http://www.friedbeef.com Solving Everyday Problems With Simple Technology - Freeware, Productivity, Useful Tips & More Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:28:29 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   Telling me that 100m = 328 feet doesn’t really mean much to me.  Telling me that 100m = 2 Olympic-sized swimming pools does. SensibleUnits.com is a free unit conversion service which helps you understand how long, large, or heavy something is by equating it ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-compare-measurement-units-with-physical-objects/ Printers are getting cheaper all the time - but printer ink is still priced at a hefty premium.  Here are 3 great tips to save ink, save paper, and save the world all at the same time.  1. How to optimize a web page for printing   Ever print a ... http://www.friedbeef.com/3-eco-friendly-ways-to-save-printer-ink/ We all know how important a good password is, but how do you test how good it REALLY is? Sure, many websites now come with password indicators which says 'Weak' or 'Strong, but what exactly does that mean? Well now you can get an answer :) Hackosis has setup a calculator which ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-test-the-strength-of-your-password/ An easy way to store away multiple presentation files from a conference or event is simply to merge them all into one single Powerpoint file.  That way you: Reduce clutter in your folders Don't have to wonder which was the one-of-20-presentations you were looking for No, you ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-join-powerpoint-files-instantly/ Need to populate a database with some dummy figures?  Here's perhaps the fastest way you'll be able to do this. GenerateData.com is a free service which quickly generate large volumes of custom data in a variety of formats (eg. Excel, CSV, SQL, HTML).  What I like ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-generate-dummy-data-really-fast/ Universal Document Converter (UDC) is a piece of software that will allow you to convert documents of any type can be exported into Adobe PDF or graphical files in 7 popular formats: TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PCX, DCX, GIF or BMP.  Once installed, UDC will be listed alongside ... http://www.friedbeef.com/universal-document-converter-a-review/   Microsoft's Windows Clipboard (The virtual space which stores your 'cut/copy' so you can 'paste' it), is perhaps one of the most underdeveloped features of Windows.  Its ability to only store ONE item at a time has been the bane of many a Windows user who ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-supercharge-your-clipboard/ Just last month we talked about 'Giving Your Right Mouse Button Super Powers' where you were able to add a ton of features to your right click.   Some of you loved it, but some of you thought the extra options were just too overwhelming!  For ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-streamline-your-right-click-context-menu/ Just how do you get ahead these days?   Here are 5 high tech tools to supplement traditional job-hunting site on the web like Monster or Jobstreet.  Hopefully they'll give you that little extra edge you need to move ahead in your career.  Of course, nothing beats the ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-get-ahead-top-5-essential-web-20-career-resources/   If you've ever done a thorough cleanup of your Outlook inbox, you'll find that permanently deleting files or emptying your recycle bin gets rid of the file - but doesn't really do much in terms of saving space.  To reclaim your hard disk, what you ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-get-more-space-on-your-hard-disk-by-cleaning-out-outlook-properly/   Here's a simple tip which will save you oodles of time!  Suppose you're working on a long and complex MS-Word document which can't be finished in a single sitting.  When you get open up the document later - you don't have to scroll through multiple pages ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-resume-right-where-you-left-off-in-ms-word/ We've previously discussed ways to convert Text to PDF, but what if you wanted to do it the other way around?  Typically, copying and pasting directly from a PDF file will result in messy globs of unformatted text, making it barely feasible large sections of ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-convert-pdf-to-text/ Want to make the most of your fonts?  Here's how... 1. How to identify any font Seen font which you'd like to use but don't know what it is?  Answer a series of questions from Identifont and it will help you find out ... http://www.friedbeef.com/7-best-tools-for-working-with-fonts/ What's simplest way to stop an Excel sheet or workbook from being modified?  Just protect it with a password.  While this is great for stopping others from accidentally modifying certain sections of your Excel file, it certainly isn't the safest way to lock up private data for the ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-remove-passwords-from-protected-excel-sheets/ Want to make simple edits to PDF files and don't want to go through the hassle of actually installing software?   PDF Hammer is a website that allows you to edit your PDF files online for free. You don't need to install any additional software, you can edit ... http://www.friedbeef.com/how-to-edit-pdf-files-directly-from-the-web/