PDFCreator is a handy little application that installs as a printer and creates PDFs from any file that you are trying to print. To convert a document to PDF simply open the document up the usual way, select Print and choose PDFCreator as your printer. PDFCreator then opens up a window that allows you to enter meta data for the file like Document Title and Author and then you hit Save to save it as PDF.

Here’s a tip on how PDFCreator can be used to help with filing expense reports. When you’re making hotel reservations or airline bookings while working remotely and without access to a local printer, you can print your reservation confirmations to PDFCreator and save them as PDFs on your computer. Now you can email the PDF version of the confirmation to someone who can print it for you and you have easy access to your invoices when it’s time to file your expense report.

I bet that you have tried to copy a DVD before, but didn’t succeed because it was either copy protected or it failed without clear reason. In a previous post I have described how to copy a DVD to an iPod, but here’s a way to simply backup your DVDs to DVDs. There are two main problems with copying DVDs, one is copy protection and two is that commercial DVDs have larger storage capacity than regular DVDs that you can burn at home. The media industry uses DVD copy protection technology that makes it *very* difficult to copy DVDs, yet most copyright laws allow owners to make backups or their property. There are a lot of wrong reasons for copying or backing up DVDs, but there are also many good reasons. If you have young children then you would know the value of backing up your DVDs and so here’s how to do it using DVD43 and DVD Shrink. For free!. (more…)

WordWeb is a free English dictionary and thesaurus application, and can be used to look up words in just one click. This is a very handy productivity tool and it’s really fast. I found their “for free use” licensing agreement quite amusing (though I fail on both accounts!):

You may use the program free of charge indefinitely only if
* You take at most 4 flights (2 return flights) in any 12 month period
* AND you do not own or regularly drive an SUV (sports utility vehicle).

I also like that it can be installed as a portable USB application (under Advanced Options during install).

Via Lifehacker

Firefox’s “View Page Source” functionality has always been much better than IE’s “View Source” (which opens in Notepad) and sadly IE7 hasn’t changed that. There are so many much nicer text editors like Notepad++ (a portable app favorite) and Crimson Editor! More surprisingly, IE7 doesn’t even give users the option to change it. I thought that it should be an easy thing to change and it is, but I was surprised to see how many sites had misleading instructions or hack-like downloads. Most sites suggest that all you need to do is edit the default application path in your Registry, but in fact, there isn’t a default entry in the Registry unless you are running Windows XP and have Tweak UI installed. (more…)

The second major release of the popular Firefox browser was released today. I like Firefox a lot for it’s tabbed browsing and also for the many useful plugins that are available. The one thing I don’t like about it is that it uses a lot of memory. Anyway Firefox 2.0 was released today and while it really looks very much like v1.5 it has a few improvements, most notably better support for RSS feeds and in-line spell checking (great news for bloggers!).

Google Operating System has a good post on “10 Great Uses For Google Desktop” (thanks to Lifehacker). I have been using it for some time and it has it’s plusses and minuses. Particularly it is a bit clumsy and can use up a lot of resources. However, I find the browser caching and file “versioning” (caching really) features very useful. Simply launch Desktop Search and find the Web page or document that you would like to see history on and then click on the cached link. It does not replace a real versioning application, but is fantastic for desktop purposes. For that reason (and the hope that upgrades will have more magical features) I will keep on using it.
Google Desktop

With all the fuss around Google and how cool they are, it seems few people are paying attention to Microsoft’s answer: Windows Live. Windows Live has a matching solution for almost every one of Google’s services. If you spend a little time looking at it, it’s actually very impressive and makes you really wonder how things will shape up. The interface is clean and sophisticated and it supports Firefox and Opera.

What is Windows Live?

Your online world gets better when everything works simply and effortlessly together. That’s the basic idea behind Windows Live. So the things you care about—your friends, the latest information, your e-mails, powerful search, your PC files, everything—come together in one place. This is a brand new Internet experience designed to put you in control. And this is just the beginning—you’ll see many more new services in the coming months.

Here is a list of some of the services that Windows Live is offering (all still in beta).

live.com
The main site which is basically a search portal and allows customization similar to Google’s personalization.

Windows Live Ideas
Lists most of the initiatives they are working on.

Windows Live Local
Microsoft’s answer to Google Maps. They have a “Road”, “Aerial” and “Bird’s eye” view. Search Engine Guide has an article comparing the services and they prefer Live Local.

Windows Live Favorites
Save your favorites on-line. You can synch your Live Favorites with your IE Favorites and you can share them on-line. Doesn’t seem to try and be a del.icio.us.

Microsoft Office Live
The name implies that it’s an on-line version of MS Office, but it really seems to be more about creating and hosting Web sites. With the basic service you can register a domain name (new domain), create and host the Web site, get 5 email accounts and traffic reports for FREE! Not bad You are required to give your credit card information, but you don’t get charged.

Microsoft Gadgets
Gadgets for Windows Sidebar will run on your desktop or dock into Windows Sidebar, an upcoming feature in Windows Vista alongside other applications. Gadgets for Start.com (a.k.a. Web or Server-based Gadgets) provide a fast, customizable homepage with a clean user interface.
You may, as I have, also wonder what start.com is and what the relation is to live.com. sanaz’s space has a good description, but basically start.com is a testing area for live.com and ideas are tested there first before being implemented on live.com.

live.com blog
A blog maintained by the live.com development team where you can get the latest info on updates.

This guy seems to be: Google Operating System. Actually the site is updated frequently with news on Google, many tips and links to some little known Google pages.

Did you know Google has a newsletter? Check it out and sign up for Google Friends.

Did you know that Google’s first name was BackRub

BackRub is a “web crawler” which is designed to traverse the web.

Currently we are developing techniques to improve web search engines. We will make various services available as soon as possible.
Sorry, many services are unavailable due to a local network faliure beyond our control. We are working to fix the problem and hope to be back up soon. 12/4/97

BackRub is written in Java and Python and runs on several Sun Ultras and Intel Pentiums running Linux. The primary database is kept on an Sun Ultra II with 28GB of disk

Google Operating System
BackRub

This is not new, but a lot of people out there seem to still be unaware that you can use Google Talk as a client for AIM, MSN and Yahoo!. BigBlueBall.com has detailed instructions on how to do it.

Now that Google has opened up their Google Talk servers for federation with other Jabber servers, you can use Google Talk to connect to your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo or ICQ

BigBlueBall.com: Connect Google Talk to AIM, MSN, & Yahoo

And now that Goolge Talk is available for BlackBerry devices, when you connect using your BlackBerry, you will have access to all your friends on AIM and MSN as well

Google Talk for BlackBerry Devices

Have you ever wondered how sites create those blurry images of numbers and letters to prevent automated scripts from submitting forms? Wikipedia has a great list of resources for creating your own.

CAPTCHAs are used to prevent bots from using various types of computing services. Applications include preventing bots from taking part in online polls, registering for free email accounts (which may then be used to send spam), and, more recently, preventing bot-generated spam by requiring that the (unrecognized) sender pass a CAPTCHA test before the email message is delivered.

CAPTCHA – Wikipedia

Yahoo! News has a list of great XP tips. Since I use a laptop for work and frequently shutdown and start my laptop, I particularly like Tip 6: Force unresponsive applications to close at shutdown.

In order to make the waiting easier, we’ve decided to assemble the greatest tips in the history of Windows XP. Here you’ll find the tips that give you the most bang for your buck; that are most useful in terms of security, functionality, and PC performance; and that are just plain cool.

Yahoo! News Top 10 Windows XP Tips Of All Time