GeekSugar

The Next Best Thing To A Keyboard Shortcut For Bugs

GeekSugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:00:05 -0700

A few years ago I spilled something onto my lap, and all I could think of was, "Edit, Undo". I was embarrassed for myself.

But that was then - now, I fully embrace my nerdiness and I am all for geeklife infiltrating real life, like with Fred & Friends' Delete Button Flyswatter. While not as fun as the bug zapping tennis racket, it's more clever, though, ahem, PetSugar, neither of them are very humane to those poor flies.

They say it works on Windows and Macs (snort) and it comes in charcoal or ivory. You know, to match your keyboard!

How To: Delete Temporary Internet Files

GeekSugar — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:15:19 -0800

What exactly are Temporary Internet Files?

The Temporary Internet Files (or cache) folder contains Web page content that is stored on your hard disk for quick viewing. This cache permits Internet Explorer or MSN Explorer to download only the content that has changed since you last viewed a web page, instead of downloading all the content for a page every time it is displayed.

Despite all these positive things about Temporary Internet Files, they have one big drawback: they compromise your privacy. Everyone with access to your computer can look into your Temporary Internet Files folder and see the sites that you have visited in the past. You can manually delete the contents of Temporary Internet Files folder but this will not erase all traces of the pages because a special file called Index.dat is placed in this folder and it will still preserve the names and even the dates of your first visits to many pages.

For steps to delete these files, read more

Generally there might not be any reason to worry about all of these files in your computer, but what if you sell your computer and all that information is left for someone else to see. Maybe friends and relatives visit and use your computer and you don't want everyone to know what files you are running on your computer. Then you are going to want to know how to delete these files.

Even if you are not worried about privacy on your computer, you may be surprised to realize how much hard drive space all of this information takes up. If you are running out of drive space, you may want to delete these files.

To delete temporary files in Internet Explorer 6.x on a PC:

Open Internet Explorer and click on Tools
Click on the Tools menu and then click Internet Options
Select the General Tab
Under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files

To delete temporary files in Mozilla on a PC or MAC:

Open Mozilla
Select the TOOLS menu and then click Privacy
Click the Clear button

To delete temporary files in Safari on a MAC:

Open Safari
Select the Safari menu and then click Preferences
Click Autofill from the top Toolbar
Click the EDIT button next to Other Forms
Click the Remove All button
Remove the check from the OTHER FORMS box

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How To Delete Messages In Your Blackberry Inbox

GeekSugar — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:15:27 -0800

Bombarded with IMs and emails on your PDA? Feel like it's time to do a little Blackberry inbox cleaning? Check out the quick tip below to help filter out some unwanted messages.

Geek Tip
Deleting older messages is easy. If you want to delete all emails prior to a certain date or mark emails as 'opened' prior to a certain date, scroll through your email until you come to that date and then select the date and click on it using the scroll wheel. You'll see two options: one that says "Mark Prior Opened" and one that says "Delete Prior," both of which are pretty easy to follow.

Geek Tip: Quickly Deleting Items

GeekSugar — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:00:11 -0800

Here's a very simple trick from Apple Mac Tips that is sure to save you some time.

If you have a Mac, forget about dragging an item all the way across your desktop to the trash can to delete it.

Here's what you do...Just click on the item you want to get rid of and press both command + delete at the same time to move items to the trash. This is really effective for someone like me who has a super-sized screen. I guess I like to think I'm gaining hours by using this method!

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Are You Facebook Friends With Your Exes?

GeekSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:44:00 -0800

An essay in this week's New York Times hit close to home. The author, mourning the breakup of a long-term relationship, used Facebook to keep up with what his ex was doing. I've covered this topic before in Tech Dating 101 posts; from using Facebook to get to know a potential date to how and when to change your relationship status. I've even offered my advice for how to cut an ex out of your digital life. He was pretty distraught over the breakup, but still couldn't resist the occasional peek at her page:

"Every once in a while, when I was feeling particularly pathetic, I would log on to her Facebook page and listlessly click through the photos of a life that was, somewhat disappointingly, continuing without me."

While I still feel it's best to avoid an ex on Facebook, especially after a tough breakup, actually pulling the trigger to delete an ex from your list of friends is tough.

Do Celebs Get Preferential Twitter Treatment?

GeekSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:50:30 -0700

A much publicized post on Slate asserts that Twitter is intentionally removing unflattering tweets to celebrities from search results. The author claims that he posted a tweet "teasing" the president of CNN (which he also describes as "as nasty an item as I thought I could write" without sounding like a complete jerk). Later, he tried to search for this "hostile" tweet, but it was nowhere to be found within Twitter search results. A few unofficial experiments later, he deduced that only positive comments directed at celebs were showing in search results.

The author references another article, speculating on the connection between celebrity publicists and Twitter. That article describes detailed processes that publicists go through to create a good image of their famous clients on Twitter.

To see what I think about the whole ordeal, just read more.

If you ask me, Twitter is still a bit like the wild west. Some celebs, like Ashton Kutcher have happily adopted the 140-characters-only platform as a means to communicate with fans. Others, like Miley Cyrus, have made very public departures from Twitter, citing privacy reasons.

So, the initial question remains: does Twitter suspend negative comments about celebrities from search results? We'll probably never know for sure, given Twitter's tight-lipped nature when it comes to revealing insider details. My question: does the Internet really need another dose of negativity?

Do You Keep Old Profiles Online?

GeekSugar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:16:37 -0800

Nothing to hide here: from time to time I like to Google myself, just to see what comes up. After all, you never know who's going to search for you from a potential boss to a potential date. Even Kristen Stewart admits to self-Googling, as do a few other celebs.

This time, though, I came across one of my outdated social networking profiles that I'd last looked at in 2005. Until now, I'd completely forgotten about it, but there it was, online for everyone to see! I quickly deleted the, um, evidence and then did a quick search to find any remaining profiles I may have forgotten about.

If you decide to stop using a site, do you actively delete your profile? Or do you just stop using it and hope it sort of disappears into the abyss?

Geek Tip: Empty Your Trash For Good

GeekSugar — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:00:14 -0700

Spring cleaning your gadgets isn't confined to just their surfaces - your desktop and hard drive need to be spruced up as well (the better to keep you running, my dear).

And what does everyone do? We throw files into the trash, and then conscientiously empty the trash.

Even after you've emptied the virtual can, though, your deleted files still exist.

Want to get rid of them for good? Then use this feature (for Mac OS X Leopard only): Secure Empty Trash.

Just select Secure Empty Trash from the Finder menu, and when the pop-up asks you to confirm that you want the items in the trash permanently erased, click OK. Poof, they're gone.

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Tech Dating 101: Getting Your Ex Out of Your Digital Life

GeekSugar — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:05:35 -0700

Perplexed by a romantic text? Get your digital dating questions answered in geeksugar's Tech Dating 101 series, where I answer anything from changing your relationship status online to texting during a date. Today's post tackles what happens when a love that once bloomed has wilted.

What's the digital protocol for keeping your ex "around" when you break up? He may be out of your life, but still in your cell phone with a special ringtone, a sweet picture that comes up when he calls - or on your Facebook page, even if he's not making comments.

Do you do a delete from your phone, and de-friend him completely? See what I have to say when you read more.

In general, right when you're post breakup, the best thing to do is to gradually edge him out. That means you can keep him in your cell phone if you want, but you should take off any special ringtone or the picture that came up when he called.

As for Facebook, if the breakup was somewhat amicable, there's no need to de-friend but to avoid being reminded of him every time someone comments on a photo of him or writes on his Wall, set Facebook to hide his updates, so you can stay FB friends but don't have to know his Top 5 Movies.

Messy, painful breakup? Feel free to de-friend him, especially since Facebook doesn't blare that info, and there's no reason you need to keep up on his digital life, and vice versa.

And of course, I also advise following The New Relationship Rule. If you've been hanging on to digital vestiges of an ex, getting into a new relationship is a good time to cut them out of your phone and Facebook once and for all.

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Geek Tip: Permanently Deleting Pics From iPhoto

GeekSugar — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:50:09 -0800

If your iPhoto is full of pics that you don't need and you want to free up some space on your hard drive, here's a quick fix that will instantly increase your storage space. When you are in iPhoto, click on the images you want to delete in the photo library. Most people make the common mistake of deleting images in an album that only deletes them from that album and not the entire library.

Don't ask me why but pictures are copied to albums, not moved, so essentially you will have two copies of a picture if it's in an album. Once you delete certain pics from your iPhoto library, make sure you empty the trash can as well to permanently delete!