In the current economy where budgets are getting tighter but the need for great tools still exists here is a post I came across that satisfies the needs of both.
I thought I would share a quick little favorite add-on of mine that I always use for my web browser. It’s called Foxmarks. If you are like me and have collected hundreds of bookmarks over the years, this is a perfect backup for your bookmarks. This little plug-in works by first creating an account at www.foxmarks.com and installing the add-on. It will then synchronize your existing bookmarks to their servers. You can install the Foxmarks on as many computers as you want and it will synchronize your bookmarks between them all.
Foxmarks works with Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. Which this great little add-on you can also have access to all your bookmarks from their website simply by logging in with the account you created.
The number one reason for performance bottlenecks is fragmentation. Even the fastest newest computers will eventually slow down when fragmentation is left unchecked. The computers hard drive is by far the slowest of the three main components of your computer: CPU, memory and disk. Because hard drive fragmentation dramatically increases the time needed to read disk files, booting up your computer, launching applications and opening files takes longer and longer until one day you get fed up and feel like you need a new one. That is, unless you know that fragmentation is the true cause, in which case install a defragmentation software your hard drive and restore the computer to peak performance on the spot.
Here are a few of my recommendations for some pretty good defragging software:
I’m sure most people have a few websites that they visit on a weekly or even a daily basis only to find out that there is nothing new to read. Going from site to site, typing in each website address or clicking on your bookmarks or shortcuts. Instead of going out to 10 or even 100 different wesbites to see what is new and exciting, how about if you could see all your favorite websites all on one page and only one place to visit for all the updates on your favorite websites that you would normally be visiting manually?
Let me introduce to you a technology that you may have not heard of, its called Really Simple Syndication or RSS for short. Its everywhere, and most likely available on all your favorite sites.
Here’s how it works:
First get a RSS reader, this part is easy. Lets start of with some choices that are free and pretty effective. There is Google’s Reader application, Bloglines, and Yahoo. There are other free readers, many online versions and many that you install on your computer. I am only mentioning these three just to keep it simple and give you a general idea on how RSS works and how you can try it out without costing anything but a few minutes of your time. I already have a Google email account, so I mainly use Google’s Reader, its simple, quick and gets the job done. Plus I can view my RSS feeds via my Windows Mobile device, so I have it on the go if needed.
So you’ve picked one and signed up, now all you have to do is add your feeds to your reader or what the industry calls “subscribing”. You may have seen a logo like the ones below:
Click on an icon respective to the reader you have signed up for and your browser should ask you to login to your feed reader site. After which you can organize your feeds into categories or folders or anything that makes sense to you. Now when the web site author updates their web site with new information, that will automatically be displayed in your feed reader for your reading pleasure and all in one location.
Here is an pretty good video explanation on RSS feeds that I found a while back:
From time to time when browsing the internet for long periods of time and visiting sites that you wouldn’t normally on a daily basis can sometimes end up wreaking havoc in the long run. If you haven’t recently scanned your computer for spyware and you are experiencing slow internet browsing, weird pop ups (ads) and maybe even a sporadic internet connection when trying to access all or certain websites, your computer may be infected with spyware or adware.
Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software.
So what does one do if this is the case? Well, scan for spyware of course. First you will need a couple of different pieced of anti-spyware programs, one may work just fine but I have noticed if you scan your computer with at least two different programs, usually the second one will pick up some leftovers that the first scanner may have missed. There are commercial spyware scanners sometimes built right into your existing anti-virus software (assuming you have one installed), which can sometimes help only if they are activated and updated on a regular basis. Here are a few recommended freeware anti-spyware applications that I have used in the past with some pretty good success:
As with any anti-spyware or even anti-virus software, you should immediately update the software definitions before the scan so that you can be sure that you can scan for even the most recent spyware that is out loose on the internet.
After you have downloaded at least two different spyware scanners, go ahead and install and update. Scan with the first, check to see if any spyware or adware has been detected and have the software initiate a removal. After you are done with the first scan, restart your computer and do the same with the second scanner following up with a reboot.
Now you should notice a bit more of a responsive computer after your second restart and should also have a better experience with internet browsing as well. I would recommend scanning for spyware at least every two weeks if you are an average internet user.
