Over at PC World, I (Adam) have written up 12 sly tech tricks for beefing up your tech arsenal, from password cracking to inconspicuously reading on the job. Got a favourite trick of your own? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Auto Dial Firefox extension automatically places shortcuts to your most frequently visited web sites inside all of your new, empty tabs. Mozilla Labs recently suggested that empty tabs could be put to better use by offering no-cost options for the user (i.e., if what you want isn’t what’s offered, it doesn’t hurt anything). Although not as inspired as the undeveloped concept at Mozilla Labs, Auto Dial fits perfectly with this idea. If you want more control over the content built in to new tabs, check out the previously mentioned Speed Dial extension. Auto Dial is free, works wherever Firefox does.
Auto Dial 4 [Firefox Add-ons via CyberNet]You’ve got enough to keep track of in your day-to-day life without filling your head with the countless logins and passwords you’ve racked up over the years, and the Post-It note on your monitor just isn’t an option. Luckily, there are several fantastic and secure password management applications designed to make it easy for you to remember, manage, and secure your passwords effortlessly.
Six months after Beta 1 hit the streets, Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 to brave testers. The new beta includes features that make it look like a viable choice of modern browser, like a smart address bar (sound familiar?), tab grouping, private browsing, find in-page, suggested sites related to the current page, and more. Let’s take a look at what’s coming out of Redmond in the browser arena.
Read almost any blog or forum dedicated to the free, open-source operating system Linux and its diaspora of distributions, and you might assume that the users are almost exclusively haters of Microsoft or, occasionally, Apple. A system crash or price concerns might have led to a few “switches,” but the truth must go much broader and deeper. So we ask our open-source switchers (and dual-booters): What made you pick up that first installation CD and give Linux a go? Was it an experiment with some older hardware? A killer app or idea you saw in action? The principals of open source? Or were you truly escaping from a restrictive system, like Mark Pilgrim? Post your story in the comments below, and we’ll review them for a future post.
Windows only: Free mouse utility Slowmousion is a small, memory-resident app that can be seriously helpful for Photoshop/GIMP aficionados and anyone else who has to draw or select objects with precision. The app sits in your desktop tray (taking up about 3.6MB on my Vista system) and lets you enable its cursor-slowing function with a keyboard key, middle mouse button, or other hotkey. The one big drawback is a missing option to adjust the slow-down speed—those who really need fine-point control may like it, but some might miss a gradual velocity option. If you’d rather do the delicate stuff with your keyboard keys, our own Adam Pash’s Mouser can get that done. Slowmousion is a free download for Windows systems only. Slowmousion [via FreewareGenius.com]
