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3 Easy & Fun Ways To Switch Between Search Plugins In Firefox

Posted on 01 May 2011. Tags: Between, Easy, Firefox, Plugins, Search, Switch, WAYS

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/switch-search-plugins.jpg" alt="select search plugin" />We’ve been featuring Firefox search bar tips and tricks quite a lot. Here are href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/2-great-addons-improve-firefoxs-search-bar/">two addons to improve Firefox’s search bar and here are href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-firefox-search-plugins-support-search-suggestions/">10 Firefox search plugins that support search suggestions. I’ve said many times why I love the simplistic yet functional search bar so much and why I like playing with it. I can clearly understand why many href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/firefoxie-search-bar-find-websites/">people prefer it over using the address bar to find any particular website.

If you love the search bar as much as I do, you’ll find the following three tips just awesome – they will let you quickly switch between search plugins.

1. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

The Firefox search bar has a number of really handy keyboard shortcuts built in by default. Chances are, if you get yourself familiar with these shortcuts, you’ll need no other tricks to switch between the search plugins.

CTRL+K changes the focus to the search bar box, so you can instantly type your search term or change the search plugin.

Note: Firefox used to also support the CTRL+E shortcut to do the same thing but it isn’t working in Firefox 4. You can use href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/change-search-shortcut/">this addon to set your own shortcut as well.

When your focus is in the search bar you can use the ALT+down arrow key to:

Select your preferred search engine;
Hit the first letter of the preferred search engine to instantly jump down to it.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/switch-search-plugins-05.png" alt="select search plugin" width="280" height="158" />

2. Scroll Search Engines

Heavy mouse users will find this addon very useful. href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scroll-search-engines/">Scroll Search Engines lets you change an active search engine by scrolling the mouse over the search bar or search context menu (i.e. when you’ve highlighted a word on the page and right-clicked to search the web for it). Thus it saves you two mouse clicks: you don’t have to click the search bar, and then click the engine you want to use.

The add-on also supports the following keyboard shortcuts: CTRL+K and CTRL+SHIFT+K to switch between the search engines. Optionally you can also set to scroll search plugins in a loop by configuring it in the addon options.

3. Click: Quick Search Bar

If you (like myself) seldom use a mouse (and are rather a touchpad addict), you may want to try this addon - href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/quick-search-bar/">Quick Search Bar. It places the search engine buttons inside the search bar instead of the drop down menu. Thus it saves you one click: with it, you don’t have to click the search bar to access the list of search engines in the drop-down.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/switch-search-plugins-01.png" alt="search plugin firefox" width="279" height="64" />

As you can see, if you have more search engines than can be placed in your search bar, the rest will be available after a click:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/switch-search-plugins-02.png" alt="select search plugin" width="295" height="75" />

You may want to organize your search plugins for the most important ones to be on top of the list (and thus available before the click). It can also be set to use the mouse to scroll through the search plugin icons:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/switch-search-plugins-03.png" alt="Quick Search Bar" width="437" height="272" />

The icons are also placed inside your right-click context menu:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/switch-search-plugins-04.png" alt="Quick Search Bar" width="296" height="244" />

Do you love using the Firefox search bar? What are your favorite tips to make more fun with it? />
/>Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on href="http://www.makeuseof.dev/answers/" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf Answers!

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More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox/" title="firefox" rel="tag">firefox, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox-addons/" title="firefox addons" rel="tag">firefox addons, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/firefox-tips/" title="firefox tips" rel="tag">firefox tips, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/fun/" title="fun" rel="tag">fun, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/plugin/" title="plugin" rel="tag">plugin, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/search/" title="search" rel="tag">search, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/search-tips/" title="search tips" rel="tag">search tips />

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Three Other Easy Ways To Resize Your Photos On A Mac

Posted on 19 March 2011. Tags: Easy, Photos, Resize, three, WAYS

Resizeit 1 1 In a recent article (Note: Pending) I showed you how to use iPhoto 11 to resize photos. iPhoto 11 is the best way for Mac users to manage, edit, and share photos, but some Mac users may not take enough photos to warrant purchasing or bothering with the program. In addition, you may simply need to quickly resize images without bothering to open iPhoto, which sometimes can mean opening a huge library of thousands of images.

For more streamlined purposes, Apple’s default OS X applications, Preview and Mail, and a free lite version of a third party application called ResizeIt may suffice. If you, on the other hand, need to do batch resizing of images, check out my article on using Automator for this purpose.

Resizing In Preview

By default, when you double-click on an image on your Mac, Preview is the application that opens it up. What you may not know is that it’s also a good application for resizing images. To do so, open an image into Preview, and click Tools > Adjust Size in the menu bar.

Originalzise

The drop-down window will provide you information about the dimension and resolution size of the image. For images you’re going to post for viewing on a website, the resolution size 72-150 pixels is adequate. For printing purposes, 240 to 300 pixels should be used. You should manually type in the dimension for resizing your image.

Preview

Or you can use one of the presets provided in Preview. It used to be that 640 x 480 pixels was the standard size for posting images on the web, but with many people viewing the web on widescreen monitors and small mobile phones, you might need to consider other sizes, such as 800 x 600 or the smaller 320 x 240. Unfortunately, Preview doesn’t allow you to save custom sizes as a preset. If you have a custom size you need to regularly use, create an Automator workflow or use ResizeIt described below.

Caution: when you resize images in Preview it will not give you the option to save the original of your image. So you need to either make a duplicate copy of the photo before resizing, or select Save As to make sure you’re saving the resized image as a separate file.

Resizing In Mail

If you want a super fast way to resize an image(s), simply drop it into your Apple Mail application and mail it. Done. Mail even provides you with options for resizing.

Mailsize

At the bottom of the composition box, Mail will tell you the dimensions of the resized photo before you mail it. You can change it to Small, Large, or Actual Size, provided the recipient of your email has a fast enough Internet speed to download a large size image file.

The great thing about using Mail to resize an image is that it doesn’t resize your original. It makes a copy and then resizes it. However, if you try to drag the image out of your drafted email, it will not be the resized version.

Resizing In ResizeIt

If you don’t want to haul out iPhoto or Photoshop to resize an image, and if you need to do some quick batch resizing of images, a small free application, ResizeIt available in the Apple Mac Store, may do the trick. Now I must say, ResizeIt could use some work, although it does what it says it will do.

Resizeit

The best way to use ResizeIt is to select, then drag and drop one or more photos onto the ResizeIt icon in your Dock. From there you will be presented with a dialog box in which you configure the settings you need. Be sure to leave the Overwrite Files box unchecked if you don’t want to resize your original image(s). If you leave the “Choose the folder to save images” unchecked, ResizeIt will resize, save, and put your images into a folder for you.

You can also save various sizes as presets. The application worked OK for me. I do think however that the pixel boxes should start with “W” and then “H”, for that’s typically how dimensions are set in image applications. The first number is usually the width and the second is height. But ResizeIt is a free application, so not much to complain about. It’s a useful program for quick batch resizing.

Applescript

Finally, if you click on Script > Generate Droplet, ResizeIt will produce an AppleScript script that you can save as a droplet application. It‘s sort of like creating an Automator application for resizing images. So for example, if you regularly need to resize photos to a particular size, like 800 x 600, then you simply create the preset in ResizeIt, and then have the application create a droplet for that size. The code will open up in AppleScript and you can save it as an application that you can keep in your Dock. From there, you just drop your images onto the droplet and, viola, they get automatically resized. That‘s the way computers should work.

The key to resizing images is to have as many options to do so. No one wants to receive or view an oversized image. Let us know if you have any other strategies for resizing images. For Windows users, check out Simon‘s article on resizing photos.

Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!

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3 Free and Easy Ways to Watermark Your Images Offline

Posted on 20 February 2011. Tags: Easy, Free, Images, Offline, Watermark, WAYS

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/copyright.jpg" alt="watermark your images"/>We’ve already explained several different ways that users can protect and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/watermark-images-photoshop/">watermark their images using Photoshop, and discussed the advantages to using offline methods for watermarking. But Photoshop isn’t exactly the most economical choice and if you don’t already own a copy, you won’t buy it simply to watermark your images. There are several free alternatives that will allow you to protect your images, and won’t cost you a cent.

There are free apps to watermark your images on the go using your iOS device, as well as more robust apps that allow you to batch watermark your images using your Windows or Mac computers, one of which includes many other features aside from just watermarking.

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WatermarQue

The free Mac/Windows app href="http://www.mhvt.net/quicktime/eng/watermarque.php">WatermarQue, allows you to select the font, size, angle, colour and formatting of the watermark that you will use. Once you have settled on the appearance of your watermark, which you can see previewed in the program, you can select a target folder on your computer where the watermarked images will be saved. Supported formats include BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PSD and TIFF. Exported images can be saved as one of four formats, JPEG, PNG, BMP or PICT.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WM1.jpg" border="0" alt="watermark your images" width="580" height="463" />

Drag and drop the images you want to watermark onto the blue box labeled, ‘Drop here’, if you want to preview the image with the watermark before applying it.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/drophere.png" border="0" alt="watermark your images free" width="145" height="143" />

Dragging and dropping is also used to add images to the list of files to be watermarked.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/list.png" border="0" alt="watermark your images free" width="580" height="125" />

Select the folder that you want the watermarked images to be saved in, and once you’re ready, click the “MarQue it” button.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/marque.png" border="0" alt="watermark your images free" width="318" height="133" />

WatermarQue is convenient to use because of its user friendly interface and because it makes it easy to batch watermark images. The distinct disadvantage to using WatermarQue is there seems to be no way to alter the opacity of the watermark, so if you’re looking to create a subtle watermark, this app is not for you.

Impression

iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users can benefit from the free app, href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/impression/id364597384?mt=8">Impression [iTunes link], which allows you to watermark images saved on your device.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/imp1.png" border="0" alt="imp1.PNG" width="580" height="435" />

Select the image you want to watermark from your saved photos or photo library.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Imp2.png" border="0" alt="Imp2.PNG" width="580" height="435" />

Enter the text you want to use as your watermark.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Imp3.png" border="0" alt="Imp3.PNG" width="580" height="435" />

Determine the opacity and increase or decrease the size of the watermark using the pinch and pull method, after which you can drag the watermark to your chosen position.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Imp4.png" border="0" alt="Imp4.PNG" width="580" height="435" />

Unfortunately, watermarking using Impression is done one by one, with no batch feature, and watermarked images are saved as a new file in your photos.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Imp5.png" border="0" alt="Imp5.PNG" width="580" height="435" />

href="http://bluecrowbar.com/impressionapp/">Impression is also available for iPhoto and Aperture, but unlike the iOS app, they are not free.

JetPhoto Studio

href="http://www.jetphotosoft.com/">JetPhoto Studio is a great free Mac/Windows app that allows you to do more than just watermark your images. It allows you to create albums, publish your images to the web, offers some image editing options and much more.

As far as watermarking is concerned, it offers a slightly different method to the other programs listed here. Rather than use text to watermark your images, JetPhoto Studio allows you to use a PNG, TIF or BMP file to watermark your images.

The first step is to create a new album, determining the album’s physical location on your computer.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Album.png" border="0" alt="how to watermark your image" width="577" height="288" />

Go to the Thumbnail tab and drag and drop the images you want included in the album into the window.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/thumbnail.png" border="0" alt="how to watermark your image" width="580" height="491" />

Next, go to the Actions tab and select Web Ready.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/webready.jpg" border="0" alt="how to watermark your image" width="580" height="494" />

This will open a window in which you can determine your watermark and its position, and then batch watermark images, as well as resize them if need be. The watermarked images will be exported to the location you selected when you first created the album.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/watermark.jpg" border="0" alt="watermark your images" width="580" height="583" />

If you’re looking for more free methods to watermark your images, whether online or offline, take a look at these articles:

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/jouba-images-converter-batch-watermark-images/">How to Batch Watermark Images with Jouba Converter
href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/watermarks-marking-your-image-territory/">4 Ways to Watermark Your Images Online

How do you watermark your images? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-51521113/stock-vector-red-grunge-rubber-stamp-with-the-text-copyright-all-rights-reserved-written-inside-the-stamp.html">Shutterstock />
/>Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to target="_blank" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-share-share-spread-word/">share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

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How To Download Videos From Hulu The Easy Way

Posted on 19 February 2011. Tags: download, Easy, from, Hulu, Videos

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/14906_hulu_graphic.jpg" alt="download videos from hulu" width="200" height="200" />Every once in a while, you come across a video that you think is so great that adding it to your favorites just isn’t good enough, so you seek to download it. This is relatively easy if you’re on YouTube. There are href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/search/?cx=009717636731598800244:qhe4rh7wuxs&cof=FORID:11&q=%22download+youtube%22&sa=">dozens of apps out there capable of getting the job done ( href="http://download.cnet.com/YouTube-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10647340.html?tag=mncol;4">YouTube Downloader is my personal favorite). A lot of the time, all you need is the URL of the video you want.

href="http://www.hulu.com/">Hulu‘s an entirely different story. They’ve gone to great lengths to protect their videos from downloaders, primarily because Hulu is home to a lot of television episodes and clips, rather than user-uploaded content. Is it impossible to download videos from Hulu? No, but a lot of the time, it’s just frustrating enough to cause you to give up prematurely – until now at least.

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How to Download Videos from Hulu

You’re going to need two programs to start downloading and watching Hulu videos on your computer. The first is href="http://www.streamtransport.com/">StreamTransport, the program you will use to locate, capture, and download the videos you’re looking for. The second, which you should have anyway, is href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/">VLC Player, because, well, it href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/vlc-media-player-play">plays everything. There are other programs out there that will be able to play your downloaded videos, but this one is simply the best.

Now that you have those programs installed, I can walk you through the process of snaking Hulu videos.

How To Download Videos From Hulu

The first thing you’re going to want to do is run StreamTransport. We’ll be using the program’s built-in browser to locate the videos you’re interested in on Hulu.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011-02-10-13h17_16.jpg" alt="download videos from hulu" width="580" height="521" />

Open the program and click on the button at the very top that says Visit Hulu. The top half, browser part of the application will take you to Hulu’s homepage. From there, navigate to the video you would like to capture and play it. Take note of how long the video is because you’re going to need that information in a second.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011-02-10_1302.jpg" alt="download from hulu" width="580" height="580" />

Once your video starts playing, you will see a list of items in the bottom half of the app. This can vary from video to video, but at least one of the items should be listed as the same duration as the video you’re playing. Click an item that meets that criteria and click the Download button to start downloading the video. If your video doesn’t start downloading in a few seconds, you may need to try one of the other items.

Your download will start in a new window, leaving you free to go back and add more videos to your download queue. Multiple videos can download simultaneously.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011-02-10_1322.png" alt="download videos from hulu" width="542" height="121" />

After a download is finished, click on the Locate button and you will be taken directly to the folder with your downloaded files. As I alluded to earlier, videos will be in the FLV format, but you should have no problem playing them with an app like VLC player.

Conclusion

While this method still doesn’t compare to the various strategies you could invoke to easily download videos off YouTube, it is fairly straight forward and pretty simple to execute. StreamTransport certainly makes the whole process easier, especially since it has a built-in browser.

Do you have any tips to add? What do you think of this method?

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5 Easy Ways To Be Charitable In The Year Ahead

Posted on 04 January 2011. Tags: Ahead, Charitable, Easy, WAYS, year

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/skip1-300.jpg" alt="list of charities" width="240" height="188" />So Christmas has been and gone. Are you now facing the New Year and wondering how you can keep up the Christmas spirit and goodwill for the coming year? Well, it certainly helps when you know how to do so for free from your own home.

There are so many simple ways to volunteer or donate to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/charity/">charity by giving up a small amount of your time or re-purposing some money you would normally have spent. So here’s a list of five of the best quick and easy ways to volunteer or donate to charity. Bookmark the list of charities and use it to do the rounds weekly!

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class="vt-p" href="http://www.skip1.org/">Skip1.org

This is a great concept — it’s a site which makes you think about how much money you waste on frivolous things. You nominate something which you will give up, say a class="vt-p" href="http://vimeo.com/6303938">lunch or newspapers for a month. Then you donate that same amount of money to feeding a hungry child.

Yes, you’re handing over money to charity, but it’s money you would have spent anyway. It’s also easy to share news of your donation with your friends via social networks, and hopefully convince a few of them to skip something for charity too.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="430" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6303938&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="430" src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6303938&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/skip1.jpg" alt="list of charities" />

class="vt-p" href="http://freerice.com/">Free Rice

Free Rice has been around a while, but it’s so good it’s worth making sure it’s on this list. Play a simple, addictive trivia quiz and Free Rice will donate rice for each of your correct answers. This is a free and simple way to give whenever you have a free moment. Read more on class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/freerice-charity-vocabulary-game/">FreeRice here.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/FreeRice.png" alt="best charities" />

class="vt-p" href="http://causes.com/">Causes

There are a number of things you can do using Causes, including raising awareness for your chosen charity and helping to raise funds for them. By far the easiest way to donate money with Causes is to set up a birthday or holiday fund. This way, instead of receiving presents from friends and family, you simply ask them to donate the money on your behalf. It takes about two minutes to set up, since you can log in with Facebook Connect – just choose the charity and you’re set!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Causes.jpg" alt="best charities" />

class="vt-p" href="http://www.donation4charity.org/">Charity Gifts

Here’s another easy way to spend your money on charity instead of something you were already going to pay for. Instead of giving gifts to your friends, give them the knowledge that you have donated to charity on their behalf. The Donation4Charity website searches all the big charity gifting sites (such as UNICEF, WWF and Oxfam) and lets you search the gifts according to how much money you have available to spend. Buy a goat for charity for about the same price as a modest gift!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Charity-Gifts.png" alt="best charities" />

class="vt-p" href="http://sparked.com/">Sparked

Spend 5-10 minutes donating your expertise to charity: Give website feedback, brainstorm fundraising ideas or help design an awareness campaign. This is what they need help with – if you can spend a few minutes working on it then you’ve made a difference to a real charity with just a moment of your time. Read more on class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/volunteer-professional-skills-charity-5-minutes-sparked/">Sparked here & get going!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Sparked.png" alt="list of charities" />

And many, many more!

There are so many great ways to donate your time to charity — the sites listed above are just a few. Here’s some more great articles which introduce many more you might like to try.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/introducing-jumo-social-network-social-good/">Introducing Jumo – The Social Network for Social Good
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-coordinate-volunteers-volunteer-spot/">How To Easily Coordinate Volunteers Using Volunteer Spot
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-crowd-funding-websites-support-favourite-charities-bands-projects/">5 Crowd Funding Websites To Support Your Favourite Charities, Bands & Projects
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-volunteering-opportunities-near-you-with-volunteermatch/">Find Volunteering Opportunities Near You with VolunteerMatch
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-search-engines-to-help-the-environment/">10 Search Engines To Help The Environment
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-cool-edutainment-games-play-donate-charitable/">5 Cool Edutainment Games You Can Play and Also Donate To Charitable Causes
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-websites-lend-hand-difference-world/">5 Websites To Lend A Hand & Make A Difference To The World

What are your favourite sites for donating your time to charity? Do you appreciate charity gifts given on your behalf? Let us know in the comments! />
/>Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to target="_blank" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-share-share-spread-word/">share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. />
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WordWeb Makes It Easy To Define Words In & Outside Your Web Browser

Posted on 14 December 2010. Tags: Browser, Define, Easy, Makes, Outside, Words, WordWeb

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/dictionary.png" alt="synonyms dictionary"/>Trying to keep up with lots of blogs and useful articles on the web can certainly help you learn lots of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-online-slang-dictionaries-learn-jargon-street-language/">technical lingo and expand your vocabulary. Thus, it makes sense to want to find a seamless way to define words instead of having to Google search on a new tab every single time.

There are a few programs that make the searching experience a whole lot easier. MakeUseOf has previously reviewed href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lingoes-%E2%80%93-a-portable-dictionary-and-multi-language-translator-in-your-pocket/">Lingoes, a portable program that brings up dictionary definitions and translations in a convenient in-line popup. If you’re on a Mac, you might have just to expand the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-expanding-apple-dictionary-%E2%80%93-mac-only/">built-in Dictionary app. For Windows, there’s a very neat and highly-rated dictionary tool, WordWeb, that might just be a very capable solution.

id="more-60489"> /> You can download it from CNET href="http://download.cnet.com/WordWeb/3000-2279_4-10003201.html?tag=mncol">here, where it has been rated 4.5 stars by users and 5 stars by the CNET staff. If you just want to try this application, make sure to click on Advanced when you’re installing it and you’ll be offered an option to install it as a portable app.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/2.png" alt="synonyms dictionary"/>

Just don’t forget to change the location where the application will live after that screen.

There are several features that make this program a keeper (at least for me):

You can use this offline.
You can actually select the hotkey to bring up the dictionary (most other programs don’t provide you with a choice): Right after you install it, you’ll want to go right-click on the system tray icon for the program and head to Change Hotkey to set up the hotkey. style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/4.png" alt="list of synonyms antonyms"/>

Alternatively, you can open up the program main window and go into Options > Hotkey. I did change the default hotkey of Ctrl + right-click to Alt + (regular) left-click as I thought that would be more seamless. I also changed the hotkey to bring up the dictionary while a word is highlighted to Alt + F since my fingers are usually above those keys by default.
You’ll see synonyms and closely-related words.

If you just want the program to display the definition and synonyms, I found that going into Preferences would not be entirely necessary as the default options will work.

The dictionary worked really well and extremely fast when I was browsing in Chrome and in any other program with easily-copyable text.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/5.png" alt="synonyms"/>

I did, however, have mixed results getting the dictionary to detect the highlighted word in a PDF document, but pressing either of the hotkeys will bring up the window in a flash, where you can always type in your word.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/3.png" alt="synonyms"/>

Another cool feature is the option to hear the pronunciation for your selected word. WordWeb has a Pro version where you can hear the pronunciation with its own library, but you also have the option to hear pronunciations by the Windows text-to-speech system, which worked well in my tests.

Finally, if you head to the Web References tab in the main window, you can choose to download additional libraries, which enables you to find href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/wikipedia">Wikipedia and Wiktionary entries.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/6.png" alt="synonyms"/>

For simpler words, you can also find antonyms and similar words, which I don’t honestly really know how are different from synonyms.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/7.png" alt="synonyms dictionary"/>

Overall, this program will prove very useful if you’re interested in building your vocabulary or just want an easy and seamless way to look up words, their synonyms, pronunciations, etc.

If you’re a Chrome user, there are two separate extensions that do some what this single program does (but sort of conflict if you use them together):

href="https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja">Official Dictionary extension from Google: Double-click to select a word and see its definition in a popup. This extension translates whole pages as well.
href="https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/cppaadhnncohnjgallikmjdonfliciek">Apture Highlights: Google search and see Wikipedia, Youtube, Flickr and Twitter links in-line.

For Firefox users, there’s the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quickwiki-%E2%80%93-wikipedia-and-wiktionary-with-a-right-click-in-firefox/">QuickWiki extension.

Would you use this program and prefer to search manually? If you know of alternatives, let us know in the comments!

Photo credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://findicons.com/icon/177876/dictionary?id=177876#">Jack Cai

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5 Easy Troubleshooting Tips For When You Have Problems Sending Email

Posted on 12 December 2010. Tags: Easy, Email, Problems, Sending, Tips, Troubleshooting

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/email-title.png" alt="troubleshooting email problems" />As a part of my job, I deal with a lot of email issues – problems sending and receiving email. Over the years, I have noticed that many people experiencing email problems can have them easily fixed and actually fall under just a few categories. Occasionally, email problems will be caused by a problem that only a system administrator can fix but for the majority of problems, they can be fixed by the end user (you) with minimal effort.

Read on to find some quick tips to help you when sending emails become an issue.

id="more-59626">

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/email-error.png" />

1. Check The Spelling Of The Email Address

I would say this is the most common error that I come across. One of the first things I do when walking someone through an email problem is confirming that the email address they are trying to send to is the real email address of the person they are attempting to reach.

The problem is further broken down into 2 types of typos – the first is the “username” part (the part of the email address before the @) and the second is the email domain (the part after the @).

If the username part does not exist on the remote email system, one of two things will happen – the first is that you will simply hear nothing back. The second is that you will get a message back that says something to the effect of “the user ‘username’ does not exist on this system.”

If the domain does not exist you will typically get a message back, from your own mail server, which states something like “DNS Error: Domain name not found“.

Read The Error Message

Usually when an email is rejected for some reason, there is a detailed error message passed back with the technical details of why it failed. Most of this message is for technical system administrators who can trace back a message if there is a further problem, but I’ve found that usually the error message that is within this email explains what the problem is. If you read through the message, look for the “core” problem.

Usually it is one of the following:

2. The Mailbox Is Full

This happens when the person whom you are sending the email to has no more disk space left on their email server. The most typical message returned is “mailbox is full” or “quota has been exceeded“. There is nothing you can do on your end about this and the best thing to do is to call or contact the person using another method and let them know about their problem so that they can talk to their email provider.

3. Your IP is on a blocklist

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/rbl-check.png" alt="troubleshooting email problems"/>

This is an anti-spam measure and if you aren’t sending spam then either your computer has been compromised in some form, or you are an innocent bystander in the “war on spam.” The error messages are usually technical in nature and can be hard to decode. Here is a sample message I recently received after sending a mail from Gmail:

554 554 5.7.1 Service unavailable; Client host [74.125.82.47] blocked using dnsbl.sorbs.net; Currently Sending Spam See: http://www.sorbs.net/lookup.shtml?74.125.82.47 (state 14).

The name for these lists vary but are typically called blacklists, RBL (realtime block/black list), black hole or blocklists. I’m personally not a fan of them because many times they do affect “innocent bystanders” – but using them does help to cut down on spam considerably. In this case, the actual blocked IP address is owned by Gmail and there is nothing you can do about getting off this list if you do not own the email server.

In this particular case, I just re-sent the email and it uses another IP address going out and was delivered fine.

What To Do If Your IP is on a Blocklist

You can check to see if your local computer’s IP address is on a blacklist by visiting a website such as href="http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/BlackListCheck.jsp">this one on AboutMyIP or via the Check My IP link at href="http://multirbl.valli.org/">valli.org. Email servers do not necessarily use every RBL, but most usually use some. If you are on a consumer internet provider connection, chances are you will be listed in some and it will usually note that. This is because generally speaking, email does not actually go out on email servers hosted on a consumer internet connection – they provider their own servers for sending email.

You can also check the IP of your outgoing email server if you know it, otherwise your email server system administrator would need to check it at the links above.

On your end, make sure you have href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/anti-virus">antivirus on any computer on your network because if you have been “hacked” and a bot is running on your computer this is a common reason why you might be on a blocklist.

4. When There Is No Error Message At All

If there is no error message, and you have confirmed the email address is correct; it is very possible some anti-spam provisions implemented by the mail server administrator is filtering your email. This can be based on the IP (as above) or based on some content in your email such as an image, phone number, or other text. Unfortunately these can be hard to trace – since there is no error message you need to contact your mail service provider to see what the problem might be.

5. I’ve Checked Everything – What Next?

If you have checked everything and you still can’t send email to someone – it is time to take it to the next level. If you are on a consumer internet connection and you are trying to send email from your provided email address, contact customer service to see what the problem might be. They will probably ask for a sample of the email you are trying to send along with any error messages or codes that you’ve received. Make sure to give them whatever they need to help solve your email mystery as they are your best bet at getting your email working again.

Have you ever had problems sending emails? What did you have to do to get it fixed? Let us know below so that your experience can benefit others!

Image credit: rel="nofollow" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-65789161/stock-photo-email-icon.html">Shutterstock. />
/>Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to target="_blank" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-share-share-spread-word/">share our articles with others! It’s really important to us. />
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3 YouTube Tools To Create An Easy Lean-Back TV Experience

Posted on 09 November 2010. Tags: Create, Easy, Experience, LeanBack, Tools, YouTube

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/youtube-leanback.jpg" alt="youtube leanback" width="250" height="236" />It’s been always hard to imagine that a TV can be substituted by anything. I’ve never been a huge fan of lying in front of the TV screen staring at some movie or a show (and besides, I’ve never had time for that), but the TV used to be an integral part of my life.

The best thing about the TV is that it can serve as background: there’s always something playing there and it requires absolutely no work on your part. It never stops. With the computer you always need to find, click and download something to make it play. It used to be so. Now I see the Internet starting to offer a much better experience to allow you to kill your idle hours when you are too tired to do anything.

id="more-57494"> /> Here are three YouTube tools to create an easy lean-back TV experience:

1. YouTube LeanBack

class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/youtubeleanback-enjoy-youtube-videos-hasslefree/" target="_blank">YouTube Leanback plays each video in full-screen mode using the highest quality. The videos are said to be selected based on your previous YouTube preferences (likes and dislikes).

Leanback is controlled by the keyboard:

Use <- / -> arrow keys to navigate through videos.
Use the up arrow or start typing to initiate a video search.
Use the down key once to see Leanback’s playback controls, and hit it again to reveal a filmstrip of all the videos in your current Leanback queue.
Use space to pause the video.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/youtube-leanback-01.jpg" alt="youtube leanback" width="550" height="354" />

2. NowMov

class="vt-p" href="http://nowmov.com/">NowMov offers a StumbleUpon-button-like experience for YouTube videos. It uses real-time data about what people are sharing to create a video playlist.

Nowmov is an addictive and endless channel of videos that people are watching on the Internet – right now.

Unlike YouTube Lean Back, it doesn’t select high-quality videos and doesn’t play them full screen but on the plus side, you are said to be able to “teach” the tool about your video preferences using the “Like” and “Dislike” buttons:

If you dislike anything, the video is immediately substituted with the next one.
If you like anything, you are admittedly going to see more of this kind. The tool also uses cookies to ensure you don’t see the same video twice.

You can also navigate the stream by clicking the arrows (I am not aware of the shortcuts).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/youtube-leanback-02.jpg" alt="lean back tv" width="550" height="368" />

The not-really-easy-to-notice (for me) controls are located below the video – these let you:

Pause the video;
Set the volume and the quality.

3. YouTube Instant

The successful Google Instant + YouTube start up, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/ytinstant-instant-youtube-search/">YouTube Instant is another way to take some rest while watching YouTube videos.

It will only play 5 videos for any search you perform but I found it great to help you relax before returning to work. The only keyboard shortcuts are the arrow keys that let you skip to the next clip.

The tool is very usable and clutter-free which I hope it will remain:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/youtube-leanback-03.jpg" alt="youtube leanback" width="550" height="301" />

More great YouTube tools we have listed before:

class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-turn-youtube-personal-dj/">5 Ways to Turn YouTube into Your Personal DJ
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-interactive-youtube-games/">The Top 10 Interactive YouTube Games
class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/watch-movies-on-internet-youtube/">Watch Movies on the Internet with YouTube

Any other similar video tools offering lean-back experience? Please share them in the comments! />
/>Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. />
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5 Awesome & Easy “Pimp My Laptop” Ideas

Posted on 01 November 2010. Tags: Awesome, Easy, ideas, Laptop”, “Pimp

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/intro2.jpg" alt="pimp my laptop"/>From laptop skins to etchings to USB accessories, there is no limit to the ways you can pimp your laptop to make it look and feel just the way you want it to. From removable to permanent changes, there are all sorts of ways you can change your laptop’s appearance, and geek out to your heart’s content.

Adding a personal touch to your laptop can be the best way to add a little bit of edge to your gear, and we’ve rounded up some of the best places to go to do just that.

id="more-56972">

1. Skins and Decals

For a temporary change, laptop skins and decals that are easily removable are great way to change up your laptop, without making any permanent changes. When purchasing, just make sure that they are easily removable, otherwise you’ll be stuck with that sticker for as long as you have the laptop.

SkynMobile

href="http://www.skynmobile.com/laptop-skins/index.html">Skyn offers a huge variety of stylish skins to give your laptop a bit of pizzaz. Most of their skins are probably geared more towards women, although the simpler designs will appeal to just about anyone. And for those looking for a bit of bling, you can even get personalised skins with Swarovski crystals.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/crystal-laptop-skins.jpg" alt="pimp my laptop"/>

Gelaskins

href="http://www.gelaskins.com/">Gelaskins has such a huge variety of laptop skins for Mac and PC laptops, there’s something there for everyone. From Tim Burton artwork to elaborate digital art, to photography, their selection is endless. You can even use your own art or photography to create a skin. Gelaskins are also available for your mobile phones, MP3 players, tablets, ereaders and gaming consoles.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/gelaskins1.jpg" alt="decorate laptop lid"/>

Skin Styler

Mac users can also get trackpad skins to liven up more than just the exterior of your laptops with href="http://www.skinstyler.com/">Skin Styler.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/trackpad.jpg" alt="decorate laptop lid"/>

Other places you can find great laptop skins and decals are href="http://etsy.com">Etsy, href="http://www.schtickers.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21">Schtickers and href="http://www.skinit.com/devices/laptop&page=1&browseBy=popular">SkinIt.

2. Sleeves and Hard Cases

If you’re priority is to keep your laptop protected, you can do it in style with funky sleeves and hardshell cases.

Speck Products

href="http://www.speckproducts.com/macbooks.html">Speck Products have a wide selection of sleeves and hard cases specifically designed for MacBooks. It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/speck">Speck. Let us know if a particular design catches your eye, we could possibly give it away!

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/speck.jpg" alt="decorate laptop lid"/>

Titan

Better known for their sturdy luggage, href="http://www.titanluggageusa.com/flex.html">Titan also have a neoprene laptop sleeve on offer. It might not be the flashiest way to pimp your laptop, but the fact that you can keep it on the laptop while you work on it earns it a spot on this list.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/titan.jpg" alt="laptop accessories"/>

3. Engravings and Airbrushing

For the more adventurous, getting your laptop airbrushed or engraved is another option for jazzing up your laptop.

Smooth Creations

If you’re looking to buy a new laptop, you can order one from href="http://www.smoothcreations.com/">Smooth Creations airbrushed and ready to go.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sc.jpg" alt="laptop accessories"/>

Laser It All & Etchamac

With href="http://laseritall.com/services/electronics-etching/laptop-etching/">Laser It All you can have any design of your choice engraved on your laptop. Mac users can also create their own design to have engraved on their laptops at href="http://www.etchamac.com/">ETCHamac.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/lia.jpg" alt="laptop accessories"/>

4. Keyboard and Mouse Accessories

Another less permanent way to pimp your laptop is to accessorise your keyboard and mouse.

Mousepads

If you prefer to use a mouse with your laptop, there’s no limit to the cool mousepads you can find. ThinkGeek’s href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/c9b4/">Noteable Mousepad lets you make notes on its etch-a-sketch like surface. The Perpetual Kid has a href="http://www.perpetualkid.com/search.aspx?find=mousepad">collection of unique mousepads from a retro TV mousepad to a daily mood tracker mousepad.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/perpetualkid.jpg" />

Keyboards

Anyone can get in on the fun with glowing keyboard stickers from href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/d77d/">Think Geek, making your keyboard look as though it’s backlit.

style="text-align: center;"> src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/keyboard.jpg" border="0" alt="keyboard.jpg" width="300" height="300" />

5. USB Accessories

USB Accessories are another easy way to get all those little extras you might need to have around you while you’re working on your laptop.

Cool yourself down in the summer with a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16800998139">USB fan that you can keep next to your laptop.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/usbfan.jpg" />

Alternatively, you can keep a chilled drink in a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/96b3/">USB LED beverage cooler.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/usbdfrige.jpg" />

If you’re in a festive mood, href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/c58c/">USB LED Christmas lights will add a bit of cheer to your surroundings.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/christmas.jpg" />

For the more practical readers, href="http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=1408">USB Geek’s radar pen holder monitors your CPU and RAM usage, while also giving you a place to keep your pens handy.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/usbradarpenholder3.jpg" alt="pimp my laptop"/>

What have you done to pimp your laptop? Let us know in the comments. />
/>Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/">MakeUseOf Answers! />
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Take Notes & Annotate PDFs The Easy Way With Jarnal [Cross-Platform]

Posted on 26 October 2010. Tags: Annotate, CrossPlatform, Easy, Jarnal, Notes, PDFs, take

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/0.png" alt="annotate pdf"/>I thought that college students get heavy discounts on commercial software but I just recently found out that href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/retail-software-free-student/">students can get commercial software completely free (including Visual Studio, Expression Encoder, etc), which is a nice perk. However, the perks of being a student don’t end there as there are actually quite a few student-friendly href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gradegurus-top-ten-student-tools-2010/">applications, which may even be useful to wider audiences and not just students.

You can use href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/delicious-completely-organize-student-life/">Delicious to organize your student life, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-ways-to-make-use-of-evernote/">Evernote to help you reduce your paper clutter and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-10-downloaded-student-tools-movers-shakers/">more! Evernote, in particular, can definitely be considered a giant when it comes to the many platforms it has apps for and how versatile it is.

Jarnal is also a great note-taking application that can run in Windows, Mac and Linux and deserves a mention, without a doubt, for its extensive features.

id="more-56421">

name="Download" href="http://jarnal.wikispaces.com/">Getting Jarnal

Jarnal is an open-source href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/note-taking">note-taking and sketching application that you can run without installing it (as the program is bundled in href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/software/tc1000/jarnal-install.zip">a zipped file), but there are also installable versions for href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/software/tc1000/jarnal-setup.exe">Windows and href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/software/tc1000/jarnalmac.dmg">Mac on href="http://jarnal.wikispaces.com/">the official wiki and href="http://jarnal.sourceforge.net/">SourceForge page. Debian users will also be able to download href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/software/tc1000/jarnal-build918_all.deb">a .deb package, while users from other Linux distros can make use of the ZIP file.

Comparing It To Windows Journal

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/13.png" alt="annotate pdf"/>

Windows Journal, which comes bundled in certain editions of Windows XP, Vista, and 7, is actually a very neat and handy application for taking notes on your tablet PC, whether they are handwritten or typed notes. There were certain drawbacks to Windows Journal though, namely, the lack of additional importable files (you could only insert pictures), and the inability to export to PDF or something other than the .jnt Journal file type and .tiff image format. The .jnt file makes it pretty hard to view on say, a library computer, or even share them with classmates, because you’re pretty much out of luck unless you can run href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=fad44098-8b73-4e06-96d4-d1eb70eacb44&displaylang=en">Windows Journal Viewer.

I used Windows Journal for a while, enjoying how I was able to insert and remove space for new notes, which I could select and move around to my liking. What bugged me a tad bit was the fact that I had to batch convert PDF slides for my classes to image files before I could insert them in Journal. I eventually found that href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-to-convert-a-pdf-file-to-a-jpg-image/">PDF X-Change Viewer provided annotation features that SumatraPDF didn’t have. Still, with the free edition of the X-Change Viewer, you can’t add PDF slides, which comes in handy when you annotate the heck out of the slides and run out of space.

This is where Jarnal shines. Since it’s for note-taking and sketching, you can add more space, annotate and export the whole thing to PDF. You first unzip the file, run jarnal.cm and head to File > Open Background (New On Background also works but it’s to open another instance of Jarnal) to choose your PDF file (or href="http://jarnal.wikispaces.com/How+to+Use+Word+Documents+as+Backgrounds">Word document) as your background.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/22.png" alt="annotate pdf documents"/>

Editing The PDF File: Annotating & Merging With Other PDF Files

After you’ve imported your PDF file as your background to annotate on, you can use the text tool to insert typed notes, or the pen tool to draw freehand shapes. You can also basically create new PDF slides by inserting pages (and making diagram copies of whatever’s being illustrated by the professor on the board on these new slides which you will export later to PDF) and merging with other PDF files by inserting additional backgrounds.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/32.png" alt="annotate pdf documents"/>

Other cool things you can do include inserting links, arrows (Ctrl + D), rectangles, etc. smoothing out your hand-drawn diagrams (by checking Smooth Strokes under Tools), and customizing what actions the middle or right mouse buttons perform (e.g. act as eraser, show context menu, etc).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/42.png" alt="annotate pdf documents"/>

When you’re ready to save your annotated document, complete with your hand-drawn diagrams and notes, head to File > Export to PDF. You can also save the current page as an image or save it as a Jarnal file (.jaj).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/52.png" alt="annotate pdf"/>

Though it doesn’t have lots of keyboard shortcuts, overall, Jarnal makes it easy for students who prefer to digitize notes (and save trees!) without having different programs to juggle while taking notes. In fact, I remember one of my classmates from a few years back who took notes on her laptop would type her notes in Word and painstakingly copy the diagrams from the white board in MS Paint. I imagine keeping these separate document and image files would make it harder to consolidate the study material so Jarnal is definitely a nice program worth trying for students.

Do you know of any other student-friendly applications or do you currently have a unique and genius note-taking method you’d like to share? Enlighten us in the comments! />
/> Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

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Sprred – Easy Blogging Platform For Technologically Challenged

Posted on 17 October 2010. Tags: Blogging, Challenged, Easy, Platform, Sprred, Technologically

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sprred-logo.png" /> href="http://sprred.com">Sprred is the latest href="http://tumblr.com/">Tumblr clone to appear on the Web 2.0 scene, giving you yet another way to share your content online. Sprred doesn’t necessarily set itself apart in any large way in how things are done, and no one really expects them to reinvent the wheel.

What Sprred offers is another option to share your thoughts, photos, videos and links. It could be used as a great accompaniment to your main blog, or could be another blogging platform for major online services and products to get messages out to their users. And because of its very simple, easy-to-use interface, it’s the ideal option for the more technologically challenged users amongst us.

id="more-55242"> /> To sign up to create a free blog on Sprred, enter your email address, password and username, which will also serve as part of your URL. After you’ve logged in, you’ll be taken to your dashboard, where you can choose a blog title.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/signup.png" alt="create a free blog"/>

Sprred takes a similar approach to Tumblr. Posts are divided into Text, Photos, Videos and Links, but are displayed in a slightly different way. On your home page, all the posts appear in one single feed, but they are separated on the page by category.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Home.png" alt="create a free blog"/>

Your blog is also tabbed, with each category appearing under it’s own individual tab, allowing visitors to browse each category individually if they so wish. Photos and videos are displayed in a grid, while blog posts and links appear in a list.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Tabs.png" alt="free blog hosting sites"/>

When writing new posts, you can publish them immediately, save them as drafts, or publish them privately. Each post can be accompanied by any tags of your choice. When writing new text posts, enter a title for your post, and the text. Text formatting is available for these entries.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Text.png" alt="free blog hosting sites"/>

When adding new photos, they are uploaded directly from your hard drive and posted on your blog. There is currently no way to link photos that are saved elsewhere on the web, a feature which would probably come in handy.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Photos.png" alt="free blog hosting sites"/>

When adding new videos, the process is exactly the same as photos – uploaded directly from your hard drive. And like photos, you cannot link to videos that are saved elsewhere, which would not only be handy but is pretty much necessary. With both photos and videos, you can’t add captions; so if that’s a dealbreaker, Sprred won’t suit your needs, but the name of the file serves as the title. There doesn’t seem to be any limit on file size that we can tell.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Videos.png" alt="free web blogs"/>

Adding new links is exactly the same as Tumblr – adding the actual link, while the title is automatically generated from the website. You can, of course, change it if you choose to.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Link.png" alt="free web blogs"/>

Using the Sprred web interface is not the only way you can update your blog. According to the site, you can also update your blog by emailing post@sprred.com from the email you used to sign up, but the emailed post hasn’t showed up on our Sprred blog so it looks like there are still a few kinks to work out.

For the time being, there are only 3 themes to choose from, the Default baby blue theme, a minimalist white theme, and brown and yellow theme.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/themes.png" alt="free web blogs"/>

Like Tumblr, when it originally launched, there is no way to integrate or accept comments on your blog. Opening up any given post, regardless of category, visitors will have a quick and easy way to share your content through href="http://facebook.com/">Facebook and href="http://twitter.com/">Twitter. That, however, is the only form of interaction available on Sprred at the moment.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Post.png" />

If you’re also active on Facebook and Twitter, you’ll be happy to know that you can auto-post from your Sprred blog and broadcast all of your latest updates to your followers and friends.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/autopost1.png" alt="create a free blog"/>

Your Sprred profile is divided into two separate pages. The first page consists of your personal information, your interests, birthday, gender, and an ‘about’ section, amongst other things. The second page consists of your ‘professional’ information, namely your education and work.

Sprred is definitely a step in the right direction, but with a few minor tweaks here and there, it looks like it will be a real contender for bloggers looking for an alternative to href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/posterous">Posterous or href="http://makeuseof.com/tags/tumblr">Tumblr.

Have you given Sprred a try? Let us know what you think of it in the comments. />
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The Top 10 YouTube Videos With Easy To Learn Card Tricks

Posted on 14 September 2010. Tags: Card, Easy, Learn, Tricks, Videos, YouTube

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Cards.jpg" alt="easy to learn card tricks" width="175" height="234" />YouTube is the grand melting pot of all that you can think up and put on video; from cats chasing lasers to 4,000 people having a balloon fight. But apart from the weird, wacky, and the wonderful, YouTube is also a weighty place for some free DIY video lessons.

We will let YouTube be our Hogwarts School and teach ourselves some easy to learn card tricks. Card tricks are not only fun and cool, but they are a social skill too.

No you don’t have to become Mandrake the Magician, and you don’t have to pull out a rabbit. You just need a deck of cards, gather a bunch of friends around the table, and with a sleight of the hand impress the hell out of them.

id="more-53278"> /> The thing with card tricks is that the befuddling effect in the eyes of the beholder is greater than the trick itself. So let’s try for that look with these ten simple and easy to learn card tricks on YouTube.

Fastest Card Trick

This one is an amazing but simple color changing card trick. And you can learn it in a ‘snap’. With deft fingers, you should be able to learn it in around ten minutes or so.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LOjzdF_HCGY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LOjzdF_HCGY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LOjzdF_HCGY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

Choose A Card From The Deck

The first video was to show you how an easy trick can be impressive. This one here is for the rank beginners and one of the most common card tricks. What’s more, a kid is doing the demo.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UBHtXaoEhFM?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UBHtXaoEhFM?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

Predict The Card

A very simple trick that appears damn complicated, but as the instructions reveal, it’s all about counting your cards right.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-PTvtt6Rw_Q?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-PTvtt6Rw_Q?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

The Rising Card

A card trick which relies on a bit of misdirection to achieve the magic effect. But you have to be slick in the first move when you lift the top two cards. This card trick is an class="vt-p" href="http://www.expertvillage.com">Expertvillage how-to, and you can catch this entire class="vt-p" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKSACXyN9Jw&p=F17A04EDEC9645DC&playnext=1">series (by Brandon Nowasky) which takes you from the basic techniques to the more advanced ones.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jQ9iGGE-9zo?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jQ9iGGE-9zo?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

Coin Through A Card

If you aren’t too good with sleight of hand tricks or fanning cards with one hand, this one is for you. Drop a coin through an impossibly small hole. I won’t spoil the secret, check out the video.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ax6V_Zk4Huc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ax6V_Zk4Huc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

The Card Lift

This simple card trick again illustrates that when a trick is explained, it seems so humdrum. Try guessing the secret as to how the card rises out from the box before it is actually revealed.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n9y2loMCD48?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n9y2loMCD48?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

The 18 Cards

This is a very simple beginner’s card trick that calls for a lengthy performance, but is a neat spectator trick all the same.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LOuRV-ZFDxU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LOuRV-ZFDxU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

Flip Flop Color Change

This card trick can be demonstrated in a few seconds, but you have to put a lot more in practicing for it. The impact is slick ‘n smooth.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nfHVZmsqmqg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nfHVZmsqmqg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowfullscreen="true">

Mind Control Card Trick

A pair of scissors is mandatory. This card trick is a bit on the chancy side because it relies on psychology. But follow the tips and you may just walk away with the applause.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/a3xeFxuv-Fw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/a3xeFxuv-Fw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

Fan Your Cards & Make Some Disappear

This one is a cool card trick from Expertvillage again that shows how you can ‘fan’ your cards to make them vanish from plain view. It is a dead simple card trick, but do it when you can fan a deck with one hand. It just looks more polished.

classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="580" height="460" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Tx6yA0fpjI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /> name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="580" height="460" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2Tx6yA0fpjI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

Even though these tricks may appear simple, you still need to practice. Magic is about simple logic, confidence, and performance. Let the first one remain hidden while putting on a show with the other two. And as a wannabe card magician, follow the age old ‘magicians never tell’ credo. Even though you learnt it all on YouTube.

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Learn an Easy Youtube Videos Error Solution to fix your PC problem instantly

Posted on 24 August 2010. Tags: Easy, Error, Instantly, Learn, problem, Solution, Videos, YouTube

If you are wondering what could be the reasons behind some particular Youtube video error that you get a lot of time whenever you want to play some video online? If your videos crash too often and also cause your browser to stop working? Do you also notice that some videos display an error message especially when you access them through an embedded location? All these questions and similar others are rising these days.

To fix a Youtube video error start from repairing your Windows registry which contains all the keys/codes for all the programs and applications such as flash, browsers and other softwares. You should choose a best tool which is able to fix the active-x and file association errors to solve your problem. A recommended software to fix such PC errors is listed at the end which you should try after following all the guidelines given here.

Also clear your internet history and cache before installing the newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Have you tried playing the videos on other browsers? If the you get the Youtube videos error on other browsers as well then most probably it is the problem related to the flash. However, if only one of your browser is making trouble then also try to fix your browser. For fixing browser especially for the file association errors which prevent programs from opening properly repair the registry in your Windows.

Also do these steps to smoothly play the videos without any kind of Youtube video error:

* Disable firewall
* Disable pop up blocker
* Clear cookies, browsing data and history
* Restart your computer

The above guidelines allow you to fix your Youtube Videos error. If you are looking for a quick fix and want to try a solution that can do it almost itself then use a high performance registry cleaner and PC optimizer software.

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Process Lasso Makes Windows Performance Optimization An Easy Task

Posted on 23 August 2010. Tags: Easy, Lasso, Makes, Optimization, Performance, Process, Task, Windows

style="border: 0px none;margin-left:20px;float:right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/logo.jpg" />Every computer user out there, including yours truly, is constantly on the watch for tips & tricks to make the PC class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/tag/soluto-improve-windows-boot-time/">boot and class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-programs-that-can-make-your-computer-run-faster-nb/">run faster. And if you are a gamer it is a given that you will always be class="vt-p" href="http://makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-tune-your-windows-os-for-better-gaming/">tuning & retuning till the processor gives 110%. But Windows Task Manager (WTM) is one of the vital system tools that comes out featureless with every passing Windows release cycle.

class="vt-p" href="http://www.bitsum.com/prolasso.php">Process Lasso is an app that can replace WTM altogether and is aimed solely at Windows optimization by keeping bloated processes in check. The good thing about Process Lasso is its ability to nitpick each & every process and bind them to the rules you set.

id="more-51442">

Installation & Set Up

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Startup-Options.jpg" alt="windows optimization" width="542" height="551" />

Process Lasso comes as a small 1.5 MB exe file and the installation is pretty straight forward without any sneaky toolbar bundles. Once the installation is done, we are given core engine and Management Console startup options for all the users.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Multi-User-Options.jpg" alt="best windows optimization" width="524" height="585" />

As the name implies, core engine is responsible for running the process rules we set for the PC and Management console is the GUI. If you don’t want certain users to have their sessions optimized or to control & set the process rules, change the settings here. Not sure which options to select for the best Windows optimization? Just click Next and Process Lasso will run just fine.

Process Management

After installation Process Lasso launches automatically (by default the option to launch after installation is checked in the installation wizard) and we get to see the process monitor. The user interface resembles that of a Windows task manager on steroids. The UI is divided into three sections with the first one depicting the responsiveness, memory load and processor use graphically.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Monitor1.jpg" alt="best windows optimization" width="580" height="467" />

All the running processes (background and otherwise), along with their system resource usage information are listed in the Processes section. You can toggle to the active processes tab to see only the list of apps running in the foreground. And finally we have the log section which keeps tracks of actions performed.

ProBalance

Process Balance a.k.a. ProBalance technology, ensures that resource hungry & unresponsive processes won’t put a strain on the responsiveness of your PC. Priorities of such programs are altered automatically based on the rules you set.

With an assortment of Windows optimization options like disallowing certain programs from running, automatically restarting programs, limiting the number of instances of a program, logging all programs and more, Process Lasso allows you to take full control of the resource allocation process of your CPU.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ProBalance.jpg" alt="windows optimization" width="580" height="529" />

If a program, say Flash, seems to hamper your work, you can set a low priority for the process or you can throttle the CPU resource allocation in entirety. I loved the option in Process Lasso which allows to keep the PC from not going into the sleep mode when certain processes are running.

The “Start process for all users on login” will come in handy when using the fast user switch feature. Gaming mode allows easy process priority optimization thereby enhancing the gameplay experience.

Not sure which program a particular process is associated to and are highly suspicious? You can right click on it and use the “Search for process on Internet” option to perform a Google search of the process in question. Process Lasso allows us to terminate processes abruptly or to restart them without having to exit & relaunch the program.

Conclusion

Process Lasso is an all-in-one automated Windows process tuner. Even though it is a shareware, most of the options available for free are more than enough for most users. During my evaluation, I was impressed by Process Lasso’s actions log. Not only were they comprehensive but were also logged in a manner human beings could actually read & comprehend!

What do you think of Process Lasso? Do you use any other resource Windows optimization app to run your PC smoothly? Leave a comment below! />
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How To Do Registry Fix For Windows Registry In Easy Steps?

Posted on 21 August 2010. Tags: Easy, Registry, Steps, Windows

Don’t get frustrated with your PC performance. This article helps you to solve the PC problems particularly the Registry Fix problems of windows registry. The most important aspect of the PC is its windows registry.

Windows Registry stores all vital information pertaining to PC whether it may be software, hardware, favourites, system files, preferences etc. If you add or remove any software/hardware, then corresponding registry keys are changed. Over time, the registry gets cluttered and grows big in size. So a proper PC care and maintenance is needed for efficient working of windows registry otherwise it leads to registry errors.

Does your PC suffer from windows registry errors? First of all, do you know the signs and symptoms of registry errors? Here a list of registry errors which you need to take care and do registry fix: Slow PC start up and shut down, low system performance, Frequent PC freezes and crashes, regular blue screen of death, constant rebooting, cannot add/remove program, a virus, spyware attack etc. If you experience any of the above symptoms, then surely you should perform registry fix.

Here is the simple way to do registry fix for windows registry:

Step 1: Run Anti Virus and Anti Spyware Software:

The first step in registry fix is to run anti virus and anti spyware software. An Anti Virus Software scan will remove the virus from the PC and similarly Anti Spyware software will remove spyware, adware, hijackers, keyloggers and other malicious programs.

Step 2: Download Free Registry Cleaner:

Research for the best free Registry Cleaner and download it. Here’s a quick review on the Best Registry Cleaner softwares available online. Remember the most esteemed registry fix products provide free scan option. This helps you to conduct a free scan and thereby analyze the registry errors. With in a minute or two, you will have scan result on your desktop. If you see any registry errors, then purchase the full version otherwise you will save the money at this moment.

Step 3: Order the Full Version of Registry Fix Software:

Order the full version of the registry fix software and get the license of it. Enter the license code and register it. Then carry out the registry clean up and repair the windows registry errors. Within less than 2 minutes of time, you will be able to fix registry errors.

Step 4: Restart Your PC:

The final step in registry fix is to restart your PC. This will ensure that all your changes will be saved and applied from now onwards. If at all you scan the windows registry again, then you will observe 0 results. This shows how efficient the windows registry cleaner is!

Step 5: Update The Registry Fix Software and Schedule The Scan:

In order to efficiently run the PC, you need to scan the registry for errors regularly. Get the automatic updates to the Registry Fix software and schedule the scan. This will ensure that the PC is scanned regularly even if you are not in front of the PC.

The best registry cleaner software’s available in the market are supported with myriad of features such as automatic updates, automatic backup, start up manager, PC optimization, disk defragmentation, good customer tech support and money back guarantee etc.

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“easy Video for Site” Tool

Posted on 20 August 2010. Tags: Easy, Site, Today, Tool, Video

It is probably the simplest solution that enables you to easily add video(s) onto your Site, that explains why “Easy Video For Site” Tool is becoming highly popular these days. One of the reasons that explain the growing popularity of these tools is the fact that they efficiently simplify the entire conversion process to almost zero effort. In this article you will be able to explore the latest VDO-to-Web techniques that can help you to easily play a movie on your own Webpage.

Getting some basics

What is “Easy Video For Site” Tool anyway? – It is an advanced software solution that converts (and compresses) your digital videos to .FLV Web display files. Before your Webvideo(s) can be displayed on your Webpages you need to add a small html code onto your page(s) and post the files to your Webhosting server. The following technology creates streaming webvideos for you – they enable you to start watching them immediately without having to wait for a complete download.

Let’s quickly examine what is in it for us:

We could easily find good reasons to use this unique solution:

* Videomarketing is more viral than plain content marketing.
* It is easier and faster than generating plain text.
* Enables you to download, convert, and play YouTube videos on your Website(s).
* Perfect solution for non-technical newbies.
* It attracts your visitors to stay more on your Website(s).

We could count other important benefits provided by this innovative technology simply because it transforms complicated tasks automatic and effective.

On the bottom line

Thanks to “Easy Video For Site” Tool you can significantly increase your incoming traffic and conversion rates simply because Flash-Videos have an amazing impact on your visitors when compared to just plain text. At this point the best advice would be to test this technology so you could almost instantly start enjoying the various benefits that it offers.

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