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Text, Audio, and Graphic Tools
meebo.com for instant messaging
Lets you use your IM account (like msn, yahoo, or aol) within a webpage instead of installing the invasive IM program, or you can create a free meebo account and login to all of them at once and gets lots of other features like video and games and such without installing anything. Less is better, and they are a great free service run by decent people. I suggest this over installing instant messenger programs.
google translate for quick translations of webpages or text
translate text or a whole webpage with googles help.
globulos.com for playing simple game with distant friends
This site has a simple signup and allows you to play 50 games involving balls in easy games, and you can play over the internet with friends which makes it a relaxing way to pass some time with friends online.
photoshop express for photo editing
An online version of photoshop that runs within a webpage so you dont need to have photoshop installed. Its an early experiment that's free for now until photoshop, like most other programs, will one day be 'online only'. Handy to edit photos from anywhere and easy to learn and use no matter what your experience. Setting up an account doesn't mean you'll get junkmail.
graphic blur and vignette for photo effect
You can upload a jpg photo, then give it a edge blur and vignette, and then download your file back. If you don't have photoshop and need to do this quick effect here's the way to do it from anywhere quickly.
kuler.com and colourlovers.com for color choosing
Interactive ways to create and find good color combinations for whatever you're designing. Save your color combos and let others rate them as well, but don't bother if your monitors not color-calibrated, because then the colors will print different and will look different to everyone else in the world.
tonematrix for simple sound sequencing
Easily create a rhythm in this simple grid, or click his link underneath it for a real indepth sequencer you can use within a webpage without any installs. Fun to play with once.
lumosity.com for strengthening your mind
This site charges a monthly fee, but they have a free trial, and it has different games to build up different parts of your mind, and as you keep playing it tracks you so that as time passes it builds up in your weak areas and also strengthens even more your strong ones. I guess they charge per month because they want to be seen as an actual serious training site, but it is worth the free trial to see how it maps your mind.
zamzar.com for file conversion Convert text file formats from one to another, like .doc to .pdf, and also to convert graphic file formats from one to another, like .tif to .jpg. It does the conversion online instead of having to have a program to convert files on your computer. Handy to keep in mind when you need to convert a file so that you can present it to someone else.
keybr.com for learning to type
Just a quick online way to take some quick typing tests without installing anything, to brush on on your typing or see how many WPM you can do.
Windows Technical Tools
Hard drive failure sounds if your drive is failing
Listening to your hard drives activity is like a doctors stethoscope against your heart; the sounds it makes gives me an idea as to the health of my system, and should one day any 'different' sounds start coming from it, then there's a reason behind it you cannot ignore. This site has sounds you can listen to so you can compare it against your own drive, and know if it's failing, and if so, why it's failing. All hard drives will fail at some point, so backing up every 1-4 months is important.
troubleshooting workflows if anything goes wrong
Here's a few interactive helpful step-by-step workflows for when something goes wrong on a computer or network, it's a perhaps a bit dated but still handy if you're on your own when something goes wrong.
Startup Program List if you want to stop a program auto-starting
If you know how to check to see what hidden programs are set to startup when you load windows, then here is a site that tries to help you find what the program is, and its purpose. Less than 20 processes are needed for windows to operate fine, but dozens more are hiding and consuming your systems resources, installed by both viruses, companies, and yourself accidently. This list will help you safely disable those dozens of programs.
virustotal.com for checking a file for viruses with DOZENS of virus programs quickly
You can upload a file (keep it under 10mb) and they will scan it with all the popular virus programs and let you know which virus programs found which infections within the file. very handy, especially if you just got a mystery .exe online.
filext.com for knowing what a files extension means (.xxx)
Every file has an extension (.xxx) which lets the computer know what program to open that file with.
If you do not have the program that can open a particular extension, then you cannot open it on your computer. This website will let you know what program open up what extension.
Some programs can open many different types of extensions, and some programs are much better than others when it comes to working with certain extensions. If you don't know what some file extension is someone sent you in an email, look it up here.
Blue screen errors if your seeing them in XP
This is a simple read, in case you have a BSOD error in windows and wonder what the code behind it means. And HERE is further details on BSOD crashes in XP, you'd think they wouldn't be so hard to find out (since mircrosofts site doesnt cover them well for anyone but the most advanced tech people).
CA virus scan and TM virus scan to check online for viruses without installing a whole virus suite
Scan your system's infections without having to install virus software. As a fact, no one virus program catches everything so its always good to check with a couple online virus checkers occasionally. There's other good online virus/trojan/spyware/adware ones as well, but some are actually infections themselves so one has to be careful when choosing an online virus/spyware checker.
Index of running programs so you can know whats running hidden
The task manager usually has dozens of hidden crappy programs running without reason (I have a section on this website about hidden programs). Here you can look up what those hidden programs are meant for (usually no purpose for you, only disadvantages) and who they're from.
Theres hundreds of them here but at least a handful are very worthy of looking thru them all if you're into a smooth running system or a system. I use a couple dozen myself on systems.
Hundreds more tips and tweaks for XPs registry to make for a better-running system. I use some of these as well.
A few hundred more tips to wander through, just to find a handful of gems. Again, I use a few of these as well.
this wikipedia page just shows the timeline on how a program goes through its development cycle. for most all software on my system i always try to get involved and offer bug reports and suggestions in the various stages. this link is only interesting if you have a need to know or curiousity of the abbreviations and lingo.
Travel Tools
wundermap for weather radar
Best way to track weather and storms using an interactive google maps interface. You can even zoom in to see the detailed storms moving from city block to block and arrows with their directions in real-time. Much more than you'll get from your local weather with their hokey-named Advanced Stormtracker Genesis with Futurecast 8000 Digital Doppler Technology, online weather definitely has got your tv weather running for cover.
fboweb.com for airline flights
To find the schedule of an airlines certain flight, and also the option to watch the plane flying realtime in 2d (with google maps within a webpage) or 3d (using google earth). They offer flying alerts and options beyond just realtime tracking including hold-ups if you need to drop someone off or pick them up. Good if someone around you travels more than once a month. Bike Tools
These two sites help you pinpoint any noises on a bike and how to get rid of them. Since i bike it gets annoying to hear those creaking and clunking sounds, so here is where to help yourself instead of paying someone $35 to fix one sound. Both these sites have dozens of other easy to follow help for a bike, not just fixing sounds.
Heres a great step-by-step of how to maintain a bikes parts, as well as videos and help in selecting the parts for doing your own tune-ups and keeping your bike smooth. Spending an hour to learn how to tune a bike up should save a person almost $100 a year if you're a regular bike rider.
Pricepoint.com has a quick lookup of each bike part with basic questions non-pro bikers might have, and explains how it all works together. |
Health Tools
23andme.com for dna testing
You can send in your spit and they will decode about 600,000 of your dna. If it hasn't been hammered into your head by now, your dna in every cell of you carries this code, and this helps to track down such things as-
- everyone in your past. Because everyone on earth can be traced back to two women who lived about 600,000 ago, and everyone can be shown their approximate location in the human chain since those two women. So they show you your heritage on both the mother and fathers side, and they can also show you your position in the human chain as compared to everyone else who's had a dna test.
- items of the present and future. Every week or two science discovers another meaning behind another part of the dna chain. It could be related to mental health, physical health, 'tendencies', or any possible attribute of a person and what makes them an individual. So as science learns new meanings, the website constantly updates your own personal online profile, so that you can see how that new finding relates to you. For now it's around 100 items, but as more people get dna tests and science advances, we will know the 3billion+ meanings and each will be extremely specific to you. Part of the reason life continues to be fascinating- we are finding the actual programming of the human individual.
They also have a 'spitoon' blog on the site where they regularly keep people updated on updates and changes which happen weekly, so it is ever-expanding for years to come once you do the dna test. Some day everyone will know these tests as the greatest blessing to humanity and also equally as the greatest curse, as everything we do or can get or pay for will be based on what our 'programming' tells everyone.
If I have a 4 in 5 chance of getting an exact disease, or less I am less reliable when driving at night, or going blind within a certain timeframe, or losing my memory, then in the future I may be paying more for insurances against someone whos dna shows they have less "bugs" in their programming. There's nothing anyone can do about dna testing becoming a requirement of everyone in 'modern' countries by I'll guess, 2020. So why not just get it done now yourself and watch the information unfurl over these years and how it relates to your own 'software code', and compare it against friends and relatives, you will probably find a suprise or two.
There are other dna sites that do testing, but since this one is a collaborative effort by the wife of the google founder and some other inspired women, I chose them.
alcat.com for allergy testing
Most everything we eat or intake affects us in a specific way, a positive, negative or neutral way. This site offers something of a modern 'allergy' test, but they test blood at a cellular level, and can give measurements of how your body will react to foods, natural molds, medicines, artificial foods, manmade items, and synthetics. They can test for hundreds of items and give you back a list and a ranking of how good or badly something would affect your weight, emotions, and overall physical/mental state. Their world headquarters is in delray beach florida so living near there can save someone hundreds off a test by just driving there, saving some testing fees. There is a forum of people who have had it done AT THIS LINK if you want to read up on it more.
google flu trends for tracking spreads
This is a new service by google so you can see, state by state, how different types of sicknesses are moving across the country. As time goes by it will add more types of infectious items so you can plan ahead when travelling.
global disease outbreak map for seeing trends
This interactive map lets you see the latest spread of flus and diseases.
flutracker to visualize the swine flu spread
This google-sponsored site has interactive maps to see exactly how its spreading daily, lots of maps and stats.
Finance & Privacy Tools
annualcreditreport.com for checking credit
This is the real 'official' free website to check your credit report through all 3 credit companies instantly online. Check yourself once a year, as everyone finds suprises on their credit reports, aka errors that you can fix with a phonecall or letter. It does not cost a thing, and don't be fooled by the 100s of fake websites, emails, and commercials that pretend to be this site. One problem with our world us, the free things which are the best, they have no way of paying for commercials and ads, it is only word of mouth and small mentions as this.
catalogchoice.org for getting off mailing lists
One of many places to stop getting the junkmail catalogs, notices, etc. in your 'real world' mailbox. Just give them your mailing info and they'll help to stop a portion of it for free. Remember the post office fights FOR the rights of junkmailers, the reason- because of email (which has reduced the usps use by americans) if there wasn't junkmail now running through the usps service, the USPS would go bankrupt from lack of use (that's why stamps are going up so often now).
optoutprescreen.com for getting off mailing lists
The 3 credit companies are offering your info to junkmailers daily, as are many dozens of others companies you do business with online and in the real world, the only way to stop this is to call EVERYONE you do business with and ask for their mailings/privacy department and inform them you do not want to be mailed ads, services and offers, and for them as well not to sell or give your information to other people.
This website tells the credit bureasus to make your info private so you get less junkmail and phonecalls, it will reduce your junk by a bit, but its only part of the battle (I feel like I throw away a trees worth of junkmail a month still).
donotcall.gov for getting off junk call lists
This is the original real website the govt has setup so that you can add yourself to the national 'do not call me' list, so if you are still getting junk calls after signing up here, you get their info and then contact the 'do not call' representatives, because they actually are prosecuting and fining these companies. now if only there was a 'do not email' list...
top 10 opt-outs for getting off junkmail
The 'world privacy forum' has put up a list explaining the top ten ways you can get off junk mail lists, so you can go through these one at a time to save hours of your annual time by not getting junkmail.
amex for stopping LOTS of junkmail
If you have an amex card, not only do they send you lots of junk a month, they also share your info to 100s of other companies who send a few dozen more per season. From this site you can opt-out from everything, jsut go below and choose NO to all.
Internet Tools
changedetection.com to know when a webpage changes
Just enter in your email and a webpage link, and they will email you when that webpage changes in any way.
canyouseeme.org to check your systems security
Find out your IP and see if certain ports on your system are open or closed. If you do not know about ips and ports, may god save you in future times.
mail2web.com to check your email from anywhere
Check your email from a webpage no matter who you have an account with, from this site, handy if youre on the road.
another port scanner to check your security on ports
Need to scan a port, even on a system other than the one you are using now? This allows you to do that. Don't have ports open unless there's a program that needs it open on your system.
Because you should always double-check your security. go to SERVICES on their top menu and then SHIELDSUP, and then choose what ports to scan.
whois to give you details of a website or ip
This site will tell you where a system is located and some others details about it, and you can trace your route to them as well.
port descriptions to know what programs use what ports
You know every program uses a certain port(s) from your system, through your router/firewall and then out into the wild. here is a list of what programs use what default ports, so that if you see someone trying to get into/out-of your private network, you can see what they are trying to reach. lists 1000s of ports and programs.
measurementlab.net for a few good internet tests
This great google-sponsored site will test your network settings and connections to the internet with a few different tools, so that you can see if there are any cable, hardware, or software issues that could be slowing you down, or if your ISP is intentionally slowing you down or blocking certain internet programs.
check xxx history to see if someones viewed it online
This site will try to check your cookies to see if anyones been on some of the more popular porn sites lately.
Flash does not really have a settings window that you can go to in your computer, in fact who would really know you have to go here in order to change your security settings and other settings for your flash player...I use this to increase the amount of space a website can store on my computer, so that some flash pages can be saved on my system and I don't have to then have them reload every time I visit that website again.
opendns.com to use free&open DNS instead of your ISPs
Whoever your internet provider is, odds are you are using their dns servers (meaning their computers) to route all of your internet activity. A better choice would be to use this companies dns servers, not only are they more reliable and use less tactics to track/reroute your actions, but they also allow you to control and block certain websites or actions, and they have no motivation to pull sneaky things like your internet provider. Also you can see where you've been and what you've been doing because it tracks your online activities (your internet provider does that on you, so why not see your own activities). Highly recommended for many reasons, nothing installed on your system, and no fees.
linkscanner to check if a webpage has infections before you visit it
Want to see if a website possibly has a infection ready to jump into your system? this site will check to see if the website you want to visit has anything bad on it, it cant be 100% sure as things change hourly, but its worth checking if you question a link.
Find out how fast you're downloading and uploading speeds are to the internet. Use 'dual speed' on the testmy site to get both speeds at once, speed can vary based on time of day and so many other things though, some internet provider make it fast for the first second or two, then throttle you down to a crawl. Those creeps.
comcast users go here to opt-out of their ads
Here you can tell comcast to not direct you to advertisements online when youre trying to reach a site that is temporarily down or incorrectly typed, so that comcast follows the typical internet standards instead of forcing ads.
visualroute.net to see all the systems your internet browsing passes thru
Choose 'my computer' and type in a website address, and this will show you all the computers between your computer and the website itself, as well as the speed from system-to-system. Also shows a map and further details to see exactly where on earth your information travelled. Remember every website, every email, every im; they all go through many computers on their journey to the final destination of your request, and most often information travels though different ones each time.
Not everyone has a government that lets them share information, since information will always be equal to power, so here are a list of proxys up now, so that those in govt-restricted countries can use these proxys to access the internet more anonymously and more open'ly'.
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