10 Important Google Chrom Tips & Tricks

Here are many tried and tested tips that will help you to get the most out of Chrome by taking advantage of some of its more functional tools and time-saving setups.

1. Pin Tabs in Place on the Browser Bar

If you are going to be using a site a lot in one web session, you can "pin" a tab in Chrome, which will shrink the window down to the size of the favicon, leaving more room for multi-tasking. It also prevents tabs from getting lost on the side of the screen when you have many open at once.

Next, right-click on the tab you want to pin and hit "Pin tab." To enlarge the tab, just right-click and hit "Pin tab" again to uncheck the option.

2. Add a Home Button to the Toolbar

Chrome boasts a minimalist design that many love, but there are some users who just wants to have a "home" button to click.

Adding a home button to Chrome is very easy — just click on the wrench icon at the top-right, select "Options," and under the basic tab you will see a check box for "show Home button on the toolbar." Hit it and you will never be homeless again.

3. Open Many Pages on Startup

Rather than just one trusty homepage, you can get google Chrome to open several pages as it starts up, giving you instant access to whatever sites and services you prefer to start your day with.

It's easy to setup. click on the wrench icon button on the top right of your browser window, select "Options" and under the "Basic" tab check the box where it says "on startup... open the following pages."

If you click "Add" it brings up a list of recently browsed sites to choose from, or you can manually enter a URL in the box.

The next time you fire up your browser, those pages will be automatically loaded in the order in which you entered them, saving you some time.

4. Turn Your Favorite Websites into "Desktop Apps"

There's another option open to you in Chrome if you want fast access to favorite site — turn the site into what could be loosely described as a desktop app.

Next, navigate to the site you want to desktop-ize, head over to the wrench icon on the top right of your browser window, select "Tools" option and then click on "Create application shortcuts."

This will then bring up a window that gives you the option to create shortcuts on your desktop.

If you opt for desktop you will instantly see an icon for the site appear on your desktop display.

Now, double-clicking on that icon will load up that website in a separate window with no navigation tabs, giving it the feel of a native desktop application — so it could be good for webmail services.

5. Carry Out Calculations in the Omnibox

In addition to being a URL bar and a search field, Chrome's "omnibox" is also a basic calculator. Rather than load up your computer's calculator, Google or Wolfram Alpha, you can just type your mathematical query into the omnibox and the result will show up where you'd normally see auto-suggestions.

Beyond simple sums, this also works for unit conversions like feet-to-meters, pints-to-liters, etc,.

6. Make a Favicon-Only Bookmarks Bar

There's yet another cool way to get quick access to your favorite, or most-visited sites in Chrome. Plus, it looks pretty cool.

You can get Chrome to display your bookmarked sites in the toolbar, but by deleting the site's name from the bookmark settings, the browser will just show the site's favicons, making for a colorful display along the top of your window.

To get this going, you will first need to make sure you have the bookmarks bar displayed. You can check this by clicking the wrench icon, selecting "Tools" and then ticking "Always show bookmarks bar."

Once you have done this, as you add new sites to your bookmarks, be sure to delete the text in the name box, as per the screen shot below, for a favicon-only list.

 To edit existing bookmarks so that they display favicon-only, go to "chrome://bookmarks," right-click on the bookmark, select "Edit" and then delete the text in the name box.

To add the bookmarks to your bookmark bar, simply drag and drop them from your bookmarks list.

7. Use AutoFill to Auto-Complete an Address

If you find yourself typing your address again and again, you might want to consider Chrome's AutoFill options which can remember it and save you the repeat effort.

To activate this feature, click on the wrench icon, select "Options," then click on the "Personal Stuff," then choose "AutoFill options." By selecting "Add address," you can enter your details. The next time you are presented with a form, you won't have to manually type it all in.

8. Use Chrome URLs to See History, Bookmarks & Downloads

Chrome can show you some of your browser data and settings via special Chrome URLs, which is a handy way to see the info in your browser - especially as all options are searchable.

You can view your bookmarks, downloads and history by typing "chrome://bookmarks," "chrome://downloads," or "chrome://history" in the omnibox.

9. Sync Your Chrome Settings to Your Google Account

This isn't the most exciting tip, but it's darn useful if you work or play across multiple computers. You can sync your Chrome settings to your Google account so all those preferences you've taken time to set up, and all the bookmarks you've saved along the way, will follow you wherever you go online.

Simply click the wrench icon, go to "Options" and under "Personal Stuff" you can "Set up sync" by signing in to your Google account. This will now mean all your Chrome settings will sync wherever you sign in with your Google account.

10. Play a Trick on Your Chrome-Using Buddies

If you have a buddy or a work-mate who uses Chrome, you can use the "developer tools" function to play a really clever trick on them, should they step away from their computer at any time.

When on a webpage, right-click and choose "Inspect element." This will split the screen to view the page code. In this view, you can select and over-type the text that appears on the page and replace it with wording of your own choosing, or even change measurements, colors, etc. if you have got a basic grasp of HTML.

Here are a few more familiar webpages we "edited" via the "Inspect element" function. As you can imagine, a sneaky couple of minutes at a friend's computer as they wander off for a comfort break and you could really have them going.

Unknown 05:02 No comments

10 Important Firefox Tips & Tricks

One reasons for the popularity of the Firefox browser is the wealth of downloadable add-ons, and the customization options available via the about:config hacks. However, there are many tidy tricks you can employ from within the "as is" browser that can much improve your web surfing experience.

These powerful tips and tricks for the open source browser will have you cruising the web faster and smarter in no time.

So, if you are a Firefox user, then check out these 10 features we have highlighted and, as always, please do share any other Firefox hints you have found useful in the comments.

1. First-Click Bookmarking

Firefox offers a very speady way to add a site to your bookmarks — just click on the star butten icon in the browser's "Location Bar."

Clicking once will add the page to your "Unsorted Bookmarks" folder while clicking twice will open up a window that will allow you to edit where the bookmark should be saved, its title, and any tags.


2. Tag Your Bookmarks for Quickly Access

One way of organizing your bookmarks in Firefox is to tag them with keywords. You can either do this as you save them down, or retrospectively by going to the "Bookmarks" menu, selecting "Organize bookmarks," finding the bookmark you want to tag, and adding in the keywords.

Once you have added a word, such as "news", Firefox will offer this as a tag option in future, meaning you just have to tick the box to add it as a tag to another site.

Once you have set up your tags, typing a tag into the Location Bar will bring up all the sites you have tagged with that word, offering quickly access to sites you visit often.


3. Shrink Your Icons

You can also change how Firefox's toolbar icons are displayed to give you a little more screen space. This is useful when every pixel counts (as on a netbook screen), or simply to achieve a more minimalist look.

Simply go to the "View" menu, select "Toolbars," icon hit the "Customize" option and then tick the "Use Small Icons" box.


If you want to lose the icons altogether, you can follow the same steps, but hit the drop-down menu next to "Use Small Icons" and select "Text" for a graphics-free toolbar.


4. Add Icons to the Toolbar

If you carry out the same actions often, such as printing, viewing your history, or managing downloads, there's a way to add more functionality to your toolbar just simple steps.

Go to the "View" menu, then "Toolbars," then the "Customize" option, and you can drag and drop a number of extra icons to the top of your browser for quick access.

5. Change the E-mail Setting

When you click on "Send Link" in Firefox, the browser will load up your operating system's default e-mail program (so likely Outlook in Windows or Mail on a Mac). But it's quite often the case that these are not the mail programs you want.

You can stop the annoyance of Firefox loading up a default mail program by changing your preference in settings, and it's very easy if you use Gmail or Yahoo Mail.

Go to "Tools," menu "Options," "Applications" and scroll down until you see "Mailto" on the left. Now, just hit the drop-down menu and select the e-mail program you'd like to use in the future. The next time you click on a mail link in a webpage, it will load up your preferred e-mail program.

6. Save a Search Shortcut

You can save time on sites you search regularly so that you can quickly start a search process on that site from anywhere on the web. To get this set up, right-click on the site's search box and select "Add a Keyword for this Search."

Once you assign a keyword to a site search, you can simply type "keyword + search term" in your Location Bar to search that website. So, for example, typing "Aspire Magic Soft + Social Good" will search aspire-soft.blogspot.com for that content, once the keyword is set up. This will save you the extra steps of loading the site, finding the search box and entering the term.


7. Change the Font Size

You can ensure you are never left squinting at tiny text on your monitor with an option that forces sites to display text at a minimum font size.

Although it should be noted that this may cause some sites to display erroneously, if textual clarity is more important to you than web design purity, go ahead and make the changes — your optician may thank you for it!

Go to "Tools," "Options," then "Content" and then click on the "Advanced"next to "Fonts and Colors." You can then select a minimum font size from the drop down menu. Rest easy knowing that you will never be presented with a sea of 6 pt. text again.

8. Learn Some Shortcut Keys

There is a whole load of mouse and keyboard shortcuts in Firefox, but we have highlighted the ones we find most useful:

Control + Enter — adds .com to the end of text in the Location Bar

Control + Shift + T — reopens the last tab you closed

Alt + D — highlights the text in the Location Bar

Control + Page Up/Down — Moves to previous or next tab

/ — Quick find

9. Set Multiple Homepages

It's true, you can have more than one website as a homepage. You can configure Firefox to load your webmail, favorite news site and social network of choice as it starts.

To set this up, simply load up the sites you want as your homepages, go to "Options," then "General," and then hit the "Use Current Pages" button.

Now, the next time you start Firefox, you'll be productive from the get-go.

10. Clear a Single Site From Your History

We have all done it — typed "Facbook" instead of Facebook. And now the browser loads up the wrong site every time. However, this need not be the case, as Firefox offers a clever way to delete one site from your browsing history rather than forcing you to clear all your recent activity.

To tidy up any typos in your web tracks, go to the "History" menu,and click on "Show All History," and then type the name of the site you want to get rid of in the "Search History" box. When it has loaded, then just right-click on the site and select "Forget About This Site." Now it's no longer history — it's ancient history.

Unknown 05:32 No comments

Five Ways To Make Your Window Speak To You

Natural Reader Free (Windows, Mac)

The free version of Natural Reader can’t export to MP3, but if you want a simpler interface for pasting and hearing text you’re going to like it. Paste any text into this window, then hit the clearly-visible play button:

It doesn’t get easier than that, right? If you like the program, but need more features, the Personal version starts at $69. Additional features include exporting to MP3 and additional voices – but it’s probably worth checking out Balabolka before you spend your cash. Still, the free version is attractive and functional so check it out.

eSpeak (Windows, Linux, Mac)

Do you want voices entirely different from those included with Windows? Try eSpeak. This program employs its own engine, and is worth checking out if you dislike Microsoft’s voices:

The program can open TXT files and export to WAV. It’s also got creepy lips that move, so if you like that sort of thing this is perfect I guess. It’s primarily a Linux program, but the Windows version comes with a unique GUI seen above. Read more about eSpeak, if you’re curious.

What’s The Best Option?

If you plan on mostly using this for Word documents, I’d recommend you stick with Word’s built-in solution. Once you’ve set it up it’s always there for you. But if you want a dedicated program to paste text into or open files directly, you probably want to try Balabolka first. It can handle a bunch of different files and can export to MP3.

But, of course, I could be wrong. What program do you use to make your computer talk to you? Share your best apps for the job in the comments below.

Unknown 22:45 No comments

TypeIt ReadIt

With a simple interface and the ability to export your writing to a text or WAV file, TypeIt ReadIt is a great free program. Paste any text into its window, or open a TXT file directly. If you want something read to you quickly, this is a great app to try.

The interface is simple yet functional, though it is a little odd how the buttons scale if you make the window bigger. The software uses the voices that come with Windows. Use this app if you want something simple and free.

Unknown 22:26 No comments

Balabolka

If you’re not afraid of a few extra features, check out Balabolka. It’s interface is less straight-forward than other options, but you gain control over things like speed and pitch:

Balboka is notable for being able to open DOC/DOCX, TXT, PDF, EPUB and ODT files directly – meaning you can open your favorites in moments. It can also convert files to MP3, making it easy to listen to a document on your phone or MP3 player. There’s even batch conversion, if you want audio copies of multiple documents.

Read more about Balabolka for Windows, because it’s probably the app you will want to use.

Unknown 22:11 No comments

Narrator: Built Into Windows

Windows also comes with built-in screen reading technology. It’s called Narrator, and it’s mostly intended for the blind. Start it up and Narrator will immediately begin reading every bit of text on every window that you open – which is great if you’re blind, but annoying if you just wanted Windows to read a bit of text for you.

Happily, Microsoft offers a list of keyboard shortcuts for the software. Check this out if you want to become familiar with it, but honestly, it’s probably better to try some third party software instead. It’s just easier.

Unknown 22:01 No comments

Make Microsoft Word Read To You

Here’s something you might not know: the ability to read text back to you is actually built into Microsoft Word itself. The problem: it’s not included in the ribbon interface you’re used to. No matter: here’s how to add a “Speak” button to the top of every Word window.

Above the ribbon you should see a small toolbar, by default containing only the Save, Undo and Redo buttons. This is called the Quick Access Toolbar, and you can add more buttons to it – including one for speaking highlighted text. Click the arrow to the right of the toolbar to get started:

Click the “More Commands” button to begin exploring the vast world of Microsoft Word functions. Explore the “Commands Not In The Ribbon” section and you’ll find the “Speak” option:

Click the “Add” button between the two columns, then click “Okay”. There is now a “Speak” button in your Quick Access Toolbar:

Click this button and Word will read, out loud, whatever word your cursor is next to. Highlight a block of text before hitting the button and you’ll hear every word in that selection. If most of the reading you need to do is in Word, congratulations: you probably don’t need any other program. Just hit CTRL+A to highlight your entire document, then press play.

Unknown 21:46 No comments

Windows 8 Tips

Loophole enables anyone to get a Windows 8 license for free

Copies of Windows 8 Pro are freely available from Microsoft’s website for anyone who wants
to try out the operating system. Normally, the software would expire after 180 days, a period
that is meant to allow Volume Licensing customers to automate and manage the activation
process. But a loophole in the company’s Key Management System allows anyone
tolegitimately activate their copy of Windows 8 permanently, for free.

The goof centers around the Windows Media Center upgrade that’s being for free offered
by Microsoft themselves until January 31 next year. Specifically, when entering the add-on
key, Microsoft’s Key Management System will let you fully activate your copy of Windows 8
without running a validity check for the product key of the underlying system the Media Center
 add-on is being installed on.

To get a free Media Center key all users need to do is request it from Microsoft’s website using
any email address. Once the code is in your inbox, do a search for “Add features to Windows 8”
under Settings, click on it and enter the product key. Media Center will download and install, and
after your system comes back from a reboot, you’ll be able to use the same upgrade product key
to activate Windows.

With this your copy of Windows 8 will become fully active and 'legitimate', which you can verify in
the activation window where it should read “Windows is activated” instead of “Windows is activated
until…”.

The method has been confirmed to work by several news outlets. I tried it as well but upon requesting
a Media Center key the site responded it will be emailed to me “within 24 hours” -- I can’t tell if the wait
period is standard or if Microsoft is moving to patch the flaw by implementing a check for the underlying
system.

Unknown 02:15 No comments