7 ways to work faster on slow connections

Ever notice how each PC has a personality of its own? Or maybe even multiple personalities? In the course of a week, your computer may act friendly, moody, and sometimes downright mean.
There is nothing like trying to work when your Internet connection is slow. It’s tougher to send email, more difficult to send files to co-workers, and it’s frustrating wasting time while you wait for web pages to appear. And even with the proliferation of broadband Internet connections, there are still times you may be working on a slow connection. You might be traveling, working out of your office, still using dial-up, or your broadband connection may be acting up. But there are things you can do.
This article will show you how to increase your productivity when your connection is slow. Many of these steps are also good tips for how to increase the speed of browsing and sending and receiving email.
1. Send multiple files faster by compressing them
If you’re sending multiple files for example several files related to a project you can reduce their combined size by using a compression utility. Compressing your files can dramatically reduce the time needed to send files online, and won’t take up as much space in your (or the recipient’s) email Inbox. WinZip is one of the more common compression tools.
2. Speed browsing by turning off graphics in Internet Explorer
Graphics are important to web pages, but they also take time to download if you’re online. You can turn them off to speed your Internet browsing.
3. Send email using distribution lists
If you’re sending an email to multiple people, create a distribution list instead of listing each recipient separately. Messages are sent faster and more efficiently when you’re using a distribution list. Your company may have established procedures for creating mailing lists. If not, learn how to create a contact list in Outlook.
4. Work offline using Cached Exchange Mode in Outlook
Even if you lose your network connection, you can continue to working in Outlook if you’re using Cached Exchange Mode. With Cached Exchange Mode, a copy of your mailbox is stored on your computer. This copy provides quick access to your data and is frequently updated with the mail server. If you work offline, whether by choice or due to a connection problem, your data is still available to you instantly wherever you are. Cached Exchange Mode does require you to work with a Microsoft Exchange Server email account. Learn more about using Cached Exchange Mode.
5. Reduce email size with simple email signatures
Email signatures leave a professional stamp on your messages, but elaborate signatures that include multiple images take up a lot of unnecessary storage space in each email. Ultimately, they can slow down the time needed to send each message. Instead create distinctive text signatures combining fonts, type sizes, and colors to make your email signature smaller and quicker to transmit and receive. Learn how to create email signatures in Outlook.
6. Browse offline by saving web pages on your computer
If you use reference a web page often, save it locally to your computer. If you lose your connection or are working on a slow connection, you’ll still be able to read and find the information you need.
7. Open web pages faster by increasing your cache
If you increase the size of the Temporary Internet files cache in Internet Explorer, your computer won’t have to work so hard when you revisit web pages. Many of the images will already be downloaded on your computer, decreasing the amount of time it takes to open a page.

How to Double Firefox Speed

Firefox is in my opinion the best browser ever made until now. It includes:
-improved tabbed browsing
-pop up blocking
-integrated Goggle search
-enhanced privacy controls
-built-in phishing protection
-online spell checking
-lots of themes, interfaces, and extensions/addons
Mozilla Firefox officially supports:
-Microsoft Windows
-Linux
-Mac OS X

Unofficial Support:
-Free BSD
-OS/2
-Solaris
-SkyOS
-BeOS
-XP Professional x64 Edition
Now here are some Tips&Tricks that can help you double the speed of Firefox.
1. Type about:config in the address bar and then press Enter.
2. In the filter search bar type network.http.pipelining. Be sure the value field is set true,if not double-click to set true.
HTTP is the application-layer protocol that most web pages are transferred with. In HTTP 1.1, multiple requests can be sent before any responses are received. This is known as pipelining. Pipelining reduces page loading times, but not all servers support it.
3. Go back to the filter search bar and type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests. Double-click this option and set its value to 8.
4. In the filter search bar and type network.http.proxy.pipelining. Once opened double-click on it and set it to true.

5. In IPv6-capable DNS servers, an IPv4 address may be returned when an IPv6 address is requested. It is possible for Mozilla to recover from this misinformation, but a significant delay is introduced.
Type network.dns.disableIPv6 in the filter search bar and set this option to true by double clicking on it.
6. CONTENT INTERRUPT PARSING
This preference controls if the application will interrupt parsing a page to respond to UI events. It does not exist by default.
Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu. Then:
A. Enter content.interrupt.parsing in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK
B. When prompted to choose the value for the new boolean, select true and click OK.
7. Rather than wait until a page has completely downloaded to display it to the user, Mozilla applications will regularly render what has been received to that point. This option controls the maximum amount of time the application will be unresponsive while rendering pages.
Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.
A. Enter content.max.tokenizing.time in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK
B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 2250000 and click OK.
8. CONTENT NOTIFY INTERVAL
This option sets the minimum amount of time to wait between reflows. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window, select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.
A. Type content.notify.interval in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.
B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 750000 and click OK.
9. CONTENT NOTIFY ONTIMER
A. This option sets if to reflow pages at an interval any higher than that specified by content.notify.interval. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Boolean from the pop-up menu.
B. Type content.notify.ontimer in the New boolean value pop-up window and click OK.
C. You will be prompted to choose the value for the new boolean. Select true and click OK.
10. Notify Backoffcount
This option controls the maximum number of times the content will do timer-based reflows. After this number has been reached, the page will only reflow once it is finished downloading. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.
A. Enter content.notify.backoffcount in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.
B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 5 and click OK.
11. CONTENT SWITCH THRESHOLD
You can interact with a loading page when content.interrupt.parsing is set to true. When a page is loading, the application has two modes: a high frequency interrupt mode and a low frequency interrupt mode. The first one interrupts the parser more frequently to allow for greater UI responsiveness during page load.
The low frequency interrupt mode interrupts the parser less frequently to allow for quicker page load. The application enters high frequency interrupt mode when you move the mouse or type on the keyboard and switch back to low frequency mode when you had no activity for a certain amount of time. This preference controls that amount of time. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.
A. Enter content.switch.threshold in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.
B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 750000 and click OK.

12. NGLAYOUT INITIALPAINT DELAY
Mozilla applications render web pages incrementally, they display what’s been received of a page before the entire page has been downloaded. Since the start of a web page normally doesn’t have much useful information to display, Mozilla applications will wait a short interval before first rendering a page. This preference controls that interval. Right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) anywhere in the about:config window and select New and then Integer from the pop-up menu.
A. Enter nglayout.initialpaint.delay in the New integer value pop-up window and click OK.
B. You will be prompted to enter a value. Enter 0 and click OK.

The best Internet Explorer security add-ons

Big things are brewing in the browser industry, which is good news for all Web denizens, regardless of your browser preference. At the same time, your current browser can probably be made safer through the proper application of the right security add-ons.
Top browsers in a state of continuous enhancement
Google's Chrome browser continues to garner much of the attention of the computer press two years after its release--and for good reason. Frequent, automatic updates and a clutter-free interface are two of the many features that set Chrome apart from the competition, as Stephen Shankland describes in his DeepTech blog.
But Chrome can't match the number and variety of free add-ons and extensions available for the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser, version 4 of which is right around the corner. Two noteworthy new features in Firefox 4 are Panorama, which attempts to address the problem of tab overload, and Sync, which coordinates your personal data regardless of the machine you're using.
Also on the horizon is Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9, which Seth Rosenblatt describes as "the biggest overhaul to the browser since Internet Explorer 7 landed." Even with the many enhancements in the Firefox 4 and IE 9 betas, it will likely be several months before those versions are in widespread use.
Firefox's many security add-ons are a principal reason people choose the browser over IE, Chrome, and other alternatives. I described five privacy add-ons for Firefox in a post from last July. Last November, I wrote about essential Firefox security add-ons, and a few days after that post, I compared the security features in IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.
Add-ons enhance IE 8's privacy and security
Even though it's not as dominant as it was 8 or 10 years ago, Internet Explorer continues to hold about 60 percent of the browser market. For many people, the little blue "e" is their one and only entry to the Web--they may not even realize the program has a name.
If you use Internet Explorer, the most important thing you can do to improve your safety on the Web is to upgrade to version 8. If you have Windows set to update automatically, you're probably already using the most recent release. To check your IE version, click Help > About Internet Explorer. (If you don't see the standard menu options at the top left of the IE window, press the Alt key to make them visible.) You can also hover over the question mark icon in the top right of the browser and choose About Internet Explorer to see your current version.
I described steps you can take to tighten the security of Internet Explorer in a post from last January. What that post failed to mention was the importance of IE security add-ons. My favorite is the Web of Trust (WOT) toolbar, which aggregates the ratings of thousands of volunteers to indicate the reliability of sites listed in search results using a green-yellow-red color scheme.

The Web of Trust add-on for Internet Explorer (and other browsers) rates the safety and reliability of sites returned in search results.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)

After you download the WOT toolbar, you're offered a choice of three settings: Basic (recommended) rates all sites; Light indicates only poorly rated sites; and Parental Control blocks sites deemed unsafe for children. Another option allows you to enable the ratings for people who are color blind. (Note that WOT is also available for Firefox and Chrome.)

WOT lets you choose to view ratings for all sites or only those that have received poor ratings, to block sites judged unsuitable for children, or to display ratings discernible by people who are color blind.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)

Two other site-rating add-ons for IE and other browsers are McAfee SiteAdvisor and Finjan SecureBrowsing.
Protect against keystroke recorders
The most insidious forms of malware are programs that log every key you press in an attempt to collect your log-in IDs, passwords, credit card and bank account numbers, and other sensitive information. QFX Software's free KeyScrambler Personal works with IE and Firefox to encrypt your keystrokes as the information travels from your keyboard to the browser, where the keys are decrypted.
The $30 Pro version of KeyScrambler works with more than 100 applications, according to the company, and the $45 Premium version encrypts the keys you press in MS Office and more than 150 other programs, as well as the Windows log-in screen.
IE toolbar rates online shopping sites
Everybody loves a bargain, but some of the deals offered on the Web are too good to be true. One of the simplest ways to determine the trustworthiness of an online retailer is BuySafe's Shopping Advisor toolbar, which is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Click the toolbar's BuySafe Shopping button to open a window showing items offered by "bonded" merchants. The company guarantees your purchases up to $25,000 and promises to protect you against identity theft at no charge. You can also enter a vendor's URL in the Rating drop-down box to view a summary of the site's security rating.

The Shopping Advisor toolbar from BuySafe rates the security of online vendors in four categories.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)

Clear out cookies and other private data with one click
One of the most important new security features in Internet Explorer 8 is the Safety drop-down menu on the Command bar, which appears by default on the top right side of the browser. The menu lets you enter the browser's InPrivate mode or delete your cookies, temporary Internet files, and other browser history with a single click.
Unfortunately, clearing your cookies in this manner is an all-or-nothing affair. There's no equivalent to the Better Privacy add-on for Firefox that lets you manage your cookies file by file and deletes all but the cookies you've approved beforehand when you close your browser. (The "Browsing history" section under the General tab in IE's Tools > Internet Options dialog box does let you delete all browser history on exit, but not just some of your history.)
The closest I've found to this capability in IE is the free No More Cookies add-on that lists all the cookies on your system--including Flash cookies--and lets you delete or authorize some or all of them. Unfortunately, I could find no setting in the program to delete all unauthorized cookies automatically when you close the browser.

The No More Cookies add-on for Internet Explorer lists the cookies on your machine and lets you delete or authorize them one by one or all at once.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)

No More Cookies installs a cookie icon on the IE Command Bar as well as a No More Cookies option on the Tools drop-down menu. The program lacks many of the custom cookie management options available in Better Privacy, such as the ability to delete Flash cookies after a preset time of inactivity. Still, No More Cookies is a giant step up from the paltry cookie controls built into IE.

3 FireFox Plugins That Let You Easily Navigate from Page to Page

Clicking from page to page is tedious and distracting. Not every website is like Google and allows you to set the number of results per page (and even if they do have such an option, we are either unaware of it or don’t have time to configure it for every site).
Luckily, browser (in this case, FireFox) navigation addons and plugins are here to help. Here are three FireFox addons that let you navigate from page to page almost painlessly.

1. NextPlease!

NextPlease! is a cool addon, the most useful feature of which is providing you with a way to jump between pages using configurable shortcuts.
NextPlease! doesn’t just work on search result pages: it analyzes the web page and tries to determine the links which will take you to the next/previous or first/last page. The way it analyzes the page is described here. Basically, it looks like it detects common words for pagination, for example “next link”, “next page” etc.
The default shortcuts for NextPlease! are listed below:

Command	Default Shortcut
Next page	Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow
Previous page	Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow
First page	Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow
Last page	Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow

You can change the default shortcuts by selecting Tools->Extensions and going to the NextPlease! Options page:

2. AutoPager

AutoPager (mentioned previously in the MakeUseOf post on speedy browsing with FireFox) is a featured addon that automatically loads the subsequent page when you reach the end of a page.
AutoPager needs rules to make it work. AutoPager will not work on a site if there are no rules for it yet. You can see the pre-built rules here.
Immediately after installation, you will be prompted if you would like to use the default directory of rules:

By default, AutoPager works with plenty of sites, including Lifehacker, the New York Times, Google, etc. You can easily create your own rules to tell AutoPager how to load your pages. Here are some detailed tutorials on creating new rules.
The page break is enhanced with some great navigation aiding tools including “Page up/down”, quick jump to the window bottom, etc:

Other features that can be accessed through the toolbar button include:

• The ability to pause or enable/disable the AutoPager;
• Site wizard that lets you easily create rules for new sites;
• The ability to immediately load 3/5/10 pages:
  

3. PageZipper

PageZipper has got a bunch of MakeUseOf love some time ago but it is said to have been improved since then. It is best to be used for image galleries because it has a couple of options that make viewing images easier and more fun.

• As you scroll down a page, PageZipper automatically adds the next page to the bottom of the page you’re on.
• On image galleries, clicking the arrow in the toolbar will skip you directly to the next image in the gallery.
• PageZipper automatically resizes images in photo galleries to fit your browser window.

Another thing that makes it different from the previously mentioned tool in this overview is that it is enabled manually — every time you want to use it, click the button in the toolbar. So it is pretty much the matter of the personal taste; many people prefer the addon to be enabled manually, others prefer automatic triggering.

Note: if you can’t seem to find the button after you install it (like I did), go to View -> Toolbars -> Customize. Drag the zipper icon into your toolbar. FireFox will hide all new buttons like this by default, so no surprise here.

Do you think any of these navigation addons and tools are worth a try? Would they make you faster and more productive?

How To Make Your Firefox Browser Start Up Faster

Are you tired of waiting for Firefox to launch? Firefox 3.5 had some serious startup issues. Some users had to wait several minutes until Firefox would appear. The reason was that Firefox would access temporary Windows and Internet Explorer files. With the release of Firefox 3.6, this specific issue was fixed. However, there are many more factors that influence the browser’s startup time.
If you would like to understand what is keeping Firefox so long to start up and how you can fix it, read on. In this article I will show you how to tune your browser for a quick startup. Most of these tips will also work in Firefox 4.

1. Toss Out Extensions

The more extensions you’re running, the slower Firefox will start up. Before it can run, it has to shoulder all active extensions like a backpack. The smaller the load, the faster it will be ready to run.
So take the time to go through your installed extensions (> Tools > Add-ons and select > Extensions in sidebar) and toss out the ones you never really use.

2. Clear History On Shutdown

Mark covered this in a previous article back in 2008. All this information about your past browsing session/s will slow down Firefox as it launches for a fresh session. If you don’t ever view data stored in the history, you can set up Firefox to clear it whenever it shuts down.
Go to > Tools > Options and open the > Privacy tab. Check > Clear history when Firefox closes and click on > Settings to customize which parts of the history and other data should be cleared.

3. Skip Session Saving Or Reduce Number Of Open Tabs

The one thing that slows Firefox down the most is the amount of pages it has to load on startup. Hence, an easy fix would be to no longer load a saved session or at least have it load less tabs. Outsource temporary pages you wish to read to an extension like ‘Read It Later‘. Pages that you use regularly but not daily or right after startup can live in your bookmarks.
If you can reduce your number of open tabs by several pages with the help of an additional add-on or some bookmarks, this will cut rather than add to loading time.
For some ideas, check out Abhijeet’s article 4 Awesome Tools To Save Pages For Reading Later.

4. Speed Up Page Load

If you can’t bear to start Firefox with just a blank page, then the time it takes to load your previous session will determine how fast the browser is available for use. You can speed up page loading by applying several ‘about: config’ tweaks. Mahendra thoroughly described them in points 10 and 11 of his article The Ultimate Guide To Speeding Up Firefox 3.5.

5. Trim Down Bookmarks

Apparently, the amount of bookmarks you have can extend Firefox’ startup time. Especially Live Bookmarks will slow it down as Firefox checks for the latest updates. So remove any Live Bookmarks you’re not really using and generally clean out the rest of your bookmarks. Mahendra recommends the CheckPlaces extension to scan for valid and duplicate bookmarks.
If you’re bold, you can remove all but your most-used bookmarks and move the rest to Delicious or a similar online / social bookmarking service. The Delicious Bookmarks add-on will help you keep in touch with your online bookmarks. Although using yet another extension is probably not very efficient.

6. Preload Firefox

So you don’t want to mess with about:config, you can’t part with any of your extensions, and you really, really need to restore a session of over 20 open tabs. Well, then your only hope is to preload Firefox on Windows startup. This may slow down your Windows startup a tiny little bit, but at least Firefox will pop up like it was never shut down.
Per default, Windows is already set to preload Internet Explorer, which is why it starts so quickly compared to Firefox. Preloader is a tool that loads parts of Firefox into Windows’ memory before you launch the browser. Naturally, this is not a Firefox extension, but a standalone utility that tweaks your Windows startup in favor of Firefox.
Mark has introduced the extension in his post Give Firefox an Adrenalin Shot with Preloader.

7. Defragment Places Database

Firefox 3.x stores bookmarks, history, and other storage information in a database called ‘Places’. Over time, this database becomes fragmented. Subsequently, defragmenting can speed up any browser process that needs to access the Places database, including the startup.
You can manually defragment the database, but since it’s a tedious task, I recommend an extension called Vacuum Places Improved. Every 30 Firefox starts, the Vacuum Places icon will appear in your statusbar. This is a reminder that you should click it to vacuum or rather defragment your Places database. You can also automate the process by checking > Automatically clean places in the extension’s settings window.

I hope these tips will help you to reduce the time it takes your Firefox to load. If you haven’t done so yet, check out Mahendra’s post The Ultimate Guide To Speeding Up Firefox 3.5.
What is your biggest complaint about Firefox?

3 Firefox Addons That Let You Search Faster Than Google Instant

Last week’s introduction of Google’s Instant search has been a huge boom. Basically, the new fast browser search feature lets you see the results while you type a search term.
The new feature is sure to result in a new search behavior but in reality, instant search had been there long before the introduction.
This post looks at three ways to see instant (Google) search results without ever having to load search results page or even going to Google itself.

1. Fast Browser Search Results in the Address Bar

CyberSearch adds advanced search capabilities to the Firefox 3 address bar. The addons supercharges the “Awesome Bar” with instant search results that appear as you type!
Supported search engines: Google (and all Google’s search services including Google blog search, Google news, etc) and Bing web search.
How is that faster than Google Instant? You don’t need to even visit Google. Just use your browser URL bar and see the results right there!
To search, just use one of the smart keywords listed below. Start typing your search term in the address bar and the extension will load Google results on the fly.

• gweb (Google web)
• gblog (Google blog search)
• gbook (Google books)
• gimage (Google Images)
• gloc (Google local)
• gnews (Google news)
• gpatent (Google patent)
• gvid (Google video)
• bcalc (Bing Instant answer)
• bweb (Bing web)

Note: these are smart keywords installed by default, you can change them or set your own using the tool’s handy options interface (accessed from Tools menu).

Cybersearch also provides users with a preview snapshot of a site (when hovered over with the mouse), can be set up to display multiple pages of results (based on user preference) and is even capable of performing strict site-specific searches when you want to look for something from a particular site.

• See detailed search descriptions: As you highlight address bar results with your keyboard you should see details appear in the background that pertain to that particular result. A web search will show you a description of the result; a video search will show a thumbnail of the video along with the duration; a local search will give you the location information (including a thumbnail of a map) along with the phone number, and so on.
• Retrieve multiple pages of Google results: A customizable “keyword” is available so that you can even retrieve multiple pages of your Google search results. Checkout the video here for more information on how this works.
• Restrict search to a current site: Just type > in the address bar and start typing your search term. You will se the list of pages generated for your term and all the results belong to the current domain.

2. Search Results in the Preview Pop-up

Ubiquity is an awesome addon that allows to speed up plenty of various tasks (see our previous Ubiquity review here) including search.
Supported search engines: Almost any (you can teach the tool new commands in case it doesn’t know the search engine you are using).
How is that faster than Google Instant? The search is launched with one quick keyboard shortcut. Google search is already built-in for you.
To search Google you will need to do the following:

1. Install the extension and restart the browser;
2. Use CTRL+space (Windows) / ALT+space (Linux) / Option+space (Mac) to see a command input box in the upper-left of your browser.
3. Type G and the tool will “guess” you want to search Google, so you can click “Enter” to open Google in a new tab OR you can keep typing and the search results preview will be displayed in the preview window:
   

Note: You can go to any result in the preview by pressing CTRL+ALT+{Result#}. Currently, the development of this add-on is on hold, although the community has been updating it to ensure it keeps working with newer versions of Firefox. As it has proven to be an incredibly popular search tool, the developers have stated they will return to expand on the concept at some future point in time. More information about Ubiquity is available in the Mozilla Labs Wiki

3. Search Results in the FireFox Search Bar

Peers is an add-on which upgrades the power of the search bar by replacing its ability to predict what people are trying to search for (whilst typing) with the ability to present results (in real time) based on what they have currently typed in.
Supported search engines: Yahoo, Google, eBay, Amazon, Wikipedia, etc.
How is that faster than Google Instant? Unlike Google Instant, it works from within FireFox’s search box.
The tool is installed like a regular search plugin (no FireFox restart needed) and works rather fast.

Do you think it can be faster than Google Instant search?

Explore The New Internet Explorer 9 Beta

Internet Explorer’s popularity seems to have peaked in 2003 at a stunning market share of 95 percent, but fierce new web browsers like Firefox and Chrome have now reduced IE’s share to between 50 and 60 percent (depending on who you ask).
Microsoft, in classic form, has vowed to go back on the offensive with the latest iteration of IE, Internet Explorer 9. This new web browser is now available in beta form. Let’s take a look at IE9 and see what new features Microsoft is using to compete.

Hey! You Got Some Chrome In My Internet Explorer!

Loading Internet Explorer is rather jarring if you haven’t recently used Google Chrome. All of the recent Internet Explorer versions, including IE8, relied on a similar interface that made use of multiple toolbars located at the top of the browser window. This is how web browsers were made for years, and Microsoft seemed content with the interface they’ve developed.
Apparently Chrome made the IE team rethink their plans. This new version of Internet Explorer 9 stuffs your screen full of, uh, nothing. In fact, Internet Explorer’s default settings devote less pixels to toolbars than Google Chrome  - and not by just a little bit, either. Don’t believe me? Check out this screenshot below comparing the two side-by-side.

If you told me six months ago that IE9 would rely on a more minimalist interface than Google Chrome I would have slapped you with a bass. But there you have it.
This minimalism leaks over to other areas of the interface as well. Notifications now pop up at the bottom of the browser page when they’re required and immediately go away after you’ve interacted with them. The favorites sidebar has been changed as well, so it only takes up a limited portion of the web browser instead of eating up hoards of pixel space even when you only have a handful of favorites listed.

Internet Explorer 9 also rips off – er, is inspired by – the tab window found when you open a new tab in Chrome or Safari. Just as in those browsers, opening a new tab now presents you with a summary of your ten most popular sites. You can also reopen closed tabs, reopen your last session, or start a private browsing session from this menu.

Integration With Windows 7

Windows 7 is a really solid operating system. All reports so far seem to indication that Microsoft is having a far easier time selling Windows 7 than Vista, so it isn’t unreasonable to expect a majority of computers to be running Windows 7 within the next year or two. Internet Explorer 9 provides further reason to upgrade by taking advantage of the new features in Windows 7.

This integration revolves around Windows 7 jumplists. For example, let’s say you decide to pin Twitter to your taskbar. Right-clicking on the Twitter icon will bring up a jumplist that lets you immediately write a new tweet or send a message. This  feature is brilliant because websites like Facebook and Twitter already behave more like applications than traditional webpages.

Changes Under The Hood

Chrome’s humorous speed test videos highlighted a very simple fact – Chrome is frickin fast! Internet Explorer, on the other hand, has never been known for its speed. Shaving off a few seconds here and there when loading a webpage may not seem important, but it makes a big difference in the subjective feel of how fast a program is.
Internet Explorer 9, I’m somewhat surprised to report, is extremely quick. As quick as Chrome? Maybe. I’m not equipped to fully benchmark a browser, and IE9 is still in beta besides, but I can tell you that IE9 beta feels as quick as Chrome. And I typically use Chrome as my primary browser.

There are reasons for this. Internet Explorer 9 makes improvements to JScript and CSS rendering and also includes robust HTML5 support. These improvements also have increased IE9′s score in the Acid 3 web standards test. The latest build of IE9 scored 95/100, up from a score of 20/100 in IE8.

Conclusion

I’m really impressed by the beta build of Internet Explorer 9. It is a browser that I’d seriously consider using instead of Chrome, my regular brows

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er. It felt equally quick and the integration with Windows 7 jumplists is awesome.

3 tips to Modified Google Search Versions for Set As Your Browser’s Default

No matter which browser you are using, your default search engine is likely to be Google. I am not going to persuade you to change it to something else because that advice would be useless to many: we still use Google, no matter what.
This post is about modifying your browser’s default engine slightly – these modifications are likely to improve your searching experience a lot.
But first, let’s very briefly look at how we can create a new search and set it as default in our favorite browser.

How to Create a New Search Engine

FireFox (address/URL field)

• Open about:config
• Filter for keyword.url
• Double click on this entry to open a dialog;
• Edit the ‘keyword.url’ string

Placeholder for your search term: blank

FireFox search box

• Go to mycroft.mozdev.org and use the form (you can also use “Show full instructions option?“ to see the tips) to create a search plugin for your search box;
• When ready, test the plugin, generate the code and submit it to the database.

Placeholder for your search term: {searchTerms}

Google Chrome

• Navigate: Settings (icon) -> Options and click “Manage” next to your “Default search engine“
• Click “Add” button and there provide the details:
  the name, keyword and query string of your new search engine.

Placeholder for your search term: %s

Opera

• Press CTRL+F12 to open the Preferences panel and click on the Search tab.
• Click “Add” button and provide the new search engine name, keyword, URL and query string.

Placeholder for your search term: %s

Internet Explorer

• In the search bar, click the arrow next to the search icon and select “Search for other search engines” and there click “Create my own search provider”
• Provide the name and query string of your search provider.

Placeholder for your search term: TEST

Now that we know how to create a new search engine, let’s see which options we actually have.

Google “Browse by Name” Search

Google “Browse by Name” search functionality is something in between “I am feeling lucky” and regular Google search. With “I am feeling lucky” button you will always land on the actual page ranked top for your search term (by-passing Google results page). With regular search, you always land on Google results page.
With “Browse by Name”

• For generic search terms, you land on Google search results page;
• For “navigational” terms (where the top result is pretty much obvious), you land on the top result page.

Compare:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=target
VERSUS
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=pillow

Note: This search will also bypass the search results page for all terms where a Wikipedia article is ranked #1. Try:

• http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=war
• http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=dickens
• http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=shakespeare

Google search query to create this search engine:

• FireFox address bar: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
• FireFox search box: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q={searchTerms}
• Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=%s
• Opera: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=%s
• Internet Explorer: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=TEST

Note: The search can be a huge time-saver but surely not for everyone. People who specialize in search (like myself) can’t use it because for them, the search results page is the most important destination.

Google Vanilla Search

Google vanilla is our old good Google we all miss so much: no “universal search” results (images, videos, etc within general Google search results page), no sidebar search options, no ads on top of organic search results, etc. Everything is crystal clean and clear:

Google search query to add this search engine in your browser:

• FireFox address bar: http://www.google.com/custom?q=
• FireFox search box: http://www.google.com/custom?q={searchTerms}
• Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/custom?q=%s
• Opera: http://www.google.com/custom?q=%s
• Internet Explorer: http://www.google.com/custom?q=TEST

Google De-Personalized Search

Like I have already mentioned, Google personalizes search results to try to show you the results that you are likely to appreciate. You are free to disable this behavior and you have various ways to de-personalize your Google search results – one of which is by creating a new default search engine in your browser.
Google search query to create this search engine:

• FireFox address bar: http://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=
• FireFox search box: http://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q={searchTerms}
• Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=%s
• Opera: http://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=%s
• Internet Explorer: http://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=TEST

Are there any cool Google modifications you are aware of? Let’s have some Google fun!

Use Adblock To Block Online Ads and Malware

Adblock can do more than just block advertisements. It can block content from any website or any list of websites. Malware, being hosted on a finite number of sites around the web, is therefore blockable. Combine AdBlock with the list of known malware hosting sites at MalwareDomains for a first line of defence against malware that updates itself.
If you’ve never used AdBlock before don’t worry: it’s easy to use and currently available for Firefox, Chrome and even Safari.
If you use Internet Explorer, stop. Download Chrome or Firefox and you’ll be much happier. If you use Opera, odds are you don’t need to block malware. Your browser, being sentient and all-powerful, protects you in accordance with its divine will.

Getting Started

First things first: you need to install Adblock. Here’s where to find it:
AdBlock Plus for Firefox
AdBlock for Chrome
AdBlock for Safari
Installing extensions works the same here as with any browser extension, so you know what to do. Note that you may need to restart your browser for the installation to complete, particularly if you use Firefox.
By default, AdBlock blocks ads (makes sense). If you want to turn this extension into a security tool, then you’ll need to add the Malware Domains subscription. Head over to AdBlock’s official subscriptions page and scroll to the bottom. You’ll find the malware list at the bottom, under Miscellaneous:

Click that and you’ll be subscribed to the new list. Confirm everything is working by heading to your Adblock configuration page, which you’ll find in your browser’s extensions menu. The “Filter List” tab is the one you’re looking for, and if the list was installed properly it should see it checked and ready:

If you want to see the list in its entirety, just click here. Just don’t visit any of the listed sites! It’s impressive just how many sites around the web are serving up malware, and it certainly feels good knowing they’re all blocked.

Bonus Block: Rickroll Blocking

Here’s a fun hack: use AdBlock to protect yourself from RickRolls. All you need to do is subscribe to the RickRoll Database and you’ll never have to hear that stupid song ever again. Sure, this meme may be old but that doesn’t mean it’s not annoying. Check this out if you’ve been fooled too many times.

Conclusion

Why bother with such a list if you already have antivirus protection? Good question. The main thing to remember is that this can give you an additional layer of protection, and a preventive one at that. No security suite is perfect, so adding this shield to your defences can only help.
Naturally, this isn’t a replacement for anti-virus software. I highly recommend checking out our ten best free antivirus programs to make sure you’re completely protected. Or, of course, you can keep on using whatever protection you have and love. Tell us about it below!

10 Extensions for Playing Fun Games on Google Chrome

Blame it on our need to take a breather, or put it down simply to our love for playing games. Games are sprouting up everywhere. We just saw some interactive games on YouTube. We saw them placed out of sight behind the facade of the other Google services like Google Search and Google Earth.
So, to find them on the browser makes it seem almost unremarkable. Chrome’s extensions have taken their place on Google’s browser. With the arcade of game extensions on offer, Chrome can be turned into a quick no-hassle game console.
Of course, don’t expect to find processor-guzzling, gigabyte-churning games via these extensions. The online games supplied with the help of these extensions are more in the time-waster mould – simple and quick play.

Of the many extensions available, let’s take a breather with ten game extensions for Chrome.

Game Button

Play a large number of games in a large number of categories. Choose from the likes of Action Games, Driving Games, Casino and Card Games, Games for Girls etc. The Chrome extensions points to the FreeGames Toolbar website. You can play directly from your browser, without the need to type in a URL. New games are accessible with the Game Button as they get released on the main website.

JoyRack Games

Whack as many groundhogs in 25 tries. That’s one of the games that opens up when you click on the extension that points to games from JoyRack.com. You can choose from action games (e.g. 3D Space Hawk), racing games (e.g. Snowboard Challenge), classic games (e.g. Magic Balls), sports games (e.g. Mini Golf) and more. On Chrome, you have to do a fair amount of work to choose the games as they are displayed randomly. You can play the game in a mini-window or on the JoyStack website. You can also install a couple of standalone extensions that let you play games like Chess and Tic-Tac-Toe.

OMGPOP (Online Multiplayer Games)

Omgpop.com is a multiplayer game site played by other online members over a network. The 16 odd free games are available from the extension button. With some games, you can also choose to play alone. But the best way is to invite a friend over. You don’t need to sign-in to play the games, though a sign-in preserves your score for the leaderboard and maintains your gaming profile. The Chrome extension leads to the website which is slickly designed.

Classic Games

Click on the Chrome game extension button and you can choose to play any of the nine available classic games in the little browser window. Helicopter, Pacman, and Max Dirt Bike should be familiar oldies for game lovers. Strangely (and ironically), I couldn’t get the World’s Hardest Game to open.

McDonald’s Manager Game

As a McDonald’s manager, you have to manage the entire business cycle of the company starting from buying pastures for the cattle to running a fast food joint. The operations mimic how a McDonald’s manager is supposed to function. The objective as always is to make some virtual profits.

Avalanche

Use just the arrow keys to help the little sprite avoid getting head blasted by the falling icicles. You can also switch on the background music. The game is actually more difficult than it looks. You can also submit your scores and see if you are anywhere on the leaderboard.

Snake

I don’t need to say anything about this game. We all know about it. Choose between hard and easy and use the arrow keys to move the snake around to gobble up the block. Games are also auto-backed up when you close the game window.

Chrome MineSweeper

Another classic with nice graphics. You can play it in three ‘sizes’ – small, medium, and large. Score and watch yourself on the timer. The game allows you to pause in the middle of a game.

Mini Golf

If you can’t get away to the green on a busy day, take the help of your mouse and run up scores that are par for the course. Mini Golf can be played just with the mouse and its left button.

Ping Pong 3D

Go for a round of table tennis while talking on the phone. For Ping Pong 3D you will just need to move the paddle with the mouse at the precise moment to strike the ball. Move it too soon and the ball will carry over the table, move it late and you won’t be able to reach it.
The Chrome game extensions may not be anything more than tiny scripts that point to the game sites for simple childish games. But they help to quickly connect and play a round while something is downloading in the background. For the bored office worker it’s also an escape device that can be quickly clicked away from view when the big guy of the office approaches.
Do you play games on the browser? Especially when you are supposed to be doing something else? Let us know about your favorite browser games on Google Chrome or any other.

4 Ways to Supercharge Double-Click Action in Firefox

The only thing you can do by double-clicking in Firefox is highlighting the word right next to the cursor. Besides that (which is a less-known behavior), if you double-click the 2-3 pixel wide bar just beneath tabs, it opens a new empty tab in the foreground.
So is there any way to get more out of double-click action in Firefox? Yes, there are several ways to actually.

1. Close The Current Tab By Double Click

Close Tab by Double Click is a simple lightweight Firefox addon that does just one thing: lets you close a current tab with two clicks of your mouse.
Note: The only thing to add here is that with this addon, if you have only one tab, the double click will close the current Firefox window (which will often make you start Firefox again). This can be changed in your browser about:config settings.
Just type :

browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab

and change the value to false:

Here’s a less-known addon that can do the same thing but it also has an option to close the tab on three clicks (which, I imagine, can be quite handy as well):

2. Show Context Menu On Double Click

DoubleClick ContextMenu is sure to be appreciated by Opera fans who are considering Firefox as their default browser. It prompts Firefox to show an Opera-like context menu when you double click on text:

3. Reload The Current Tab On Double Click

Reload Tab On Double-Click does exactly what you would expect it to do: it reloads the current tab when you double-click on it (and it does “full” / no-cache / hard reload if you hold SHIFT when double-clicking):

SHIFT + double click = reload the page skipping the browser cache.

Note: be sure you remember you have this addon installed. In some cases, it can result in loss of data (with almost completed forms, etc).

4. Open Links In A New Tab By Double-Clicking On Them

DblClicker is a multi-feature Firefox addon that enables double-click action to open links, namely:

• Double-click a link to open it in a new tab.
• Double-click a link in your bookmarks to open it in a new tab.
• Double-click a link in your browser history to open in new tab.

In all cases the new tab will open in the background (which is quite handy).

That being said, if you prefer to open links in new tabs, having this add-on installed (or at least trying it out) is a must for you!
There are quite a few options that you can set in the addon settings:

• Auto-hide history and bookmarks toolbars after clicking a link there;
• Set Double-click tab action:
  • Default: Duplicate Tab
  • Close Tab
  • None: to avoid conflicts when using other tab clicking extensions.
• New tab options: whether it open in the background or foreground: