Have you ever been downloading a file and about 80% of the way, something interrupts it? This can be frustrating because (most of the time) you simply have to start the download again. For small files, this is not really an issue, but for larger files it can be a huge inconvenience. As an alternate to traditional downloading via a browser, try using a download...

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was released yesterday so feel free to download it. As is my usual practice I installed the OS in VirtualBox to test it out. The way to get better graphical capabilities in VirtualBox session is to install what’s called VirtualBox Additions. While the session is active, you click Devices then Install Guest Additions, like this:When using...

If you use multiple monitors and are tired of seeing your background wallpaper repeated on both screens, a utility you might be interested in is DisplayFusion. With DisplayFusion you can add a taskbar to every monitor that works and looks just like the Windows Taskbar. Or take advantage of advanced multi-monitor wallpaper support, Flickr integration for image...

When it comes to software, rude is defined as software doing something that’s in your face that happens with no warning at all. The recent update from Opera 10.51 to 10.52 is exactly like this. When Firefox has an update, the way most people have that browser configured is so it will auto-download the update. When it does, a toaster pop-up happens that...

This is a departure from the norm, but I thought this would be an interesting tidbit for many of our readers. Have you ever wondered how the character in so many of Nintendo’s games came to be named Mario? Well, wonder no longer. For those of who just want the answer: [...] Nintendo borrowed Mario’s name and Italian heritage from a real man. That man’s...

The 10.04 LTS release of Ubuntu happens tomorrow (and yes I’ll be sure to download a copy), however some Linux users prefer a lighter GUI so overall operation is faster. The first obvious choice for those that prefer a light GUI is Xubuntu, which uses XFCE. But then there those not too hot on XFCE either. The lightest of the light as far as I’m aware...

This is the tag line for the aptly named free utility: SIW – System Information for Windows. As you can probably guess, the functionality is in line with the name: SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner. SIW can...

Many folks these days download videos from sharing sites such as YouTube (usually with this handy Firefox add-on). The downloaded video is usually MP4 or FLV, both of which can be played with the VLC player. If you want to burn this video to DVD however, chances are the software you use to do that doesn’t recognize either format, so you’ll need to...

For those of you who like to brainstorm on the computer, you can’t beat the flexibility offered by mind mapping software. For this task, the software package XMind looks pretty impressive. XMind is an award winning open source program which, in addition to the expected package of features, offers quite a bit of sharing and collaboration ability (some...

CNET reports that Sony, which has 70% of the market with floppies (and that’s nothing to brag about), is going to stop selling floppies in Japan as of March 2011. This means this positively ancient data storage medium is finally going away. You’ve seen floppies for sale at Wal-Mart, Target and other dept. stores and couldn’t figure out why they...

Usually when one wants to decrease hand and wrist pain from computer use, they buy ergonomically friendly input hardware, such as a Microsoft Natural Keyboard. This is good, but you can take it a step further by following the old adage of, "type less, click less". Here are five ways to do that: 1. Assign the mouse wheel button as a double-click. I...

Windows 7 introduced the incredibly useful Aero Snap function, but for those of you using Windows Vista and XP you can add this functionality with the freeware utility, AeroSnap. AeroSnap is a simple but powerful application that allows you to resize, arrange or maximize your desktop windows with just drag’n'drop. Simple drag a window to a side of your...

One of the really great new functions of Windows 7 is the Aero Snap feature which allows you to easily align multiple windows on your screen by dragging them to the side. While this works great if you only have a single monitor, if you have multiple monitors the Aero Snap does not work in the area between the two screens. However, this is easily overcome by a...

I’ve been seeing a about memory optimizers recently which make promises to clean up excessive amounts of RAM that Windows and some programs use. Much like “RAM doubling” programs which made the rounds during the Windows 95/98 days, virtually all of these programs are merely a ruse: Memory boosters, optimizers, and washers — whatever the...

PND means Portable Navigation Device, and in general use refers to any portable automotive GPS device. For several years now there have been those that claim PNDs are a dying market and that they will die a quick death. The exact opposite of that has been true. PNDs still continue to sell by the truckload and in addition have become quite advanced in overall...

Wonder whatever happened to the Netscape Communicator suite, and wish you could use it again with a modern engine? You can. It’s called SeaMonkey. Suite? SeaMonkey is more than just a browser. It also has a full email client, an IRC client (ChatZilla) and web page editor (Composer). It’s also compatible with some Firefox add-ons, so it is...

You may know that today is Earth Day. As someone who is personally a big believer and participant in reducing the footprint we have on our planet I feel obligated to post something on this subject. So I am reaching out to our readers to ask that tonight, if you don’t already, turn off your computer when you are done using it. It is a myth that turning your...

For those of you into MMO’s and/or strategy games, you may want to take a look at the new offering from EA: Lord of Ultima. Lord of Ultima is an online strategy game where you build your own unique city and play with thousands of other players. Join now and rule a mighty empire which you can access from wherever and whenever you want. All you need to enter...

As web browsers continue to evolve, a design element that is brought up often is how much space menus take up. The current trend is to focus as much attention as possible of doing what’s called "reducing visual footprint", which in a nutshell means to make menus as small as possible while trying to remain informative and useful. To see where...

I am continually amazed by the power of “swiss army knife” command line tools which do lots of functions. Among the best I have found is Nirsoft’s NirCmd. I had a request the other day to convert a large amount of images (approximately 1,000) to PNG format. These images were collections from different sources and were in a mixture of GIF, JPG...