Quick Tips Manage Your Internet Explorer 8 Add-ons

Manage Your Internet Explorer 8 Add-ons

If you've noticed that Internet Explorer 8 isn't loading as fast as you'd like, then here's a quick tip that may help you gain some speed back. As it turns out, add-ons, like toolbars and browser extensions can slow not only the load time, but the overall performance of IE 8. The solution? Turn some of them off.

Here's how:

Open Internet Explorer 8, and click Tool> Manage Add-ons. This Window will open up:



Now, under Add-on types, make sure Toolbars and Extensions is selected and scroll down the list of currently installed add-ons. You can even see how long it takes some extensions to load, using the info bar at the top.



Simply pick a toolbar or extension that you suspect is detracting from your speed and click the Disable button at the bottom.



If you've got more than one you want to disable, you can also select multiple items by holding the Ctrl key while you click. Simply select all you want disabled and hit Disable all.

Now restart IE 8 and see if you're speedier!

Quick Tips Multi-Line Spell Check in Firefox

Multi-Line Spell Check in Firefox

Many of you already know of a neat add-on for Mozilla Firefox called Spellbound, that makes it so Firefox can spell check in multi-line text boxes, but what I didn't know is that you can achieve this same functionality sans add-on!

It's true, and here's how you do it:

First, open up Firefox and type about:config in the address bar and hit Enter. You'll get a warning screen that looks like this:



Click "I'll be careful, I promise!"

From the list of preferences that appears, scroll down and find layout.spellcheckdefault and double-click on it.



Change the value to 2 and click OK.



Now restart Firefox and enjoy the functionality of an add-on without actually adding anything! If you ever want to go back to the default setting, just follow these steps and change the value to back to its default setting: 1.

Awesome!

Quick Tips Zoom with the Scroll Wheel

Zoom with the Scroll Wheel

Are you tired of trying to read that fine print on your computer screen? I know I am. At least I used to be.

In the past, if you wanted to adjust the view (zoom in or out) in a document or a web browser, you would have to navigate through several menus and submenus. Today, Microsoft and OpenOffice have simplified this process with sliders found in the lower right corner of documents, but if you're looking for an even simpler way, I can help you out.

We previously published an article about using the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in Power Point, but this trick can also be used in other Microsoft Office applications and OpenOffice documents. Furthermore, it works on most browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome. It probably also works in lots of other places I haven't tried.

In Vista and Windows 7, you can zoom by holding the Ctrl key and rolling the scroll wheel on your mouse.

When the Ctrl key is held and the scroll wheel is rolled forward (away from you), the view, including text and images is increased. With the Ctrl key pressed, roll the wheel backward (towards you) and the view size is decreased.

In the first image below, using the web browser, Chrome, the scroll wheel was rolled backward (zoom out), in the second image, the wheel was rolled forward (zoom in).





Whether you're reading this in your email (it also works in many email clients), in a document, or on the web, give it a try.