The Cibertek Blog

Another great tip from Tekzilla and from a really great site; 7tutorials.com. They’ve complied an entire library of shortcuts to almost anything you can imagine.

Windows 7 Sticky Notes is the digital version of Post-it Notes. It’s installed by default and as part of the Windows 7 accessories package.

The “Problem Steps Recorder” or PSR is one of those little free programs that should of been in every version of Windows since 3.1. Unfortunately, it only comes with Windows 7. The PSR in short could save you some pain when troubleshooting problems and is worth spending time to learn how to use it.

Windows 7 has new and built-in software tools or accessories that make the whole computer easier to use. This first hidden treasure I actually use quite a lot at the office when I need to burn an ISO image to DVD: Windows Disk Image Burner.

After what seems to be a very long wait, Google Chrome 4.0 was released this week. For the first time since Firefox came along, Chrome is a legitimate third alternative to Internet Explorer. The main reason is because Chrome can now be extended with third-party applets called “extensions” just like Firefox “add-ons”.

Have you ever needed a specific software installed but couldn’t afford the cost of the software license and wished you had another choice? Or, have you ever wondered if there was an alternative or replacement for a piece of software that was no longer available or was to old to run on your current system? Try using Alternativeto.net to find “alternatives”; Open Source, freeware or shareware, that do the same or close to the same thing as the expensive and popular ones.

Starting with this post, I am making a slight change in the title of this weekly post. It’s a small change from “website” to “webapp”. The basic reason is that is that I believe that most websites that are really useful or make life easier in some way, are a lot more than just good web design. They are more like functional web based applications. This is especially true of my favorite webapp to date: Evernote.

This weeks “useful website” is more than just a website, its more like a “web-tool” or “internet tool”. Xmarks.com is where you can get the Xmarks add-on that will synchronize your bookmarks/favorites across the same computer or multiple computers.

First, I am aware that for some people, this website might be a little scary. I acknowledge the “scariness” and I too was a little wary to start using it. But, if you can get past this, Mint.com is pretty cool. Mint.com is a “Web 2.0″ website or web tool that will aggregate all of your financial account balances in one place.

Back in July, I wrote about the ways you can synchronize files between computers over the internet. At that time, I exalted the virtues of Microsoft’s Live Mesh and its other services like Skydrive. For some reason I hadn’t even mentioned Dropbox, mostly because I hadn’t heard of it up to that point.

I started up a Windows Vista machine recently that hadn’t been turned on for almost 9 months. Of course, the first thing it did once I gave it an internet connection was to start downloading all the past 9 months worth of Windows updates.

Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool is one of those seldom used tools that very few people have ever heard about. In fact, I couldn’t remember when the last time I even used it but I do remember that it saved the day back then.

Most of us have broadband connections at home nowadays. In fact, sometimes the home internet connection is faster than the work connection. But how do you know if you’re getting the speed or bandwidth you paying for?

Wolfram Alpha is my vote for the absolute coolest web site of the year. Ever since it went live in May, this site has gotten better and more interesting as I use it. If you can get past the name, this site should be bookmarked and/or added to your search bar.

The end of the month is the time I run my Monthly PC Tune-up to make sure things are running smoothly. Its a simple list of six tasks or tune-up steps that I run on my PC at the end of every month.