Nick Burns to the Rescue
You could say I have somewhat of a reputation as being Ohio State's resident Nick Burns. Why? Maybe it's because after working at Micro Center, I can't bear to see people pay to have the simplest computer problems fixed. Maybe it's because I'm just a lot smarter than you - whatever, I'm not here to point fingers at who may or may not be as computer literate as a chimpanzee. Today I'm going to do you all some good and show you how to make your computing life much easier with the following programs.... unless you use a Mac. If you use a Mac - fuck you.
Firefox Extensions
If you do not already have Firefox, you can just stop right there, beat yourself over the head with a 2x4 or similar blunt object and come back when you get it. The extensions below will make your life a lot easier
Get Rid of Spam in Your OSU Account with Gmail
I don't know about you, but I get about 60 offers for penis pills a day. No matter how many times I tell these companies I have a large penis already, I continue to get the emails. Here's a simple fix - if you have a Gmail account (another thing you should get if you don't have), you can have your OSU mail forwarded to it, and Gmail will filter out the crap automatically. You have to forward your OSU mail to something after you graduate anyway, so you might as well do it now. Here's OIT's online form to set it up - it's quite painless. If you're at a different school, I'm sure there's a similar process at your Information Technology office.
AiMutation
A tool that integrates with Instant Messenger to give you tabs on your IM's, automatic logging of all your messages, ability to give your buddies alias (so scoobydoobydooLOL53 displays as Jason, for example), and of course, gets rid of those damn AOL ads. I think this is better than using DeadAIM or, God forbid, AIM by itself.
Peer Guardian 2
If I had to take a guess, I would say you don't want to be sued for downloading music/movies/goat porn/ whatever (I support doing none of those... well, maybe the goat porn). Peer Guardian 2 is a tool that will block connections from your computer to untrustworthy sources like the RIAA, MPAA, or Vardin Kushnir, depending on how you configure it. Stays in your taskbar so you can turn protection on and off easily. For stalkers out there, I would disable it when you browse the web, it sometimes blocks images from some websites, among them, Facebook.
iTunes Art Importer
If you use iTunes, get iTunes AI to import the album art for all your songs automatically - works with all versions of iTunes. Again this is for Windows only - suck on it Mac users. Suck it long, suck it hard, and when you're done sucking on that, just keep on sucking.
I hope these little tips serve you well in your computing experience, and also get you the hell off of my back with your crybaby computer problems for awhile.
Finally, while you're obviously already screwing around on the internet trying to kill time, check out my roommate's eBay auction for an autographed System of a Down Ibanez guitar. He won it in a contest a few years ago by designing a new logo for SOAD. Might make a good Christmas present for the crazy metal fan in your family.
Firefox Extensions
If you do not already have Firefox, you can just stop right there, beat yourself over the head with a 2x4 or similar blunt object and come back when you get it. The extensions below will make your life a lot easier
- Adblock + Adblock Filterset - Download and install these two guys together and you won't see about 98% of the ads on the internet again. Does this defeat the purpose of most companies business model for the internet - Yes. Do I care - No, and I doubt very much you will either.
- Customize Google - After you install this, go to Tools --> Extensions --> Options. Here you can get rid of the other 2% of the ads on the internet by eliminating them from Google and Gmail, among other features.
- Get 1-ClickWeather - if you're still using that terrible spyware piece of crap Weatherbug.
Get Rid of Spam in Your OSU Account with Gmail
I don't know about you, but I get about 60 offers for penis pills a day. No matter how many times I tell these companies I have a large penis already, I continue to get the emails. Here's a simple fix - if you have a Gmail account (another thing you should get if you don't have), you can have your OSU mail forwarded to it, and Gmail will filter out the crap automatically. You have to forward your OSU mail to something after you graduate anyway, so you might as well do it now. Here's OIT's online form to set it up - it's quite painless. If you're at a different school, I'm sure there's a similar process at your Information Technology office.
AiMutation
A tool that integrates with Instant Messenger to give you tabs on your IM's, automatic logging of all your messages, ability to give your buddies alias (so scoobydoobydooLOL53 displays as Jason, for example), and of course, gets rid of those damn AOL ads. I think this is better than using DeadAIM or, God forbid, AIM by itself.
Peer Guardian 2
If I had to take a guess, I would say you don't want to be sued for downloading music/movies/goat porn/ whatever (I support doing none of those... well, maybe the goat porn). Peer Guardian 2 is a tool that will block connections from your computer to untrustworthy sources like the RIAA, MPAA, or Vardin Kushnir, depending on how you configure it. Stays in your taskbar so you can turn protection on and off easily. For stalkers out there, I would disable it when you browse the web, it sometimes blocks images from some websites, among them, Facebook.
iTunes Art Importer
If you use iTunes, get iTunes AI to import the album art for all your songs automatically - works with all versions of iTunes. Again this is for Windows only - suck on it Mac users. Suck it long, suck it hard, and when you're done sucking on that, just keep on sucking.
I hope these little tips serve you well in your computing experience, and also get you the hell off of my back with your crybaby computer problems for awhile.
Finally, while you're obviously already screwing around on the internet trying to kill time, check out my roommate's eBay auction for an autographed System of a Down Ibanez guitar. He won it in a contest a few years ago by designing a new logo for SOAD. Might make a good Christmas present for the crazy metal fan in your family.
