Windows only: KidsMenu is a kid-friendly way to corral your kids towards pre-selected applications and keep them out of trouble when they are on your computer. Although KidsMenu can be run from within your Windows account to create a simple application launcher for your child, the real benefit of KidsMenu is when you use it as a full-on Windows shell replacement. Create a limited account for your child, and when you run KidsMenu for the first time in that account you can press ALT+CTRL+I to set KidsMenu as the default interface for Windows when logged into that account. From that point forward, instead of being presented with a overly complicated start menu and all the sub-menus they don’t need, your child will instead see something like the screenshot above—customised with your own background and programs of course. Note: the screenshot above is from the developer’s website. We download and test every item we write up here and this one is no exception, but I had no kid-friendly applications to populate the menus with beyond the basic Windows games, which made for a rather pathetic-looking screen shot. For other ways you can create a locked-down environment for kids on your computer—without having to log in and out of separate user accounts—makes sure to check out previously reviewed KidZui and KidRocket. KidsMenu is freeware, Windows only.
KidsMenuIf you have some vintage plastic items that are yellowed with age, they’re not always destined for the curb. Retro-obsessed geeks have created a cheap, homemade solution for restoring old plastic.Manufacturers add various chemicals to the ABS plastic used in most electronics to act as flame retardants. Over time, those chemicals react to the plastic’s basic polymers and turn an ugly yellow colour. Museums and vintage electronics collectors have devised a solution from hard-won restoration efforts to bleach plastics back to their original coloration.
The time you spend setting up organisation systems and keeping your stuff properly stashed is a form of investment. How do you determine whether or not you’re investing wisely? A reader wrote into Steve Strauss, a writer for USA Today’s business desk, asking for non-traditional advice on weathering the rough economic state we’re in. Strauss suggested she take time to assess her organisation techniques to determine if she’s actually getting a return from the effort she puts into them. With more free time, he suggests, she’d have time to pursue worthwhile projects and maintain relationships with her business customers. You might not have a large customer base to tend to, but everyone benefits from efficient use of their time. We want to hear how you find the dividing line between organisation time and, well, time for everything else. How do you determine when to throw in the hat on a system, scrap it, or start altogether fresh with a new method? What techniques have stood up to your occasional negligence and are still worth the effort? How do you determine if five file cabinets of elaborately cross-indexed files serve you any better than some banker’s boxes thrown in the crawl space? Share your metrics and time tested techniques in the comments below. Photo by orcmid. Ask an Expert: Get Organized to Get More Out of Your Business [via Unclutter]
Add some novelty to your dining room table for your next dinner party with some DIY placecard holders, made from recycled wine corks. At home and entertaining blog Casa Sugar, one writer was horrified at the high price of fake cork place card stands, so they put together a simple guide on making your own. All you need is enough corks for all your place settings, a razor, some cardstock, and a swanky pen for scripting the names. If you want to get super fancy, there’s a variation that involves a thin magnet to keep the place cards anchored to the table cloth. If you’re short the necessary corks, it’s time to throw a party, or maybe check with a craft or liquor store. DIY: Wine Cork Placecard Holders [Casa Sugar]
Windows only: Linux fans will instantly recognise Kill as a clone of the handy xkill utility, because both of them let you instantly kill off a process by clicking on one of its windows.Kill is an effective little application written in AutoHotKey. When you run the application it turns your regular mouse cursor into a cursor with a skull and crossbones, as seen in the screen shot to the left. If you left click on an application, Windows attempts to close it, as though you’d shut it down through normal methods and prompting you to save unsaved work. Holding down CTRL while you left click, and you kill the process behind the application, as though you had gone into the task manager and terminated the process. If you activate the Jolly Roger icon accidentally, pressing the ESC key returns your cursor to a less destructive clicker. For a tool with more diverse process killing options, like the ability to terminate based on the window name, check out Kill Tools, but for simple problem-enders, Kill is only 205k in size and is only loaded into the memory during actual use. Kill is freeware, Windows only. Kill [via Elite Freeware]
