Back to school - Useful technology for students at budget-conscious prices and general buying tips

Back to school: The most popular technology for the return to class - Parentcentral.ca
I was inspired to initially just write a rebuttal of this (above linked) article at Parentcentral.ca. But, then I decided to write up something a bit more useful to consumers. I couldn't believe the prices listed in this article! I'm not knocking Parentcentral specifically here (they generally publish some very useful articles), but I've found that often articles like these in newspapers in general don't tend to be researched by anyone with enough knowledge about technology (they just talk to people at a couple of big stores).
Seriously? For students: iPads? Laptops for $850, and routers for $120???!!! (And whats with the camcorder?)

There are always better deals out there. Sometimes you can get much better quality for a much lower price than you are often led to believe. I research and source computers and computer-related equipment every day and I find that there is a wide range of prices on products of similar quality and performance.

Let's compare some prices and items in this article to some better deals out there.
(Note: my sourcing for this post was done in the Toronto. Prices will vary in other areas. The lower prices I quote are on products of similar quality/performance or better (or, the lower-priced item is of good quality and the higher priced item was overkill for the purpose). Pricing was done Aug 24, 2011 (so beyond a few weeks from this date, the prices and technology will change))

Smartphones
Parentcentral: minimum price: $400
Tweak: minimum price: $225
Savings: $175

Printer
Parentcentral: Epson Stylus NX All-in-one wireless. $100 (Best Buy)
Tweak: HP Officejet 4500 Wireless All-In-One. $60 (on sale for this at Best Buy, normally $70 at Staples (cheaper than the regular Best Buy price))
Savings: $40
(Note: Regarding the different printers they mention in the article at Parentcentral: Over-priced or not practical. A student will need to print some things in colour - so a B&W laser is out of the picture. Also, multi-function printers are of good quality, serve more purposes, and are very cost effective so I would recommend these over non-multi-function machines. The touch-screen feature is pretty much eye-candy, adds extra cost, and doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the basic use of the machine.)

Surge Protector
Parentcentral: $53 (Best Buy)
Tweak: $25 (Active Surplus)
Savings: $28

Router
Parentcentral: Netgear Wireless-N Gigbit router. $120 (Best Buy)
Tweak: D-Link Wireless N 150 Home Router. $30 (Canada Computers or Staples)
Savings: $90

Office software
Parentcentral: MS Office 2010 for Home and Student. $160
Includes: Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. Some very advanced functions might not be available in this version.
Also of note here: There is a free Starter version of MS Office 2010 that you can only get pre-loaded on some new laptops. This version only includes Word and Excel, and you can't run any macros or add-ins and they don't have a lot of advanced features the full version has, and it has advertisements.

Tweak: Open Office. Free.
Fully functional office suite. Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, database, and math programs. No advertisements. Compatible with the latest MS Office formats. You can configure it so it will save in MS Office formats by default. Thousands of add-ons also available for free. And, there is a Canadian English spell-checker add-on available. Also, built in one-touch export to PDF format from all of the programs in the suite (no need for other PDF software/Adobe Acrobat).

Savings: $160

Notebook/Laptop
Parentcentral: Sony VAIO 15.5 inch laptop. $850 (Best Buy)

Tweak: HP G-Series 15.6 inch laptop. $430 (Future Shop)
This HP model is similar to the Sony model in quality/performance and features, but is better in these regards: more powerful/faster processor, larger capacity hard drive, much lighter weight (and costs $420 less!)

Savings: $420

Netbook
Parentcentral: $270
Tweak: $200
Savings: $70

Service
On-site basic setup of a computer system
Parentcentral: Geek Squad: $130 (flat fee)
Includes
no extra software or customization or optimization of system. They only
hook you up to your Internet connection*, one peripheral and install one
piece of software. Performed by a technician with almost no experience to a few years
of experience. Includes delivery of system (if system purchased at Best
Buy).

Tweak: Thor Tech Support: $30-$60 (1-2 hours (average amount of time) at an hourly rate)
Includes full
setup and connection of all devices and Internet connecting*, various
free-software installations (office suite, security, and useful
utilities), tutoring of the operating system basics, and customization
and optimization of operating system. Performed by a technician with
over 20 years experience.

(* must already have an Internet service plan with a provider (ISP))

Savings: at least $70

Stores
Future Shop
This is one of the best places to go for a deal on a laptop if you are looking for a good budget laptop. They have about the biggest selection at generally decent prices. They also have decent prices on external desktop hard drives (made by Seagate). But watch out as there will be some models of Seagate drives decently priced and some Seagate models that are greatly overpriced.

Best Buy
Contrary to popular belief, you aren't generally going to find better deals here. Sometimes they will have a great sale prices on an item. But usually, the items on sale are sub-par quality and their regular prices are usually higher than other places (for computer and computer-related equipment). They generally don't stock better-quality items. They will sometimes have a good sale price on decent printers. Shop around elsewhere first. Once you find what you want, check to see if they have it on sale here for less.

Staples
Generally overpriced in most areas of computer technology. But, there are some gems here. This store has the best selection of printers at good prices. They also have a good selection of routers at decent prices. This is also a good place to go for printer ink/toner and paper, school/work back-packs, and office furniture (including low-priced basic computer desks and chairs).

Active Surplus
Lowest prices in Ethernet cables. Also here: USB cables, surge-protected power bars, and thousands of electronic and odd items.

Canada Computers
Great selection of some computer peripherals and internal parts at generally low prices. A good place to go for: external hard drives, routers, keyboards, mice, USB sticks, card readers, video cards, and more.

Other small stores
There are a lot of other great small computer stores around Toronto (especially around College and Spadina, and along College from Spadina to Bathurst) with good competitive pricing, but you need to know what you are looking for before you enter (see shopping tip below).

Tips
Shopping
All stores will generally have a large ranges in prices for items in each category (and a large range in quality). It helps to do advance research before you go to the store to buy something. If you know what you want to get in advance you can ignore the salesperson's advice (which is usually to buy whatever has the highest mark-up/profit margin for the store). Usually, what they try to sell you is, for good quality items, over-priced, and for the budget items, just poor quality. There are good quality budget-priced items out there, but the sales people won't usually steer you towards them.

Printer Paper and Ink
When you are buying paper, for decent quality printing, buy the paper and ink made by the printer manufacturer. There are chemicals in the individual brands of ink and paper that are made to work together. They do that as they make their money mainly on these items (since you have to keep buying these over and over) as opposed to the printer.

Inkjet Printers
Never power these off. If you do, the ink heads can dry out and clog and then you can't use the cartridge again. When left on all the time, they go into a low-power sleep mode, and the little power used keeps the print head from drying out.

Netbook, Notebook (aka Laptop), or Tablet

For students who need something to take notes on in class and then use at home and on-the-go for homework, lets look at these options:

iPad and other tablets
So, you want to type a lot and have a versatile device? Then don't buy these. They are priced above low-priced laptops and have no keyboards (only an on-screen keyboard) and lack a lot of other useful features.
What is it good for? If you have money to burn and want to look cool and don't need it to do much and you don't need to do much typing, this might be for you. But for a student on a budget (or a parent looking to get the best value and most useful computer tool for your teen), forget it.
Price: for a decent quality one, about $400 and up ($520 and up for an iPad).

Netbooks
The keyboard is smaller than a normal laptop keyboard (so, they're not great for big hands or if you are going to be doing a lot of typing). Smaller screen (so, things will be tiny, and if you are working on spreadsheets or doing graphic work, forget it). No DVD/CD drive. Bare bones operating system. Small hard drive (so less storage space) and a not so powerful processor. There is a reason they are called Netbooks (handy for quick Internet browsing tasks, not for much else).
What is it good for? If you only need something for quick notes and basic Internet browsing and you need something that is small and light, this might be what you are looking for.
Price: for a decent quality one: about $200 and up

Notebooks/Laptops
These come in a range of sizes - from just a bit bigger than Netbooks, to 18" screen behemoths.
Laptops have come a long way in the past few years. Now they are very powerful and have large hard drive capacities. Laptops, even the basic budget ones, generally all have full-sized keyboards, DVD/CD drive, webcam with microphone, 2-4 USB ports, HDMI port, VGA port, Ethernet port, card reader, mic and headphone jacks, and Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. If you are on the go and need something light weight, there are small/light models to choose from. If you want something that is mainly to be used in one location, anything goes, including an 18" entertainment laptop.
Laptops in the 15" screen range give you the biggest bang for the buck as they are the most common (so they are more mass produced and thus cheaper to make). Smaller and lighter ones are more expensive. Larger ones with more power are more expensive. But, if you want something light and powerful, there are a lot of models and low prices and good quality to choose from.
Price: for a decent quality one, about $350 and up.

Conclusion
Totalling up all the savings listed above, compared to the linked article, Tweak has just saved you over $1000 (or about 50% off). Those are significant savings for those on a tight budget.


In my business, Thor Tech Support, I normally charge a flat fee of $60 for the research and sourcing work for putting together a desktop computer system, or a laptop (Note: in the post above the savings on the laptop was $420 and it is a much better laptop too. With a $60 R&S fee added, it would still be a savings of about $360.) I also research and source printers and other computer parts and peripherals (at a lower price). This saves my customers not only the time and effort of doing this themselves, but also a lot of money off the price (compared to if they ended up buying something over-priced and of lesser quality, like those in the linked article).

Facebook Contacts List - Do Not Be Alarmed

I see a lot of alarmist notes going around about the Facebook Contacts List as if it is a big invasion of privacy. It's not. It is as private or un-private as you want it to be.

If you want to see a list of your friends phone numbers (of the friends who have posted phone numbers for their friends to see on Facebook), go to edit your Friends List, and click on Contacts. Notice, you will only see your Facebook friends phone numbers (and not the phone numbers of everyone else on Facebook).

If you want only your friends to see your phone number and/or your mobile/cell phone number, you can post these on your Facebook Page (with your info). If you want anyone, including people you don't know, on Facebook to see your information, then you can adjust this in your Facebook Privacy settings. If you don't want anyone to see your phone numbers at all, don't post them in Facebook.

There is no scary privacy issue here. Whether your phone number appears or not, and who can see it, is up to you.

UPDATE

If you have an iPhone (this might work on other smartphones too), and you find that suddenly a lot of non-facebook people's numbers are on your contact list (your whole contact list from your phone), then you would have allowed a Facebook application on your phone to do this. There is not a lot of harm in this happening as this list is private for you only. However, if you have email addresses in your contacts of people who are not on Facebook, these people will receive automatic invitations from you to join Facebook every couple of weeks. You can disable this reminder on Facebook here.

If you don't want all your contacts from your phone to be in your Facebook on-line too, you can remove them by going here and following the instructions.

You can keep your number and your contacts list private in the Facebook Account Privacy settings on your Facebook page.

Some people have their privacy set so nothing is private. Then anyone can see their private info. These people are either unaware, want everyone to see their private info, or they don't care.

For more details on this, go to this link.

How to Stop Spam on Facebook

How to Stop Spam on Facebook - Scameo
Here are instructions on how to deal with and help stop Spam on Facebook.
The first step when you see Spam posted on your wall:
Hover at the top right of this post. An X mark will appear. Click this x mark to remove the post or report as spam.

Read the link for further details.

Firefox add-on Fireshot update

FireShot - Screenshot tool - Capture and Annotate :: Versions :: Add-ons for Firefox
Today, Fireshot won't let you use it as an add-on for Firefox unless you update to the recent experimental version. Click the link above and Add to Firefox the Experimental version 0.92 and allow it to install. Once done, restart Firefox. Fixed.

Facebook navigation bar scrolling

Scrolling Facebook Navigation bar for Greasemonkey
To keep the navigation bar visible at the top of the page, even when you scroll down the page, install this script. Note, you will need the Greasemonkey add-on installed to.
This works in Firefox 5 and earlier and in Google Chrome.

If you have the FFixer script installed, you don't need this - in FFixer, in Menus/Chat, check off: Keep the top menu bar on the screen always, even after scrolling down.

Facebook's new Sidebar Feature

Facebook has a new feature called The Sidebar. Some of you may have already bumped into it, while others haven't seen it yet. As usual, things like this are rolled out, meaning they release it to some people a bit at a time. Also, the Sidebar appearing depends on your screen size/space. If you have a widescreen monitor, you will most likely see the Sidebar sooner/more frequently.

I've checked it out and it seems useful and a good interface so far.

The sidebar is a new way to connect with friends you often connect with on FB. When it is open, it replaces the Friends on Chat list on the left.

from the help page:
The sidebar lets you quickly contact some of the friends you message most. Just clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later.

How you know a friend is available to chat:

Friends with a green dot next to their names are available to chat
Friends with a gray moon next to their names are available but inactive
Friends with no icon next to their names are unavailable

The sidebar is sensitive to the amount of free space you have on your screen, so it only appears if there’s enough room for it. If you don’t see the sidebar, just click Chat in the bottom right corner of your screen, which shows the same list of friends you’ll find in your sidebar.
...
The list of friends in your sidebar is based on who you’ve interacted with most frequently or recently on Facebook. Since it updates dynamically, you can’t manually add friends to the list.

The list shows both friends who are available to chat and friends who aren’t. Clicking on a friend’s name opens a chat window. If your friend isn’t available to chat, you can still send messages for them to read later.
...
To collapse the sidebar, select Hide Sidebar from the actions menu in the bottom right corner of the sidebar.

To expand the sidebar again, click Chat in the bottom right corner of your screen.

For more details:
Facebook Using the Sidebar
https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=194010440647624

Facebook Privacy for chat:
https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=130254323719420

Facebook vs Google+

By now, you have probably heard of Google+, a new social networking system to rival (or not) Facebook.

There are a lot of similarities, and some differences are not much different.

Below is an excerpt from WXP News Social Networking Showdown: Facebook vs. Google+

I've been testing Google+ for the past week, and it has some advantages - and some disadvantages - when compared to Facebook. And there's a lot that was obviously lifted directly from its rival, including the "It's complicated" choice for relationship status (G+ also gives you a choice that FB doesn't: "I don't want to say"). The much-hyped Circles feature is undisputedly useful, but it requires a bit more work on the part of the user. Now whenever you want to add a friend, you have to decide which circle(s) he/she belongs in. You start with some default circles (Friends, Acquaintances, Family, Following) and you can then create your own custom circles (for example, I made circles for Tech industry professionals, fellow Dog Owners, Law Enforcement friends, Writers, and so forth).

If this sounds a bit like the Facebook feature that allows you to create Friend Lists, it is - with a big difference: in Facebook, that's an option and it's not a very obvious one; many FB users don't even know it exists.. In Google+, it's mandatory; every person you add has to go into one or more circles. Then when you create a post, you have to pick which circles will be allowed to see it. It does annoy me that a number of reviews of G+ erroneously say this can't be done in FB.

Otherwise, posting and commenting is pretty much the same as on Facebook. That is, you can share a photo, video or link along with your post. On G+, you can also share your location with the click of an icon beside the status update field. This works similarly to the Check In feature on FB, but is quicker and easier to use. To me, the bigger improvement that Google brings to the table is the increased level of control that you have over your own posts. In FB, if you decide you want to change a few words (or notice a typo and want to correct it), you have to delete the post and rewrite it. In G+, there's a drop-down arrow button by each of your posts that gives you the choice to delete it, edit it, link to it, or you can disable comments on it if you want to put something out there but don't want people posting their responses on it, or you can block resharing if you don't want others to "steal" your brilliant words and repost them with a single click (of course, they can always copy and paste it into their update box, but that's a little more trouble). I like this flexibility a lot; it can save perfectionists like me a great deal of time.

Another "big deal" in G+ is its video chat feature, but Zuckerberg fired back quickly on that one, partnering with Skype to provide video chat within Facebook, a week after the debut of G+.
http://www.wxpnews.com/110712-Facebook-Skype

The biggest difference between the two, at least at the moment, is that the FB/Skype combo allows you to conduct video calls with only one person at a time. G+ gives you more of a videoconferencing experience, with the ability to chat with a group of up to ten people.
http://www.wxpnews.com/110712-Google-Plus-Hangouts
...
As I wrote in a discussion (on Facebook!) about this, it seems most people today want things to be extremely simple, even at the cost of flexibility or quality (hence the popularity of locked-down Apple products). Even a small "hassle factor" deters them from adopting something new - but they will stick with something familiar despite its level of hassle because switching isn't simple. When I put out a message on Facebook telling my friends to email me if they wanted to be invited to G+, almost everyone who responded was a techie. The rest didn't seem to be very interested. They have something that works for them and although they might get frustrated with its quirks at times, they don't want to bother with starting over with something else.

Finally, I think the biggest obstacle G+ has to overcome has to do with trust. I hear from newsletter readers all the time who say they don't trust Google with their information. Now, I'm not sure why they think Facebook is inherently more trustworthy; my philosophy is "If you would be mortified to see it on the front page of your local newspaper, don't post it on any social network." But the problem with Google isn't just about security or privacy. Because they have come out with so many new services and products and then killed them, many people don't trust that G+ will still be around a year or five years from now, so they don't want to commit to it. Google has its fingers in a lot of pies, whereas Facebook does this one thing and does it, if perhaps not extremely well, well enough. People may not trust FB about privacy, but they do trust that it's going to stay around.

One issue that is left out of the article is the user base. For social networking systems to work, your friends and potential friends have to be using it too. If they are not, it's useless. Currently, Google+ has about 70 million users worldwide. Facebook has about 750 million users.

More ways to make old add ons compatible in Firefox and Thunderbird

If you have updated Firefox and/or Thunderbird and have found that some of your favourite add ons no longer work, there are a number of ways to make them work.
One way, that I have written about for Firefox and for Thunderbird, is to install Mr. Tech Toolkit. But, the problem with that add on is that it is outdated and incompatible and must be adjusted to be made to work. Also, currently, the forced-to-work version of Mr Tech Toolkit will also cause the Add-Ons Manager page to show in a way that makes it difficult to close it. If you want to switch from using that add on to using the Add-on Compatibility Reporter (see below), install the reporter add on and disable the toolkit add on and restart (in either Firefox or Thunderbird).

The Add-on Compatibility Reporter
This is an add-on made by Mozilla that will enable all old add-ons and will also let you send a report to Mozilla that a certain old add-on still works fine in the new version of Firefox or Thunderbird if you so desire.
Here is the version for Thunderbird.

There is an issue with forcing old add ons to work. Sometimes they don't work and can cause problems. The only way to troubleshoot this is to disable them one by one and restart to test things out. Sometimes an add-on can cause a very odd specific problem. Once you find out which add on is causing the problem, disable it and keep it disabled. If you don't need it anymore, uninstall it. But, if you would like to use it if it would work, keep it disabled but check once in a while to see if it is updated. If it is ever properly updated, it will usually stop being labelled as incompatible with the current version on the Add Ons Manager list. Once you see this you could give it a try again - enable it - and see if it still causes the old problem.

Here are a couple of articles from ghacks.net discussing the Add-on Compatibility Reporter and other methods of forcing compatibility and the issues around this.

Firefox Add-on Compatibility Reporter, Force Add-On Compatibility

Three Methods To Force Add-On Compatibility in Firefox

Thunderbird 5 and making old add-ons work

The fix for this is the same as for Firefox 5.
Go to this post and follow the instructions.
You can install Mr. Tech Toolkit in Thunderbird too.
Exception to the instructions - when you come to adjust the MaxVersion, change it for where it says Thunderbird this time instead of Firefox - it is most likely at 3.2pre or something similar - change this value to
7.*
With this updated Mr Tech Toolkit installed in Thunderbird your old add-ons should work. Note, for some they might work only be very buggy, so use with caution. If you find one that is very buggy, disable it and restart Thunderbird.

Lost after updating to Firefox 5?

Common questions after updating Firefox | Troubleshooting | Firefox Help
This link has some answers to common questions.

Many answers to questions from updating from v3.6 to v4 also apply. For more info and tips, see these posts as well:
Firefox 5 update and making old add-ons work

Firefox 4 - Recommended Add-Ons

Tab Groups and App Tabs in Firefox 4

Firefox 4 - new features explained in detail

Firefox 5 update and making old add-ons work

Firefox just came out with their update from v4.01 to v5. This will, for the time being, make a lot of themes and add-ons incompatible.

To get around this, install Mr Tech Toolkit. But, the latest version of this does not work with FF5. To make it work (and make your other add-ons work), download (don't install), v6.0.4.9000 here.
Next, open this file with 7zip (get that here.)
Once you have 7zip installed, right-click on the toolkit.xpi file, choose 7zip and Open Archive.
Extract the install.rdf file.
Open it with Notepad.
Look for 2 locations of
maxVersion>4.*
and replace these with
maxVersion>7.*
This will force this add-on to be compatible with all FF versions up to just before 8.
Save this file and close it. Now, drag it into the 7zip window, archiving it and overwriting the original file in the archive.
To make sure you did things correctly, double-click on the install.rdf file and check to make sure the maxVersion>4.* has been changed to maxVersion>7.*

Once you've successfully changed this, open Firefox.
Open Add-ons (orange button at top left, then Add Ons, or, compact Menu button, tools, add-ons, or Tools, Add-ons)

At the top right beside the search field, there is a button with a down arrow on the side of it. Click on this and choose Install Add on from file.
Then, navigate to the file toolkit.xpi.
Install it.
Restart Firefox
Close Firefox again
Open it again.
The problems should be solved.
(You might need to close and open Firefox one more time.)

Note, if the Add-ons manager page can't be closed, press Alt+F4 to close it.

Facebook facial recognition - Handy time-saver, or invasion of privacy?

Say hello (or goodbye) to Facebook Photo facial recognition | Sync™ Blog
Facebook is going to make it so when you upload your album of photos, you can choose to have FB automatically scan and tag your album photos with the names of your friends who are in them (so you don't have to do this one by one manually).

Some say having FB automatically tag you in friends' albums is an invasion of privacy. But, how can you say that when your friends will often tag you in these photos anyway? And, if you are tagged in a photo by a friend, you are notified on FB. If you don't like being tagged in certain photos, you can always remove the tags.

Whenever I upload photos, I usually tag friends.

Unfounded concern?
In all the information about this new feature, it only speaks of your friends and automatically tagging your friends in your photos. It does not mention that it will automatically tag strangers with their names (if they are on Facebook). Yes, this would be a concern, but it seems that it will only be suggesting tags for people you are FB friends with.

More info on the Facebook Blog.

How to opt out of the new feature
If you don't want this new feature to automatically tag you in your friends' photos, you can opt out by going to:
Account, Privacy Settings, Customize Settings, and finally to Things others share.
There will be a new section that you can adjust (when this new feature goes through):
Disable > Suggest photos of me to friends.
You can still use the new feature to tag your photos, but others won't be able to use it to automatically tag you (they will have to manually tag you in their photos).

Firefox 4 - Recommended Add-Ons

It's been 4 years since I posted a listed of recommended add-ons (extensions) for Firefox. A lot has changed, but some things stay the same.

Some add-ons continue to be very useful. Some have stopped being updated and have been replaced by newer and better versions. And Firefox has incorporated some into their program.

Note: if any of the links don't work, just Google Firefox Add On and the name of the add on.

Mr Tech Toolkit (used to be Mr Tech Local Install)
Get the FF4 version (6.04.9000) hereThis is a quick fix version that seems to work okay in FF4, but the Add-ons manager window is often too big. To close the Add-ons manager window, hit Alt+F4.
**Install this add-on first. With it installed, you can then install add-ons that are not deemed compatible with FF4, yet might work in FF4.
Here is the regular add-on page
The primary goal of this extension is to provide the tools needed to install and manage extensions and themes locally and tons of other features.

Compact Menu 2 (replaces Tiny Menu)
(replaces Tiny Menu)
Add a compact menu button to the navigation toolbar, and hide the menu bar.

Tab Group Menu
See more about this, Tab Groups and App Tabs here

Tab Mix Plus
Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.

Send Link Button
Add a toolbar button to trigger Firefox's built-in "Send Link..." menu item.
Quickly email the link to the page you are on by clicking this Send Link button.

Dictionary
Add a dictionary search tool to the Add-ons bar. Results open in a new tab.

Adblock Plus (replaces Adblock)
Blocks ads.
Install, and then subscribe to EasyList filter subscription when this pops up.
If it is not blocking ads, make sure it is enabled, and if already enabled, right-click on the adblock icon, choose Preferences, Filters, Update all subscriptions.
If you want to temporarily disable, Right-click on the icon and choose Disable Everywhere, then re-load your tab.
To permanently disable it on a site or page, choose Disable on , or Disable on This Page Only.

Video Download Helper (replaces Fast Video Download and Unplug)
The easy way to download and convert Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites.
This works also for audio and picture galleries.

Fireshot (replaces Snapper)
Capture all or part of a web page, even flash. Annotate, save to disk, upload, email ... very versatile Firefox screen capture add-on.

Personas Plus
Personas are free, easy-to-install "skins" for Firefox. Personas Plus extends that built-in functionality to give you even more control and easier access to new, popular, and your own favourite Personas.

Googlebar (not to be confused with Google Toolbar)
The original (though unofficial) Google toolbar for Firefox, with an emphasis on easy access to many types of specialized searches.
Install Mr Tech Toolkit first to make this work in FF4. It is not compatible, but it will work okay.
I especially like the fact that you an have google local search on the toolbar.

Print/Print Preview Update (replaces Print/Print Preview)
Replace the default "Print" button with the Mozilla Suite "Print/Print Preview" toolbar button/menu, with additional "Page setup" option. Adds Print and Print Preview to the context menu.

Update Notifier - no longer needed as FF4 has a setting to update add-ons automatically.


OTHER USEFULL ADD-ONS
Blog much? Get Scribefire
ScribeFire is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog(s).

Scribefire Next
A work in progress - the next version of Scribefire. I would recommend waiting for a while for the bugs to be ironed out of this before switching to this new version.

FireFTP
FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP/SFTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP/SFTP servers.
A great and very quick and easy way to upload/download files for your website.

Greasemonkey and Greasefire,
Customize the way a web page displays or behaves, by using small bits of JavaScript. You don't have to write the scripts if you aren't into that. There are thousands of scripts written for all sorts of sites.
You can go here
and root around for scripts, or, better yet, install
Greasefire
and let this automatically find scripts for you.
When you visit a web page that has compatible user scripts on Userscripts.org, this extension will highlight the Greasemonkey/Scriptish icon in the toolbar button (or status bar icon for older versions of Greasemonkey). Right click the icon and choose the "X scripts available" menu item to see and install the scripts available for the current page.
I mainly use these to fix issues on Facebook. I use: FFixer, Unfuck Facebook, Facebook and Comment Fixer.

IETab Plus (updated version of IETab)
Make sure to un-check Support Price Comparison feature in Settings.
Supports Adblock Plus in IE mode!
Works with IE8 and IE9 now.
IETab Plus enables you to use the embedded IE engine within tabs of Mozilla Firefox. It is not only a great tool for web developers, like the old IE Tab, but also an useful tool for normal users, since you can easily switch to IE when you meet incorrectly rendered web pages in Firefox.

MozImage,
Great for viewing and downloading a number of pictures at once from a web page.
You will need Mr Tech Toolkit to make this work.

Linkification
Converts text links into genuine, clickable links.
Newest version compatible with FF4 (linked above).
Regular FF Add-ons link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/linkification/


Special Mouse Gestures add-ons
Great for use with a mouse, not so handy for use with a touchpad.

FireGestures (replaces All-in-OneGestures)
A customizable mouse gestures extension which enables to execute various commands and user scripts with five types of gestures.

QuickDrag (replaces Super DragAndGo)
Extends the function of the drag-and-drop mouse gesture so that it can be used to load URLs, do a web search of selected text on a page, or save an image on a page. The successor to Super DragAndGo.


Others that might be useful/interesting (that I have not tried them out):

LinkExtend - Safety, KidSafe, Site Tools
LinkExtend provides meta-site-ratings for computer safety, child safety, company ethics, and popularity. Safety results come from eight online services giving you a safer browsing experience. Site links, titles, files and reviews are also included.

NoSquint
Beyond the page zoom in/out features in Firefox (Ctrl+ to enlarge a page, Ctrl- to reduce and Ctrl0 to reset), NoSquint allows you to adjust the text-only and full-page (both text and images) zoom levels as well as colour settings both globally (for all sites) and per site.

Bookmarks Menu Tool Button

Tab Groups and App Tabs in Firefox 4

What are Tab Groups? | How to | Firefox Help
If you work with a lot of tabs open at a time, this new feature in Firefox 4 can be quite useful.



Click the link above to find out how to use tab groups.

Tab groups are a way to organize tabs. The feature itself is good, but, to make it more convenient, here is an extension that creates a drop-down menu from beside the tab group button so you don't have to open tab groups to name the groups, switch between the groups and other handy things.
Note: if the TabGroupsMenu drop down menu arrow is not showing on the Tab Groups icon on your toolbar, open Add Ons Manager, go to TabGroupsMenu, click More, and then check off ON, instead of Default. Fixed.
TabGroups Menu



Also, very useful - App Tabs
This is meant for web applications you have open, but, you can use it for any tabs you have open all the time. Right-click on the tab and choose Pin as App Tab. The tab will be pinned to the far left, with just the icon showing on the tab. You can do this to more than one tab. When you close the browser and open it again later, your app tabs will be there still. If you switch groups, these app tabs stay at the left side of the tab bar, no matter what tab group you are looking at.
If you want to put the tab back as a regular tab, right-click on the tab and choose Unpin Tab.
More details about App Tabs here.

Important backup aspects

Maximum PC | 11 Painfully Obvious Back Up Mistakes to Avoid - Page 1
Click the link to review important backup aspects.

Make old extensions work in Firefox 4

If you want to upgrade to Firefox 4, and you use some extensions (add-ons) that you can't live without, make sure you install the latest version of Mr Tech Toolkit. Right-click this link and save the xpi file to your computer. Then open your add-ons manager in FF4 and click on the little cog wheel in the top right and choose to install from a file.

To make it so you can use non-compatible extensions: in the Add Ons manager, click on the Options for Mr Tech Toolkit, Miscellaneous tab, XPI Install Options, UN-check Enable Addons Compatibility Check, and make sure to check Allow web sites to install software (if you want to be able to install extensions from different web sites).

Note: sometimes using old non-compatible extensions can make things buggy, so, use at your own risk.

For more tips on customizing the Firefox 4 layout, see:
http://thortweak.blogspot.com/2011/03/firefox-4-new-features-explained-in.html

Untrrackerd keeps Apple from tracking your iPhone/iPad locations

Canadian app takes Apple's eye off your iPhone

OTTAWA — A Canadian software developer has created a program that
allows iPhone and iPad users to wipe clean the location history of their
devices — a day after security researchers unleashed a privacy uproar
by revealing that Apple Inc. records the location details in a hidden
file on the user's phone and copies the unencrypted data to the user's
home computer.

Ryan Petrich of Edmonton said Thursday he's
being bombarded with emails and online messages about his new tool
called "Untrackerd." When installed, the program deletes the location
tracking information, held in a hidden file called consolidated.db,
every 30 minutes.

The iPhone developer launched the free
program late Wednesday after news broke that — ever since Apple updated
the devices last year — the new phones have been keeping track of where a
user goes in a secret file, using information gleaned from nearby
cellphone towers and Wi-Fi networks. Locations and time stamps are then
copied to the owner's computer if the two are synchronized.

...

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Canadian+takes+Apple+your+iPhone/4665017/story.html#ixzz1KMHJqHGe

Firefox 4 - new features explained in detail

Back to the front of the pack: Ars reviews Firefox 4
Ars Technica reviews the major new features of Firefox 4.

The link above has some tips on adjusting things more to your liking. See the link below for more tips:
Lifehacker: How to fix annoyances with Firefox 4's new look

New Facebook Messages feature rolling out and causing confusion

Facebook is currently rolling out a new message feature that combines chat, messages, txt messages, and email. They are also offering a Facebook email address as part of all this.
I haven't got this feature yet, so I can't comment on it from personal experience.

Here are some links that may help:

Facebook blog: See the Messages That Matter
This is Facebook's explanation of how the new feature is supposed to work.

Facebook's help page about this topic

Both these above links from Facebook will point you toward the Tour. But it tells you practically nothing.

Reviews and news about the new feature:
Facebook's new messaging feature raises privacy questions

Facebook's new features, but borking up the site in the process

Enable HTTPS for Facebook

How to Enable and Set Facebook Secure HTTPS Login | Web Talk
This post (above) takes you through the steps to always log into Facebook with a more secure connection.
Basically, go to Accounts, account security, change, and check off the Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible checkbox.

Restore Default Enter Key Behaviour in Facebook Comments

Restore Default Enter Key Behavior In Facebook Comments | Better Facebook
Want to be able to use Enter instead of Shift+Enter to add a new line in your comment in Facebook. Currently, with the new behaviour in FB, Pressing Enter while typing a comment posts the comment.
The the add-ons available at this site (above), you can restore the Comment button and the normal behaviour of the Enter key.

Greater security via https coming - in a while - for Facebook

The Facebook Setting You Should Change as Quickly as Possible
Excerpts:
Facebook has at long last offered an option to use the encrypted "HTTPS" protocol,
a feature it will begin rolling out today but won't finish for a "few
weeks." You should check now if it's available, and sign up as soon as
it is enabled for your account. The performance overhead is minor—zippy
Gmail, for example, uses HTTPS for everything—and it's an important step
to keep your Facebook account safe from being hijacked on an open or
poorly secured wireless network.
...
You can sign up for Facebook HTTPS by going to Account Settings and then selecting "Account Security," third from the bottom. Then click under "Secure Browsing" — if it's there. Facebook says everyone should have this by the end of the day, but in the meantime you might be missing the relevant option toggle.

Open Office 3.3 is available now

Open Office 3.3 is finally finished and is available for download.
You can download it from here.

I'm excited about the fact that the spreadsheet tabs can now be coloured.
You can read about more changes here.

Facebook - New profile information

(2n) Help Center (2)
The link is to the Facebook FAQ on the new profile.

Some highlights:

If you choose to apply the new profile, you cannot revert back.

None of the privacy settings are changed. But, there are some new things to be aware of regarding privacy (tagged photos at the top of your profile, and any special friend lists you add to Relationships that will appear on the left of your profile to anyone who can see your "Friends List" - both of these items are listed below in the highlights).

Tabs that went across the top are now items on the left side.

New: Additional fields of interest, graphic display for top interests, more ways to list how you spend your time

To post on your wall, see near the top: Share: Post, Photo, Link, Video to choose which type of thing to share.

To edit your profile, click the Edit Profile button in the top right corner.

To remove any pictures that appear at the top from appearing at the top, roll over the photo and click the X in the top right corner. This does not delete the photo, it just removes it from appearing at the top of your profile.

If you want specific friends lists (that everyone can see just like your regular Friends list) to appear on the left of your profile, choose Edit profile, Relationships, and next to Featured Friends, choose to add either an existing friends list or create a new one.

MORE INFO
TechCrunch: Full details on Facebook's overhauled profile pages

Inside Facebook: Facebook profile redesign will coax more data from users: an in-depth review

Craving Tech: Facebook introduces your new Profile page. Like/Dislike?
http://www.cravingtech.com/facebook-introduces-your-new-profile-page-likedislike.html

Malware in Facebook news feeds

Facebook news feeds are beset with malware - The Inquirer
Bitdefender claims that one in five news feeds on Facebook contains some sort of malware.

The outfit looked at 14,000 user profiles and worked out that the
bulk of the infectious software on the ego-stroking and privacy
shredding website was written by independent developers.

Anything that uses the phrase "Free trial! Click here!" is likely to lead to a malware infection.

...

AVG 2011 Bugs

Today I discovered a new AVG glitch while using the new AVG Free 2011 version.

When I tried to post a note in facebook, it added something that began with
#avg_ls_inline_popup{position: a
to the bottom of my note.
I could not get rid of it.

I discovered that this is caused by a glitch in the Search Shield, which is part of the Link Scanner.
To stop this from happening, Open the AVG main interface, double-click on Link Scanner and un-check Search Shield and Save Changes.
Restart your browser.

Hopefully they will fix this glitch soon. I write it off as growing pains of the new version (2011).

However, there have been other issues reported regarding the never version of AVG:
AVG 2011 Bug Affects Browsing Experience, Could Also Hurt Websites
This article mentions issues with Link Scanner components, but also see comments below the article for other issues.

I have not experienced any of the other problems mentioned in the article or in the comments below it - only the one problem I mention above. I'm using AVG Free 2011 on a Windows XP Pro SP3 machine and on a Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit machine.

UPDATE
I've discovered that AVG is aware of issues with Link Scanner components and that they are working on the problem.

I've also discovered that the Surf-Shield component of Link Scanner, as well as the browser add-on AVG Safe Search can cause problems for Java scripts, including Greasemonkey scripts for Facebook. I've disabled both of these (in AVG and in Firefox Add-ons) and the scripts work fine now.

.... later on - I turned Surf-Shield back on and things with scripts seem to work. It looks like the Firefox AVG Safe Search add-on was the culprit. So, so far with this and Search Shield disabled, all is good.

Backup your Facebook data - coming soon to Facebook

How to Download Your Information from Facebook
Facebook has begun rolling out a new feature to backup your Facebook information and photos. Eventually, under Account settings, you should see "Download Your Information".
More info and a video at the link above.

AVG Free 10, aka 2011, is out now

The latest major version of AVG Free is out now. You can download it here.

To upgrade to this new version, you have to download the file (at the link above), and run it (you can't get this new upgrade through the automatic update process in AVG Free 9). You will have to chose either the 32bit version (Most of you running Windows XP or Vista will choose this), or the 64bit version (most of you running Windows 7, and some running Vista, and the odd few running Windows XP will choose this).

MORE INFORMATION
CNET - AVG banks on better performance

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Once you have downloaded the new installation file (see above)

• Run the file
• Accept
• Next
• Custom Install, and UNcheck the gadget installation (on the right side of the window - this doesn't appear in Windows XP, only for Vista and Windows 7), Next
• Uncheck Additional installed languages, (if you have MS Office installed, scroll to the bottom and check MS Office plugin), Next
• Uncheck Set Yahoo..., Uncheck Install the AVG Security Toolbar, Next
• ...
• yes to reboot
• (after reboot, it will finish installing)
• UNcheck I agree to participate ... and click Finish
• (then it will open and automatically begin updating)

• If, after a few minutes, you get an Analysis pop-up, you can ignore it. This will run the next time a scheduled scan runs.

• Things to check:
• Scan Options - Managed Scheduled Scans, Edit scan schedule.
• - Run at a specific time. Select a day of the week and time. Under Advanced Schedule, check Run on
• computer startup if ...

Also: to enable it to automatically scan removable devices, open AVG, click on Tools, Advanced Settings, click the + beside Scans.
Click on Removable Device Scan.
Check off Enable Removable device scan, Automatically heal/remove infections, and move the slider under Adjust how quickly Scan completes all the way to the right.
Apply, OK and close the AVG window.

Advanced Users

• To get rid of the advertisement (notification that drops down if you open up AVG)
• Go into Program Files\AVG\AVG10\
• Rename the following files by adding
• .bak
• to the end of each file name (after whatever extension is there in the name)
• avg_us.mht
• avgmwdef_us.mht
• avgresf.dll
• avgsals_us.mht
• avgsbfree_us.mht
• avgtrial_us.mht

Note: sometimes after updates to the program, it will re-introduce these files (so you may need to go back in and name the new batch of these files to remove the ad/notice).

"Here You Have" virus

McAfee: New Worm Eats Your AV Software | Maximum PC
Watch  out for the new one. Don't click on unknown links in emails.

The worm is spread by email with a link to a seemingly innocent PDF
file or raunchy WMV download, though users who click will get much more
than they bargained for.

"When a user chooses to manually follow the hyperlink, they will be
prompted to download or execute the virus," McAfee warns. "When run, the
virus installs itself to the Windows directory as CSRSS.EXE (not to be
confused with the valid CSRSS.EXE file within the Windows System
directory). Once infected the worm attempts to send the aforementioned
message to email address book recipients."

McAfee says it can also be spread through accessible remote machines,
mapped drives, and removable media through Autorun replication. Once
infected, the virus attempts to cripple and delete security services,
including popular AV software like AntiVir, Avast, AVG, McAfee, Panda,
and a whole bunch of others.

Keep your antivirus program up to date as well as the definitions. And old antivirus program with recent definitions won't do the job.

Facebook Places - how to update your privacy settings, again.

How to Disable Facebook Places
Summary of what to do:

• Privacy Settings, Customize, Things I Share
• Change Places I check in to only your friends or Only Me.
• Include me in People Here Now after I check in - Uncheck enable.
• Go to the section Things Others Share and find Friends can check me in to Places - set as Disabled.
• Click the Applications and Websites link, go to Info accessible through your friends, Edit Settings.
• Uncheck everything and Save.

Read the above link for more details and explanations.

My Top 20 Free Windows Programs - June 2010

In no particular order:

Backup
Cobain Backup - a free backup program that you can fully customize - scheduling, backing up to various drives including network drives, etc. Now uses Shadow Volume Copy so you can back up while you work on your computer.

Browser
Firefox - the latest version of Firefox is fast and very secure and remains the best with extensions of all the browsers. Check out Personas - an easy way to dress up Firefox.

Clean-Up
CCleaner - great for cleaning up temp files, temp files leftover from crashes, and cleaning up the Registry, disabling unnecessary start-up items and more.

Revo Uninstaller - an advanced un-installer program that enables you to remove the usual leftover registry items and folders.

Defraggler - from the makers of CCleaner, this program is a great replacement for the Windows defragment program. Works in all recent versions of Windows. This program lets you see what is going on (like the old program in XP). It is fast and can work even if you have less than 10% of the hard drive free.

Email
Thunderbird - an excellent email program from Mozilla (same group that brings you Firefox). I find this much easier to customize and to backup and move files around when need be than Outlook or Outlook Express. The latest version has tabs and the search feature is most excellent.

Entertainment
Winamp - best free media player overall - yes it has playlists and you can use it with your ipod or any other MP3 player. Works better than iTunes and doesn't install other programs behind your back, and you can customize its many settings (file formats to deal with, whether it launches on its own or by your command...). Great for doing live mixes as you can queue songs up.

DVDFlick - convert and burn digital video files (many formats supported) to DVD in regular DVD video format. Also has basic menu creation features too.

VLC Media Player - for playing a wide variety of video and music files, DVDs, and streaming. When Windows Media Player won't play it, this will. The user interface isn't that pretty, but it works.

File Sharing
uTorrent - the best little torrent program around. Pronounced MOO-torrent (as the initial u is actually the micro symbol)

Peerblock - lets you control who your computer "talks to" on the Internet. By selecting appropriate lists of "known bad" computers, you can block communication with advertising or spyware oriented servers, computers monitoring your p2p activities, computers which have been "hacked", even entire countries! They can't get in to your computer, and your computer won't try to send them anything either.

Productivity
Open Office 3 - the best free alternative to MS Office. And it can open .docx files. You can create a PDF directly from any of the programs in the suite with a click of an icon. Word processor, spreadsheet, drawing program, database, you can make it save things in MS Office format by default if you need to share documents with others have MS Office, and more. Currently on version 3.2.1

EssentialPIM - A personal information manager. Similar to many of the other features in Outlook (outside of the email part). If you want a PIM that is not bogged down by the email part of Outlook - just a basic appointment calendar, contact list, To Do list and notes - this is a great program.

Security
AVG Free - anti-virus and anti-spyware, and much improved since it first came out. Easy to use and works better than the big programs that must be purchased.

Malwarebytes - A good anti-spyware removal program to use along with your regular security program to occasionally check for bugs. Has a quickscan mode that takes about 10 minutes, and a full scan mode. Also adds as a context menu so you can right-click on a file/folder/drive and choose to scan it with Malwarebytes.

Mailwasher Free - filter out Spam before it gets to your email program. Works with a wide variety of email programs. Free version only works for one email address. Paid version will work with multiple addresses.

Utilities
TeraCopy - Improves copying speed for large files and for when copying a lot of files at once. Also has better overwrite and skip options. Install it and it replaces the Windows copy function. You can still use the usual cut/copy and paste shortcuts.

7zip - decompression and compression of many many compression formats, and free!

Foxit PDF reader - works directly inside a Firefox tab as well as on its own. Faster and with a much smaller footprint than Adobe Reader. They keep making this better with every version

Crossloop - enables you to remotely connect to another computer to give or get help. Very simple to use

Got any favourite free programs I left out? Add them in comments

Open Office 3.2.1 is out!

OpenOffice 3.2.1 fixes bugs, updates logo - The H Open Source: News and Features
If you use Open Office, you should update to this new version.
It includes some bug fixes, some vulnerability fixes, and a slight change in the look/icons (related to Oracle now being the main backer as they acquired Sun Microsystems).

Download from here.

The next version out will be 3.3 in the Fall this year. It will have
some larger updates and new features.

Thinking of getting a smartphone? There are other/better options than the iPhone.

10 Things Android Does Better Than iPhone OS | Maximum PC
Many of the non-iPhone smartphones available run an operating system by Google called Android. This article covers many of the ways that an Android smartphone is much better than an iPhone. And, when comparing smartphones with similar hardware as an iPhone, the Android smartphones are generally much less expensive. There are also many different manufacturers of smartphones that use Android on their phones.

See also:
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/apple/article/818614--olive-beware-the-euphoria-apple-may-have-peaked?bn=1
... “It’s amazing all the ways the iPhone manages to screw the people that
love it,” writes Cory Doctorow at tech site BoingBoing.net. “Saddling
iPhone owners with crappy contracts with abusive mobile companies…then
screwing the [application] developers with equally abusive agreements. I
guess that’s one way to ‘think different’.” ...

UPDATE
And, the reviews of the iPhone 4 are in. See
Ten Reasons Why An iPhone 4 Is A Bad Idea

How to find out if your Facebook account has been hacked

How To Find Out If Your Facebook Account Has Been Hacked
Head over to Facebook and log in,
assuming you haven’t already logged in. Click the “Account” button in
the top-right corner, then click “Account Settings” to get the
preferences page we’re looking for. You’ll notice a new addition:
“Account Security.” ... read the link to see how this works.

Google Analytics Opt-Out Extension keeps your data out of Google's tracking service

Google Analytics Opt-Out Extension Keeps Your Data Out of Google's Tracking Service
Firefox/Chrome/Internet Explorer: With a browser extension, users can
control their privacy and stop their data from being sent to Google
Analytics, a Google service which monitors and tracks traffic and
visitor data for web sites.
...
Google Analytics
Opt-out Browser Add-on

Facebook Privacy - The new settings (as of May 26, 2010)

A Guide to Facebook's New, Simpler Privacy Controls
Within the next couple of weeks, Facebook will roll out their new privacy settings.
It won't change much, just mainly the privacy controls interface. Your old settings will remain as they are.
This guide reviews the changes.

Also, here is a handy tool for checking to see how private your settings are:
http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook

Also, don't forget to check this post out about Instant Personalization

10 tips to protect your privacy on Facebook

10 tips to protect your privacy on Facebook | News | TechRadar UK
Some of the privacy control locations have changed, but these tips are all still applicable.

Facebook to simplify privacy controls

Mark Zuckerberg - From Facebook, answering privacy concerns with new settings
...
In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler
to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party
services.
...

Hacker Disguise Trojan Horse as Windows 7 Compatibility Checker

Hackers Disguise Trojan Horse as Windows 7 Compatibility Checker | Maximum PC
Be on the lookout for a rogue program masquerading as a piece of
software that helps users determine whether or not PCs are compatible
with Windows 7, warns
security firm BitDefender.
...

Facebook - new UN-private default setting

Facebook has introduced a new privacy setting that is set on Allow by default. It allows sharing of your information with non-Facebook sites. To turn it off, go to
Account
Privacy Settings
Applications and Websites
Instant Personalization
Un-check Allow...
then
Go to the page for Microsoft Docs and block application
Go to the page for Pandora and block application
Go to the page for Yelp and block application

For more information and details, check out
http://w2.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/how-opt-out-facebook-s-instant-personalization/
(thanks Jane!)

Here is the page that lists what applications are enabled for Instant Personalization:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=17103
Check back here periodically to disable further application as they are added.