Mobile Stew - tools & tips

Reduce Firefox Memory Usage

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 03:08:00 -0700

Firefox's memory leakage problems are well documented. This tip from gHacks should reduce Firefox's memory usage to under 10MB. It's very simple to implement:

1. write about:config in your firefox address bar and hit enter.

2. right click and select new Boolean.

3. Paste config.trim_on_minimize in the field and hit enter again

4. Select True from the list.

5. Restart Firefox.

More: gHacks

Should I Get A Hardware Firewall?

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 02:56:00 -0700

I've been thinking recently about getting a hardware firewall as in my mind it should offer a better level of protection for my home network (currently I have 2 PCs, a Xbox 360 and 2 Modded Xboxs running XBMC connected to a Netgear WPN-824 router), whilst freeing up resources on my PCs.

It just seems to make more sense to stop attacks at the 'edge' of my network rather than letting them through to PCs. I also wouldn't have to fiddle around with setting up firewall rules on each PC, instead just setting rules at a network level.

Has anybody else done this or considered this? Can you recommend any devices?

Best FREE DVD Copying Program - DVDFab Decrypter

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:53:19 -0700

Whilst I was off work ill I spent a lot of time watching DVDs on my new HD Plasma TV and I decided to load all of my collection onto my PC. Copying some of my DVDs posed a problem until I discovered DVDFab Decrypter, which copies the complete disk including special features, trailers and menus getting around any disc protection. All you have to do is insert the DVD disc, choose a directory for the copy and press Start.

International Gmail Users - How To Unlock New Features

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 02:50:36 -0700

Google are quite slow at rolling out new Gmail features to international users. Thanks to one of my readers, Jez,...

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Remove Unused Drivers From Windows XP

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 06:58:05 -0700

This tip looks like it could be quite useful and I'm going to try it out myself when I get home. Did you know that unless you uninstall a device driver on a Windows XPmachine that it still may be sucking up valuable system resources?

TechRepublic has step-by-step instructions on how you can view and remove theseunnecessary devices.

More: TechRepublic

Make Your Own Free MP3 Ringtones

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 04:49:39 -0700

I decided to get some new ringtones to freshen up my phone and I was amazed by how much mobile companies charge for what are essentially 15-30 second clips, so I decided to make my own. I've posted below how I did this if you want to make your own mp3 ringtones.

First off download and install Audacity and also download and extract Lame_enc.

Once you've done this open up Audacity.

Step 1: Go to 'File' then 'Open' and find and select your source mp3

Step 2: Once the file is open listen to the mp3 and note on the waveform where the section is that you want to make into a ringtone

Step 3: Select the section you want to use by dragging your mouse over the section ...

Speedup Hard Drives - 10 NTFS Performance Hacks

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 07:00:16 -0700

I've featured some of these tweaks previously, in my PC optimisation guides, but some of these are new to me, particularly the tweaks to improve page file performance. The 10 tweaks are:

1. Disable Short Filenames
2. Name Your Files Appropriately
3. Use More Folders
4. Use More Partitions
5. Plan Your Cluster Size
6. Defragment Regularly
7. Reserve Space for the MFT
8. Disable Last Access Time
9. Turn Off (or On) the Indexing Service
10. Use FAT32 for the Paging File

For instructions on how to implement each tweak click here

Related Posts: 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP, 10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows, More Ways to Speed Up Windows XP

Make Your Own FREE Video Screensavers

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:42:12 -0700

As most of my regular readers know I'm in love with Project Gotham Racing 3 on my Xbox360, and it is definitely one of my top games of all time.

I decided this morning that I wanted to use one of the in-game videos as a screensaver but couldn't find any, so I set out to try and create my own.

It took a while to find a free tool, as most were screensaver tools are shareware, but eventually I found this great tool for creating Free Video Screensavers. 'My Video Screen Saver' supports the following features:

10 Useful Firefox Extensions That Don't Get Glamorised

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:46:50 -0700

It seems like everyday there is a new extension created for Firefox. Although some of these are quite cool, I try to avoid rushing to install them, as at the end of the day I don't actually need them.

It's a shame that everyone seems to focus on the newest and shiniest extensions, so I've decided to take it upon myself to promote some of the lesser known extensions that I believe really make Firefox a joy to use, rather than just something to show off to non-Firefox users who haven't seen the light yet.

1.

Added Greek, Dutch And Russian Translations

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 07:00:16 -0700

I managed to track down some good flag images so I've now added Dutch, Greek and Russian translations of Connected Internet, taking the total number of languages up to 12 It'll be interesting to see how many more visitors I get as a result.

Connected Internet Now Available In Nine Languages!

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 09:48:28 -0700

I've been noticing in my traffic stats that quite a lot of readers have been translating my pages using Google, so I've added some code thanks to Digital Inspiration which will make it easier for international visitors to use my site.

A couple of methods for translating webpages are listed. I went for the World Lingo option as Google indexes the static URLs translated by World Lingo. This means that all pages will now appear on Google even while searching fornon-English terms. The translated pages can even be bookmarked.

A number of languages are available. So far I've added French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. I will add Dutch, Greek and Russian as soon as I find the right sized flags.

SmartFTP 2.0 Available

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 04:29:35 -0700

The latest version of SmartFTP, which out of all the FTP clients I've used is by far the best, has been released and it has a new fresh appearance. Other new features include:

-Complete new, hybrid (tabbed, mdi) and fully customizable interface
- Workspace Manager with Auto Layout
- New Local Browser (Loads much faster, Better Navigation, Thumbnail View)
- New Remote Browser (Better Navigation).
- Automatic Backup of Settings and Data.
- Native 64-bit version for Windows x64 Editions

And best of all, it's still free. Click here to learn more.

PixMeUp.Com: Please Don't Invest - It's A Pyramid Scheme

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:32:07 -0700

Following on from the success of MillionDollarHomepage.com a number of clones have no surprisingly sprung up. I have to admit that when I saw the story even I did a quick search tosee if millionpoundhomepage.co.uk, milliondollareuro.com etc wasavailable.

I've just come across a new clone, PixMeUp.com and I'm posting about here to try and dissuade anyone who reads this article from getting sucked into investing in what is basically a Pyramid Scheme. Lots of people are going to get hurt and I want to do what I can to stop that happening.

Test The Readability Of A Website: Connected Internet Suitable For 9 Year Olds!

Sat, 14 Jan 2006 07:29:49 -0700

Juicy Studio'sReadability Test measures the readability of websites just be simply entering a url. It calculates the Gunning Fog Index and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade for the site, which are supposed to tell you how much schooling a personneeds before they'll be able to understand what you've written.

It also calculates the Flesch Reading Ease which measures how easy it is to read a document. Below are the results for www.connectedinternet.co.uk:

More ways To Speed Up Windows XP

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 17:10:54 -0700

Athough I've just got a new PC that is scarily fast (well, compared to my old machine) I've still spent quite a bit of time trying to make it even faster, and I've discovered some handy tweaks that I haven't used before along the way. These aren't covered in my 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP or 10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows XP which together account for around 20% of my daily traffic. Once again, I've tried to focus on changes that any user can replicate and that won't damage a system.