Capitol Hill Blue Forums Science and Technology Computers & Technology Tips, tricks and things we like

Thought I would start a thread about things we have found re: computer technology that actually work and make our life better in some way. Maybe like some of the firefox add-ons spoken of on another thread.

It doesn't need to be something unique, but sometimes one of us doesn't know about something another uses all the time.

So to start, I am always looking for simple ways to synchronize my desktop and laptop. So I have found these helpful and free:

WindowsLive Mesh -- it is a beta program of Microsoft for "cloud" storage of files. You then install the applet on both computers, upload from one and then synch it with any number of other computers. I have been using it for over a year and after some glitches it is now running seamlessly on my two devices. (PC only)

www.mesh.com

the other is the Xmarks addon for Firefox. I use it to synchronize bookmarks on both devices.

How about you?

The biggest computer gift I've ever received is something called
Spybot Search and Destroy. About ten or twelve years ago a German kid named Patrick Kolla discovered that his machine seemed to be "phoning home" packets to IP addresses that were not related to the websites he was logging onto, and he became curious because he noticed that the amount of traffic being sent to these IP addys was significant enough that it was starting to slow things down a bit.

That's when he first discovered spyware, and he resolved to do something about it. As his success in removing these baddies grew, he started sharing his cobbled together software with his friends. That's how Spybot got its start.

The great thing about Spybot SD is that the more you use it, the better it works (to a point).

The immunize feature eventually blocks all known products to the point where you don't even get attacked anymore for the most part. You simply have to continue to keep the product updated and apply the immunize feature with every new update.

The scanner works efficiently and quickly.

http://safer-networking.org

There's a FREE version, but Patrick gladly takes donations.
I was so grateful the first time Spybot cleaned out my baddies that I sent him some money.

This may be seriously outdated but it's a tool I love and use all the time. It's called "Protopage" and it allows you to build one or more web pages to hold links, RSS feeds, text boxes, widget-type tools, text boxes...so all that stuff is available to me no matter where I connect to the web; my page is stored at protopage.com

I have my information (semi)organized into a dozen or so pages, half of which I use a great deal. And when I want the other half, I know where it is.

I can keep notes of books/movies I want to see on the same page as my links to Netflix and various bookstores. I keep the blogs I read every day on another page; blogs I refer to from time to time on a third.

As I said, there are probably newer, snazzier ways to do this but this one works and it's free and it's all I really need.

www.protopage.com

Much as I hate to say so, BING from Microsoft actually may be superior to google

Like Phil I needed something to sync files across multiple machines, but I'm multiplatform. I've gone with the folks at Dropbox. www.dropbox.com Works on Windows and Mac (might even work on linux), has an iPhone app, and you can get to your files via the web so even if you don't have access to one of your computers you can get to your files. First 2 gigs are free after that you have to pay.

One of my favorite tricks with Win7 is when I need to work with two programs on screen at the same time. Drag on to the right until it pops in to occupy 1/2 the screen, then do the same with the other to the left and voila, you have two programs each occupying 1/2 the screen. I use it quite a bit when I need data from one document to use in another, for example.

One of the best Tips and Tricks sites that I've found, which covers virtually on every topic from food, health, sports, lifestyle, unusual phone and net applications sites, and of course, technology and gadget sites (and many more). The site is:

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir

The above link is to their directory of all the categories.

I subscribe to their twitter thingamajig (their "follow me" link, I guess it's called)so I get some really unique tips and tricks notices.

I have Spybot on my Company laptop. Our Company has used it for the years. We also use Malware Bytes - which we started using about two years ago. Malware Bytes replaced Ad-Ware which we no longer use as a Company.

I can only get Spybot updates once I VPN and go thru our Company's servers - so we must pay for the updates.

Outside of VPN I can not update the programs.


(I don't know what VPN stands for, but it's something I need to have running in order to get onto our Company's servers).

)Two programs that I found on my own are Registry Mechanic and Webroot's Window Washer.

I love both of these programs. I have purchased them myself and I have (illegally) installed them on my Company computer.

I have them on my old desktop that I no longer use as well.


Registry Mechanic fixes and cleans up your Registry. It's amazing how often your Registry can get out of whack - especially after picking up a bug.

I always "Window Wash" my computer before I VPN to our Company servers - don't really want the Company to know where I've been (...if you know what I mean )

Does anyone know a "trick" where I can use my both my desktop and my Company laptop together?

What I'd like to do is use the screen of my Company laptop for my desktop and just be able to switch back and forth between the two hard drives by using the Company laptop as the primary monitor/screen. Can this be done?

I miss the gazillions of songs I have on my desktop. It's a pain to have to hook everything up just to burn a CD for songs.

Right now I go thru my friend Pork Chop whenever I want new songs.