The startup speed of an operating system usually receives more attention than it deserves. Only a few users are booting their systems more than a few times per day, most users probably only once and it should not really matter if that startup takes 30 seconds or 2 minutes. The startup is on the other hand the first impression about an operating system and if it starts slowly the assumption could be made that everything else would be slow as well.

BootRacer is a windows startup speed benchmark utility that targets the general Windows user. No technical knowledge is required to run the software program. What makes it more interesting than other programs with a similar functionality (Boot Timer) is that it rates the startup time. This gives the user an impression on how his system rates when compared to other Windows systems. Another advantage is that BootRacer records several values, to be precise the time it takes boot to logon and to the desktop.

The boot speed rating will get the highest rating if the startup speed of the Windows operating system is below 60 seconds. Many systems will fall into that category and it would probably make sense to change the ratings to reflect this.

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Tags: benchmark boot, boot speed, boot time, computer boot, startup benchmark, startup speed, system boot, windows boot, windows software
Categories: Windows, software

Opera displays a set of up to nine thumbnails of websites on every blank tab that is opened in the browser. The Speed Dial feature provides the means to open nine custom websites faster than usual. It just takes one click of the left mouse button to load the selected website in a new tab in the Opera web browser.

The thumbnails that are used to represent the websites in the Speed Dial form are taken directly from the website. The best way of identifying the website is probably the title of the website which will be displayed below each thumbnail. The thumbnail itself is usually to small to be helpful in quickly identifying the website.

Tamil who runs a blog at the Opera website posted information on how to exchange the automatically generated thumbnails with custom ones that make it easier to identify the websites. The alternative thumbnails have to be created in png format with a suggest size of 256×192 pixels or less.

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Tags: opera, opera 9, opera browser, opera speed dial, opera-tips, speed dial, speed dial tips, web browser
Categories: Browsing, opera

Use long secure passwords. That’s what they say. Did you ever try to type in a secure password with a length of 25+ characters several times because the web form would not accept it? Since you do not see what you type you cannot easily identify what went wrong. Even more so because the password will obviously be removed when the form pops up again. It could be related to several things. A typing error, numlock, shift-lock, a wireless keyboard with problems or site problems. Most tech savvy users try to enter the password again thinking that they made a typing error before they start investigating why it is not accepted.

One of the easiest ways to do that would be to compare the entered password with the correct password. To do that the entered password has to be revealed and that is what the Firefox password Revealer Show Passwords does. (another way to make sure the right password is entered is to type it the address bar in Firefox and copy paste it into the password field).

Show Passwords adds an icon to the Firefox Status Bar that will change the behavior of Firefox password forms when activated. Password forms are usually showing asterisks instead of the real characters, Show Passwords changes that behavior and turns the asterisks into visible characters again.

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Tags: firefox, firefox browser, firefox tips, firefox-add on, firefox-extension, firefpx password, password form, show password
Categories: Browsing, firefox

The end of the year is near and it is time to thank each and everyone of you for their visit here at Ghacks. The last year was eventful and the first year where I lived solely from the earnings of this website. It was not an easy decision but it turned out to be the best in my life. I enjoy writing articles, enjoy helping users who ask me for help and communicate with those who leave comments and enjoy being my own boss ;)

I would especially like to say thanks to the writers here at Ghacks who contribute to the success with their articles. They add to the diversity of articles here at Ghacks. The addition of Jack who is writing regularly about Linux is another step in the right direction and we will continue with all writers into 2009.

All new year resolutions related to Ghacks came true. I managed to raise the RSS subscriber count to more than 10000, finally got more than 1 million unique visitors per month and made some great progress earning wise. Goals motivate and although I would be be happy to stay on this level throughout the year I want to raise the bar and set a motivating goal this time.

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Tags: ghacks resolution, happy new year, new-year, wishes
Categories: ghacks

If you are using a distribution that now ships with KDE 4 you might notice the desktop is less than user-friendly. From the main menu to the panel, KDE 4 has a way to go before it fits the bill for every-day production use. But there are ways to make your KDE 4 desktop much better. Once portion of the desktop you can change for the better is the default window behaviour. These behaviors can be changed quickly in order to make KDE 4 much more user-friendly.

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Tags: auto raise, focus follows mouse, KDE 4, Linux, linux desktop, window behavior
Categories: Desktop Manager, Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Basic

Dreamweaver and Frontpage are no doubt the most popular WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) HTML editors but carry a pretty large pricetag, with Dreamweaver costing about £500! Naturally, neither work under Linux either! KompoZer is a free, open-source and cross-platform WYSIWYG editor which should fill the needs of any home user.

Whilst KompoZer has not been updated since 2007, the major mark-up languages haven’t changed since then so it should still work. KompoZer is based on Gecko, the rendering engine which Mozilla amongst others utilise, and is a fork of Nvu (another WYSIWYG editor which is now not developed), itself a fork of Mozilla Composer!

KompoZer has all the obvious features of a WYSIWYG web editor: HTML and CSS can be edited; FTP support; tables; and tabs to navigate between pages and views. Some nicer features include an integrated W3 validator and support for XFN.

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Tags: freeware, html, html editor, kompozer, Linux, nvu, Open Source, os x, web design, web designer, web editor, Windows, wysiwyg, wysiwyg editor
Categories: Linux, Mac, The Web, Windows, software

Vista Services Optimizer is a free Windows Vista software program for computers running the Microsoft operating system. It can be used to diagnose and tune the Services configuration of the system to eliminate problems and increase overall system performance. Services Diagnostics is probably the first option that should be run after installation and start of Vista Services Optimizer. The user has check or uncheck several information about his computer system, among them if he is using a printer, a scanner, digital camera or if the computer is connected to a network or Internet connection. The eight choices will aid the diagnostic tool in determining if the current settings of the computer system can be optimized.

The test won’t take longer than a few seconds and a page with results will be displayed in the end. The services optimizer will display its findings and suggest possible fixes for problems that have been found. The diagnostic results can be saved and exported to various formats and there are also links to the automatic and manual TuneUp parts of the software.

Similar questions have to be answered before starting the automatic tuneup process. A few new options are added including the one to choose between standard and maximum service optimization. The optimization ends with the click on the Apply Changes button. The program requires a restart of the computer after applying the changes.

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Tags: optimize vista, optimize windows vista, Vista Services Optimizer, vista-performance, vista-services, windows services, windows software, windows vista software, windows-vista
Categories: Windows, software