Find And Run Robot (FARR) is a program and command launcher that uses an adaptive "live search" function to rapidly find programs and documents on your computer as you type. It is a fantastic piece of freeware that you can not afford to miss.

FARR also lets you quickly run web searches, send email, manipulate files, control on-screen windows, and much more. Build and share custom commands or install plugins to add tons of new features, like live search features for your clipboard history and your internet bookmarks; a popup a calculator with history tape and persistant variables; and many more..

You can bring up FARR text input window via a hot key like Alt+Space and as you start typing, it lists the installed programs that match the string. To launch the desired program, simply navigate to it using your arrow keys and hit enter or double click on it or type the number infront of it.

Below are 10 practical uses of FARR that will increase your productivity:

1. Launch any shortcut on the desktop or installed application simply by typing out its name. FARR shows and filters results as you type. So for launching Firefox, you may need to type only ‘f i’. When you see it in the list, hit the corresponding number. Note that FARR doesn’t by default launch via the number. You have to press Alt+number. You can however change the setting so pressing the number launches the desired item. FARR scores over Launchy in this aspect since it doesn’t need 10 minutes or so to index a newly installed application.

   

2. Search internet faster.

   The power of FARR comes in the form of user definable aliases.

   • Set up an alias so you can bring up FARR, type g keyword, press return and you’ll be taken to Google Search results page for your keyword in your default browser.

     

   • Go to the first result (I am feeling lucky) of Google search results fast. Type ! keyword and hit enter.

     

   • Set up an alias for Google Image search. gi keyword

     

   • Set up an alias for Google Suggest. gs keyword

     

   • Set up an alias for YouTube video search. yt keyword

     

   • Search in Wikipedia by typing wp keyword.

     

   • Search for meanings of words from an array of several dictionary and thesaurus sites by define keyword.

     

3. Go to any URL fast. Bring up FARR irrespective of whether your browser is open/active application or not, type in the site name like neowin.net and hit return to go there. No need to even append ‘www.’

   

» Read the rest of this tutorial..

KeyConfig is a handy Firefox add-on that power users will just love. One of the features I liked in Opera is the integrated keyboard shortcuts (a lot of them) that are packaged by default. The first thing I do after a fresh Opera install is to configure the following keyboard shortcuts:

• z - Go Back
• x - Go Forward
• a - Go to previous tab
• s - Go to next tab
• c - Close tab

Below is a step-by-step tutorial on how we can set the above quickkeys in Firefox:

1. Install KeyConfig Firefox add-on from here. At this time, it is in experimental section. So you will need to create a free account at Firefox add-ons site to download.
2. Install functions for keyconfig from here
3. Restart Firefox. Note that there are no options for this add-on
4. Go to Tools -> Keyconfig (or press Ctrl+Shift+F12)
5. Click on ‘Add a new key’

   

6. Type in ‘Go Back’ for the name and BrowserBack(); in the text field. Press OK.

   

7. Now select the new entry you just created, click inside the text box below, type in your hotkey, ‘z’ in this case and hit Apply.

   
   So you should have the entry like so:

   

8. Clicking on any other pre-existing entry in the list will show up ‘Add a new key’ button. Now create other keyboard shortcuts similarly. Below are the codes you need:

   » Read the rest of this tutorial..

phpAlbum is a open source PHP script which allows you to create photo galleries on your web hosting space. Besides images, you can also place audio and video files in phpAlbum.

While this might not have the bells and whistles of a full-fledged Gallery script like Menalto’s Gallery, it’s quite useful for the intended purpose of managing photos for display in your web site.

Features:

• Automatic generation of thumbnails and resized
• Commenting of pictures with antispam security code
• IPTC Support, import of keywords and picture description, showing other IPTC-tags
• E-Card - you can now send e-cards to your friends and family
• Screenshots for files to be downloaded, movie, audio, exe or whatever
• Password protection for your private galleries
• Admin section for creating new directories, uploading photos (works even with PHP safe_mode=on),Uploading ZIP Files preserving directory structure
• Short and long description of galleries/directories and photos
• Highly customizable layout, separated layout (HTML) from functional code, this allows easy creation of new themes
• Caching of all generated thumbnails and resized photos
• Transparent logo and icon processing with any background color, including IE6
• Access logging, with exclude strings

Homepage | Official Demo

Current Latest Version: 0.4.1.14.fix03

Below are the step-by-step instructions to install, configure and administer phpAlbum on a typical shared hosting webspace:

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WordPress just released an urgent security upgrade for version 2.3.2. It fixes a flaw that allowed a user to edit posts of others by a XML-RPC implementation hack. In addition to fixing this security flaw, 2.3.3 fixes a few minor bugs.

What is new in v2.3.3? Well, only 5 files. These are:

There’s no change in the database (tables) structure. Hence there’s no need to do the full upgrade the usual way (as mentioned in the WordPress documentation).

To upgrade your WordPress blog from 2.3.2 to 2.3.3, follow these steps:

1. Download the .zip file containing the changed files from here.
2. Extract the archive and upload the files to your web space using a FTP client overwriting the existing ones.

That’s it.

I’ve recorded the desktop screen activity while I upgraded this blog to 2.3.3. It’s a 2 minute video at 800×600 resolution. Click on the image below to watch the WordPress upgrade video:

» Read the rest of this tutorial..

DreamHost, like many other inexpensive shared web hosting providers offers a simple and easy way of installing WordPress blog on your web space.

Below is a video tutorial on how I went about installing WordPress at www.sridhareena.com. This screencast is aimed at those who are new to DreamHost and WordPress.

Video info:

• Dimensions: 800×600
• Duration: 4.52
• Audio: Yes
• File Size: 2.92 MB

Click on the image below to start the WordPress installation video:

» Read the rest of this tutorial..