tweaks

Here's an oldie but a goodie. Feed Rinse is a super simple and user-friendly way to tweak RSS feeds before subscribing to them in your favorite reader tool.

With it you can pick which authors or keywords you want to exclude, giving you complete control over what ends up filling your feed reader. For example, on Webware's RSS feed you could very quickly choose to only get posts about Google (which is possible on our main site using tags), or a handful of keywords at the same time.

As Martin over at Ghacks points out, you could accomplish … Read more

BoostSpeed is an effective all-encompassing utility suite, combining some of Auslogics' popular freeware titles such as Disk Defrag and Registry Defrag with services that they don't offer elsewhere. There's an uninstall manager, a startup manager for boot cycle customizations, RAM and browser optimizers, file shredder, DirectX diagnostic, Windows tweak manager, and several mini apps to manage Windows settings. It also comes with a rescue center that can back up any settings before you change them. No doubt, BoostSpeed gives you your money's worth, at least in terms of services provided. Upgrading also only costs $10, for those … Read more

UPDATED: There are 12 categories in WinSecret, not eight.

Novice users get a helping hand with this freeware tool for easily tweaking Windows. WinSecret's simple multimenu interface logically arranges the program's many tweaks into 12 categories. The Help file spends more time explaining installation than program operation, but the tweaks presented are organized better than in many similar applications.

Each of the categories includes tabs for general tweaks and extra tabs for tweaks that restrict functions and tools. Keeping the restrictions separate should forestall users from accidentally disabling needed functions. Most tweaks merely need a check to implement … Read more

Mac OS X looks great and runs smoothly right out of the box. But if you wanted to make minor tweaks to the interface or automate specific maintenance tasks, in the past you had to know how to use the command line. Fortunately, some savvy developers have made it possible to perform once-difficult tasks through the use of an easy-to-understand interface. We have a couple of freshly-reviewed programs this week that make tweaks and useful maintenance tasks in Mac OS X much easier for the regular user.

Cocktail (Leopard or Tiger) is perfect for those who like to tinker with … Read more

When a new program asks you if you'd like to create a system restore point before you finish installing it, there's only one reasonable conclusion: something bad could happen to the computer, the programmers know this, and so they're offering you a bit of Teflon for protection.

In TweakVI, the Windows Vista settings utility, it's a mighty fine idea to take the advice and create the restore point. It's not that the program hosed my computer when I installed it, but it's definitely a buggy program and the current version, at least, should be … Read more

Firefox 3 has a slick design, but some folks may not like the huge honkin' Back button.

It's quite easy to change it. I got the tip from Lifehacker, which got it from zaxour.

Right-click on the Firefox toolbar.

Choose customize.

Select "use small icons".

The Back button is back to normal.

Watch our video to see this tip in action.

Don't love the new "awesome bar" in Firefox 3? It knows your history and your bookmarks and it's so pretty, but it's not for everyone. Here's a quick tip to get the old Firefox 2 address bar back in Firefox 3. You can see this tip in action at CNET TV.

Go to addons.mozilla.org and get the oldbar 1.2 add-on.

Add it to Firefox.

Close the browser and restart.

You should see the address bar you've come to know and love. And if you ever get the urge to live … Read more

There's no doubt that the freeware Tweak UI is a tool designed for people comfortable and confident with mucking about in the guts of their Windows XP installation. If that's not you, we strongly caution against using this program capriciously.

However, if you're the kind of person who likes to get your hands dirty with XP, read on. Tweak UI can alter most of the routine behaviors of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, but it also can affect some of the more advanced ones, too. The basic interface belies the features, from customizing the Alt-Tab program … Read more

So you've been having fun with Facebook's somewhat half-baked chat service for the last day now, but are you growing tired of having to first log-in, then pop-out the chat window? For those of you who want to chat without this two-step process, there's a nice little tweak discovered by Mozilla Links that lets you set Facebook chat to pop out in Firefox's side bar.

I'm not really a fan of sidebar driven applications (gDocsBar not included), but this implementation works out pretty well. It will load up your buddy list and work just like … Read more