01 March 2013

Get Start Menu In Windows 8 Without Using Third Party Tools



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A lot has been said and written about the new Start screen introduced with Windows 8. While a section of PC users are satisfied with the new Start screen, most users aren’t exactly happy with the Start menu replacement. Users who don’t like the Start screen have a number of free programs to get back [...]

Get Rid Of Facebook’s New Graph Search With This One Simple Trick



graph-search-300Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of Facebook’s new Graph Search. We’ve written about it several times here on MakeUseOf, but just in case you’ve managed to miss it, I’ll briefly explain what it’s all about (feel free to skip this if you already know).


Graph Search is not really revolutionary. Rather, it’s a new way to search for data that’s always been available. Graph Search is just a slicker way to perform an advanced search, and in fact, several sources claim that such a feature was already available on Facebook seven years ago, only to be scrapped. There’s no doubt that the new and improved Graph Search is far easier to use than a regular advanced search, but technically speaking, that’s all it is.


Angela has already taken you through preparing your account for Graph Search, telling you everything you should take into account if you’re thinking of enabling it, or if your friends are using it. If it’s already on, and you like it, you can check out several cool things you can search for with Graph Search (haven’t you always wanted to know where Mark Zuckerberg has been too?). I’ve even asked you to share your opinions on Graph Search, and many of you didn’t like it. So what happens is you’ve gone to the trouble, signed up for the feature, enabled it, but now you hate it? Are you stuck with it forever and ever?


The Good News


The good news is that there’s a simple way to disable Graph Search. If you’ve tried it out and your mind is set on hating it, you don’t have to keep staring at that blue bar that keeps telling you to “Search for people, places and things”. So yes, you can get your “old Facebook” (or the newest old Facebook, to be accurate) back, at least until Facebook decides you can’t anymore. What do you have to do?


disable-graph-search


Sell your SOUL!!!!


Well, no, not this time. Start by accessing your Account Settings from the cog menu. Go to the General tab and find the Language settings. Now change your language from English (US) (no, I’m not assuming you’re American, Graph Search currently works only in this language setting) to anything else you wish. If you only speak English, English (UK) or English (Pirate) should do the trick. If you speak any other language, and don’t mind having the interface in that language, switch to it.


disable-graph-search-2


A second after you hit the “Save Changes” button, you’ll be rid of the curse of Graph Search. At least for now.


disable-graph-search[4]


This is a very simple workaround, but remember that’s all it is – a workaround. Which brings us to…


The Bad News


The bad news is that we’re dealing with Facebook, not a do-it-yourself customizable social network. In the past, you’ve had the chance to opt into new features such as Timeline, but once you’ve done it, there was usually no way to opt back out. Facebook has been through dozens of significant redesigns since its rise to popularity, and every single time there’s an uproar of people who don’t like it. Remember this?


old-facebook[8]


How mad were you when this was taken away from you? How good does it look now? The point is, Facebook is not in the habit of letting you choose your interface, so don’t expect to avoid Graph Search forever. The language workaround will most likely stop working as soon as Graph Search becomes available for other languages.


Don’t Despair!


As with other hated features such as the news ticker and chat sidebar, some Graph Search disabling add-ons might pop up when the feature becomes more widespread. Worst case scenario, you’re stuck with it. But look at the bright side, it actually makes the Facebook toolbar look better, and you don’t have to use Graph Search if you really don’t want to.


Have you had a chance to try Graph Search? Do you love it or hate it? Have you found a brilliant way to get rid of it? Tell us all in the comments!


Image Credit: Devil’s Workshop


The post Get Rid Of Facebook’s New Graph Search With This One Simple Trick appeared first on MakeUseOf.



3 Applications To Supercharge The Character Map In Windows



It wasn’t until I started blogging as a hobby and writing for this fantastic website that I noticed how useful the Windows Character Map actually is. How? Well, the lazy version of an ellipsis is three repeating periods, on a standard keyboard… The real ellipsis is keystroke Alt+0133. And what about dashes? Do you have any idea just how many different dashes exist? There’s a particular use for each of them, too.


When the Character Map becomes a staple of your work routine, you have two options: find some third-party application to more easily bring the characters to your fingertips, or memorize the Alt keystrokes for each character. Although I do know around 25 of those keystrokes off the top of my head, I’m going to show you three solutions to that first suggestion.


CatchChar


CatchChar turns the Character Map into a sort of extension to the Windows clipboard.



The above screenshot is what you’ll see upon first installing the application. CatchChar includes no mention of OS compatibility on its website, but it works well on Windows 8 Pro. You can safely assume that it should work on XP and everything in between.


The default hotkey to activate CatchChar is Alt+Shift+C. If this seems a little awkward to you, it can be easily changed in the application’s settings. The hotkey has to include the Alt+Shift modifiers though.



By default, the menu will include the above characters and options. Clicking on any character in the list will immediately insert it into the field you’ve selected before pressing the hotkey.



Configuring your menu keys is about as extensive as you can make it. You’re able to insert any character, organize them in the list, add separators, and even save or restore your menu lists.


CatchChar literally puts the Character Map at your fingertips. It’s my favorite application for this purpose.


BabelMap


While CatchChar is a great way to get the job done, BabelMap is probably the most extensive. You will definitely see some characters that you’ve never seen before when using this application.



BabelMap boasts over 110,000 characters in its database. You’re able to search through the list of characters by name or code and characters can be copied to the clipboard to be pasted within any application that supports Unicode characters. BabelMap supports the most recent Unicode Standard of 6.2. It works on any version of Windows from 2000 onward.


For an application of such a simple purpose, the options are huge.



Here are a few features of BabelMap:



  • Browse the Unicode Character Grid by plane, block, or page (182 characters)

  • Find a character by its hexidecimal value

  • Search for characters by full or partial name

  • Forward and backward search compatibility

  • Select characters to add to a buffer with drag-and-drop editing

  • Magnify any character in the grid by right-clicking it


BabelMap is really more than an extension of the Character Map, it’s a complete character and symbol toolbox. I’ve even spent time just glancing through the list of Unicode characters for enjoyment. Who knew there was a character that represented every major traffic sign?


CharMapEx


CharMapEx functions as a bit of a dumbed-down version of BabelMap. CharMapEx support starts at Windows 98 and works fine on my Windows 8 machine.



Like BabelMap, it shows the entire Unicode map in blocks and pages. It includes characters from the BMP (Basic Multilingual Plane), so if one of your big reasons for needing a Character Map replacement is for that then this is probably your best solution.



ChapMapEx will allow you to open multiple maps within the same window and organize them in a multi-pane view. This is great if you’re searching for two or more different kinds of symbols simultaneously. It’s much easier and more efficient than opening two instances of the same application.


Right-clicking on a character will allow you to add it to the clipboard or determine which font offers support for that particular symbol. You’re able to change the application font, among several other viewing options. You can alternate between GetGlyphIndices and cmap, as well as DrawText and Uniscribe (for rendering).


These three applications offer a lot in the realm of preference. For functionality, CatchChar is great. For extensiveness, try BabelMap. For just raw simplicity, CharMapEx is best. Nonetheless, each gets the job done and all of them are worth being appreciated.


What are some of the symbols you rush to your Character Map for? Which of these three do you find most useful? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know.


The post 3 Applications To Supercharge The Character Map In Windows appeared first on MakeUseOf.



The Shortest Google Search URL



What if you want to include a link to a Google search results page and the URL needs to be short? Instead of copying the URL from the address bar and including a lot of unnecessary parameters, you can manually build a simple URL:



http://www.google.com/search?q=test



Obviously, you should replace "test" with your query. If there are multiple keywords, replace space with "+" like this:



http://www.google.com/search?q=test+my+speed



You could drop "www." from the URL:



http://google.com/search?q=test



Google now uses AJAX to load search results, so you can replace "search?" with "#":



http://google.com/#q=test



You can even drop the slash after "google.com" and the URL works in most desktop browsers, but not in mobile browsers. You could also replace "google.com" with "google.ca" or other Google domains, but you'll get different results.



Fortunately, Google owns the googl.com domain and you can use this URL:



http://googl.com/#q=test


Upcoming Google Translate Features



Google Translate has some cool features that aren't yet publicly released. They're disabled, according to the source code of the page.



The text-to-speech feature will allow you to select the dialect for languages like English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. It's nice to compare American English, British English and Australian English.






There's also a phrasebook feature that could help you learn some useful phrases and words in a variety of foreign languages. Another disabled feature is a dictionary view, but it's not clear if it only uses Google's dictionary data. Google could also monetize the service by including contextual ads.






Drag and Drop Links to Google Translate



Google Translate has a quick way to translate pages: just drag and drop links to the Google Translate page. You'll see a big yellow box at the bottom of the page when you're about to drop the link. Instead of copying the URL, pasting the URL and clicking "Translate", you can translate the page using a simple drag and drop.






This feature would be even more useful if you could drag and drop pages that are already loaded in a different tab. I've tried to do that in Firefox, Opera and Chrome, but it only worked well in Chrome. The other browsers added some new characters to the URL and Google had to translate error pages. Chrome is already integrated with Google Translate, so you don't have to use this feature.



You could also select some text from a page and drag it to the input box (ignore the yellow box this time). If instant translation is enabled, you don't even need to click "Translate".