May 24th, 2012 by ElizaP

A Blackberry can be a great tool to use for business.But the last thing you need are annoying notifications that someone has commented on your status update, requested you to become their friend or tagged you in a photo. There’s an easy way to turn off your Facebook notifications when you’re at work so that you can have an uninterrupted day.

Deleting Notifications
You can take a few minutes to scroll through your list of notifications if you have time, which will remove them from your Blackberry’s home screen. To do this, simply click the Facebook icon, navigate to the notifications, press the Menu key, and then choose Delete. Once you’ve clicked Yes to confirm deletion, all of your notifications should be gone.

Another method is to click the Facebook application. Once Facebook has loaded, click the Menu key, navigate to Options, and then scroll down, making sure that everything has been unchecked. Then, log into Facebook your PC, and find and select your Close Friends group. Then, turn notifications off in the top right corner.

A third method is to simply log off from Facebook while you’re using your Blackberry for work.

May 15th, 2012 by ElizaP

Tumblr is a great and easy to use tool, but is missing some features that would make using it much easier. Luckily, there are browser add-ons and other goodies which add that functionality and solve just about every issue you may be having.

Extra Browser Features
While there are a few single add-ons you can use for Tumblr, there is one that offers a host of them in one download. Called Missing E, it makes creating new posts easy, allows you to track your followers and unfollowers, and includes a bookmarking function.

The Tumblelog
The Tumblr dashboard will give you a good overview of the posts of people you follow as well as your own posts and replies. But to get a better look at your own activity and that of your posts, the Tumblelog is your best best. You can get there by looking at the top of your Dashboard and clicking your blog name.

Keeping Long Posts Long
Tumblr will often truncate the original text of long posts, forcing users to click the heading-turned-link in order to read the rest of the post. Unfortunately, this may reduce the number of people who actually read the post. But you can keep your posts at their original length by switching the mode. Do this by looking to the “Reblog Text Post”, and clicking the “As” button beside it. Choose “As Text” to keep your post long.

May 10th, 2012 by ElizaP

There are many packages offered by cell phone carriers nowadays that offer unlimited texting. But what if you forget your phone and need to get in touch with someone on your list? Or what if you don’t own a cell phone but want to be able to get in touch with friends or family without sending an email?

Texting Via Email
If you know the carrier of the recipient, you can send them a text message via email. To find the email-to-SMS gateway for their carrier, simply visit the site of that carrier. The address could look something like cellnumber@pm.att.net. Once you have the address, simply open your email program, type your message and hit send.

Texting Via IM Programs
Programs like Yahoo Messenger and AIM will allow you to send a message to a cell phone. If you’re using AIM, you simply add +1 to the recipient’s phone number in their name box. For Yahoo Messenger, type in the number at the top of the chat window and hit enter.

Free Online Texting Services
There are web sites which anyone can visit to send a text message for free. Some examples are freetxt.ca, txt2day.com and ForeverSMS. A quick search will display several results for free texting sites. But be aware that some sites only work within a specific region.

May 4th, 2012 by ElizaP

While you may use your technology to relax and unwind after a busy day, it could be negatively affecting your well-being. Following a few simple tips will keep both you and your technology running at optimum levels.

Ergonomically Speaking
Do you spend a lot of time in front of your computer or with your device? If you’ve noticed soreness in your back or neck, your sitting position may not be supporting proper posture. To fix this, you can ask your office’s HR department about what options are available. If you’re using your computer at home, you may wish to consider the purchase of an ergonomic knee chair, which promotes proper sitting posture. As well, elevating your computer monitor so that the bottom of the screen lines up with the middle of your eyes will also help to keep your neck in the right position.

Beware Of Tech Critters
Nope, it’s not malware that we’re talking about; it’s the germs and bacteria that lurk on your keyboards, mice and smart phones. Did you know that a home computer keyboard can hold up to sixty times more germs than a public toilet seat? Now that you know, clean and disinfect your devices and peripherals on a daily or weekly basis.

May 1st, 2012 by ElizaP

The iPhone makes it incredibly easy to do a lot of things. Unfortunately, that includes accidentally deleting your emails, which only takes one wayward tap of the archive or delete button. But the good news is that your deleted iPhone messages aren’t gone forever.

Check Your Settings
Your email accounts can be set up on your iPhone to either delete or archive your messages. When you delete them, your messages end up in the Trash folder, and choosing to archive them will send them to the All Mail folder.

Go Through The Trash
Finding the trash folder on your iPhone is as easy as tapping the mailboxes button in the upper left corner when in your Inbox. Once back at the main mail app screen, simply look below the Accounts header for your account, tap it, and then tap the Trash folder. Once you’ve located the message you want to retrieve, simply tap the folder icon at the bottom of the screen, and then tap once more to move it where you want it.

Finding a message that was archived in error involves the same steps, except for the fact that you will have to go to the All Mail folder on your iPhone instead of the Trash folder.

April 20th, 2012 by ElizaP

So you’ve been surfing YouTube, and stumbled on some music that you’ve never heard before, but really like. And maybe you want to tell some friends about your new musical discovery, or put the music on your .mp3 player. But how do you get and convert the audio into something you can work with?

Convert Online
Video2mp3 is a free way that you can convert videos to audio. Simply copy the YouTube link of the video you want, visit the Video2mp3 site, and paste in the address. Once the conversion process is complete, you can download your .mp3 form the site. Videos from other sites like MySpace and Dailymotion can also be converted with this free online resource.

Convert With Software
Freecorder is a great no-cost way to record any audio that you find online including at YouTube. Installing the toolbar only takes seconds, and can be used to save online video as well. Ensure the toolbar is open on your computer, and then visit the URL where the video or audio you want is located. Play the video, and then hit the record button. When you are finished recording, the .mp3 will be stored on your computer, usually in the C:/Users/Documents folder.

April 17th, 2012 by ElizaP

Have you looked at your computer’s desktop lately? It can sometimes be like your dining room table; a clutter attractor that can end up piled with mail, car keys and anything else you may not be able to find a place for at the time.

What makes a messy desktop even more frustrating is that the icons sometimes re-arrange themselves, which can make hunting for your files resemble a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. But you can tame the beast that is your desktop using a few simple tips.

Get On The Grid

Auto-arranging your desktop icons will align them to an invisible grid, which means they will always arrange themselves neatly on your desktop. But beware; deleting anything on your desktop will move your items to the next spot on the grid, which may still make some things difficult to locate.

Ask The Wizard

If you feel you need the help of a professional organizer to clean up your desktop, consulting the Desktop Cleanup Wizard may offer you a solution. But this will only work if you are running Windows XP. However, you can click in any empty area of your desktop and choose “Personalize” in Windows 7 to see the options for making your desktop a little prettier.

April 10th, 2012 by ElizaP

Although most of today’s laptops include Bluetooth technology, you may still be working on a laptop that does not. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this technology on your older device. Configuring your laptop to accept Bluetooth connections is possible when you purchase and install an affordable Bluetooth adapter and have a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone.

Connection and Testing
Simply plug the Bluetooth adapter into your laptop via its USB port. Your adapter may have a light that will come on to confirm that it’s been connected, and your laptop will let you know that it has found a new device. If your laptop does not locate any drivers in its folders, it will request that you insert the installer CD. You can also locate the drivers online.

Testing the new connection can be done by grabbing your mobile phone and enabling its Bluetooth connection. You can then try and send files between the two devices. However, it’s important to ensure that both are located in the same room to eliminate disruptions by barriers like walls that can cause a Bluetooth connection to drop unexpectedly.

Syncing Other Devices
The best way to ensure a safe Bluetooth connection is to create a pass code. This can be done by clicking on Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet, and then clicking Add, which will reveal a list of the Bluetooth-enabled devices near your laptop. Choose your mobile phone from the list, and then provide a pass code.

April 3rd, 2012 by ElizaP

There’s little more frustrating than a computer that is no longer as fast as it was. Drumming your fingers and waiting for programs and web pages to load can lead to precious time lost and a lot of stress. Thankfully, there are a few ways to speed up your computer’s performance.

Overclock Your CPU
‘Overclocking’ simply means to boost your computer’s speed beyond the settings determined by the manufacturer. But this can sometimes have the opposite effect, so a good idea may be to try it on an unused computer before you attempt it on your main machine. Be prepared to spend some time with this, as the best way to overclock a CPU properly is to do so in increments, and then observe the computer’s operation for any indicators that it can’t handle the additional speed, such as crashing or programs behaving erratically.

Get A RAM Upgrade
Upgrading your computer’s RAM memory is probably the cheapest and least time-consuming way to enjoy more speed. For less than $50, you can install the RAM yourself, which most of the time only involves removing your CPU cover and plugging it in. Of course, you want to ensure that the type of RAM you buy is compatible with your computer. You can do this by checking your computer manual if you have one, or visiting one of many online forums and posting your question for others to answer.

March 27th, 2012 by ElizaP

If you’ve noticed a slowdown in your computer’s performance lately, one suspect could be the amount of usage or load there is on your computer’s CPU, or central processing unit. This part of your computer is what’s responsible for making the data calculations that allow your computer to run at optimal performance. But if your CPU is bogged down by extra memory, overheating, slow performance and even a computer crash could result.

Minimize Computer Program Use
One of the most common culprits of high CPU usage is too many programs operating at the same time. But you can decrease the amount of load on your CPU by simply only keeping programs open that you need when you are using your computer, or closing them immediately after you’re finished with them. Having two or three programs open at a time can greatly decrease the load on your CPU.

Third-Party Processes
Third-party processes are those programs which run at startup, and/or in the background when you are using your computer. And most of them aren’t critical to normal computer use, so they can be closed. You can do this in Windows Vista by visiting the Control Panel, and then choosing “Performance Information and Tools”. This area will advise you about how to turn off those third-party processes in a safe manner.