We decided to begin this year publishing our semi-new Facebook Page and to re-stylish, just a few, our right side bar. We hope to meet you on Facebook and, again, Happy New Year! 
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Category Archives: freeware blog
Rediscover Prism by Mozilla (Ubuntu, MAC and Windows tips)
In 2007, when Prism was launched, there were some enthusiastic reviews about this application. Then the widget era began and Prism popularity decreased. Anyway, Prism is still a powerful application for all that people who desire to run their more often used web application saving RAM and CPU resources. Prism, based on XULRunner, is multi platform, easy to use and very flexible. To use it on Ubuntu you can launch the Terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install prism
or using the Synaptics Package Manager (System —> Administration —> Synaptics Package Manager). Then go to Applications —> Internet —> Prism and a small windows appears. Now, fill in all the required information: the web application URL, the name you prefer, settings and do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut option. At this point you will find a new rough icon on your Desktop with the name you chose. The first time you use it, with the right mouse button click on it and go to Properties —> Permissions and Allow executing file as program. If you want to change the icon you have to click on it (with the right mouse button), go to Properties —> Basic and choose your favorite icon clicking the icon on the upper left corner. If all are steps are annoying for you, it is possible to use Prism as add-on for Firefox. In this case, on Firefox, go to Tools —> Add-ons —> Get Add-ons and type Prism on the search bar. You will install Prism as a simple add-on for Firefox. Now, you can automatically generate a Prism application just clicking on Tools —> Convert Website to Application when you are in the web application page.
On Windows or MAC we suggest to download the standalone package directly from the official web page or install Prism as Firefox add-on following the same steps we described for Ubuntu. If you use the Prism standalone package you have to decompress it in your favorite location. For Windows users: when you set up a new Prism application, try the tray menu option but do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut or you will not be able to find again the application after you close it.
In my experience, Prism is really useful with all the Google web applications, with Zoho services and Pandora. Try and enjoy it! 
A brief but useful video about using yahoo.com (and others) through WebMail on Thunderbird 3.1 (Windows version)
How to read yahoo.com (and many others) email accounts on Thunderbird 3.1 (Ubuntu and Windows tips)
Many on line email providers don’t allow you to use their accounts with POP email clients such as Thunderbird 3.1. To solve this “matter” we have a couple of possible solutions: FreePOPs and WebMail. Today, we will discuss about Webmail that we tested on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Windows XP. WebMail is substantially a Thunderbird’s add-ons but it is not featured by Mozilla. Using this add-on you are able to manage Yahoo, Hotmail, mail.com, GMail, Libero, and AOL email accounts. The installation is similar in Ubuntu and Windows; on both, you have to install the core WebMail add-on and restart Thunderbird then you can add all the other components (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc..) you prefer. Then you have to modify the Thunderbird server settings following the instructions provided by WebMail:
POP
Server Type : POP
Incoming Server: localhost
UserName : username@domain
SMTP
Server Name: localhost
UserName : username@domain
Do not forget to set the Connection Security to None.
Only on Ubuntu, you need also to manually modify the incoming and outgoing ports because when you use Thunderbird through WebMail on Ubuntu, you will have a “could not connect to server local host; the connection was refused” message. This problem can be easily solved substituting the default ports on both WebMail add-on and Thunderbird ports:
– Thunderbird —> Edit —> Account Settings. Highlight the account you want to manage and go to Server Settings. There you can modify the POP Server Mail port setting it to a number bigger than 1000 (in my case I put 1250). Then go to Outgoing Servers and Edit the SMTP account you want to modify (I changed the default port to 1025).
– Thunderbird —> Tools —> Add-ons —> WebMail —> Preferences and put the same port numbers you have set on the previous step.
All this because ports below 1024 seems to be blocked on Ubuntu (if you know why, please post a comment).
For security, restart Thunderbird and it will immediately download and send your emails. Last but not least, if your on line email account is not supported by WebMail, do not forget to try FreePOPs.
Dear Readers: Computer Borders is back!
We need to apologize to all of you because we promised weekly posts and then we took quite a long hiatus. We didn’t mean to be gone for so long, but life got strange, and so on and so forth. But now we are back, and we would like to apologize with all you.
On a more positive note, though, we just checked our reader’s statistics, only to see that we still have almost 200 daily readers. And, believe us, we are shocked! Thanks for waiting our return, everybody.We decided to change something on our blog. First of all we will not duplicate our posts in the Linux and Freeware pages but we post them just in the homepage. In this way, we will have some posts in English and other in Spanish… it is not orthodox but…. why not? We dare!
We would like to know what you all think of the blog so far. What would you like to read? Leave us plenty of criticism in the comment sections. And, you will see a weekly post, starting Monday!
Best 10 Freeware Sites
This week, in our Freeware Page, we would like to share our personal list of the 10 best freeware websites. Of course, this is just our personal opinion but we are 100% curious to learn new website from your comments!
#1 http://sourceforge.net/
In our opinion FileHippo is the #1, a lighthouse for all the other freeware distribution sites. The programs here are open-source and you can find freeware for all the most used OS: Linux, Windows and Mac
#2 http://www.filehippo.com/
Full of real freeware, well structure and it has developed a powerful “update checker” http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
#3 http://www.techsupportalert.com/
Well organized, contains brief but effective review about each software
#4 http://download.cnet.com/
The software is categorized between Windows, Mac, Mobile and a very interesting Webware category for the online stuff. Use “The Download Software Finder” to be sure to surf between real free programs
#5 http://majorgeeks.com/
Good site, full of stuff and Shareware programs are clearly labeled!
#6 http://www.tucows.com/
An evergreen site; it was one of the first to share freeware, interesting but it does not contain a huge variety of freeware as others site
#7 http://www.nonags.com/
Elementary graphics but it contains a site menu and the proposed software is really freeware so….
#8 http://www.freewarefiles.com/
Interesting site but sometimes you find old version of proprietary software distributed as free…
#9 http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/
Well structured, easy to navigate and updated. Watch the tags (freeware or free trial) before downloading programs!
#10 http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Freeware/
Basic graphics; it has many freeware but you have to dig them from the lists.
How to keep your Windows PC always updated: FileHippo Update Checker!
This week in our Freeware Page we posted a brief review about FileHippo Update Checker for Windows. This Updater is very light (just 155 Kb) and very fat. This particular checker has uses the large software database contained on FileHippo.com and in just 2-3 seconds is able to detect all the necessary updates and it also find the beta version ready to be installed. During the installation you can decide if FileHippo Update Checker has to run at each start-up or if you prefer to use it only when you prefer. Anyway, FileHippo Update Checker easily shows the results of the available updates on a html page on your browser. Recommended!
Rocketdock 1.3.0: a light but powerful dock for Windows 7, Vista and XP
This week, in our Freeware Page, we posted a brief review about Rocketdock, a terrific “Apple style” dock for Windows. We decided to test Rocketdock on a Windows XP and the results were positive and we did not find bugs. Rocketdock is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and the brand new Windows 7 using just 10MB of RAM. To add a new icon it is sufficient to drag and drop it into the bar and it will be automatically added. To cut off an icon you have to drag it from the dock to an empty space on the desktop and it is immediately removed. To conclude we suggest this freeware because it is really customizable and easy to add & tune to your existing desktop. Recommended!
Gmail Tips!
This week, in our Freeware Page, we posted a brief review about Gmail Tips, a terrific pdf printable guide with tons of useful information to better manage your gmail account. You can decide to read online the document at www.gmail.com/tips or download the printable pdf version. As for martial arts the tips you receive are related to your skills and are progressively more difficult. At the “white belt” level, I am sure, you will find some feature you have been using for years but when you become a “black belt” or a “Gmail master” you are able to deeply enjoy all the Gmail’s most useful “secret” features. For example you learn how to remotely sign out your Gmail account when you forget it open at the office or in an internet cafe’. Moreover, properly using the Gmail filters, you will able to send automatic responses reducing the time wasted in routine replies. We are sure that everyone will find other useful tips depending on what he/she is looking for. Useful!
SmartViper: an online search engine to better analyze and improve your website!
Today, in our Freeware Page, we posted a brief review about SmartViper, an online search engine which allows you to analyze your website and all the similar sites built by your competitors. SmartViper is very simple to use: you can directly insert the web-address of the site you want to analyze or a keyword to find your direct competitors and find datas related to their websites. SmartViper has a double goal: you can study deeper your site and try to improve it or find the “winning” features your competitors use to predominate. SmartViper generates complete and interesting reports which are full of links to its blog where you can learn more about developing some peculiar characteristics of your website. Something to try!
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