Recent versions of Microsoft Word software uses .docx format for saving files. DOC format is also available, though Microsoft has been pushing hard for widespread adoption of .doc format. While technically superior, .docx causes compatibilty issues, and is generally frowned upon by those who believe “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. Docx uses compression […]
Category: Technology
Stop Windows 7 Microsoft SpyNet to alleviate privacy concerns
Windows 7 comes built-in with a SpyNet service (connected to Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials) that logs various data related to these programs and sends them to Microsoft. Although the name sounds like a dangerous “Big Brother” spying program from Microsoft, it isn’t quite as dangerous (at least on the outset). SpyNet runs automatically […]
Auto-set daily Bing backgrounds as desktop wallpaper
Love it or hate it, but Microsoft’s Bing search engine has a few much-needed differences from Google, and a growing number of users are liking it. You could say that its not-so-spartan interface is one such difference. The daily wallpaper is a nice touch too. Bing 4 Free is a free app that downloads Bing […]
Productivity tip: save frequently used Mac Terminal commands as Automator workflow
There might be terminal commands that you use frequently. Instead of opening Terminal and copy-pasting the command every time you need it, you can create an Automator workflow for this. Automator is a Mac utility to automate tasks that you may need to use frequently. To create our workflow, open Automator (from Applications). Click Custom […]
Whos.amung.us addons to track visitors to your site [Firefox and Chrome]
Whos Amung Us is a web analytics website (that I reviewed earlier). It shows the number of visitors who are on each page of your website. All you need to do is add a few lines of code to each page that you wish to track. The live statistics and easy setup of Whos Amung […]
Force auto complete forms in Firefox
I have written about forcing Google Chrome to auto-fill forms. The same can be achieved on Firefox with a Greasemonkey userscript. This is required on some websites that do not allow you to autofill forms (handled by Firefox). This can quickly get on your nerves if you handle such sites several times a day, more […]
Download Start Menu Cleaner to Remove Broken Shortcuts and Empty Folders
Most programs add folders and shortcuts to the Windows start menu upon installation. Call it bad design, but some applications do not remove them completely upon being uninstalled. To keep a computer optimized and fast, it is necessary that such useless leftovers are cleared promptly. Instead of manually deleting them, you can use a freeware […]
Hard-reset Samsung Omnia for factory/default setting
Messing with phone settings and configuration can sometimes cause problems, or even make your device outright unusable. In such cases, going back to default settings(also called factory setting) by performing a hard reset might be the only option. A hard reset is also a compromise between a firmware flash and having to suffer existing troubles, […]
Prevent video stream auto start on YouTube
YouTube videos start streaming automatically. However, there might be occasions when you want to disable this – if opening multiple videos, or on a slow internet connection. There is no way to disable auto play within YouTube, and going by the number of complaints in various forums (including the official Google one), it certainly is […]
Cannot install Compiz Config Manager with sudo apt-get ccsm
Compiz is a popular compositing and window manager for Linux. It brings a host of improvements to the user interface. In some tutorials showing you how to install Compiz, the command to be entered in terminal is sudo apt-get install ccsm (for Ubuntu, in this case) but entering that command shows you an error “ccsm […]