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December 2, 2011
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By Mark O'Neill
 Everyone wants to feel more productive on the computer and there are certainly plenty of ways to achieve that. Whether it’s using a program launcher, keyboard shortcuts or mouse gestures, there’s something for everyone to shave off that extra mouseclick or tap of the keyboard which in turn leads to time saved every day.
As an online worker, I am always looking for something that will enable me to complete my tasks faster and more efficiently, and I’m sure you are too.
We here at MakeUseOf have been committed from day one to teaching you how to do things faster, easier, and more efficiently. Now we have produced 24 PDF cheatsheets for you to download absolutely free of charge which will list all the shortcuts available for different popular programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Skype (including the secret emoticons), Firefox, Chrome, Gmail and many more.
The other programs for which cheatsheets are available are :
- iPhone
- Gmail
- Twitter
- Photoshop CS5
- iTunes (for both Windows and Mac)
- Windows
- Windows CMD
- Mac OSX
- Linux
- GIMP
- Chat smileys
- Facebook
- VLC Player
- Google Reader
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- Internet Explorer
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox (for both Windows and Mac)
- Google search
If you use any of these programs, then download our cheatsheets today. And be sure to bookmark and continually check the page in the future for new additions.
If we have missed your favourite program so far, let us know and we will see if there are enough shortcuts to be able to produce a cheatsheet for it.
A handy resource for shortcuts and tips. Download the PDF for the programs you use - might as well as they are Free!
For those of us using Torrents the uTorrent program is a very good choice. The article linked shows you how to add features to the free version of the program to save you paying for the new premium version. The file conversion and remote downloading can be tricky but the automatic AV scanning is pretty easy to set-up
As one form of back-up I highly recommend Dropbox. I use it all the time - you forget it is there and yet - files backed up constantly. Plus it has a version system in case you save over a file or accidentally delete you can just re-download. Be sure to have a local back-up too of course
Always have your stuff when you need it with Dropbox. A 2GB account is free but if you sign up using this link both you and I will get an extra 250mb of storage for free!
Microsoft’s Office 2010 Starter is a cut down version of Office that still comes with plenty of functionality. Get the free download here.
If you’re looking for a free Office-compatible suite then there’s plenty of choice around, with tools like and OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice.org offering a host of powerful features.
Another option is simply to install Microsoft’s Office 2010 Starter edition, though. It’s cut down, but still has more than enough functionality for many purposes, and can be used without a product key.
The package only includes Word and Excel, and if you’re familiar with the regular editions then running either of these will quickly reveal some limitations.
There are less tabs on the ribbon, for instance (References, Review and View are all missing from Word). The other tabs have fewer options: click Insert in Word and there are no SmartArt, Bookmark, Cross Reference, Quick Parts or Equations buttons. And as you use the programs so you’ll encounter other restrictions: no table of contents support in Word, for instance, and no PivotTables or password protection in Excel.
The programs also display ads next to your documents. These are small and unobtrusive, no web-like animations to distract you, but they still take up valuable screen real estate which now isn’t available to your documents.
By way of compensation, though, the Office Starter “Tools” menu includes Microsoft’s “Office Starter To-Go Device Manager”, which allows you to create a portable version of the suite which you can save on a USB flash drive and use on any convenient Vista or Windows 7 PC.
And while it is a little cut down, which may cause problems if you have to import complex documents created by others, there’s still plenty of functionality here for basic letter and report writing, organising your finances in Excel Starter, and more. So if your requirements aren’t too strenuous then give Office 2010 Starter a look: it could provide enough to satisfy all your productivity software needs.
If you are looking to do some Xmas shopping here is a chance to buy some presents and get them delivered Australia wide for free. Sometimes the postage can cost more than the present so if you have family scattered around then give it a look. Free post doesn't apply to their big items but it does reduce the cost I think.
Offer found via Ozbargain.com.au site - highly recommended for all you bargain hunters
via theaustralian.com.au - click link to register A free offer from the Australian newspaper. Get a 3 month 'digital pass' to read the full newspaper on your computer, tablet/iPad or mobile. Value $38 - cost free for 3 months. Sign up didn't require you to give a credit card so you can't get stung with a renewal subscription once the 3 months is up.
Give it a go - you can't go wrong with free!
FreeFixer is a software program that scans your computer for potentially unwanted software, drivers, start-up items and the like. This is a powerful program but it is a 'blunt tool' by which I mean that many of the items it finds will be legit and you wouldn't want to delete/remove them. Some items are shown in green which the program is verifying are ok. However when I ran my scan most items were in white (meaning no recommendation) and were legit.
As the program is free I highly recommend you download and run it. However before you use it to delete any items from your computer make sure you are aware exactly what the program/service/driver is and what it does. A quick Google search of the name and location should help
For those more cautious users you may like to use other tools to delete the entries. Ccleaner (www.piriform.com/ccleaner) is a good tool for showing programs that start-up with your computer & Revo Uninstaller (www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html) is an excellent tool for completely uninstalling programs and removing all the bits they leave behind
FreeFixer
FreeFixer is a general purpose removal tool which will help you to delete potentially unwanted software, such as adware, spyware, trojans, viruses and worms. FreeFixer works by scanning a large number of locations where unwanted software has a known record of appearing or leaving traces. The scan locations include the programs that run on your computer, the programs that starts when you reboot your computer, your browser's plug-ins, your home page setting, etc.
FreeFixer does not know what is unwanted, so it presents the scan result and it's up to you decide if some file should be removed and if some settings should restored to their default value. Please be careful! If you delete a legitimate file you may damage your computer. To assist you when determining if anything should be removed you can find more information at FreeFixer's web site for each item in the scan result. You can for example see what other users chose to do in the same situation. You can also save log file of your scan result and consult the volunteers in one of the FreeFixer helper forums.
For more detailed information about FreeFixer, please see the User's Manual.
Download
Download FreeFixer here. FreeFixer is freeware and Windows 2000/XP/2003/20008/Vista/7/8 compatible. FreeFixer runs on both 32- and 64-bit Windows.
Screenshots
 FreeFixer startup screenshot.
 Screenshot showing some of FreeFixer's scan result. Files listed with green background are on FreeFixer's list of trusted files. The files with white/gray background are unknown to FreeFixer, so it cannot say anything about them. (In this case, they are all legitimate files).
We have a question from Gayle today:
The question is: i am looking for a watermark software for my photos that we put on the internet of tournaments etc and was wondering if you or someone that you may know, know of one, hopefully a good free one, and if not free a good cheap one that we could use.
Thanks heaps
Gayle
Hi Gayle
Sure no problem
First question - what photo program do you use now?
It's possible, even likely, you can achieve what you want with the program you have
Let me know wht you use and I can advise
Otherwise is you are looking at a new free program the 2 I use and recommend - and both are totally FREE - are:
Irfanview
http://iamyuanwu.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/guide-batch-watermarking-photos-in-irfanview-420/
Picasa
http://picasatutorials.com/2008/11/picasa-tip-add-a-watermark-to-your-photos/ The links I have given are to tutorials of how to add a watermark using either program
I would think editing and watermarking on your PC would be best but if you would like to try a standalone function just to watermark try reading this article which allows you to upload your pics to the internet, then resize and watermark, then re-download your pics
http://lifehacker.com/5529956/picghost-bulk-resizes-and-watermarks-your-images All options are free - you definitely shouldn't need to pay Have a look through and see how you go and come back if you have any questions
Once again here is a list of websites and articles you might find interesting Don't forget monthly Mullies meeting is on again tomorrow Thursday 27/7/11 - 7pm at Ulladulla CRC
Bring your questions, problems or ideas to share - See you there Best Websites Here is a list of the 107 best websites as voted by makeuseof.com Gojee
Gojee is like a recipe search engine - Google for recipes. You tell it what you like, what you dislike and what ingredients you have and it comes back with recipes for you
Has fantastic pics of the dishes so go forth and release your MasterChef! How To Find & Fix Bad Pixels On Your LCD Screen If your LCD computer screen (or tv) has a problem you may be able to fix it DIY
Caution - incorrect repair could make the situation worse! Test Your Computer For Security Misconfigurations With Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer Test and fix security issues on your PC using this free tool from MS Senior's Guide to Computers - A Beginner's Tutorial for the Microsoft Windows PC, hardware, software, security, accessibility, internet, backup and email This website bills itself as a Senior's Guide to computers but really it is a pretty good site for any Beginners computer user Download Office 2010 Training Courses for Free Free training for using Office 2010 - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc
There are links to similar training for Offcie 2007 and 2003 versions as well OpenDNS > FamilyShield! Want to keep yourself and your family and friends safe whilst surfing the net.
Try using this free DNS shield Gmail's New Features: A First Look | PCWorld Preview all sorts of documents including the contents of Zip and Rar files
Change the way your inbox works
Once again Gizmo's Freeware brings us a fantastic list of (mostly) free resources for our computers
Check this list anytime you need a free security program - click the link/s below Which ones do you use and recommend? Comment below to let us know
Probably the Best Free Security List in the World
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Introduction
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 Motto: Si vis pacem, para bellum.
The products are almost exclusively free with some exceptions: products where there is no free alternative, good products that offer a lifelong license, and exceptional products. In some cases the links point to executables. In such cases replace [dot] with . and the link will work.
Please inform us for dead/false links, and give suggestions for new applications (or if something that is total rubbish has been included) with the form located at the end of this list. We react to every correction and suggestion, although we may not answer all of them explicitly. So, if your suggestion does not appear to the list immediately, it does not mean it has been omitted.
Alias: http://tinyurl.com/free-security http://bit.ly/DQNn0 http://goo.gl/nw5c
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