Several weeks ago, Google launched a brand new Google tool bar in all its services. This new bar replaces the famous (or infamous?) black bar on top of all Google products, and includes a slick dropdown menu, a new Profile menu and a generally cleaner look.

Surprisingly, not everyone can enjoy the new bar yet. In a previous article, I explained how to enable the new bar by editing a cookie, which worked like a charm. But what if you don’t want to mess with that stuff? There are now some better and easier solutions which will get you that new shiny bar in a snap.

Aside from not letting everyone have it, Google also “forgot” to make the bar customizable. You can’t change the order, you can’t add or remove items – you’re basically stuck with what Google wants you to see. Here are two great ways to get the new Google bar, and to customize it exactly the way you want.

Big G Drop Down Sorter [Chrome]

This handy little Chrome extension will not only give you the ability to sort, add and remove items from the new Google bar, it will also make the bar itself appear if you don’t already have it.

This is what the Google bar menu looks like before changing anything. Not the most convenient thing in the world. Now, install Big G Drop Down Sorter, access any *.google.com domain, and behold the magic!

You can now easily drag and drop any item from the menu to change its position. You can also drag an item into the More section, or drag items from the More section into the main section.

And that’s not all. Are there items from the not-so-accessible “Even more” you would like to add to the toolbar? Big G Drop Down Sorter lets you do that too. Click on “Even more” to find new buttons added to every item on the list.

You can now easily add items from here to the dropdown menu. If you change your mind, you can remove the item from the toolbar from here as well.

Big G Drop Down Sorter is very easy to use, and has worked for me on Google Search, Google Reader, Gmail and Google+. Its only downside is that it only works on *.google.com domains (so if you use google.co.uk, for example, this won’t work), but that aside, this is a great answer to a huge oversight by Google (at least, I would like to think of it as an oversight).

Google Bar+ [Firefox & Chrome]

Google Bar+ is a user script which works on both Firefox and Chrome. Before installing it, you would need to install either Greasemonkey for Firefox or Tampermonkey for Chrome. After installing one of these, head over to the script’s homepage and click “Install”.

To start, if you don’t already have the new Google tool bar, this script will enable it. While not as smooth and easy to use as Big G, Google Bar+ offers some in-depth customization for the Google bar, including the ability to add entirely new items which are not Google related.

To change an item’s location, right-click on any item to open its edit window.

From here, you can choose a different pre-set button from the dropdown menu, and thus change this button into a different button (this basically changes a button’s location). Note that this does not switch between the two buttons, and you will end up with two of the same button. You will have to right click the second button and change that one over as well. From this window you can also change an item’s name, or create an entirely new item, complete with icon.

The icon part did not work perfectly for me every time, but it was very easy to add menu items of my own other than that.

The script also comes with an option called Thinbar. If you find the new bar overly bulky at the top, click the Profile menu and choose “Enable Thin Menu”.

This will change the entire thing into a more manageable size – a welcome change.

As you can see, my MakeUseOf icon does not appear exactly as it should, but this might be solved with some tweaking. Google Bar+ also comes with a built-in Google ad blocker, which you can also enable from the Profile menu.

All in all, Google Bar+ is a useful script, especially if you want to create custom buttons in the menu, or if you’re a Firefox user (until someone comes up with a Big G add-on for Firefox).

Do you know of more ways to customize the new Google tool bar? And what do you think of this new bar anyway? Share in the comments.

View full post on MakeUseOf

In my humble and cautious opinion, there are two things that you should never put automated software in control of when you’re using a Windows system: your drivers and your registry. Now, there are a whole slew of solutions for you if you’d like to go down that route, but if you’re an experienced user then I’d simply not recommend it. It can lead to system instability and some major problems. I’ve experienced it firsthand and it’s not fun.

Hunting for device drivers isn’t such a task anymore, anyway. Most of your Windows drivers will never need to be touched right out of the box. Your video card is in its own sacred territory though. Video card drivers are updated more frequently than, for example, your network card’s drivers. Updating your video card drivers can show a huge performance boost across your system, as well. Keeping these drivers up to date is quite essential if you’re a gamer.

If you’re buying a new Windows PC today, your graphics card will manufactured by one of two companies: NVIDIA or AMD. Having such a limited choice really lends toward making updating the drivers a very painless experience. So painless that both websites happen to have automated resources that will (probably) allow you to make updating your video card drivers as simple as a few clicks.

Finding Your Video Card Card Model

Step one is actually figuring out what we’re looking for. Let’s start by going to your Control Panel and then to Device Manager.

From there, you’d going to want to click on the Display adapters header to expand the tree.

From here, it should be easy to see what your video card is. As you can see, I have the ATI Radeon HD 3200, ATI being owned by AMD.

Let’s just call this next step a shortcut. Right click on the name of your video card and click Update Driver Software…. It should bring up the following.

The first option, displayed there, is what you want to click to automatically search online for driver updates. If it finds updated, awesome. Go ahead and follow through to install them. If not, you’ll get the following message.

However, in respect to that note about not trusting automated software earlier, we aren’t going to listen to Windows. Windows could be wrong. So, now that we’ve figured out what kind of video card you have, let’s proceed on our quest.

NVIDIA Cards

NVIDIAers can simply click this link: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

You’ll then see the following near the bottom.

Option 2 is what you’ll want to go for here. I’d recommend using Internet Explorer while running this automated check because it tends to handle ActiveX and browser plugins a little better than most browsers (surprisingly). It may prompt you to install an ActiveX control or bring up a software installation prompt. Go through with it. It’s safe. Afterwards, you’ll either be presented with a screen telling you that you need updated drivers or that your drivers are up to date, or that the automated check failed.

If the automated check failed, I strongly recommend you go back and wade through Option 1, manually selecting your card to update.

AMD Cards

If you’re using an AMD/ATI GPU, you want to go here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

From there, you want to try to Automatically Detect and Install (to the right side). Again, be on Internet Explorer while you do this. Feel safe to install and run any prompts that come up during the process because browser plugins are required to know what card you’re using. If it is successful, you’ll be told your card is up to date or that it needs updated, otherwise it’ll tell you that the scan could not be completed.

In the event that the scan fails, go back and follow their five-step process to pinpoint your exact video card drivers. This is the safest way to go about the update.

One thing I’ll never recommend is that you go about using automated software like SlimDrivers or Driver Magician. Even in the best of faith, these programs don’t know your system as well as you do. In worse cases, these programs are filled with spyware and adware that can really damage your system.
I’d like to recommend that you not just Google updates for your drivers either. Get them directly from the manufacturer as I’ve laid out for you. It’s not smart to trust updates from that-one-official-driver-site.com, you know?

Good luck in refreshing the visuals of your system and if you encounter any issues, shoot me a comment here.

View full post on MakeUseOf

In my humble and cautious opinion, there are two things that you should never put automated software in control of when you’re using a Windows system: your drivers and your registry. Now, there are a whole slew of solutions for you if you’d like to go down that route, but if you’re an experienced user then I’d simply not recommend it. It can lead to system instability and some major problems. I’ve experienced it firsthand and it’s not fun.

Hunting for device drivers isn’t such a task anymore, anyway. Most of your Windows drivers will never need to be touched right out of the box. Your video card is in its own sacred territory though. Video card drivers are updated more frequently than, for example, your network card’s drivers. Updating your video card drivers can show a huge performance boost across your system, as well. Keeping these drivers up to date is quite essential if you’re a gamer.

If you’re buying a new Windows PC today, your graphics card will manufactured by one of two companies: NVIDIA or AMD. Having such a limited choice really lends toward making updating the drivers a very painless experience. So painless that both websites happen to have automated resources that will (probably) allow you to make updating your video card drivers as simple as a few clicks.

Finding Your Video Card Card Model

Step one is actually figuring out what we’re looking for. Let’s start by going to your Control Panel and then to Device Manager.

From there, you’d going to want to click on the Display adapters header to expand the tree.

From here, it should be easy to see what your video card is. As you can see, I have the ATI Radeon HD 3200, ATI being owned by AMD.

Let’s just call this next step a shortcut. Right click on the name of your video card and click Update Driver Software…. It should bring up the following.

The first option, displayed there, is what you want to click to automatically search online for driver updates. If it finds updated, awesome. Go ahead and follow through to install them. If not, you’ll get the following message.

However, in respect to that note about not trusting automated software earlier, we aren’t going to listen to Windows. Windows could be wrong. So, now that we’ve figured out what kind of video card you have, let’s proceed on our quest.

NVIDIA Cards

NVIDIAers can simply click this link: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

You’ll then see the following near the bottom.

Option 2 is what you’ll want to go for here. I’d recommend using Internet Explorer while running this automated check because it tends to handle ActiveX and browser plugins a little better than most browsers (surprisingly). It may prompt you to install an ActiveX control or bring up a software installation prompt. Go through with it. It’s safe. Afterwards, you’ll either be presented with a screen telling you that you need updated drivers or that your drivers are up to date, or that the automated check failed.

If the automated check failed, I strongly recommend you go back and wade through Option 1, manually selecting your card to update.

AMD Cards

If you’re using an AMD/ATI GPU, you want to go here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

From there, you want to try to Automatically Detect and Install (to the right side). Again, be on Internet Explorer while you do this. Feel safe to install and run any prompts that come up during the process because browser plugins are required to know what card you’re using. If it is successful, you’ll be told your card is up to date or that it needs updated, otherwise it’ll tell you that the scan could not be completed.

In the event that the scan fails, go back and follow their five-step process to pinpoint your exact video card drivers. This is the safest way to go about the update.

One thing I’ll never recommend is that you go about using automated software like SlimDrivers or Driver Magician. Even in the best of faith, these programs don’t know your system as well as you do. In worse cases, these programs are filled with spyware and adware that can really damage your system.
I’d like to recommend that you not just Google updates for your drivers either. Get them directly from the manufacturer as I’ve laid out for you. It’s not smart to trust updates from that-one-official-driver-site.com, you know?

Good luck in refreshing the visuals of your system and if you encounter any issues, shoot me a comment here.

View full post on MakeUseOf

In my humble and cautious opinion, there are two things that you should never put automated software in control of when you’re using a Windows system: your drivers and your registry. Now, there are a whole slew of solutions for you if you’d like to go down that route, but if you’re an experienced user then I’d simply not recommend it. It can lead to system instability and some major problems. I’ve experienced it firsthand and it’s not fun.

Hunting for device drivers isn’t such a task anymore, anyway. Most of your Windows drivers will never need to be touched right out of the box. Your video card is in its own sacred territory though. Video card drivers are updated more frequently than, for example, your network card’s drivers. Updating your video card drivers can show a huge performance boost across your system, as well. Keeping these drivers up to date is quite essential if you’re a gamer.

If you’re buying a new Windows PC today, your graphics card will manufactured by one of two companies: NVIDIA or AMD. Having such a limited choice really lends toward making updating the drivers a very painless experience. So painless that both websites happen to have automated resources that will (probably) allow you to make updating your video card drivers as simple as a few clicks.

Finding Your Video Card Card Model

Step one is actually figuring out what we’re looking for. Let’s start by going to your Control Panel and then to Device Manager.

From there, you’d going to want to click on the Display adapters header to expand the tree.

From here, it should be easy to see what your video card is. As you can see, I have the ATI Radeon HD 3200, ATI being owned by AMD.

Let’s just call this next step a shortcut. Right click on the name of your video card and click Update Driver Software…. It should bring up the following.

The first option, displayed there, is what you want to click to automatically search online for driver updates. If it finds updated, awesome. Go ahead and follow through to install them. If not, you’ll get the following message.

However, in respect to that note about not trusting automated software earlier, we aren’t going to listen to Windows. Windows could be wrong. So, now that we’ve figured out what kind of video card you have, let’s proceed on our quest.

NVIDIA Cards

NVIDIAers can simply click this link: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

You’ll then see the following near the bottom.

Option 2 is what you’ll want to go for here. I’d recommend using Internet Explorer while running this automated check because it tends to handle ActiveX and browser plugins a little better than most browsers (surprisingly). It may prompt you to install an ActiveX control or bring up a software installation prompt. Go through with it. It’s safe. Afterwards, you’ll either be presented with a screen telling you that you need updated drivers or that your drivers are up to date, or that the automated check failed.

If the automated check failed, I strongly recommend you go back and wade through Option 1, manually selecting your card to update.

AMD Cards

If you’re using an AMD/ATI GPU, you want to go here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

From there, you want to try to Automatically Detect and Install (to the right side). Again, be on Internet Explorer while you do this. Feel safe to install and run any prompts that come up during the process because browser plugins are required to know what card you’re using. If it is successful, you’ll be told your card is up to date or that it needs updated, otherwise it’ll tell you that the scan could not be completed.

In the event that the scan fails, go back and follow their five-step process to pinpoint your exact video card drivers. This is the safest way to go about the update.

One thing I’ll never recommend is that you go about using automated software like SlimDrivers or Driver Magician. Even in the best of faith, these programs don’t know your system as well as you do. In worse cases, these programs are filled with spyware and adware that can really damage your system.
I’d like to recommend that you not just Google updates for your drivers either. Get them directly from the manufacturer as I’ve laid out for you. It’s not smart to trust updates from that-one-official-driver-site.com, you know?

Good luck in refreshing the visuals of your system and if you encounter any issues, shoot me a comment here.

View full post on MakeUseOf

If you’ve ever searched around on YouTube for walkthroughs, tutorials, or video reviews of popular software or Linux distributions, you may find them to be pretty useful.

Such videos are much better than a written guide or review because you can see how something works or where you can find it. You can also hear the person who made the video talk about what he or she is doing, along with any other notes. A video, therefore, is much more effective.

Let’s see how we can construct them ourselves.

How Do You Make Them?

That’s great, but how do they make those videos in the first place? What do you do if you want to make a video yourself? You’ve may have seen some people use their video camera to point to the monitor, but those look very unprofessional when compared to others that show only what the monitor shows, without the monitor acting as a border around the video. Those people use screencasting software.

What Does A Screencasting Software Do?

Screencasting software works much like the PrtSc button on your keyboard, as known as “Print Screen”. In Windows, this button copies the entire screen onto your clipboard which you can simply paste into Paint or any other image editing software. In Linux, the button copies the entire screen and then opens a window to ask you if you want to copy it to the clipboard or save it as a file.

However, screencasting software captures the screen and makes a video out of it instead of an image, and also lets you capture the sound that would usually be coming out of your speakers or whatever is picked up by any attached microphones.

About Kazam

Kazam Screencaster is an easily available free screencasting tool that you can use on Linux to make such videos. There are a couple of other tools out in the wild that you can use, but Kazam seems to be one of the easiest to work with. It seems that Kazam is only officially available for Ubuntu as there are PPAs for it, which is a shame, but I’m sure that someone can take the source code and compile it themselves on other distributions.

Installation

To install it, you’ll need to run this command in the terminal if you use Ubuntu 11.10:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bigwhale/kazam-oneric && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install kazam

If you use a previous version of Ubuntu, run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:and471-kazam-daily-builds && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install kazam

If it asks you if you want to continue at certain steps, make sure to hit “y” or enter for each request, depending on which button it asks you to hit. Wait for that to complete, and then you can launch Kazam by searching for it in Unity, Gnome Shell, or menus, depending on what desktop environment you’re using.

Usage

From here on, Kazam should be easy to use.

You can immediately start recording a video, with or without sound.

After pressing start, Kazam will do a countdown until the recording starts, and you can stop recording by clicking on its icon in the tray at the top right of your screen.

Once you finish, you can save or edit with the Kazam software for quality and where to export to, including YouTube. That’s all there really is!

Conclusion

Kazam is ridiculously easy for such a fine screencasting tool. For those who don’t need a whole lot of settings and let the dedicated video editor do the editing, Kazam is a great way to make those screencasts.

What’s your favorite screencasting tool? For Windows and Linux? Let us know in the comments!

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/computerprogramming.png?323f2c" alt="" />If you’ve ever thought about learning computer programming, now might be a good time to start. The developers of href="http://www.codecademy.com">Codecademy invite you to make a New Year’s resolution to learn coding through their interactive programming lessons, emailed to you each week. So far, over 117,000 have signed up.

Their program, called href="http://codeyear.com/">Code Year, is a straightforward, fairly easy to follow three-part course for learning JavaScript, and two separate href="http://labs.codecademy.com/">Codecademy Labs for the object-oriented language, Ruby, and Python. You can complete the lessons in the site’s online text editor, and work at your own pace. The lessons are designed for beginners and those experienced with coding in other languages. And Codecademy says their labs are actually “designed to create your own programs and share them on Twitter and Facebook, and show your friends what you have learned.”

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/codecademy_1.png?323f2c" alt="Codecademy 1" width="580" height="156" border="0" />

As you complete tutorials, you are awarded points and badges designed to show off and track your progress. Learning code is like learning any language – it takes practice and concentration. Coding will enable you to build intricate websites, online or computer games, and mobile apps.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/codecademy_2.png?323f2c" alt="Codecademy 2" width="259" height="182" border="0" />

The Codecademy doesn’t yet include an online forum for students to troubleshoot lessons, but you can share your progress with friends, on Facebook and Twitter. The difficult part in learning say JavaScript is making sure you’re using the proper syntax, like surrounding declared names with quotation marks.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/codecademy.png?323f2c" alt="Codecademy" width="490" height="226" border="0" />

As writer Douglas Rushkoff contends, “If we don’t learn to program, we risk being programmed ourselves…program or be programmed.

Source: href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/03/codecademys-codeyear-attracts-100000-aspiring-programmers-in-48-hours" rel="nofollow">Techcrunch /> Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=86404090" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/shutterstock_47033620.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" />Nothing can spoil a great group lunch or dinner than having to spend quality time calculating the cost of splitting the bill. Sure it’s easy when you split the cost between yourself and your girlfriend or boyfriend, but what happens when you have more than five people in the group?

You could use a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/variety-calculator-apps-basic-advanced-calculations-ipad/">calculator or the old pen and paper method, but if you have a iPhone or other iOS device, there are apps that make splitting up expenses less of a chore and are even more accurate than the mental calculations we perform. There are several such apps in the iTunes Store.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tip-calculator-free/id330270120?mt=8">Tip Calculator Free

Tip Calculator Free not only manages the splitting of the bill, but will also figure out the waiter’s and waitress’s tip as well. While this can be easily done on an iPhone calculator, Tip Calculator does it faster, and is better to look at.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_5.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" width="580" height="428" border="0" />

To use the app, all you have to do is input the Check Amount, select the number of people to split the payment, and then select the quality of the service you receive from the waiter or waitress.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_1.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split the bill" width="580" height="431" border="0" />

The service quality feature means that your tip can be based on 5 to 50% of the bill. Tip Calculator allows you to split the bill between up to 50 people, or you can select no split and use it simply for tip calculation.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trip-splitter-lite/id417029244?mt=8">Trip Splitter

If you’re needing to split expenses for a trip you take with two or more people, Trip Splitter Lite is an app you should give a try.

With Trip Splitter, you have presets for dividing up lodging, gas, transportation, food, entertainment, supplies, and your own set of custom expenses.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_21.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split the bill" width="580" height="369" border="0" />

To use the app, you set up a name for a new trip, and then add the names of the people you will be splitting expenses with. Next, you add an expense item, such as gas, and either calculate the amount for each time you purchase gas or for the total amount of gas expenses. Tip Splitter also allows you to keep tabs on who paid, and even how they paid – e.g. cash, credit, debit.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_3.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" width="580" height="379" border="0" />

Expenses are categorized into items and days, and each person and item gets color-coded for easy visual reading. The href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trip-splitter/id374395458?mt=8">paid version ($1.99) of the app allows you to handle up to six people. The free version allows for two people.

href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spotme-payments/id443369076?mt=8">SpotMe Payments

The newest app in this personal finance category is SpotMe Payments. It’s geared toward groups of people that you may share expenses with on a regular basis, such as roommates, family, co-workers, and close friends.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bill_splitter_app_4.jpg?323f2c" alt="app to split bills" width="580" height="426" border="0" />

With SpotMe, you set up groups for sharing expenses, and then add individuals – including their phone number or email, and photo – from your Address Book, Facebook and Twitter account

SpotMe enables you to split and track bills, lend and borrow money, and send out regular reminders. It is fairly easy and straightforward to use.

Let us know that you think about these and other bill splitting apps. Do you have a favorite one on your iPhone that you use?

Image Credit: href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=47033620" rel="nofollow">Shutterstock

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/radiotray_logo.jpg?323f2c" alt="free radio streams" />I don’t know about you, but I tend to listen to Internet href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/radio/">radio streams quite a bit, enough to where I’ve got a subscription to one. It’s fairly easy to listen to them already, but it stinks that I have to use a full-fledged media player for it, especially when I move onto my netbook.

Thankfully, there’s a little application for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux">Linux that can solve this problem by playing the Internet streams that I want in a very discreet way.

About Radio Tray

href="http://radiotray.sourceforge.net/">Radio Tray does this in a very user-friendly way. It plays your selected radio stream and hides itself in the system tray. It also offers a couple of options to customize your listening experience.

Installation

In order to install this in href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu">Ubuntu, you can go into the Ubuntu Software Center and choose Radio Tray. For other distributions, you should be able to find a Radio Tray package with a name like radio-tray or something similar. Once the installation completes, you can go ahead and launch the application.

First Run

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/radiotray_firstrun_config.jpg?323f2c" alt="free radio streams" width="580" height="347" />

The first time it runs, it’ll ask you where you’d like to place the tray icon. On Ubuntu, you must choose App Indicator or else it won’t show. For other operating systems, Icon in the Notification Area will work.

If you choose an option and the tray icon does not appear, you’ll need to remove the /home/<user>/.local/share/radiotray folder and try again. Otherwise, you’ll see a tray icon that you can use to manipulate what Radio Tray does.

The Tray Icon

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/radiotray_menu.jpg?323f2c" alt="internet radio streams" width="580" height="314" />

When you click on the icon, you will see that there are already a few categories present along with some Internet streams inside of them to get you started. You can play around with these to try out how Radio Tray works, although don’t be surprised if some of these default stations don’t connect. It seems that the default station list isn’t updated very often. When a station isn’t playing, the icon will stay gray, but when something is playing the icon will turn blue.

Preferences

Under preferences, you’ll find a couple options that you can make use of. There are menu items for Volume Up and Volume Down, for a sleep timer, for reloading bookmarks, and for Configuring Radios. If you want the entire system to shut down at a certain time, you can go to the terminal, and do the following:

Type sudo at 17:30, then hit enter and type in your password, then type shutdown -h now and hit Ctrl + D. You can replace 17:30 with the time you actually want it to turn off.

Configuring Radios

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/radiotray_configure_radios.jpg?323f2c" alt="free radio streams" width="580" height="417" />

When you configure the radios, you can change the groups, stations inside the groups, add separators, move them all around to your preferred order, and plenty more. Radio Tray supports virtually any audio formats (as long as the codecs are installed), so it shouldn’t matter what kind of format the radio stream is.

Conclusion

Radio Tray is a very simplistic app that will play your radio streams simply and easily. With all of its functions and interface hidden in a little tray icon and its low memory usage, this little application does wonders for all music lovers.

What’s your favorite Internet stream player? Why do you like it the most? Let us know in the comments!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/shutterstock_792515923.jpg" alt="share photos on iphone"/>With the new iPhone 4S came a vastly improved camera. This new camera means more iPhone owners are snapping more pictures as the line between cell phone camera and stand alone point and shoot camera blurs. iPhone users who have tons of pictures on their phone need an easy and efficient way to share them. After all, syncing to your computer or sharing them one by one on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/twitter/">Twitter and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook aren’t the fastest solutions.

This is where Batch comes in. It allows users to easily create groups of photos with friends via a simple in-app interface and share them quickly and easily. It also allows the ‘Batches’ of photos to be shared on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/twitter/">Twitter and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook, giving all your friends easy access to view the photos. It’s a great free app that gives that awesome new camera on the iPhone 4S, or the camera on a previous model iPhone, a completely new purpose.

Installation and Set Up

First things first, you need to go to the app store and download the free application. Run a search on the app store for Batch from your iPhone, or simply click this href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/batch/id470069919?ls=1&mt=8"> handy link, and download the app.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/batchfb-e1320340684410.jpg" alt="share photos on iphone" width="333" height="500" />

Once the app is installed, you will have to link it with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook. They offer no alternative means of making an account, so if you want to use the app, you need to link it with your href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/batchsetup-e1320340709865.jpg" alt="share iphone photos" width="333" height="500" />

The application offers something of a quick tutorial that guides you through creating and sharing your first Batch. You can skip this by clicking the cleverly titled “No Batch!” link at the bottom of the screen. The tutorial is quick. It’s just about choosing a few photos, making your Batch, and sharing it.

Creating a Batch and Sharing On Facebook and Twitter

Once you have your account synced with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook and you have either skipped or gone through the tutorial, the next thing you will want to do is share some photos.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/batchnew-e1320340696900.jpg" alt="share iphone photos" width="333" height="500" />

To create a new batch go to the photos tab and click the giant “Create a new batch” button. The next screen will give the option to choose your camera roll or photo stream, and then all of your pictures on the screen after that.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/batchselect-e1320340657813.jpg" alt="share iphone photos" width="333" height="500" />

Scroll through your pictures and find the ones you want to include in the batch. To select a photo simply tap it, and a green check mark will appear in the bottom corner, letting you know it is currently selected in the Batch.

Once you have all your photos chosen, the application will ask you to tag href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook friends who are in the photos. This is optional, as the next step will allow you to share the whole album with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/batchshare-e1320340617657.jpg" alt="iphone photo sharing" width="333" height="500" />

Sharing your Batches with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/twitter/"> Twitter is as easy as turning on the sharing buttons on the bottom of the screen. For href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/twitter/">Twitter, you will have to enter your user name and password, but for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook, it will be already be there because you had to link to app with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/"> Facebook in the first place.

Once you have decided how you want to share your batch, click the “Create your batch!” button and let the application run through the process. You can tag friends and share a Batch after it is created using the buttons at the top of the screen when you are viewing a batch. If you decided to skip sharing when you created the Batch in the first place, you can always go back and do it later.

Other Features

In addition to sharing your groups of photos on existing social networks, Batch is a social network in itself. It allows you to share your Batches with people you are friends with on the app. They also offer a stream of all your Batches, so anyone on your friends list can check your activity and see what you have shared.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/batches-e1320340559198.jpg" alt="share photos on iphone" width="333" height="500" />

You can view a stream of any new Batches shared by your friends. Think of this like a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook news feed, but just for your Batch friends. Speaking of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook, Batch will automatically import any of your href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/"> Facebook friends that also have Batch, making it easy to find people who are sharing pictures.

Conclusion

Batch is a cool tool for sharing large amounts of pictures with your friends across various social networks. It is especially handy for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/twitter/">Twitter, which doesn’t have albums to share many pictures like href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/facebook/">Facebook. It also has its own social network, but I think their bread and butter is using the app to share with other networks.

Have you tried Batch to share pictures with your friends? Do you use something else for photo sharing? Let us know in the comments!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/gnomeshell-icon.png" alt="" />Do you love Ubuntu, but prefer Gnome Shell to Unity? You’re not alone, but you’re also in luck. href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ubuntu-1110-oneiric-ocelot-default-programs-linux/">Ubuntu 11.10 makes it easy to install Gnome Shell. Not liking where Gnome was heading, the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu/">Ubuntu team decided to build Gnome into a desktop of their own devising – Unity. This makes use of, and would not be possible without, the efforts of the Gnome team. Simply put, Unity is a different interface, or shell, for Gnome.

It’s by no means the only one, however. The default shell for Gnome is called, fittingly enough, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gnome-3-beta-desktop-linux/">Gnome Shell. Meant to replace the old, beloved Gnome 2 desktop, Gnome Shell is a step forward for Gnome in many ways. Gnome Shell, like Unity, is not lacking for detractors. Many people would prefer to return to the classic Gnome desktop altogether, and are switching to systems like Linux Mint in order to do so. This is only temporary. All major Linux distributions will almost certainly be using either Gnome Shell or Unity for their Gnome offerings at some point in the near future. That’s why it’s essential to get used to one desktop or the other.

Want to try out Gnome Shell in Ubuntu? If you’re running 11.10, it’s easy.

Install Gnome Shell On Ubuntu 11.10

The simplest way to install Gnome Shell in Ubuntu? href="apt:gnome-shell">Just click here. Alternatively, you can find Gnome Shell in the Ubuntu Software Center:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/gnomeshell-install.png" alt="" width="580" height="186" />

Finally, if you’re a command line person, type this:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

That command will use apt-get to install Gnome Shell and its dependencies. The download isn’t huge, because most of Gnome is built into Unity. Once it’s installed, nothing will happen. You’ll need to log into your new desktop environment to see what you just did.

Loading Gnome Shell

Want to try out Gnome Shell? Log out of Unity to get to your login screen. When there, before logging in, click the gear icon beside the entry field:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/gnomeshell-login.png" alt="" width="579" height="245" />

Pick “Gnome” as your desktop, then type your password as usual. You’re now using Gnome Shell! href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gnome-3-beta-desktop-linux/">Read more about Gnome Shell to see what this system can do.

Everything might look ugly at first. Unity’s default theme Ambiance does not integrate well with Gnome Shell. Be sure to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-gnome-shell-themes-install-linux/">check out the top 5 Gnome Shell Themes for something better, or simply switch themes to Adwaita for the default Gnome Shell experience.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/gnomeshell-desktop.png" alt="" width="580" height="340" />

There are obvious differences between Gnome Shell and Unity, of course. Virtual Desktops are created only as windows are added to them, and the “menu” brings up open programs before letting you open new ones.

Which shell is better, I think, is a matter of preference. Try both out to really get a feel for what fits better into your workflow. Trying out new desktop environments is a big part of what makes Linux fun; it’s like exploring an entirely new system. Enjoy exploring, and do so with an open mind.

You will notice two other entries in your login screen options: “Gnome Classic” and “Gnome Classic (no effects)“. Both of these desktops resemble the old Gnome 2 desktop, but are also different in many ways. Feel free to try these out if you miss the old Gnome 2 desktop, but know they are harder to customize than you may perhaps be used to.

Conclusion

Open source is about choice. That’s why I like seeing easy access to Gnome Shell included in Ubuntu. I’ve come to love using Unity as my default desktop, but for those disappointed with the direction of Unity this is a simple way to access an alternative.

What do you prefer – Gnome Shell or Unity? Let us know in the comments below, along with any Gnome Shell hacks you might know of.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/font-icon.png" alt="manage linux fonts"/>Browse and manage your Linux fonts using a simple GUI. Font Manager is a program that allows you to browse, compare, manage and even add fonts on your Linux system; a must-have tool for designers on any platform.

Windows users can manage fonts from the control panel; OS X users have the robust href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/manage-fonts-fonts-panel-font-book-mac/">Font Book. Many Linux distros, including href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu/">Ubuntu, don’t come with a similar tool for the job.

Enter Font Manager. Available in the repositories of most Linux distros, Font Manager can give you a quick look at your installed fonts and allows you install new ones quickly.

Let’s take a look.

Browsing Your Fonts

Fire up Font Manager and you’ll soon see the main window. The list of fonts and the preview panel are self-explanatory:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/font-main.png" alt="manage linux fonts" width="580" height="264" />

This is a great way to review the fonts on your system. If you’re working on a project, you can use this tool to quickly find the ideal font for said project. You can even adjust the size of the preview panel, allowing you to see how well the font can scale.

Clicking the browse button changes things a bit:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/font-browse.png" alt="linux fonts" width="386" height="259" />

The list of fonts are there, but now every font name is displayed in said font. You can even see all the versions of a particular font. Very nice.

You might, however, want to see how a certain combination of fonts looks next to each other. This can be done under “Compare”, and can be quite useful:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/font-compare.png" alt="linux fonts" width="410" height="195" />

As you can tell, this tool is well thought out for designers on the hunt for the perfect font. This is handy for me when I’m designing covers for our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/">MakeUseOf Guides.

Installing New Fonts In Linux

Want to install a new font? Sadly the button to do this isn’t as obvious as I’d like, but it does exist. Behold:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/font-add.png" alt="linux fonts" width="239" height="116" />

That’s right; click the gear to install fonts. This will bring up the standard file browser, which you can use to find multiple fonts for installation.

Alternatively, you can set Font Manager to scan particular directories at start-up:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/font-directory.png" alt="manage linux fonts" width="470" height="263" />

Find this under the settings. Any fonts in the folders you add using this tool will automatically be installed to your system. I like this myself, but some people with font collections in the thousand may not like the surprise.

Adam Saveran had this to say in the Ubuntu Software Center comments:

“…when you add directories to [Font Manager] you’re actually installing all of the fonts in the chosen directory. Could cause serious, though temporary, problems with your system as hundreds or thousands of fonts attempt to load. (Happened to me.)”

Adam, as well as every other commenter, had nothing bad to say about the program (the words “excellent” and “should be installed by default” came up more than once), but this is something to be aware of.

Get Font Manager

Ready to install Font Manager? Depending on which version of Linux you’re using you should be able to find the program in your package manager, under the name “font-manager”. If not you can href="http://code.google.com/p/font-manager/downloads/list">download the font manager source code here, if you’re an advanced user.

Ubuntu users can simply href="apt:font-manager">click here to install Font Manager using Software Center.

Conclusion

I’m happy to finally have found a decent font manager for my Linux computers. In many ways I actually prefer this program to Font Book on my Mac, which until now I thought was the best font manager out there.

Of course, I’m sure you readers can name some better software for me. List it in the comments below, along with some links to your favorite free fonts!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet.jpg" alt="facebook page welcome tab"/>This always makes me wonder: Why would a social media giant like Facebook give us an optional feature without ever caring about its usability?

It’s nice to have Facebook pages. They let you build more social media visibility for your blog or small business. It’s also nice to have the option to customize your Facebook page to maintain a brand identity.

But why is there no easy way to actually do that? The Internet has moved far beyond the old days of MySpace when the only way to customize your profile was to submit a custom HTML code in hopes it will look OK. Nowadays, one need not necessarily have HTML knowledge to build an online presence.

Anyway, enough for that rant. What Facebook is not offering as default has been implemented by the developers of href="http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=202641663099561&sk=info">Welcome Applet Facebook application (we have previously reviewed href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/welcomeapplet-custom-facebook-welcome-tab/">Welcome Applet for customizing your Facebook profile).

Authorize the App

The first step to using the application is authorizing it for the specific page you want to run it for: choose the page from the drop-down (you’ll need to authorize the app for each of your pages separately).

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet-01.jpg" alt="facebook page welcome tab" width="387" height="194" />

3 Ways to Create a Customized Welcome Page

The welcome Applet gives you three options of creating your own customized “Welcome page” for your Facebook page:

1. Graphical

This one is the quickest method provided you have a ready-made image for your custom welcome tab – then all you need to do here is to upload your graphics and then save and preview the changes.

Note: Your image should not exceed 520 pixels in width and 800 pixels in height:

You can also link this image to your website Facebook landing page:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet-02.jpg" alt="facebook welcome tab" width="469" height="279" />

2. HTML

This method is perfect for a bit more advanced users that seek more freedom and flexibility. Just submit your HTML code here (most standard Web coding HTML, CSS, JavaScript is supported) and click “Save”.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet-03.jpg" alt="facebook welcome tab" width="550" height="365" />

3. Basic

If you don’t have a pretty graphic for your welcome page and don’t want to mess with any coding, try this option. It offers a visual editor for you to submit, format and style your welcome message:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet-04.jpg" alt="facebook welcome tab" width="550" height="336" />

What’s more it lets you customize the background to make it more appealing:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet-05.jpg" alt="facebook welcome page templates" width="550" height="205" />

Tip! You can always go back to the app to introduce any changes from “Manage Your App” link on your Facebook page (to the top-right in the screenshot above).

Here you go!

Create a Fangate Page

One more cool option inside is the ability to create a “fangate”.

A Fangate is a page for people who have not yet “Liked” your Facebook page (which means the main purpose of the fangate is to call to action, i.e. invite to “Like” the page).

Once someone “Likes” your page, the Fangate gets replaced with the Welcome page you set up.

When you turn “ON” Fangate, a new tab appears that allows you to create a Fangate page the same way you would create your Welcome page.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/welcome-applet-07.jpg" alt="facebook page welcome tab" width="434" height="266" />

One thing to keep in mind is that your custom Facebook page Welcome tab will have “powered by GOSO” at the bottom of it (in case you have any problem with that).

I guess it’s a nice and very user-friendly app. I wonder why Facebook doesn’t still have such functionality in place. What do you think?

Don’t miss these two solid tips on customizing your Facebook Page Welcome tab:

• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/customize-facebook-fan-page-welcome-tab/">HOW TO: Customize Your Facebook Fan Page With A Welcome Tab
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-build-edit-facebook-pages-static-html-wysiwyg-editor/">Easily Build & Customize Facebook Pages With Static HTML WYSIWYG Editor

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-create-custom-tab-facebook-page-applet/">Easily Create A Custom Tab For Your Facebook Page With Welcome Applet is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf