Zoom Search Engine

I recently purchased a copy of the Zoom Search Engine to replace the existing site search engine that I was using on Hoax-Slayer.com. I have previously tried several site search engines, but I was not particularly happy with any of them.

However, Zoom is simply outstanding and is streets ahead of other search solutions I have tried. It is highly configurable, and allows webmasters to set up a very professional internal search engine that blends seamlessly with the design of your website. Most importantly, it produces reliable and relevant search results for users.

Zoom comes as a software package that installs on your computer rather than a fully web-based script and control panel like others I have tried. This means that you can configure your search, index your site and upload the necessary files from software installed right on your computer.



Moreover, the support offered by the company is excellent. After I bought the program, I encountered some quite server-specific problems with Zoom's logging function. Even though the problems were caused by the way my hosting company's servers are set up and were not explicitly caused by the Zoom software itself, Zoom's support staff went out of their way to help and even rolled out an updated version of the software that addressed the issues.

Zoom is free for small sites with other fee-based versions available depending on the specific needs of your website. I opted for the professional version and I consider it worth every cent and more.

Find out more about Zoom Search Engine

See Zoom in action on Hoax-Slayer

SyncToy - Folder Synchronization Tool

Recently, I was looking around for a program that would allow me to easily synchronize two folders across two computers on my home network. While there are a number of applications that will perform this fairly simple task and a lot more, Microsoft's SyncToy v 1.4 turned out to be just the ticket for what I required.

This free little PowerToy makes it simple to keep the contents of two folders in sync with each other. Once you create your desired folder pair or pairs, you can then just click the "Run" button and the program will update the folders so that they both hold the very same contents. If you add, rename, delete or modify a file in one of the folders in the pair and then run SyncToy, the changes will be reflected in the second folder.

SyncToy v 1.4 works on Windows XP and Vista.

SyncToy interface

Grab a copy of SyncToy

Google Buys Feedburner

For the past few weeks, I've been using Feedburner to manage my new Hoax-Slayer New Articles feed. Feedburner offers an excellent service, especially for those of us like Yours Truly who are still fairly new to the heady world of RSS.

Soon after I signed up for a Feedburner Account, rumours began spreading that Google was in the process of buying Feedburner. Turns out the stories are true.

Overall, I'd say that the change in ownership will be positive. Google's reach and resources will probably improve an already excellent product.

Still, it is a little concerning how many companies Google has managed to acquire.

Where will it end? Maybe, one day Google Earth, will REALLY be Google Earth...lol.

APOD Desktop Version

One of my favourite websites is NASA's excellent Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Every day, APOD features an outstanding photograph or image of some aspect of "our fascinating universe". A succinct but informative explanation compliments each picture.

There is also a downloadable version of APOD available that automatically downloads a new astronomy picture every day and displays it on your computer desktop. The desktop version includes the image explanation, which is heavily hyperlinked for those seeking more information. It is therefore educational as well as aesthetically pleasing.

The APOD software is free and "as is". However, I've been running it for several weeks on my Windows XP system with nary a hitch.

Grab your own copy here

PCI Modem Connection Problem

Last weekend, my neighbour asked if I could help solve an Internet connection problem she was having. She could successfully connect using her dial-up account, but could not browse web sites or receive email.

After first ensuring that the computer was virus, spyware and trojan free, I tried pinging websites via a command prompt, but this was unsuccessful, even though the connection was still active. I tried disabling any programs that might be interfering with the connection, including the firewall and various scanners. This did not resolve the issue.

To check that it was not a problem with the ISP, I tried the account on another computer and found that it worked perfectly. I also tried another working dial-up account on the problem computer and encountered the same connection issue. Thus the problem was clearly on the client computer.

After some resolute googling, I tried altering the modem settings as described on several sites, but this did not help either. I installed a network card in the problem computer so that I could use my broadband connection to do a Windows update and install a more up-to-date modem driver. No joy!

Next, I replaced the modem with another that I knew was working correctly but the problem still remained. This really had me scratching my head! In fact, if I had hair, I probably would have pulled it all out!

Then I realized that I had not yet tried swapping the modem to a different PCI slot. Lo and behold, this simple procedure fixed the problem completely! I suspect some sort of conflict must have been causing the problem with that particular PCI slot. Updating the BIOS or doing some prolonged conflict hunting may have solved the PCI slot issue, but I decided to leave well enough alone (grin).

So, if you are having problems solving a modem connection issue, don’t forget to try moving the modem to another PCI slot. It may not solve your problem, but it’s certainly worth a try.

Google Calculator

Google has quite a few extra web search features that can make your browsing experience just a little more efficient. One of these is the Calculator feature. You can perform conversions and calculations on the fly right in your browser. Just input your calculation into the Google search field, press the “Enter” key, and a page with your result will be displayed.

For example, lets say you come across a page that states a distance between two destinations as being 357 miles, but you are more comfortable with kilometres. Just enter “357 miles in kilometres” (without quotes) into Google and you’ll instantly get the result “357 miles = 574.535808 kilometres”

You can also perform other conversions, such as pounds to kilograms, Celsius to Fahrenheit, modern numbers to Roman Numerals and many more. The calculator supports a raft of mathematical functions including addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, square root, logarithm and others.

Combine the Google Calculator with a tabbed browser that has built in Google Search such as Mozilla Firefox and you can quickly perform calculations without surfing away from the web page your are examining.

Find out more about using the Google calculator

Xandros Linux

A few months back I installed a copy of Xandros Desktop OS 3 Open Circulation Edition on one of my computers. The computer is an older, fairly low-end machine that was originally running Windows 98. Now that I have installed Xandros on this machine, I can choose at start-up to load either the Linux OS or Windows 98.

I was quite surprised at the simplicity of this installation. The install went very smoothly and I had Xandros up and running on the system in around an hour. The Express install feature can automatically set up a partition on your hard drive and install Xandros on it with a minimum of fuss. You are given the option of keeping an existing operating system or overwriting it completely. If you choose to keep the existing OS, Xandros will be installed alongside it and you can subsequently choose at boot-up which OS to use. During installation, you are required to set-up an administrator account and a single user account by supplying passwords and user names.

This version of Xandros is free for non-commercial use. Information on the Xandros site states that:

The Open Circulation Edition is a limited version of Xandros Desktop OS that can be download at no charge and freely distributed to others. It is strictly for non-commercial use, and no e-mail installation support is included.

Xandros is a great choice for those of us who are new to Linux. Windows users will probably find that they can find their way around Xandros quite easily. Xandros runs very nicely on my old machine and comes preinstalled with a raft of useful software.

Visit the Xandros website for more information.

Email Etiquette Tip: - DON'T SHOUT!

If you USE ALL CAPS in your email, you will immediately make yourself look like a newbie. For those of us who spend a lot of time hanging out in cyberspace, using all capital letters in a message is akin to shouting. For those new to the Internet, this restriction might seem silly. However, using all caps WILL adversely alter how people perceive you online.

Capital letters are best left for their intended usage and, sparingly, to emphasize a particular word or phrase.

If you wish to communicate effectively via email, the importance of Email Etiquette should not be underestimated.