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1/24/02

Start Page Guard - Don't you just hate it when you visit a web site and the next time you open your browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) the page is set to your default start page? Start Page Guard protects your browser from malicious web pages that try to take control of your system. A nice little program that you don't even notice that it is running.

1/8/02

Pasteboard - This program is similar to the cut and paste feature in Microsoft Office that allows you to copy multiple items to the clipboard and paste them between Microsoft applications. This is a stand-alone application that can be used with any program. The really nice feature is that the copied items can be saved and used later. The only thing that I didn't like about the program is that you must close it in order to save your text blocks, there isn't a save option. I used the program to copy URLs and write these review and my computer crashed while I was working and they were lost. When I started writing again I had to close and reopen the program to save. Other than that, it's a very cool little utility! Check out Cybia's plug-ins and other utilities while you are at their site. Freeware

QuickPhrase - Store up to 100 of your favorite phrases, addresses, greetings, signatures, or any text block for use in any Windows program. The program resides in your system tray and shortcut keys can be used to access your text blocks. Handy little program! The TypingMaster site also offers free on-line typing and numeric keypad tutorials and free typing tests. Freeware

FontList - Quickly create an HTML file of all of the fonts installed on your system. Great for on-line viewing and printing. Freeware

The Font Thing - A very nice font utility that allows you to browse installed and uninstalled fonts, print font samples, install or uninstall fonts, load fonts for temporary use, rename fonts, and sort and group them. I really like this font utility!

AllNetic Working Time Tracker - This program tracks the amount of time that you spend on projects. I know that when I'm working on a site I get lost in the amount of time that I spend. This program allows you to track projects and individual tasks. Use it to track the amount of time that you spend working on a web project for billing information.

1/4/02

Snag-it - A very nice screen capture program. Snag-it captures images (this is great for creating tutorials, sending pictures of errors to tech support, and creating screen captures of web sites to clients for review. It also allows you to capture text and EDIT the text. You can also use Snag-it to create step-by-step video tutorials. Thank you Tony for recommending this very handy little utility! You can try out Snag-it for 30 days for free and it's $39.95 to purchase this program.

JR Screen Ruler - Ever wonder the exact size of an image that you see on a web page or online document. JR Screen Ruler will easily measure (in pixels, inches, picas, and centimeters) graphics and other objects on your monitor. Thanks again to Tony for this cool little FREE program. Tony also sent a link for Ruler by George which is basically the same thing, but costs $14.97.

Qarbon ViewletBuilder - A very easy to use program for creating animated online tutorials and demonstrations. There is a free version of the program (it will display an advertisement on the viewlet). Tutorials for using the program are here (you can also see what a viewlet looks like).

Macromedia Exchange - Great third party Extensions that allow you to extend the possibilities of Dreamweaver and Dreamweaver UltraDev. Extensions are small programs that add to the capabilities of Dreamweaver. For example I used the Deva Tools extension to build the search pages for this site.

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If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and you're interested in learning more about web design and development, graphics, or computers in general, consider taking classes at the Contra Costa ROP Technology Center. We offer affordable computer training in a variety of subjects. Visit our web site for more information.

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