My top ten Firefox Add-ons:

1: Torrent Finder Toolbar: For all of you who like to play in the dark side of town downloading stuff you should not!

2: uBlock: Finally, an efficient wide-spectrum content blocker. Easy on CPU and memory.

3: Search By Image: A powerful reverse image search tool, with support for various search engines, such as Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu and TinEye.

4: Gmail: Transform a Gmail account into an online hard drive!

5: OneTab: Too many tabs? Convert tabs to a list and reduce browser memory

6: Wizz RSS News Reader: A solid RSS reader.

7: TuneYou: Listen to your favorite radio stations online from all over the world. Explore all stations by location or genre according to your mood.

8: WebStickies: Sticky notes for the Internet.

9: Search Preview: SearchPreview enhances your search results pages by inserting site preview images (thumbnails) and popularity ranks into Google™ and DuckDuckGo™ search results.

10: Zoom: Zoom in or out on web content using the zoom button and mouse scroll wheel for more comfortable reading. That to each percent value. It helps you to zoom easily in and out a web page. Thanks to the slider and the zoom buttons.

At some point in time, Windows users all get tired of the stock Windows boot screen- the screen that you are forced to stare at while Windows loads up.

Although it is possible to actually edit the original file, an easier, safer, and more versatile method is to use Stardock BootSkin, a great free program that allows you to ‘skin’ your boot screen. Since this doesn’t change your original boot screen’s file, it’s a safer and more stable way of doing things. You can create your own BootSkins, or use pre-made skins found at websites like Wincustomize.

If you find multiple skins that you like, the program has a function that allows you to have a different skin from your collection appear randomly each time Windows is loaded. Overall, this program is a lot of fun and a great way to make your computer customization go further than just swapping out the image on your desktop. Stardock BootSkin is a great program for any creative Windows XP/2000 user.

Originally known as Windows commander, Total Commander debuted as a nice windows file explorer with all the features of the well-known DOS Norton commander.

Its main and most important feature is having two folder panels side by side to copy/move files back and forth. Currently, Total Commander supports multiple tabs so that now you can work with several folders in one window. In several levels, Total Commander supports plug-ins to add limitless new features. For example, you can manipulate registry, services, start-up programs, clipboard contents, control panel, task manager, and Uninstaller.

You can also use Total Commander as a RSS feeds reader, an emails reader, a HTTP browser, and a FTP browser. Total Commander comes with a nice viewer called Lister which also supports plug-ins. Using this viewer, you can view virtually any type of files (pdf, ps, MS word, images, videos, music, database files, web pages, just to name a few. This program has everything in one nice user-friendly window that you don’t have to shuffle through different programs to get the job done. There are folder history, folder bookmarks, program shortcuts, extensive compression type support, just about anything that is related to file or folder and much more.

Have you ever lost your files? Well, here’s a little program that will help you save those files before that happens again.

With Cobian Backup you can store your files in your hard drive making frequent background backups of some or all of your files! You can customize different tasks for all those things we bury into our hard drives. It is one of the simplest, versatile and quickest backup programs you will find. Plus you only have to set it up once and it will do its numerous tasks stealthily without you even noticing.

• Download Cobian Backup 8 Version 8 Black Moon For Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista Latest version: 8.4.0.198
• Download Cobian Backup 7 Version 7 Luz de Luna For Windows 95*, 98, ME, Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003 Latest version: 7.6.0.353

Since the Apple TV finally shipped it has been met with as much criticism as it has praise. The device itself is simple, beautiful and over other options, seems to be a break-out hit.

Opening the packaging was very similar to the enclosure the iPods with video come in. A thin box slides out of the exterior shell and opens midway to reveal the Apple TV on one side, the Apple remote on the other. Only one cable is included with Apple TV: the power cable. Reasons for this aren’t clear, but it is assumed because of the variety of ways Apple TV can be hooked up, Apple would rather not have wasted the money and space to include cables that may not be used by the customer.

Setting up Apple TV takes just a few minutes, after it finds your network, you enter your wireless password, then pair the device with iTunes. Apple TV generates a code for iTunes to pair, and upon success, you are greeted with syncing and streaming options. Content ripped from DVDs into the mp4 or H.264 formats looks fantastic on Apple TV, as well as the newer, higher resolution content purchased from the iTunes store. Apple TV is a fantastically easy way to manage all of your films, TV shows, podcasts, and music within your home entertainment system.

Not that hacking the machine is necessary, but it has proven already to be very mod-able, like the first generation TiVo. There are ways of adding a larger hard drive, to upgrade from the stock 40GB drive, ways to play Divx and xvid format files, as well as ways to install a fully-functioning OSX to turn Apple TV into the smallest functioning Mac available. Apple TV is a notable entry into the content management space, and there are exciting things in store as the device gains more traction in the market.

Ever wanted to take a screen shot of something you’ve seen in a streaming video? Sure you have!

You set up the stream, advance to the right time counter, and snap! But.. oh no! The frame of the media player is black. What happened? Well, the problem is likely due to video card acceleration and overlays. Basically, to produce higher quality video, your computer asks your video card to display the accelerated video in an overlay, which “overlays” the rest of the screen. From the user’s perspective, the video and the other windows are all on the same plane.

However, from the software’s point of view, the only things on the screen are the windows, since the actual video is in the overlay. This is why the streaming media player’s window appears black. How to fix this? Well, I will demonstrate with RealPlayer v 10.5 for Windows as an example, but the general idea should hold for any media player. Go to the menu bar, and select “Tools.” Scroll down and select “Preferences…” The preferences window should appear. Within the window, select “Hardware” from the side menu. In the bottom panel, select “Most Reliable” which will show “Disable optimized video and overlays.” Then, restart RealPlayer and try capturing the image again. Voila!