Archive for computer tips
FireFox–Memory Hog?
Posted 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.
5 Ways to Import Your Blog into Facebook
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are currently importing your blog into Facebook using the Notes application, you’ve probably seen the following notice when logging into Facebook:
Changes to How You Share Content in Notes – You currently automatically import content from your website or blog into your Facebook notes. Starting November 22nd, this feature will no longer available, although you’ll still be able to write individual notes. The best way to share content from your website is to post links on your timeline. Learn more about notes.
Notes is an easy-to-use application from Facebook. It has a feature on it to import your blog whenever it detects a new post. However, beginning November 22nd, the import feature will be gone. The reason they give is that… We want you to connect with your fans in the most effective ways possible. That’s why as of September 30th you’ll no longer be able to automatically import posts from your website to your Page notes. The best way to get people to interact with your content is to give them insight into the links you share on your Wall by adding personal comments and responding to feedback from fans.
Be that as it may, the Notes application will still be there for you to use and post manually (so you can add your pithy comments), but it won’t be automated.
So what alternatives are there if you want automation in posting your blog articles?
I’ve been signed up with NetworkedBlogs to automate my blog articles into my Facebook newsfeed. It’s pretty easy to set up and it’s more effective in getting traffic because you can register your blog with NetworkedBlogs in a strategically chosen category and then your blog will be listed in their database of blogs. I’ve gotten a great response using this free app.
Ping.fm is another web tool I use. If you want your blog to be posted to multiple social media accounts at the same time, try out ping.fm. It’s a web-based tool where your login information is collected and then automates posting to various social accounts.
I heard of Posterous through a WordPress friend. I’m becoming very interested in it, especially since I read they’ve added scheduling to their list of features. So I can’t vouch for it personally, but I’ve heard great things.
The good old RSS feed is also an option. This will need to be set up from within your blog.
If you’re a WordPress user, check out the plugins available from WordPress. I think the best way to find a plugin is to do some internet searches and read some reviews, or else from within the repository, see how many downloads it has and how many stars it has.
So here are five ways available to you to replace the Notes feature soon to be gone. Let me know what you’re using and why. If anyone’s used Posterous, I’d like to hear your experiences.
Join.Me Review-Ultimate Ease in Screensharing
Posted by: | CommentsA client introduced me to Join.Me. He said it’s the easiest screensharing product he’s ever used and he uses it for presenting to clients not as software-savvy as he. It’s touted as ‘ridiculously simple’ to use and it really is. It was introduced in November, 2010 by LogMeIn, a company with a host of remote connectivity products. It works with Windows, Mac, iPhone and iPad via the app store – see image below. Best of all, it’s free—with a pro version with additional features if you’re so inclined.
There is no registration and no download needed for people joining you. On the presenter side, just go to join.me and download the little applet. Open it and you’ll get the small set of controls that pop up at the top of your screen (pictured below). There’s a link that you can copy and paste and send to people right from this screen, or you can send via your email, or you can just tell the person to navigate to join.me and put in the number and they are connected to your desktop.
Features of Join.Me
- free conference call number & access code you can give to all participants (of course, normal phone charges apply) – the pro version capacity is for up to 250 people, not sure about the free version
- chat – since everyone has to type a name in before joining, you’ll see the names and can send private messages during the presentation or send message to all participants – nice
- pause – the large middle button pauses the screen in case the presenter needs to do something on his computer the others don’t need to see
- list of participants – this button shows who all is on the call
- mouse – for giving control to another person on the call (pro feature)
- file exchange – the presenter can share a file with the group
Since there’s no registration on anyone’s part, the little applet has to be downloaded each time you need to use it. The number is a 1-time use number and if you close it down, the session ends and you can’t get back to it, only start a new one.
Join.Me Pro Features
- ability to schedule a meeting
- get your very own personalized link to share – you get to choose your username
- personalized background – great for promoting your brand with clients
- other features & pricing listed below
- 256-bit encryption (same as banks use, they say) this is for either version of join.me
Join.Me Pro Features & Pricing
There’s really no downside to this free software – even internet babes should be able to use it. Try it out soon!
How to Archive your Paper Memories
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have boxes of grade school, high school, vacation or other paper ‘treasures’ taking up room in your closets? Do you want to reduce the amount of paper? Hate to part with them,yet tired of keeping them around? My tech tip for this week may be a good solution for you.
I’ve made a video that both shows a project I did while telling you how I did it. In our article today, I’ll go into a few more details. Here’s how I did it:
- Take pictures or scan your pictures or documents. I chose to use my camera.
- Import your pictures into your favorite picture-saving software (Windows Live Photo Gallery, Picasa, Flickr, etc.)
- Then import your pictures into your favorite movie software (Windows Live Movie Maker or Picasa will work). You could also choose to import your pictures into PowerPoint 2010 and make a slide show from there.
- Download & install Jing, a free screencapture software. There’s plenty of documentation at TechSmith regarding how to use Jing, so I won’t go into it here.
- Start your movie or presentation and start Jing. You have 5” to speak about your slides – that’s the Jing time limit. I recommend paying $15 for Jing Pro. Your video can be easily uploaded to YouTube and put in a format ready for sharing either via a link, on Facebook or other social services.
- Be sure to back up both your photos and your video to the clouds.
- Now you’re ready to share your video with friends and family. If you use cloud storage, DropBox, SkyDrive and many other cloud storage choices make it easy to share with people.
A Limitation of Jing
In order to use Jing, you must either start it up by clicking on the yellow ‘sun’ object, or start it from the system tray. It’s not possible to start up the movie you’ve made in full-screen mode and then start Jing. This is because when the movie is running, Jing isn’t available. The work-around for it I found was to make my movie large on my screen, then I started up Jing and ‘drew’ the rectangle above the start button for my movie. I could then start the movie and it would go through the transitions – just not in full screen mode. If anyone knows how to get around that, I’d love to hear it! (If you’re not familiar with Jing, let me explain the ‘draw the rectangle’ phrase I used above. When Jing is started, your computer screen will go dark and you’ll see a yellow outline on your screen. Then you select the part of your screen you want to highlight and show, this is the ‘rectangle’. Anything inside the rectangle means you can’t use your mouse to click inside while Jing is recording.)
The one way I did get it to work full-screen was in PowerPoint. I was able to ‘draw’ my rectangle in such a way that I was able to start my presentation and then I could start Jing.
Go Digital and Ditch the Paper
It does take some time to sift through thing and decide what’s worth keeping but once it’s done, you’ll have more space and you’ll have a better and long lasting way to archive your memories – both for you and your family. What are some things you do to save your memories?
How to Make a Photo Album with PowerPoint
Posted by: | CommentsThere are many ways to share photos. I’m going to show you a quick and easy way to insert an entire folder of pictures into PowerPoint 2010, add some cool design features and save and share it and be on your way. You’ll have a photo album in PowerPoint that you can take with you, save to the web (your SkyDrive), broadcast it on the web, or make a 
movie.
I’ve got a video (under 3”), that shows you step by step how to insert your pictures and then spiff them up a bit to make it look professional before saving and sharing.
Share your Photos
If you have a large photo album, you may want to send it via email. There is a compression feature you can utilize if you wish to do this.
There are several other options available to you below. Let’s go over them:
Save to Web – this will save it to your SkyDrive (free, just need a Windows Live ID)
Save to Sharepoint – this is a paid service (you can get it with Office 365)
Broadcast Slides – this looks really cool and easy, but when I tried it out, I found out that the presentation has to be seen by all viewers simultaneously. At least it seemed that way to me. Kind of strange.
Publish Slides – This was also a bit strange – it shows a list of all slides and there’s a check box by each slide and I can choose to ‘publish’ a single slide.
Photos Saved Another Way
There is also the ability to make your slides into a movie. I tried this option and it would convert the presentation into a .wmv movie file. I can add transition effects too. Nice.
You can save it into a .pdf for sharing/emailing to people who don’t have PowerPoint..
Microsoft is really coming along with some forward-looking features in PowerPoint. I hope you’ll check this one out and let me know your results.
What You Get With Jing Pro
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re in the camp that says short videos are the hot thing and every small business owner should be adding this medium to their social arsenal of ways to reach customers, then you might want to think about going ‘Pro’ with Jing.
Last week, I wanted to do a Jing video for my blog article and it’s easy enough to use the free Jing to record and share my video. The sticking point is that it’s NOT easy to put on YouTube and then embed the video on my website. I know there are programs to convert the Jing .swf file into something YouTube likes (MPG4 is best), but once I run the conversions, the resulting video still didn’t work right. I tried both iWisoft and one other converter and couldn’t get either of them to do the conversion correctly.
Then I remembered the Jing Pro for just $15/year. So I signed up for it! Now, I had to re-record my video since it won’t convert what’s already been recorded, but no big deal.
What You Get With Jing Pro
- Jing condenses your video so it’s not as large – better for sharing.
- Upload directly to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, FTP or Flickr (note that you will need to setup/link these services before you do your video. It’s nice to have the 1-click and ability to send right where you want it.
- Ability to go from your webcam (for a shot of your face), and then back to your screen. This is kind of cool.
- No more ads at the end of your video
- Still restricted to 5” of recording. Wish it was 10” for Pro users
Here’s my current configuration. The instructions to upload to multiple social places are easy to follow.
Regarding the 5” Time Limit
Jing explains in their blog they did not increase the time limit because they want the product to be for more for the on-on-fly type videos that you want to quickly do and share with people. File sizes with longer time lengths was also mentioned as a deterrent.
Most social media people say that videos are a big attraction, but they need to be short – under 3” to keep surfer’s attention. It seems we get on-line, our patience and attention levels go way down. I know when I’m searching for information, I like to get right to what I’m looking for.
So if you’re into video for posting on a website or sharing socially, what are you using and why? Please leave a comment or contact me via lynn (at)extremevirtualsupport.com.
WordCamp Fayetteville, 2011
Posted by: | CommentsFayetteville, AR held their second WordCamp July 30-31, Twitter hashtag #wcfay, and @wcfay I hadn’t been to one since Dallas in 2009, so I had been looking for one close to the OKC area to attend and this one fit the bill. It was one I could do without an overnight. I was especially excited to see Jane Wells on the program. She works with the WordPress Foundation and her title is Master of Suggestion. 
The Conference was held on the University of AR campus. The organizers did a great job of communication with all attendees, giving us updates, encouragement and directions. Unfortunately, the directions to our building on the U of AR website were horribly wrong (the school had them wrong, not the organizers). Finally got there with the help of another lost soul.
This WordCamp had three tracks, or focuses. There was the Developer track – for those who are coders and those who really like to get into the meat of WordPress. I did not attend any of these sessions.
Next, they had a Business track, which focuses on using WordPress in or for a business. I started out here listening to Collin Condray & Eric Huber speak on Yin and Yang of Your WordPress Site. The link is to the slides from their presentations. You can find many of the video presentations here, but I started listening to a couple and the quality was such that I couldn’t hear very well.
The last track was for Bloggers, for those of us who want to learn some skills to get us on the road to being a better blogger, both mechanically and in our writing styles. I attended Andy Crofford’s Guest Blogging: How to find the best and avoid the Pests. I especially enjoyed this one as I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people wanting to guest blog and some of them are a bit strange. His tips on how to manage requests and manage the process were helpful.
When it was Jane’s turn to speak, she opted not to do her presentation and instead took questions from the audience.That was a disappointment to me as I wanted to hear her talk about the ‘State of WordPress’. It looks like she does this at about all the WordCamps she attends, so perhaps she wanted a change. Then there was the ear-splitting audio feedback problems that plagued both her and the next speaker.
I listened to Lela Davidson speak on Social Media Consistency: Skip the Overwhelm and Create A Schedule that Works. She gave tips and drew upon her personal experiences with social media and what she did to become comfortable and eventually successful in using social media to increase visibility and become connected with the ‘right’ people.
I finished my day in the Business Track listening to Cotton Rohrscheib speak on Making WordPress Profitable for Design Firms/Agencies. He brought to our attention some of the ‘housekeeping’ chores that are necessary with any WordPress site, such as hosting, software upgrades, training and maintenance. He pointed out that providing these services can provide consistent monthly revenue for those of us who build sites or develop with WordPress.
I missed the last hour of the day as I decided to hit the road for Oklahoma. I got to meet some nice folks and talk to them a bit about why they were there and their experience with WordPress. I believe close to 200 were registered for the meeting, so a nice sized group. I’ll be looking at their agenda next year to see about returning.
Netflix, Amazon, Redbox
Posted by: | CommentsAre you a Netflix customer and fuming about the 60% price increase coming up in September? I am and I’ve decided not to stay when I get my notification. I finally decided to join about 6 months ago and have been happy with the quality, quantity,price and convenience. The only disappointing thing is the lack of old tv shows available for instant watching—those have to be ordered.
Here’s the pricing coming up for all of us Netflix customers. They are splitting out the mail service from the instant video streaming service. Before we had them together for one low price, now the prices are increasing by 60%.
Alternatives – Amazon Prime
I was thinking about Amazon – you pay $79/year and get instant access to 5,000 movies and TV shows – compared to Netflix’s 20,000 titles, it’s quite a reduction.. But, you also get 2-day shipping on any and all orders you place, no matter how big or small. There is a larger selection of titles available for rental. Perhaps they’ll add more in the near future to capture Netflix refugees.
A disadvantage to Amazon is that they don’t offer streaming to mobile devices. Rumor has it they are developing a streaming device of their own. For those who watch movies on their phones, you might want to stick with Netflix.
Then there’s the redbox. I’ve used them quite a bit as the big boxes seem to be everywhere. It’s simple for me to stop by and pick something up. If I end up keeping it another night, it’s just another dollar more. It’s nice to be able to shop for and reserve a video ahead of time too. I’ll probably use it from time to time as I’ve always done.
Other Choices
There’s Hulu and Hulu +. I used to use this service, but not anymore. I’ve been reading that they are working on being available on every kind of streaming device. The one big disadvantage of Hulu is that even the subscription service has commercials. I, along with many others, just won’t pay for that.
Many TV shows are available on-line, you will need to go to each network’s site to view them.
So there you have it – not one service has everything and it’s still a mix and match/piecemeal kind of world.
5 Tips for Safe Mobile Computing
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you’re out of your home network area and using a coffee shop or library hotspot, what are some things you can do to keep your computer safe from snoops or worse, hackers? Here’s a checklist of things to do -preferably before you leave your office or as you’re getting setup at your destination:
- Turn off File and Printer sharing.
- Turn off Public Folder sharing
- Encrypt folders (can do with Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise & Ultimate)
- Use https with your mail services (Live/Hotmail, GMail) and Facebook & Twitter
- Think about keeping your most sensitive data off your mobile computer – store on Windows SkyDrive, Amazon or somewhere secure, but where you have access.
How to do the Above
For numbers 1 & 2, go to your start button>Control Panel>Network & Internet>Network & Sharing Center>Change Advanced Sharing Settings. Then you’ll see the below where you can turn off the 2 components.
File/Folder Encryption
If you have Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate, you have this available to you, but if you have Home Premium, which is the standard, you won’t have this functionality. Here are steps from Microsoft:
To encrypt a folder or file
- Right-click the folder or file you want to encrypt, and then click Properties.
- Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.
- Select the Encrypt contents to secure data check box, click OK, and then click OK again.
To unencrypt, go through the same steps, except select Clear the Encrypt contents to secure data check box, click OK, and then click OK.
Below are a series of illustrations that makes things more visual!
get here by right-clicking on the folder in win explorer
Click the encrypt check-box
Click OK and then apply to start the encyption process
Encrypted folders will be green
How Does Encryption Protect me?
When your folders are encrypted, they’ll be in green (see illustration above). You’ll be able to access your files without having to unencrypt them while you’re logged into your computer. So this means if someone gets control of your computer while you’re logged into it, they’ll be able to open your encrypted files (as well as take your computer). What the encryption does is protect you if someone steals your computer and they are able to boot it bypassing your login credentials (you DO have those set, don’t you), then they won’t be able to open encrypted files. Same thing if they remove your hard drive and try to access files – they can transfer your files over, but they shouldn’t be able to open them. If you’re at a hotspot and someone manages to get into your folders, they won’t be able to open encrypted folders/files.
Perhaps you’ve heard about laptop searches at airports and at our borders. It is possible that the contents of your laptop or smart phone could be searched by law enforcement officials. I’ve read that if you have a password protecting access to your phone or laptop, they can not legally make you enter in your password, but these laws may be changing. So that’s where step#5 might be one you’d want to implement. If it’s not on there, it won’t be found.
Don’t Forget Your EFS Certificate
The first time you use encryption, a certificate with your private key is created. If this key is lost or damaged, you may lose access to your encrypted files (say, if you moved them to another computer). So here are steps to Back up Encrypting File System (EFS) certificate. There are quite a few steps, but take your time and follow them and then put your cert in a safe place (away from your computer).
Following these guidelines should make your mobile experience safer. If you have questions or would like to implement some encryption on your mobile or desktop computer, please use my contact form to be in touch or email me at lynn(at)extremevirtualsupport.com.
Woo-Hoo Got to the 1000th Community Blog Reader
Posted by: | CommentsThanks to you great readers and community members of the Networked Blogs from Facebook, we reached the 1000th reader yesterday, 6-30-2011.
My goal is to bring interesting, useful and relevant content to you on a variety of tech and organizational topics. If there is something in particular you’re looking for, let me know.
Please sign up for my monthly tips newsletter. Look for the sign-up box on my Blog and Home pages.
I’ve only recently began building my list, so the first issue hasn’t gone out yet, waiting to get a few more subscribers.
Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone.
