Tech Tips for Catholics

For about the past week, I thought StBlogs.com was down, and sometimes YouTube, because all other websites worked just fine. But then I was playing around with my friend’s new Kindle 3G, visited our site, and it loaded just fine. So I tried it on my Linux laptop and it worked fine. It had to be something wrong with my home computer. But what?!

• I thought that it might have something to do with my Firewall, but after disabling it, I found that not to be the case.
• Then I thought that it might have something to do with my Avast! Anti-virus, but after uninstalling it, I knew that this was not causing the problem.
• After doing some research, I found that most forums and other help sites suggested that I try disabling IPv6 in Firefox.

None of these solved the problem, until…

• I simply tried shutting down the computer and unplugging the power to the modem. I waited a couple of minutes before turning the computer back on and then plugged back in the modem.

Success!

Long-story-short, I’m glad to be back up and running and I plan to post a couple more How-To’s later this week.  God Bless.

This tutorial will help you replace that “blank page” that comes up when you open a new tab in Mozilla Firefox.  There are a lot of add-ons that deal with the tab feature, including: Setting the “new tab page” to your homepage, Custom tab settings, or Removing the “new tab” button all together.  But, this tutorial is for the New Tab Page add-on.

As you see in the below screenshot, the page that opens by default (in Mozilla Firefox) is a blank page.

Step 1: Go get the New Tab Page (add-on).  Click on the “Add to Firefox” button and then restart Firefox.

Step 2: Once Firefox restarts, open a new tab (Ctrl+T).  You will see the custom page, but none of the “Favorite Sites” are filled in.  Click the “New Tab Settings” button at the bottom right of the page.

Step 3: On the settings’ page, click on the “Add Site” button and fill in the name and url of your top favorite site.  Click the “Add Site button again to add additional links to the list.

Step 4: When you are done, click on the “Save Settings” button.

Here is a screenshot of what your new tab’s page should look like when done.

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If you are like me, then your mind already bypasses the first two or three Google search results, because they are “sponsored links”.  Personally, the companies in the sponsored links section tend to be trying to sell me something that I don’t need or want.  That is where the CustomizeGoogle extension for Mozilla Firefox comes in.  This is an add-on with all kinds of features and tweaks for Google, but this tutorial is just focusing on how to remove sponsored links from the search results page.

Step 1: Open Mozilla Firefox.  Go up to Tools > Add-ons in the menu bar.

Step 2: When the Add-ons dialog box opens make sure you are on “Get Add-ons” tab and click on the “Browse All Add-ons” link.  This will take you to Mozilla’s Add-on directory.

Step 3: Search for “CustomizeGoogle” or you could have just clicked the link directly in the first paragraph and bipassed the first three steps of this tutorial ; )

Step 4: Click on the “Add to Firefox” button and follow the instructions.

Step 5: After you have shut-down & restarted Firefox go into the CustomizeGoogle Options.  You can do this a couple different ways.  The first is to go up to Tools > CustomizeGoogle Options.  The second way of getting to it is by finding CustomizeGoogle under the “Extensions” tab of the Add-on dialog box (Tools > Add-ons) and clicking on the “Options” button.

Step 6: Once in the CustomizeGoogle Options, check the “Remove ads” in the “Web” tab.  Browse the many other options and click “OK” when they are to your liking.

I know businesses pay a lot of money to advertise themselves in Google, but CustomizeGoogle also can save them some money.  How you ask?  Well, let’s say you like the sponsored links and choose not to block them.  By selecting the “Remove click tracking” under the “Web” tab, the click tracking in Google adds are also removed.  This means that the advertiser doesn’t have to pay for your clicking on their link, because Google will have no knowledge that you clicked the link.

Below are some related links about CustomizeGoogle:

• Important Changes in the CustomizeGoogle Firefox Extension
• Improve your Google Experience with CustomizeGoogle (Video)

I have to admit, that I’m not really interested in a Google web browser.  I tried Apple’s Safari and thought it was okay, but nothing special.  Here is your chance to persuade me to switch from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome, or post any comments on why I should not switch to Chrome.

Dare I go ogle over Chrome?  Like that play on words ; )

Ever get one of those disastrously long URL’s to copy and paste into your browser? Something like this:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/SaveMoneyDyn.aspx?cp-documentid=9298194&GT1=33007

There’s a really easy simple way to give your friends small short URL’s so that they don’t have to type them in, or worry about getting them cut off in an email or twitter message.

The TinyURL service lets you put in the URL above and get this as an output:

http://tinyurl.com/6lmuzl

TinyURL has been around for a long time and is a reliable service. If you use Firefox, you can download the plugin which lets you right-click a URL and get the tiny version in your clipboard. Very useful for twitter messages.

Like Chris, I have not had a lot of time to play around with Mozilla Firefox 3, but here are just some of the new features:

• Improved Performance
  View Web pages faster, using less of your computer’s memory.
• Instant Web Site ID
  Avoid online scams, unsafe transactions and forgeries with simple site identity.
• One-Click Bookmarking
  Bookmark, search and organize Web sites quickly and easily.
• Password Manager
  Remember site passwords without ever seeing a pop-up.
• Full Zoom
  See any part of a Web page, up close and readable, in seconds.
• Smart Location Bar (Far from it! This is the most annoying feature eva!) Find the sites you love in seconds—enter a term for instant matches that make sense.
• Platform-Native Look & Feel
  Browse with a Firefox that’s integrated into your computer’s operating system.

I’m sure there will be some of these features that I will be disabling.  I am one who doesn’t like change, unless it is something really useful.  I have already seen one thing that I find annoying about Firefox 3 and I’m sure there will be plenty more, but I’ll save them for another post.  In the mean time, Check out Mozilla’s Tips & Tricks page here.

Below are some other related Tips for Mozilla Firefox 3 newbies:

• How to disable the “Smart Location Bar” in Firefox 3
• Firefox 3 Released!
  

This is just a short, no-frills, no hidden message post to declare that Firefox version 3 has officially been released!

I haven’t had much time to play with it as of yet but, it is supposed to be much faster for those who love lots of tabs and multitasking.  They also overhauled the graphical interface a bit, added a favorites star right into the address bar and also made it so if it seems like you are typing one of your favorites, it will display the option to click on it below the address bar as well.

These are the things I have discovered in 2-3 minutes playing with it.  That, and 1 negative, some of your extensions may not work.  This is simply because the people who make the extensions need to re-make them for firefox 3.

Check it out at: http://www.firefox.com

God Bless,

Chris

For the past few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with various blog plugins, including the Flock blog editor and ScribeFire. I have to say that after a week of using ScribeFire, I’m really enjoying it. I’m still learning to use it to it’s full capacity to tweak images and categorize my posts, but it’s been really great for blogging on the fly. Much more convenient than logging into Typepad and Blogger, and potentially losing my train of thought. I have yet to figure out how to post an entry to two blogs at the same time, and ScribeFire doesn’t appear to recognize all of my blogger categories, but for the most part I’m lovin’ it!

What’s your favorite blog editor or blogging plugin?

This post is courtesy of the Productivity @ Home Blog.

A while back I wanted to randomize my homepage so that when I open my web-browser (I personally like Mozilla Firefox) a different website appears. The following is what I came up with.

Step 1: Open a new page in your preferred html editor (I just used notepad or WordPad).

Step 2: Copy and Paste the following code, between JavaScript tags, into your newly blank page.

var aMyLink = new Array();
var nIndex;
aMyLink.push('http://www.yourfavoritesite1.com');
aMyLink.push('http://www.yourfavoritesite2.com');
aMyLink.push('http://www.yourfavoritesite3.com');
nIndex = 0 + Math.floor(Math.random()*aMyLink.length);
window.location=aMyLink[nIndex];

Step 3: Fill in the websites you want to load (the order doesn’t matter, because they will load randomly). You may add more than just three pages by adding more lines.

Step 4: Once you have added your preferred homepages, save the file as: startup_page.htm (or whatever other name you may like better).

Step 5: Open your web-browser. Go into the Options menu and find where you can set the homepage (in Mozilla Firefox this is under “Startup” in the Main Options tab). Now this is where it can get a little tricky. You need to know the file location where you have saved the startup_page.htm file (for instance mine is in the “My Documents” folder. So the file location is: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\startup_page.htm). The easiest way to find the directory is to right-click on the file, go to “Properties”, and copy the file location. Now just paste it into the Homepage Options. Click OK.

When you open your browser the next time or go to your homepage, you should get one of your random pages. If you do not, then something is wrong with your scripting and you’ll need to go back into your editor and make sure everything looks correct.

Tip: If you would like to use my random hompages you can Copy the Link Location by right-clicking Here and going to “Copy Link Location”. Then paste that into the Homepage Options. Or you can right-click and “Save Link As” to your computer and then either modify it or use it as is.

If you have any problems or it isn’t working properly, feel free to post a comment or contact us.

This tip is for the MySpace People. MySpace is a great way to hear new music and find friends thru other friends (social networking). But do you wish that you could limit the number of ads? In particular the ads of the half naked women, which could lead to temptation? (Matthew 5:29-30)

Overview:

• Mozilla Firefox web browser

• AdBlock Plus (add-on)

How to block annoying ads:
Start by clicking the AdBlock Plus link above (assuming you already have Mozilla Firefox installed on your computer). AdBlock is a great add-on which blocks most ads on not only myspace, but on other sites as well. This works well, because you subscribe to a list (free) which is constantly updating itself.

Okay, so you have clicked on the link above and should see a logo that looks like a stop sign with the letters “ABP” inside of it (if you do not see anything about AdBlock Plus then just do a search for it). Click the “Add to Firefox” button and follow the instructions. You should come to a page where it asks you to subscribe to one of the databases; just choose the United States one and you should be good.

Now once you have installed the add-on you should see that stop sign logo at the top right of your browser. Right click on it and scroll down to “Options”. My personal preferences are the following: Check “Show in status bar”, Uncheck “Show in toolbar”, Uncheck “Show tabs on Flash and Java”, and Check “Collapse blocked elements”. Again these are my personal preferences, but you can set your own preferences as you like.

Simple as that!

Now I want to let those who don’t already know that there are alternatives to MySpace! I’m sure most, if not all of you, have heard of Facebook. Facebook is a little different from MySpace in several ways. The security is way, way better on Facebook, but with security comes limitations. MyChurch.org is very similar to MySpace, but is more secure at the same time! I know what you are thinking, “But my friends aren’t on MyChurch.org or even perhaps Facebook.” One option would be to invite them.

What does your social networking profile say about you?
I’ve noticed that some news stations are using these social network sites in their reporting on certain individuals in the news. I have also heard of employers/colleges doing research on current or potential employees/students. So what does your profile say about you? The key is to live out our Christian faith, not just on Sundays, but always. You may never know how God may use you online or offline and who’s life may be changed in Christ through you.

“Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Let us know if you found this tutorial helpful. If you have any questions about this tutorial feel free to contact us. God Bless : )