In my last article (An Explanation of the Pros and Cons of Using RAID on Your Computer), we discussed the problem of heat build-up during the very hot Auckland summer months and how a RAID 5 configuration with 4 disks can sustain the failure of a single disk. RAID protections provide one part of what should be an overall strategy to protect your data and your computer from heat.

In this piece we divert a bit from our standard hardware/software fare and look at the computing environment as a whole. We will postulate that a tidy workspace is, in fact, a happy workspace and suggest a few tricks to make your work-space more productive and more comfortable.

The three biggest factors driving the design of my workspace are heat, noise and clutter. If I can minimise these three and maximize my computing power and productivity (all within family budget constraints, of course), I will have archived the objective.

The three primary physical components available for modification are the room, the cabinet and the PC (also referred to as the Box or Tower).

The Room:

The ideal design would be a copy of a corporate computer room with climate control, raised floor and glass interior walls. Your computers would be rack-mounted and networked throughout your house with a patch panel to distribute computer services to every room.

If you’ve got the resources, and your wife will let you do it – please do.

The rest of us are probably stuck with a home office which is usually a converted bedroom, and we don’t have a lot of latitude for change.

My office has several problems that affect my productivity.

• It gets messy
• It gets hot
• and It gets noisy

As I get older I find it more and more important to keep my resources organised. So much stuff had accumulated in my office that I was spending more time looking for a resource than I was actually using it. Problem area #1 was first on my hit list. It is also made up of several components:

• Tools and parts and papers lying about
• Wires connecting the various bits of equipment
• Three out of five times the part or tool I needed was elsewhere

Number 1 has been the easiest to tackle with a quick fix. I’ve instituted a “no shop work” policy and banned all of my “project” tools back to the workshop in the garage. Additionally, I’ve developed an exit strategy that requires me to tidy up the office each night so I can hit the ground running in the morning.

To reduce the clutter and improve the look of the room a good part of the project was dedicated to removing or hiding all the visible wires.

Capping:

Ok, I confess, this picture is a bit staged and I wish I’d taken more pictures of the mess before blasting through with a clean-up, but you get the idea and probably have a scene like this of your own very much like it.

Capping is a square pipe tacked against the floorboard with a snap-on cover. Just tack the 3-sided part against the wall where you need it, run the wire inside, and then snap on the cover. Not quite as tidy as running the wire through the wall, but you need special tools and know-how to accomplish that. Capping is sold in a variety of sizes.

A big advantage to capping is that the cover can be removed and the wiring reconfigured to meet changing conditions.

Under the Carpet:

Depending on the size of your wire and size of the gap between the carpet and the molding, a thin wire can often be hidden in that space. Speaker wire is a good candidate for this, coaxial wire less so.

The wire can be pushed into the gap with almost anything that isn’t sharp (don’t use a fork for example). A chopstick is my tool of choice, there are more dangerous options …

Whenever you need to go under the carpet, always stay as close to the wall as possible – even the thinnest speaker wire will produce a lump.

Over the Roof:

In some circumstances a wire on the roof might be the best plan. The wire obviously needs to be of a grade that can withstand outdoor conditions, and any joins require extra weather- and water-proofing. Just be sure to tack it down securly. The tacks (below) are a good option as is hot glue or silicon. Don’t want the wire making any noise on a windy night.

Exterior wiring will eventually need to extend back into a room, a terminating plate (like the one shown above) is easy to install and gives the work a professional look.

Power Leads:

Mounting a power board on the back of a unit or on a nearby wall can give the appearance of order and the excess cable can be gathered and secured above the floor with cable ties, rubber bands, whatever, but a word of caution here, don’t wind up a big length of mains extension wire and leave it on the floor – it becomes a magnetic coil, heats up and bursts into flames.

Power leads emit radiation that can interfere with voice, data and video communication. As a general rule it’s best to keep the two types of cable separate. If you must run the two together and you get interference on the com lines, investigate shielded com lines as an alternative.

Many power boards have mounting holes on the back side of the board. In my experience these holes are very hard to line up correctly. Instead I’ll drill through those holes as they seem to be located in positions that avoid any internal wires and mount the board with screws drilled in from the front. Be sure to counter-sink the holes so that the top of the screw is flush with the board face and doesn’t interfere with any plugs.

Vanity Panel:

Basically it’s a large sheet of material that acts to cover the ugly stuff behind it

If you’ve run wiring through your desk some wires may hang down and look at bit messy, you can tidy these wires behind a panel to hide them from view. If you put this panel on hinges or make it easily removable you will still have plenty of flexibility should an equipment change be required.

You can do the same thing with walls

an inexpensive noticeboard did the trick here. I re-wired the power lead on my “Cent-o-Meter” to feed directly into the box eliminating the plug, and pinned the USB lead on my Weather Centre behind the board so it doesn’t show up quite so much.

Capping on Steroids:

In my particular situation a large number of cables must be run from the desk where my keyboard mouse and monitors are to the computer cabinet where my 2 PCs live crossing a space of clear carpet about a metre wide.

The solution shown below is a section of white square box down pipe attached to the wall with 2 screws. The shot above gives some indication of the wiring that would otherwise be exposed. A curtain rod is used to thread the cables from one end to the other.

In this picture you can also see another important tool in cable management – the white tags indicating what is at the far end. They are a bit pricey – $4.00 (US) for a pack of 24 but they can save you time and frustration when you are tracking down a fault in your system.

Cable Tidies:

There is a variety of gizmos available to help you in this effort. Number one is a pieces of 2 – 4 meters plastic tube split down the middle, into which a special installation tool can placed that will enable you to cover and contain a collection of wires. One big wire is easier work with (and looks better) than a bunch of smaller wires.

Number 2 is simple and free, although perhaps best suited to storing unused cables.

Number 3 – This “handcuff” looking device works like one too to clamp a number of loose cables in a single large thread.

Number 4 – These holders are fixed to the desk or the wall and hold a group of wires in place.

Number 5 – Velcro. Fairly expensive, but very re-usable

And lastly, Number 6 comes from the garden store. It’s a simple spool of light wire with a built-in cutter at the base. Intended for flowers, the wire does a good job on quick, temporary jobs.

Having a clean and tidy workspace may not be for everyone – it requires a little more work and a bit of discipline and may not, in the end, enhance your productivity. I’ve worked under my new regime for about a month now and I think I’m a bit more productive, but I know it keeps my wife happy and I find thinking about going in to my office to work a more pleasant experience.

But I won’t claim a final victory now. As with the currently accepted scientific theory: it’s only true until it’s not. In our next episode we’ll look at heat and noise.

In our next chapter we’ll take a look the storage cabinet and modifications to the PCs – both designed to improve system cooling.

About Deck Hazen

A computer user since 1976, Deck enjoys testing new software and reconfiguring his equipment to squeeze the most out of it. "Computing has come a long way since those early days" Deck recalls "I get a real kick out of watching the industry grow - getting paid to write about it is just icing on the cake!"

Setting up a second (third, fourth … ) account in Outlook.

Adding several accounts to your Outlook 2010 is a simple task. Using them and switching between them is also very easy. What you DO need to decide before adding several accounts is, which will function as your main account, and should the accounts use the same PST-file (the database storing your emails) or should you use separate PST-files ?

Functionality will be the same, no matter what you choose.

In the last section, I will give my thoughts on pros and cons using one or two PST-Files.

Adding more Accounts

1. Click the FILE tab (the yellow one)
2. Click the ACCOUNTS-button and then the Account-Link popping up underneath it.
3. Follow the steps found here.

Choose between the two

1. Start writing a new Email
2. In the top left corner you find the From, To, CC-buttons.
    

   Notice that the FROM-button now has a little arrow attached to it.
   Clicking it will allow you to choose which account to send from

If you have decided to use several PST-files, you may also choose which account to use by simply highlighting the appropriate InBox in the account/folder listing, before opening a new Email Document. Outlook will choose the account corresponding to the InBox selected.

Several Signatures

If you automatically want to add signatures to your new emails, you can set Outlook to use different Signatures for different accounts. Here’s how.

1. Start a new Message
2. Click the Insert Ribbon
   
3. Click the Signature Button
4. Choose Signatures from the drop down menu
5. In the Signatures Dialogue window,  Add and design a new signature

Connecting each signature to a different account

Setting this up, may not be very intuitive to you (Another Note to the Outlook developers). But it is rather simple one you know how.

In the right hand side of the Signatures Window there are three pull-down menus titled “Choose Default Signatures”. It would be fair to assume you choose these settings while creating your Signature, but that’s not it. They have no relations to the Signature creation what so ever. They really should have been put in a separate dialog window. But that’s another discussion.

After creating all of your signatures they will appear in the pull-down menus.

1. In the first pulldown menu, choose which email account to attach a signature to
2. In the second choose which signature to use (if any) when starting a new Email
3. In the third one, choose which signature to use (if any) when replying to an email

The settings are stored immediately and you do not need to close the Signature Window until you’re all done.

Using One or Two PST-files ?

The following reflects my experience. You may experience it differently, and if so please feel free to add your own comments on the matter.

Choosing one PST-file may slow down performance when the one file get large. On the upside, you will only have one set of folders to worry about (one inbox, sent box, deleted items etc.). You will also not need a large monitor to see all inboxes at once in the folder/account listing.

Choosing two PST-files may increase your security and performance as the files will be smaller. Backup and deleting an account will be easier. You get more control over each account. On the downside, you will need a large monitor to be able to see each inbox in the folder/account listing, and you are not able to choose which folders to display in the listing except from expanding (or collapsing) the entire account folder (NOTE to the developers; add this functionality in the next Office)

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

This week, we have a collection of web design icon packs. You can use these icons for Windows customization, web sites, applications, mobile apps, posters, and more; however, just because the pack is free doesn’t mean there’s no attached license. Please be sure to check the license for each pack you download as each differs. The license should be available from the site you’re led to and often it’s in the download. If you know of any good icon packs to include in this genre, please let me know. Looking for a different genre? Desktop icon pack collections organized by genre.

IconTexto WebDev

WYSIWYG Sapphire Icons

email me

August Iconset

Free Arrow Icons

icon

Web Blog Icon Pack

3D RSS

stock icons

free RSS/Feed icon set

8 icons which you can use for private and commercial projects, blogs and web-sites for free. The icons are available for both Mac and Win-users in resolutions 16×16px, 24×24px, 32×32px, 48×48px, 128×128px, 256×256px and 512×512px.

Glass Style RSS/Feed Icons

8 colors in various sizes and formats

(max)Icone Blog – Set 1

30 Icons in PNG format

(max)Icone Blog – Set 2

25 Icons in PNG format

Feedicons 2

Feedicons

Free Web 2.0 style RSS feed icon. Free Psd.

Feedicons

Grunge Style Rss Feed Icons

Grunge Style Icons

Color RSS icons

Colored RSS Icons

RSS Feed Badges / Icons

Feed Badges

RSS Icon

RSS Icons

Rss icon (png) freebie!

Free RSS Icons

Tango Icon Library

Flag Icons

165 Vector Icons (5 Colors)

Email Me

Google and Facebook

Stickers Icon Set

Blossom Icon Set

Doctype Icons 2

Paper Docs

Pixelicious

Free Web Development Icons #4

Grungy Olive Icons

Grungy Asphalt Icons

Biticons

Google Tango Icon Set Vol. 2

Web Application Icons Set

milky part 1

milky part 2

milky part 3

milky part 4

milky part 5

milky part 6

milky part 7

milky part 8

Arzo Icons

CSSEdit Black Icons

“ecqlipse” PNG

Feed Me Animals (RSS)

Practika Icon Set

Nice ‘n’ Simple Subscribe Badges

Function Free Icon Set

Free Glossy Blogging Icons Set for Bloggers

Mini Pixel Icons

RSS Feed

Free Web Development Icons #4

World Flags

World Flags 2 – Africa

World Flags 2 – Antarctica & International Organizations

World Flags 2 – Asia

World Flags 2 – Europe

World Flags 2 – Caribbean, Central & North America

World Flags 2 – Oceania

World Flags 2 – South America

Light Icons Set

iPhone Flag Icons

Doctype Icons 2

Stickers Icon Set

Biticons

Grungy Olive Icons

Grungy Asphalt Icons

Website Icons

Vaga

60 semi-transparent .png icons (16 x 16)

web 2.0 RSS icons

“28 icons (orange, green, blue, gray) in .ico, .icns, .tif, .png, .psd formats (32×32, 16×16)”

Fugue Icons

“1,600 icons in PNG format (16×16 )”

Splashy Icons

464 Icons in PNG format (16×16)

90 Free Small Icons

Ecommerce Icons

Bright!

A Rainbow of Free Round RSS Icons

Contains a 16px, 32px and 64px of each color below (PNG files)

Free Feed icons

16 Free Feed icons set in PNG,ICO,ICNS(256×256 px, 128×128 px,64×64,32×32 Sizes)

A Nice Collection of Feed Icons

Feed Icons

Weby Icon Set

Function Icon Set

Silk Companion 1

Danish Royalty Free

Free Vector Icons Pack 03

File Status

Business

Monofactor Icon Set 1: 25 Free & Scalable Icons

Free Multimedia Vector Icons

MinIcons

Basic Set

Chalkwork HTML

CSSGlobe Icon Set

WP WooThemes Ultimate Icon Set

Chalkwork Payments

Flavours

Fresh Add-on

Pretty Office Icons

Flavour Extended

Stunning 128 free icons by wefunction

Country Flag Icons

Finance

MinIcons

WebAppers: Free Web Application Icons Set

30 free office Icons

1006 Quality Icons for your websites

Web Injection

Credit Cards

2experts

Glossy eCommerce Icons: 32 Free Icons

Onebit

Free Vector Icons Set

Mail icons

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

This week, we have a collection of device, drive, folder, and filetype icon packs. You can use these icons for Windows customization, web sites, applications, mobile apps, posters, and more; however, just because the pack is free doesn’t mean there’s no attached license. Please be sure to check the license for each pack you download as each differs. The license should be available from the site you’re led to and often it’s in the download. If you know of any good icon packs to include in this genre, please let me know. Looking for a different genre? Desktop icon pack collections organized by genre.

Elite Icoms

Reflective Dock Icons

Colourflow:lovesamy custom set

Colourflow : Folders – Blue

140 Stone Tile Icons

Developer Library Icon

heart_PNG

Black Vista Icon Pack

Vista Style Ultimate

Aesthetica Icon Set

Ruby Extended Icons

Chums Icons

Human-O2

DI – Folder Icons

Exempli Gratia

Reality

Slick Drives Remake

Sleek XP Basic Icons

iD

Delikate-Lite

Flavours

Media Icons

HydroPRO v2

Coquette 4

Lucid: Icons

ColorFlow Art Project Folders

iSuite Revoked

Sketchy

Dimension Of Deskmod Cds

Blue CD Icon

Leopard Style Drive Icons 2

OSX Refflective Iconset 1

Boxes

TiCons 3

Blue Aero 7 IconPack Project

WEB

Leomx

Hardwaremx Plus

Hardwaremx

Hardware

eico 1 Year

the last order:candy

PSP Icons

Adjust’s Glass Folders

iPlatinum

MICRO + NickelCobalt Mod

GVS iconset

Onyz Leopardized

Yeti Box

Hiddenmx Win

Leomx Win

Movie Icons

Elegant icon set

Black glamour

Azenis IP

Snowe Doc 2

Blue whales 2006

The Last Order Plus

AlumiGlax 2, Special Folders

avXicons

Phuzion Icons

Blueset Icons

Scrap Icons

UMI Icons

Colorabo Icons

Onibari Leopard Made

Green and Blue

De Freu Icon Pack

Carbon Gloss

Distortion Icons

Dellipack 2

Radium Icon Set

DeskMundo Live Icons

BLACK

Colorflow Unique

Classy Icon Set

White Leopard

HydroPRO -HP- Dock Icon Set

comPewter Desktop Icons

File Icons Vs. 3

VIVA Icons

release_synergy icons

Stacks Dock Icons

project: PANDORA dock icons

Helix Icons

Black Elegant – Icon Set

Stilrent Icon Set

Simple and Clean Icon Set

Slick Drives

iZ3

Green Icon Set

icon for transformers

170 dock icons

Mouse Category Season 02

Blossom Icon Set

Stickers Icon Set

iTunes

Sketchy Paper Icons

Made of Wood

Aurora Folders

“16 icons in formats PNG (256×256, 128×128, 48×48, 32×32, 16×16), ICO (256×256, 128×128, 48×48, 32×32, 16×16) and ICNS (256×256, 128×128, 48×48, 32×32, 16×16).”

Must Have Icon Set

59 Icons in all sizes in PNG and ICO formats

Wraith Dock Icon Pack

Computer Hardware

9 Icons in all sizes in PNG and ICO formats

Ive Drives

These hard drive icons are inspired by beautiful Apple hardware designed and crafted by Jony Ive and the Apple Industrial Design Group. Available in four styles of familiar Apple hardware:

Monitor HP

“1 PNG Icon (128×128, 256×256 and 512×512)”

Driver

18 Icons in .PNG format (512×512)

XIII

“21 Icons in .ICO and .PNG Format (16×16, 32×32, 128×128, 256×256 & 512×512)”

Desktop Icons

5 Icons in .ICO and .PNG Format (256×256)

Mod’em

1 PNG Icon (256×256 and 512×512)

Technology Icons

Wooden Dashboard

HD Wooden Storage Box

3D Blue

Mirror

Glass Folders

Aqua & Blend

W R E N

Blend

Stick pack

HP Dock Icon Set

HALO Dock Icons

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

Right now Google is indexing the following types:

• Adobe Flash (.swf)
• Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf)
• Adobe PostScript (.ps)
• Autodesk Design Web Format (.dwf)
• Basic source code (.bas)
• C/C++ source code (.c, .cc, .cpp, .cxx, .h, .hpp)
• Google Earth (.kml, .kmz)
• GPS eXchange Format (.gpx)
• Hancom Hanword (.hwp)
• HTML (.htm, .html)
• Java source code (.java)
• Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx)
• Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx)
• Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
• OpenOffice presentations (.odp)
• OpenOffice spreadsheet (.ods)
• OpenOffice text (.odt)
• Perl source code (.pl)
• Python source code (.py)
• Rich Text Format (.rtf, .wri)
• Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)
• Text (.ans, .asc, .cas, .txt, .text)
• Wireless Markup Language (.wml, .wap)
• XML (.xml)

Advantages of SVG

Defining the image using text, instead of pixels as happens for example in JPEG or BMP files, drives to several advantages:

• SVG files are scalable, no matter how much you want to zoom it they are going to look perfect.
• SVGs, for the same reason as above, can be printed at any resolution without losing quality.
• It’s easier to adjust SVG files to different devices, like PC, iPad, etc.

SVG is a key feature for modern browsers. It seems like Google is preparing us to a new look of the Web. You can read more about at Webmaster Central Blog from Google.

About Angel Luis

I am an Engineer of Telecommunications that love computers. My first computer was a Commodore 16kb, about 25 years ago and since then I am always fighting computers problems. Please visit my entries and ask me about whatever problem you have, I will be pleased to help you. My email is discoveryourpc [at] gmail [dot] com. You can follow me on twitter @agenlu or read my blog www.discoveryourpc.net

This week, we have a collection of apple inspired icon packs. You can use these icons for Windows customization, web sites, applications, mobile apps, posters, and more; however, just because the pack is free doesn’t mean there’s no attached license. Please be sure to check the license for each pack you download as each differs. The license should be available from the site you’re led to and often it’s in the download. If you know of any good icon packs to include in this genre, please let me know. Looking for a different genre? Desktop icon pack collections organized by genre.

Weathered Apple Icon

Black Aqua Safari

Macbook

Magic Safari

Aqua Dashboard

Stacks Dock Icons

HUD Transparent Leopard Icons

Aqua X

White Leopard

Ive Drives

These hard drive icons are inspired by beautiful Apple hardware designed and crafted by Jony Ive and the Apple Industrial Design Group. Available in four styles of familiar Apple hardware:

Driver

18 Icons in .PNG format (512×512)

Wooden Dashboard

HD Wooden Storage Box

Aqua & Blend

W R E N

Blend

OSX Refflective Iconset 1

iSuite Revoked

Browsers Compass Icon Pack UD

VannillA Cream Icon Set

WEB

Leomx

Hardwaremx Plus

Hardwaremx

TiCons 3

Leopard Style Drive Icons 2

iPlatinum

isabi for Windows

Ipod Nano Icons

MINUM CALABI Mac

Onyz Leopardized

Just in Case – LP Case Icons

Leomx Win

Antares Complete Pack

Browsers Compass Icon Pack UD

Snowe Doc 2

UMI Icons

Onibari Leopard Made

WIP – 32px mania iconset

Exempli Gratia

Reality

Slick Drives

Slick Drives Remake

Fruity Apples

Made of Wood

Hydrogen

iDVD Replacement Drive

Open Phone Pack

iPhone Icon Pack

Leopard iPhone Icons

18 replacement icons of Mac OS X Leopard Folders in iPhone Icons Style

Simply Safari Icon

“1 Icon in .ICO and .PNG formats (16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 128×128, 256×256 & 512×512)”

Mac Mail Stamp Icons

Videos

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

Apple, OSX, & OSX Leopard Style PNG/ICO Icon Packs

Application & Program PNG/ICO Icon Packs

Device, Drive, Folder & Filetype PNG/ICO Icon Packs

Mobile Phone PNG/ICO Icon Packs

Social Networking PNG/ICO Icon Packs

Web Design PNG Icon Packs

Windows XP/Vista/7 Style PNG/ICO Icon Packs

Movie, Character, Brand Name, Food PNG ICO Icon Packs

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

The service is totally refurbished with both a new look (icons, design etc.) and a very short and handy URL: join.me.

More intuitive look

The control panel which you find at the top of the screen when you start a remote session is much more intuitive now. All the settings from before are still there; Remote view, Chat, Mouse Control, Share Files. The icons are new and far better. The control panel (situated at the top) can be moved around the screen at your will, and even minimized – if desired.

What I also like about this solution, is the ability to PAUSE the session without closing it.

Once you have Clicked on “Share with Others” you will see your Remote ID displayed in the Control Panel. This is the  information you need to pass on to others. It is now very easy to do so. Click the ID and choose between “Copy to Clipboard” or “Send by email”. The rest should be self-explanatory.

A new function as well

In addition to the mentioned functions, join.me. now also support conference call via their secure lines. Click the phone-icon and dial the phone number displayed on the screen. It’s an US number and unless you dial through VPN or you live in the US this usage might be an expensive one.

Wish List

If I have a wish list for join.me, it would be the ability to choose which of my dual monitor screens to share. Maybe a Follow Mouse of sorts. But other than that, this is a great service for those support or conference calls you have – without setting up accounts and buying expensive solutions.

Go a head and surf on over to: https://join.me/

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

I found a site that offers to convert your own handwritten letters to a usable TrueType Font. This site used to be free, but now they charge you $10 to actually download the finished font ($14,95 if you create a 200 character font). But if you really like to have your own unique typeface it might be worth the price. So if you’re an aspiring font creator or simply want a special font unlike any other, here’s how…

Write, Scan, Upload then Save

In earlier days, creating your own font was quite the hazzle. With the smart and high-tech solution from yourfonts.com it’s now easier than ever before.

First you have to download and print out a template. Then fill it out, drawing or writing each letter. When done, put the template in your scanner.

YourFonts support images as large as 6000 x 9000  pixels. Enabling you to create really High-Resolution Fonts.

Once you’ve uploaded the scanned template – Yourfonts does the rest. A few moments later, your finished font is ready to be downloaded and installed.

Have Fun Creating.

Feel free to share your finished font with the rest of us. Send it to me at thomas@mintywhite.com and I’ll present it in an upcoming article.

Start here:

YourFonts.com

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

Some useful keyboard shortcuts:

Actions

Cons: No “Zoom to selection” function – it does not allow you to select an area and zoom. Another thing is that Sumatra doesnt integrate itself with internet browsers, you got to download the .PDF file and then view it.

Summary: On a netbook, the Sumatra PDF viewer seems to be a necessary program. It doesn’t have the security holes that Adobe Reader does, because it doesn’t have the script related bloat that Reader does. Since Adobe Reader has become such a giant memory hog, slow, cumbersome and always trying to update, my belief is that you should give this freeware a try.

Download Sumatra PDF

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.