Instant Fundas

BGInfo is small utility that automatically generates desktop backgrounds that include important information about the system including IP addresses, computer name, network adapters, and disk space and a lot more. BGInfo does not display your system's information in real time. It takes a snapshot of the system information and then embeds this data into the wallpaper by generating another wallpaper and placing it one the desktop. It always takes the same wallpaper you currently have on the desktop, unless you configure it to use another one. By placing BGInfo in your Startup folder, you can ensure that the system information being displayed is up to date each time you boot. You can also use the Windows Scheduler to run BGInfo on a regular basis to ensure long-running systems are kept up to date. When you run BGInfo it shows you the appearance and content of its default desktop background. If left untouched it will automatically apply these settings and exit after its 10 second count...

Although there are many open source and freeware web authoring tools, KompoZer deserves a special mention. KompoZer is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML Editor based on the now discontinued Nvu, which was another great open source HTML editor. KompoZer is a complete web authoring application that combines web file management and WYSIWYG web page editor similar to those found in Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe DreamWeaver and other expensive programs. KompoZer is based on the Gecko engine, the same one that powers the immensely popular Firefox. It's a fast, very reliable and standards conformant engine that is continuously updated and maintained by the open source community. Here is a quick run down of Kompozer's features and capabilities: - It has an easy to use WYSIWYG editor with tabbed interface making working on multiple pages a snap. There is a cool viewing mode called "HTML tags" that displays all tags, carriage returns, block boarders etc visibly o...

HTTrack is a free open source website ripper that allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer. HTTrack arranges the original site's relative link-structure. Simply open a page of the "mirrored" website in your browser, and you can browse the site from link to link, as if you were viewing it online. HTTrack can also update an existing mirrored site, and resume interrupted downloads. HTTrack is fully configurable by options and by filters (include/exclude), and has an integrated help system. HTTrack uses a web crawler to download a website. Some parts of the website may not be downloaded by default due to the robots exclusion protocol unless disabled during the program. HTTrack can follow links that are generated with basic JavaScript and inside Applets or Flash. What not to do with HTTrack. Many Webmasters are concerned abou...

For most people postal mail is a thing of the past. We communicate through emails and instant messengers, pay through credit cards and receive money through electronic bank transfers. But every now and then, when we have to mail to some "lesser mortals" we have to use the traditional way which we lovingly refer to as snail mail. Keeping in view of our disgust of licking postage stamps, some services have sprung up that promises to make snail-mailing a lot easier on die hard emailers. Primarily they save us the walk to the post office. Then there are other services that handle both our outgoing as well as incoming snail mails and converts them into the electronic version. This is particularly helpful because it allows us to continue receiving all our postal mails even when vacationing. Free Services: 1. eSnailer is a service available only in the US. Provide the address of the recipient and type the letter. They will print, envelope, stamp, and send your letter via r...

Dark Room is a full-screen, distraction-free, writing environment. Unlike standard word processors that focus on features, Dark Room is just about you and your text. Dark Room is devoid of any toolbars and all the usual features that is supposed to make typing easier. Instead, it has the most plain-jane look you will ever find on any word processor. It's black background and green text with a blinking cursor reminds me of the old unix type command line. Dark Room allows you to do hardly anything else than type. Dark Room is a clone of the Mac application called WriteRoom and looks exactly the same. Dark Room is a free Windows application but requires .NET framework 2 to run.

How many of you periodically backup your important files? Not many. Again, how many times did it happen to you that you changed the contents of your document and then wished you hadn't, but then there is usually no way of recovering the earlier version of the file? Very frustrating. I had previously wrote how you can avoid this by saving several versions of the same MS Word file in Word 2002 . Now by using this program that I have stumbled across, you can extend this functionality to any files you choose. DocShield is a software program for Microsoft Windows operating systems that is designed to prevent or remedy the catastrophic loss or accidental modification of important electronic documents. It protects these documents by continually monitoring them for changes, then creating and storing snapshots of those documents as they change through time. DocShield runs silently in the background and monitors the files and folders that you specify for changes. Whenever it detects an...