In the past, I have written about several applications which hide open windows/processes from prying eyes. For the most part, this is applicable in a workplace (cubicle) environment where you never know who is looking over your shoulder. While I would never advocate using tools like this for something which can get you in trouble, having workspace security is...

Just about everybody has used some form of wireless technology when it comes to your PC, namely wireless networking. You’re also aware of other things that are wireless such as printers, digital picture frames and so on. But the one thing that’s not in wide use nor is widely available is the wireless webcam, or wireless cameras that specifically...

If you don’t like putting all your shortcuts/documents on the desktop or the quick launch bar, using a context (right-click) menu to access these items may be for you. A tool which makes this easy is menuApp. menuApp is an application which allows you to configure menus and use them to launch your favourite programs, music files, documents, websites,...

If keeping your browsing history secret is important to you, then you have to be adamant about clearing out the applicable data when you are done browsing. Alternately, you can have this automated for you by using IE Privacy Keeper. IE Privacy Keeper automatically cleans up the browser history once you are done surfing the net. The program will correctly clean...

We have probably all seen the numerous commercials on TV advertising a “free” credit report for going to a web site. Of course, in the fine print it says you have to enroll in some credit monitoring program to receive the report (a waste of money in my opinion). To get your credit report for free with no strings attached, simply go to Annual Credit...

There are still quite a few diehard Yahoo! users out there, many of which use the Yahoo! Messenger software. In November 2009, Y! Messenger released version 10, boasting a number of improvements and many bugfixes for a more stable product. I can say from personal experience that I became disenchanted with the Y! Messenger ever since version 7. Versions 6 and...

The entire reason we didn’t use sidebars for anything in web browsers years ago is simply because we didn’t have the screen real estate for it. We more or less always had the option, but it took too much away from web page viewing to be useful. Since many people today use higher resolutions, we now can use bookmarks in the sidebar while still having...

A couple of weeks ago, Google got into the DNS game with their Google Public DNS offering and now they are getting into the URL shortening pool as well. The Google URL Shortener uses the “goo.gl” domain and at the time of this writing is only available via the Google Toolbar and Feedburner. With Bit.ly and TinyURL being a couple of well known...

Windows Vista introduced the popular Aero effects which Windows 7 incorporates into it’s new interface. One thing it does not offer though is the ability to use the ‘classic’ theme many of us know and love. Although this theme was introduced in Windows 95, it is still very functional and clean. However, if you would like to use the classic...

Mozilla just released Firefox 3.5.6, and while the fix list isn’t that long, the one to pay attention to that was repaired is: Crashes with evidence of memory corruptionFF 3.5.5 for whatever reason just blew up in memory use, and so far since upgrading to 3.5.6, that rapid overuse of memory seems to have decreased quite a bit. This upgrade did not break...

Okay, it’s time for some PC-builder stuff (hey, it’s required I do one of these every so often because after all it is PCMech, right?) When people hear "scratch-built", they think, "Oh, okay, I have to buy a case.." Stop right there. A true scratch-built is when you either physically construct the case or retrofit some type of box...

Probably the most used function in browsers is the back button. Odds are when you are done reading this you will use the back button to return the main page. So the easier it is to invoke the back function, the better. A Firefox add-on which make this about as easily as it gets is Middle Click To Go Back. Functionality is exactly what you would guess, but it...

As some have noticed, there isn’t a specific offering of Windows 7 Media Center Edition. This is because it’s not necessary being that the Windows Media Center software is already bundled into Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate editions. Many of you – including yours truly – remember when the Windows Media Player went from...

It is pretty easy to take a Word document and export it to PDF. There are multiple free options for doing this. However, converting a PDF to Word isn’t usually so straight-forward. What if you want to edit the PDF? Check out the web-based PDF to Word converter, from the guys at NitroPDF. You upload your PDF, choose your format, then give them your email...

Webmail is no doubt my preferred way to access email. Because it is available from any computer connected to the Internet (both sent and received mail) the convenience simply cannot be beat. Of course, with this convenience comes a price: you are at the mercy of the provider. For example, if you use Gmail and it goes down for some time, with it goes your email...

I received this email from my ISP, Brighthouse Networks: (click to see full size) There are some points of this sales pitch that are just outright laughable. For example, "open multiple sites and support multiple users simultaneously" – as if we all haven’t been doing that for years ever since we first started using...

A cool little program which monitors and somewhat dictates your running processes is Task Catcher. Task Catcher allows you to efficiently monitor programs running on your computer without slowing you down or hogging all your memory. Task Catcher will block unwanted programs from running and restart your favorite programs if they are disabled or crash. You...

For all its faults and overuse Flash does do a few things well: online video and web games. Microsoft’s version, Silverlight, seeks to offer an alternative or replace Flash for web developers. So on that note if you want to give Silverlight games a look, check out the Silverlight Competition page. For this competition, developers submitted games written...

Over the years I’ve been in a few debates as to whether automotive GPS or a road atlas is better to figure out where you’re going. I do champion automotive GPS technology because they are always better than those cheesy foldout maps you find at rest stops and convenience stores. However I’ve never denied the fact that a proper road atlas will...

Everybody knows how to copy and paste – but there are many who have never used the paste special function. Why use paste special? Because it allows you to copy and paste text without carrying over all the formatting that may prove to be annoying to deal with. In Windows (and assumedly Linux), paste special is easy. Simply use Edit/Paste Special from your...