Migrate Browser Favorites

Friendly Computers would like to show you how to migrate your browser favorites.

This depends on which browser you're using. I'll give directions for the current versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome.

Internet Explorer:
This is a simple matter of moving the contents of your Favorites folder from one computer to another. It's best to do this with IE closed.

In the old computer, create a new folder, either inside a shared folder (one that can be accessed by other computers on the network), or on an external drive (such as a flash drive). I'll call that folder Transport, although you can give it another name. Open the Transport folder.

Next, select Start (Start, then Run in XP), type favorites, then press ENTER. This opens your Favorites folder. Press CTRL-A to select everything in it, and drag it all to the Transport folder. If you're asked if you want to do something, you do.

On the new computer, open the Transport folder (which will require you to either access the network or plug in the external drive). Then open the Favorites folder as described above. Drag everything from Transport to Favorites.

Firefox:
On the old computer, launch Firefox and select Bookmarks, then Organize Bookmarks. In the resulting
Library window, select Import and Backup, then Export HTML. Save the file to a shared folder or an external drive (such as a flash drive).

On the new computer, gain access to the HTML file you just created by logging onto the network or plugging in the external drive. Then, in Firefox, once again select Bookmarks, then Organize Bookmarks. Select Import HTML and follow the wizard.

Chrome:
On the old computer, in Chrome, click the Tools icon (it looks like a wrench) and select Bookmark manager. Once in the Bookmarks Manager, select Tools, then Export bookmarks. Save the file to a shared folder or an external drive (such as a flash drive).

On the new computer, gain access to the HTML file you just created by logging onto the network or plugging in the external drive. Click the Tools icon and select Bookmark manager. Once there, select Tools, then Import bookmarks. It's all pretty obvious from there.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/184460/migrate_browser_favorites.html

Bring Your Middle Mouse Button to Life

Friendly Computers found this article very useful and would like to share it with you.

Take a close look at your mouse. Chances are good it has at least three buttons: left, right, and middle. (Note: Your middle button might be your scroll wheel, which on most mice is clickable.) Why would I want to do that? Well, I just took an informal poll of about ten people, and guess how many of them actually use that middle button? A grand total of one. One! People, people, people...

Close Browser Tabs Quickly

First up: browser tabs. I routinely have 10-15 tabs open in my browser at any given time. If I want to close a tab, I have to click it, then click the little X that appears on the tab. That's one more click than I prefer, and it brings into focus a tab I'm planning to close. Crazy, right?

If you middle-click any tab in Mozilla Firefox, Opera, or Microsoft Internet Explorer, boom, it's gone. No need to make it visible first; no need to reach for the X. Just middle-click, boom.

Open Links in New Tabs

When you middle-click a link in Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Internet Explorer, that link opens immediately in a new tab.

Incidentally, you can accomplish the same thing by holding down the Ctrl key and left-clicking a link. But why bother with that when you can just as easily click the middle mouse button?

Open All Your Oft-Used Sites

Let's say that you use Firefox or Internet Explorer and you've organized a handful of favorite sites--you know, the ones you visit daily--into a folder. Smart move.

Here's an even smarter one: You can instantly open every link in a folder, each in its own tab, by middle-clicking that folder.

This works regardless of where the folder is located: your bookmarks toolbar, your navigation toolbar, even a pull-down menu. One middle-click of a folder and presto: every link therein opens in a new tab.

Scroll In Your Docs

Have you ever wondered what happens when you click and hold the middle mouse button? Glad you asked. This action activates a handy page-scrolling option in applications like Microsoft Word and Excel, Adobe Reader, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.

In other words, when you click and hold the middle mouse button, you can then drag your mouse forward or back to scroll up or down the page, respectively. This feature is intended for folks who don't have a scroll wheel, but it works just as well with scroll wheels--and I know many people who prefer the speed of middle-click scrolling to the slow, steady pace of wheel scrolling.

Customize Your Scroll Speed

After the mouse itself, the mouse wheel is the single greatest navigation tool ever invented. Mine is spinning constantly, especially in Firefox, where I use it to zip up and down Web pages.

By default, however, one "turn" of the mouse wheel scrolls only a few lines at a time--and I want to move faster. Fortunately, there's a fairly easy way to adjust Firefox's scroll speed. Even better, there's a keyboard shortcut that can slow it down again for "precision" scrolling.

Here's how to change the default scroll speed:

1. Open Firefox, then type about:config in the address bar and hit Enter.
2. In the Filter box, type mousewheel.withnokey.
3. Right-click mousewheel.withnokey.sysnumlines and then click Toggle. This should set the value to False.
4. Right-click mousewheel.withnokey.numlines and then click Modify. Bump the value to 6 or so, click OK, and then switch to another tab to see if you like the scroll speed. (Thankfully, you don't have to restart Firefox every time you make a change.) If not, experiment a bit until you find a number you like.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/185288/bring_your_middle_mouse_button_to_life.html

64-bit vs. 32-bit Operating Systems

Friendly Computers would like to help you with a hard choice between 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems.

You're probably aware that 64-bit and 32-bit versions of your operating system exist, but apart from ascribing to a bigger-is-better philosophy, you may have no idea what separates the two. The question: Should you use a 64-bit version of Windows, and why?

More and more frequently, users are installing the 64-bit version of their operating system of choice over the less capable 32-bit version. But most people don't really have a full understanding of what the difference really is. Below, we're taking a look at the most important differences so you can better understand what you gain (and potentially lose) if you upgrade to the 64-bit version of your OS. (The post focuses on Windows.)

We've already explained whether you really need 4 GB of RAM, a question that touches on the 64-bit issue, but now let's tackle it in more detail.

Which Version Do I Have?

To figure out which version of Windows you are running, just head into the System properties in Control Panel, or you can take the easy route and right-click on your Computer icon in the start menu or desktop, and choose Properties from the menu. Windows 7 or Vista users will be able to check the System type in the list, while the few XP users with 64-bit will see it on the dialog.Keep in mind that your CPU must support 64-bit in order to be running a 64-bit operating system—if you're running a modern CPU you should be fine, but some of the budget PCs don't include a 64-bit processor.

Does 32-bit Really Have a Memory Limit?

In any 32-bit operating system, you are limited to 4096 MB of RAM simply because the size of a 32-bit value will not allow any more. On a 32-bit system, each process is given 4 GB of virtual memory to play with, which is separated into 2 GB of user space that the application can actually use at a time.

Savvy readers might point out that modern chips support PAE, a processor technology that allows the operating system to use a little bit more memory—up to 64 GB, but it also requires special application support that most applications don't have or necessarily need.

A common misconception is that this is a Windows-specific problem, when in fact 32-bit Linux and Mac OS X have the same limitations and the same workarounds. 32-bit Linux uses a mapping table to allow access to the extra memory, and OS X Snow Leopard actually ships by default with a 32-bit kernel that can't access all the memory on older systems, even though most of the rest of the OS runs 64-bit processes.

The 4 GB limit for Windows, at least, is also a factor of licensing—the home versions of 32-bit Windows, while technically being able to support PAE, have a hard limit of 4 GB for licensing and driver compatibility reasons.

More Problems with 32-Bit

Not only does 32-bit have a hard limit for the amount of memory it can address, there's also another problem: your devices, like your video card and motherboard BIOS take up room in that same 4 GB space, which means the underlying operating system gets access to even less of your RAM. Windows expert Mark Russinovich found that a desktop running 32-bit Windows with 4 GB of RAM and two 1 GB video cards only had 2.2 GB of RAM available for the operating system—so the bigger and better your video cards get, the less of that 4 GB will be accessible on a 32-bit system.

What's Different About 64-Bit?

While 32 bits of information can only access 4 GB of RAM, a 64-bit machine can access 17.2 BILLION gigabytes of system memory, banishing any limits far into the future. This also means that your video cards and other devices will not be stealing usable memory space from the operating system. Windows 64-bit Home editions are still limited to 16 GB of RAM for licensing reasons, but the Professional and Ultimate versions can use up to 192 GB of RAM, so keep that in mind when building that killer system.

The per-process limit is also greatly increased—on 64-bit Windows, instead of a 2 GB limit, each application has access to 8 TB of virtual memory without any special API, a huge factor when you consider applications like video editing or virtual machines that may need to use enormous amounts of RAM.

On Windows, the 64-bit versions also come with a technology to prevent hijacking the kernel, support for hardware-enabled data execution protection, and mandatory digitally signed 64-bit device drivers. You also won't be able to use your 16-bit apps anymore, which hardly seems like a loss.

Do 32-bit Applications Work on 64-Bit?

The vast majority of your 32-bit applications will continue to work just fine on 64-bit Windows, which includes a compatibility layer called WoW64, which actually switches the processor back and forth between 32-bit and 64-bit modes depending on which thread needs to execute—making 32-bit software run smoothly even in the 64-bit environment.

There are some exceptions to that rule, however: 32-bit device drivers and low-level system applications like Antivirus, shell extensions that plug into Windows, and some media applications simply won't work without a 64-bit equivalent.

In practice, the vast majority of your favorite applications will either continue to work, or provide a 64-bit version you can use instead—but you should check to make sure.

Does 64-Bit Use Double the RAM?

A common misconception about 64-bit Windows is the amount of RAM that is actually used—some people seem to think it will use double the RAM, while others incorrectly assume a 64-bit system will be twice as fast as 32-bit.

While it's true that 64-bit processes will take a little extra memory, that is a result of the memory pointers being a little bigger to address the larger amount of RAM, and not an actual double in size. Imagine, if you will, an ancient library filing system that has a card to tell you where to find the book in the library—if you got a bigger box to hold the cards, the library would not double in size, you'd just be able to find the book you were looking for more easily.

What will increase with 64-bit Windows is the amount of drive space needed for the operating system—with a compatibility layer in place, the base OS will take up a few extra GBs of space, though with today's massive hard drives that should hardly be a concern.

The Bottom Line, Which Should I Use?

If you are ordering a new PC with 4 GB or more of RAM, you should probably be running a 64-bit version of Windows so you can use all of the available memory, especially if you want a rig with a large video card—just keep in mind that the Home versions only support 16 GB of RAM (for most people a 16GB limit won't be a problem, but it's worth keeping in mind).

If you're running Mac OS X, you don't need to worry about 32-bit vs 64-bit, and if you're running Linux, you probably know this stuff already.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5431284/the-lifehacker-guide-to-the-64+bit-vs-32+bit-operating-systems

How To Make Your PC and Mac Share Stuff Like Best Friends

Friendly Computers would like to help you to make your PC and Mac share stuff.

What You Need

• A Windows PC
• A Mac
• A router to connect them

So, assuming that your PC and Mac are both sitting comfortably on your network, wirelessly or otherwise, there are a couple of different ways for the various machines on your network to talk to each other and share files.

• SMB (Server Message Block) aka CIFS (Common Internet File System) is Windows' preferred network file sharing protocol, and luckily, Macs speak it, so this how your computers will most likely be talking and sharing stuff. Vista and Windows 7 use SMB 2.0, which is more faster for file transfers.

• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is one you know and love, if you've ever spent any time on the internet. It's one option for sharing stuff between your Mac and PC.

• NFS (Network File System) is the protocol Unix-based systems like to use for sharing files, which both Windows and Macs can understand. A lot of NASes use it.

Things That Will Help

My goal here is to show you how to share files between your PC and Mac easily, and for the most part, without worrying about things like IP addresses or your router's settings. But! If you want to make troubleshooting easier—this kind of networking is more voodoo than science—there are a few things you could stand to know and do beforehand.

1. Know your router. Or really, know how to get into it. For most routers, punching the number soup 192.168.1.1 (Linksys, for instance) or 192.168.0.1 (D-Link, for example) into your web browser will take you to the router's settings, where you can fiddle with things (which you hopefully already did to protect your network).

2. Make everything static. If you take your computer on and off the network a lot, odds are, your router isn't going give it the same IP address every the computer jumps back on, because it hands those addresses out dynamically (you might recognize this as DHCP in action, if you're wondering what that acronym refers to). For consistency's sake, it's not a bad idea to assign your computers static IP addresses on the network, so they'll always have the same address—I at least give my desktop PC and Xbox static IP addresses—just in case something else is broken.

Look in the router settings for a reference to DHCP reservations or static DHCP, which is most likely under the general settings tab. Hit that up, like so, and you should see a list of computers on your network, along with their MAC addresses (an ID tied to the actual networking card in your computer) and currently assigned IP address (something like 192.168.1.102). If your computer's already connected to the network and listed here, it's real easy to give it an unwavering address on your network, a matter of a couple checkboxes.

If, for some reason, your computer's not on the network and you want to give it a static address, like 192.168.0.104, you're going to need to know its MAC address. On a Mac, just open the Network Utility app and select AirPort—it's the "hardware address." In Windows Vista and 7, go to Network & Sharing Center, and tap view status link next to your connection. Hit "details" in the pop up box and note the "physical address." On XP, bring your network connections, double click the one you want, flip to the "support" tab, and hit details. It's the physical address. Now that you have the MAC address for your computers, you can assign a set IP address to each one, that it'll have every single time it's on the network, which is a handy list to have.

Getting Ready

Okay, let's get our machines ready. We'll start with the Mac, 'cause it's a little easier.

Mac
1. Setup a user account for sharing, either under Accounts or Sharing -> File Sharing in System Preferences. (Unless you just want to log in from Windows using your regular Mac login, then you can skip creating a sharing account.) Click the little plus sign under users, and then you pull can a name out of your address book to use for the account, or setup a whole new one. 2. Open system preferences, go to sharing if you haven't already, and check the box for file sharing. Click options, and enable AFP (if you've got other Macs you want to share with) and SMB. Crucially, make sure the account you're going to be logging in from Windows with has SMB enabled.

3. To pick the folders you want to share with other users, click the little plus sign and browse to the folder you want to give access to. Maybe it's your pictures, maybe it's your whole Home folder. You'll need to add each folder individually, especially if you want to give different people access to different folders. (If you're logging in from Windows with your standard Mac account, you'll have access to your whole hard drive anyway.)

After you've picked the folder you want to share, then you just pick the user you want to share with, and how much access you want them to have. Read-only, write-only or read and write. 4. Note your computer's name on the local network. It's sitting on top of the main file sharing setting page. And, if you've got AFP turned off, you'll get this dialog, noting the IP address Windows users can access your stuff. 5. Go back to the main system preferences page, then click on Network. Go to the main connection you'll be using, like AirPort, and click advanced. Go to WINS, and set your Workgroup to the same one as your Windows PCs (probably either WORKGROUP, on newer Windows machines or MSHOME on XP).

Windows 7 and Windows Vista
In Windows 7 and Vista, the Network and Sharing Center is where we'll be spending our time.1. First, make sure in your little path to the internet up top, you've got a picture of a house sitting between your computer the internet globe at the top. That means you've got it set to private network, so stuff's a little more exposed to other computers on the network. If not, click customize to the right of the network name, and set it to private network.

2. In Vista, you'll notice the big  Sharing and Discovery section up front and center. In Windows 7, it's under advanced sharing settings. Go in there, and you'll want to enable network discovery, and make note of your Workgroup (so you can make sure your Mac is on the same one) which is listed here. Also, you have the option to turn off password-protected sharing, so that you don't need an account on the machine set up for sharing. Obviously, it's less secure, but if you prefer convenience, that's up to you.

3. Now for some voodoo that's not required, but it'll make life easier and might be something you need to come back to if stuff isn't working, because OS X and Windows shake hands like goons (really it's about tweaking the LAN Manager Authentication Level, so OS X has an easier time connecting to Windows). If you have Windows 7 or Vista Ultimate, go to the Control Panel, then Administration Tools, then local security policy. Hit local policies, then security options, and look for Network Security LAN Manager Authentication Level. There, you want to switch it to "send LM & NTLM, use NTLMv2 session if negotiated."

If you're in Windows 7 or Vista Home Premium, you don't have access to that, so you'll need to registry hack it up. Open up regedit, and look for this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA\

Double click on LmCompatibilityLevel, and set the value to 1.

For more on this, just Google "vista mac NTVLM2." (Sans period.)

4. Now, we'll need to set up an account to share with. (Again, you can skip this if you're just going to use your regular Windows login from your Mac, though you'll need to have a password on the account for it to work best in Vista.) Go to User Accounts in Control Panel, then to Manage Accounts. Create a new account. 5. If you're going to be logging in with your main administrator account, you can skip this step, since you'll have access to everything anyway. For all other accounts, go to the folder you want to share, right-click on it and hit properties. Click the sharing tab, hit "share," and then you can add users to the share list, along with their permissions. Windows will share it, and give you the network path where you can access it. Alternatively, go to Computer, right-click, and check out the system properties and note your computer's name on the network and its Workgroup (make sure the Workgroup is the same as your other computers, it makes life easier).

Windows XP
1. Like before, you'll need a user account and password setup. Go to control panel, user accounts and create a new one, if you need to.

2. Make sure you're on the same workgroup as everything else—XP Home defaults to MSHOME, so if you need to change it, right-click on My Computer, hit properties, then go to Computer Name, and go to "Change" if you need to switch up the Workgroup.

3. Go to the folder you want to share, right-click, hit properties, and switch over to sharing. Allow it to be shared over the network, and allow users to change files.
Sharing Stuff

Okay, if you've done everything correctly, and the gods are pleased, what you should see on your Mac in your Finder Sidebar under the Shared tab is your Windows computer. (Make sure Shared is enabled in your Finder sidebar preferences, or you won't see it.) Then, you should be able to just click on it, enter your user account and password, and voila, you can get right at everything just like you hoped.

On your Windows 7 or Vista machine, you should be able to click Network, and see all of your connected computers, including your Macs. To login, as Ross McKillop points out, your username is the name of the Mac followed by the OS X username, like this, minus the quotes and period: "MATTBOOK-PRO/matt." In XP, you'll go to My Network Places or Workgroup, and it should be the same deal, though you can just stick to the actual Mac username and password. Life's good.

Update: BTW, if you have Apple's Bonjour—Apple's zero configuration networking dealio, which powers music sharing in iTunes—installed on your Windows machines (it comes with iTunes), the discovery part of the guide above—the parts pertaining to locating the other machines on your network, should just work. That is, your Windows machines should just show up in your Finder sidebar and your Mac in your PC's Networking page, though you still need the accounts setup properly to actually share stuff.

Sometimes, things don't work like that. PCs don't show up in the Finder automatically, you can't login easily from your PC. Network discovery just isn't always that reliable. In that case we go all manual mode. Remember earlier, when I had you note your computer's name on the network and setup a static IP? That's where this comes in handy. So, know either your computers names, or their IP addresses on your network.

On a Mac, it's pretty simple. Go to Finder, tap command+k and punch in:

smb://computername or smb://192.168.X.XXX

The latter is the PC's IP address, which should be something like 192.168.0.105—unless you have a weird setup—though the last two numbers of it will obviously vary. The computer name is easier and usually better, especially if you don't have a static IP address set up.

It'll ask you what volume to mount (what folder you want stuck on your Finder Sidebar under shared, essentially), and a login, and then you're good to go. If prefer the cmd+k approach, you can add computers you tap a lot as a favorite, so you don't have to type it in every time.

It's pretty simple in Windows too, actually. Either in the Windows Explorer address bar, or the Run command type:

\\MACNAME\Folder or \\192.168.X.XXX\Folder

And it should give you the option to login there, giving you access to all of your stuff. Using the full address of the folder you're trying to get to will help with making sure the authentication pop-up appears—otherwise you might just see automatically what's publicly shared and not the stuff you're trying to log into.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5430678/how-to-make-your-pc-and-mac-share-stuff-like-best-friends

Googsystray Notifies You of New Activity Across Google Services in One System Tray App

Friendly Computers found this article to be quite interesting.

Google has so many different services these days that installing a notification app for each one gets cumbersome quickly. Free system tray utility Googsystray watches Gmail, Google Voice, Calendar, Reader, and Wave so you can set it and forget it.

After installing Googsystray, you can configure which services you want it to watch and what you want it to do for each—upon receiving a new email, SMS, calendar alert, RSS article, or wave, you can have it play a sound and even run a command. The icon of the given service will also pop up in your system tray. Right clicking on it gives you a Growl-style popup with more detailed information about the notification, such as email subject or SMS content. You also have limited actions you can take depending on the service.

Google Voice is the most feature-filled, allowing you to send SMS messages with a hotkey and read voicemail transcripts. You can have Gmail monitor your inbox or specific labels for new messages, as well as mark messages as read, spam, or delete them. Google Calendar support is limited to alerts on upcoming events, and Google Reader can notify you of new RSS articles, although you can tell it to stop notifying you when the number of unread articles reaches a certain point. Google Wave support merely notifies you of new and unread waves, along with a preview.

Googsystray is a free download, works on Windows and Linux (Python and pygtk required for Linux).

Download Googsystray.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5428836/googsystray-notifies-you-of-new-activity-across-google-services-in-one-system-tray-app?skyline=true&s=x

Get the Classic Network Activity Indicator Back in Windows 7

Friendly Computers can help you if you want get back the classic network activity indicator in Windows 7.

The classic little two-computer icon that blinks to indicate network activity is missing from Windows 7, replaced by an icon that simply indicates if the computer is or is not connected to a network.

The solution is a tiny application called, appropriately enough, Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7. Download the application and park your standard Windows 7 network indicator in the hidden portion of your system tray, placing the icon for the Network Activity Indicator in the appropriate place in the system tray.

Once you've performed the swap, you'll have the old network activity indicator back and its familiar blinking screens. Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7 is freeware, Windows only.

Download Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5428229/get-the-classic-network-activity-indicator-back-in-windows-7

10 Linux features Windows should have by default

Friendly Computers would like to share with you top 10 Linux features that Windows should have by default

The battle between Linux and Windows will most likely rage on for years to come. I can foresee that even when all things migrate to the cloud, users in both camps will still be screaming the virtues of their favorite operating system. And, of course, I will be one of those campers (and I can bet you know just which camp I’ll be in). But being in that camp does not preclude me from seeing the benefits and strengths of the Windows operating system.

In my next two 10 Things articles, I am going to take pieces of each operating system and place them in the other. In this first article, I am going to share 10 features from the Linux operating system that should be in the Windows operating system. In the next article, I will go the other way.

Now you should know, features will encompass literal features as well as systems and even philosophies. I don’t want to leave anything out of the picture. In the end, my hope is that theoretically, at least, we’ll have a much more ideal operating system. Of course, you can (and will) be the judge of that. Let’s get going and start adding Linux features to Windows.

1: Compiz

No matter how clean Aero gets, I am not a fan of the flat, single-workspace desktop of Windows 7. Yes, it has come a long way, but it’s not nearly the modern desktop that Compiz offers. Of course, many would argue that Compiz is nothing more than eye candy. I, on the other hand, would argue that many of the features Compiz offers are just as much about usability as they are eye candy. Having a 3D desktop that offers you quick access (via key combinations) to multiple workspaces is handy. Window switchers can’t be beaten for ease of use. And the eye candy is just a bonus. Having Compiz on top of Windows would certainly take the experience to a level few Windows users have experienced.

2: Multi-user

Yes I know you can have multiple accounts on a Windows 7 box, but that doesn’t make it truly multi-user. Can you log on more than one user at a time in Windows 7? Not by default. To have concurrent user sessions for Windows 7, you have to download a third-party tool. In Linux, you can do this by default. This is a feature that should be enabled by default in Windows 7, too.

3: Log files

Windows operating systems have plenty of tools that enable the administrator to read log files. But for system, administration, and security issues, the administrator must fire up the tools to see those log files. But Linux places all system log files in /var/log and allows the user (with the right permissions) to read these log files from a simple text editor. And the Linux log files are flexible in many ways. For instance, if I want to follow a system log, I can open that log in a terminal window with the tail -f command and watch as events occur.

4: Centralized application installation

The new paradigm for Linux is a centralized location for installation. The Ubuntu Software Center is turning out to be the culmination of much of this work. From one source, you can search from hundreds of thousands of applications and install any one you need. And with upcoming releases of the Ubuntu Software Center (version 3 to be exact), commercial software will be available.

5: Cron

I am a big fan of Cron. Cron jobs enable you to easily automate tasks. Yes, you can add third-party software on a Windows operating system to help automate tasks, but none will have the flexibility of the cron job. Cron allows you to schedule as many tasks as you like, at any time you like, from a simple command-line tool (or a GUI tool, if you so desire). And cron is available system wide — for both administrative tasks and standard user tasks. Having an automated system built in would certainly be handy.

6: Regular release cycle

This is one of those areas where Microsoft could learn a serious lesson from the Linux camp. Most Linux distributions release their updated distributions on a regular basis. And even better, they stick to these schedules to the best of their ability. Take Ubuntu, for example. For each release there is a .04 and a .10 version. The .04 version is released on the fourth month of the year. The .10 version is released on the 10th month of the year. This happens like clockwork. So Ubuntu 10.04 will release April 2010 and Ubuntu 10.10 will release October 2010. Granted sometimes those releases don’t start populating the mirrors until the last second of that month, but they are as regular as they can be.

7: Root user

Let’s face it — by default, the average user can do too much in Windows. So much so, it becomes simple for someone to write a nasty little virus that can be spread simply by opening up an attachment in an email. With the way Linux is set up, this doesn’t occur. For damage to be done to a system, generally speaking the root password must be known. For example, if a user clicked on an attachment from an email, and that attachment demanded the root (or sudoers) password, that would be a quick indication that the attachment was malicious. Windows should separate the administrative user and the standard user by default. The first thing Windows users should have to do, upon starting up their new computer for the first time, is create an administrative password and a user password.

8: Pricing

Okay, I’m not going to say Windows should be free. What I am going to say is that it should have one version and one price (with a nod to bulk pricing). Why do I say this? Simple. Which version should you buy? Do you need Premium or Ultimate? Which sounds better? Is “premium” better than “ultimate”? Here’s an idea — just have one version for the desktop and one for the server. It works for Linux. Less confusion and frustration for the consumer, less advertising waste for Microsoft. And all those features that cause the most expensive version of Windows 7 to be thus — the average user wouldn’t know how to use them anyway.

9: Installed applications

I know that Microsoft doesn’t include any useful applications (minus a browser) by default for a reason — to make money. But when I install Linux for the average user, I’m done. I don’t have to install an office suite, an email client, or audio/visual tools. Outside of installing financial applications and the odd power-user tool (which is all handled in a single, centralized location — see #4), there’s nothing more to do once the OS installation is done. Microsoft could at least include Word.

10: Hardware detection

Before anyone gets bent out of shape, this is not what you’re thinking. Let me set this up for you. What happens when you install a Windows operating system and something doesn’t work? Say, for example, video. You thought for sure the OS would support your video card, but when the installation is complete you’re stuck with good old 800×600 resolution. So you go to the device manager to see if you can find out what the card is, and you get nothing. How are you supposed to find out what drivers to download when Windows gives you no information? Oh sure, you can open up the case and check out the chipset. Or you might get lucky and find that device driver CD lying around. But what if you can’t? Or what if that video is on board?

If you were using Linux you could at least issue the dmesg command and get some information right away. And if dmesg didn’t help out, you could always fire up the Hardware Drivers tool, which will might discover a proprietary driver you could use. In Windows, if you don’t know the card, you’re going to have fun finding the drivers. Although Windows hardware support is better, Linux hardware detection is better.

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1194

Fix Common Windows Problems with One Click

Friendly Computers found useful tool for you.

Have you ever wished for a magic wand that could make annoying Windows problems disappear? Like, say, a missing Recycle Bin icon, or those pesky Runtime Error messages in Internet Explorer?

FixWin is that magic wand. This ingenious free utility requires just over 500K of space, runs without installation, and quickly fixes 50 different Windows glitches--many of which would normally require a trip to the Registry.

These are divided among five categories, including Windows Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, and System Tools.

Each problem is presented with a brief but thorough description. Here's an example: "CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs." (Been there!) To fix a problem, just click the corresponding Fix button.

It really is that simple. And before you get started, FixWin can scan your machine for--and fix--corrupted system files. It also allows you to create a System Restore point before making any changes, a smart addition.

Certainly FixWin won't solve all your Windows issues, but if it can correct just one, it's well worth the download.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/184125/fix_common_windows_problems_with_one_click.html

Load up your open-source Google phone with powerful apps without spending a cent.

Friendly Computers would like to share with you the top ten easy to use free applications for Google smart phones.
Android is breaking out. With the coming of the Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Eris, Samsung Behold II, and Samsung Moment, Android has become the most-buzzed-about smartphone platform for everyone who doesn't have AT&T. And developers have been feeding the buzz, with Android Market holding about 12,000 apps when we wrote this - second in on-device app stores only to the iPhone.
As a quasi-open-source platform, Android has gotten a lot of attention from small developers, so you'll find a lot of interesting little free apps in the Android Market. What's missing, primarily, are flashy, big-name apps from big-name developers, who generally wait until they're sure a platform is going to take off to commit to it. With the success of the Droid, we think more professional-quality apps will be coming soon.
But all is not app-tastic in Android app world. There are now three different versions of Android floating around - 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0 - and not all apps run on every version of the OS. Most Android phones have only about 256 MB of storage for apps, which seems to be be preventing some professional developers from putting out high-end games for Android phones.


1. Advanced Task Killer Free 1.5.1
ReChild; (no Web site)
It's surprisingly difficult to close an Android app, and after spending a few hours with your Android phone you might find it feels a bit sluggish because so many apps are running quietly in the background. So a task-killing app like this is a must; two clicks, and you've released megabytes of memory and freed up oodles of processor power. A $5 pay version adds a one-click widget and an "auto kill" function, but I find the free version perfectly good enough. ATK has a more user-friendly interface than competitor TasKiller, and it focuses on killing lagging apps rather than essential Android services.

2. AP Mobile 2.0.0
The Associated Press; www.ap.org
The AP makes great mobile news apps, and their Android app works just like all the others. You get a steady stream of constantly-updated news in every category you can think of, including local news from your city or state. You can customize your home page with categories you like, or view AP news videos. Better than the single-source newspaper apps, AP Mobile lets you choose what you want to know, and tells you what you need to know.

3. Astrid 2.10.0
We Love Astrid; www.weloveastrid.com
The best to-do list app for Android, Astrid starts out super-simple with a plain list of tasks. But there's a lot of power hidden under the surface. You can tag tasks, set priorities, and assign dates and several levels of reminders. A stopwatch-style timer lets you keep track of how long you spend on each task. Astrid also syncs with RememberTheMilk.com, an online to-do list app that can bring your tasks to Google Calendar, Gmail, Twitter or your desktop.

4. Astro File Manager 2.1.0
Metago; (no Web site)
After installing a few dozen Android apps, you might find yourself running out of space. Enter Astro, probably the best all-purpose free utility for Android phones. Astro lets you back up your apps to an SD card - you can't run them from there, but you can swap apps around that you're not using. It lets you browse your phone's file system, examining and moving files. And it gives you a very detailed peek into which apps and processes are running, including listing how much memory and CPU power each process is using. Astro is a lot more complicated than a simple task-killer like ATK, but it's also far more powerful. Install both.

5. Cestos 1.2.91
ChickenBrick Studios; (no Web site)
You know what mobile games need? More real people. Cestos is a free, online, multiplayer game that's ridiculously easy. It's basically a game of marbles; aim your marbles around the board (which is pocked with obstacles, pits and bombs), shoot them, and see whose marbles fall into the pits first. But with multiple boards, a scoring system, avatars, a chat room, and various virtual prizes awarded, it quickly becomes a fun, ego-driven experience. Each game only lasts a few minutes, so it's perfect for light users; we're not talking World of Warcraft here.

6. Google Sky Map 1.2.1
Google; www.google.com/sky/skymap.html
Google Sky Map for Android can help you put a name to the stars, planets, and constellations above you. The app syncs with your phone's GPS locator to pinpoint your location and provide you with a map of the sky wherever you are. Point your Android phone up and Sky Map displays the location and name of the brightest celestial objects in that part of the sky. Getting your phone and the sky aligned can be a bit tricky, but overall this is a fun and educational app.

7. Google Voice 0.2.6
Google; www.google.com/voice
Google Voice for Android is the best way to use Google Voice on a cell phone. The app lets you make outgoing calls and SMS messages from your virtual Google Voice number, including inexpensive international calls (which begin at just two cents per minute). Google Voice for Android integrates seamlessly with the phone's built-in address book and call log for voice calls. There are other third-party apps that hook into Google Voice available for Android phones, such as the $9.99 GVDialer, which hit the market earlier this year. But Google's own native app works well and offers a near-seamless experience with the company's Web-based voice service.

8. Listen 1.0.3.1
Google; listen.googlelabs.com
Every smartphone, in my mind, needs a good podcast client, and Google's Listen is a good podcast client. Listen uses Google's search technology to help you find podcasts using terms you like, and you can subscribe to individual podcasts or even to search terms - picking up every podcast from now until eternity about Android smartphones, for instance. Listen downloads and stores podcasts, so you can play them even when you're not connected to a network. This Google Labs product is still a bit buggy, but it's a great way to get radio-style content onto your Android phone.

9. Meebo IM 21
meebo; www.meebo.com
There are two good, free, multi-platform IM programs for Android. Meebo is slightly more complete than eBuddy. Along with the usual AIM, MSN, Yahoo! Google and ICQ IM networks, Meebo also supports Facebook and MySpace IM, which is pretty neat. Social networking contacts come with photos and status messages, and you can keep multiple conversations going at once. eBuddy's interface is slicker, but you don't get to see those social networking status messages and it forces you to sign up for a special eBuddy account.

10. MySpace Mobile 1.6.2
MySpace; www.myspace.com
The free Android MySpace client gives you all the basic MySpace features, though it's unfortunately lacking both media streaming and all of those weird plug-ins that people tend to put on their pages. You can view or add your own or your friends' comments, blogs and photos, add new friends and most importantly send e-mail. (For MySpace IM, check out Meebo above.) You can always access full-on crazy MySpace pages using your Android phone's browser; this app is for quickly checking out and messaging your friends.



Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356306,00.asp