How to: Disable automatic scrolling in Firefox

Disable automatic scrolling in FirefoxI use middle click a lot in Firefox: to open links in the background, to close tabs, to open new ones… This means that more often not I accidentally middle click on a blank area of the webpage, meaning I enable the browser’s automatic scroll feature and start moving up and down the page.

While I understand that Firefox just wants to make my browsing more comfortable, I find this scrolling quite annoying. This is why I was happy to see there’s actually a way to disable the automatic scroll feature.

You only have to open the browser’s configuration settings (Tools > Options) , go to the Advanced section and then, in the General tab, remove the tick from “Use autoscrolling”. It’s as easy as that! The autoscroll feature will be gone and you won’t enable it by mistake anymore.

25 cool yet unknown Leopard features

Mac OS X LeopardBought a new Mac and still getting to grips with Leopard? The best thing to do is play around with your new system, open up applications, try things out and look into the settings. The next best place to turn to is the Apple website and its page which describes all the new features that you get in the new OS X, from Quick Look to Time Machine or Spaces. It gives you a good roundup of all the improvements you get in Leopard and what they are used for.

It would be a shame to overlook features that might make things easier for you. I know that many Leopard users now can’t live without Time Machine to keep regular backups of their files or Quick Look to browse through files.

ComputerWorld have also filed a very comprehensive list of lesser known yet excellent Leopard features. Some of them, like ‘Automator workflow starting points’ or ‘tabs and window groups in Terminal’, will mostly be of interest to more technical users. For other users, here are a few I recommend you to discover:

  • File-sharing user account – limit access to some files to certain users. Great for sharing only music with Bob and pictures with Jane.
  • Saved Spotlight searches in Finder sidebar – so you don’t have to start searching all over again for files.
  • Guest log-in – Create specific accounts for your friends so they don’t have access to your personal stuff.
  • PDF editing in Preview – Open up a PDF and add some changes to it straight from Preview
  • Resizable partitions – No more having to reformat your disk to resize partitions in Disk Utility

If there are some Leopard features that you really like, let us know what they are and why.

Free tools to catalogue your movie collection

Film logoIf you’re a movie buff, then you’ve probably got a ton of films on DVD and DivX but no real way of keeping track of them. Organising your collection can bring many benefits such as helping you rediscover old films you’d forgotten, classify your films by theme or genre and more easily share your collection with friends and family.

My Movies 2 harnesses the power of the internet to catalogue your films by downloading data based on the title of your films. Not only that, but it allows you to preview and watch trailers to newly released films. In this way, it’s both an organiser of your current collection. However, it does work via Windows Media Centre and so if you’re not a fan of this media player, then you’ll be better to use something like EMDB. This program is much more lightweight but key to its success is that it downloads data from the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) so you’re guaranteed quality and up-to-date info on your films plus it has just about every film ever made on there. Another less accurate but even simpler solution is Griffith. This movie organiser also downloads data from the internet but it doesn’t seem to use a single source meaning that it’s rather hit or miss when it comes to getting it right and sometimes, doesn’t fetch anything at all.

Meanwhile, if you’re always lending-out your films to friends and family, then you can easily lose track of who has your movies and how long they’ve had them. If you’re very attached to your collection All My Movies may make the whole lending process a bit easier by tracking who’s got your films plus it organises your collection like a traditional organiser but also allows you to take simple screenshots from your films to add to the database. Finally Fox Movie Manager claims to do away with all those extra features that you’ll never need and while it is very lightweight, the interface leaves a lot to be desired.

How to create free customized ringtones for the iPhone

As you may already know, iTunes not only sells songs but also ringtones you can use in your iPhone if you pay the correspondent tax, which is $1 apart from the $1 for each song. However, some of us still think that’s too much for a simple ringtone. So if you prefer to save those two bucks for something else, keep on reading and learn how to create free customized ringtones for the iPhone.

First you’ll need to download ToneShop: this program enables you to select the best fragment from your favorite song and convert it to several mobile phone audio formats – including iPhone. Use ToneShop to create the ringtone, select the iPhone profile and save the resulting M4R file in any folder on your hard drive.

create free customized ringtones for the iPhone

Now double click the M4R file and it’ll launch iTunes, creating the Ringtones area in your library right away if this is the first time you work with M4R files in iTunes. If not, the new ringtone will simply be added to your collection. Continue reading “How to create free customized ringtones for the iPhone”

How to speed up Internet Explorer

Give IE a nudgeIn terms of its features and functionality, Internet Explorer 7 is probably the greatest version of the Microsoft browser ever. Unfortunately the side effect is that it’s a tad slower at browsing web pages. Luckily though, there are a few little performance tweaks you can make to crank up the pace.

Start by turning off the Phishing filter. This feature is designed to protect you from scams and dubious sites that purport to be legitimate. It’s a worthy cause of course, but, for me, the lag in performance that the Phishing filter causes makes it worth taking a risk and turning the thing off. To do this go to ‘Tools’, select ‘Phishing Filter’, and check the radio button that turns off the feature.

Another IE element reported to significantly slow down your browsing is the SSVHelper Class plug-in, a file which is part of the Java plug-in. It’s a non-essential item though, so you’re probably best off without it. To disable the plug-in, go to ‘Tools’, ‘Manage Add-ons’, ‘Enable or Disable Add-ons’ then select the SSVHelper Class line and click on ‘OK’.

If you’re still not satisfied with the browsing speed then you can dive under the hood of Internet Explorer and tinker with some Registry settings. There are a few changes you can make, but perhaps the most effective is the one described in the video below, which increases the number of simultaneous web server connection the browser makes. Give it a try, but remember to take care whenever messing around in the Registry or you’ll have bigger problems than just a tardy browser!

[youtube]VjM2CwrBX0g[/youtube]

Get advanced warning of hard drive failure

Hard driveIf you don’t perform regular backups, then it’s a good idea to run a hard drive monitor to warn of impending failure. Hard drive monitors check the read/write speed, temperature and other technical data of your hard drive in real-time to look for activity that’s out of the ordinary. This can save your bacon if you’ve got large amounts of important data saved on your hard drive with no backups.

HW Monitor is a simple but comprehensive hard drive monitoring tool that also includes data such as temperature, speed and power consumption of your major components including hard drive. Even better, it can deliver warnings to your desktop when it detects strange or abnormal readings for your CPU and hard drive. Performance Monitor is much more rudimentary but displays your most important stats in real-time in a simple to read graphical display on your desktop although it doesn’t warn you if anything unusual is found.

One thing worth investigating if you’re intending on using a hard drive monitor is whether it supports S.M.A.R.T. This is basically a hard drive standard which makes monitoring of your hard drive easier and more accessible. It’s common on most new hard drives but yours is already a few years old, this feature my not be supported. If it is then you’ve got a much wider range of applications to choose from such as Hard Drive Inspector and ASTRA32 which comprehensively monitors a whole realm of components and features such as chipset, BIOS, USB and ISA/PnP devices, monitor, video card, network cards etc. If you’ve got a S.M.A.R.T drive and are concerned only with its health, then DiskCheckup is dedicated solely to hard drive monitoring checking the ‘Spin Up Time’, the number of start/stops, the number of hours powered-on and the hard disk temperature.

Can you work with both iPhoto and Adobe Bridge?

Adobe BridgeEven though up till now all my pictures have been stored in iPhoto, I’ve gotten to a point where I can’t stand working with the application anymore. I find it too slow and too limited in terms of editing. I’m also not satisfied with the way you can organize and store your photos. The easiest solution would simply be to switch to Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture, but I’m waiting for a new Mac to do that. This is why I’ve gotten around to using Adobe Bridge, until I choose a more advanced solution. Now Adobe Bridge is never meant to replace any of the previously mentioned photo management apps. It doesn’t store pictures, but only displays them in multiple ways. As the name mentions, it also works as a bridge with all other Adobe applications, and you can quickly access specific functions in them, like merging to HDR in Adobe Photoshop.

I’m not ready to export all my pictures from iPhoto and save them in new folders in the Pictures folder of my Mac, so is there a way for Adobe Bridge and iPhoto to coexist? You can try but it is a little risky. The iPhoto library is a little complex and you can easily get lost in it. To access pictures stored in iPhoto, go to Library>Pictures>iPhoto Library and choose the folder with the date the pictures were taken at. If that doesn’t work you can also try this way. One thing to get right though is to select the correct pictures to edit.

iPhotoAs this forum discussion does well to explain, iPhoto saves photos in three folders: Originals, Modified and Data. Originals stores all the pictures imported from your camera, Modified has the pictures with your edits done in iPhoto, such as cropping or rotating, and Data contains thumbnails. Depending on how you work, you’ll choose to work with either the originals or modified, but try to stay consistent, or you’ll end up not knowing which ones are which. I prefer only working on the modified photos, that way I always keep the originals (for backup reasons), and they also already include any changes done in iPhoto. One really important thing to keep in mind though is to never, ever, move or delete pictures from your iPhoto libraries. You’ll risk messing up the iPhoto library structure and losing pictures.

Ultimately though, to the question, can you work with both iPhoto and Adobe Bridge, I’d say no. As said before the iPhoto library structure is complex and you’ll end up corrupting it. If you’ve gotten to this point, you’re simply better off switching to Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture in the long run. If like me you can’t do that for now, you’re safer choosing between iPhoto or Adobe Bridge. I’m choosing Bridge. In the future, we’ll compare how to import pictures from iPhoto to Lightroom and Aperture and choose which one is easier.

Today’s downloads for Windows, Mac and Mobile

Download ToneShopAre you sick of the Nokia Tune – or any other standard mobile phone ringtone? Then download ToneShop and start creating your own personalized ringtones right away! You can use your favorite MP3 songs (plus other audio formats) and create ringtones that are compatible with many different phone makes and models, including the iPhone.

Adobe Photoshop LightroomAdobe Photoshop Lightroom for Mac is any photographer’s dream application come true. The application allows both professional and advanced photographers to import, store, organize, edit and export thousands of pictures from one uncluttered interface. Top of the range editing tools, multiple ways to view your images, and advanced printing, web publishing and slide show creation. What more could you ask for?

Play Zelda on your phoneFancy turning back the clock by playing a Super Nintendo classic on the train or the bus? Then download Zelda for your Java phone. This faithful remake sees you explore vast lands looking for objects, solving puzzles and defeating enemies. Be warned though, it’s highly addictive and guaranteed to make you miss your stop!

Make better use of your multimedia keys

HotkeysI can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used the multimedia keys that adorn the top of my keyboard. There’s everything there from an internet browser launcher key to volume controls and e-mail client opener. The thing is, I never use them because most of these actions I execute with the mouse which means that they’re a complete waste of space. However, one way I’ve found to get greater use out of them is to turn them into hotkeys. By doing this, you can launch the kind of things that you want to launch from your multimedia keys instead of those that you don’t need. This can mean anything from launching programs to deactivating external devices or shutting down your PC. Here are 5 top tools for converting your multimedia keys into something more productive:

Hotkeycontrol XP
– Maps your keyboard and detects where your multimedia keys are

HotKeyP – Unsophisticated but simple and easy to use hotkey configuration tool

HotKey QL – Provides an easy way to keep track of what your hotkeys do

Qliner Hotkeys
– Features key mapping and support for hundreds of keyboards

Hotkey Sound Recorder – Adds sounds to your multimedia keys

Mac apps for comic book lovers

Calvin and Hobbes comicAlthough the summum for any die hard comic book collector is all about finding age old unique issues and keeping them in pristine condition, you can now do much more with comics digitally. There’s plenty of applications on Mac to not only store all your favorite comics, but also automatically receive new issues without moving a thumb, creating lists of your favorite strips or even editing programs that let you create your very own comics out of pictures.

A while ago we brought you the best comic book applications for PC. This time we turn to the Mac platform and bring you a collection of programs to make even the most devoted of old school comic book fan ditch paper copies for the online world of comic strips:

  • Comic Life – Create your own comic strip out of photos.
  • Simple Comic – Don’t let anything disturb you when enjoying your face comic.
  • ComicBookLover – Edits your comics and save them in smart lists.
  • Toribash – Martial arts fighting game, comic book style!
  • Jomic – Try out the zoom tool to examine details in the drawings.
  • iComic X – Tabbed browsing of multiple comics at once.
  • Say Cheese – A widget to find and download comics from your Dashboard.
  • iStrip – Quick navigation to view your newly downloaded comics seamlessly.