Make Windows Explorer Open To The Folder Of Your Choosing

In this shortcut I am going to show you how to make Windows Explorer open to which ever folder you want it to.

You will need to open the Windows Explorer Properties dialog box.  To do this right-click the Windows Explorer shortcut. You can copy the shortcut in the Start Menu to your Desktop to make it easier to work with. If you are like me and have several folder you access regualarly you can create several Windows Explorer shortcuts in your toolbar for easy access… with each opening to a different place.

To change the Windows Explorer shortcut so that it open to the specific folder of your choosing, change the Target box to read:

c:\windows\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, X:\Folder of my choosing

Remember X should be replaced by your drive letter (probably C:/).  As an example say I wanted Windows Explorer to open a file called OSP I change the target box to read:  c:\windows\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, C:/OSP

Now, when I click this Windows Explorer shortcut it opens to the OSP folder.  Pretty cool huh!

Fabulous FireFox Add-Ons

Most anyone who knows me know I love FireFox and I really dislike Internet Explorer.  One of the things I particularly like about FF is the ability to add nifty little add-ons which make it work better and to provide quick, efficient ways to do things I do often.  And there a tons to choose from.

Here are some that I have found particularly useful.

ColorfulTabs

If you’re like me, you always have a LOT of tabs open in Firefox. There are times when the all those tabs can get a bit overwhelming.  ColorfulTabs gives each open tab a different color, making it easier to distinguish between them. You can color-code tabs randomly or according to URL. You can also set tabs to fade. Another fun feature is that you can set a background image for tabs.

Clear Cache Button

This is one of those things I use A LOT.  Anyone who does much with websites knows that sometimes your changes just don’t show up and in order to see them you must clear the cache.  Instead of navigating the drop-down menus, you can add this simple extension. It provides a button that gives you complete cache clearing with a single click.

iMacros

This great little extension automates pretty much anything you do in Firefox. From opening up sites to filling out forms and even administration work. The iMacros extension also includes a sidebar that shows your favorite macros. It has a record feature that allows you to create macros by clicking Record, going through the motions of the macro to be created, and clicking Save. These macros can be as complex as you need them to be. When you want to run them, you simply navigate to the macro in the iMacros sidebar and click the Play button.

Morning Coffee

I haven’t tested this one yet but it looks really interesting.  It allows you to set a group of Web sites that will open (each in its own tab) with the click of a button. This will save you from having to drowsily dig through your bookmarks while waking up with that first cup of joe (or tea in my case) in order to view your favorite sites. The uses are really much wider though.  You could configure it to open any group of site you routinely view together like a group of online tools your routinely use. You can configure this add-on to open sites only on certain days (or every day). So news junkies or overworked administrators rejoice: This extension will make your browsing life a little easier.

PingFire

Post to Ping.fm from FireFox. Simply select something on a webpage you’re reading and click the “Ping” button. The selected text and the current URL will be added to your message.

FireFTP

This is a secure, cross-platform (works in all operating systems) FTP program.  It is not my #1 FTP program but it is very handy to have it right there a click away in FireFox.

Colorzilla

With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes.

iGoogle A Customizable Web Portal And Productivity Booster

Have you heard of iGoogle?  I found it by accident a couple years ago after setting my home page to Google.com.  Now I can’t imagine not using it, and I do use it every single day.

To be succinct iGoogle is an amazingly customizable and personalize-able web portal.  If used properly you can have a single page from which to view and send email, track your calendar and tasks, find directions, and tons of other useful task you do every single day in a dozen different locations.  It could be configured to be used as a central hub for a virtual organization.  All your critical business information could be organized into one central location that your members can sign-in to that gives them access to the tools they need and keeps them connected and collaborating which increases productivity.

This is one of the coolest tools I use.  You can setup any number of tabs, each of which can be configured for a specific purpose.  I have two at the moment… one for personal or home use that shows me the headlines from my favorite news outlets, my calendar, a daily quote, a random story from Snopes and shows me any new emails to my Gmail box.  My business tab also has my calendar (synced with my Outlook calendar), a dictionary, certain tech news sites I follow, a list of bookmarks to sites I visit often and the like.

The number of gadgets available to customize your page is absolutely mind boggling and more are being developed every day.  Not only Google-powered tools like Gmail, Google Maps and Google Docs but things like stock tickers, weather alerts, flight info and pretty much anything else you can think of.

One of the neatest things about iGoogle is no matter where I am I get on any computer and log into my iGoogle account and there is my exact same desktop (and my full calendar).  This gives a busy person (and who isn’t!) the ability to connect with your email, to-do list, contacts and any other data that is critical to you in one place that you ca access from anywhere, anytime.

Oh and did I mention that iGoogle and it’s widgets are totally free (OK there are a few that are not free but not many and most of those are highly specialized) and works not only with all computer operating systems but can be configured for smart phones like the Palm, iPhone and Blackberry.

Check it out here:  http://www.google.com/ig

 

Add “Copy To” and “Move To” Commands To Windows XP

Please make sure you backup your registry before you try this tweak.  In the likely event that something goes wrong and you don’t have one you could crash your system.

(I try to never post any registry tweaks that are overly complicated or could cause serious system issues but backup anyway just in case.)

As I am sure you already know, when you right click in WinXP the context menu that pops up has a “Send To” command.  What I wanted and tend to use a lot are commands to “Copy To” and “Move To”.  Here is how I added them to my right-click menu.

1. Click Start | Run and type regedit in the dialog box.
2. Find this key in the Registry file: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
3. Right-click on the ContextMenuHandlers folder and then select New | Key.
4. Name the new key Copy To and then double-click the (Default) value of the new key which is in the right-hand pane.
5. Type in this code as the new data: {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}

You just added the “Copy To” command to your right click menu!!  Now let’s add the “Move To” command.

1. Right-click on the ContextMenuHandlersfolder and select New | Key to add a new key.
2. Name the new key Move To and then double-click the (Default) value of the new key which is in the right-hand pane.
3. Type in this code as the new data: {C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}
4. And finally, Click OK and close Regedit.

That’s it!!! I hope you find these new commands as useful as I have.

 

Automatically Format Pasted Text To Match Your Current Doument in Word 2007

As I a sure you have noticed when you copy from one document into a Word document, the pasted text retains its original format. In Word 2003 you could customize (or turn off) the  Smart Tag feature which let you change the format of the pasted text to either plain text or the matching format of the Word document. That was better than manually formatting the text but you still had to set the Smart Tag feature for each time you copied and pasted text.  Word 2007 changes all that, you can set your own default paste option.

For example, say you are writing a document in Word 2007 and need to copy a number of paragraphs from a PDF document. Rather than having to use the Smart Tag to change the default paste option to Match Destination Formatting each time you cut and paste, you can change the default so Word will reformat it automatically.

Before copying or moving text, follow these steps:

1. Click the Office button.
2. Click the Word Options button.
3. Click Advanced on the left side of the window.
4. In the Cut, Copy, And Paste section, click the drop-down arrow beside the Pasting From Other Programs box and select Match Destination Formatting.
5. Click OK.

Now, when you paste text into your document, Word will automatically reformat the text to match the document you are pasting to.

Don’t forget that the Smart Tag is still available just in case some of the text you wish to copy needs to retain its original formatting.

Word 2007 also lets you change the default paste options differently depending on the source document. For example, while you may want to match destination formatting when copying text between documents, at other times you may want pasted text to keep its original formatting when you need to move text within a document. In that case, you would not change the Keep Source Formatting (Default) option in the Pasting Within The Same Document box.

Customize Word’s Smart Cut and Paste

Have you copied a block of text from one document into another only to have it show up all wonky and strange?  Is your paragraph spacing off or leading spaces missing?  Say thank you to Word’s Smart Cut and Paste Feature.  This feature is designed to enable Word to automatically adjust formatting when you paste text between documents.  The problem is, you might not want Word to change anything.

This is one of those features that is enabled by default when Word is installed and frankly it works well more most users… most of the time.  If y9ou are one of those people who don’t like (or don’t want) this feature you can easily turn it off.   But why disable it when you can customize it!

Before I get into how to customize let me tell how to disable Smart Cut and Paste.

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu.
2. Click the Edit tab.
3. Uncheck Smart Cut And Paste in the Cut And Paste section.

To customize it…

Instead of unchecking the Smart Cut And Paste option in step 3, click the Settings button to display the options you can change to suit your needs. Simply uncheck the behaviors you want to lose and check those you want to keep. For example, if you don’t want to lose leading or trailing spaces, uncheck the Adjust Sentence And Word Spacing Automatically option.

Are You Paying Too Much For Your Shopping Cart?

Up until recently (very recently like a week ago or so) I recommended 1ShoppingCart to all my clients without reservation. If you are already a client please don’t shoot me for what you are about to read. I honestly did not know about this until now.

There is a full featured alternative to 1SC and depending on which 1SC package you currently currently have it could save you up to 50% a month. In a nutshell WAHMcart does everything the top 1SC package does except let you create coupons (which is under development as we speak) for only $39.99… less if you purchase 6 months of service at once.

WAHMcart’s features includes:

• The ability to automate your Product Management
• Offering Multiple Payment Options to your customers. WAHM Cart works with most popular credit card Merchant Accounts, including Paypal.
• Unlimited Autoresponders, Newsletters & Mailing Lists help you follow up automatically with your customers or prospects.
• Digital Product Delivery so you can be free of manually emailing customers their eBook orders and customers receive their purchase without waiting.
• Tracking System so you know exactly which promotional efforts are paying off and which are dead in the water, never to be repeated again.
• Affiliate Management System so you can have an team of people selling for you even when you aren’t working.

So if you want to save some serious money each month I would seriously consider WAHMcart. It can not only replace your current shopping cart it can replace any other email marketing system you might also be paying for.

If you need one but haven’t been able to afford a shopping cart then I would definitely give WAHMcart a try… they do have a 15 day trial for $1.

Record ANY Kind of Skype Call

PowerGramo is a Skype add-on that records conversations. The free version will save the audio for your records, but you’ll need to upgrade to PowerGramo Pro ($19.95) to record each person on a different track, which is useful if you use Skype to do interviews for podcasts.

• Record skype calls & SkypeCasts of any kind.
• Totally FREE for recording skype to skype calls.
• Perfect audio quality.  Listen to a sample
• Start and complete recording a call automatically.
• Support MP3/WMA/OGG/WAV audio formats.
• Take memo/note while recording a call.
• Save skype chat messages together with voices.
• Enhanced flexible skype answer machine.
• Make enterprise skype recording solution. (New)
• Share music (or other audio) with callers during a skype call.
• Useful extra audio tools included.

PowerGramo securely encrypts call records together with memoire and skype text chat content. Optional password protection will guarantee safety of your skype records.

You can share your recording as MP3/WMA file which you can easily attach to an email or upload to your website.

PowerGramo includes an embedded skype answer machine which can be configured to automatically pick up calls and send personalized audio/text messages at call beginning. It enables you to record voicemails as you are away from skype, as to save the high skype voicemail fee.

Actually it’s more accurate to name the skype answer machine an “automatic message machine”, since it works also for outgoing calls and manually answered incoming calls, in addition to automatically answered incoming calls.

In one word, PowerGramo skype recorder makes it an easy task to record skype. It’s the perfect tool for daily skype recording, podcasting, online journalism, conducting business, and much more!

Boost Your Business With Online Video

In these turbulent and unpredictable times, you need every competitive advantage you can get to stay ahead.  One powerful and low-cost tool is Online Video.  Video has a small learning curve, but can create big results.  In fact, video can become your secret weapon in the battle to buck the recession.

Using video to build your brand and boost your business - whether on the now ubiquitous YouTube or on your own website - actually attracts new customers and accelerates the sales process.  There are many compelling arguments for adding video to your marketing mix, but none more important than the simple fact that video brings you closer to your customers and closer to the sale!

Adding online video to your marketing efforts also leverages your time and increases your online presence, 24/7.  Your video can be promoting you and working for you even while you sleep.  However, to make the most of your video, you’ve got to get it “out there,” and blast it to the widest possible audience.

My friend and colleague Lou Bortone is an online video branding specialist who has developed a complete, step-by-step process for maximizing your video distribution.  You can get a look at his “Video Traffic Blast” system here:

Everyone who makes a video hopes it will go “viral” and spread like wildfire, but that rarely happens by accident.  You’ve got to make your video easy to share, and make sure it’s optimized to get the most mileage.

Fortunately, video sites like YouTube and Blip.tv make it simple to share your video to other social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.  Once your video is uploaded to Blip.tv, for example, you can cross post to your blog or to a number of social networking sites with one click.  You can also use TubeMogul.com to blast your video to many sites at once.  Best of all, all of the video hosting sites are free to use.

You can learn much more and find out about the new “Video Traffic Blast” system by visiting the website here:

See you online!

Are Your Sure Your Email Is Safe? Five Email Safety Tips

everybody is tweeting, IMing and texting, but e-mail still the main  communication workhorse both at home and for buisness.  Unfortunately, many people, even the technically savy, sometimes still ignore the basics of e-mail security.

Because e-mail is such an important communication tool it is the the most common way you can be attacked by phishers, spammers, and virus creators. No matter how good you think your filtering and firewall apps are, you still have to be aware and alert every time you open a message. Let’s look at some of the most fundamental ways you can safeguard your communications.

First, never allow an e-mail client to fully render HTML or XHTML e-mails without carefully considering the consequences. If you use a mail program like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, you should at least configure it to render only simplified HTML rather than rich, but plain text is best. Rendering HTML opens you to the risk of identifying yourself as a valid recipient of spam or getting successfully phished by some malicious security cracker or identity thief.

If the privacy of your data is important to you, and come on it really should be, use a local POP3 or IMAP client to retrieve e-mail, avoiding the use of Web-based services such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail.  If you haven’t already (and it continually amazing at the number who don’t) go into your websites cPanel and create yourself a couple email address like: info@yoursite.com or yourname@yoursite.com.  If you don’t know how to setup your email program there should directions somewhere in your cPanel.  Or send me an email and let me know what program you are using and I will tell you how.

Even if your Webmail provider’s policies seem privacy-oriented, that doesn’t mean that employees won’t occasionally break the rules. Some providers are accused of selling e-mail addresses to spamming  partners. If you consider it personal and private, don’t trust it to Web-based services.  (Remember web-based=Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and the like.)

Another way to ensure privacy is to ensure that your e-mail authentication process is encrypted. If it’s unencrypted — hackers could listen in on your authentication session with the mail server, allowing them to potentially send e-mails as you, receive your e-mail, and cause all kinds of problems for you with spammers.

Check your ISP’s policies to determine whether authentication is encrypted.

Some safety tips will not only preserve your privacy, but can also save you a lot of embarrassment. In this category is the advice to turn off automatic addressing features. If you are an Outlook user, you know how easy it is to choose the wrong recipient from an autofilled drop-down list.

Whether it’s business secrets or dishing some personal gossip, accidentally sending an e-mail to the wrong person could have serious consequences.

And finally, avoid using unsecured networks! (This includes your home wirless network!)  When communicating via e-mail, remember that your e-mail security does not just affect you; it affects others, as well, if your e-mail account is compromised and your address book gets hijacked.

If you absolutely must access an e-mail account that does not authorize over an encrypted connection, never access that account from a public or otherwise unsecured network. You are opening yourself up to more risk than it’s probably worth.

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