forum is open for discussions, questions, suggestions, and bug reports.


Checking your spelling is simple:

Option 1:
While you are typing, tinySpell watches the text you enter and whenever it detects a misspelled word it beeps and the tinySpell icon in the system tray turns from white to yellow .

Option 2:
When you copy text to the clipboard tinySpell checks its spelling immediately. If it finds at least one misspelled word in the text it beeps and turns its icon to yellow. If the icon is white it means that no misspelled words were found in the clipboard text.

Correcting a misspelled word is also simple:

When a misspelled word is detected, click the tinySpell icon or press the hot-key to pop up a list of suggested replacement words. If the misspelled word is detected during on-the-fly checking or after a word is copied to the clipboard you can select a correction from the list. The selected word is inserted into your document, or is copied to the clipboard (so you can paste it in your document), or both (depending on your settings).

Get it here: http://tinyspell.m6.net/#download

Print or Create List of File Names

Want to create a list of files in a folder, or print them out?
Create a "bat" file:

Now, here's how to create the "bat" file.
Open Notepad.
Type in the following lines exactly like I have them. (or copy/paste)

To create a list .txt file, copy this line:

dir %1 > C:\list.txt: cls

and save as: textdir.bat

*Note*
You can edit the line above to save to any other folder you wish. I created a "C:\Temp" folder for all my temporary files, so my "bat" file is:
dir %1 > C:\Temp\list.txt: cls

To create a print list, copy this line:

dir %1 > lpt1: cls

and save as: printdir.bat

Put these two files in "C:\Documents and Settings\\SendTo" folder, that way you can just right click on the folder, and choose "SendTo", and then choose either the printdir.bat or textdir.txt.

* Note*
The "SendTo" folder is hidden by default. To view it, simply open "Windows Explorer", and click on "Tools" and choose "Folder Options".
Click on "View" tab, and scroll down under the "Hidden files and folders" line.
Click on "Show hidden files and folders", and then click "OK" at the bottom.

Jumble

Got a problem trying to unscramble some letters? This is the site to solve them.

To use the scrambled word solver, simply type the scrambled word in the box, and click "Solve It"!

To use the crossword puzzle solver, type the word in the box substituting question marks '?' for any letter you don't know, and then click "Solve It".

For example: ?a?m would find all 4 letter words whose second letter is 'a' and whose fourth letter is 'm'. The resulting word list is linked to the Webster Dictionary, so just click on the word to look it up!

Check it out:
http://www.jumble.org/tjumble.shtml

Bypass Company Phone Menu

Automated phone menu's are a pain in the ass. Mashing number after number on your keypad, you get bounced from menu to menu. Your question and/or problem may never be addressed. And you might end up at someone’s voice mail.

Here's a solution: Gethuman

This site lists numbers for a wide range of companies. It tells you how to bypass voice mail and get a human!

http://gethuman.com

Xara3D To Create 3D Text

Go to:
http://www.xara.com/products/xara3d/

And check it out!

flipPad E-mail To Mobile Phone

FlipPad allows you to get your email on your cell phone for free.* No new software, no downloads, no new phone necessary. It's that simple. Because we're in beta, we invite you to share your ideas, suggestions, and feedback about how we can make this new service even better.

https://www.teleflip.com

Key Tweak

http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick

KeyTweak is a simple utility that allows users to redefine their keyboard input
signals. The functionality is made possible by a new registry value introduced by
Microsoft in Windows 2000 and included in Windows XP. This section lists some of
KeyTweak's features and reasons you may want to use KeyTweak.
Features
! Simple interface
! Ability to Teach remapping by pressing the keys to be remapped
! Easy-to-read lists of all current and pending re-mappings
! Implementation of Specialty Keys support for certain keyboards
! Remove all re-mappings with a single button
! Enable/disable annoying keys
! Displays what exactly is written to the "Scancode Map" registry value and how to
interpret its binary data
! User warnings help ensure Ctrl-Alt-Delete sequence is maintained
Why Would I Want to Remap My Keys?
Unless you are one of the few people that make use of every key on your
keyboard and are completely happy with your keyboard layout, there is probably
something you would like to change on your keyboard.

There are lots of reasons for why you might remap your keyboard.
I have a Z-Board keyboard, and use it to play games. I've had this problem of hitting the windows key so I wanted to remap it.
Sure you could remap your keys the hard way by wading through scan codes and
reversing the hex notation. But why do that when there's a simple app that can do it for
you?

Quickly lock your XP or Vista computer

It's a good idea to lock your desktop if you're going to be away from the computer for a while and there are others around and you don't want them to use your account. You can do so by pressing the key combo Windows Key + L (with Fast User Switching disabled), but what if you're using a keyboard that doesn't have the Windows key? Then you can create a shortcut to put on your desktop or Quick Launch bar and simply click it to lock the desktop. This works in both XP and Vista:

1. Right click an empty area of the desktop and select New | Shortcut.
2. Enter the following location for the shortcut: %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation
3. Name the shortcut "Lock" or something similar.

Now when you click the shortcut, the desktop is locked and you must press CTRL+ALT+DEL and enter your username and password to unlock it.

Stop Windows Messenger in XP or Vista

1. Log on as an administrator.
2. Click Start | Run.
3. In the Run box, type gpedit.msc to open the Group Policy editor. In Vista, you will be prompted to continue. Click the Continue button.
4. In the left pane, under Local Computer Policy | Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates and then Windows Components.
5. Double click Windows Messenger.
6. In the right pane, double click the policy "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run."
7. Click the Enabled option.

Note that Remote Assistance will not be able to use Windows Messenger when you disable it this way.

Copy and paste this into run box

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%INFmsmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/tune-05.html

Edit the Boot.ini file in XP

You can manually edit the boot.ini file which contains information controlling the XP boot menu. This is especially helpful if you have a dual or multi-boot configuration or if you have old operating system versions that you no longer use and want to remove from the boot menu. For instructions on how to do it, see KB article 289022 at
http://www.wxpnews.com/NW6G7Q/070710-Edit-BOOT-INI

How to stop XP from connecting to wireless networks

Windows XP by default is to connect to "any available network" and automatically connect to non-preferred networks, which helps to assure that you'll get a connection if there is a non-secured network available anywhere in range, but it's not so good for security (yours or the network owner's). You should configure the wireless feature so that you'll only connect to the network that you explicitly specify. Here's how:

1. Click Start | Control Panel.
2. Double click Network Connections.
3. Right click Wireless Network Connection and select Properties.
4. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
5. Under Preferred Networks, click the name of the network to which you want to connect.
6. Click the Advanced button.
7. Click "Access point (infrastructure) networks only." This will prevent connecting to ad hoc wireless networks, which could be run by anyone in range with a wireless-enabled computer.
8. Click to uncheck the box labeled "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks."
9. Click Close, then OK, and close the Network Connections window.

Now your wireless laptop should be a little pickier about connecting to every network that comes along.

What programs on your computer are connecting to the Internet

How to find out what programs on your computer are connecting to the Internet

Wondering if there's a spyware program on your computer that's surreptitiously sending information over the Internet? Want to know which of your legit programs are 'calling home?' There's a command line utility that will help you find out, and it works in both XP and Vista.

* Click Start.
* In XP, click Run and type cmd in the Run box. In Vista, you need to open the command prompt with elevated privileges, so click All Programs, Accessories, then right click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
* At the command prompt, type netstat -nab

This displays a list of running programs, the protocol being used by each to connect to the Internet, and the IP address and port being used. You might be surprised to see, for instance, that PowerPoint is connected to the Internet - but it will be if you use the online Help function, search for clip art, etc.

PortableApps Suite

PortableApps.com Suite™ is a collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device, such as a memory stick, and you're ready to go.
Carry it around and have all your Apps and bookmarks with you to work on any computer.

http://portableapps.com/suite

How to use the Cipher command to wipe data

When you delete files off your Windows XP or Windows Vista computer, those files aren't actually gone. The only thing that happens is that the "pointer" to the deleted files is removed and the space on the hard disk is marked as available to put new data. But until new data is put in the same location as the deleted data, the deleted data remains on the hard disk and can be recovered by hackers and other malicious users.

What you need to do is "wipe" the data off the hard disk. You can do this by using the cipher command that comes free with Windows XP and Windows Vista. Here are the instructions, compliments of Tom Shinder:

1. Close all programs.
2. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
3. Type cipher /w:driveletter:\foldername, and then press ENTER. Specify the drive and the folder that identifies the volume that contains the deleted data that you want to overwrite. Data that is not allocated to files or folders will be overwritten. This permanently removes the data. This can take a long time if you are overwriting a large space. For example, if you have a deleted files in folder c:\SECRET, you would enter cipher /W:C:\SECRET

The wiping process can take a long time, so be patient. Once the files are wiped by the cipher utility, no one will be able to recover your deleted information from your hard disk.

Email Etiquette

Rules to follow before sending email:

• * When sending to multiple contacts, use BCC instead of CC to keep other email addresses private.
• * NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS. THAT’S LIKE SCREAMING. REALLY! I kNeW sOmEoNe WhO wOuLd tYpE eVeRyThInG lIkE tHiS. IT'S ANNOYING!
• * Be wary of any kind of attachment - even if it comes from someone you know.
• * If a file you wish to send is larger than 2MB (200 kb for dialup's), think twice before sending it.
• * HTML stationery is annoying; if you don’t need to use it, don’t.
• * Don’t delete relevant information when you reply to someone.
• * If you can’t spell well, rememmber to run a sepll chcek before sinding.
• * Try to keep your messages as short and brief as possible - you’re not writing a novel.
• * Check Snopes.com before forwarding info that sounds too good to be true.
• * Never send emails when you’re mad - wait until you calm down first. Trust me.
• * Triple-check that you’re not sending a message to someone who shouldn’t see it.
• * Remember that when you send something electronically, it has the potential of “living” forever.
• * Before you forward an email joke, please make sure it’s funny first.

Free Audio Dub

Get Free Audio Dub. This audio editing software allows you delete unwanted audio parts without re-encoding. The program is very fast, and supports many audio formats: MP3, WAV, AAC, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, and WMA. Win2k/XP/Vista

JotForm

If you ever need to have users contact you, and you don't want to publish your e-mail address, checkout JotForm

The site has a nice wizard to help even the novice user create a form. Once you have your form to your liking, all you have to do is copy the code to your site.

Check it out at:

http://jotform.com

MeeVee

MeeVee is the web’s only online video guide and TV guide. If you have a Tivo, you can also record from the site. Click Here

Get your own widget.

InstaSaver

InstaSaver is a program to create screensavers that contain your favorite photos.

There are three easy steps to the process, and the first one requires you to name your screensaver. Secondly, upload pictures from your computer or grab them from your Flickr account. There are some restrictions in terms of size, number, and format, but it's not too restrictive. Lastly, you specify the available settings and then create your standalone screensaver. Your screensaver can be installed, uninstalled, and sent to others.