PC Tips for today

http://www.space.com/bestimg/?cat=strangest

Protect Your CDs

News Alert: Attaching expensive, self-adhesive labels to the CDs and DVDs you have burned might not be such a good idea. Why? Well, because attaching labels might not let the computer drive identify the CDs and DVDs correctly. Here are a couple tips you can follow to better protect your self-burned CDs and DVDs from any future reading problems. Check them out!

1.) Avoid Using Labels

Embedded air bubbles or inaccurate positioning of labels at high speeds can alter the smooth running of data disks. This can be overlooked in the case of slow audio CDs, but it does make a lot of difference when it comes to data CDs. There can still be some problems even if you take the utmost care while sticking on the label. As a rule, all materials expand as a result of fluctuations in humidity and temperature. The materials on a blank CD are already adjusted accordingly, but even then, a label disturbs that delicate balance. That is why it is always advisable to use a felt pen or a printer that prints on DVDs and CDs. The Epson Stylus Photo R800, for instance prints on blank CDs and gives out excellent results.

I found this the other day and I thought it would come in handy as an online security utility. It’s called GoogleAnon and it helps you conduct Google searches anonymously. GoogleAnon sets your Google ID to all zeros so that you can perform search after search, without leaving a trace of yourself.

GoogleAnon is a service you can save as a Favorite in order to use it. You can also drag it from your browser bookmarks to your personal links for quicker access. Once you have GoogleAnon set up, open up an Internet browser and navigate to www.google.com. Now, find GoogleAnon in your Favorites and you should see the following box come up, which shows your assigned Google ID:

Select OK and it will zero out your ID. Once this is done, you are taken back to the Google preference page to reset three to four different settings that are usually stored by Google cookies. Select OK again. Now, you are ready to use Google without worrying about being observed for future endeavors, projects or experiments.

GoogleAnon should work on the following browsers: IE4+, Opera, AOL, Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox.

Click here to check out GoogleAnon for yourself. Once there, scroll up a little and look for the little box that says GoogleAnon. You're going to save it to your Favorites and then close and reopen your browser so that it will be displayed in your Favorites list. Just follow all the instructions to get started.

Foxit Reader 2.1

If you're an avid Foxit Reader user, you probably already know what's coming, but to make sure we're all on the same page, I have a huge announcement for everyone today! Yes, that's right, a new version of the popular PDF reader has just been released (well, it was on August 23, 2007). It is now going by the name of Foxit Reader 2.1 and lucky for all of us, it has come with a boat load of brand new features. Let's have a look see at them, shall we?!

The creators behind Foxit Reader 2.1 are very excited about the new features and as they should be. For starters, there are tons of new tools in this new version. For instance, there are some new measure tools, image tools, link tools, loupe tools, file attachment tools and even annotation selection tools. Plus, along with all of that, there is a new form designer, a new transparent annotation feature, reading history, a new way to e-mail your PDF files and a never seen before spellchecker feature. Wow, how awesome is all of that?!

There are also several new enhanced features, including a zoom tool, improved printing, multi-language input and a better full screen mode, among others. This new version has left nothing behind! Like I said earlier, Foxit Reader 2.1 was released on August 23, 2007, so it is available for download as we speak. You can get it for yourself right here. It will work for any 98, ME, 2000, XP, 2003 or Vista computer, so there's no reason why you shouldn't get it today

P.S. - If you'd like to learn a little more about what the Foxit Reader can do before you download this new version, just click here to do so!