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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting

Fix common Windows XP errors with portable XP Quick Fix Plus

Even though it's getting a little long in the tooth, plenty of PC users are still perfectly happy with Windows XP. Of course, that doesn't mean running Windows XP is always a trouble-free experience. It's got its fair share of issues. Thankfully, though, there are loads of great programs out there which make fixing little annoyances as simple as point-and-click.

Programs like XP Quick Fix Plus. The tiny, portable application launches a dashboard with one-click fixes for 40 common Windows XP problems. Quick Fix makes short work of irksome situations like a disabled task manager, missing Device Manager tab, and the infamous CD/DVD missing/not reading bug.

The program is essentially a collection of registry fixes, since that's where most of these problems originate. You might want to create a system restore point prior to running Quick Fix (or backing up your registry) just in case.

XP Quick Fix is a free, portable download and - not surprisingly - runs on Windows XP systems.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Productivity, Web services, Google, Social Software, Unix

Google issues updates and fixes to Google Reader

Google issues updates and fixes to Google Reader
Since I'm a card-carrying Google Reader convert, I've been loosely following the discussions in its Google Group. I'm constantly impressed with how active some of their engineers like Chris and Mihai are in the conversation, and just the other day they announced some small but much-requested updates and bug fixes to Reader, including:
  • First and foremost: An "Add to folder" menu after using the subscribe bookmarklet, the Firefox 2.0 subscribe button and the "Add to Google" button
  • The "Feed actions..." menu lets you rename the feed and change its folders
  • Some IE 7 display bugs have been fixed
  • Some IE 6 display bugs have been fixed
  • OPML import should be more tolerant of invalid characters
  • The filtering that can be done in the settings page now handles multiple terms (separate them with spaces)
  • The settings page should display faster when you have lots of subscriptions
Nothing major, though that 'Add to folder' button is a God-send (Google-send?) for adding new subscriptions and easily filing them away without breaking one's workflow.

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Web services, Microsoft, Browser Tips

CSS changes in IE7

ie7 cssMy biggest issue with Internet Explorer has always been the way that it renders CSS. Like come on! Why does it have to have so many issues? On a side note, thanks for having so many issues, because I would have never found Firefox. Anyway, I know Microsoft must have known about the issues, and I know that they knew about web standards, and of course the W3C CSS standards, but why not just put a fix into place? It took this recent release of Internet Explorer 7 to fix the whole CSS thing. There have been a number of great fixes from Microsoft in CSS, here is a list:
  • Peekaboo Bug
  • Internet Explorer and Expanding Box Problem
  • Quirky Percentages
  • Line-height bug
  • Border Chaos
  • Disappearing List-Background bug
  • Guillotine Bug
  • Unscrollable Content bug
  • Duplicate Characters Bug
  • IE and Italics
  • Doubled Float-Margin bug
  • Duplicate Indent bug
  • Three pixel text jog
  • Creeping Text bug
  • Missing First letter bug
  • Phantom box bug
For a complete list of CSS fixes, check out the MSDN blog. I'm impressed with their move to be more standards compliant.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

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