eMusings

Offtakes on Web-related software, services 'n tips

Fri, 12 Apr 2013
by emusings
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Windows diskclean hidden secrets

Recently my olde and tired PC (its 4+ years old) suffered a clicking hard disk (hdd). I first put this down to a drive failing due to age as my average HDD age is 3+ years. But then on a whim I replaced the clicky disk’s SATA power cable and the noise stopped. Although it seems after all that some sector-level damage was done too! Still the SMART parameters are within acceptable limits so the drive and PC will be upgraded together. Someday. Continue Reading →

Mon, 11 Mar 2013
by emusings
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Mozilla Firefox now supports responsive website testing

Firefox 19 Beta Responsive View

Responsive View feature Firefox 19 Beta

While testing the Firefox Nightly (v16) Beta I learned you can test websites for responsiveness (aka mobile and tablet compatibility) from within Firefox. Until now I mostly used the hosted QuirkTools Screenfly application.

You can view a specific site in variety of views that cover the most common mobile, tablet and notebook screen display sizes. You can also rotate the display to landscape view (supported by several mobile/tablet devices). You can also set a custom size by dragging the bottom right window edge. Continue Reading →

Thu, 6 Dec 2012
by emusings
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Windows 8: Working without Start Orb

I’ve been meaning to write about my Windows 8 experience since the OS debut back in September 2011. But never seemed to get around to putting fingers to keyboard. There’s been a lot of positive and negative press about how Windows 8 will be a game-changer. Along with comparisons to Apple’s iOS interface. Many writers also talk about how the lack of the Start Orb means this Windows version is useless. And other about how they are going to go back to Windows 7 or Vista or even Windows XP. Continue Reading →

Sun, 22 Jul 2012
by emusings
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Windows 8: Safely eject USB drive

If you are among the lucky to have upgraded to Windows 8 Developer Preview (released September 2011) despite naysayers bemoaning loss of the Start Orb and other Windows 7 and earlier functions, I’m sure you’ll agree there’s lots to love about this new operating system. But one of the things to hate is its USB handling. Although the Release Candidate fixes this glitch, for the rest of us here’s a super-simple fix: Continue Reading →

Sun, 10 Jun 2012
by emusings
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Use Spyware Blaster to Protect Portable Firefox

I’m sure (by now) you are aware of the Portable Firefox application that bundles a complete Mozilla Firefox 3.x version as a ready-to-use browser setup. All you have to do is download the relevant file (available in Firefox 3.0.1x and Firefox 3.6 Beta builds) from PortableApps.com to your systems. Click to run the installer. And save the files to a location on either your hard disk drive. Or on a portable (USB pen) drive. Whatever floats your boat better.

Spyware Blaster (for those who haven’t been paying attention) is a powerful anti-spyware protection application. The free for personal user version should work for 99% of all users. Unlike other security tools, Spyware Blaster protects you before the fact. Blocking cookies, dialers, ActiveX controls and known spyware web sites from your browsers. The existing 4.2 build protects Windows, Internet Explorer and Firefox. As the Opera web browser doesn’t use DOM it’s quite secured against most malware.

The problem with Spyware Blaster is it can’t detect Portable Firefox since the latter isn’t installed; mere extracted. So we need to implement a workaround.

[Update: June 10, 2012: I've revised this post to include how to patch your Portable Firefox settings to enable SpywareBlaster monitoring. Read on :)

How to:

1. Create the following folder:
Windows XP/Vista - Documents and Settings\(Your user)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox (if you are using )
Windows 7/8 - Users\(Your user)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox

2. Create new text file with the following:

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=Default
IsRelative=0
Path=C:\Tamed\FirefoxPortable\Data\profile
Default=1

(Path is mine, you modify according to where your portable is)

Save text file as profiles.ini in the folder you created – D:\Documents and Settings\(Your user)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox

Now start SWB again

Fix courtesy: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1200223&postcount=2