Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

Recently, I have been looking for ways to make my Internet browsing more effective. One of the ways to increase your productivity is to use keyboard shortcuts. If you've seen my tutorial on how to Open Links Faster, you know how useful they can be. Well as I was looking for things to talk about on Talk Tech with CTI I stumbled across this article about Firefox keyboard shortcuts. We even talked about a couple of the ones I saw on this page on the radio show. So far the one that has impressed me the most was Ctrl+Shift+T. If you accidentally close a tab it will reopen it for you. Pretty cool really, give some of these shortcuts a shot.

Removing a Flash Drive Safely

I recently had a client that could not get a flash drive to work on her workstation. However, the same flash drive worked perfectly on her laptop. So, I plugged my flash drive into her workstation. My flash drive was seen by Windows and given a drive letter perfectly. So this told me that the workstations USB ports were working fine. From this information I figured that her flash drive was not getting assigned a drive letter correctly. The drive letter that her flash drive was using on the laptop was already in use on the workstation. Since she was not removing the flash drive properly it was retaining the assigned drive letter from the laptop. Using the "Safely Remove Hardware" wizard prevents data loss and problems like above. She was not present when I figured out the problem. So, instead of writing her instructions I just created a short video showing how to remove a flash drive safely in Windows XP.



This video was done in flash format orginally. Just click here for the flash version of "Safely Remove Flash Drive" video. I hope this helps someone, if it does let me know.

Windows Vista: Keyboard Shortcuts

One of the best ways to get things done fast in Windows is by using keyboard shortcuts. While searching for a keyboard shortcut to control the Vista Sidebar Gadgets, I stumbled across this blog post (Click Here to read the post). He stated to bring the sidebar gadgets back up in Vista all you need to do is use the Windows logo key + SPACEBAR. Pretty cool. It's quick and easy. If your looking for other Windows Vista keyboard shortcuts you can check out this page on Microsoft's web site(Click Here for Vista keyboard shortcuts). BTW, if you missed my other blog post about Windows keyboard shortcuts click here.

Shorten Long Links

Ever seen a link like this? http://www.amazon.com/High-Mighty-Govt-Mule/dp/B000GPIPW4/sr=8-1/qid=1171425328/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-1988033-1066064?ie=UTF8&s=music It's so long that it will typically not work in most email clients. It's defintely not very pretty. Well there's this "little" web site called TinyURL where you can shorten that HUGE LINK in to a TinyURL like this http://tinyurl.com/3dytxq both links will take you to the same page on Amazon. Just copy the link that you would like to shorten go to TinyURL paste the long link into the little box on the page and click the "Make TinyURL!" button. It will take you to a page that has the new TinyURL.

Take a Shortcut

Keyboard shortcuts can come in real handy. I use them all the time. I use Ctrl+c (Copy) Ctrl+x (Cut) and also Ctrl+v (Paste) and I use them a lot. I also use Windows+d which shows the desktop. I frequently save files to my desktop and have several Windows open. So to get to my files on my desktop quickly I just use Windows+d and then when I need to go back I just Windows+d again. Back to were I started.

Here's a list of Windows Shortcuts that might come in handy. Just find a few that are for simple tasks that you normally use the mouse for. Check them all out here:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/2006/12/18/100-keyboard-shortcuts-windows/

Tips For Keeping Your Kids Safe Online

This is a nice short article about ways to help keep your kids safe online. With my own children getting online more often has moved me to search for tips and tricks. If anybody would like to share there tips they'd be greatly appreciated.

Link to Tips For Keeping Your Kids Safe Online -- Digital Streets