Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on October 18, 2006 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

I am probably testing a new Firefox extension everyday but I hardly keep any of them. As of right now I consistently use 9 extensions but they each save me so much time that I am always on the lookout for some more great ones. I’ll never be able to find any if I don’t give them a try which is why I have an easy way to test Firefox extensions without putting your current profile at risk.

It is easy to uninstall an extension so what is the big deal about trying it out on your normal profile to see if you like it? Well, there isn’t anything wrong with it except that many extensions will write settings to your Firefox profile and when you uninstall the extension it doesn’t delete the settings in case you decide to reinstall it later. So, much like the Windows Registry, your Firefox profile will start to become bloated.

For awhile I just had a Firefox Portable installation that I would use for testing any new extensions but then I decided to create a completely separate profile that used my normal Firefox installation. When I was setting that up I stumbled upon a Profile Manager that Firefox has to select between multiple profiles.

Note: In the screenshots below it says “Bon Echo” instead of Firefox because I am using a test version of Firefox.

To use the Profile Manager you can open up the Run command from the Start Menu and type firefox.exe -ProfileManager into the box. The simpler way in my opinion is to duplicate your existing Firefox shortcut and change it to include that parameter:

If you don’t put that parameter on the end then it will always use your default profile and will never prompt you to select which profile you want to use. That is why I said duplicate your existing shortcut because you will primarily be using your default profile so there is no sense in have the Profile Manager pop-up each time. I just put the Profile Manager shortcut in my Accessories folder so that I don’t get it confused with the other one.

Once you do run the new shortcut then you will receive a screen like this:

You will probably only have one profile to start off with whereas I have already created a profile for testing as well. To create a new profile you just have to select the respective button and you should eventually receive this screen:

After you create an additional profile you are all set to beat it up and test away. It is also useful in case you want to determine why you are having a problem with your current profile by being able to start fresh and still have the option to return to your old profile.

If you are looking for more information on managing Firefox profiles you will probably find Mozilla’s help page to be quite useful. They show you where your profiles can be located on all of the operating systems except Windows Vista. If you’re wondering where you can find the profile in Vista just look at the details in the previous screenshot that I took because it shows where the profile was going to be created.

Let us know if you have any other cool profile tricks!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

CyberNotes: Your Week In Review With Sunday’s SummaryThe Ultimate Firefox Test: Installing Over 100 ExtensionsFirefox Extension Moderators OverloadedA Look Back at Firefox in 2006CyberNotes: What Are Your Favorite Firefox Extensions

This article was written on August 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

Mozilla is apparently not going to sit on the sidelines while browsers such as Flock get all of the social fanfare. Instead they are trying to develop a way to integrate Web 2.0 services such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Talk, and more into a central location that makes following your friends easy. Huh, sounds like exactly what the Flock browser is for.

Snowl (download) is the name for Mozilla’s project, and it ships in the form of a Firefox extension. Once you get it installed you’ll be able to enter in the address of RSS feeds, provide your Twitter credentials, or import an OPML file containing a list of feeds.

After you get it all setup you’ll want to pull up the View menu in Firefox. From there you can show the Message List, which is simply a listing of your feeds in a classic three-pane fashion:

(Click to Enlarge)

Any RSS feeds for blogs or websites will appear at the top of the list, while people you’re following (currently only available with your Twitter account) will appear at the bottom.

Also in the View menu you’ll see an option for a River of Messages. This is a two-pane interface that makes it possible to scroll through all of your messages without needing to click on any of them. Normally when I’ve used these kind of layouts in the past the scrolling is always done vertically, but for some odd reason this one is horizontal:

(Click to Enlarge)

I’m extremely disappointed with how the extension handles itself, but I guess I’ll cut them some slack since this is still a very early prototype. Snowl, in its current state, can’t hold a candle to how well the Flock browser has integrated the social web. Here are some of the reasons I’m not impressed:

• The interface is very rough around the edges. For example, the vertical divider in the River of Messages view covers the text as you scroll horizontally. This particular view still needs a lot of work.
• Aren’t designers always taught to minimize the horizontal scrolling? Why is it then that they’ve decided to implement their River of Messages view horizontally rather than vertically like other feed readers.
• Tighter integration with web services is needed. I shouldn’t have to go to the settings in order to setup my Twitter account. The extension should recognize when I’m on Twitter’s site, and ask whether I want my account associated with Snowl. And providing my Twitter credentials only lets me read messages from friends… I can’t even respond to them from the extension?
• Better sidebar functionality is a must. I can’t tell which feeds have unread items, can’t group them into folders, or anything like that.

Maybe I’m being overly hard on Mozilla since this is still early in development, but I hardly think it’s usable in its current state. They should have held off a bit more, and polished the extension up a bit. It just feels like Mozilla is trying to play catch-up with Flock now, and is losing big time.

Get Snowl 0.1

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Mozilla Officially Releases Firefox 2 Beta 2Mozilla Messaging Touches on Thunderbird 3Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.5 Release Scheduled For ThursdayMozilla Makes Web Apps EasyDownload The Portable Version Of Firefox 2 Beta 2

This article was written on June 10, 2006 by CyberNet.

Lifehacker has pointed out a good tweak for all of those people who hate the “Thumbs.db” file that shows up in folders that contain pictures. This file is used to cache thumbnails of the images so that when you view a folder with a large number of pictures you don’t have to wait as long for the thumbnails to load.

For those people with fast computers then you shouldn’t notice that much of a delay by disabling the file creation. It is really easy to do it:

1. Goto Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View and check the option that says “Do not cache thumbnails”.

Now you can go through and delete all of those pesky Thumbs.db files cluttering up your folders!

News Source: Lifehacker

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

CyberNotes: Disable And Remove Thumbs.db In Windows XPGDS Plug-in For Sharing Files With Google Talk FriendsAvast! Antivirus Now Available For Windows Vista RC1Lookup Unknown FilesAutomatically Rename Files and Photos

Creating a health-minded application for those who are unconscious, dead, or creeping awfully close to death might not do much good, but creating a health-minded application for those who care for the near-dead… now that’s a novel concept! The West Penn Allegheny Health System has just churned out the EMS Field Partner app for iPod touch and iPhone, giving emergency medical services (EMS) professionals and other first responders the ability to easily sift through a variety of emergency conditions or complaints — such as chest pain, stroke symptoms or fall injury, etc. — and be directed to the closest WPAHS hospital that is most qualified to treat the patient. It also provides an interface with Google Maps and directions to the System’s hospitals, not to mention “up to the minute traffic information as well.” For more serious encounters, there’s a direct link to West Penn Allegheny’s LifeFlight Command Center, with the built-in location system telling the backend where to send an emergency helicopter. The app’s available for free as we speak, but many of the features (like the chopper request, we’re guessing) will require registration. We know, we know — you had all sorts of crazy ideas.

[Thanks, Ryan]

West Penn Allegheny Health System creates an emergency responder app, placing your life in far better hands originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  West Penn Allegheny Health System, iTunes  | Email this | Comments

This article was written on September 21, 2006 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

One of the biggest things I hate about installing new programs is the clutter that they add to your computer’s startup process. There seems to be an increasing number of programs, such as Adobe Acrobat, that love to preload their software so that it will seem lightning fast when you run it. The reality is that it will just increase the amount of time it takes for your computer to startup.

I typically hunt down a program to fix any problem that I have, but I didn’t want to find another program to fix something that other programs did…it just doesn’t seem like a good thing. So I make the changes myself using the built-in Windows tools that are available.

The first thing that I typically do when I want to edit my startup programs is run MSConfig to see a list of everything that is currently running when my computer boots. You can do that by going to the Run command, typing in msconfig and then pressing Enter. You will see a window with several tabs but the one we are looking for is cleverly called “Startup”:

I love using MSConfig to see my startup items because it will show you the ones located in multiple locations. If you see a program on there that you don’t want just uncheck the box. This will disable the item from starting the next time you reboot your computer but it does not delete it. I always disable the items before I go and delete them just to make sure I don’t screw something up.

If you reboot your computer and it is running okay then you may want to (which I do) permanently delete the items. In the MSConfig it shows you the location that you need to find either in the Registry or your Windows Startup folder. All of the ones I have pictured are located in the registry and you’ll notice the two different values that I have circled:

• HKLM – Stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE which are items that run for ALL users.
• HKCU – Stands for HKEY_CURRENT_USER which are the items that will only run for you.

NOTE: You should only edit your registry if you are familiar with doing so. If you make a mistake it could destroy your Windows installation.

Once you have figured out the items that you want to delete you can start the Registry Editor by going to the Run command and typing in regedit. After the Registry Editor has opened you can browse for the key that you need to delete. The registry key will likely be in one of the following locations:

• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

If the item is not in the registry then it is probably located in a Startup folder which can be found in a profile:

• %userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
• %allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

That is really all there is to it. I normally only go through and edit my startup items after I have installed a fresh copy of Windows along with all of the software that I need. I will often find that Adobe, along with many others, love to throw some things in that I don’t necessarily care about. So I delete them.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

CyberNotes: Week In Review With Sunday’s SummaryCyberNotes: Delay Startup ProgramsAdd, Remove, and Modify Startup ProgramsYour Week in Review with Sunday’s SummaryAutomatically Maximize/Minimize Windows at Startup