SubscribeHow to enable or disable the pop-up blocker in Safari for Mac.
1. Click Safari > Preferences.
2. Click on Security at the top of the window.
3. Check the box Block pop-up windows to enable this feature. Uncheck it to disable it.
For security purposes, you might want to set OS X Leopard to automatically log you out of your system after a certain amount of minutes.1
1. Open System Preferences under the Finder menu.
2. Under the Personal area, select Security.
3. At the bottom of the window, select Log out after x minutes of activity.
Firefox has been locking up on me lately. I get to a point in my day where I have more than 8 tabs open and it just freezes. I can’t switch to another window or another tab in Firefox.
One of my tabs is usually Yahoo Mail since I like to check my email throughout the day. I noticed Yahoo pages serve a lot of animated Flash ads and they were animating very slowly. I found these ads have been the culprit in slowing Firefox as well as my machine down quite a bit.
So what do I do? Uninstall Flash and suffer when I need it to play games or whatever? Well I found a workaround, albeit it’s not practical. Everytime one of these ads load and start locking up things, I can right-click on the Flash ad and select Quality > Low.
Doing this has made makes problem with Firefox go away immediately. However, I have to do this each time the problematic ad loads. Annoying, but a workaround for now.
How to clear cache, history, cookies, stored usernames and passwords, etc. in Safari for Mac.
1. In Safari, click Edit > Reset Safari…
2. You will get a Reset Safari screen. Check the items you wish to reset. You can select:
- Clear History
- Empty the cache
- Clear the Downloads window
- Remove all cookies
- Remove all website icons
- Remove saved names and passwords
- Removed other AutoFill form text
- Clear recent web searches
- Close all Safari windows
3. Click Reset when you’re done.
Block Connections to Your Linksys Router by MAC Address
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Hardware Tips | 2 CommentsI have a cheap laptop with a cheap integrated wireless card. No matter what I try, I cannot get it to work with a secured wireless connection. The only way for it to connect is to leave my wireless connection open. This lets all of my neighbors in on my connection though. After I found my neighbor using my connection to share torrents day and night, I decided I had to figure out something. I first tried to use the Access Restrictions feature, but found that only blocked the Internet. People could still connect to my network. Then I discovered my Linksys WRT54G router has a Wireless MAC Filter feature. I was able to secure my wireless connection by only allowing certain MAC addresses to connect to my router.
Read more… »
Prevent Google Talk from Storing Chats In Email
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Internet Tips | 1 CommentI chat with people regularly on Google Talk. I don’t like that my chat messages get stored automatically forever. Here’s how to disable the storing of chats in Gmail.
For users of the Google Talk client application in Windows
1. In Google Talk click the Settings link in the upper right part of the screen.
2. Click Chat on the left column.
3. Check the option for Don’t save chat history in my Gmail account.
Firefox: Prevent JavaScripts from Moving or Resizing Window
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Firefox Tips | 3 CommentsWeb sites that take over my Firefox browser window really annoy me. You know, those sites that use JavaScript to resize your window or even move it to another part of your screen? There is an option in Firefox that can prevent this from happening
1. In Firefox, select Tools > Options… .
Vista: Restrict DVD Viewing in Windows Media Player
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Windows Vista Tips | No CommentHow to limit the ability to view DVD’s with a certain rating.
1. After Parental Controls are set up, start Windows Media Player.
2. Click the Now Playing down arrow, and click More Options.
3. In the the Options dialog, click on the DVD tab, click the Change button.
4. In the Change Rating Restriction box, specify the maximum rating you would like to allow.
5. Click OK, then OK again.
How to set Windows Firewall to block or unblock certain applications.
Click Start Control Panel > Security > Windows Firewall > Change Settings, and click Continue if prompted by UAC.
2. Click on the Advanced tab.
3. Check the applications that you wish to unblock.
Uncheck the applications that you wish to block.
At 3 in the morning on Saturday, I sat at my desk, yawning looking for sites that provide free images. I came across a site in the UK that appeared to have some good images. It required me to register for the site to obtain the free images, which I did. Oh how I wish I could turn back time.
A half conscious person (which I wasn’t) would’ve avoided such a site. But less than 0.00001% of my brain was functioning, so I failed to check for a privacy policy.
Read more… »
How to enable System Administrator or Root access in Mac OS X.
1. Open the Utilities folder and open NetInfo Manager.
2. Choose Domain > Security > Authenticate
3. Enter the name and password of an administrator.
4. Choose Domain > Security > Enable Root User.
At this point you may need to enter a password for the System Administrator account if the System Administrator account has never been setup. To proceed, click OK on this message.
Enter a password and click OK. Enter it again for verification and click Verify. Now you will need to repeat steps 2 and 3 again.
How to deauthorize computers in iTunes.
You can only have 5 computers authorized to listen to your purchased music at a time in iTunes. Eventually, you might have to deauthorize one or more of them so that you can add another computer. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t give you a way to manage which computers to keep authorized once the computer doesn’t exist anymore. You have to deauthorize them all at once and then manually reauthorize them one by one.
Here’s how you deauthorize all of your computers in iTunes.
1. Open iTunes and enter the Music Store.
2. Click on the button in the right corner. This should have your email address on it.
3. Type in your username and password and click OK.
4. Click Deauthorize all.
5. Click Deauthorize all computers.
Now you can reauthorize the computers you wish to use one by one by selecting Store and Authorize Computer.
How to protect a workbook and disable the options in Excel 2007 to Insert, Delete, Rename, Move or Copy, Hide, and Unhide.
Perform the following steps:
1. Open the workbook and click Review > Changes > Protect Workbook.
2. Under the Protect Workbook dialog box, click Structure. You can set a password if you wish.
Now when a user right-clicks in the workbook, the Insert, Delete, Rename, Move or Copy, Hide, and Unhide options, they will be grayed out.
Prevent Geeks at Work from Seeing Your Files Remotely
Posted on Nov 26, 2007 under Windows Tips | No CommentPeople still don’t like to believe that the tech’s at the helpdesk can see everything on their computer without actually being at the computer. If anybody has administrator rights, and most members of the company helpdesk do, as do many managers, they can see every file on the computer. Chances are, there is at least one person in your company that is fully willing to snoop around just for fun.
Read more… »
How to import a digital certificate to Windows Mail.
1. Open Windows mail and click Tools > Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click the Digital IDs button.
4. Click Import, then on the next screen click Next.
5. Type the path or click Browse… to find the digital certificate file you wish to import into Windows Mail. Click Next when done.
6. Choose where to place the certificate. Usually you do not change this from the default option of Place all certificates in the Private store. Click Next when you are done.
7. Click Finish then OK on the popup dialog.
