Appatic

Much has been said about how people just love Bing Daily Photos, and what not. You have already read me saying that already too. And that pretty means people wants to download them and use them as wallpapers. While there are already several Bing Windows 7 Themes out, people want to get the photos they see in Bing.com, almost as soon as they first see them.  Which causes a healthy demand for apps that automate this task.

I previously posted about BingPaper, and just the other day i got a e-mail asking me if there was a app similar to it, but for XP.  On my personal test of BingPaper, it did worked fine with XP, but if for some reason it failed to work. There is indeed a identical alternative and with lower requirements.

Bing4Free is a portable .NET 2.0 based Open Source app from Codeplex that allows you to download the Bing Daily Photos and also automatically set your wallpaper to them.  Just get the app installed, run it and then set it up to your liking. After that, it will do everything by itself.

(Running in Windows 7)

                                                                (Running in Windows XP)

Features

• Allows to change wallpaper randomly.
• Double click on thumbnail to change wallpaper.
• Multi-lingual support, currently only have Chinese Traditional and Chinese Simplified, default is English.
• Download wallpaper from United States, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand (you can extend it by manually adding new country locale in config file).
• Download previously published wallpaper from Bing.com (Unfortunately, Bing only keep for 2 weeks).
• Automatic load during windows startup (you can enable or disable it).
• Automatic change wallpaper (you can schedule or disable it).
• Automatic search and download new wallpaper (you can schedule or disable it).
• Manually change selected wallpaper by right-click on the wallpaper thumbnail.
• Support proxy server download (experimental, not tested well yet).

Bing4Free best feature is that it will download all the wallpapers from Bing it can in one go. If you allow it to do so as it prompts you the first time you load up the program of course.  Other notable qualities of it, is that it is incredibly tiny (32k) and completely portable for all current Windows OSes (XP, Vista & 7) without you having to worry. But just like with BingPaper, given that the app takes the images directly from Bing.com, The wallpapers are not really suitable for resolutions above 1024x768. Bing4Free is only fully recommended to be used in Netbooks and MID’s right now.

Linkage

Bing4Free info

Bing4Free                                   <— Direct Download Link 

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ColorPix is a small (600kb) portable screen color picker, widget-like app for windows. All its purpose is to pick the color of whatever you point with the cursor, anywhere on your screen, be it your desktop or a app window.

Once you capture a certain pixel color. ColorPix gives you 5 different color format readings (RBG, HEX, HSB & CMYK), and a little color sample square, so you can preview your color capture. 

Features

Twitter Tussle is a playful take on trends watching. It is like Google Trends but for Twitter and instead of offering you a simple graphic chart, it gives you a visualization of the results. Just that the visualization happens to be a Twitter Bird fight.

You only need to enter two words into it and Twitter Tussle will calculate the winner word by its trending reach, that is calculated by the amount of TPM (Tweets Per Minute) a word has in Twitter. While it does this calculation, it will play out a Twitter Bird fight animation and then offers you the results. The word with the most TPM wins and so does the bird representing the word.

Right now, you can only effectively tussle single words. So that means either pitting two twitter usernames against each other, two terms or two brands.  While you can also tussle phrases if you want, there is not a clear understanding if it is really contextually counting phrases or just separated words. 

A simple novelty twitter tool, but a amusing one at what it does. However, it would benefit if it has more than one Twitter Bird animation, while offering you the results.

Linkage

Twitter Tussle

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The first big explosion of video, post-youtube was with the popularization of Smartphones, as they finally offered good video recording quality. This allowed anyone to take a video and then upload it to youtube once they got home. The second explosion in online video happened just 2 years ago as mobile internet access and smartphones continued getting better and better. Now you don’t have to wait to get home to upload a video to YouTube. You just do it from your smartphone or from your netbook after taking it. No need to reach home as you have everything you need on the go.

But just as it became easier to share video content, it became even easier to consume it, no matter where you are. That means more and more videos to sift through. This problem of quantity excess is also now partly solved thanks to Facebook and Twitter, as these are the big channels where online content is shared the most. But even then, there is just too much being shared to be able to filter it efficiently.

Zocial.tv is a Top Trending Video Portal for videos being shared in Twitter and Facebook. The site is focused on the top 35 most shared videos aggregated as a whole from both sources. Then you only need to start filtering the videos by recency.

Today, Yesterday, Week and Month are the parameters in which your can first sift through, with the top trending 35 videos as the most common denominator. But if you want to look at videos within a theme or subject. Then you just select one of the 16 categories in Zocial.tv.

• Autos
• Education
• Film
• How-To
• News
• People
• Sports
• Travel
• Animals
• Comedy
• Entertainment
• Games
• Music
• Nonprofit
• Shows
• Tech

From each category, you will be able to also check by the four recency parameters as with the bulk of all videos being tracked. This gives you a specific channel of video content that can better match a particular interest.

The combination of the category channels and the recency parameters, truly allow a quick and concise grasp of what is being shared the most in Twitter and Facebook. Allowing for a greater set of odds in your favor that you can find videos you will happen to like too.

Zocial.tv big win is that it got a very well thought out minimalistic design. You load up the site, you see a photo wall of the Top 35 most shared videos at the right, and at the left a very clear and simple menu with the recency filter parameters. And below a self explanatory two column listing with the available category filtered channels.

If a video photo caption in the homepage photo wall has grabbed your attention and you click it. it will give you a landing page with a custom sized embed of the video you chose, and the details about its ranking in the site. Along the options to re-share it to Delicious, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Finally, so you don’t have to click back to look at the homepage photo-captioned video wall, it will also appear below every single video landing page in the site you get to see. A simple but highly effective nice touch.

After browsing the site, i found it a simplified and even more zeitgeist driven version of Magma. Something i point out as a sincere compliment. It got lots of potential and many ways to grow from here. The feature i would like the most to see in the short term future of Zocial.tv would be localization filtering.  Yet, even as it is right now, i totally recommend it. Well worth to be a bookmarked site in your browser.

Linkage

Zocial.tv

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Constructing a Photomosaic is a very time consuming craft that requires attention to detail, lots of photographic data and the right software. That is why it comes off as such a powerful effect when you see a well executed one in a magazine, street ad or even in a gallery.

Build.A.Mosaic takes away all the complexities of creating a photomosaic piece. You only need to access a website. choose a bunch of pictures from your PC hdd or from your Facebook Photos. Select the photo you want as the canvas, tune in some simple controls, adjust some settings and then just generate your Photomosaic.

Once you have your photomosaic, you can upload it to facebook or save it in your computer. A third option is to print it into a gift product at the site instant gift shop. As it is one of the two ways the site generates some money. The other being a always present banner ad in the site.

Build.A.Mosaic is a one page contained Flex based photomosaic generator, that as the screenshot in this post can show, it is very easy to use as just by looking at it, you will already know what to do.

Of course that it is not a proper photomosaic, it just a faux one. But Build.A.Mosaic is quick, online and free. Such a hassle free solution has to have a catch or a trade-off right?. If you want a bit better version of this kind of online photomosaic generator, you may also want to try out the very aptly and honestly named Fauxaics. from which i also wrote a post, where i also explain a bit more about photomosaics and faux photomosaics.

Linkage

Build A Mosaic

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There are now more and more ways to watch TV shows, Movies or even Music Videos Online. But as the overall video content variety and stream quality gets better. The same cannot be said about Subtitles (or Captions) support.

In my case, i usually watch shows and movies from all over the world in their original language. And if there is a official and legal chance of watching them online. I am more than happy to watch them online. But then the hassle is that most of these movies and shows now online are in sites that don’t count with any kind of subtitles support. 

JustSubsPlayer is a open source portable subtitles player from codeplex that allows you to put subtitles in any online content, as you can drop it on top of any online video player.

The player makes itself semi-transparent as you position it over any online video player. And the subtitles can be easily synchronized thanks to the subtitles player being independent to the video you are watching. 

In the first screenshot i added Spanish subtitles to YouTube as i was re-watching George Romero’s The Night Of The Living Death in its original 1968 version. While i choose YouTube as a example, you can do the same in Hulu, Netflix, TV.com, Epix, Vimeo, etc, etc. It don’t really matters as the app can be dragged and dropped and then adjusted to wherever you need it.

The controls are very simple and they don’t divert from the ones of any simple video player. Play, Pause, Forward, Rewind, Close. But it got some extra controls for the specific benefit of this app, that let you resize the font size of the subtitles and resize the width of the player so you can use it in any online video player you may find. Also as a plus is that it got a option to let you search within the subtitles track. As a way to instantly fast forward to a dialogue line, in case you rewind or forward to a favorite scene in whatever you happen to be watching. Very useful.

Some Notes

JustSubsPlayer is still in a beta state. but i found it stable enough to post about it. The only limitations or trade-offs in this app are that you have to experience the subtitles in a black background (like in close captioning). Something that is only a bother in content that is only in Standard TV format. And that since it is not integrated to any video player, you cannot use it in Full Screen mode. 

The only things i can quickly think of, that i know could make it a even better app, besides somehow finding a way to resolve the issues i described above. Is if it had a integrated Subtitles search engine from where you could quickly find, download and then play the subtitles you need for the content you want to watch. But it would be totally understandable if the developer don’t wants to take this app that far. So, at this moment you will need to go and find subtitles (.SRT file format only) on your own.

But even with the mentioned requirements and trade-offs , JustSubsPlayer is a great app that deserves a try, as it can improve your international online video viewing in a snap.

Works in XP, Vista and 7. While the app is portable, it does need to reside in its own folder.

Linkage

JustSubsPlayer Info

JustSubsPlayer                                    <— Direct Download Link

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Url Shorteners right now are a dime a dozen. With the craze for Twitter there are now hundreds of them. But very few are truly worthwhile of being used. For that reason, it is important to highlight some of the good ones.

isNSFW is a url shortener that allows you to rate Not Safe For Work (NSFW) links.  By using this url shortener there will be no doubt, that the link you are sharing is only not meant to view at work or at least not if your boss is around. 

The isNSFW ratings allow you to mark to what degree a link can be a risk to open at work.

• Offensive  (Subjective, but could cause weird co-worker/boss stares)
• Gore         (A matter of taste, yet someone may get offended and report you)
• Nudity      (Risky, could get you a warning call)
• XXX           (NO, don’t open it. This one could very well cost you the job)

Once you have marked a link you want to unleash to the world. if someone click on it, they will get redirected to a landing page instead of getting directly to the linked content. In that landing page, there will be the full link for people to see, plus the rating you have given it, perfectly explained out. If whoever sees it decides to go ahead and open the link, a click to continue must be done.

Simple and effective url shortener with a valid use. A way to warn people at work of the risky links you like to share. But if you instead want to scare them, then ShadyURL is what you want.

Linkage

isNSFW

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PollPigeon is a simple way to create polls or take polls meant for sharing via certain popular social messaging network. You only need to have a Twitter account to create the polls, participate in them and share your poll or participation, in order to generate more interest and boast about your participation in a certain poll.

Load up the site, Start your poll with a question and then log in with your Twitter account. The login is managed with Twitter Auth, so there is no worry in using the service as your login details are managed via Twitter and not by Pollpigeon . Once you do that, you can then continue with the options for the poll. After you finish with the poll and publish it. The Poll question gets shared to Twitter with the link for the Poll page at the PollPigeon site.

If someone takes the poll you created, the answer is then registered at the site and then also tweeted out in context to the poll.  So the point of the service is not only easy to create polls, but simple polls completely Twitter connected and enhanced. A interesting idea that others have tried to integrate as a option to their regular poll services, but that Pollpigeon has made the main focus for the entire service. Given that Twitter relevancy is still growing, the idea is valid and it seems to be doing ok.

Linkage

Pollpigeon

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Anomaly is a .NET based Open Source app from CodePlex that allows you to generate passwords with varying levels of complexity and in a self explanatory way.  Everything you need to know it is laid out open in its dashboard style UI.

Features:

• There are four password complexity options for you to choose from; Include Numbers, Include Symbols, Include Lower Case and Include Uppercase
• You can modify the length of the password(s) that you want but the default is set at 10 characters (I just picked this length randomly)
• Anomaly can make more than one password in a single operation; just modify the default value of 1 for ‘Passwords to make’ (each one will appear on a new line)
• There is no base library of words that Anomaly uses, so at least one password complexity option needs to be selected (I added code to alert you if no options have been selected)

Right now, Anomaly it is in a BETA state and it shows as it is not even packaged for general use. It comes in a Zip. The only thing you need to do is to extract it and then execute the Anomaly.exe in the release folder that is inside the bin folder.  So you should preferably follow this sequence to find it:

Anomaly > bin > Release > Anomaly.exe

It is obvious that the author of the app is still working on how he/she wants the app to be presented, as i see that it may later on be actually installed as a .NET ClickOnce app. But right now it is not wrong to call it portable as from what it can see, it only needs the .NET 3.5 framework to be installed in order to run. Something that should be installed in any current and updated Windows OS. So Anomaly works in XP, Vista and 7.

Will update or do another post on this app later on as it changes. But decided to post it because someone asked me about a really simple portable desktop based password generator two days ago. So this would be a good choice for that need.

Linkage

Anomaly App Info

Anomaly              <— Direct Download Link 

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Internet Explorer, whether you use it or not as your main browser, remains one of the most important parts of your Windows OS and for that reason it should be maintained and updated. While the settings to disable it are now available in Windows 7. It is not recommended to do so as there are parts of the system that continue to need of IE to work at full. 

In Windows XP, unfortunately IE is the most vulnerable part because of the multiple of versions installed on top of the original IE 6.0 that came with the RTM version of it. If you got it updated up to now at SP3 and IE8. That original IE 6.0 install has already seen 4 significant updates and a single one of those not well installed can corrupt or “derail” your IE install. Then there are also the problems that can derivate from crappy Addons or software that connects with IE. Among other things.

IEcare is a very thorough Internet Explorer management software from VeeCan Software that can help you repair, clean and secure your IE install in a simple and easy fashion.

It can solve problems within the application you may have noticed or within windows that relate to IE. You only need to read the options available for repair to get a quick grasp of what exactly could be wrong if you believe that IE is having troubles or the cause of certain troubles with your system.

The second part of the IEcare is about automatic IE cleaning. That means taking care of IE temp files, cookies, addresses and history.

And as a extra, there is also the chance to secure IE web browsing by letting IEcare control the host files of the system. This is a way to prevent drive-by attacks from a website. What in Vista or 7 you got integrated as IE protected mode (DEP).

IEcare is a good app, but pretty much only a very good one if you are using Windows XP, as it is obvious it was originally designed for it. While it can be used in Vista and 7, you will need to run it in XP SP3 compatibility mode in order for it to work. But if you are using Vista or 7, i recommend you to check out Fix IE instead. In the case of XP users this is a great IE fixer (with some extras) i can fully recommend. the app is free, only price is you have to see one ad notice each time you launch the application.

Linkage

IEcare Info

IEcare                    <— Direct Download Link 

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The very first bug and glitch i noted in Windows 7 first 3 months or so, was that for some reason after a Patch Tuesday reboot, one icon or two in the desktop get corrupted for some reason. I also happen to have seen it only happen with .NET/WPF apps in my case. Fortunately .NET apps are very quick to reinstall so i ended up just reinstalling them.

But in the case of other type of apps that can be a more of a problem.

Icon Cache Rebuilder is a tiny portable app that saves you from the problem of having to reinstall a app because of a corrupted icon, as it rebuilds the icon cache in a single click.

If you have this problem and use this app but you see it don’t works at the first time, reboot and try again. If it fails a second time with the new session. Then the app itself got something wrong itself and it is better to just reinstall the app right away if possible.

It works in XP (SP3), Vista and 7.

Linkage

Icon Cache Rebuilder

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Facebook offers the now easiest and most accepted way to create a event for your friends and friend of friends to assist. The problem is that as fast as that is, you usually create events that have a certain degree of formality and a minimum of time before the event target date or time while using Facebook. A minimum time-frame usually measured in several days.

Poig is a Facebook connected app that lets you create specifically informal and public events set to happen within a day or two in a non-specific location. Events that are not just meant to your friends or friends of friends, but to anyone that can assist to them. As they are meant to be spontaneous and usually on short notice.

So, while you could argue that this is possible to do with Facebook Events, Twitter or even a combination of Twitter and Foursquare. Poig is for when you are not yet somewhere, but for when you want or you are going to go somewhere or to do something still without a specific location in mind. Also by making a open invitation for anyone to join you, while at the same time having that event well structured, and with a tangible way to track the event and the possible attendants.

Because in order to use Poig, you and whoever you get to meet has to have a Facebook account.

Once you log in and authorize Poig to your Facebook account, it will show if you got Facebook friends already connected to Poig, if you do it will add them as your poig friends automatically.

Since it is using Facebook Connect, there is no need of registrations or email confirmations to check. Then it is just about posting or joining a posted Poig activity.

You got five common activities you can mark a event with:

• 1.-Meet Up
• 2.-Food
• 3.-Drinks
• 4.-Coffee
• 5.-Shopping

Plus a Custom option so you can mark a event that don’t fit in the common activity categories.

While creating the event, you should note that the focus or it being more in the short term range is obvious even if not forced. And that instead of hours you have day time-frames as the preferred choices too.  Even the “Where” is shown as a optional field. So this really shows that Poig is a truly different play of Facebook events or Twitter/ Foursquare very last minute shout-outs. Even then as you finish creating a event, you can then share it via your Facebook or Twitter feed as a way to spread out the word about your “event”.

That last part is where i find Poig truly lacking. Why not having more options there by default like MySpace and a way to embed it as a widget?. It also don’t even gives you out a short url for your posting either and its landing page is just too plain. Other things that bother me is that i have not seen a way to browse other events or users in Poig which i find strange given the concept of the site. The last one is that it lets you join into any event even if it is obvious that you cannot attend because it is too far away from where you are. So there is a lot more work to be done the community and geo-location aspects of the site premise. But i paid no mind to its faults given it is obvious not everything is finished or fully baked. Hope it evolves and adapts to this faults quickly enough.

But Poig is a definitely interesting take on a having point in-between a Facebook event and a Foursquare Check-in broadcasted via Twitter. And no doubt it can lead to interesting real life meet ups if things work out. So for that reason alone, it deserves a look.

Linkage

Poig

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Windows 7 got the most flexible out of the box theme customization so far. The only limitation is there is not a way to only change certain parts of the OS without altering everything else in the system.

A clear example is the Windows 7 Taskbar. You cannot change it to a solid color if you got Aero transparency enabled. The reason why you would want to do that is to get a better contrast while using certain colors in a wallpaper.

Windows 7 Taskbar Color Changer from Grantman is a .NET 4.0 based Portable (folder contained) app, that allows you to change the color of the windows 7 taskbar to a solid color. Any color you can come up with from a common color picker can be applied to the taskbar.

From my quick testing, the only thing i recommend before using it is that you try it out after booting up for a new session. Otherwise you may see it fail at time if you try to use with too much stuff already open within a session.

Only works with Windows 7 and it also got the following extra requirements to be used:

• Aero Transparency enabled
• 512mb of RAM minimum, 1gb of RAM recommended.
• .NET 4.0 framework installed
• Home Basic  or higher

Linkage

Windows 7 Taskbar Color Changer

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via How To Geek.

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Looking up the meaning of the now rarer to get Hexadecimal Windows Error codes has always been a bit of a hassle. But if you happen to get a Windows error with one of those hexadecimal number codes, it is better to be prepared to find out its meaning.

Error Goblin is a Windows error look up app, that will tell you what is the meaning of the hexadecimal number code associated with a Windows error.

You have two ways to use this tool:

Web Version

Just load up the site and put the Windows error code along its “0x” prefix and find the code number meaning.

Example: 0x80000007

Desktop Version

If you think it may come up in handy to have it around, you can download a self contained (.exe only) portable version of it.  Once it gives you the description for a error, there is the chance to look a more detailed write-up about the error code number. Unfortunately, very few error code numbers seem to have that choice enabled. But supposedly that choice should be available for all errors at a unknown future date.

This portable version of Error Goblin works with XP, Vista & 7.

As a second choice for the very same use, there is also ErrMsg.

Linkage

Error Goblin

Error Goblin Portable                       <---Mirror Download Page

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*Update* (05/10/10): Took me a bit to note that ErrorGoblin removed the link for the desktop version download. I had the file, so i uploaded it to my SkyDrive and the download page link is now for a copy from my personal archive.

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If you have a feeling that the title in this post is a bit familiar is because it is. The only thing different is the name at the start.  MyFav is what previously was called Fav4.org. The reason of the name and domain change are very obvious if you had seen and used the previous iteration. If you didn’t, then just read the post i made on it. On the other hand if you are looking for something like this for Google based services, then check my post about Gpanion.

In the case of its previous incarnation as Fav4, this is how i opened that previous post and i think it still stands as a relevant quick take on the rationale of where does the idea of MyFav derivates from:

Startpages seem to be in vogue yet again when it comes to the non-widget based kind.

Just startpages with shortcuts for the most frequently visited websites. No doubt that Opera 10 and Chrome 4 have something to do with this new found interest for what Opera calls the web Speed Dial and that later got shamelessly ripped off by Google with Chrome.

MyFav takes the idea of the Opera Speed Dial as a Startpage and gives it a form full of style and focus with a minimalistic sensibility. The base configuration is just 4 striking and very soothing looking icons for your 4 more visited websites. But then it is up to you to fully configure and customize how do you want it to work and look beyond that.

Guide

Start by clicking the customize icon, then go to the My Sites section and finally click in the All Sites tab.

There you will see the 101 sites (110 once you add the ones in the featured tab) with available icons from where you can choose your up to 25 favorite websites. To do so, just drag and drop the website labels into the empty right column at the right and put them in your desired order.

If you don’t see your favorite website, then ask for its addition via the suggest section.

Once you customize it beyond the initial default, you will have a space for 5 icons for your most visited/favorites websites. If you have more than 5, then you will need to click in the arrow at the right to show more and so on all the way up to 25 icons ( 5 views of 5).

If you want to change the default configuration, you can do it in the options section via the MyFav settings area.

From here you have 3 ways to change the way MyFav works, looks and behaves:

I.-Layout

You got 4 different layout modes to choose from:

1.-One Row – Multipage

Up to 10 icons per row (If you got the screen resolution for it, otherwise usually just up to 5-7) and that extends to multiple view pages depending on the number of websites you have set up.

2.-One Row – Magiscroll

Up to 25 icons in a single row that moves right or left depending  on the position of your cursor in the screen

3.-Grid

Up to 4 rows (if you got the screen resolution for it, otherwise just 2) with up to 5 icons in each row. So you actually lose the chance to display 5 sites with this mode if you have set up all 25 of them.

4.-Grid – Multipage

Not yet active, but i am guessing that it is reserved until there are more websites icon choices and that it will involve raising up the 25 icons limit. will update the post when this mode comes alive.

II.-Themes

Not really themes-themes, but backgrounds. Only 2 to choose from right now: White or Black. But there are 6 more to come if the grayed-out spaces are any indication.

III.-Preferences

• Set the behavior or MyFav with available settings to choose from:
• Sortable icons on homepage / Non-sortable icons on homepage
• Open links in new window / Don’t open links in new window
• Set search bar above or below icons / Don’t show any search bar
• If search bar is set, start with cursor in search box (this disables keyboard shortcuts)
• Choose search engine for search bar if set (Google, Bing, etc)
• Enable right click shortcut / Don’t enable right click shortcut
• Set, change or disable keyboard shortcuts

Set up MyFav as your homepage

Follow the video instructions for all browsers via MyFav Help Section.

Or just look for the general/main tab in any browser options/preferences section and change it by yourself.

Some Notes

Saying that MyFav is a improvement over Fav4 would be a understatement. This new iteration resolved almost all the gripes i had about it originally. Right now i think that the only thing missing is a way to be able to change the icons look (for the ones that don’t really match with how they should look) and a option so you can add your own custom icon.

But this of course, is just me nitpicking.

I actually found it so good now, that i am using it as my second start tab. But i also got a idea in how to use it as something else, so stay tuned for a later post about that.

Given that there are still some improvements of MyFav in the works, i don’t really consider this a finished post yet. So i will update it as MyFav adjusts again.

But i can do fully recommend it as the best basic startpage you can choose right now. So check it out.

Linkage

MyFav

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