As you may recall, Amazon recently unveiled its new Cloud Drive service, which provides 5GB of free online storage. (Elsewhere I explained how you could bump your limit to 20GB for under a buck.) The only downside? To access it, you have to use Amazon's Web-based interface. It's not bad, but not nearly as convenient as, say, a local hard drive.
Among the many reasons I'm partial to Firefox is that Mozilla's browser has long offered a built-in spell checker. (Not that I need it, of course -- we payd riters learnt gud speling in skool.)
Much as everyone loves Microsoft's Windows 7, not everyone has made the move yet. Plenty of folks are clinging to Windows XP for dear life, while others just didn't see enough reason to upgrade from Vista. After all, it's not like Microsoft is giving Windows 7 away for free.
I'm not sure if this is a bug or a "feature," but it's definitely annoying.
Yesterday I told you how to tweak Firefox 4 so it would allow incompatible add-ons to run. One of my primary motivations for doing so was the PermaTabs Mod add-on, which I use religiously to keep tabs open from one browsing session to the next. (Ironically, that extension came into being because its predecessor, PermaTabs, was incompatible with Firefox 3.)
Mozilla released Firefox 4 last week. I'm trying hard to like the new browser, but it keeps finding ways to annoy me. First, it moved the Reload button for no good reason (same for the Home button, but that's just as easily fixed). Second, it put the tabs at the top of the screen (again, easily fixed). Third, and most important, a bunch of my favorite add-ons stopped working. Luckily, I've come up with a few ways to fix the interface quirks that are driving me nuts and solve the extension compatibility problem.
It's been a while since I've covered tips for my favorite browser, Mozilla Firefox tips (read "Quick Tips for Speeding Up Mozilla Firefox" for my last installment). So this week I thought I'd toss you a couple tips for scrolling through long Web pages in Firefox. But first -- a public service announcement.
It's time for another grab bag of hassle killers. This week I tell you how to get a disposable e-mail address to use as a spam magnet, how to turn off Windows 7's automatic window resizing, and how to recover data from a crashed drive.
Here's a common hassle: You sign up for some freebie, promotion, or service that requires your e-mail address--and suddenly your inbox is deluged with ads, notifications, and other spam.
Facebook status updates don't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. You can decide who gets to see a particular update -- or, if you prefer, who doesn't.
Reformatting and restoring a PC is not fun--in the way spending 2 hours in the dentist's chair is not fun. You have to back up all your data (and pray that you haven't forgotten anything), reformat the hard drive, install Windows, track down missing drivers, find and reload all your software, restore your data, and pull out clumps of hair over the things you inevitably neglected to save. (Firefox plug-ins, anyone?)
There's a fine line between awesome and annoying. Take Facebook: Most of the time, it's great, but a few things about the service drive me crazy.
As you learned in last week's write-up of Meebo, the browser-based instant messaging service, I love apps that can live on the Web instead of having to clutter up my PC.
As I wrote the other day, it's a pretty simple matter to add a second monitor to your PC. But what about a third? That might require a little more doing.
Can we talk? Based on the e-mail I get every day, I know a lot of you are still using Windows XP. I can understand why; it's like a comfortable old shoe. Plus, it's bought and paid for. Windows 7 probably seems stiff and scary, and it's not like Microsoft is handing out free upgrades.