Archive for July 29th, 2008

When moving, copying, pasting, browsing, and getting information about your files feels like tedious work—and it can in the feature-sparse Windows Explorer—you need some power add-ons that can help. Instead of completely replacing Windows Explorer with an alternative file manager, you can pick and choose the extra features you want and add them piecemeal. Let’s take a look at some free power add-ons for Windows Explorer that make dealing with your growing file collection faster and easier.

Note: Installing every single one of these toolbars and add-ons may slow down Windows Explorer, so pick and choose the ones that give you the features you need.

QTTabBar Adds Tabs to Windows Explorer: Get the tabbed browsing experience in Windows Explorer with the QuickTimeTabBar add-on. Once installed, right-click on the Explorer toolbar and select the QTTabBar toolbars, which add both tabbing and other features, like access to recent tabs and file previews. QTTabBar works in Vista and XP with .Net Framework 2.0 or later. QTTabBar homepage, original post.

Explorer Breadcrumbs Adds "Breadcrumb" Folder Trail: Move up and down your folder hierarchy with ease by adding a "breadcrumb" folder trail to Windows Explorer. This little ditty is a a bit buggy—it didn’t work for Adam in his original tests, but it has worked for me—so proceed with that in mind. Explorer Breadcrumbs is a free download for Windows 2000 and XP, donations requested. Explorer Breadcrumbs homepage, original post.

Windows Explorer: Power Up Windows Explorer with Free Add-ons

Any iPhone or iPod touch running the 2.0 firmware can use a little speed boost when it comes to syncing, and some intrepid tweakers have found at least one no-pain way to boost syncing time, at least a little bit. To disable iTunes taking the time to send error or crash reports to Apple every sync, turn off automatic syncing (if enabled) on your phone/iPod, right-click on the unit in iTunes, and click "Reset Warnings." The next time you sync, your system will ask if you want to send the reports. Un-check the "Do not ask me again" option, hit "Don’t Send," and you’re good to go. It’s not going to eliminate the longer lags for application syncing, but it might help move things along.

Iphone 2.0: Turn Off Crash Reports to Speed Up iPhone Sync

Yesterday, CERT released a notice that many DNS vendors are vulnerable to a particularly evil form of DNS Cache Poisoning. Furthermore, there are companies like Road Runner which redirect you to spammy sites when you typo domain names instead of just reporting an error and letting your browser show a 404 or whatever.

There are better alternatives to getting 404s, dealing with a slow ISPs ability to fix their DNS, and even dealing with ISP’s who have sold out and are directing you to spam when you make an honest typo. I recommend OpenDNS. They are prebuilt with anti-phishing technology to help protect you from criminals, they don’t use ad-laden pseudo search engines that don’t help you at all, and they are fast. Finally, they were one of the only DNS providers who were not vulnerable to the latest security threat.

If you are looking to use a better DNS service that actually helps you then I suggest OpenDNS. It’s so simple to get started and they walk you right through it. It can be as simple as changing the DNS in your router or updating the DNS in your network settings on your computer.

Why you should use OpenDNS. | The OSM Blog