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The inventor of the world wide web has used the 25th anniversary of his creation to call for an online “bill of rights” to protect the internet’s independence, with Sir … Continue reading

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This article was written on November 08, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

One feature that I’ve always wanted in Windows was the ability to have windows snap to the edge of the screen. Some people see that feature as an inconvenience because the operating system is trying to do something that the user may not have intended, but it can be useful when trying to quickly arrange windows.

Today I’m going to show you how to unobtrusively snap windows to the edge of the screen using a free program called FreeSnap! There are no options to configure, and there isn’t even a System Tray icon. The only way you’ll know the program is running is by the splash screen that’s shown when it starts. There is a predefined set of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to increase/decrease the size of a window, move it to one of the corners of the screen, or snap it to an edge of the screen.

–Keyboard Shortcuts–

Keyboard shortcuts are what make FreeSnap so wonderful. When I first started getting used to the program the shortcuts seemed unnatural, and nearly impossible to remember. It wasn’t until I visually drew a box around each set of keys that I began to understand why they were laid out the way they were (well, at least the ones for snapping and moving are intuitive). To help you visualize the keys I’ve color coded the groups and mapped them to a keyboard layout below.

• Snap…
  to top: Windows Key + I
  to bottom: Windows Key + K
  to left: Windows Key + J
  to right: Windows Key + L
• Move…
  to top-left corner: Windows Key + T
  to bottom-left corner: Windows Key + G
  to top-right corner: Windows Key + Y
  to bottom-right corner: Windows Key + H
• Center window: Windows Key + C
  Grow window: Windows Key + Z
  Shrink window: Windows Key + X

–Snap Windows–

The snapping feature is definitely my favorite part of the program. Naturally you would think that this would create some sort of “magnetic edges” on the program windows so that when you come in contact with another edge it is attracted to it. That’s not the case at all, and therefore it is much less likely to annoy you.

Instead when making a window snap to the edge of the screen it will extend the window to that edge. So let’s say you want a window to span from the top of your screen to the bottom, all you would have to do is press the Windows Key + I and then the Windows Key + K. To make it a little clearer I’ve created an animated image that shows what happens when I snap an application to the right side of the screen:

–Resize Windows–

The grow and shrink (Windows Key + Z or X, respectively) feature will resize windows to the most common sizes. This is really handy for website and program developers to see what their work will look like on computers running at various resolutions. Here are the five preset resolutions that FreeSnap will shuffle between:

• 640 x 480
• 800 x 600
• 1024 x 768
• 1152 x 864
• 1280 x 1024

–Move Windows–

Moving a window is different than snapping  it because the height and width of the window remain untouched. When you initiate a move it will be sent to the respective corner, such as in this case where I sent the window to the upper-right corner of the screen:

The shortcut keys, Windows Key + T/G/Y/H, makeup what appears to be a box on the keyboard. You can see this in the keyboard layout I posted above, and each letter corresponds to a corner of the box. That is important when it comes to remembering what key does what.

–Overview–

I think this program kind of provides the best of both worlds for users. You don’t have to worry about magnetic edges on windows which can get annoying after awhile, but you are still able to send a window to the edge of the screen. The only thing that takes some getting used to are the keyboard shortcuts. 😉

FreeSnap Homepage (for Windows only)

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on December 06, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

Have you ever had two or more computers that you wanted to synchronize files between that weren’t all located on the same network? Maybe you have one computer at work and another one at home, and you want some of your more important documents or reports accessible from both locations. No problem!

Back in 2005 Microsoft purchased a service called FolderShare, which is used to keep files on multiple computers all in sync with each other. And we’re not talking just Windows computers, but Mac’s, too! There aren’t many free tools out there that are capable of syncing files on multiple platforms, so this is definitely something to treasure.

–Why FolderShare–

There are a lot of reasons why you should use FolderShare if you have more than one computer, but here are my favorites:

• None of the files are hosted on FolderShare, which means you don’t have to worry much about privacy. It’s just like sending a file to someone over an instant messenger, except it is automatic.
• Files up to 2GB can be shared.
• There is no limit of any kind on how many files you can transfer.
• Any files, regardless of filetype, can be transferred.
• The web management screen works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera.
• Sync files, share folders with friends, or access all of your files almost as if you were using an FTP.
• It’s fast! Files will often be synchronized to your other computers within minutes.

Note: After you download and install FolderShare it will have you setup an account within the program.

–Syncing Files Between Computers–

One of the best features about FolderShare is its ability to sync files (even large ones) between multiple computers. You can set it up so that the folders are automatically synchronized, or only when you tell it to. It’s simple to setup:

1. Go to the My FolderShare page and select the Sync My Folders option:
   
2. Click the Specify folders to sync option, pick one of the available devices from the left side of the screen, and browse for the folder that you want to sync. Click Next after selecting the folder.
   
3. Now select another computer from the Available Devices column located on the left side of the screen. The folder that you just selected in Step 2 should be one of the options immediately available, but you may choose the Specify Folder option if you want to select a different destination to sync to.
   
4. Choose whether you want the files to be automatically synced, or just synced when you tell it to. Then hit Next:
   
5. That’s it! Now you’re files will be synced between computers faster than you know it.

–Sharing Files with Friends–

Not only can FolderShare keep your files in sync, but it can also help share files between friends. You can create a folder, or select an existing one, and share the contents with your friends. Each time you change the folder’s contents FolderShare will update the files on all of your friends’ computers.

Here’s how that works:

1. Go to the My FolderShare page and select the Share With Friends option:
   
2. Select the device that you want to share files from on the left side of the screen, and then choose the Specify a folder option:
   
3. Browse your computer to find the folder that you want to share. All system folders and folders you don’t have access to will be blocked from sharing. Just fill in the bubble next to the folder that you want to share and click Next:
   
4. Your folder will be validated to make sure it exists, and that you have the correct permissions to share it. Then you’ll be prompted to add the email address of your friends. They’ll need to create a FolderShare account and install the software if they have not already done so.

Now you and your friends can share all of the files that you want, without the need to email them to each other. Just drop them in the shared folder and let FolderShare take care of the rest.

–Web Downloads–

FolderShare can also act as a web-based FTP, and it doesn’t require any additional action other than installing the FolderShare application. Once that is setup you’ll have access to all of the files on the computer that you have permission to. If you need to download a bunch of files, however, it could take quite awhile. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Go to the My FolderShare page and select the Access My Files option:
   
2. Select the device that you want to get files from on the left side of the screen, and then browse for the file that you want to download:
   
3. Clicking on any of the files will download them straight from the remote computer to yours.

–Overview–

As you can see FolderShare is an extremely versatile application that should be used by anyone who finds themselves away from their computer(s). I’ve used this service for a long time, and when the service was down for a few days in November I found out how much I really missed it. Other than that one time the service has always been available when I needed it, so it is also reliable.

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

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