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So today is April Fools’ Day, and it’s time to pull off some err, spectacular but otherwise harmless (almost always, at least?) pranks on your coworkers or friends and family. Sure, we all know about the more conventional April Fools’ Day pranks— tarantulas in phony presents, fake phone calls about dead relatives, among others. However, these "common" April Fools’ Day pranks often get dull and friends and family are more likely than not to be on the lookout for anything fishy going on— so what kind of prank can you pull that will catch your victim(s) unawares and scare the heck outta them? Simple! You hit them where they least expect—the computer.

Below I have come up with a list of what I think are the best pranks that you can quickly and easily pull on a victim’s computer without actually causing any actual damage (that is, to the computer ).

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How To, Wacko April Fools' Day, How To, Wacko

Ever sent an email to the wrong person, or sent an email a little too hastily? If you are using GMail, you might want to enable this new GMail Labs feature.

Simply click on the GMail Labs tab under Settings and scroll down until you see the Undo Send labs feature. Click the Enable radio button, and click Save Settings (at the top or bottom of the page).

You’re all done! Now when you send a message, you will have a few seconds to grab back that email before it is sent for good.

What do you think? How is this tip useful or not useful to you? Let us know in the comments!

How To, Tips and Tricks How To, Tips and Tricks

Have you ever checked your GMail email account at a library or other public location on a public computer and left without logging off? If so, anyone who uses that computer will be able to view, reply, and otherwise vandalize your email—not a good thing.

However, not all is lost. Here’s a few simple steps that you can follow to ensure that no one can access your GMail account if you forgot to log off:

1. Got to the GMail home screen.
2. Below all of your email messages (the footer), you should see some text that reads something like this:
3. Now click on the Details link.

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How To, POWER USER, Tips and Tricks How To, POWER USER, Tips and Tricks

Have you ever wanted to change the way a website looked, or add functionality to a webpage? If you have, then Greasemonkey is a Firefox Add-On that will do just that! In this post,  I will address some reason why you will want to use Greasemonkey, as well as an inside scoop on how to use it . First of all, I will start with a list reasons why you may desperately need Greasemonkey:

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Download of the Day, Firefox Add-on, Greasemonkey, Hacker Cracker, How To, POWER USER, Web, Website of the Day Download of the Day, Firefox Add-on, How To

Ever stared dully at Windows Notepad and wished it could do more? Well, Notepad++ can do more— a whole lot more! Notepad++ is an extremely useful and powerful text editor, and aids exceptionally well the development of webapps, programs, you name it. As a a small 2.18 MB download, Notepad++ packs a serious amount of usability and features into a streamlined and lightweight editor.

Here’s a brief overview of what it does along with some screenshots:

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Download of the Day, How To, POWER USER Download, Editor, Free Software, Freebies, Software

We all know that Mozilla Firefox is the best browser out there. Recently, Firefox grabbed 20% of the browser market— a staggering blow to Microsoft, which at the time had dominated over 85% of the browser market. But, surprisingly to some people, the browser itself is not what makes it great. It is the Add-ons, the power of extensibility and customization that really pulls it ahead of the rest of the market. So today, I have pulled together a list of the Top 10 Firefox extensions to boost your browsing experience. Enjoy!

(NOTE THAT ADDONS ARE NOT PLACED IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDR. EACH ADDON IS GREAT FOR WHAT IT DOES!)

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Cream of the Crop, Featured Articles, Firefox, Firefox Add-on, How To, POWER USER Add-Ons, Extensioins, Firefox, Plugins, Programs, Top 10

Boy do we all hate those ads! I had to live with them for a long while before realizing it was even possible to remove those pesky advertisements. And in this post, as well as in Part 2 (coming up, so stay tuned!), I will show you just how to do that— and better yet, I will show you how to it painlessly…. and for free.

Question #1: WHY SHOULD I BLOCK ADS?

ANSWER:

1. This is straight forward: they are soo annoying!
2. They bog down your browsing by downloading unnecessary banners and pictures.
3. They are a loophole for viruses and other malware to get into your system.
4. There is a high chance you will accidentally click on an advertisement link without knowing it…
5. Advertisements take up space and reduce the real estate for what you care for most: viewing your email, posting a picture, etc.

Question #2: Ok, you convinced me— now how do I block those Ads… for free?

ANSWER:

In Part 1, I am going to show you how to get rid of ads in Firefox. If you don’t already have a copy, you can download it HERE. In Part 2, I will show you how to block ads in Internet Explorer for free as well.

STEPS TO BLOCK ADS IN FIREFOX THE EASY WAY:

The first thing you need to do is download Adblock Plus (If you are feeling lazy, you can download it directly from HERE)…

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Download of the Day, Firefox, Firefox Add-on, How To Ad Blocking, How To, Web

OK, I admit: the only time I ever use Yahoo! at all is because a group activity I go to uses it for their group. If you want some real service, go try out GMail… it is undoubtedly the best email service around, with the most features and most active development.

THE BAD NEWS:

But enough of my ranting: the fact is I am forced to use Yahoo! on more than one occasion. And Firefox’s Password Manager doesn’t offer to remember your Yahoo! usernames and passwords! Very irksome. Worse yet, other sites like Windows Live Mail (also known as Hotmail), bank sites, and other places you desperately need Firefox to remember passwords doesn’t allow you to store passwords. That means you have to log in manually EVERY SINGLE TIME you want to access your bank account, Yahoo! Mail, etc.

THE GOOD NEWS:

Firefox has a feature that allows websites to disallow the “Save username and password” function. HOWEVER, you can force Firefox to remember passwords on any site by overriding a website’s request for Firefox to turn the feature off for its webpage. So how do you do it? Simple. Weblog My Digital Life points out a nifty solution: save a little JavaScript file in your bookmarks menu and click it whenever you want to override a website’s request to turn the password manager off momentarily. It’s that simple!

So all you have to do is just right-click this link and save it to your favorites, or (preferably), just drag it to your Bookmarks bar. That’s it! Now, whenever you get on your bank website, Yahoo! site, etc., just click the link you saved to your favorites before you click the “log-in” button. And you’re done! Firefox’s wonderful password manager will finally ask you if you want to save the login info. (Note: you only have to do this once, and Firefox will remember the passwords for you after that).

NOTE: I could not get this JavaScript function to work on Windows Live Mail sites. The password manager appeared, asking me if I wanted to remember the login-info, but after I signed out, Firefox DID NOT auto complete the password and username like it should. This does work, however, for Yahoo! perfectly.

Do you like this? Hate it? How did it help you? Tell us all about your experience in the comments!

Did You Know?, Firefox, How To, POWER USER Firefox, Hacker Cracker, How To, Password Management

Have you ever wanted to give someone feedback (they talk with their mouth full, eek!)? If so, then this is something you will want to read.

No signup web service AnonymousFeedback.net is the ideal site to give friends, relatives, whoever a totally anonymous email message that you specify. Unlike some other anonymous email services, AnonymousFeedback.net does NOT require a sign up, but the main feature that I really love about AnonymousFeedback.net is that A PERSON WHO RECEIVED YOUR “FEEDBACK” CAN REPLY AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO START A totally anonymous conversation! That kicks out the rest of the competition, as no other service that I could find allows the recipient of your anonymous email to actually reply back to you without disclosing your identity.

[AnonymousFeedback.net] Webapp service.

Below are some screenshots that I took that show AnonymousFeedback.net’s service. Click the “READ MORE” link to view the pictures and more detail description of this service!

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Anonymity, How To, POWER USER