Found this useful tip on how to add a ping shortcut to your Firefox address bar over at Lifehacker. I love its simplicity. Pinging servers is a great way of finding out if they are currently up and running. The time it takes to receive a response is measured in milliseconds and a timeout is returned if it takes to long.

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I’m using a desktop PC and a Toshiba notebook at home, sometimes both at the same time which is the case when I write an article about Windows Vista. The desktop PC is running Windows XP and I use the notebook with Windows Vista to test what I’m writing about. I do my research on the Windows XP PC however and find it convenient to use the clipboard across the network.

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I’m really skeptical about Microsoft’s Windows Home Server which is based on Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 but created with simplicity in mind. Many households have more than one computer and Windows Home Server is intended to be of use for those households. It provides remote access, sharing, streaming and storage solutions for home networks.

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Using multiple screens on one computer is nothing unusual these days. All you need is a graphics adapter that supports two screens and a operating system that supports it. Setup is really simple and many professionals that do web design or work with image editing software use it to increase their workflow.

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Hamachi is a small freeware application that creates virtual private networks (vpn) on the fly without configuration at all - well almost. You can download the application from the hamachi homepage, once downloaded install and run the software. Versions for Windows, Linux (installation guide) and Macintosh OS X exist, means everyone should be happy although the linux and mac versions are console only while the windows one comes with a gui. Before I go into configuration details I want to describe the main advantage of Hamachi, it gives you LAN over the Internet.

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