Happy Holidays from Lifehacker [Announcements]
The Lifehacker staff is off today, but we wish you and yours a merry happy whatever-you-celebrate. Back on tomorrow on a more regular posting schedule. Photo by Maggiejumps.
Help Clueless Relatives with Their Computer Problems [Holidays]
"Can you take a look at my computer?" is the dreaded question your clueless family member will ask when you're home for the holidays. Let's review some common computer complaints and the easiest solutions.
Photo by ~Sage~.
"It takes forever to start up."
If your loved one has installed any software on the computer—especially ISP-specific packages that automatically include bundled add-ons—there's no doubt unnecessary items have planted themselves into its startup. Use our complete guide to speeding up your startup to get rid of the stuff they don't need, and save CPU cycles and time on boot-up.
"I keep getting a pop-up saying I need to pay for my antivirus software."
If the default trialware antivirus software that came pre-installed is now bugging your clueless relative to pay for a subscription, uninstall it. Then, check out Lifehacker readers' five favorite—and FREE—AV packages ready for download and installation. To fast-track to a free replacement, grab the free edition of AVG.
"When I get on the internet things look weird" or "I keep getting these annoying popup ads."
Thoroughly check your relative's PC for evidence of malware: like a hijacked web browser that redirects google.com to an Asian porn site, unsolicited pop-up ads, or suspicious programs named things like "Keypress Watcher." If you suspect nefarious software has glommed onto Windows, get to scrubbing. Back in 2006, we ran down how to fix Mom and Dad's malware-laden computer and the advice still stands. Go straight for a copy of Ad-Aware Free and Spybot Search & Destroy to get started.
Then, download and install Firefox, set it as the default browser, and replace all the IE shortcuts labeled "Internet" with the fox.
"I can't find the digital photos I downloaded last month."
If Aunt Bertha never gets the photos and videos she took with her digicam onto her computer—or she does, but they get lost in the abyss of her hard drive—make sure she has the right software to preview and find 'em. Install Picasa 3 and scan your loved one's entire hard drive for digital photos to add them to the library.
Relatives who take digital home videos should also get a free copy of VLC installed to insure that they'll be able to play any clip they've got.
"I'm running out of hard drive space."
If Uncle Marty thinks he needs a new computer because he keeps getting a "low disk space" message, tell him all is not lost. Find out where all that gigabytage is going by visualizing his hard drive usage with free tools that will map what files are taking up what space. Then, declutter his hard drive of the bits and bytes he doesn't need (and didn't know he had).
"The internet stopped working."
The worst family tech support situation to get in is one that involves no (or a very slow) internet connection. Before you head over to Cousin Bob's house, load up a USB drive with the software you'll need to troubleshoot things without a connection (or without a broadband connection). TechRadar compiles a list of fix-it tools you can take with you to the family holiday get-together.
What family computer complaints are you anticipating this year? How will you handle it (or get out of it)? Let us know in the comments.
MediaPortal 1.0 Released, Brings Open-Source DVR to Windows [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Open-source application XBMC has received all of the attention in the media center arena lately, but it still can't replace your TiVo. MediaPortal can, and it just hit its official 1.0 release.
MediaPortal is a Windows-only media center application that was originally spawned as a fork of XBMC almost five years ago. Today the application has been entirely redesigned, and apart from offering much of the same functionality of other popular media center applications, MediaPortal works with hardware TV tuners to add DVR functionality to your PC. We showed you how to roll your own DVR and media center with MediaPortal a couple of years back, but now the full featured MediaPortal is better than ever.
As an added bonus, now that MediaPortal has hit that official 1.0 release, the MP developers are starting to ramp up for MediaPortal II, which aims to bring a better design and more stable architecture to MediaPortal. MediaPortal is a free download, requires .NET 2.0 or higher. I haven't used MediaPortal extensively since we last covered it, so if you've got more experience with it, let's hear your thoughts in the comments.
Hive Five Winner for Best Online Job Search Site: Indeed [Hive Five Followup]
The relatively new job search engine Indeed won top honors in this weekend's Hive Five Best Online Job Search Sites. Monster pulled in second billing, followed by the always-popular Craigslist. For more options for finding a great job online, check out our job sites call for contenders.
GlimmerBlocker Blocks Ads System-Wide [Featured Mac Download]
Mac OS X only: Free, open-source application GlimmerBlocker adds a new preference pane to your System Preferences that brings system-wide ad blocking to your Mac.
Just install GlimmerBlocker and let it do its work. You can add custom filters, track your ad-blocking history, and even allow your iPhone or iPod touch to use the GlimmerBlocker filters on your network. Firefox users already have the beloved Adblock Plus extension, but if you ever use a different browser or you'd prefer to manage your ad blocking through a robust preference pane, GlimmerBlocker does the trick. GlimmerBlocker is a free download, Mac OS X Leopard only.
Ask MetaFilter Roundup [Hive Mind]
- Where has my hard drive space gone?
- How can I cut content out of a web site and paste it cleanly into a Word document?
- Got any good Latke recipes or any helpful hints in general?
- Can you help us cook a holiday feast for just the three of us?
- Argh! I just found my dad on Facebook. Do I add him as a friend?
- How can I use Wi-Fi, a PS3, and external hard drives to stream media to the TV?
- Image recognition on the PC: where do I start?
ABC News Gives You Top Stories and Location-Specific Video [Featured IPhone Download]
iPhone or iPod touch only: When you can't wrest the TV remote from your father-in-law to watch the news this week, fire up the all-new ABC News iPhone app.
The latest entry into news-based iPhone apps, ABC News offers top stories, location-specific news alerts, and videos from shows like Good Morning America and 20/20. Take a look at a few screenshots.
ABC News is a free download for the iPhone and iPod touch only.
Don't get Fleeced Shopping for Sheets [Shopping]
If you've been linen shopping, you've probably noticed the arms race of sorts among sheet manufacturers to produce the highest thread count sheets. What exactly is thread count and how do you avoid getting fleeced?
Over at HowStuffWorks they've assembled a great guide on getting to the bottom of the thread count mystery. Thread count is determined by how many threads cross through a given square inch of the sheet. Basic cotton sheets are known as muslin, which is 150 count (75 threads across, 75 threads down) , from there things escalate. Some manufacturers even claim upwards of 1200 thread count.
So how are counts such as 800 or 1,200, which some manufacturers claim, even possible? How could you fit that many threads into a single inch? The short answer is you can't. "Some manufacturers use creative math to boost thread count," explains Consumer Reports
The HowStuffWorks guide goes on to detail the shifty practices that some sheet manufacturers engage in and what to look for in a quality product. As an interesting side note, many people who have purchased high thread count return to lower count muslin sheets after finding that the tightly woven higher thread count sheets don't breathe very well and can lead to night sweats. Photo by Mark Hillary.
Lifehacker's Most-Discussed Posts of 2008 [Best Of 2008]
It's not our posts but reader comments that make Lifehacker the place to discuss new software and technology. Let's take a look back at the posts that got the most comments in 2008.
Ask the Readers: What Free Software are You Most Grateful For? (914 comments)
Just prior to Thanksgiving, readers show an outpouring of love for their favorite free software. On Thanksgiving, we tallied up the items mentioned in this thread into a mega-list of 46 pieces of free software we're most thankful for.
Hive Five Call for Contenders: Best File Compression Tools? (841 comments)
LH readers show their passion for ZIP files in their votes for the best file compression tools; the top five vote-getters battled it out here and the free 7-Zip took home the crown.
Ask the Readers: What's the Best Keyboard You've Ever Used? (782 comments)
We asked what your favorite model of keyboard is, and you told us: then we tallied up the votes and reported back in our follow-up post, the best keyboard you've ever typed on.
Hive Five Call for Contenders: Best Desktop Media Player? (713 comments)
The tribe spoke and we listened to the responses to our call for best desktop media player; then the top five vote-getters battled it out in a reader poll.
Hive Five Call for Contenders: Best Remote Desktop Tools? (700 comments)
Readers vote for their favorite and we rounded up the five best remote desktop tools. (Windows Remote Desktop connection took home the crown in the end.)
Hive Five Call for Contenders: Best Text Editor? (648 comments)
We love our plain text editors and so do you; here are the five best text editors as voted by our readership in this active thread.
Not surprisingly, the call for votes in our popular Hive Five feature dominates this list. For more Hive Five goodness, see our best of the best rundown of the Hive Five winners.
Thanks for all the insight, instruction, constructive criticism, enthusiasm, wit, and participation in the comments here at the site in 2008. Lifehacker loves you, and we're looking forward to more great discussions in 2009.
NORAD Tracks Santa's 24-Hour Worldwide Flight Today [Holidays]
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, is back at it again this year, tracking Santa's magical flight around the world this Christmas Eve and plotting it out on a Google map.
See photos of locales as Santa travels today, along with video—just click on the presents on the NORAD Santa tracker map. Googler Brian McClendon writes:
In addition to our "Santa Cam" footage, geo-located photos from Panoramio will be viewable in Google Maps for each of Santa's stops that don't include video. We've also included a few new ways to track Santa. With Google Maps for mobile, anyone can keep tabs on him from their mobile phones (just activate GMM and search for "norad santa"). You can also receive updates from "Bitz the Elf" on Twitter by following @noradsanta.
Santa's flight started at 6AM Eastern time (about an hour and a half ago), and you can also download Google Earth and track his movements with a special santa.kml file available for download here.
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