CHRISdotTODD

Here's some fun, old PC ads put together by PC World.

Have you ever wondered why you need many of the Services running in your Windows XP environment? Or perhaps you want to know if you can disable any to gain some extra performance. I have scoured the web, viewing article from Microsoft and The Elder Geek ; I have also used my own reference materials and notes that I have collected over the years; and have produced a description and recommendation for each of the Services in XP . If you consider yourself an average user, stick with the Standard recommendations. But if you are a Power User or Gamer, there are recommendations for you too. Undoubtably you will find a service that is not listed, if so, try searching Google . And I am sure you will have a difference on some setting or another... well that is okay too. For the Power User, this should give you enough information to make your own decision. download

I found some good tips for power users of XP, 20 Things the average person doesn't know about XP . The tips include how to speed up the time it takes for XP to expand the Start menu; to how to configure Delete to delete, not send files to the Recycle Bin; to how to enable Clear Type. This is well worth adding to your XP toolkit.

Firefox has a very powerful bookmark feature. By simply giving the bookmark a keyword, you can reference it in the address bar, instead of searching through your list or typing the URL. You can extend this functionality and have it take a variable. Let me tell you through a few examples. First bookmark a site, say this one: http://the-cream.blogspot.com . Now open up the Bookmark Manager (or find the bookmark in your list) and open the Properties field. Add a keyword and save it (OK). Go to the Address bar, type in the keyword and hit enter. You should now be directed to this site. Let's try another example. Suppose you want to see all the blog posts specific to one label (i.e. Firefox or security). The URL to view all the Firefox blogs is: http://the-cream.blogspot.com/search/label/Firefox . Create a bookmark with this URL. Go back to the Properties and add your keyword as before. Remove Firefox from the end (this was the label), and replace it with %s . Save it (OK). Go to the Ad

Occasionally we all have a bad day -- maybe we send an email with some embarrassing typos, or we get a flat tire, or maybe an argument with our boss. But when millions of people count on you for their PC to be secure, you cannot afford to have a bad day. Unfortunately for Windows users, that is what Microsoft had today (and here ). Microsoft was supposed to automatically send 11 fixes, 6 categorized as critical . You already know how I feel about Internet Explorer -- do not use it. And recently, I have changed to Thunderbird for my email . If you are on the Internet, do not expose yourself with Microsoft tools. In some future post, I will talk more about Thunderbird -- for now, know that the upgrade went without a hitch plus I found that I like the RSS reader included, too. So depending on your level of risk taking and the security measures you have in place, you can wait fro Microsoft to fix their distribution problems, or you can go to their website and manually get all the patch

I had so much fun assembling the Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts, and they proved to be so popular, that I put together another one just for Firefox . In addition to the shortcuts, I included additional reference information for configuring Firefox . Download the Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts tri -fold. Just as with the latest version of the Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts, do not forget to print double-sided on a single sheet of paper. Also be sure to validate the driver is set to print in landscape.

The prior XP keyboard shortcuts was so popular, I decided to update it. The new Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts file has 23 new shortcuts. In addition, it is now in a handy tri -fold format. Print the two pages on a single sheet of paper, fold it up, and you have a very handy desk reference. Though it is in color, it looks good in black and white too. Download it today! Speaking of shortcuts, here is a good reference for PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts courtesy of Florida Gulf Coast University.