Visited web pages, usernames, passwords, and other information become a part of the history that Firefox remembers to make your next browsing experience more enjoyable. However, if you prefer to use Firefox without the browser remembering your history, you can turn on its Private Browsing feature.

What is Private Browsing?

When using Firefox’s Private Browsing feature, the following information will no longer be remembered by the browser as history:

• Visited Pages
• Form and Search Bar Entries
• Passwords
• Downloaded Files List
• Cookies
• Web Cache Files

There are two caveats to using the Private Browsing feature in Firefox. First, any new bookmarks you create while in Private Browsing mode will not be removed or deleted when you deactivate Private Browsing.

Second, files saved to your computer under Private Browsing will not be deleted when you stop using this feature. However, temporary files you downloaded will be deleted from your computer’s temporary folder. Luckily, none of these files will ever show up in the Downloaded files list.

Turn on Private Browsing

There are two ways to turn on Private Browsing. The temporary method allows you to turn Private Browsing on and off at will. The permanent method allows you to use Private Browsing as a permanent choice. Read on to learn both methods.

Temporary Private Browsing

To turn Private Browsing on and off at will, begin by opening Firefox and clicking on Tools and then Start Private Browsing. You can also turn on this feature by using the Ctrl+Shift+P shortcut key combination.

Firefox will ask if you want to start Private Browsing. Click on the Start Private Browsing button and Firefox will restart itself and give you a brief overview of what will and will not be remembered as history while in this mode.

When you want to exit Private Browsing mode, click on Tools and then click on Stop Private Browsing. Again, you can alternatively use the Ctrl+Shift+P shortcut key combination.

Permanent Private Browsing

If you want Private Browsing to be on whenever you startup and use Firefox, begin by opening the Firefox browser and clicking Tools and then Options.

Click on the Privacy tab at the top of the window. Locate the drop down box labeled Firefox Will and select Use Custom Settings for History.

Locate and check the option titled Automatically Start Firefox In A Private Browsing Session. Click on the OK button.

This time, however, you will have to shut down and restart Firefox yourself. When you do, Firefox will use Private Browsing mode every time you use Firefox.

Remember, however, that activating and deactivating Firefox’s Private Browsing option only affects your accounts. No other accounts on your computer are affected by your personal option changes.

If you want all users on your computer to browse the web with Private Browsing activated, you will need to log into each account with your own administrator account and make the change manually.

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Turn on Private Browsing in Firefox

Install the Tabberwocky extension from:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/14439.

Setting Your Options

Once the extension is installed, you should set the options to customize it.

To access the options, select Add-ons from the Tools menu.

The Add-ons dialog box displays. Make sure the Extensions button is selected on the toolbar and scroll down to Tabberwocky.

Click the Options button. The Tabberwocky Options dialog box displays.

Tab Options

There are many options on the Tabs screen for customizing how the tabs in Firefox work.

In the Tab behavior box, select one of the check boxes (Only links or Always) next to the Open tabs to the right of current tab option to have new tabs opened to the right of the currently selected tab either always or only when you click a link.

When you close a tab you can choose to display the tab to the right or to the left of the tab being closed, or the last selected tab, whether or not it is right next to the tab being closed. Use the drop-down list next to After closing a tab, switch to option in the Tab behavior box.

If you have so many tabs open that the closing X is not available on each tab, the Double-click to close option in the Tab clicking options box would be useful. Select it to be able to double-click on a tab to close it.

Select the check box for the Show close button option and select an option from the drop-down list to specify when a close button is available on a tab.

Menus Options

The Menus screen provides options for customizing the pop-up menu accessed when right-clicking on a tab.

The following image shows an example of the options that are available on the pop-up menu. Use the Menus screen to turn on and off some of the options.

Advanced Options

There is one really useful option on the Advanced screen if you tend to open a lot of tabs in one instance of Firefox.

Select the Multiple-row tab bar check box to display your tabs on more than one row. This allows you to see more web pages you have open at a time. Specify the Maximum number of rows for Firefox to display in the edit box.

There is a limit of 64 rows; however, that would seem to be plenty. If you have that many web pages open, you might consider opening more instances of Firefox, or closing some pages.

by Lori Kaufman

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Increase the Functionality of Your Firefox Tabs

The most common reason why a computer may not recognize an external hard drive or flash drive is because the external hard drive or flash drive is formatted wrong, or needs updated drivers.

Formatting

An external hard drive or flash drive that is formatted incorrectly will sometimes not not show up on a computer. The majority of the time, this is the problem. Windows computers utilize two major formats: FAT32 and NTFS.

Mac computers use the format type Mac OS X Journaled. Most external hard drives come formatted as either FAT32 or NTFS by default. So, if you are using a Mac computer and the computer is not recognizing your external hard drive or flash drive, chances are good that it is because the drive is not formatted as OS X Journaled.

Alternatively, if you are using a Windows computer, and the drive is formatted as OS X Journaled, it won’t show up.

The two major Windows formats, FAT32 and NTFS, can sometimes have incompatibility issues, for unknown reasons. So, if your external hard drive or flash drive is formatted as NTFS and not working, try formatting it to FAT32, or vice versa.

This is a common issue among some of the mainstream external hard drives, such as the Western Digital My Book.

Skip over to this article if you want to learn more details on how to format external hard drives.

Buggy software

If your external hard drive came with specialized software, chances are good that it could be the software itself that is causing problems between the drive and the computer.

The thing with external hard drive manufacturers is, they assume that you want to use your external hard drive for backup (when you may just want to use it to store files). So, they tell you to install the software before doing anything else, in the directions.

If you have installed the software that came with your external hard drive, and it is not being recognized, try updating the software. Most of the time, there should be a “check for updates” option located somewhere within the software options.

If not, go to the manufacturer’s website and search for updated drivers/software for your particular device. After you have the software updated, restart your computer and try connecting the external hard drive again.

If the external hard drive still doesn’t work, try uninstalling the software all together. For example, if you have Western Digital Backup Utility installed, uninstall it, as well as any other Western Digital software, from the Control Panel Programs in Windows.

Restart your computer and try connecting the external hard drive. Your computer should recognize it. But if not, you may need to reformat it.

Other options

Ninety percent of the time, the above information should fix your external hard drive and allow your computer to recognize it. However, it may be a problem with the hard drive itself.

External hard drives are one of the most complained about computer accessories of all time. In fact, it’s hard to find any external hard drive with “great” ratings. Many people have complained about their external hard drives being DOA (dead on arrival).

This very well could be the case. You may want to consider returning the hard drive and getting a new one.

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Computer Won’t Recognize External Hard Drive?

In many cases, 2000+ songs would mean $2000… down the drain. This tutorial will teach you three easy ways to backup your iTunes. Hopefully, one of them works for you.

For this tutorial, you will need:

- An external hard drive

or

- A high capacity flash drive

and/or

Another computer

*If you plan on transferring your iTunes to another computer, your hard drive or flash drive needs to be formatted correctly. If transferring to a Mac, the hard drive must be formatted as OS X Journaled. If transferring to a PC, the hard drive must be formatted as FAT 32.*

Backing up your iTunes library

1. Open up iTunes

2. Navigate to your iTunes preferences. If you are using a Mac, click the iTunes text in the top OS X navigation bar and select Preferences from the drop down menu.

If you are using Windows, select edit from the top toolbar of the iTunes window and select Preferences from the drop down menu.

3. Click on the advanced tab.

4. Check to assure that the option to Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library has a check mark next to it. If not, check it. Click the OK button when you are finished.

5. Click the File button located on the top OS X navigation bar on Macs, or the top Window menu in Windows. Hover your mouse over the Library link from the drop down menu and select Organize Library from the secondary sub menu.

6. From the Organize Library window, put a check next to the listing Consolidate Files. If you have the option, also put a check mark in the box that says Upgrade to iTunes Media organization. Click the OK button.

7. Close out of iTunes completely. If you are using a Mac, select iTunes from the top OS X navigation bar and select Quit iTunes. If you are using Windows, just click the X in the corner of the iTunes window to exit.

8. Connect your external hard drive or high capacity flash drive to your computer.

9. Navigate to your external hard drive or flash drive and open it. If you are using a Mac, it should auto mount and show up on the desktop. If you are using Windows, you may need to navigate to your My Computer and open it from there.

10. Find the location of your iTunes folder. By default, the location is Finder > Username > Music > iTunes on a Mac. The location is Start > Documents > Username > My Documents > My Music on a PC.

If your iTunes folder is not located in one of those locations, you can manually find it. Reopen iTunes. Use the path iTunes > Preferences on a Mac, or Edit > Preferences on a PC.

11. Click the Advanced tab. Look for the section labeled iTunes Media folder location. That is how you can get to your iTunes folder.

12. Click and drag your main iTunes folder into your external hard drive of flash drive.

That’s all there is to backing up your iTunes. You now have all of your music saved too your external hard drive or flash drive.

Restoring iTunes or adding iTunes to another computer (optional)

13. Make sure that you have iTunes installed on the other computer. If you do not, you can get iTunes here.

14. Connect your external hard drive of flash drive to the computer.

15. Launch iTunes.

16. Drag your iTunes folder from your external hard drive/flash drive into the iTunes Window.

17. Wait for all music to copy completely. This could take quite a while, depending on how many songs that you are copying. After that, you’re done.

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By leaving certain areas of a photo colored, and filling the rest of the photo with grayscale, you can highlight certain parts of an image to make them stand out. Chances are, you have probably seen a color splashed photo before. Here is an example.

It’s a pretty sweet effect that can make certain images pop. So, how do we add this effect to regular photos? There are a variety of different ways to achieve color splashing. It all really depends on which photo editing software that you use.

However, for this tutorial, we will be using the free online editor, Photobucket. So, to get started, you will need to get a Photobucket account if you do not already have one. Basic accounts are completely free. You can get one here.

After you are all setup with Photobucket, make sure that you are logged in to your account. Click the My Home button to get to your images page. Click the Upload images & videos button located in the center of the My Home screen. Select your photo, and click the Open button to upload it to Photobucket.

Upon upload, the next screen will ask you to enter a title, description, and tags for your photo. This is all optional. However, you should at least enter a title so that you can keep track of your photos easily. Go ahead and enter a title and click the Save & Return to Album button.

You should now be at your album home page. Click the edit link which is located directly above your photo, next to the move, share, and delete links. This will automatically load your photo into the Photobucket editor.

From the photo editor, click the effects tab, than the grayscale button. Your image should turn black and white. Click the advanced options button to load the editing pane.

Set the Apply to: option in the editing pane to Painted Region. Make sure that the button is set to Original and not Effect. Click to put a checkmark in the Invert box. Move the slider from left to right to resize the cursor to work best with your image.

Move the image zoom slider left or right to zoom in on the area that you would like to add color to.

Position the cursor over the part of the image that you want to color splash. Hold down the left mouse button and proceed to “paint” the image and unmask the original color.

After you have finished with the color splash, move the zoom slider to zoom back to the original size.

Click the Save a Copy button to save your freshly edited photo. Wait a couple of minutes for the image to save, and that’s it.

You should now have easily color splashed a photo. Below is the final result from the demo.

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Mask Email Image Generator

Use the Mask Email Image Generator to create a JPG image of your email address. It will fool spiders that seek out email addresses for use in sending out spam.

Enter your email address in the form and specify the Font, the Font Size and Font Color, and the background color (Back Color). If you want a border around the email address, select the Border check box.

For the Font Color and the Back Color, you are provided with some basic colors.

NOTE: Be sure you save the image file to your computer. Images on Mask Email Image Generator are deleted every three minutes, therefore, you cannot link back to the image on their site.

To save the image, right-click on the image and select Save Image As from the pop-up menu and use the Save Image dialog box to save your image to a chosen location on your computer.

Now you will have an image file you can insert into your website wherever you would normally place a mailto: link for people to email you. Most spiders crawling the web for email addresses to use for sending spam should not be able to find your email address.

Mask Email ASCII Generator

The Mask Email ASCII Generator creates an ASCII representation of your email address. Fill out the form on the page and click the ASCII Encode button

To get your link, highlight the text in the Cut and Paste Below section and copy it. You can paste this link text into your webpage where you would normally place your mailto: links.

You might want to paste it into a text file for storage and later use. There is also a link under Test ASCII Link so you can make sure the link works correctly. This ASCII link for your email should fool most spiders.

by Lori Kaufman

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So, to save us all the heartache of not having that expensive product key in the event of a system crash, let’s all recover our Windows 7 or XP keys right now and save them to an external hard drive, or at least a USB drive. Here’s the easiest way to do it:

Go to WinKeyFinder.com and download the Simple Keyfinder. It is a very small 38k zip file. The product information says it works with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista, but we tested it in Windows 7 and it worked like a charm.

Double-click the zip file you just downloaded and choose extract all files at the top of the menu.

In the menu that appears, browse to choose a place for Simple Keyfinder to extract, then click extract at the bottom right off the window. Make sure the box is checked next to Show extracted files when complete.

A new window will appear listing the contents of the unzipped file. Double-click SimpleKey_Finder. If windows gives you a warning screen, click run.

This will open a window telling you your product key.

Don’t worry about writing it down—the program creates a text file containing the product key in the same folder where you extracted it. By default, the file is named WinKeyFinder_found_Key.

Save this file to an external hard drive or USB drive so you will have it if you need it. System crashes occur more often than any of us like to admit, but now we will all be prepared to restore our operating systems.

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Looking for an easy way to get your email delivered straight to your desktop? Chances are, one of these applications will work great for you. There are also a variety of tips and advice for modifying your email to be more convenient.

Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail is an application of Microsoft’s Essentials pack, which comes with Messenger, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Family Safety, and Toolbar as well. When you download Windows Live, you will get an installer for all of these programs. However, you can choose just to install Windows Live Mail. Get Windows Live Mail here.

Microsoft Outlook

Okay, Microsoft Outlook is not a free email forwarder. However, Outlook comes with all major versions of Microsoft Office. Have Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, etc, installed on your computer? Chances are, you have Outlook as well. Outlook can seem confusing if you are new to it. Check out some of these posts to see if Outlook is the best solution for you.

- Easy Way to Remember Attachments in Outlook.

- Hot to Use Away Messages in Outlook

- Fix Common Microsoft Outlook Errors

- How to Export Contacts with Outlook

You can learn more about Outlook, and Microsoft Office here.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free email app developed by Mozilla, the same company that makes Firefox. Thunderbird is full featured desktop client that uses a minimalistic, easy to navigate interface. You can learn more about Mozilla Thunderbird here.

Spiffy

Spiffy is not quite an email forwarder, but more of an email notification app. It works with Gmail and sends general messages to your desktop whenever there is mail activity within Gmail. Spiffy is a great lightweight application for anyone looking for the “instant notify” features of email clients, but prefer to compose and read messages within a browser. You can learn more about Spiffy here.

Looking for a way to check Gmail messages while offline within your browser?

Zimbra Desktop

Zimbra Desktop is a desktop email client from Yahoo. Thus, if you like the interface of Yahoo’s online mail, Zimbra is probably for you. Although it is distributed by Yahoo, it is compatible with Gmail and AOL as well.

If you use Y! Mail, Zimbra Desktop is most likely going to be your best choice, as setting up Yahoo mail accounts with many other email forwarders has not always worked the best. Learn more about Zimbra Desktop here.

Opera Mail

Opera Mail is a desktop client distributed by Opera Software. You may be already familiar with Opera through their popular web browser. Opera Mail is said to be one of the first email clients that is built directly into your browser. You can learn more about Opera Mail here.

Postbox

Postbox is a premium desktop email client developed by Postbox, Inc. Although it costs $40, it has received several great reviews and some people find it well worth the price. Want to try Postbox before you decide if it’s worth it? Get a free 30-day trial here.

GMX

Although GMX is not a desktop email client, it still brings several innovative features to traditional email services. Tired of using Yahoo mail? Give GMX a try. It has received some great reviews by consumers as well as tech gurus. Learn more about GMX here.

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Create Two Backups

Having a backup of your most important data is crucial, but there is always a chance that you may not be able to access it. If you backup your data to an external hard drive, but leave it when you travel, there is always a chance that you will need it when you are on the road.

The easiest solution is to create two backups, one of which is portable. Either create a backup with an online service (in the cloud) that you can access from any internet connection, or create a backup to some portable media (flash drive, iPod, etc.) to take with you. This way you will always have a recent backup to turn to, even when you are away from home.

Create a Backup in Another Physical Location

After 9/11, a lot of businesses started to take disaster recovery plans more seriously. Many large companies spend a fortune creating data warehouses in off-site locations to backup their data, because they realized that having a backup in the same physical location is moot if that physical location is severely damaged or destroyed.

Having an off-site backup is just as important to the average home PC user or Freelancer as it is to multi-billion dollar companies. Fires, floods, and natural disasters can happen at any time, and it will give you peace of mind to know that a copy of your crucial data will survive these catastrophes.

Even though your home or renter’s insurance may cover the replacement of your PC, it is unlikely that it will cover the cost of data recovery. Mozy, iDrive, and Carbonite are three easy-to-use services which allow you to backup your data to the cloud.

Choose Easy-to-Use Backup Services and Software

There are a lot of software packages and services that make creating a backup easy and quick. The above mentioned backup services are all easy to use with software that is easy to install.

Apple has created their Time Machine application, which is also extremely easy to use. Microsoft SyncToy is a free application that allows you to synchronize folders.

If you ever need to restore your data, the last thing you need is a long list of complicated steps. Usually time is of the essence, and a very complicated software or process is only going to cause frustration.

Before finalizing your backup plan, try out a few different options, and make sure that you’re comfortable with creating and restoring the backup.

Schedule Regular Automatic Backups

Do not assume that you will always remember to start your backup application. Most backup software allows you to schedule backups on a regular basis. Some applications do backups in the background or wait until your PC idles to start.

It is easier to set it up and forget about it than realize you forgot to backup crucial data when you need it.

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The growth in this market can be directly attributed to the low cost of VoIP services in comparison to traditional services, and has created a lot of competition, resulting in more choices and better prices for the consumers.

How Does VoIP Work?

VoIP encodes and compresses the voice signal, and then carries the transmission as packets of data over the internet and decodes it on the other end. With VoIP you can make calls using your existing phones, you can make phone calls directly from your PC, or you can make calls with your Smartphone over the cellular data network.

Is it Hard to Setup VoIP?

Broadband providers like AT&T (Uverse) and Verizon (FiOS) and cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner provide VoIP services over their broadband networks. They do a full-service installation, so if you are not technically inclined, this may be your best option.

Some of the more popular carriers like Skype, Vonage, and Lingo require you to have a broadband connection (cable modem, DSL, or fiber). Skype uses software on your PC to make voice and video calls to other PCs.

If you want to make long distance calls or call traditional telephone numbers, you need to buy Skype credits on their web site. Vonage and Lingo provide routers that you connect to your existing broadband connection (cable modem, DSL, or fiber).

Once you set up the router, it’s as easy as plugging in a traditional telephone, but these services require basic networking knowledge to set up.

How Much Can I Save Using VoIP?

Since VoIP costs providers less to deploy and maintain, the prices are generally much lower than traditional services. Vonage and Lingo have unlimited calling packages including international long distance for less than $25 month with advanced features (three-way calling, caller ID, call forwarding, etc.).

A calling package with similar features from a traditional provider would cost more than $25 without long distance. You can also set them up on your own, which means you don’t have to pay an installation fee. The providers that only provide full-service installations generally do not charge for them.

Are There Any Disadvantages to VoIP?

There are two major drawbacks to VoIP telephone services:

1. If you lose power, you also lose telephone service. Traditional phone services carry power over the copper lines, so a simple corded phone can still operate when the power is out.

2. If your broadband connection goes down, you also lose your telephone service.

VoIP services have come a long way in a very short period of time. The prices continue to drop as demand increases, and the services and equipment will become even more user friendly over time.

VoIP is great for the budget conscious and people with family and friends scattered over the globe. In the near future we may see VoIP services completely replace traditional phone services.

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But as time has passed, most of us have become lazy with our restore points because of the long navigation process required to reach this tool.  In a perfect world, we would have a desktop icon we could click to effortlessly create a restore point.  Well, the world might not be perfect, but we can still easily have such an icon.

Step 1:  Write two lines of Visual Basic Script

This is not nearly as hard as it sounds.  Just open Notepad and type (or copy/paste) this:

Your screen should look like this:

Now, click File then Save As. Name your file something like “System Restore Script” so you will remember what the file is.  Instead of saving it as a .txt file, type .vbs after your chosen file name.  You can save this file in any directory, so long as you remember where it is for the next step.

Step 2:  Create a shortcut

Go to your desktop and right click in a blank space.  Click New and select Shortcut.

Click Browse and find the file you just created.  Click Open. Now type wscript.exe in front of the path of the file you just selected and click Next.

In the next window, name your shortcut.  Click Finish when you are done.

Your shortcut will now appear on your desktop.

Step 3:  Test your shortcut

To make sure your shortcut works, double click it.  Now open the system restore by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. You should see the restore point you just made in the description.

You will know the restore point is the one you just made because it will start with “Install: Shortcut created restore point”—a phrase you should remember from the first line of code we typed in step 1.

From this same window, if you click Choose a different restore point and then Next, your restore point should appear at the top of the list.

Now there are no excuses not to use the System Restore feature—just click your shortcut right before you download files or install software.

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Create a System Restore Point with a Desktop Shortcut

How to Create a Facebook Group

Who should use Facebook groups:

Facebook groups are used as a way for people to interact with each other within a more narrow spectrum, vs. using the entire Facebook community. Groups also differ from pages and events in that groups are aimed at promoting a specific cause.  For example, if you wanted to create a campaign for AIDS awareness, groups would be your best option.

How To Create Facebook groups:

Start by logging in to your Facebook account. If you do not yet have one, you can sign up here.

Click “your name” on the top Facebook toolbar to go to your profile. From within your profile, click the Info tab to see your details. Look for the subsection that say’s groups and click the see all link, located on the far right of the heading.

Near the bottom of the see all page, you should see a button that say’s Create a Group, click it.

You should now be on the actual create a group page where you can fill out the details of your group. You will need to enter the following information: Group Name, Description, and Group type. You can also choose to enter optional information such as office, email, website, etc… if you so choose.

How to Create Events in Facebook

Who should use Facebook events:

Facebook events are best suited for people who want to let others know about one specific event. Events differ from groups and fan pages in that events are more temporary, and there is little interaction between members that “join an event”. Events offer members three main options: attending, maybe attending, and not attending. An example of an event topic would be: 5th Annual City Wide Barbecue.

How to Create Facebook Events:

Make sure that you are logged in to your Facebook account.

To create a new event, navigate to your events page by clicking the Info tab from your profile and selecting see all under events. If you want to jump straight to your events page, go ahead and click this link.

From the events page, click the +Create an Event button, located in the upper right corner of the screen.

The next couple of screens will automatically guide you through the process of  creating an event. For the most part, you will need to set up a start and end time for your event, select privacy settings, add details, and decide on who to invite.

How to Create Facebok Fan Pages

Who should use Facebook fan pages:

Fan pages are best suited for representation of some kind. Representation could be anything from a business expanding their brand to Facebook so that they can communicate with customers, to a celebrity creating a fan pages so that they can keep in touch with their fans. All in all, fan pages should be used to create a following of some sort…

How to Create Facebook fan pages:

Make sure that you are logged in to your Facebook account.

The easiest way to navigate to the create a new page, page, is to click this link. The actual URL that you need to go to is http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. This should bring you directly to the fan page creator.

From here, you need to select a name for your page, and categorize it. When you are done, type in the security words and hit the create page button.

That’s all there is to it. Have fun creating your new Facebook groups, events, and pages…Enjoy!

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How to Create a Group, Event, and Fan Page on Facebook

There are a ton of websites out there that will “make your computer faster” using basic software. You have probably seen the advertisements on TV telling you to go to a website and it will optimize your computer and increase speed up to 20x.

These types of sites use simple spyware/antivirus/optimization software to remove junk from your computer. They also promote free scans in their ads. The catch is, after you get the free scan, you need to pay if you want to fix all the errors found in the scan.

Definitely not worth it. There are many completely free programs out there that will do the exact same thing as these sites will.

Chances are, the people that are searching for ways to make their computers faster, probably have an older computer; or, they do not regularly maintain their computers… which will eventually lead to a significant slow down. You don’t ever hear about someone with a new computer with a top of the line quad core i7 asking why their computer is so slow.

Which brings us to the point, hardware upgrades are what will really give your computer a noticeable boost in speed and performance. A new computer is never a cheap thing to buy.

So, why not spend a little bit of money and upgrade your current system? Chances are, you can make your computer run much faster than it currently does, for a cheap price. In this article, our example computer will be a Base Dell Dimension 2400… 4 years old, standard configuration. We will double the speed (which is very noticeable) for under $100.

1. Upgrade the processor.

Base Dell Dimension 2400’s came with a 2.4GHz Intel Celeron processor. These days, that processor is terrible. Even back then, that processor was not so great. The maximum processor that a Dell Dimension 2400 can handle, according to Dell, is a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, which is a significant upgrade from the Celeron. Current price of a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 on Ebay, $11, shipping included.

*Installing a processor is not near as hard as it sounds. For the example computer, Dimension 2400, you don’t even need a screwdriver. Remove the side panel on the case, unhook two clips, remove the heat sink, remove the processor… then reverse to install a new processor.*

2. Upgrade the Memory.

Base Dell Dimension 2400’s came with 256MB of RAM stock. These days, computers can handle several gigabytes of RAM. The maximum amount of memory that a Dell Dimension 2400 can handle, according to Dell, is 1GB.

That is 4 times more memory than stock, which would bring a very noticeable difference in speed. Current price of 1GB of memory for the Dimension 2400, $15 on Ebay, shipping included.

*Installing new memory is one of the easiest computer upgrades. The process involves removing the side panel on the case, flipping some levers, pulling out the old RAM, and inserting the new RAM.*

Total so far: $26

3. Upgrade the Graphics Card

A graphics upgrade will bring speed to your computer’s video performance, something that no software optimization will do. Base Dell Dimension’s came with a standard Intel graphics card. Cost of a graphics card with triple the performance on Ebay, $8, shipping included.

*Installing a graphics card is similarly easy. You will need a screwdriver. The process involves removing the side panel of the case, unscrewing the old graphics card from the mount, pulling the card out of the port, and inserting the new card in it’s place.*

Total so far: $34

4. Upgrade the CD-Drive

CD’s burning a little slow on your old computer? Why not upgrade the old CD burner to a CD/DVD burner. Base Dell Dimension 2400’s came with a CD-ROM drive… which cannot even burn CD’s. Cost of a CD/DVD burner brand new from Newegg, $27, plus $7 shipping.

*Installing an optical drive is also easy. The process involves removing the side panel of the case, disconnecting a cable, pulling out the old drive, and replacing with the new. There are plenty of guides online that explain the process in detail*

Total so far: $68

Summary:

That’s really all there is to it. For $68, you can completely upgrade an old computer and increase it’s speed. With the extra $32, why not pick up a wireless network adapter… or go buy yourself a steak.

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PC Upgrades That Will Make Your Computer Run Much Faster For Under $100

You have probably seen those commercials advertising a website that will give a free scan and magically clean your computer as well as make it 20x faster. Well, those websites that they are advertising will scan your computer, that part is true.

However, the heavy majority of them will charge a fee to get rid of all of the errors found in the scan… And none of them will make your computer 20x faster.

Basically, those commercials use a simple antivirus scanner/remover. There is far better software out there that is available to you for free. By following this article, you will without a doubt, be able to remove any type of virus, spyware, or malware from your computer.

But, first things first, you need to understand that viruses and other computer threats come in several degrees. So, method 1 might not necessarily remove a virus from your computer. If not, one of the following methods will.

Method 1 – Perform A System Restore

System restores are a good way to get rid of light malware and spyware programs. They require no downloading of any software and can be performed directly by Windows.

System restores work best if you catch the intrusion right away. But, you do not want to do a system restore if you believe that you have had malware, spyware, or viruses on your computer for any significant amount of time.

This could cause you to lose files, applications, or data. To do a system restore in Windows, navigate to the control panel using the path Start > Control Panel. Click the Recovery icon located within the Control Panel and hit the Open System Restore button on the next screen.

The rest of the process is very straightforward as the Windows Wizard will guide your through it.

Method 2 – Scans

There are thousands of different programs out there in the spyware/virus removal category, many of which are free. The thing to remember is that different virus removal programs will bring different results; and none of them are 100% completely accurate.

For example, you can scan your computer with one virus removal program, remove the viruses… then turn around a scan your computer with a different program, which will catch even more viruses that the first program didn’t pick up.

However, you do not want to stack tons of virus removal programs on top of each other. Doing so can actually throw off effectiveness. One good antivirus scanner should be enough.

We recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. Aside from the virus scanner, it is also wise to use a spyware and malware scanner. Two great choices that you can check out are Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy.

Method 3 – Clean Install

A clean install is not the most fun thing to do. However, a clean install is the one guaranteed way to get rid of viruses, spyware, and malware. It’s simple… when you do a clean install, you are deleting everything on your hard drive. Thus, no more viruses.

Most of the time, viruses will not infect items like pictures, text documents, videos, or MP3 files. If step 2 (scan), is not working for you, more than likely the virus is in your computer’s registry. This is good because you can backup all of your pictures, documents, etc… before doing the clean install. That way you will not lose anything important.

The most common way to backup files is by using an external hard drive, flash drive, or burning DVDs. Doing a clean install is not at all as hard as it may seem, it’s just time consuming because you have to wait for Windows to copy itself to your hard drive. You can read our previous article on how to perform a clean install. Enjoy!

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Downloading also gives you the option to burn a video to DVD and watch it on your television, if you so choose.

To start downloading videos the easy way, you need to get the Firefox web browser. Chances are that you may already use Firefox, but if not, you can get it here. It is available for PC, Mac, and Linux so there should be no operating system issues. Just save it to your computer, run the installer, and launch Firefox after installation is complete.

With Firefox open and running, click tools from the top menu and select Add-ons from the drop down menu. This will open up a pop-up window displaying your Firefox Add-on preferences.

Select the tab titled Get Add-ons. You should see a search box located in the upper-left portion of this tab. Type the words “video downloadhelper” into the search box and hit enter.

The add-on that we are looking for should be the first one listed, but if not, the add-on can be identified as having the title “Video DownloadHelper” with a blue, yellow, and red ball icon.

After you have found the add-on, click the Add to Firefox button. On the next screen, click the install button. Click the restart Firefox button to complete the install and reopen Firefox.

That’s all you need to get the videos. Now, it’s time to find a video that you want to download. Navigate over to YouTube or another video site and find a video. Make sure that you are on the exact page of the video and that the video is playing. For convenience, here is a good video if you can’t find one that you want to save.

Upon visiting the video page, you may have noticed something different than usual. The Video DownloadHelper icon appears directly to the left of the YouTube video title.

Click the arrow located to the right of the button to bring up the download options menu. There are several convenient options to choose from. Consider using the Download and Convert option, which lets you download a YouTube video in a certain format.

By default, Video DownloadHelper saves videos as FLVs. However, if you use a certain video player such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime, you may want to save videos as WMVs or MPEGs.

If you are getting a video from a site other than YouTube, you may not see the Video DownloadHelper icon near the title of the video. If this happens, you can use the icon located directly to the left of the  Firefox URL bar.

The Video DownloadHelper add-on has one last very convenient feature that can give you some great ideas for video sites to check out. Click the DownloadHelper icon, located to the left of the Firefox URL bar.

Be sure to just click the icon, do not click the drop down arrow. This should open a pop-up window with a list of several video sites. Click on a video site that you are interested in and click the Check site button. This will open up a new tab in Firefox giving you a description of the site along with ratings and reviews.

That’s pretty much it! Now you can download videos from YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, or any other video site! Enjoy!

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