Tweetchat-Blinders for your Twitterstream
By · CommentsTweetChat is web-based software that let’s you follow a hashtag – yes just one hashtag. (A hashtag is the # symbol followed by key words and is used for just about any imaginable topic.) Perhaps you’ve been at a meeting or event and the speaker will announce, “follow the social conversation at #meeting”. In order to do this, sign into your Twitter account and up in the search box, type in #meeting (or whatever the topic is). 
Then, you’ll be taken to a page with this hashtag and you can keep refreshing and following the conversation.
TweetChat is a great app to use instead of the steps above because the web app allows you to participate in the conversation right from the page. Since the app requires you to sign in to TweetChat with your Twitter ID, they already know who you are, so when you’re ready to jump in and comment, just type in the box. You won’t be bothered with any other twitter streams going by – you’ll only see conversations associated with the hashtag you entered in. This is really great for a hot topic going on – perhaps a popular event, or a natural disaster.
Control the Speed and Block Irritating People
There are two great features to mention:
- Refresh Speed – for monitoring fast-breaking situations, you may want to slow down the refresh rate – otherwise things may go by too quickly to respond. Perhaps there’s a tweeter you’d like to respond to, but it disappears because the stream is going by so quickly.
- Block – of course there are always the party-poopers in a group – those who are there to heckle or object or make someone’s life miserable. Just put their twitter handle in this space and poof – they’re gone!
Even if you’re not at a meeting or following an event, use TweetChat to monitor subjects of interest to you. Just try typing some words in – there’s probably a hashtag for it. If you want to know what hashtags people are using, go to http://hashtags.org. It’ll show the trending hashtags. Hover over one and see the popularity trend.
Thanks to @marismith, a huge Facebook Diva, but also she also does Twitter. I got the idea to research TweetChat because she mentioned using it in one of her articles.
Today we’re going to go over how to make your copy of Windows legal (assuming it isn’t). Perhaps you bought a computer from Ebay or Craigslist or a friend or family member ‘worked’ on your computer and installed a bootleg copy of Windows from a shady site.
The latter happened to a client of mine and she called saying she was getting pop-ups (from Microsoft), letting her know her copy of Windows wasn’t valid.
If you get WAT (Windows activation tool) popups saying your copy of windows isn’t valid, the fastest and easiest thing to do is click on the popup and then you’ll be taken to a Microsoft site where you can purchase your ‘Get Genuine Windows’ kit. I tried to find a link to the site, but there’s not one that I can find. This may be because the price is less than buying a full version of Windows. (Of course use caution when you click on a pop-up as it could be a phishing scheme. Verify you are at the Microsoft site by looking at your URL.)
There’s a comprehensive site called Genuine Windows, that gives a lot of information on how to tell if your copy of Windows is genuine or not. From what I’m reading, you won’t be given a link to purchase the Windows Kit unless it’s determined your copy is not valid.
After you place your on-line order and pay, you’ll get an email from Microsoft with instructions and your product key – so keep that email!
Next Steps
- You’ can update your existing product key (no DVD needed). This is the quickest way to get your computer going again-no waiting for a DVD in the mail. Keep in mind that you can only use the key to activate the same version of windows you currently have. For example, if you have Windows 7 Home Premium on your computer, and you pay for a Windows 7 Home Premium kit, then you can simply apply the key (again your instructions will be in your email, so keep it), and your computer will be legit. Microsoft states in the email that you must visit the URL they give you to apply the key from the same computer you purchased the kit from. This keeps people from trying to use the key on a different computer.
- You can wait for your DVDs (one 32-bit & one 64-bit) to come in the mail – usually takes a week or so. Put it in and a setup screen will present. Now you can choose to either do a fresh and full install or you can choose to input the new product key.My client wanted a fresh install and I recommend this to blow away all the cruft and start fresh. Before doing this, be sure to transfer your documents and other data to an external drive before doing the fresh install. A complete reformat of your computer erases everything on the drive. If you are just going to activate, I’d still backup everything just to be on the safe side. My client had a bootleg copy of Windows Ultimate, but I easily installed Windows 7 Home Premium in about 30 minutes. Of course, the updates following made it take longer. It should be noted that if you have Windows Vista (or another Windows version), and want to ‘get genuine’ and purchase Windows 7, you must use the DVD to do a full install.
While I was going through the install process, I saw one of the screens said that the copy of Windows could not be transferred to another computer, sold or put on a new computer.
If you’d like more in-depth information, here’s a link to one of Microsoft’s support forums that gives more information on the process from a user who had problems.
If you happen to get a bootleg copy of Windows, I hope this helps prepare you for the process. Yes, it’ll cost some money, but not as much as buying a full version. Good luck and let me know your experience with the Get Genuine Kit.
How To Handle Clutter
By · CommentsDo you make New Year’s resolutions? I’m not one to do that because I feel that if something needs to change, why wait for a new year – just get going with it! Perhaps many of you have thought about having a cleaner office or home in 2012.
Do you find yourself postponing opening mail or organizing small stacks of paper and then the small stacks get larger and soon you’re avoiding the stack and hoping it’ll all resolve itself? Here are a few tips and suggestions that seem to help me.
A Paper Gathering place my husband uses
- Set aside a block of time to take action. A block of time can be 5 minutes. In fact, if you dread facing the piles, telling yourself 5 minutes might make it seem more bearable and you may end up wanting to go just a few more minutes.
- Pick up each piece of paper and handle it – you have three choices, trash/recycle, file/for future reference or handle it right away. This may mean there’s a bill to pay, an entry to make on a calendar, a phone call, etc. Don’t put it back on the pile!
- Put like things together. If you have receipts scattered about, collect them together. Then decide if they need to be archived, recorded or otherwise handled. You’re feeling better already, aren’t you?
- Do you have a reading stack? Most of us do – a stack of “I really want to go through this material – someday’. If your some day stack has been there for over a month, it’s time to toss it, it’s probably not going to happen. You probably won’t be missing that much and it probably won’t matter much. If it was truly important, you’d have read it by now.
- Sentimental items – your kid’s artwork, an old stuffed animal, an aware from long ago—what to do with them? Recently, I blogged about how I started handling this. I took photos of the art work and other mementos and took pictures of them, put them into Windows Movie Maker and then narrated the video using Jing. Then I put all the artwork and misc. into a bag and put it in the trash. Now I admit, I still have one bag that hasn’t made it to the trash yet, but perhaps this article will motivate me to follow my advice!
- Remember the 6-month rule? It really makes sense. If you think you have to keep something because you’ll ‘need it some day’, but it in a box, label it with the date and go back to it 6 months later and look in it. If it wasn’t needed, it probably won’t be. Unless it’s a tax or otherwise related item, give it away, take a picture of it and get it out of your office//house
These are a few of the methods I use and although I’m not always clutter free, I do make time for a couple de-cluttering sessions every week. My reward is seeing clean counter-tops and desktops in my house and office.
What are some of your tips and recommendations?
How To Back Up Windows Live Mail
By · CommentsIf you have a Windows Live Mail account, have you thought about backing up your mail? Yes, I know it’s in
the cloud, but the unforeseen can happen. Your account could get hacked and you might want to close that account and start over but want to keep your messages. Something could happen with the cloud and your messages could get wiped out. Lastly, it’s your mail, and you need to be in control of it.
Backup Windows Live Mail
If you’re using hotmail or livemail on the web only, you may want to consider getting the free desktop client to install on your desktop. This way, you’ll have off-line access to your mail account and the desktop client has a few features that the web doesn’t. You can get it here by itself, or as a suite of free downloads from Microsoft.
Here’s a quick 3” video that shows you how to export your Windows Live Mail into an .ini file that you can store on your computer or a backup drive. Of course, you’ll want to back up at regular intervals to be as up-to-date as possible.
Backup Windows Live Contacts
Contacts are also important, so there’s a section here on how to export your contacts into a .csv file. This file can be imported into Outlook or Gmail, if you wish.
Windows Live Calendar
Calendar items can’t be backed up at this time. But if you use the web-based calendar along with the desktop client of Windows Live Mail, your calendar items will be synced. If you lose your account though, this won’t help you, will it? There are third party programs (for pay) out there that will back up your Live Calendar if you have that need.
Do you use Windows Live Mail or Hotmail for your business or just personal use? If you are a business, I’d suggest Office 365 at $6/month from Microsoft. For $6/month, you get Exchange mail that’s backed up for you – peace of mind. Read here for other advantages of O365.
Reflections on 2011 & Top 10 Posts
By · Comments
Lynn with Sophie & Duffy (L to R)
Time to reflect on 2011 as it relates to my business and blog. I’ve been blogging weekly since May of 2007 on technology, organization, gadgets and how-tos. My goal in doing this is to bring readers to my site who are computer enthusiasts, small business owners or entrepreneurs. Once they are here, they do like to visit my Home Page (as you can see below, it’s the 2nd most visited page on my site. A secondary goal is to keep myself up to date with new software and gadgets coming out. To do this, I’m an avid tech pod/netcast listener. I also subscribe to various tech blogs and troll those headlines for interesting tidbits. Thirdly, a blog is a great way to drive traffic to your website—as long as it’s updated frequently with great, relevant content. I’ve gained one client because of my blog – he contacted me out of the blue one day. That was pretty cool.
Each year I like to publish the top 10 articles most read on my blog – so below are the top 10 and the number of views they had. Number one has always been how to sync your Windows Calendar with Google Calendar & Outlook. In fact, it’s number one every day! That means there are a lot of people out there who are trying to get their calendars and thus their lives organized by using technology. Syncing calendars seems to get a bit easier each year with Microsoft, Google and Apple trying to play a bit nicer with each other – at least in calendaring.
As we all get ready for 2012, take time to do a bit of planning and goal setting. Once you’ve set your goals, then you’ll need a plan to accomplish them. Just saying, ‘I’d like to get 2 more ideal clients and refresh my website” doesn’t mean it’ll get done. Write down a time to start and finish and then write down the weekly steps to attain them.
Thanks for being a reader, or if this is your first time here, I hope you’ll look around a bit.
LastPass Account More Secure With Google Authenticator
By · CommentsMerry Christmas! I missed last week as I was under the weather, but now am back. This week we talk about a great add-on for your LastPass account.
I wrote about LastPass awhile back and it has been an application that has truly saved my sanity ever since I realized how safe, effective and timesaving it is. It’s been endorsed by the paranoid Security Expert, Steve Gibson, and that’s good enough for me.
Recently, LastPass added a multi-factor add-on for all their customers. Multi-factor simply seems that whenever you log in to an account, you must give more than one piece of identification. So in addition to entering in my password, I also will use Google Authenticator on my mobile phone to let LastPass know it’s really me. It’s something I know (password) and something I have (phone).
Since this is from Google, it’s easily installed on any Android phone or device. There’s also an iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch & Blackberry app that will help you get going. I have a Windows Phone 7 and I was happy to see that someone had developed one for the WP7. I wish I could say I had an easy time getting it installed and working, but alas, it was difficult. Below is one of the steps for getting the WP7 app on my phone.
After you have installed the app on your phone, then click to follow directions to authenticate your phone with LastPass. You’ll be taken to a screen at the LastPass site where you can either scan your barcode into your phone, or you can choose to get a code delivered to your phone, type it in the box on the computer screen, click ‘Authenticate’ and you’re in.
It should be noted that you’ll have to use multi-factor authentication (your phone), to access your LastPass Vault only on unfamiliar or untrusted devices. I’m glad they built that in as it would be silly to have to use this system with your desktop or laptop. There is also a drop down to allow or disallow off-line access. This means, if you are having connectivity issues and are off-line, you can still log into your LastPass Vault. Again, a smart move.
This page contains a comprehensive User’s Manual for LastPass. If you don’t have a smart phone, there are still other ways to keep your LastPass account safe and secure. There are many other great features of LastPass in the manual, it’s a good one to look through.
Remove Facebook News Ticker
By · CommentsDo you like seeing all the Facebook minutia scrolling on your screen while in Facebook? If so, read no further. However, if you’d like to get rid of that Facebook Ticker, read on. Here are ways to get rid of the constant scrolling with simple extensions and add-ins for both Chrome and Firefox. Internet Explorer 9 just came out with their method to remove the ticker, however, the steps are too detailed. I’ve decided to leave my IE9 browser alone for now. Perhaps later there’ll be something easier to use!
How to Eliminate Facebook Ticker From Chrome
To remove the Facebook News Ticker from Chrome – click here to go to the Chrome App store. Then simply click the ‘Add To Chrome’ button and just like that – no more Facebook news ticker! No restart of Chrome necessary either!
How to Eliminate Facebook Ticker From Firefox
Firefox has also made it easy to eliminate the Facebook Ticker. It’s simply an add-in. Go here and add it to Firefox. You will need to restart your browser.
If you’d like to remove a slew of Facebook notifications, such as when someone ‘friends’ someone, if someone ‘likes’ a page or updates their profile and all the little things like that, there’s a way to eliminate all of that too. Click here to go to Feed Filter where you can decide the kinds of updates you’d like to hide.
Eliminate Facebook Ticker From Internet Explorer 9
Internet Explorer 9 was the last to add this feature and it’s got a lot of steps to it. Pete McKenna did a great job outlining the steps along with screen shots on his blog, so if you’re interested in removing the Facebook Ticker from Internet Explorer 9, then check it out at his site.
Kindle Fire Review
By · CommentsI’d been planning on purchasing an iPad by the end of the year, then I started getting interested in the Amazon Kindle Fire after reading about it and seeing it at the Amazon site. The sticking point for me was the screen size. I just didn’t think I’d be happy with the 7” Fire screen vs. the 11” iPad screen. I knew the Kindle had many fewer apps, but I’m not a big app person anyway and if the main ones I use are on (and they are), then I don’t care about games and other time-wasters.
One of the 'splash' screens-swipe to open
My Kindle Fire arrived this week and when I opened it and turned it on, I was rather surprised when it knew who I was and welcomed me by name. I suppose since I’m an Amazon user, that information was put on to the Kindle they sent me. So my music in the clouds was there waiting for me as well as my few Kindle books previously ordered that I’ve never taken the time to read on my phone or my PC (phone too small, and I don’t want to read books sitting at my computer).
Kindle Fire Initial Discoveries
The Fire was a bit heavier than I thought it would be, but it’s still comfortable to hold. The screen is gorgeous, the colors are vibrant and it’s very fast. The button to turn it on is on the bottom and there are no other buttons – just the A/C input and an audio input. The splash screen has a different image every time I’ve turned it on (not sure how many images there are). Then simply swipe to the left to open and you’re greeted to a bookshelf with all the various categories.
what's on the Kindle
Kindle Fire Reading Experience
It was fun exploring all the categories. I went to books first and opened one up to see how I liked the reading experience. The text was crisp and easy to read and easy on my eyes. Of course there are numerous settings for font size and font type. By tapping around on the bottom of the screen, I discovered how to bookmark and how to highlight and make notes. (There is a user’s guide for complete instructions). I did a little reading and it was nice to not have to hold a 600-page book! It’s also nice to not fight with paperback books and trying to keep them open. It’s pretty cool that Amazon has a book lending program. I haven’t checked that out yet. Earlier this year, Amazon announced that Kindle owners can now borrow library books – can’t beat these two pros of the Kindle.
TV shows
I played a song from my music collection. Note that you will need to have a wifi connection as whatever you want to listen to has to be downloaded first. The speakers weren’t that great for music, but there’s not a lot of room for speakers in the device.
Kindle Fire Apps
Apps!
Then I wanted to check out the app store. It’s easy to find and add new apps. As a bonus – Amazon is giving away one free app a day at the app store. They choose the app! So it’s worth it to go to the app store every day and the free app will be right there for you to look at and decide to download or not. There are about 8,500 apps right now and all vetted by Amazon to work and work well on the Kindle.
Next I checked out the Video section and that’s where the Amazon Prime members can go to watch movies & TV shows for free. Of course, there are TV shows and movies for rent or sale too. I played some of a nature documentary and it started right away, no jerks or hesitations and the colors were beautiful. No complaints there.
The Kindle Fire is Wi-Fi only, I’ve heard later on they will probably add 3G, so if you’re on the go, you’ll have to make sure your device is loaded with your content. There’s no additional storage slots, so keep that in mind if you like to store a lot of content on your device. It does have just 8GB of storage, so not a huge amount.
The beauty of the Kindle Fire is how it integrates so well with the Amazon store, their cloud storage and for watching videos. If you’re a big Amazon user, this tablet probably makes more sense for you than the Barnes & Noble Nook. If you’re a big B&N fan, then go with the Nook. Same thing if you’re in the Mac world – all their products are designed to work well together.
For $200, I went with this device over the iPad for all the reasons stated above. I don’t think I’ll regret it either. What are your experiences with the different tablets and why?
Screenpresso-Free Screen Capture Tools
By · Comments(Originally published in March of 2010 – repeating here the day after Thanksgiving, 2011. Happy Thanksgiving all!)
Scre
enpresso came cross my radar just a week or so ago. It seems they are pretty new to the web because when I went to follow them on Twitter, I was just the 84th follower.
Screenpresso is a screen capture/editing/effects/twitter tool. Oh, and it’s free! It’s a bit like Microsoft’s Snipping Tool—only more feature-rich. After it’s downloaded, it resides in your system tray (I know, another resource drain, but you can turn it off). When you’re ready to get a screen shot, just right click on the icon and you’ll get a menu of items. This is where you choose if you want an entire screenshot or a certain region of a screen. There’s a cool feature called ‘screenshot autoroll’ which stitches together more than one screen-full.
Above is a shot of their main features—let’s take a look at the more advanced features:
- screenshot history – if you don’t want to save your captures, just leave them in the history of Screenpresso. If it’s something you won’t use again, just delete it. If it’s something you’ll use over and over, there’s an option to save it to a folder on your hard drive. It looks like they are saved in a date order and with a .png extension. If you find yourself making a lot of captures, I’d suggest filing them in folders to keep things manageable.
- add effects – here’s where you can add borders, shadows, etc.
- capture scrolling part – this feature lets you capture more than one screen-full using a stitching mechanism. I didn’t try out this feature, but this is pretty cool!
- screenshot to email – this is very nice because all you have to do is have your history open and drag your capture over to your email task bar and it will put it in your email as a .png attachment.
- screenshots to Twitter – pull up your history and you’ll see the twitter bird icon at the bottom of the screen. Click it and you’ll get a popup to sign in to your Twitter account and send it to twitpic and add a message.
- edit/enhance your image – here’s where you can add explanatory text, arrows or other formatting features to highlight an item or feature. Also a nice feature is the blurring tool – great for blocking sensitive/identifying data
Conclusion
Since this is a start-up, they are still working out kinks and probably trying to make everything work. They are working on a Pro version, which will probably be a for-pay service. I see it looks like they will be offering video – but that service isn’t ready just yet.
I liked using it, the features were pretty intuitive and didn’t take too long to catch on. I think Jing is a competitor of theirs (you can read my article on that), and has an advantage because you can video and record what’s on your screen and share it. I’ll still use Microsoft’s Snipping Tool most because I usually don’t have a need to put effects on my snips or save them. Screenpresso is great for full screenshots and being able to point out with text or arrows what you want your reader to see.
FireFox–Memory Hog?
By · CommentsWhen Firefox came out, we were all so happy about its speed and nimbleness. As the browser has matured, its become a bit of a memory hog what with all the add-ons and improvements. I’ve been hearing Steve Gibson of Security Now speak about it several times in the last 
couple of months, so I thought I’d check it out. If you’re running Firefox 6, I’ve heard this browser version is the worst. The new version 7 is supposedly much better.
First, you’ll want to see for yourself how much memory Firefox is using. Mozilla has made it easy. Simply type about:cache in the URL bar to get a look at your current memory situation. I have 4GB of memory on my machine and I just had logged off and back into my computer, so you can see my storage in use was very low after doing this. Try it after you’ve had your browser open and going for a few days and see what it is.
Things to Do to Speed Up Firefox
1. Close your browser and reopen it. Simple, but effective.
2. Reduce the session history number. This setting keeps track of all the pages you’ve visited and this number can be safely and easily reduced. The default is 50. I changed mine to 25. To do this, you’ll first type in about:config in the Firefox URL bar. You may get a warning, just click OK. Then hit Ctrl + F (find), and type in “browser.sessionhistory.max_entries” and you’ll see it as I have pictured below. Right-click on the line and select ‘modify’. Then type in a number.
3. Go through your Add-ons, Extensions and Plug-ins and delete the ones you’re not using or no longer need. To do this, hit Ctrl+shift+A and you’ll be taken to a screen where you can go through all of these and just remove the ones you’re not using. I found quite a few add-ons I deleted.
4. Set Firefox’s max cache size. This can be a bit risky, I’ve read. I prefer to let windows take care of how much memory is used for anything I do.
Now you can check how much memory FIrefox is using and take some steps to reduce all the memory being used. Good luck and if you have found other solutions, please leave a comment.
