But there are many times when a long article is not always needed. Unfortunately, until now, I’ve mostly just skipped those tips and written about more substantial things.

But for those of you who prefer small posts with links or quick tips pointing you to all the other great stuff on the Internet, I have created a new website.

WindowsBytes is a super minimalist blog designed to get bring you the best links, tips, and other random tech stuff from the Internet in an easily digestible manner.

Most posts on WindowsBytes are just a paragraph long and ends with a link to another site where you can learn more.

Also, WindowsBytes will be updated more frequently than Online Tech Tips since writing a one paragraph post doesn’t take long.

So head over to WindowsBytes and subscribe to the RSS feed for a little while and see how you like it.

Here are some examples of posts that I’ve written for WindowsBytes.

Send out event invites on Twitter using schmaps

Merge and split PDF files

Keep your Gmail account secure using these tips

And there are lots more tiny “bytes” of tips like this on WindowsBytes. There’s something for everyone and you don’t have to spend 20 minutes trying to read it all either.

If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! Enjoy the new site!

Related posts

• Introducing WindowsBytes – A tech blog with quick tips
• How to quickly access programs via desktop quick launch bar
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• A blog that rates the best and worst of blog directories
• My first post on WordPress and I’m loving it!

Post from:

Introducing WindowsBytes – A tech blog with quick tips

It would then open your Yahoo! bookmarks page prompting you to save the link:

You could then see the bookmark on the bookmarks.yahoo.com site:

Now that you know how to use the bookmarks when you see them, let me show you how to create link icons for several bookmarking sites so you can put them on your own blogs or web sites.  To do this on Live Writer, download the plugin from http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=d2597790-f998-46be-bbe5-caa4a007e0f0&bt=9&pl=8

Click the download button as shown above and then run the file once it is completed downloading. 

After running the file, open Windows Live Writer and then make a post where you want to put the icons.  Click the Bookmarking Tags! plug-in under the insert panel:

Enter the URL of the site you want to bookmark, a descriptive title and “text to show” that will act as a label on the left side of the icons.  You may choose from the available bookmarking sites but all are selected by default. Click done to create the icons:

If you look on the source code, the plug-in automated the generation of the code and the icons are preloaded also, so you don’t have to figure out the right URL syntax for each bookmarking service.

Ben Carigtan shows you how it’s done.

Related posts

• Windows Live Writer Beta 3 released with many new features
• How to add social bookmarking tags using Live Writer
• How to watermark photos and images using Windows Live Writer
• How to add Polariod-style pictures into your blog posts
• Windows Live SkyDrive – 500MB of secure online storage from Microsoft
• Creating online photo albums using Microsoft Live SkyDrive
• Add Virtual Earth maps to your website

Post from:

How to add social bookmarking tags using Live Writer

It will conveniently recommend links, pictures, tags and articles that are related to your current blog postings. The reason Zemanta can make such smart recommendations is because of the proprietary language and algorithms built into it.

Zemanta produces its search results from within a large number of media sources and blogs from some of its users. A vast number of images from Flickr, Shutterstock, Fotolia, and other photo websites furnish Zemanta with needed info. Users will not have to worry about getting into legal troubles when taking advantage of this useful feature. Content has been pre approved by the providers for regular consumer use.

The setup process involves installing the necessary Firefox extension and then restarting the browser. At this time, Mozilla Firefox is the only browser supported for this blogging tool. After completing the installation process, you’ll have to visit one of the blogging platforms that support the service. Start posting your valuable content and then Zemanta will take care of the hard work. It quietly works behind the scenes making sure that only relevant information pertaining to your blog posts are shown.

Once you start writing posts, you’ll quickly notice a sidebar on your editing page. It will contain tons of photo galleries and other content. This will make your posting process quicker and easier to enhance. Writing more content for your blog posts will increase the recommendations from Zemanta. For the best results, make sure that your blog posts are at least 300 words and it is only available in English. In the future, there may be more changes to this blogging tool.

Instead of having to search for photos or content all over the Internet, let Zemanta do the legwork for you. This is a cool blogging tool with a lot of potential. When I first started using it, it had a few bugs and the sidebar did not want to populate. After refreshing the page, it appeared and started working properly.

Although there are a few bugs in Zemanta, I am still impressed by it. Using Zemanta to work with my blog posts has helped me shave off some excess time. Anyone looking for a useful tool while blogging should take a look at Zemanta.

Ms Yokum
Tech Enthusiast & Blogger

Technorati Tags: blog,typepad,blogger,wordpress,photo,flickr,mozilla,firefox,extension

Related posts

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• A big problem if you’re using expandable posts with short summaries on your blog
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• My top picks for the WritersManifesto’s group writing project
• Google releases the Official Google Photos Blog

Post from:

Zemanta – Convenient Blogging Tool

Computer Tips

• How to add website shortcuts to the Windows Start Menu
  Looking for a way to add program shortcuts to the Start Menu? Ever thought about adding website (URL) shortcuts to your Start Menu? It’s actually quite useful! I personally use Firefox for my browsing needs, but I still hate having to browse through my ridiculously long list of bookmarks just to open my email (yes I could just type in gmail, but I’m too lazy to type it)!
• How to remove your name from search engines
  Looking for a way to remove your name from Google? Have you tried to Google your own name lately? Anything “interesting” come up that you would rather not appear in the first page for everyone to see!? I had written a post several months back on the results of Googling my own name, which turned out to be quite an eye opener as I ended up being in 71 of the top 100 results in Google!
• How to record cassette tapes to PC/Computer
  So you have a bunch of old audio cassettes that you want to copy or transfer to your computer? There are many programs out there that you can buy which will help to try and make the process as simple as possible! However, since I’m a techie and my blog is all about easy to understand computer tips, I’m going to try and teach you how you can transfer audio cassettes to your computer for free
• Search and find keys in the Windows registry faster using RegScanner
  Have you ever had to search through the Windows registry to find some esoteric key? If you’re a tech person like myself, you’ve probably modified a bunch of keys in your time, but don’t you hate how hard it is to search the registry?
• How to remove red-eye from digital pictures using Picasa-Gimp-Photoshop
  Ahh! You took a beautiful picture of someone, the perfect angle and the perfect lighting, but it’s been ruined because of red-eye, which makes everyone look like some kind robotic monster! However, it’s super easy to remove red-eye from your digital pictures using a couple of free photo editing tools.
• Speed up boot times using Bootvis
  Wish you could speed up the boot time in Windows? One of the most tedious aspects of computing is undoubtedly the infamous boot. The tiring, long and boring process that no one likes. Why not speed it up a bit? Apart from saving you from wanting to tear your hair out, a faster boot up can be really useful when you need some information quickly.
• How to read and open .DAT files in Windows
  So you just received an email with an attachment that someone sent you, but the extension on the file is .DAT. What exactly is a .DAT file and how to you open .DAT files? Those are two questions I’m going to try to answer as this is an issue that I’ve seen many times in my IT career!

Cool Web Sites

• FeedJournal- Convert RSS feeds into printable PDF files
  I love my RSS feeds, but sometimes I want to be able to physically hold a paper in my hand and read it. Now RSS users can enjoy the best of both worlds. Printing your favorite RSS feeds in a newspaper like template can be easily done with FeedJournal. It is a great little service that will allow users to convert their favorite feeds into a printable PDF file. Now your favorite feeds will look like a traditional newspaper.
• Hulu.com – Watch TV shows online for free
  Online video sites are some of the best ways to catch up on your favorite missed television shows on a busy schedule. Instead of having to wait for them to air on television again, you can just log into your favorite video site at anytime. The only issue with enjoying these favorite episodes is to find the best online video site to fulfill your entertainment need.
• DoMyStuff.com – Outsource Daily Chores
  Doing daily chores can become a hassle. With our busy schedules, it is so hard to get everything done in a timely manner. Just when you think all of your tasks have been taken care of, you soon remember that you’ve forgotten something. Organizing your schedule with “to do” lists, email reminders, and PDA’s are smart ideas, but sometimes it’s not enough.
• Browse the Internet safely using MyWOT
  Recently, I had written about a new software from McAfee called SiteAdvisor, which helps to protect your computer from malware, spyware, viruses, and spam sites while browsing the Internet for free! Having this type of preventive software is great because there are many times when you may not be sure whether a site that shows up in the search results in actually legitimate or simply spam.
• SugarSync – An All in One Syncing Tool
  Wish you could sync your Mac, PC, and phone easily? Working on multiple devices in today’s society is not an uncommon task. Most of us are very knowledgeable when it comes to the latest technology or gadgets. However, using this knowledge to become a productive person in our personal and professional lives can sometimes be a battle.

Free Software Downloads

• PicLens – Free online picture slideshow creator add-on
  Lately, I have been searching for the perfect screensaver for my computer. I finally got tired of looking at the same pictures over and over again. However, scouring the Internet for images that would make me happy was not an easy task. Just when I had decided to give up hope, I came across a useful web browser addon.
• Yakkle- Free online collaboration tool
  Looking for a free online collaboration tool? Communication is essential for all of us to keep updated on the events of the world. Whether it is finding out about the latest exploits of your friend or what your old college buddy is up to, emails aren’t always the best means of communicating with them.
• Turn web applications into desktop applications with Bubbles
  The extra advantage of a desktop application over a web application is that it will always be available at any time from the desktop via the system tray or the Windows taskbar. Unlike web applications that require a browser before you can start using it, desktop applications can proudly stand on their own.
• PrinterAnywhere – Network Printing the Easy Way
  Setting up a network printer any time soon? Installing printers on a network can be a painfully long process. It definitely requires focused attention, time, and patience. However, most of us can’t spend numerous hours trying to get multiple printers to communicate.
• Find and remove duplicate files with Duplicate Cleaner
  Remember the days when hard disk sizes were tiny? It is mind boggling to think that with the huge amount of disk space we have today, it still seems like it’s not enough. The amount of media files that can be downloaded from the World Wide Web make this matter much worse.
• Free Windows backup software – Hinx Backup Easy
  Do you backup the files on your computer?  What happens to your important documents if your computer crashes and Windows will not boot up?  More home computer users, than in years past, are savvy to the idea of backing up their computer on a schedule of some sort or another.

Miscellaneous

• Gizmoz – Create your own animated avatar
  Would you like to create or make your own avatar? One of the easiest ways to express your online personality is to have an avatar. Sometimes creating the perfect avatar can be filled with fun and other times it can quickly become a pain. There are many online services that help users create and customize avatars.
• How to setup multiple home pages in Firefox and IE
  I love browsing the Internet! In fact, I love it so much that when I start my browser, I need multiple pages to load up instead of just one! Of course, I could use a start page like Only2Clicks or Speed Dial, which allows me to access my favorites sites by simply clicking on them, but it’s not the same as having multiple home pages.
• Download and convert Internet videos easily using Mux
  Web videos are extremely addictive. Viewing some of the funniest moments captured on camera can last for hours of fun. Whether you are cruising through YouTube or Google videos, there are times you wish you could download them for later viewing.
• How to get Vista breadcrumbs navigation on Windows XP
  Other than the usual bugs found in Microsoft Vista, there are a few things that I like about it: one being the Aero “glass” interface and other visual effects. I personally am waiting till Service Pack 1 comes out before installing it on my main laptop as I’ve heard too many “I hate Vista” stories already!

That’s about it for the month of March! Hope that you found them interesting and enjoyable! Post a comment on what articles were your favorite and which you didn’t really like! Thanks!

Related posts

• Subscribe to the RSS feed of a category, author or tag in Wordpress
• Zemanta – Convenient Blogging Tool
• Online Tech Tips blogging goals for 2008
• How to watermark photos and images using Windows Live Writer
• Master Excel Tables with AutoFilter and Subtotal
• Export Firefox bookmarks and import them into IE
• Access cool easter eggs in Firefox 3

Post from:

Best posts on Online Tech Tips from March 2008

So here’s the most popular posts on Online Tech Tips for the last month, February 2008 split by category in case you’re only interested in a specific one! Please remember to post comments on which articles you liked best and which you didn’t like! Thanks!

Computer Tips

• How to reset an iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPod Classic, or iPod Shuffle
  Because I work in IT, I end up getting a lot of questions that deal with technical support, such as how do I unfreeze or reset my iPod device! I’m not sure why so many people have been asking me that lately, but since they are, I thought I would write up a quick post on how to go about resetting your iPod if it has frozen up!
• Get the iPhone interface on your BlackBerry using bPhone
  Own a BlackBerry Pearl, Curve, 8800, 8700, etc? Don’t like it’s default interface with usual icons and normal Windows type colors? Why not spice that BlackBerry of yours up with a cool looking iPhone interface! Yes that’s right, someone wonderful has written a program that will replace the boring BlackBerry interface with the beautiful iPhone interface!
• How to make or create animated GIFs online
  Every once in a while you might run into the need for creating animated GIFs online for your website, blog, or just to send to a friend who managed to get caught doing something very stupid that makes for a great digital flip book!
• How to fix Microsoft Windows Search Indexer stopped working and was closed
  A quick guide on how you can fix this issue in Windows Vista. It’s quite annoying and it’s another one of the many bugs in Windows Vista!
• What is Sonic Update Manager and how to remove it
  Here’s another technical walk-through on how to fix a pesky little problem that is caused by computer manufacturers such as Dell! Basically, they load too much crap onto your PC when you buy it and you get lots of junk software installed, one being Sonic Update Manager.
• How to fix runonce.msn.com runonce2.aspx error in IE7
  I just ran across another great Microsoft error that should never have occurred because it’s really not a needed feature! New to IE7 is the RunOnce screen that tries to get users to customize their settings, such as which language you want to use and if you want to join the Customer Experience program, etc, before starting to use IE7 for browsing.
• How to add more sources to iPhone and iPod Touch installer apps
  Even though I don’t own an iPhone or iPod Touch myself, I’ve played around with a good number of them and in this post I’m going to describe how to add more sources to your iPhone or iPod Touch installer so that you can have more applications and themes to use on them.

Cool Web Sites

• Family Websites for Family Bonding, Even When You’re Apart
  Surely, everybody has his or her own memory of a family member or relative: photos of the last Christmas celebration, a video of Junior’s first few steps, and numerous testimonies on relatives and familial occasions. And surely, you can send them to almost any relative, through e-mail, mobile devices, or post it in your personal websites.
• PDFHammer – Edit, merge, reorder PDF files online
  Looking for free software to edit pdf files and documents easily? If you want a desktop application for doing this, you can download Foxit or PDF-Xchange, two free programs that allow you to view and edit PDF documents. However, they are still applications that need to be installed onto your computer.
• Make your own website without any programming using Roxer
  If you’ve ever wanted to make your own website without spending most of your time coding HTML, this post is for you. Sometimes, we just want to create a simple website to show the world our ideas, pictures, videos, and more without having to learn tricky things such as HTML programming beforehand.
• McAfee SiteAdvisor – Free protection from malware and spyware
  Want to protect yourself against computer malware, spyware and viruses? I’m sure we all like to think that we’re too sophisticated to fall for email scams or be tricked into opening virus-laden attachments. Why, the last time we made a dumb move like that was way back in the year of our lord 2000 when we opened the Love Bug virus out of curiosity.
• Blurb Booksmart: How to create your own book
  I have always dreamed of writing my very own book. Being able to sit down and look at my words in professional print makes me smile. Although I thought doing this was a fantasy, it is now within reach. Blurb Booksmart is a extraordinary tool that will let users turn their personal blogs, photos, or diaries into an actual book.

Free Software Downloads

• The Best Digital Post-It Notes Software Available
  If you’re like me, you’ve covered your desk with real post-it notes, but what if you could have digital post-it notes on your computer desktop as well? There are many different brands of digital post-it notes available that can help you organize your life – without cluttering up your desk! Here’s the low-down on the pros and cons of the different post-it notes for your desktop.
• Speed Up Windows Boot Speed with Startup Delayer
  If you used to tweak your system for some extra performance, there is only one known popular way to speed up Windows startup and that is by removing applications from Windows startup list. This can greatly reduce the time for Windows to start up but will work only if you don’t really need those applications to run.
• VideoSpin – Free movie and video editing software
  Looking for free video editing software? Just about everyone today has a camera that can record video, so it’s essential to be able to download and edit those videos to create something unique and enjoyable!
• Winlibre – Essential free software downloads for Windows
  I’m a big fan of open source software because it’s free and usually has the same functionality as a commercial application with the added benefit that it usually runs faster too!
• Replace Windows Vista Start Menu with customized version
  The Windows Start Menu is probably the most used feature in all of Windows! Think about it, you launch most of your programs from there, you can search from there in Vista, you get the command prompt from the Start menu, you can start a search or load up the currently installed printer, and lots more.

Miscellaneous

• How to understand End User License Agreements (EULA)
  Ever read through an End User License Agreement (EULA) before? You are surfing the Internet, looking for some free software. File sharing programs, computer games, MP3 organizers, and file compression tools, among other software, are plentiful on the Internet..
• Apple TV 2.0 – Download and watch movies, TV shows, YouTube videos without a computer
  When I first heard about Apple TV a long time back, I was very excited because I thought it was going to be what Apple TV 2.0 currently is! I ended up not buying one simply because it wasn’t that useful!
• How to create an online survey for free using Google Docs
  Why might you need to create your own online survey? Need to get the opinion of several of your friends or family members about an idea you have? Or maybe you are at the office and want to know what projects people think are the most important for your department?
• Tweak Windows Vista – Performance, registry, and Internet tweaks
  There are a bunch of programs that you can use to tweak Windows Vista and I had written about one earlier called MZ Vista Force, which had a good number of Windows Vista tweaks. However, I have just run across another program that not only allows you to tweak Windows Vista, but also has tons of options and features for customization, security, and optimization of your Vista OS.

That’s about it for the month of Feb! Hope that you found them interesting and enjoyable! Post a comment on what articles were your favorite and which you didn’t really like! Thanks!

Related posts

• Subscribe to the RSS feed of a category, author or tag in Wordpress
• Zemanta – Convenient Blogging Tool
• How to watermark photos and images using Windows Live Writer
• Export Firefox bookmarks and import them into IE
• Access cool easter eggs in Firefox 3
• How to use data validation in Excel
• Automatically log into Windows XP

Post from:

Best posts on Online Tech Tips from Febuary 2008

Some bloggers that cover live events end up losing valuable time. They take notes at the event and then run to the nearest computer to get the word out. Thankfully there are wonderful applications available to cut that time in half. Instead of other bloggers getting the scoop on you, you will be able to get the news out first.

Cover It Live is a totally free service that will give you the chance to interact with your subscribers while keeping them updated with the event you are reporting from. Having access to live blogging will not only put you ahead of boring bloggers, but it will also give you the chance to upgrade your blogging style.

You will not have to keep refreshing your blog posts in order to keep them current. It will easily embed into your website just like traditional flash videos do. As soon as you post your desired information, it will quickly be updated onto your website.

Adding pictures, text, and video via Cover It Live is as simple as drag and drop. There’s nothing overwhelming or complicated about it. Allowing your subscribers to ask you up to the minute questions will definitely increase your blog’s popularity. You will also be able to add voting polls for even more interactivity. If you have a blogging team, then this would be the perfect service to use. You would be able to focus on exploring the event while your team members monitor or answer questions.

Although Cover It Live looks like a widget, it definitely has more features than one. After you have finished reporting from your live event, the program will quickly convert itself into a window for easy reading. Subscribers that missed the live blogging event will have the opportunity to review recent updates and view any created voting polls.

Instead of having to post information all over again, your subscribers will have access to it on their own. This great application provides plenty of useful and robust features. Virtually any blogger would be able to gain major use from it. Not only will it save valuable time, but it is extremely cool to work with as well.

This is a guest post by Ms Yokum, a tech enthusiast and blogger.

Related posts

• Cover It Live – Live Blogging
• Windows Live Writer Beta 3 released with many new features
• Microsoft Office Online is now called Office Live Workspace
• How to add Polariod-style pictures into your blog posts
• Windows Live Search Webmaster Center open to public
• How to setup a live real-time polls using Google Docs
• Windows Live Search Images now includes facial recognition filters

Post from:

Cover It Live – Live Blogging

But most people do not bother with manually tests because it simply takes too long and it’s too tedious to sit and watch, compare, adjust and start over again. That’s why a couple of smart people come out with a way to automate the whole process of ad optimization.

I wrote recently about 3 ad optimization services that have enticing messages stating that your ad network is probably being under utilized because you have not tried out all combinations/permutations of the ad on your site. It sounds great in theory and so I decided to put one of the services, namely PubMatic, to the test!

Performance review of PubMatic automated ad optimization

On my site, I currently only have one Google Adsense block that is right below the post title before the actual content of the blog post. It’s a 336×280 rectangle and it has been performing well over in the last few months, especially in December of 2007.

I also decided to sign up with a few different ad networks other than Google Adsense to insure that I would be getting the highest ECPM ad displayed on the site. I joined the Yahoo Publisher Network, Tribal Fusion, and BlueLithium. They also support many other ad networks, so you can test it out with the network you are currently using.

According to PubMatic, they only need about 50,000 to 70,000 page impressions in order to completely optimize their display of the ads. At first, the colors were horrendous with matches like black orange, or neon pink and blue. I’m not even sure why they try those colors together since they look so terrible.

The ECPM dropped the first day quite dramatically as can be excepted since the ads were absolutely disgusting to look at, much less click on! After a few days, the color combinations became slightly better, but still quite bad and the ECPM and click through-rate were both miserable, almost 40 to 50% percent less than before.

Even with the loss of income, I decided to stick it through till I gave them all the impressions they needed for their system to “optimize”. I ran the ads from January 5th to the 21st with a total of about 90,000 page impressions.

Eventually, PubMatic only displayed Google Adsense ads in various color combos and not very much of Yahoo or any other network.

Conclusion

I have to say that I was disappointed with the performance of their system. Even after all of that time and a significant increase in traffic from Google, my income actually went DOWN!

The amount of money that I had previously made on 8,000 impressions now needed 13,000! This was very disheartening and I’m not sure how well this service works for technology blogs. It may work well for some sites, but I’m fairly certain that the way it’s setup right now, it won’t work for me.

I thought that eventually PubMatic would at least be able to get me the same ECPM that I was getting just be choosing the default ad color scheme from Google, but it did far worse.

So if you’re looking to optimize your ads, you might want to wait out on using any of these services unless you are absolutely making no money from your ads currently.

Anyone else try PubMatic or the Rubicon Project to optimize their ads?

[tags]optimize ads, optimize google adsense, pubmatic, rubicon project, optimize adsense, ad optimization, ad placement, ads optimization[/tags]

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• Optimize Windows easily with FreshUI
• Paperspine – Rent books online just like Netflix
• MySpace IM Alerts on Mobile Phones Now Possible With Gizmo5

Post from:

Review of PubMatic, ad optimization service, after 3 weeks of usage

I’m going to try and list out my best posts of all time for 2007 and the best posts for each month on the year. Hopefully, it can be a good reading for anyone interested in some cool technology tips! Check them out if you have time!

Most Popular for 2007

• Watch DivX Hollywood/Bollywood movies online for free
• How to track the original location of an email via its IP address
• How to connect your Laptop/PC/Computer to your TV
• Watch Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Bengali movies onilne for free
• How to detect computer & email monitoring or spying software
• How to convert a PDF file to Word, Excel or JPG format

March 2007

• Wireless Tips – Does your wireless router keep disconnecting or dropping the connection?
• How to switch between tabs in IE7 using shortcut key
• How to setup Remote Desktop on Windows XP
• Create customized news feeds using Google News
• Using the Principles of Dale Carnegie to Create a Great Blog!
• How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Files
• How to clear your Google search history
• Forgot your Windows password? How to recover your lost password? Try Login Recovery!
• How to install a network printer on your home or office network
• Simple ways to increase your computer’s performace – Configuring the paging file
• How to setup Google’s Picasa Web Album for newbies!

April 2007

• How to configure the Power Options for your laptop
• How to Blog Anonymously so you don’t get fired
• Windows XP Tips – How to disable Error Reporting
• How to determine your router’s default password
• How to customize the Windows XP Start Menu
• How to make Windows XP look like Windows Vista
• Excel Basics – How to use the Conditional Sum wizard
• Want more information on your Windows XP processes?

May 2007

• ImagIcon – Convert multiple image formats (JPG, BMP, PNG) into Windows icons
• How to use Data Validation in Microsoft Excel to create dropdown lists
• An introduction to the Windows XP Task Manager: Processes, Programs, and Performance – Part I
• Create a strong and secure XP password using password tools
• Use Lyrics Plugin to get song lyrics while playing a song!

June 2007

• A complete list of search engine friendly (SEO) WordPress plugins for your Blog
• How to connect your Laptop/PC/Computer to your TV
• How to protect your computer from hackers, spyware and viruses
• BugMeNot.com – A site dedicated to bypassing required registration
• The Best Way to move from Blogger Beta to WordPress

July 2007

• How to view the product keys for Microsoft Windows XP or Office XP/2003 for free
• ZabaSearch – Search public information for people, phone numbers, ip addresses, and more for free
• Page Saver – Free FireFox extension to capture images of web pages
• Best ways to find good cheap or discounted laptop/notebook computers other than eBay
• A complete list of anti-plagiarism and content-theft fighting WordPress plugins
• Izimi – Share any file on your computer instantly by turning your computer into a web server
• Simple ways to increase your computer’s performace – Turn off indexing on your local drives

August 2007

• How to change your default mailto client to GMail or Yahoo
• How to rip an audio cd and convert WMA files to MP3 for free
• How to split a large file into multiple smaller pieces
• How to create a secured and locked folder in Windows XP
• How to detect computer & email monitoring or spying software
• How to recover deleted, corrupted, or formatted pictures for free
• How to encrypt your computer’s hard disk data and files for free

September 2007

• 5 ways to increase Internet traffic to your blog or web site
• How to fix Window Media Player “Cannot Play This DVD” error message
• How to create, mount, and burn ISO image files for free
• 8 Security Tips and Guidelines for your WordPress Blog
• How to pin a folder to the Start Menu in Windows XP
• How to design and create your own custom logo for free
• 25 useful Greasemonkey scripts you should take a look at
• How to find good ideas and content for your blog
• How to capture, save, record or download streaming audio for free

October 2007

• First look into and review of Microsoft’s Gatineau web analytics tool
• How to kill or close all running programs in Windows quickly
• 6 free remote desktop sharing and screen sharing solutions
• 4 ways to send free text messages to cell phones from your PC
• How to backup your blog using Feedburner and Gmail
• Avoid repetitive typing by assigning shortcuts to frequently used phrases
• Run your favorite applications and programs from a portable USB drive
• How to track the original location of an email via its IP address
• How I lost all my Google traffic because I didn’t back up my site

November 2007

• How to find out who hosts a web site (web hosting company)
• Transform Windows XP into Windows Vista using Vista Transformation Pack 8
• How to write blog post titles while keeping SEO in mind
• Recover and hack Yahoo and MSN instant messenger passwords
• How to remove, crack, or break a forgotten Excel xls password
• 7 free video converting, ripping, and encoding utilities
• Another way to hide files and folders in Windows XP
• Free PDF viewer and reader that’s better than Foxit viewer
• 5 ways to crack or reset a forgotten Windows XP administrator password

December 2007

• How to access blocked web sites from school, office, or work using JAP
• CodecInstaller – Find and download audio and video codecs to play movies
• Online Tech Tips blogging goals for 2008
• Free anonymous, temporary and disposable email address service – MintEmail
• How to record yourself online using your PC’s webcam
• Rent an unlimited number of books online using BookSwim
• faxZero – Free online Internet fax service – Send faxes for free
• Quickly crop, resize, rotate and add effects to your pictures using FixPicture
• How to send secure encrypted email for free

And that’s it! I want to thank all of my readers and hope that you will continue to read my blog! Please post comments and I will try to help! Enjoy!

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Online Tech Tips – Best posts for 2007

I started this blog in March of 2007 and it’s been exceeding my expectations for far in terms of traffic and money, but like the perfectionist I like to be, I want it to be way better in many ways! So here’s my list of goals that I HOPE to reach in 2008!

Daily Unique Visitors

Currently: ~6000, Goal: ~12000 – This is definitely going to be tough, but if I can keep getting good links in and keep my posting up to schedule, I would love to double my traffic! This might be too much, but I think it could be attainable.

FeedBurner RSS Subscribers

Currently: ~1250, Goal: ~3000 -This is a more ambitious goal! I hope to triple my readership by the end of next year! Will take some hard work and promoting, but if I can get enough referral traffic from social sites, it could be possible!

Number of Posts Daily

Currently: ~2, Goal: ~3 - Currently I am able to write about 2 posts a day, which is decent, but not where I want to be. I would like to get at least 3 a day if I can by 2008.

Total Comments on Blog

Currently: ~1094, Goal: ~4000 - I really hope to increase the number of comments that I have on the blog! In about 9 months, I’ve gotten 1000 comments, hopefully next year I can get double or triple that for a total of 4000+.

Alexa Ranking

Currently: ~51464, Goal: <40000 - I’m guessing if I can double my traffic like mentioned above, then I should be able to get below 40,000 in Alexa! That would be really great!

Technorati Ranking

Currently: ~11020 Goal: <5000 – I REALLY want to get into the top 5000 blogs on Technorati by the end of 2008! That is my goal and it’s going to be REALLY hard, but hopefully with some great articles, etc I can get enough backlinks to reach this goal.

Google PageRank

Currently: 4, Goal: 5 - I’m not going to be unrealistic here, there’s no way I’m getting higher than a 1 point raise in PageRank, if even that! I would have to get a siginificant number of backlinks to get to 6, so I think 5 would be amazing to reach.

Monthly Earnings

Currently: ~2000, Goal: ~3500 – If I can double my traffic by the end of the year, hopefully, I’ll also be able to double my income! I’m really hoping to reach $3500 a month as that will be a significant amount that I would be happy with.

Guest Posting

Currently: ~4/month, Goal: ~7/month – Guest posting is a great way to get traffic and backlinks and I would like to increase the number of blogs that I guest post on and the number of posts that I write on a monthly basis.

That’s it for now! If I can reach these goals by the end of 2008, I will be EXTREMELY happy! I’m glad I wrote this as it’ll be a good way to compare during the year. Enjoy!

[tags]blog goals, blogging goals, group writing project, blog rankings, blog analysis[/tags]

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Online Tech Tips blogging goals for 2008

As of right now, November has been a great month in terms of increasing visitors to my blog and increasing revenue. I’m only using Google AdSense and Kontera to monetize my blog at this time until I can re-design my blog to accommodate different ad systems, such as sponsors, etc.

Also, my PageRank went from 0 to 4 during the last PageRank update, so that felt really good. I was hoping for a 5, but maybe next time around! Ok, so now for the stats! If you have any questions or comments about anything, please feel free to post a comment or write to me directly via my contact form. I am always willing to help fellow bloggers, as I started at the very bottom myself.

Blog Statistics for November 2007

• 171,378 Visits (156,611 absolute unique visitors)
• 288,926 Pageviews (1.69 avg pageviews)
• RSS Subscribers ~1100
• Technorati Rank ~14,000 (344 authority)
• Alexa Ranking – 56, 373

Google Analytics Stats:

Traffic Sources:

Feed Statistics:

Top Content:

• How to track the original location of an email via its IP address

• Watch DivX Hollywood/Bollywood movies online for free

• 4 ways to crack or reset a forgotten Windows XP administrator password

• How to connect your Laptop/PC/Computer to your TV

• Watch Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Bengali movies onilne for free

What I am really happy about though is the increase in traffic from Google. It’s gone from around 3000 daily visits to almost 6000. That’s a large increase for me in one month and it’s very exciting. I hope the trend continues upward!

Money Earned for November 2007

• AdSense for Content: ~$1470
• Kontera: ~$500
• Guest Posts: $100

Total blog income for November 2007: ~$2000

I was not expecting this much from my blog at all when I first started, but I’m really happy with the results. I hope to get my blog re-designed in December so that I can get a few sponsors also and affiliates.

I hope that my content keeps bringing in more visitors from Google in December. There are also many things I have done in the background to get more backlinks, optimize my blog, and promote it that have also increased my traffic. It’s essential to keep working on both writing good content and marketing your blog. And by marketing, I don’t mean quick and dirty ways like buying text links ads, etc, those will only hurt you in the end.

I hope this shows anyone who is starting a blog that it is very possible to make good money from a blog if they really work hard. I can tell you that when I started blogging in March of this year, I didn’t even know what the term “blog” really meant and I had no idea about terms like “SEO”, etc, etc. It took a lot of learning and reading to figure it out.

Being persistent is the key: during my time I had to make a major move from Blogger to Wordpress without losing traffic or being penalized, watch all my traffic go bye-bye when my hosting server crashed, and watch none of my articles get Dugg for months on end. I stuck through and kept writing and now things are working out. Keep going for at least a year consistently and you can have a successful blog.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments, questions, or tips for me!

[tags]blog income, website stats, blog stats, my blog stats, my blog income, website analytics[/tags]

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Website statistics and blog income report for November 2007

However, trying to pick and choose the best ads for your type of traffic and demographics is pretty much impossible. There are simply too many choices and too little time to try out and test different ad systems. Thankfully though, people have seen this as major problem and a few companies are starting to do something about it with automated ad optimization technologies.

With ad rates changing all the time and with so many different ad display choices, the task of optimization is too much to handle by one human person. There are three sites that you can use currently that basically let you use multiple ad netwoks at once and then displays the ads from the network that will provide the highest revenue for each visitor based on the demographics, geographic location, and layout aspects of your site.

PubMatic

Has the largest number of users out of the three services as of right now. Currently supports ad networks like Yahoo Publisher Network, Value Click, Google Adsense, and hundreds more. Being able to access all of these networks and getting the highest eCPM ads from all of the networks will hopefully significantly increase ad revenue.

Also, you can centrally manage all of your ad networks from within the PubMatic interface and publishers can quickly join ad networks directly from PubMatic without having to apply separately. Main features include automated ad network auction (highest eCPM ad will be displayed), optimized ad layout (size, color, text, location), central management interface.

YieldBuild

YieldBuild will also try to optimize your ads, but unlike PubMatic, it has more of a focus on ad layout and design. It uses some advanced computer algorithms to automatically determine the best ad spots on your site that will maximize ad revenue based on a combination of ad style, ad network, and ad layout.

It constantly tries out different combinations of these configurations looking for the highest performing combos. It takes about 100,000 page impressions for the system to find the optimal configuration. Also, as users become ad blind, it’s supposed to switch to another profitable combo of ad network and ad layout.

Rubicon Project

Same as the other two, but has been around for quite a bit of time. Also has one-place management for all ad networks includes networks like Adsense, Yahoo, Tacoda (AOL), AdBrite, and HispanoClick. The service segments the ad networks into 9,000 smaller segments by context, demographics, and geography. 

So if you’re been looking for a way to optimize the ads on your web site without driving yourself mad, definitely make sure to check out these free services. PubMatic has been promoting news of a few of their publishers like WinCustomize that have apparently increased their ad revenue by 100% using their optimization services, so it might really work!

[tags]ad optimization, automated ad optimization, optimize ads, optimize ad layout, optimize website ads, pubmatic, yieldbuild, rubicon project[/tags]

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3 ways to maximize ad revenue by automating ad optimization

Yesterday the 800 comment was surpassed and I wanted to go ahead and announce the winner:

Mr. BT’s comment on Synchronize files or replicate data between PC computers using Allway Sync is the winner of $25 and a link back to his blog or website if he has one.

I’ll be contacting BT and sending him the money via Paypal! Hopefully, he’ll enjoy the little surprise.

So keep commenting for two more prizes at the 900th and 1000th comment!

900th comment – $50 in cash paid via Paypal and a link back

1000th comment – $100 in cash paid via Paypal and a link back

And we are already at comment number 817, so not many more to go to get to 900! Keep up the comments and you could land yourself $50 or $100 richer for not doing much!

Enjoy!

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1st winner of the 1000th comment contest

Thanks to Everyone!

Firstly, thanks to everyone has has subscribed to my blog!

I hope that it has provided something useful for anyone who does not have the time to browse through hundreds of sites looking for the latest Web 2.0 sites, cool technology tips, or great freeware applications.

If you have your own blog or have just started blogging, you may have realized how hard it can be to get a blog up off the ground, however, if you continue to stick with it and provide useful and unique content, you could eventually make more money from blogging than from a regular job!

I know that it has changed my life even though it’s been only 6 to 7 months. As of right now, I am not able to give up my day job, but if I continue to work hard for another year or so, I am hopeful that I will be able to earn enough from this blog to do just that! Of course, a large portion of that success is because of my RSS readers!

RSS Readers Comment Contest

To thank all of my readers, I want to announce a contest whereby there will be prizes for those individuals who post the 800th, 900th, and 1000th comment on this blog!

As of today, there are 783 comments currently on this blog. That means to get the first prize, there only needs to be 17 more comments! So what are the prizes you might ask? Here’s the breakdown:

3rd Prize (800th comment) – $25 and a link back to your blog from this post if you have one

2nd Prize (900th comment) – $50 in cash paid via Paypal and a link back

1st Prize (1000th comment) – $100 in cash paid via Paypal and a link back

Once a comment threshold has been reached and someone has won, I will update this post with that info and notify the commenter of his/her victory. So once it reaches 800 comments, I’ll let everyone know that someone has won before getting to 900 and 1000.

Of course, comments should NOT be spammy in nature, but should try to provide an opinion or some other type of useful information or insight.

Also, I still have not closed out my other contest called the Group Reviewing Project, so if you have a blog and want to gain some exposure make sure you check it out.

Also, please provide any feedback you have about this blog including which posts you really enjoyed, what you would like to see more of, less of, etc, etc. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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My RSS readers "Let’s Comment to 1000" contest

1. How to Attract Comments on Your Blog by Sarah

2. How to Move Self Hosted Wordpress Blogs Across Webhosts by Shivaranjan

3. How to Ad Edit Buttons to Your Wordpress Theme by Kyle

If you’re a blogger yourself, you’ll definitely want to check out some of these great articles as it’s very helpful whether you’re first starting out with blogging or even if you’re a veteran!

Good luck to everyone!

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My top picks for the WritersManifesto’s group writing project

All of the above-mentioned methods are the RECOMMENDED ways to back up your blog by me and just about everyone else, but all too many times people get lazy and end up neglecting this very important procedure! It’s happened to me once and I almost lost my entire site simply because I was not backing up my blog routinely.

However, even with this knowledge, there are some days that I do not get a chance to back up my latest posts because of various reasons. In this case if my I were to lose everything on my hosting server (I have a daily backup scheduled on my hosting site, but they have lost all of their backups at one point too) , I would end up losing a day or two worth of posts written. Losing 2 days worth of posts is still quite a bit considering it’s about 4 to 5 actual posts.

So while playing around and trying to figure out a method where I could have my posts automatically backed up locally (not on my hosting site’s servers) without having to use FTP or run a plugin or basically do anything manually, I came up with a very simple solution: subscribe to my Feedburner email subscription with a Gmail address that includes a label that will be automatically filtered to my archives when it comes in.

Using your Feedburner email subscription, any new posts you publish will automatically be sent to your subscribers. Add yourself in with your normal Gmail address plus a label, i.e. Aseem1234+blogbackup@gmail.com and have it filtered to your archives! Viola! Now your entire posts will be emailed to you and saved in your Google account whenever you publish.

Of course in order to set this up, you’ll need to be using Feedburner to manage your feeds. However, I think that most bloggers including Blogger bloggers now use Feedburner to manage all of their feeds. To setup email subscriptions on your feed, log into Feedburner and click on the Publicize tab. You’ll see the option Email Subscriptions in the left menu.

FeedBurner has specific instructions on how to set it up for WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad. If you need more information on how to set it up, just search in Google.

Once you have that setup, let’s go to your Gmail account and setup a new label and filter. Once logged in, click on Edit Labels at the bottom left of them Gmail screen.

Under Create a new label, type in the word “blogbackup” as one word. You can choose a different label if you like, just keep using that for the next step also.

Click Create to create the new label. Now click on Filters from the Settings menu to setup the filter. Click Create a New Filter at the bottom. For Step 1, enter your email address followed by a “+” sign and the word for your label, in our case “blogbackup” into the To: box. It should look like this:

Click Next step and check off “Skip the Inbox (Archive it)” to have the emails automatically moved from your Inbox to the archived folder. Also, check “Apply the Label” and choose the label we just created, blogbackup.

Click Create Filter and you’re done. Now go ahead and test it by sending an email to MyEmailAdd+blogbackup@gmail.com and you should see it go directly to your archives with the label blogbackup for easy access.

A very simple method to backup your blog posts and should only be used to complement other blog backup strategies, but useful in case your blog backup is a few days old when you lose everything. You can think of this as a kind of differential backup!

[tags]blog backup, backup blogs, how to backup a blog, automatic blog backup, backups[/tags]

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How to backup your blog using Feedburner and Gmail