Project64 – The Best Way To Emulate Nintendo 64 Games

I still remember the exact day that I unboxed my Nintendo 64. I’ve always been a huge gamer and a bit of a nerd, and that console was a big step for me. Playing my NES, SNES, and Genesis every day became a thing of the past once I got my hands on Wave Race 64, Super Mario 64, and Diddy Kong Racing. I never picked those consoles up again.

With others titles like Super Smash Bros., GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and the amazing games in the Mario Party and Legend of Zelda series, it’s no secret why this console is so beloved amongst gamers my age. The Nintendo 64 is definitely one of the best gaming consoles of all time, and it’s great news that you can experience it again on the PC using an emulator like Project64.

Project64

Despite having been around forever, the Project64 Nintendo 64 emulator gets updated quite regularly. The latest version, 2.1, works on all 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows. You can download the binaries here, which is linked directly from the main page of the website. The installer is just a little over four megabytes in size.

Project64 does include some bloat in the installer that you’ll need to opt out of. To make sure that all MakeUseOf readers do this correctly, I’ll help walk you through it.

To opt out of the Delta Toolbar, make sure you select the Advanced option and untick all of the checkboxes before proceeding to the next screen.

The Iminient Minibar is also something you definitely don’t want. Simply untick this checkbox and you can proceed with the rest of the installation as normal.

I definitely look down on installers that include optional toolbars and other garbage of that nature, but if you’re careful through the Project64 installation then it’s easily avoidable. Developers pack their installers with these in an effort to make money. Always remember that Project64 is completely free software, and you shouldn’t particularly hate them for it.

Configuring Project64

After successfully installing Project64, you should be prompted to select your preferred language. Afterwards, you’ll be taken to the main interface for Project64. Before we get into loading and playing ROMs, let’s check out some settings and features.

The Graphics Configuration is just as it sounds. On this screen, you can set your windowed resolution, full screen resolution, and syncing and filtering options.

The Configure Input window allows you to change your key settings. You can play Project64 using either a keyboard or USB controller. Project64 supports the Nintendo 64 joystick and even the Memory Pak. I find it incredibly difficult to play most Nintendo 64 games without using a USB controller, so I’d really recommend it. The joystick is extremely difficult to mimic through keyboard keys, and it’s just very uncomfortable to do so.

Getting ROMs

As I’ve suggested in other articles regarding video game emulation, CoolROM is flat-out the best place online to get Nintendo 64 ROMs (or ROMs for any other console). Use it! Don’t rely on shady alternatives.

Remember, you are only legally allowed to download ROMs if you own a license for them and you will not distribute or attempt to profit from the ROMs. Use discretion and read the disclaimers!

Download the games you want from CoolROM and put them all in the same folder, anywhere you want.

Loading ROMs

The next thing you’re going to want to do, after getting your ROMs, is select the directory that holds all of them. You can do that under the Options menu.

Here’s what the main interface of your Project64 may look like afterwards:

Playing a ROM is then as simple as double-clicking it in the list. Be advised that not all ROMs you download are going to work perfectly, and under the Notes columns you can see any reported issues that your ROM may have.

Shown above, you can see that I’ve loaded arguably one of the worst games ever known to the Nintendo 64 – Superman!

Saving your game state on Project64 is as easy as selecting to do so from the System menu, where you can also restore your saved states.

Project64 just does Nintendo 64 emulation correctly. There are Nintendo 64 emulator alternatives, but none as simple, smooth, and responsive as what Project64 offers. I’ve been using it for years and can’t find a single issue to complain about, and I hope my fellow Nintendo64 fans are able to find the same experience with it.

What’s your favorite Nintendo 64 game? What do you think of this emulator? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

The post Project64 – The Best Way To Emulate Nintendo 64 Games appeared first on MakeUseOf.

What Are The Best Gmail Plugins For Chrome?

Tweak Gmail to work exactly the way you want it to. Whether you want to integrate social media icons in your signature, see more information about your contacts, or deal with an email later instead of now, Chrome’s seemingly endless collection of extensions has you covered.

If you’re looking to get the most out of Gmail, you’ve come to the right place.

We take great pride in our list of the best Chrome extensions, and try to update it regularly. There are more than a few Gmail-related extensions to be found there, but they’re not all there – and there is no way to filter to only Gmail-specific plugins. This list is an attempt to remedy that.

Some of these extensions I use; some I hear about constantly from friends and colleagues. Everyone’s workflow is different, so not every extension will work for everyone. If you love Gmail, however, at least one of these tools is bound to make you happy.

Rapportive: Connect With Your Contacts

Email is, of course, only one way of connecting with people online. It makes sense, then, to integrate social networking sites with your email – if it’s done properly. Google knows this, so they integrated a single social network with Gmail – Google Plus.

If you need to connect with people who don’t work with Google, however, Rapportive is here. This browser extension shows you the social profiles – and recent activity – of anyone you’re communicating with online. It even gives you a quick way to connect with the people you’re contacting, if that’s something you’re interested in.

There’s a distinct chance this plugin could become terrible someday – it was recently acquired by LinkedIn. For now, however, it’s a pretty great Gmail extension for Chrome. Read more about Rapportive for Chrome (and know it works for several other browsers).

Boomerang: Schedule Emails For Future Reading

Email is overwhelming, and most of it involves people wanting you to do something. If you like to keep your inbox clean – and have a message you need to deal with at some point in the future – the aptly named Boomerang for Gmail is probably right for you. Thrown an email away only for it to come back to you later.

It’s particularly useful if you’re an Inbox Zero practitioner, but I think anyone can come up with a use for this one. Read more about Boomerang for Gmail

Use Gmail While Offline

Sometimes you’re simply not online. Many occasionally use third party email clients alongside Gmail for just this reason, but it’s not really necessary. If you’re a Chrome user you can use Gmail offline from within the browser – you simply need the appropriate Chrome app.

This simple, official Chrome app downloads as much of your email as you like. You won’t get the full Gmail experience – the interface is quite different. But you can read and respond to emails, knowing everything will be synced the next time you connect to the web. Read more about Offline Gmail.

WiseStamp: Create Fancier Signatures

Gmail, like most email clients, allows you to set a signature – but it’s boring. At least, that’s how many Gmail users feel, which is why WiseStamp exists. This Chrome extension allows you to easily add images, social networking icons and much more to your Gmail signature.

If you really want to spice up your email signatures this is not an extension to miss. Read more about WiseStamp.

Attachments.me: Explore Your Attachments Like A Pro

Gmail’s built-in search is great…if you’re searching for something within an actual email. If you’re trying to find text within a particular attachment you’d better remember the file name.

Unless, of course, you’ve installed Attachments.me. This extension adds all kind of extension-specific features to Gmail, including a better way to search:

If you struggle to keep track of attachments, this is not an extension to miss. Read more about Attachments.me.

Any.Do: A Better To-Do List

Find the default tasks service in Gmail too limited? You’re not alone. Luckily for you, popular alternative Any.Do is now available for Chrome.

Okay, so this isn’t strictly-speaking a Gmail extension. It is, however, a replacement for a part of Gmail many find lacking – and as such worth mentioning here.

Gmelius: Make Gmail Minimalist

Love Gmail, but wish you could remove certain features from it? Gemlius lets you do just that.

The extension is basically a series of checkboxes you can turn off to remove particular Gmail features. It also allows you to remove formatting from incoming emails, and adds attachment icons to your inbox. This one is worth exploring if you’re the kind of person who loves to tweak – and because you’re reading this article, I’m fairly certain you are. Read more about Gmelius.

Anything Else?

Try as I might, I could never compile a complete list of the great Gmail plugins for Chrome. With our powers combined, however, this should be perfectly possible. So I ask you: which awesome Gmail extensions for Chrome did I miss? Point them out in the comments below, and together we can make this a real collection of the best Gmail plugins for Chrome.

Don’t like installing extensions? Check out Gmail’s Labs instead. It’s a collection of advanced features you can add to Gmail without any extensions.

The post What Are The Best Gmail Plugins For Chrome? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Ubuntu 13.04: What’s New In Raring Ringtail? [Linux]

On April 25th, the newest version of one of the most popular Linux distributions was released — Ubuntu 13.04, codenamed “Raring Ringtail”. Every new release of Ubuntu warrants the question of what’s new and whether people should try it out or upgrade from an older release.

Unlike previous releases of Ubuntu, 13.04 doesn’t bring extraordinary new visual features which may make some people even more skeptical about this release than others. So what exactly is new, and should you really upgrade?

Under-the-Hood Improvements

While Canonical wanted to include a major feature called Smart Scopes in Ubuntu 13.04, which would have enhanced the Unity Dash’s search capabilities to include more online sources aside from Amazon, it was delayed for 13.10. With this and other features being delayed for the next release, development on 13.04 quickly turned into a push for quality and polish. As such, plenty of software has been updated to help improve the overall quality of the release.

Although new versions of software is included in every Ubuntu release, this release especially adds some polish, with filesystem and graphics enhancements in the kernel, a faster LibreOffice, and others. Most importantly, the Unity desktop environment received plenty of love from Canonical developers, making it more stable and pleasing to use by reducing the amount of “papercut” bugs.

Speed

Because of the focus on polish in this release, the new release along with its updated software appears to run noticeably faster on a number of my systems. Startup and shutdown times have also improved quite a bit. This is pretty refreshing to see as Ubuntu’s speed has regressed over the last few releases after their strong emphasis on speed with 10.04.

Visual Improvements

There has also been a lot of tiny visual improvements here and there. Window snap animations (when you drag a window to an edge on your screen to either maximize it or make it fill half your screen) are different; the popups along the Unity dock now fade in and out; there are new Unity dash preview animations; and a new, friendly, and translucent shutdown dialog. The icons for “Files”, Ubuntu Software Center, and Software Updater have been changed, and Nautilus has been updated and slightly renovated.

If you have, as an example, multiple Chrome windows open, you can now hover your mouse over the Chrome button in the Unity dock and scroll to switch between windows. You can also now control which installed applications can use which of your online accounts, and the Bluetooth dropdown menu has been updated to include on/off toggles.

Ubuntu One has also received a new Sync menu where you can turn the service on or off, as well as access other Ubuntu One functions. If the menu weren’t packed with Ubuntu One features, it would almost appear as if Dropbox could be integrated into the Sync menu as well, provided the Dropbox application receives an update to be able to do so. The workspaces feature is now disabled, but can be re-enabled in the system settings.

New Lenses

Unity has also received two new lenses with 13.04 — the Photos lens and the Social lens. The Photos lens can pick up and search through images located on your online accounts or imported via Shotwell. Because Gwibber has been removed from this release (and possibly only this release), the Social lens is there to help people connect to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn directly from the dash.

Canonical’s Roadmap

While this release may seem a bit lackluster when it comes to features, Raring Ringtail is still a great release that doesn’t throw Canonical’s roadmap off track. Now that they’ve accomplished a lot of polish work, including speed improvements, they will have an easier time getting Ubuntu ready for their releases on smartphones, tablets, and TVs. Before, some core components such as Unity would have run far too slowly to be usable on a mobile device.

Should You Upgrade?

So, now that we know what’s new, should you try Ubuntu if you haven’t yet done so before? Absolutely! Ubuntu comes packed with plenty of great software, and it is now speedy enough for any user to enjoy on any system. For those already running Ubuntu, is it worth upgrading? Not necessarily. As Ubuntu 13.04 doesn’t come with a lot of new features, you may not get much out of an upgrade without having to do a lot of work and running the risk that something goes wrong during the upgrade process.

However, if you value polish and speed improvements, then I recommend that you upgrade. As there aren’t any major features, most packages will simply update to newer versions, making this upgrade relatively painless compared to previous upgrades. I went ahead and upgraded my computers without any issues, and I am definitely loving the polish and speed.

What’s your favorite feature in Ubuntu? What would you like to see Canonical do with Ubuntu 13.10? Let us know in the comments!

The post Ubuntu 13.04: What’s New In Raring Ringtail? [Linux] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Can Reading Be A Social Experience?

Reading has a reputation for being an isolated activity. We often think of people in their pajamas or bathrobes, sunk into a massive armchair in front of a roaring fire, with a mug of hot cocoa in one hand and a page-turner in the other. Books have the unique ability to suck us into a whole new world where our imaginations are the only limit. So how can reading be social?

Discussion, that’s how. I know that when I finish reading a well-written book, I need to go out and tell somebody about it. I need to find someone else who’s read that same book so we can talk about it, maybe for hours if the book was that good. Reading may be an individual activity – nobody sits around in a circle and reads aloud, right? – but the social aspect afterwards is what truly completes the joy.

So, yes, reading is an intensely social experience. One way to partake in that experience is to join a local book club, but if you’re looking for more of a technological, modern medium for reading socially, then here are some great communities that you should consider joining.

Goodreads

It’s impossible to talk about “social reading” without mentioning Goodreads. Launched in 2007, Goodreads started off as a cataloging website that acted as a database for books, book reviews, and annotations. Within one year, Goodreads boasted over 650,000 members and 10 million books. Within five years, the member base increased to over 10 million and the database is constantly growing.

When you sign up on Goodreads, you can manage something called a “bookshelf”, which is just a collection of book titles that you’ve read, are currently reading, or plan to read one day. Once you’ve read a book, you can give it a rating and an optional review. The social networking aspect involves the ability to make friends with other readers so you can see each other’s bookshelves and discuss certain titles together.

Based on what you’ve read and liked, Goodreads helps you discover new books that fit into your interests. Personally, I’ve been using Goodreads for about two years and I’ve found dozens of great books that I never would’ve read if I hadn’t joined. Highly recommended, and not just by me: check out Erez’s article on why Goodreads is a must for readers!

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is like a less hip, more cerebral version of Goodreads. Even though it debuted nearly two years before Goodreads, their minimalistic interface and their refusal to catch up with the times has kept their community from blowing up. Depending on your viewpoint, that can be good or bad. Still, LibraryThing has over 1.6 million users and 78 million books.

With LibraryThing, you can create and manage your own personal library of books: books you’ve read, books you’re reading, books you wish to read. You can tag, rate, and review books. Since everyone builds their own personal libraries, you can browse them and interact with other people through comments and forums. LibraryThing gets their book data from Amazon and over 700 libraries globally.

Most book-related social networks will let you read and write reviews and leave comments, which LibraryThing does, too. However, the big draw of LibraryThing, in my opinion, is their Talk forum section where you can have high quality book discussions. And let me tell you: their forums are extremely active.

One cool feature is their Early Reviewers program, where you can receive free books in exchange for well-written reviews. In addition, they have a version of their site that’s optimized for mobile devices so you can participate on the go.

BookLikes

BookLikes is a newer social network that focuses on allowing users to share their thoughts on books in their own space. In a way, you can think of it as MySpace for books: everyone can create a shelf of books that they’ve read/are reading/will read (nothing new here) but everyone also has a blog for expression. The networking aspect is that you can search and browse the blogs of other users.

Honestly, it’s a great concept when you want more substance than simple book reviews and forum threads. The blog format allows for deeper thoughts while giving users the freedom to follow whoever they’d like to follow. Being able to see the shelves of your friends is useful, too, especially when you want to start reading the favorites of someone who thinks like you.

The only downside is that they’ve currently limited registration. Instead of instantly creating an account, you have to request an account and wait for them to approve you. Perhaps they’re still developing some features behind the scene and will open the gates soon. If you don’t mind waiting a bit, go ahead and request an account now.

Online Book Club

Let’s say you want to be a social reader but you don’t like dealing with social networks. Sounds a bit contradictory but it’s entirely possible. If blogs and social networks aren’t your cup of tea, then what about good old-fashioned forums? Forums are great for digitally enacting the oldest form of social reading: book clubs.

And Online Book Club is aptly named. Their forums are quite active with daily threads that cover topics such as: book discussion, author discussion, reviews and recommendations, e-book discussions, books of the month, and there’s even a subsection for aspiring writers. You’ll find a lot of reading enthusiasts at the Online Book Club and it’s an entirely free community.

Conclusion

Reading is both an isolated and social activity. Sure, you can enjoy your book and lose yourself into the mind of a compelling protagonist, but who are you going to talk to when you’re done? Sharing in the experience of that book is just as important as reading it, so use the communities above to find like-minded readers with whom you can discuss stories.

Know of any other social reading websites that I missed? Please share them in the comments. I’d love to check them out and see what I’m missing out on.

Image Credit: Reading Girl Via Shutterstock

The post Can Reading Be A Social Experience? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Is the Microsoft Fix It Service Really Any Good? [MakeUseOf Tests]

Have computer problems? Microsoft’s Fix It service attempts to fix them for you. If you’ve browsed Microsoft’s help pages, you’ve probably seen a variety of “Fix It” programs you can run to quickly fix a problem without walking through a complicated troubleshooting process. We’ve covered the Fix It Center in the past, but now we’re really going to put Microsoft’s Fix It service to the test.

The Microsoft Fix It Center desktop program is no longer available for Windows 7, but Microsoft hosts a web page where you can browse all their Fix it solutions. This page allows you to locate a Fix It that will hopefully solve your problem and run it. You may also find Fix It programs suggested to you when you browse for help elsewhere on Microsoft’s website. For example, there are Fix It scripts for repairing your Internet Explorer settings, fixing Windows security settings, and more. We’ll find out whether Microsoft’s Fix It scripts are actually any good for fixing computer problems or whether you shouldn’t bother with them at all.

These Fix Its work on Windows 7, Windows Vista, and even Windows XP.

Help, My USB Drive Doesn’t Work!

To put our first Fix It to the test fixing a USB drive that failed to work, we:

• Inserted a USB drive and used the DISKPART tool to delete all partitions on it, making it unusable until it’s partitioned again.


• Disabled the USB drive device in the Device Manager.

After this, we ran the “Diagnose and fix Windows USB problems automatically” Fix It with the USB drive inserted. This Fix It did not find the problem, only recommending that we use Windows Update to install USB drivers.

To be fair, Windows Explorer itself prompts us to repartition the USB drive — so the only real problem is that the USB drive itself is disabled in the device manager.

We gave the Fix It service another chance to fix the problem by running the “Hardware devices are not working or are not detected in Windows” Fix It. This Fix It did find the problem.

Together, the two Fix Its found the problem, but they’re a bit too fine-grained. How is a user supposed to know whether the USB device isn’t functioning because of a USB problem or if it isn’t functioning because of a hardware device problem? You almost need to know what the problem is to choose the right Fix It — and if you knew that, you wouldn’t need the Fix It service. One Fix It that ran through all the related problems would work better.

Fixing Internet Explorer Problems

The Fix It service can’t check for problems with other browsers, but it can with Internet Explorer. It can theoretically set Internet Explorer’s settings to recommended ones.

To test this, we:

• Disabled the pop-up blocker.


• Disabled protected mode.


• Set the cache to it lowest possible value.


• Set an invalid proxy server, preventing IE from connecting to the network.

The Fix It service didn’t even make it past the invalid proxy server, failing to connect to the network and providing no help on solving the problem. However, to Internet Explorer’s credit, it noticed the invalid proxy server itself and suggested we disable it.

The Fix It service noticed all other problems and offered to fix them. However, don’t rely on the Fix It center to fix network problems, even if it’s downloaded directly to your computer ahead of time.

Internet Connection Problems

We were going to test the Fix It service’s ability to help you solve Internet connection problems, but we skipped this part — based on our test above, it wouldn’t even be able to contact the Internet and download the appropriate data. The Fix It service doesn’t even attempt to help you repair Internet connection problems if it can’t connect to the Internet. It gets a failing grade here, which is too bad as this would be a great use for Fix It tools.

Securing Windows

Microsoft offers a Fix It tool that promises to help make Windows more secure. To test this, we:

• Disabled the Windows Firewall.


• Disabled User Account Control (UAC).


• Disabled real-time protection in Microsoft Security Essentials, our installed antivirus program.


• Disabled checking for new Windows Updates.

The Windows Action Center started to complain about many of these changes, alerting us to them. We went ahead and ran the “Automatically fix Windows security settings to keep your PC safe” Fix It tool.

The Fix It tool prompted us to re-enable UAC and automatic updates. It also noticed that our antivirus was “not up-to-date” — not an ideal message, but at least an indication that something is wrong.

It didn’t notice any problems with the Windows Firewall at all, even though it was disabled. This is disappointing — there appears to be another Fix It that handles problems with the Windows Firewall, but we should be able to run the security Fix It and fix all security problems. This is the same issue as the USB and Hardware Fix Its above. They should be logically grouped together, but are separated to the detriment of users.

The Verdict

The Microsoft Fix It service isn’t perfect. In addition to not offering enough Fix it scripts, it isn’t robust enough to deal with network problems. It solved many of the problems we caused, however. To its credit, where the Fix It service failed — with an partitioned USB drive or an invalid proxy server — other parts of Windows noticed the problem and alerted us to it. However, you may have to run several related Fix It tools to identify and fix your problem.

The next time you have a problem, should you run a Fix It script you see on a Microsoft support site or even head to the Fix It center and look for one to help you? It certainly can’t hurt. Fix It does help. Unfortunately, it’s rather limited in what it can do.

Whatever your problem, you’re likely better off using the troubleshooter utilities included in Windows 7 and Windows 8, which can handle network connection issues and other more difficult problems.

To be honest, the Fix It utilities feel like a beta test for the troubleshooting tools found in Windows 7. This is a shame, as Windows Vista and Windows XP users would benefit from having more robust Fix It tools available. They’re also still advertised on Microsoft support sites, including to Windows 7 users.

Go ahead and run a Fix It tool if Microsoft suggests one — it can’t hurt and can only help. Unfortunately, given their limitations and the low number of tools available, you’re probably better off looking for help elsewhere than fixing your problems with Microsoft’s Fix It service.

Have you had any luck with the Fix It service in the past, or has it been unable to solve your problems? Leave a comment and share your experiences!

The post Is the Microsoft Fix It Service Really Any Good? [MakeUseOf Tests] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

How To Edit PDF Files In Office Word 2013

CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL POST



Portable Document Format, popularly known as PDF, is supported on all major desktop operating systems as well as mobile operating systems. Plenty of free and paid apps available for computers as well as smartphones to view, create, and edit PDFs. The main advantage of PDF is that you can convert almost any document type or [...]

What Are the Fastest Tools for Windows Desktop Search?

The more I use my computer, the more I realize how much I take search for granted. How many times have you lost a pair of socks or misplaced your keys only to wish you could search for them and have the location spit back out to you? Fortunately, Windows (and most other operating systems) comes with a handy search feature.

On top of the default search feature, there are a number of third-party tools that claim to be better and faster at searching your computer for relevant files and folders, and that raises a few questions. Is Windows desktop search slow? And if so, how much faster are the alternatives? I took a look at the best known Windows search tools and compared them – the results were surprising.

Note: I’m on a Windows 7 desktop so I’m testing these tools against the default search on that operating system. You can safely assume that Windows XP search speeds would be slower than Windows 7, but I don’t know how much more the Windows 8 search improves. So if you use Windows 8, just keep that in mind.

Windows Search

Interface: The Windows search integrates nicely into the actual operating system, so you’ll feel right at home using it. Open up any explorer window (basically, any folder) and the search bar will be up in the top right. You can also search Windows in the Start Menu if you prefer it that way.

Search Time: Average 3m 30s for unindexed search; average <1s for indexed search. If you enable Windows search indexing, your computer will constantly keep an index of all files and folders, which helps to improve search speeds.

Features: I don’t know about you, but I’ve always viewed the Windows search as a primitive function. That might be because I had some poor experiences as a child on Windows 98, ME, and even XP. However, rest assured that the latest iterations of the desktop search aren’t so bad. There are a few tricks to improve Windows 7 search that you can use.

Everything

Interface: Everything’s interface is as simplistic as they come. It’s just an empty window with a small search bar across the top. As you type, the search results show up in the list below. There really isn’t much else to say. Minimal and to the point – just how I like my tools to be.

Search Time: Instantaneous real-time. Everything is an impressive bit of search technology due to how fast and responsive it is. Like Windows search, Everything works by indexing your entire computer’s file structure, which allows it to present immediate search results as you type your search query. Everything can index a fresh install of Windows 7 in just a few seconds.

Features: You’d think that such a fast search tool would come with a downside. Well, as far as I can tell, there are no downsides to Everything. It barely uses any resources – less than 5MB RAM and less than 1MB of hard drive space. It also monitors file system changes live, so your index is always up to date.

Listary

Interface: The Listary interface is fantastic in my opinion, but I can see how it might be cumbersome or annoying for some users. Essentially, Listary doesn’t have an interface of its own. As you browse around on your computer, all you have to do is start typing and Listary will know based on context whether you want to search or not.

Search Time: Average <1s for computer-wide search.

Features: Listary’s search is extremely flexible. The query matching isn’t verbatim, so you can just type multiple terms until you get the match that you were looking for. The search only performs in the current directory, though you can easily manipulate the search query to search in other locations if you want.

Pro Version: Though the Free version is feature complete and available forever, you can upgrade to the Pro version for $19.95 USD, which unlocks a few advanced features.

Conclusion

The absolute search times listed above have a lot of factors going into them, such as the size of my hard drives, how many files and folders I have, other programs running in the background that take up CPU resources, etc. However, just focus on the relative search speeds between each program and you’ll see that all of them are quite good at fast searches.

My winner? I prefer Everything. Listary offers the same “find as you type” instantaneous search results but the interface can sometimes be intrusive, especially when you accidentally bring it up. I like how Everything is both fast and compact and only shows up when I open it myself.

I tested out a few other search tools that didn’t make it onto this list. With indexing, Windows search is quite fast already. Everything and Listary were the only ones that could offer the same (or better) speed while adding extra features on top. Know of any other Windows search tools that are just as fast? Share them with us in the comments.

Image Credit: Magnifier Via Shutterstock

The post What Are the Fastest Tools for Windows Desktop Search? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

7 Sticky Notes – The Most Full-Featured Sticky Notes Program [Windows]

It won’t be until you actually give digital sticky notes a try that you’ll understand how useful and effective they are. I won’t argue that physical sticky notes pressed around your desk or monitor is an unbeatable solution, but it also isn’t the prettiest, fastest, or cleanest. If you use a desktop or laptop, sticky notes are especially useful because of how many applications offer to bring them right to your desktop. We’ve reviewed many of these useful applications, such as Stickies.

After using a handful of these kinds of software, I’ve come to realize that a lot of them really fall short. Sticky notes are a pretty big deal to me and have almost completely replaced my need for an application like Evernote. That’s only because I’ve recently come across one of the most feature-packed solutions to desktop sticky notes – 7 Sticky Notes.

7 Sticky Notes

7 Sticky Notes currently sits as my favorite sticky notes manager, and there are a lot of reasons why for us to go over.The current version, 1.9, is only a 5.86 MB download and is compatible with 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 2000, XP, Server, 7, and 8.

7 Sticky Notes does what every software should do today, and that’s offer you to install the application completely portably. You can install it straight to your desktop, a Dropbox folder, or a removable drive. It’ll work perfectly all the same.

Should you choose to install the application portably, there are a few additional steps you may have to take.

Depending on your User Account Control settings, you may receive the above error when first attempting to run the application. If you do, run the application again with administrative privileges, and 7 Sticky Notes should be able to automatically register the DLLs for you.

You may also be told that 7 Sticky Notes is unable to find your database file after your first run. Should this happen, just select the option to create a new database as is shown in the screenshot above.

After a successful run, your first note will be automatically created, conveniently giving you a quick tutorial on how to best use the application.

I advise that you read over this note, as it answers the most basic questions that many new users would have, and it also introduces some of the most important shortcuts for controlling 7 Sticky Notes.

When you’re familiar with the basics, right-click the note. You’ll now see a list of options, and from here you can simply delete the note. Don’t worry about possibly needing it again at a later date, because deleted notes are stored in the in-application Recycle Bin rather than permanently deleted.

As you can see, there’s a lot of functionality that is offered per note. You can roll up or resize a note, set it to remain on top of all other windows, lock the note, duplicate it, export it, change the theme, and more. Keep this in mind.

Right-clicking the tray icon offers your next set of options, where you can then pull up the Notes Manager, which really acts as a log and agenda for all of the notes you’ve ever made or had deleted. If you check the Recycle Bin here, you can immediately catch previously-deleted posts.

Clicking on a section’s heading will activate the “plus” sign, thus allowing you to create your own notes from this screen. I personally choose to make all of my notes from the Notes Manager screen because the agenda-style approach is just better overall. Remember that notes can be created by hotkey or just right-clicking the tray icon and selecting that action.

The notes themselves are very stylish and completely configurable. You can choose font styles, transparency levels, themes, create drop shadows, add image attachments, set your notes to snap to a grid, add clickable URLs and hyperlinks, and more. Not only do they look very nice, but these features make them more useful than any other alternative application that I’ve tried out.

Advanced settings and configurations of 7 Sticky Notes are very deep.

Shown here, you can see some of the general settings. These include automated sizing, URL detection, enabling or disabling confirmation dialogs, and all-important keyboard shortcuts that you can tinker with.

7 Sticky Notes’ backup and synchronization options are definitely to be appreciated. The application comes with automated ways to periodically backup your notes database and keep your notes synchronized. For me, this is incredibly important.

Additional features within the options include adding and modifying themes, setting up alarms for your notes, protecting your notes and the Notes Manager by password, and more. Again, 7 Sticky Notes doesn’t look to just slap notes to your desktop and call it a day. This is an extremely complete solution that, if used correctly, can be a replacement for any note-taking software.

What do you think of 7 Sticky Notes? Is there another alternative software out there that you think handles sticky notes in a better way? Let me know in the comments!

The post 7 Sticky Notes – The Most Full-Featured Sticky Notes Program [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Paid YouTube Channels

YouTube launched a new kind of channels for premium content: paid channels. The list includes 53 channels and the price is $1-7/month, depending on the channel.



There's an offer that lets you subscribe to 7 channels for $10/month. The channels are from the Entertainment Studios Networks: Cars.TV, Comedy.TV, Pets.TV, Recipe.TV, MyDestination.TV, ES.TV, Justice Central.



There are many channels for kids, channels with fitness instructions, sports channels, movie channels, documentary channels and more. There's even a channel for woodworkers. Most channels are available in the US and many are available in Canada and the UK.

"Starting today, we're launching a pilot program for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube with subscription fees starting at $0.99 per month. Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates. For example, Sesame Street will be offering full episodes on their paid channel when it launches," informs YouTube.



You can buy movies and TV shows, watch pay-per-view events and now subscribe to paid channels. There's a lot of content that will make Google TV and Android tablets more useful, but it will be available on almost any smart device.

Cleanr Video – Make YouTube Less Of a Time Sink

Strip down YouTube until only what you want is left – the videos. Cleanr Video is a simple extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari that removes everything – and I mean everything – from YouTube beyond what you absolutely need. Comments, recommended videos, ads – all gone, and in their place white space. If minimalism sounds good, this is one to check out.

Google loves – and I mean loves – changing the YouTube layout. Over the last couple of years it’s gone from focusing on helping everyone discover the same videos, to helping everyone see the latest videos from their subscriptions, to the current incarnation – showing you videos it thinks you’ll appreciate for reasons mere mortals cannot discern. If you’re sick of the cycle – or just want to avoid the rabbit hole of recommended videos and comments – Cleanr Video can help clean up YouTube for you.

From Minimalist for Everything to services that de-clutter the web for readers, we’ve outlined more than a few ways to make the web a less busy place. Cleanr Video is just one more.

How Cleanr Video Works

So, just how much does Cleanr Video strip down? Rather than tell you, I’ll show you. Here’s how the page for a YouTube video looks normally.

…and here’s how it looks with Cleanr Videos installed:

As you can see, everything but the video itself is stripped away, leaving you with a video to watch and nothing more. When you’re done watching, you’ll simply get to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing – no clicking related videos and no scrolling through comments. This could help you stay focused.

The home page for YouTube is similarly cleaned up. Instead of seeing this hot mess…

…you’ll see this…

Click the “See More” button to show the videos that usually show up on the YouTube home page – and nothing else. If you’re looking for simplicity, you found it.

One Problem…

If you’re like me, you love your YouTube subscriptions. You found the YouTube homepage useful, until recent changes stopped showing the latest videos from your subscriptions and started showing…something. I’m still not sure what this seemingly random assortment of videos is supposed to be, but I know I’m not a fan. It’s why I’ve been habitually clicking the “My Subscriptions” link every time I open YouTube.

Which brings me to my problem – Cleanr Videos hides the “My Subscriptions” link. At first I was panicking, but then I did what I should have done a long time ago – I added a link to the Subscriptions page on my browser toolbar. The link, in case you didn’t know, is:

http://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions

Why YouTube doesn’t offer a setting for making that page the default I’ll never know. Maybe Cleanr Videos should redirect users, though, because I don’t think anyone actually wants to use YouTube’s default homepage.

Download Cleanr Video

Sick of reading about Cleanr Video, and ready to download it? Head to Clea.nr. The process should be simple for Firefox and Safari users. Chrome users, however, have to do some extra work. This video explains how to install the extension:

For those who hate video tutorials – you need to download the .CRX file from Clea.nr. Then, head to the “Extensions” menu in Chrome (hit the settings icon to the right of your extension icons, then Tools > Extensions). Open the folder to which you downloaded the CRX file using your operating system’s file browser, then drag the CRX to the Chrome window where the Extensions menu is open. The extension is now installed.

This used to be a simpler process, but a (relatively) recent update to Chrome made it harder to install extensions not from the Chrome Web Store.

Conclusion

This app not only makes YouTube look great – it can also help you to be productive. YouTube can be a huge time sink. Watching videos online when you’re supposed to be working is bad enough, but a quick video viewing can quickly turn into a spree if you follow a long enough line of “Recommended Videos“. Removing this temptation just might be Cleanr Video’s best feature, but blocking comments isn’t a bad thing either.

Do you have any other cool minimalist browser extensions to share? Please, do so in the comments below. Those of us who haven’t blocked all online comments will be happy to read them.

The post Cleanr Video – Make YouTube Less Of a Time Sink appeared first on MakeUseOf.