Every time I setup a new machine I have to make sure to remind myself to install adobe reader or some other kind of pdf reader like it or else my clients will invariably call me as soon as I’m out their door wondering why some (pdf) files they have does not load up. If you have a MAC, Preview will take care of all your pdf needs and more. Until Windows include one too, please read on.
For years that meant going to adobe.com and searching for that ever elusive ‘get adobe reader’ button. And for a while that has worked pretty well…until a few years ago. They started bundling google toolbar which made me have to read and uncheck this F#$%en ‘feature’ before I download. Not only was it annoying to be asked to install something you didn’t want but also to add insult to injury, it meant the file will be bigger and take you longer to download it. What finally made me give up completely on adobe reader was some time last year they started installing adobe.com and adobe air with every installation of adobe reader. Sure you can uninstall them AFTER you are done installing but they should have given you an option to not install it in the first place. Better yet they should have done what they did with the google toolbar and given you an opt-out option BEFORE you download reader. I’m sure these two forced-down-your-throat ‘features’ added over 10mb to the already bloated 90mb-ish download.
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I’ve worked in situations where I have had to wipe a client’s computer clean and assure them as such so they can safely pass that information to the agency that requires them to adhere to strict data removal protocols. Some state agencies provide me with their own proprietary software to do such work. Others rely on my good faith that I will erase the data in a way that someone else can not easily retrieve it by rummaging through the trash bin and running a fancy undelete program. As a home user or small business owner, your need for such drastic security measures are probably not needed but wouldn’t you sleep better at night knowing your sensitive information is not in the wrong hands? This is where Darik comes in.
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So far I’ve enjoyed using Windows 7 much more than Vista. One thing I’ve found annoying is I would like to pin the Recycle Bin, My Computer, and Control Panel to the taskbar or ‘superbar‘ as it is called now. Once you do this you can theoretically have an icon free desktop existence. I remember seeing many tips back in the Windows 95 day and even up until Vista, stating that an uncluttered desktop fosters a faster computer. This makes sense since your PC has to redraw all of those icons AND a background picture if you had one, each time you do something on the desktop. By moving all of those icons into the taskbar, you offload the heavy lifting to the taskbar applet that is always running anyway.
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Have you ever gone to a website that had some information you would love to read but can’t due to some design oversight? Whether it is dark font on dark background, small fonts, bad spacing, narrow margins, cluttered screen, or anything else that distracts you from the article you are reading; this little tool I found will help you clear out the mess.
http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
All you need to do is move the white ‘readability’ button to your browser’s toolbar so it can be readily available where ever you go on the web. If you don’t have a toolbar for links enabled you can also drag it to your ‘favorites’ in IE or ‘bookmarks’ in FF.
Now whenever you go to a site that is hard to read, just click on the ‘readability’ on your toolbar or in your bookmarks and the page will be transformed into a white page with black, easy to read, font.
An alternative to this method is to simply highlight the text and paste it into your favorite text editor or word processor. The only drawback is you may accidentally paste some web element too. What ever method you choose, just make it easier on your eyes will ensure you have a long more enjoyable web experience without wanting to jab your eye out with a dull knife after read a site with dancing green leprechauns tiled in the background on a size 6 script font.
Many of you may have notice the address bar starting with Windows Vista having a new unique way of letting you finding out where you are in Windows Explorer. While most will welcome this change, some of you old school geeks who would rather have the full path with all the c:\ and \, would love to find a way to get this back. You can do it by pressing Alt+D in the window but that can get tedious.
The quickest solution is to install AveNoBreadCrumb
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