If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!
I'll be too full of turkey next week to write to you.
Have a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate it.
If not, have a great weekend anyway.
To The Bird Carvers,
I thought I'd share a couple of turkey links that may help you with your holiday meal. These links are from youtube but you can easily find oodles of recipe sites. It's a lot simpler to google the recipe you want, or a list of ingredients you want to use in a recipe.
Last week, I reviewed a free portable desktop wiki called NoteBook. One of your fellow readers wrote in a comment on the review and told me he loves bLADE wiki.
Here's what Le Seaman said:
Another good personal wiki is bLADE by Dale Lane. It can run on Windows desktop or Windows Mobile Pocket PC. The different versions can even by synced. The desktop version can be run as a portable application from a USB stick. This is one of the best and easiest to use I've found.
Since I'm a bit of a wiki fanatic, I had to try it. I agree with Le Seaman. There's a lot to love about bLADE wiki. Here are a few things I found after trying it a few minutes.
It automatically opens a wiki in your Local Application Data folders (bad)
You can change the default location for wikis and bookmark them (good)
It uses Internet Explorer as a rendering engine to display pages (good and bad)
It creates wiki pages in HTML format (good)
It offers quite a few ways to tweak the wiki markup code (good)
It offers a way to customize the look and feel of the wiki with CSS Styles (good)
The wiki markup codes are very simple and can be learned quickly (good)
You can display local or internet images in pages (good)
You can embed HTML into the wiki to customize pages (good)
You can embed web gadgets like YouTube videos in pages (good)
You can export pages or the entire wiki to HTML (good)
You can't edit using a WYSIWYG editor (bad)
As you can see, the good far outweighs the bad. I give bLADE wiki two thumbs up. The only personal desktop wiki that I like as much is StickWiki. All that StickWiki requires is a web browser to use.
click to expand picture
Quote from the website
bLADE Wiki is a personal wiki to let you take and manage your notes.
It runs on Windows and Windows Mobile - and can sync between the two. Or you can run it on Windows from a USB memory stick. Either way, take your information with you - wherever you are!
Wikis are a great way to take and organise your notes.
The syntax is simple enough that it doesn't take too long or get in the way of getting your thoughts into the wiki, but powerful enough to make attractive and well-organised notes.
There is something about a wiki that seems to lend itself well to the ubiquitous capture mentality of GTD.
bLADE Wiki is a lightweight app that lets you capture and organise your thoughts, and so makes a good companion to a GTD system. Some of the features, such as backlinks, were provided to make GTD implementations easier.
VDownloader is a small application that tries to be a video addict's favorite companion. The simple interface allows you to search several video sites, view the videos, the download and convert them to your favorite video format.
I downloaded and installed it with no problems. I immediately was able to use it to download a video by inserting a YouTube link. It seemed to take a few minutes to download the file, and I assume that it can only download videos as fast as the video host will allow you to. After it downloads, it takes a few seconds more to convert the file to the format you've chosen in the drop down list on the right.
There are several file formats to choose when you wish to convert the video file.
AVI
AVI 320x240
AVI 640x480
iPhone - iPod compatible
PSP compatible
Nokia N800/N810
MPEG
MP3 (Audio Only)
3GP (Mobile)
VCD (Pal)
VCD (NTSC)
SVCD (PAL)
SVCD (NTSC)
DVD (PAL)
DVD (NTSC)
Original File (No Conversion)
Generally, the application seems to work fine. Sometimes I had it freeze on me while I was trying to view a video. I found that it's best to stop a search that's in progress before trying to view or download a video. Since this application is fairly new, you may notice other bugs. You can contact the author or add some comments below to let us know how it works for you.
click to expand picture
Quote from the website
Search for videos in sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, Yahoo, Megaupload or Google at the same time. You can watch, download, or save videos with just one click. Its embedded meta search engine makes VDownloader different from other download managers. It searches at the same time in the most popular video sites so you will easily find the video you were looking for. Another strong point is the amount of different output formats: It can download and save videos in: AVI, MPG, MP4, iPhone - iPod, PSP, 3GP for mobile phones, DVD - VCD, MP3 (extracting audio from videos). VDownloader is also a powerful video converter with multilingual support (English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian.
In the past, I've tried a couple of other mini-apps that allow you to paste in commonly used Unicode characters that are needed by those who occasionally type in non-English languages.
I saw Easy Unicode Paster and I thought it would offer another nice way to paste in accented characters and symbols. I was wrong or maybe I was too lazy to figure it out. I found that this application didn't offer nearly as much utility as using the simple charmap tool that comes with every Windows system.
I did like the easy way you could set the program hot-key so that it would pop up when needed. I also like the fact that it's an Open Source and portable application. On the downside, once it was open, I most often saw only a whole bunch of "boxes" instead of characters. Locating the proper characters I wanted to use was pretty much hit and miss.
If you need a tool to paste in accented characters, I recommend AllChars or Accenter. Otherwise, just hit the Windows button and use the Run box to type in the word "charmap". I think you'll find that it works in many cases.
click to expand picture
Quote from the website
• The easiest to use unicode paster around.
• It pastes unicode characters directly into the application you are working with. No messing around with the clipboard!
• Easy Unicode Paster does not take focus away from the application you are working with when you click a button to insert a unicode character. No screen flickering or flip flopping like you have to do with MANY other unicode character programs.
• The program saves it's window size and position upon exiting so that it will open at the same spot and with the same size the next time you run it.
• Simple, clean interface. No confusion about what is what.
• Change the size and font of the buttons to suit your needs.
• Over 100 different character sets are included!
• Easily create your own Easy Unicode Paster character sets by editing working off the "Example Character Set.ini" file included in the "Character Set" folder.
• The character sets will be updated, refined, and annotated as the project moves forward.
• Open source and free. Developed and maintained by the author (Eric Wong) as a free service.
• Superb end user support at the Official Support Forum.
I first ran into this program years ago, back in the days when I was running Win98. Since then, Zancart has included more features and made it easier to use. WinSonar might satisfy even the most paranoid people when it comes to it's protection system. When you first start WinSonar it will offer to scan all your TCP ports and report any that are open. Open ports may indicate the presence of a Trojan or Spyware application running. While WinSonar is running it constantly monitors your PC for running processes that it doesn't recognize. This will help you take control of you PC and prevent unknown programs from taking control away from you. When it finds processes it doesn't know, it will allow you to choose whether the process is safe or needs to be eliminated. WinSonar installs easily and doesn't seem to be a system resource hog.
I was really impressed with the Online Shield option, which won't allow any new processes to launch while you are surfing the web. That should definitely reduce the chance of "Drive-by Downloads".
If you have any trouble using WinSonar or figuring out the rich feature set, it includes a very good help manual that covers all you need to know.
I am currently using the OnlineArmor firewall with HIPS and it includes much of the same protection that WinSonar offers. While I enjoyed trying out WinSonar, I simply don't need it right now.
click to expand picture
Quote from the website
Winsonar 2008 is a program specifically designed for process monitoring and system protection from unknown processes. The basic idea is that if the user could know a new program silently installed into memory, he could take appropriate countermeasures.
The program detects new processes running into memory alerting the user. The on-line status is also detected, asking then the user if an automatic termination of any unknown process is desired (this option can be also enabled by default). This leads to an active protection against trojan\spyware-infected e-mail attachments.
From version 7xx an automatic "learning "feature is present: on first 5 program-startup all unknown programs will be accepted as safe, avoiding several initial alerts by Winsonar for all the programs normally in use during work sessions.
Windows Vulnerability Scanner is a portable program that quickly scans your Windows PC for missing updates. If you already have your Windows Updates turned on, you really don't need this program.
I recently reinstalled my Windows XP and updated it to Service Pack 3. I'll confess to you that I have completely turned off Windows Updates. Every time I boot up, Windows loves to tell me that I'm at risk by popping up messages from the System Tray. I did this because I know that Microsoft can install updates without notifying you.
Just in case you wondered, I don't recommend turning Updates off. Leave them on, especially if you have kids or newbies using your PC. Running without your Updates on is a quite risky if you don't remember to check for updates at least once a week. I open up Internet Explorer and go to Microsoft to get my updates now.
I asked my friend Tom about this scanner program. Tom is on the "Front Lines" in the anti-malware wars, since his website offers free support for removing viruses and spyware. He typically either tries or hears about a security program long before I have. I surprised him in this case. He hadn't seen it before but he was willing to check it out for me.
I do see it somewhat useful for security analysts ... it gives a fast overview of what a system needs from MS. Kinda neat for a ‘hands on the box’ type of security check tool. It's not something I’d bother ever have a user run.
... for the average Joe Net users, I don’t much see use for it. All you need to do is visit the Windows Update page to see what you’re missing.
If you need to help fix other people's PCs, you may find this portable scanner useful for a quick check on system updates. Just remember that you need to get a new copy once a month to make sure it's up to date.
click to expand picture
Quote from the website
Protector Plus - Windows Vulnerability Scanner checks your system for Windows Vulnerabilities. It guides you to update with the right patch to make your system secure.
This program is updated regularly by Proland Software to detect all the vulnerabilities discovered.
AnVir Task Manager - WOW. I tried this software on the suggestion of a comment in a previous newsletter. It is now my default task manager, replacing the built-in Windows task manager. AnVir gives detailed information about every running process and startup program. It also allows you to monitor system health by displaying CPU temp, memory usage, and more! - XP/Vista
Another great way to analyze your PCs processes is to use ProcessExplorer. Also check out ProcessLibraryUpdates for free process identification software.
Quote from the website
Task Manager Free is freeware utility software that gives users a comprehensive set of tools to put them in full control of their computer.
It gives you detailed information about every process that is running, and about applications running automatically on Windows startup including all hidden applications.
I learned about using ISO files as virtual CD Roms many years ago. In case you didn't know, an ISO file is an "image" of a CD or DVD in the form of a single file. It's very similar to the way that zip files work. Most folks run into ISO files as a download that needs to be burned to a CD or DVD. If you know how, you don't need to burn ISO to a CD in order to use it.
There are a few ISO tools out there that let you mount an ISO file so that it looks like an extra CD or DVD on your computer. I've always used VirtualCloneDrive to do this because it's so easy to use. You only have to double click an ISO file to instantly mount a new CD.
I'd heard that Microsoft has an ISO tool to do the same job. It's called the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. I found a good link to it at the Tech-Recipe website and tried it.
It's a tiny 60kb download, but the ease of use pretty much ends after you've downloaded it. It doesn't require an installation but you do end up having to click several times in a pretty poorly designed interface in order to mount the ISO files.
I don't recommend Microsoft's Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel, but if you're curious, here it is.
Quote from the website
Microsoft has a free, 60kb program that does the same thing! Of course, it is not supported… and it’s not as friendly as the software listed above; however, it works and it’s free.
I was recently blind-sided by a new addition to the already awesome Gmail service. If you haven't gotten a free Gmail account for all the other reasons ...
· great spam filters
· free POP3 and IMAP access
· built in access to Google Calendar
· nearly unlimited mail space
· built in voice and video chat
· as many accounts as you need
· no flashy ad banners
· fast email search
... now you have one more reason.
Go to Gmail.com to find out more.
Take a look at the Beach theme I've tricked out my inbox with.
Quote from the website
Themes allow you to customize the look and feel of your Gmail account. To choose a theme, click a thumbnail on the Themes tab of your Settings page.
In some cases, you can also customize by location. Some themes change during the day, and we use the location information you provide to correctly time these changes with your local sunrise, sunset, and/or weather. If you select one of these themes, you'll see a Country/Region drop-down menu appear. Select the country you want, and then enter a city in the field provided. If you don't enter a city, or enter an invalid one, we'll set your location to the capital city of the country you selected. When you're done, click Save.
I haven't tried this one yet, but now that I know about it, I feel a little safer knowing it's there.
Quote from Keith Dsouza:
Gmail has quickly become the only email service I use other than my company account, and I also use Google Apps for the websites I own. So all in all I am in good hands, but there is also a risk to lose everything if something goes wrong.
I once saw on a message board someone wondering what is the point of having an email storage of 1 Gigabyte...Well, after I found the Gmail drive, I realised that Uncle Google's email is extremely useful!
Notes from Clif (updated Apr 2006 and Nov 2008)
It's so easy. Just open Windows Explorer (My Computer) just like you would to see any other hard drive on your system. Drag and drop files. Copy and Delete. Now you have the extra room you need. Google stores it so you don't have to.
Since Zia's find of this utility, Gmail has increased storage to over 7 Gigabytes. That makes the Gmail Drive even more valuable for storing your backups or other files.
In addition to Gmail Drive there is also a FireFox browser extension called Gmail Space which allows you to upload files to your Gmail accounts.
One more huge addition ... now there's a utility that lets you mount 999 Gmail accounts as local drives.
GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Gmail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium.
GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to.
Gary at Internet Fixes continues to amaze me with hundreds and thousands of tips for your PC. Whatever your operating system, or how you use it, a visit to Gary's site will soon have you saying "So that's how you do this!".
1. Download CPU-Z from "www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php" and copy the zip file's contents into a folder. CPU-Z requires no installation, which means you can simply delete the folder when you are finished with it! The first CPU tab shows general information about your system processor.
2. Switch to the Mainboard tab and you can see details about your motherboard, BIOS, and graphic interface. Take particular note of your motherboard's manufacturer- this will come in handy if your board becomes faulty and you need to call customer support.
3. Click on the Memory tab- you'll see your system's RAM type shown in the first box. If you want to add to your PC's memory, then you should buy the same type in order to ensure compatibility. For a computer running Windows Vista, you should ideally have at least 1024 MB of ram.
4. Select the About tab. This tab contains three tools, including the Registers Dump utility - click on the Registers Dump button and save a text file. Open this file up, and you'll find a plethora of different PC specifications, which will be helpful to more advanced users.
Every now and then, for some unknown reason, your RSS feeds may stop working in Internet Explorer 7. Below is a quick and easy way to restore your feeds so you can get the information you want, when you want it.
1. Always backup your feeds as a precaution. To backup your feeds, from within IE7, go to File > Import and Export > (wizard will open) > Next > Export Feeds > Export to a file (select the file you would like by selecting browse) > Next > Finish. You will then receive a message that your feeds were exported successfully.
2. Now that your feeds are backup up, go to Start > Run > then type the following MSFEEDSSYNC DISABLE then click OK.
3. Go back to Start > RUN > then type the following MSFEEDSSYNC ENABLE then click OK.
4. If steps 2 & 3 do not work to restore your feeds to their working condition, try this: Be sure you have backed up your feeds as described in step 1. Delete your feeds folder by going to C:Documents and Settings(user)Local SettingsApplicationDataMicrosoft.
5. Import your feeds...follow the steps in Step 1 except you will select IMPORT feeds instead of EXPORT feeds. Then follow Steps 2 and 3 again and you should be good to go.
-There are some instances where one particular feed could be freezing up all your feed updates. Check each one to be sure it isn't a problem with one specific feed or website.
-The steps above have been used successfully on IE7 with a Windows XP SP2 computer.
****************************
This Tips Are Possible Because Of Your Continued Donations!
Most personal computer users know the value of maintenance. The value of a daily defrag ensures that files will run faster, but the scandisk functions allows the computer to manually check the disk for errors and repairs them. Unlike previous versions of Windows where the shortcut to Scandisk was clearly visible, on Windows Vista, the application is buried.
1. All functions in Windows Vista are best accessed through the "Start" button. Unlike previous versions of Windows, it is not easily located under "Programs." Left click the Vista button and select "Computer."
2. Select Properties Right click on the hard drive you wish to scan, and a drop down menu will appear. Scroll down to "Properties" and right click.
3. The Tools Menu Select the tab across the top that says "Tools" and a menu will appear. Select the menu which says "Error Checking."
4. Dependent on your user settings, Vista may ask you for permission to continue to run a program. Grant permission for the program and then another window will open. The window will send a message that Windows is unable to run the program at that time. It will ask you to either restart immediately, or to schedule for a future time.
5. Reboot the computer at the desired time and Vista will perform a scandisk check.
============================
Question about Vista? Post Them at the Address Below.
After you have tried everything else to correct errors in Internet Explorer reset the defaults.
Caution When you use the Reset All Settings feature in Internet Explorer, you will disable all browser add-ons. Therefore, must re-enable the add-ons that you want to use afterward. Typically, an add-on is not re-enabled when you reinstall it. You must manually re-enable the add-on. This is done under the Tools Menu and then Manage Add-Ons.
To perform this method, follow these steps:
1. Open Internet Explorer, click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset.
3. In the Internet Explorer Default Settings dialog box, click Reset.
4. When the settings have been reset, click Close, and then click OK to restart Internet Explorer.
Note: In Internet Explorer, you do not usually have to reregister Internet Explorer files. The Reset All Defaults feature includes an option to reregister Internet Explorer files as a troubleshooting step. If issues are not resolved when you reset Internet Explorer, you can also reinstall Internet Explorer 7 to make sure that it is installed correctly.
****************************
Your Continued Donations Keep Internet Fixes Running!
Remove double-spacing from your email signature in Microsoft Outlook.
Are you frustrated that your signature line is double-spaced? Does it drive you insane that you cannot fix it? After setting up your email signature in Microsoft Outlook, you notice it is double-spaced when you send an email. However, when you look at the setup, the signature is NOT double-spaced. Here is how to fix this.
1. First, you have to open Microsoft Outlook. Then in Outlook, on the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Next you have to click the Mail Format tab. Then select Signatures.
3. Then the next step is in the Signature box, select the signature that you want to modify, and then click Edit.
4. Here's where all of the action is. Place the insertion point after the last character in the line. Press DELETE, and then press SHIFT+ENTER.
5. Repeat Step 4 for each line of text. When you have finished with all lines, click OK three times. Send an email and view perfection.
****************************
Uninstall a program in Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a little different than Windows XP. One big difference is that Add/Remove programs is no longer in the Control Panel, which can cause a lot of confusion. I have listed the simple steps to uninstall a program in Windows Vista.
1. Click the Start button then click Computer
2. Click change or add a program. This will list all of the installed programs.
3. Click on the program you want to remove and click Uninstall. Select Yes if it prompts you to confirm that you want uninstall.
• Your favorite comics like Get Fuzzy, Pearls before Swine, Luann, Frazz, 9 Chickweed Lane and more. - Comics.com: http://comics.com/
Quote from the website
COOLSITES is a list of safe, fun, useful, informative and just plain cool websites and programs that are FREE, FREE and FREE. All of the programs and websites I list are free. If I list anything that is so good but isn't free I will list the price with it.
Wow! Over 900 people and still growing! I invite all of you to record your locations on this map. You can include as little or as much information as you wish. I think you'll enjoy seeing yourself there.
Here's a small look at my frapper map.
Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!
You need a free 6 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. After more than two years in beta testing Gmail is open to the public. Just go to http://gmail.com and sign up for an account.
I think Gmail works best in the awesome Firefox browser. It's free, easy to use, and it's way more secure than Internet Explorer. My favorite thing to do is to customize Firefox so that it does much more than IE ever could. You can select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes - the way Firefox looks and works is under your control.
I get many of the reviews in the newsletter from the readers. You don't have to be a genius or computer guru. Just answer a few questions and send me a review. I'll probably put you in the newsletter.
What do you have to say?
Just tell me what article you are talking about and leave me your comment.
Quote from the website
Quote from the website
Quote from Keith Dsouza:
Source - 
Source - 
