Category Archives: Miscellaneous

NoteTab Light

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I was unable to access the internet while I was on vacation June 6th and 8th, so this post will be a little longer than most.

I have been using NotePad Light, a free Windows Notepad replacement, for a little while now. I like it because it enables me to create my blog posts in HTML, by using the included library of HTML codings.

The version I am using is the freeware NoteTab Light 4.95,available at http://www.notetab.com. NoteTab Standard and NoteTab Pro are also available at the ame site.

Though most people think that a Notepad replacement would be as relatively simple as what it is replacing, that is definitely not the case. NoteTab is much more than just another plain text editor. NoteTab has all the following and more:

  • Open and edit many documents at once, even huge files (only limited by system resources.
  • Text drag-and-drop editing.
  • AutoCorrect/Auto-replace mode similar to Microsoft® WinWord.
  • Programmable. Add your own custom features using an easy script language.
  • Web enabled: can open links and HTML documents in browser.
  • Supports third-party Web tools: HTML Tidy, TopStyle, and CSE HTML Validator.
  • Each document can have different settings such as font, tab widths, word wrap.
  • Supports outline-type documents
    that help you organize your notes or any kind of information.
  • Supports document templates.
  • Covers all essential features available in Notepad (including LOG).

I particularly like the ability to have multiple documents open in a tabbed interface, similar to the way I work in my Firefox browser. I can have a text only document in one tab from which I am copying information, an outline document in another tab to keep everything in a logical order, and be creating an HTML version in another tab, all at the same time. This results in a much more efficient use of my time and keeps me orderly in the way I work from print to desktop publishing to web page development; I just keep my basic formatting consistent by only utilizing 3 sets of headings, an unordered list, an ordered list, and very basic body text setup.

I currently take the plain text into one of my full fledged word processors for spell check but, in the future plan to see if I can find a freeware or open source spell checker for use with NoteTab to eliminate the crossing back and forth. One of the third party products recommended with the installation of NoteTab is WordWeb but, I can not tell from what they show if it can be used for spell check or, just as a thesaurus.

I can take a plain text file and convert it to HTML easily using the options under the Modify menu in NoteTab as well as stripping the HTML tags if necessary from an HTML email for example; both of these come in quite handy for the various formats I receive information for the Newsletter.

There is a lot more functionality available within NoteTab. As I become more familiar with specific functions, I will post my thoughts on them here.

On a personal note, my hurricane shutters were installed today. We feel a lot better now about this year’s hurricane season and being prepared but, hope that they won’t be needed.

 

Anonymouser

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I have found an extension for Firefox that I like a lot.

It is called Anonymouser 0.3.1.

Once installed, just right click a link (must be an http:// type link, does not work with ftp, https, etc.), select “Open with Anonymouser” or “Open with Anonymouser in New Tab”, to open anonymously through anonymouse.org.

You can also go directly to anonymouse.org, if you would rather not install the extension or if you do not use Firefox.

Either way anonymouse is great to use if don’t want the sites you are using to have access to your personal information.

I used to use another anonymising site, but got annoyed with all the hoops I had to jump through to use it.

Anonymouser does have advertisements but, as I also use the Adblock v5 extension in Firefox so I don’t see them.

As with any unfamiliar software, don’t just take my word for it, check it out, Google it, check it out in Usenet groups, etc.

Computer On or Off?

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As there have been numerous thunderstorms in the last few days, here in South Florida, the question has again been posed:

Should I leave my computer on and hooked up all the time or turn it off and unplug everything?

This is really a matter of personal preference and ability to accept the risk of frying your system.

Personally, when I am not actually using my PC for any length of time, regardless of the presence of thunderstorms, everything is turned off and unplugged, including any network cables and phone lines. I can not accept the risk of losing my equipment and my data.

Furthermore, if there are thunderstorms in the area after I start using my PC, I promptly shut everything down and unplug everything also.

I back up my data quite frequently but, even so I don’t want to take a chance and have to rebuild everything with a new set up. It is a lot of work to get things working the way I like them to and I am not willing to risk the lost time.