Archive for September, 2007

Joost Beta 1 - Overview

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

I've been using Joost on and off for about 4 months now. More off than on. It's not that I didn't like the app - it was pretty slick and quite solid for an early beta. It's that there wasn't a heck of a lot to watch. At some point ...

My Apple Menu Bar

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

As a part of the Lifehacker Show Your Menu Bar post, I'm posting my OS X menu but with a few more details than I'll send to LH (mostly because it involves deep linking to other content here on Simplehelp).

SmallScreenX - simulate screen resolutions in OS X

Friday, September 28th, 2007

SmallScreenX is a Cocoa version of the "Small Screen" utility for the old Mac OS. It simulates smaller screen resolutions, which can be particularly helpful for web designers. This overview gives you a run down on its main features.

How to recover previously deleted files in Windows

Friday, September 28th, 2007

This tutorial will guide you in using Restoration 2.5.14, a free program that can help you recover files that you may have accidentally deleted (and removed from/emptied the Recycle Bin).

How to set up Thunderbird to send and receive your Gmail

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

This is a requested tutorial for Marcelo. It will take you through the steps to set up Gmail using the Mozilla Thunderbird email client.

Cool Dashboard Widget: Conference Call Omni (sports widget)

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

With the hockey season fast approaching, like many Canadians, I'm starting to get psyched. It's not enough that I have the Leafs schedule added to my Google Calendar, I have to have them on my dashboard too. Enter Conference Call Omni. Oh and yeah, it works with pro football (and ...

How to monitor your Internet bandwidth usage in OS X, redux

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

Thanks to Michael, who contacted me to let me know there was in fact a better solution to the one I first provided regarding bandwidth monitoring in OS X. And that solution is SurplusMeter. This brief tutorial will get you started using SurplusMeter.

How to take great screenshots in Windows

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

Why MWSnap doesn't show up on every "top Windows freeware" list, I'll never know. Version 3 has been around since 2002 (!?). Admittedly, it hasn't been updated since 2002 either - it still works perfectly well in XP (I haven't tested it in Vista yet). With the resulting screenshots you ...

How to create an .iso file in Windows

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

Using the same software that allows you to extract the contents of an .iso, MagicDisc, you can create .iso files. This brief tutorial will guide you through doing just that.

More on BlogRush

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

I have to admit, I almost want this one (BlogRush) to work. It's like the little train that could. It came out of nowhere, had huge publicity immediately, and then huge problems, immediately. Today it rolled out the promised "Flavors" feature. So now I have a slightly more appealing widget. ...

Overview: Delicious Library for OS X

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Delicious Library has been out for a while. I know this. I've had their site bookmarked for months, and during my last 'bookmark cleanup', I decided it was time to finally time to download and install it. The following article is part tutorial, part overview, and has lots of screenshots. ...

Overview: Mailplane - a Gmail client for OS X (plus beta invites)

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Mailplane is a stand-alone Gmail client for OS X. Besides including all of the great features of Gmail, Mailplane adds extras such as built-in drag-and-drop attachments, quick import from iPhoto and iTunes, Growl notifications when you get new messages and much more. Update: All 5 of my invites have been given ...

How to keep the software on your Mac up to date

Monday, September 24th, 2007

From the AppFresh site: AppFresh helps you to keep all applications (third-party and Apple), widgets, preference panes and application plugins on your Mac up to date, from one place. It works by checking the excellent iusethis.com for new versions and lets you download and install available updates easily. This tutorial will walk ...

How to extract (or access) the contents of an .iso file in Windows

Monday, September 24th, 2007

If you've downloaded an .iso (or .bin, .img, .cif, .nrg, .img etc) and don't want to burn it to get to its contents, you can download and install MagicDisc, a freeware app that lets you "mount" the image file as if it was a CD/DVD drive. This tutorial will guide ...

When not to accept advertising

Monday, September 24th, 2007

I was recently approached by someone who wanted to buy $550 worth of advertising on Simplehelp, and ended out turning them down. After seeking the advice of a number of other bloggers, here's why I said no.