Listener, do you desire electronic enlightenment? Do you wish to know the most intimate hard and soft parts of your computer? Gain adoration, wealth and power as you conquer the confusion, decimate the digital dichotomies and vanquish the villains of Windows, Macintosh, and Linux systems. Listen to the Geeks and become imbued with pure and potent knowledge. Master the secrets and complexities of that mysterious electronic box. Witness digital wonders. Amaze your friends with astounding feats. Listen to the Geeks today!
!Windows Tips & Tricks
!!Protect Windows Against Viruses with AVG Anti-Virus – FOR FREE!
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is a free, yes free, anti-virus protection tool developed by Grisoft for home use. It is Geek tested and approved! Out of the kindness of their hearts, Grisoft is making their award-winning business and corporate antivirus software free for individual use. According to Grisoft, more than 25 million users worldwide use Grisoft AVG products to protect their computers and networks.
With AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, you get the following:
[avg_antivirus.jpg|[Download your copy today!| http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1]]
!!Replace the Windows XP Theme with Microsoft’s Royale Theme
There are many utilities and shell replacements available that allow the Windows XP theme to be replaced with shinier and prettier themes. Unfortunately, they are typically bloatware that not only cost money, but tax your system’s performance. Microsoft has recently released the Windows Media Center Edition skin called “Royale” that can be installed on any version of Windows XP, and best of all, it doesn’t tax your system.
Give your Windows XP a facelift. Ok, it’s not dramatic, but it’s different, and face it, the Blue and Oliver Green themes that come standard with Windows XP are very bright and annoying while the Silver theme is just downright dull.
[royale_desktop_800.jpg|To install the Royale theme, first [download it|http://www.microsoft.com/nz/windowsxp/downloads/nzbliss.mspx] and save it to your hard drive, then install it by double-click the saved ‘Royale Theme for Win XP.exe’. Next, open the Display Properties by either right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Properties or opening the Control Panel, selecting the Appearances and Themes category, and then clicking Display. In the Display Properties, click the Appearance tab and then select Royale in the Color scheme.]
!!Disable Microsoft Word Smart Quotes
Microsoft Word, by default, replaces standard quotation marks and apostrophes with fancier and more curly marks that make printed text look better. However, if that text is to be used in HTML, it becomes unreadable. This is because these special characters used are a subset of True Type fonts that are not supported by HTML. When these special characters are used on Internet pages, those fancy marks disappear, often to be replaced by question marks. What you get is something that looks like this:
*The Geek?s shouted ?we love technology? at the top of their lungs.
Instead of copying copying your entire MS Word document over to a non-Microsoft text editor to clear these special tags, or resorting to an exhaustive search and replace, simply disable smart tags altogether.
[disable_word_smart_quotes.jpg|To disable Microsoft Word’s Smart Quotes, click the Tools menu, select AutoCorrect Options, then select the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Under the top section titled Replace as you type, remove the check from the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” box.]
!!Gain Access to File and Folder Options
By default, Microsoft hides a number of things from you including file extensions, protected operating system files, and hidden files and folders. Ever wonder why, when using Windows Explorer, you cannot see the contents of your C:\ drive? You can rectify that by changing that setting in the Folder Options; it is called ‘Display contents of system folders’.
You can also make the way Windows displays files the same for every folder by clicking ‘Apply To All Folders’. Simply click on a folder, click the View menu, and select either Thumbnails, Icons, Tiles, List, or Details. Then open Folder Options to set that view globally.
[folder_options.jpg|To access the Folder Options where these settings reside, open Windows Explorer, click the Tools menu and then select Folder Options. Under the View tab, add or remove check marks under the Files and Folders heading.]
! Macintosh Tips and Tricks
!! ClamXAV
While you may not need it today, by the time you do, it could be too late. Get the free Anti-Virus for the Apple Macintosh OSX: http://www.clamxav.com/
!! Quicksilver
“A unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.”
Looks vague enough to actually be useful! Try it out at [the Quicksilver website|http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/].
!! More about Perpendicular Recording Technology
Check out this catchy Perpendicular Recording animation from Hitachi:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/PerpendicularAnimation.html
