A lot of people I have shoulder surfed in recent times, make me want to eat my own hand. It is almost agony to the eyes when every time a webpage is opened it is first flooded with advertisements and Flash Videos. So since it was getting a drag telling the nuances of modern surfing I thought I'll write a note giving hints on Power Surfing.
These days the webbrowser is the most important application on the computer, apart from the other programs one actually uses to get some work done. But I am guessing slowly even this line will vanish when cloud computing really hits it big time. Anyway off we go now.
First off the choice of the browser. Those using Linux can skip reading further, cause it will probably be a
waste of time. And for those on a Mac, sorry guys/gals no experience
with Safari. Internet Explorer (IE) comes bundled with the Windows System, and since most of you are using Windows I am assuming you all know about the IE. Well I hear some good things about the IE8, so be sure to have it updated, it can be extended using add-ons like in Firefox, and with Vista7 it should, at-least in theory, hold up good for the common day to day tasks. One report I read about battery life on a laptop says that when surfing with IE8 you save the most battery! Could be helpful when you have to search and cant recharge!
I personally use Firefox with addons, at work, at home, on Windows and on Linux. Further I use Chrome for websites that I generally keep open at home, well simply because it is mind-blowingly fast. Fast is however not equal to powersurf so here is my list of addons on Firefox, that will truly make a difference to the way you surf!
The essentials (read dont surf without these)
1. Adblock Plus (keeps your screen clean of all the advertisements) if you do like a webpage and want to see the adds, use chrome!
2. Autopager - for auto loading most results and articles spread across many pages
3. WOT - warns of suspicious sites similar to google toolbar, but if you dont have the toolbar this helps a lot.
4. Secure Login - Keeps keyloggers from stealing you passwords.
5. FEBE - For Syncing Addons between computers
6. Xmarks - For syncing Bookmarks between computers
The Useful list
7. Dictionaries (British, American, German)
8. Split Browser
9. Tab preview
10. Foxclocks
11. Foxtabs
12. Flashgot - a very nice download manager
13. Reload every
14. Echofon - The Tweetapp i use!
15. Passwordmaker
The Crazy Stuff
16. Cooliris
17. Video Downloadhelper - for all those Youtube videos one just has to have!
18. FireFm
19. DownThemAll
20. Firebug - If all esle doesnt work then this will
21. Greasemonkey + scripts!
22 ScribeFire - For Blogs and Notes
23 Stumbleupon - This is where I find all the crazy websites!
I know this is not a complete list and that there are much better lists and tips online, but just thought that for family and friends this is a good start.
If you are not allowed to install anything on your computer (eg. at work) you can still download and install the portable version of the Firefox (at portableapps.com). You just create a Folder and you can install all this.
Further if you need Flash to watch movies and you cant, there is a work around found here (http://lifehacker.com/394946/enable-flash-in-firefox-portable)
These days the webbrowser is the most important application on the computer, apart from the other programs one actually uses to get some work done. But I am guessing slowly even this line will vanish when cloud computing really hits it big time. Anyway off we go now.
First off the choice of the browser. Those using Linux can skip reading further, cause it will probably be a
waste of time. And for those on a Mac, sorry guys/gals no experience
with Safari. Internet Explorer (IE) comes bundled with the Windows System, and since most of you are using Windows I am assuming you all know about the IE. Well I hear some good things about the IE8, so be sure to have it updated, it can be extended using add-ons like in Firefox, and with Vista7 it should, at-least in theory, hold up good for the common day to day tasks. One report I read about battery life on a laptop says that when surfing with IE8 you save the most battery! Could be helpful when you have to search and cant recharge!
I personally use Firefox with addons, at work, at home, on Windows and on Linux. Further I use Chrome for websites that I generally keep open at home, well simply because it is mind-blowingly fast. Fast is however not equal to powersurf so here is my list of addons on Firefox, that will truly make a difference to the way you surf!
The essentials (read dont surf without these)
1. Adblock Plus (keeps your screen clean of all the advertisements) if you do like a webpage and want to see the adds, use chrome!
2. Autopager - for auto loading most results and articles spread across many pages
3. WOT - warns of suspicious sites similar to google toolbar, but if you dont have the toolbar this helps a lot.
4. Secure Login - Keeps keyloggers from stealing you passwords.
5. FEBE - For Syncing Addons between computers
6. Xmarks - For syncing Bookmarks between computers
The Useful list
7. Dictionaries (British, American, German)
8. Split Browser
9. Tab preview
10. Foxclocks
11. Foxtabs
12. Flashgot - a very nice download manager
13. Reload every
14. Echofon - The Tweetapp i use!
15. Passwordmaker
The Crazy Stuff
16. Cooliris
17. Video Downloadhelper - for all those Youtube videos one just has to have!
18. FireFm
19. DownThemAll
20. Firebug - If all esle doesnt work then this will
21. Greasemonkey + scripts!
22 ScribeFire - For Blogs and Notes
23 Stumbleupon - This is where I find all the crazy websites!
I know this is not a complete list and that there are much better lists and tips online, but just thought that for family and friends this is a good start.
If you are not allowed to install anything on your computer (eg. at work) you can still download and install the portable version of the Firefox (at portableapps.com). You just create a Folder and you can install all this.
Further if you need Flash to watch movies and you cant, there is a work around found here (http://lifehacker.com/394946/enable-flash-in-firefox-portable)
No comments:
Post a Comment