Update: The New Site

So I am sure everyone has been wondering why there haven't been any posts for the past few days. Did he disappear? Nope. Did he just stop posting? Of course not! Even worse, did he lose his password? Never in a million years!! While none of those reasons were right, there is one that is; I am working on a new layout for the site!!! Click read more to view some sneak previews of the new layout, along with some upcoming articles that you will see in the future! Read More...

So what is the website going to look like?

Well, I took an approach that makes it look similar to something everyone knows (Minus that annoying UAC!!!). Here is a big view of what is together so far.

I realize this image is quite small due to the size we have for posts on this layout (The space for blog posts on the new one will be bigger), so if you click on it, you can see a bigger picture. This will be the same for all of these images.

Next is the realistic start menu. You can notice the similarities between the actual one and mine (If you can't tell, mine is on the left and the real one on the right!!).

But wait! There's more. I have even included a fully functional highlighting system, just like Vista:

And look at the task bars. They are almost identical! Even down to the clock, which shows the actual time!

(For reasons of keeping the same aspect ratio, the image is very small. As with the others, clicking it will give you a bigger preview)

I know I have forgotten where the blog content will go. It will be in the window from the first image. That is what I am still working on. After that is finished, I will do some field tests and then upload it!

So there you have it. A preview of the new layout. If you have any questions or comments about the new theme or other computer related questions, feel free to contact me through the usual methods, or the new contact page!

List: My Favorite Firefox Addons

For those of you who are Firefox users, you may know about one of the great features, addons. Addons are created by other Firefox users and can do anything from display sports scores, to remind you what day your sister's birthday is on or the date of your doctor's appointment. There are thousands of these on the Firefox Addons Website, but which ones should you get. It is different for every person's needs, but here are some of my favorite Firefox addons. Read More...

There will be multiple addons that will be divided between the several categories. The best of each will be displayed with a link to the addon. If you do not have Firefox, I highly suggest getting it from the Mozilla Firefox Download Page.

• Search Optomizer: Cooliris - While it is sometimes annoying to see the little Cooliris preview button, you can enable it on certain site. Still, this addon is a great feature since you can preview any webpage without actually going to it. This also includes images, videos, and much much more. It also provides you wil more in depth Google results.
• Google Extension: Customize Google - This addon provides little screen shots on Google web searches so you can see where you are going. It also removes sponsored links (Ads) and enhances your results. It's a great addon that I couldn't live without.
• Tab Colorer: ChromaTabs Plus (ChromaTabs for Previous Versions) - ChromaTabs colors all your tabs based on the URL of the tab and also organizes tabs based on several options you can specify.
• Tab Recovery: Undo Closed Tabs Button - Even though Firefox provides this feature, it is buried within the menus of Firefox. This small addon provides a button in the browser to recover your tabs.
• Stop/Reload Button Fixer: Stop-or-Reload Button - Some browsers have have a feature that displays a stop button when a page is loading, and then replaces it with a Refresh button when the page loads. While this is not a major feature, this minor fix can provide you with a convenience.
• URL Corrector: URL Fixer - Sometimes we mistakenly type .con or .comm or, well you get the point. URL fixer can correct common URL errors.
• PDF Manager: PDF Downloader - Ever have problems viewing PDF's in Internet Explorer and occasionally Firefox. Well with this addon, you can convert the PDF to an HTML document and view in Firefox with one click. You can even convert web pages to PDF's for high quiality distribution.
• AD Blocker: AdBlock Plus - AdBlock is one of the most amazing addons for Firefox I have ever seen. It really blocks all kinds of ads. Banner ads, flash movie (but not games or other content) ads, or any other kind of advertisement you can think of is blocked. AdBlock Plus is designed so if it does accidentally block content you want to see, you can set rules to allow this content and similar content. If you are only going to download one of my suggested addons, this would be the one.
• Form Filler: BugMeNot - By signing up for a BugMeNot account you can simply right click on a form and select BugMeNot. It will fill in all the information you have provided. You will never have to fill out a form again!
• Calendar: Reminder Fox - Reminder Fox is a great little in-browser program that can manage all your dates you need to remember and much more!
• Blog Editor: SubscribeFire Blog Editor - You can now add and edit your blog from anywhere on the web with SubscribeFire Blog Editor.
• GMail Manager: GMail Manager - Now you can do just about anything GMail from this little bar at the bottom of your Firefox browser.
• GMail Enhancer: Better GMail - With these Greasemonkey scripts, GMail will be as the title says it, better!
• Google Reader Enhancer: Better GReader - These Greasemonkey help you track and read you favorite blogs and feeds with ease.
• Amazon Enhancer: Better Amazon - With these Greasemonkey scripts surfing and buying from Amazon.com just got a lot easier.
• Youtube Enhancer: Better Youtube - We all have to admit most of spend a lot of time on Youtube. With these Greasemonkey scripts browsing and watching videos from Youtube will be so much easier.

So there you have it. My extremely long list of my very favorite Firefox Addons. Do you have any favorites? Post them in the comments. They might make it into a future article! One thing I didn't cover in this was themes. You may also include your favorite themes or any kind of enhancement including tips! If you have any questions about any of these addons, please feel free to post them in your comments, contact us through CrossLoop, or Youtube. (I am working on a contact page where you will be able to contact me directly)

Quick Tip: Clear All Browsing History

We have all visited sites that we wouldn't want others to know about. It could have been a personal site, secure banking site, or something else. Whatever the case, someone can easily find where you have been by going to the history. For those that are more advanced they look at your temporary internet files and find where the files downloaded came from. This could reveal personal information about where you have been on the web. We value you privacy so in this edition of quick tips, you will be learning how to clear all traces of where you have been. Read More...

The first step to clearing your private web history and data would be to clear internet history directly from your browser. Internet Explorer and Firefox both provide this functionality right into the browser.

In Internet Explorer:

1. Click the Tools Button (It Should have a Picture of a Gear to the left of the Text)
2. Select the Delete Browsing History Option
3. Check Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, and History (Do NOT check Form Data or Passwords since this will clear all data you have saved in forms and all saved passwords)
4. Click the Delete Button

In Firefox:

1. Click the Tools Menu
2. Select the Clear Private Data Option
3. Check Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Offline Website Data, and Authenticated Sessions (Do NOT check Saved Passwords as this will delete all your saved passwords)
4. Click the Clear Private Data Now Button

As another precautionary measure you can run CCleaner and/or Glary Utilities and cleanup what they find to make sure all data is deleted.

How-To: Update Firefox + 10 Reasons to Switch to Firefox

By now, everyone has probably heard of Firefox 3.1 and if you are Firefox users, you have probably had some problems updating from 3.0 to 3.1. I have heard over the web that there were some problems with your personal data not being saved. It might be too late for some, but for others who haven't updated or still have Internet Explorer, this is your warning. For some reason the install will overwrite all your personal data such as saved passwords, history, etc. This can be quite a pain if you rely on Firefox to remember everything for you. You are in luck because there is a solution to your problem. Read More...

So what to do?? Well the answer is to back up your Firefox personal data. To do this manually would be a horrible nightmare. You would have to browse through your Firefox user folder for all the files you want to save (and you would have to know their names since the password file isn't called My Saved Passwords!). This would simply be too complicated. The simpler way of doing this would be to use a program to backup all you information. There is such a program (and yes, it's free) called MozBackup that can do just that. MozBackup is a Mozilla backup utility that can backup Firefox, Thunderbird, and pretty much every Mozilla product. Go to the MozBackup download page and click install program next to Download from JasnaPaka.com.

Now that you have done that, you can go to the Firefox download page and download and install Firefox 3.1. For those of you who don't want to get Firefox, here are 10 reasons why you should:

1. Firefox is nine times faster then Internet Explorer and three times faster then it's previous version.
2. You can add great addons, plugins, and themes from the Firefox website that personalize your browser to look like you favorite sports team, block ads, etc.
3. In Firefox you can quickly bookmark a site by clicking on the star in the URL bar. Double clicking it will bring up options such as taging your bookmark or organizing it with folders.
4. You can add a feed to any reader by pressing the RSS button in the URL bar.
5. Recently visited sites, favorites, feeds, etc. can all be browsed from the URL by typing a word from their title, a tag you gave them, or some of their description.
6. You can create your own themes and addons for Firefox to personalize it just for you.
7. Firefox has great online support and bug reporting/fixing (Unlike Internet Explorer, you have to pay to talk to Microsoft).
8. Firefox is open source, so if you are a programmer, you can look at and help with coding Firefox.
9. Firefox has lots of companion products that work side-by-side with it.
10. Firefox is free (and not to mention, totally awesome)!!!!

If you still don't want Firefox listen to this. I was a die-hard Internet Explorer person. I loved Internet Explorer and even after trying Firefox, hated it. After the release of 3.0, I decided to try it again, and I was hooked. I'm sure your thinking, yea right, but this is actually true. I sometimes have to use Internet Explorer to do thing from Microsoft and I always sit their impatiently waiting for it to open. Not only does it take years to open, but the tabs take a long time too. It is really amazing how after using Firefox for so long, Internet Explorer seems like a turtle. Anyways, look out for my new series: Weekend Project: Organize, Clean, and Clear your PC! Also, I would like to hear what you think about the new Firefox in the comments. If you prefer Internet Explorer., explain why.

How-To: Convert Your Files into a Readable Format

Have you ever been one step from uploading a video to Youtube, or compiling together that office project when the screen turns red and reads: "The file you chose is not a supported format." It could even be a business proposal someone sent you that has a newer version of Microsoft Word. What should you do? Convert the file to a format that is supported. But how do you do that? You can use freeware/paid programs or websites to transfer your file to a readable file type. This how-to will give you the sites and programs you will need to achieve this. Read More...

As I mentioned above, there are two types of conversion methods. Programs and websites. I prefer websites because they don't require you to download software and fill up space on your computer. Conversion websites do have limitations. They are not as fast as having a program do it directly on your computer and there is a possibility of a record of all the files your converted in the sites database. Programs obviously provide more confidentially in that matter, but if you download them from untrusted sites, you may be downloading a virus to your computer. Always use caution when downloading programs. Which method you chose is your decision, but consider my advice wisely.

Websites
There really isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. Websites are a good choice if you are only doing one or two small conversions since they don't require a download. By far, my favorite site is Media Convert. It provides conversions for pretty much every kind of file you can come up with. For (Rare) files not supported by Media Convert, another good option is Zamzar. Zamzar is most commonly used for it's conversion of DOCX (Microsoft Word 2007) to DOC (Original Microsoft Word). Aside from those there really are that many other online services. Some others I found are YouConvertIt and iConv.

Programs
You probably want to download a conversion programs if you have lots of files or bigger files to convert. It will take less time and you won't have to download your file from a conversion site. Since they are free, you are not going to find a multi-type file conversion program. For audio conversion, try FreeRIP, an all audio file converter with a CD ripper. Video converts are not that hard to come by, but free ones are. I prefer to use AVS Video Converter since it includes not only video file conversion, but an almost fully fledged video editor and DVD creator all for a great price. Free! For other formats you will have to look around for programs since conversions such as DOC to DOCX have a program dedicated to just that. If you have read my Freeware article, you know Googling the word free is horrible and will have you browsing billions of pages all usually for trial versions, or programs that aren't free at all. I have made some improvements to the freeware search and here is the newer version.

Soogle Free Software Search: (Version 2.0)

You can even visit Soogle's New Website!! (Looks familiar doesn't it!) While it is still a work in progress, I am working toward making Soogle a great little search engine.

Tip: Bypass the UAC (Extra Tricks)

So if you have read my latest tip, Disable UAC for Certain Programs, you may notice some problems. For one, it takes some time for the program to load when you click the shortcut. Also, a black box flashes before it opens. Another problem is the icon's logo is not the program's logo. Wouldn't it be nice if these problems were fixed? In this edition of Tips, you can add bells and whistles to your UAC Bypassing shortcuts. Read More...

The fix for the black screen and the slow boot up is simple:

1. Right Click on the Desktop Shortcut
2. Click Properties
3. Select the Shorcut Tab
4. Click the drop down box next to run and select Minimized
5. Click Apply and then OK

The other problem with the icon can be fixed by:

1. Right Click on the Desktop Shortcut
2. Click Properties
3. Select the Shortcut Tab
4. Click Change Icon
5. Click Browse
6. Navigate and Select your Program and then press OK (See the previous tip for help on finding it's location)
7. Click the icon and click OK
8. Then click Apply and then OK again

These simple fixes will help enhance the shortcuts so they function just like the real thing, but without the UAC. You may have noticed in the last article there was a problem. When you tried to click the icon nothing appeared. I apologize for this mistake and it is currently fixed (Thanks Vista Forums!!!).

Tip: Disable the UAC for Certain Programs

In my previous article, we learned the two ways to disable the Windows Vista UAC: a command prompt hack and through command prompt. It is not a good idea to disable the UAC for extended periods of time due to security vulnerabilities and programs gaining unauthorized access to your computer. Most of us though, are so annoyed with certain programs being blocked by the UAC. The reason for this is because the program needs to perform an administrative task such as accessing the internet (Browsers are exempt), and editing and deleting files in system folders (Such as Program Files and the Windows folder). In fact, you probably disabled UAC because it blocks one of your programs that you use frequently. There is hope. With a simple little trick using the task scheduler, you can run your programs with administrative privileges without the UAC bothering you! Read More...

So how does this miracle trick work. Well, in Windows Vista (and XP) you have a task scheduler. Since most programs that are scheduled require confirmation from the UAC, Microsoft added a run with highest privileges check box. This would allow programs to run automatically (when scheduled) without the hassle of clicking continue on the UAC prompt. This is how we are going to run your program. Simply create a task, check the run with highest privileges, and make a shortcut to run the task. Here's how to do it in detail:

1. First click Start and then All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Task Scheduler.
2. Click allow if you are prompted by the UAC (You should be unless it is disabled).
3. In the left hand column, right click on Task Scheduler Library and then click New Folder.
4. Name it UAC Bypass and click the OK button.
5. Now click the arrow next to Task Scheduler Library.
6. Right Click on your new folder and then click Create Task.
7. Name it with the name of your Program and type a description. (Remember the Name, we will use it later)
8. Make sure to check run with highest privileges at the bottom.
9. Click the actions tab and then click new.
10. Select Start a Program from the drop down box.
11. Click the browse button and find your program (It should be an .exe; If your not sure where it is, see the instructions for finding it's location below)
12. If you have any arguments such as /AUTO (Which runs in the background) in CCleaner, type them in the arguments box.
13. Click OK
14. If you have a laptop, click the Conditions tab and uncheck Start the Task Only if the Computer is on AC power.
15. Click the OK button.
16. Now go to your desktop. (You may close the Task Scheduler)
17. Rick Click and go to New>Shortcut.
18. Type (And replace [Program Name] with the name of your TASK):
    C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn "\UAC Bypass\[Program Name]"
    
19. Give it a good name.

Finding the Location of your Program

1. Right click on the program's shortcut on the desktop.
2. Click Properties.
3. It's location is in the target box under the Shortcut Tab.

And there you have it. Now when you try to run the program, it will run without the UAC prompt. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for this tip: include it in a comment, post it on the forums, or PM us through our Youtube Channel.