In the context of this article, "account" refers to anything on the internet that requires a username and password in order to access it, such as a web-based email account, instant messenger account, and so on. There’s an old word (if you could call it that) that’s been used time and time again in thousands of different I.T. departments...

Note that this is for the web-based version of Hotmail. If you are using Hotmail with the Windows Live mail client, see this instead. Hotmail does allow for the use of limited HTML in email signatures, and this does include the use of images as long as they are hosted in a public place. All that’s required for you to do this is the following:Use a free...

Using background images for web pages is something most people do not know how to do correctly. Typically most will use an image that is not suitable for the text on the web page, as some parts of the image will be light and others dark. In addition, the image looks terrible tiled. A small tiled image is by far the best thing to use if you want a background...

Credit, love it or hate it, is something that’s necessary for many people to buy things. And I’m sure there are more than a few of you out there who have applied for credit online and been denied faster than you can say, "Hey! My credit rating is good! What gives?" What gives is that you’ve been dealt the cold shoulder of a computer...

Windows Live Mail is a great email client, no question. But one very longstanding complaint is the way it renders fonts. Whereas in other mail clients it’s stupidly easy to make mails look a specific way for text, in Windows Live Mail (and the previous Outlook Express) it is, put politely, a challenge. This tutorial is how to get the fonts to look...

In 2007 I did a video on how to share files/folders to Windows with Ubuntu. But since version 8 of that OS the way in which this is done has changed a bit. It is simplified somewhat, but the drawback now is that in order to change the Workgroup name you must edit a configuration file manually instead of having the ability to do it in the GUI like before. In the...

craigslist, love it or hate it, is a great site to find.. well.. anything. However you’re limited to searching just one local area at a time. However you can search multiple areas via the use of a particular web site and an RSS reader (like Google Reader, Feed Demon or even Windows Live Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird) to get the job done. The web site to use...

This is going to be one of those "Duh, that’s common sense" things, but it’s amazing how many people still do this. We’ve all heard that you should use different passwords for different accounts; that much is obvious. And you can use a utility like KeePass Password Safe to do it with (which I use personally). But I also suggest the...

Free is a relative term because it doesn’t necessarily mean "no money required". If to get the free access you must do something decidedly inconvenient, that costs you time and effort. But in these times, some are willing to be inconvenienced if it means saving a buck or two. Method 1: Hotel parking lot. Many hotels offer free wi-fi, and most...

Do I have to say it? Spam. Or at least that’s what Symantec says, so you can take that for what it’s worth. Spam is one of those things that’s constantly changing to bust the roadblocks we put up against it. However we as email users are smarter now and we also have better tools to fight the junk. What’s the best way to filter spam...

In the way the US government provides services, a large portion of it cannot be advertised either because it a) wastes taxpayer dollars, b) simply isn’t in the budget or c) is prohibited from being advertised. One such service that isn’t advertised (not by the government anyway) is government grant money. Thankfully there is a central web site for...

One would assume that clearing all the favicon.ico files out of Firefox 3 would be a simple task. It isn’t. Clearing your cache doesn’t work because the icons aren’t stored there. Rather it’s in a SQLite database called places.sqlite in your Firefox profile directory. There are three ways to clear all favicons. First method: Create a new...

For a while now I’ve been using the Zune Windows XP theme (download). That one is by Microsoft and a complete theme compared to Royale which is incomplete (there are "rough" spots here and there). I like the "Classic" XP theme but it’s a bit too bland. However there is an alternative called HmmXP. It is not by Microsoft and...

FFMPEG is a command line utility that just about anyone who has used video in Linux is familiar with. It will convert FLV files to AVI, MOV, M4V (iPod), RockBox, etc. and do so easily. However most people hate command line stuff, and I don’t blame you. Most GUI-based FLV converter apps are absolutely terrible, save for one: WinFF. Don’t be fooled by...

You’ve probably heard of web sites like KeepVid where you can direct-download the FLV file of any YouTube video you watch by entering its video URL. You don’t have to do this. You can use Firefox’s local file cache to do it also. Yes, it takes a little longer, but the plus is you don’t have to rely on another site just to download videos....

Many webmail services absolutely do not allow downloading of email via POP and others only allow it if you upgrade to a paid account. FreePOPs, on the other hand, will allow you to get your mail that way. And the cost is zero. Before I instruct you how to do it, I’m going to mention a few things: First, This software does not allow you to send mail, only...

You may have a loud computer box. Whenever you turn it on, the whirring sounds of the fans, optical drive and hard drive may really annoy you. Here are 5 ways to quiet that box down. 1. Upgrade to a new hard drive Many hard drives get louder as they get older. Your ears are not fooling you if you have an old hard drive. Getting a new one can cut the noise out...

KeePass Password Safe is a free password manager utility program that I’ve written about before. One question that came about is "Okay, so you can save a password file locally. But how about backing it up to a server?" KeePass does in fact have the ability to do this via FTP. Using the latest version 2.06 beta, you open your database and click...

Something which is not readily obvious in Google Maps is the ability to find real estate listings. And no, it’s not just for new houses. It also includes rentals, foreclosures (good for the bargain hunter) and so on. Here’s how to do it: Load up Google Maps and click “My Maps” to the left. Looks like this:Note the “My Maps”...

Situation: You’re going to install a Canon printer on a computer but you don’t have the driver CD for it. So, like anyone else, you go to Canon’s web site to download them. This should be an easy painless process, right? Wrong. Here’s what you have to do to download drivers for a consumer-grade Canon printer:Go to www.canon.com Click...