Google Cloud Print enables any application (web, desktop, mobile) on any device to print to any printer.

Applications submit print jobs to the service via the web-based common print dialog or API offered by the service. Google Cloud Print then sends the print job to the selected printer which the user has previously registered with the service. A new class of cloud-aware printers connects directly to the service and offers the best user experience. Legacy printers connect to the service via a proxy.

An interesting spinoff of the CloudPrint concept is that leveraging OpenID (Google adopted OpenID some time ago) a user could potentially go to any printer at any location and use their Gmail account, Facebook account or Flickr account to send a print job.  The potential is quite staggering.

There are obvious security considerations but since the printers need to be registered with the Google CloudPrint service to work, you are enabling this functionality at your discretion and undoubtedly ACL’s will be built into the solution.

You can read more at;

http://code.google.com/apis/cloudprint/

This release puts pressure on existing browsers for Mac OS X, Mozilla, Safari and Opera to implement their own versions of the Google Gears application space in order to compete with Google.

Also a simultaneous release of Linux version of Chrome is a welcome sign of Google focusing on all operating systems, rather than sticking to the most used and popular ones.

Even though still in beta, Chrome promises to become a fresh and innovative way to use the Internet on Mac OS X.

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The Live Preview Delay determines how long you must hover over a thumbnail preview before you the preview of the windows contents are shown.

Here is how you can customize the Live Preview hover delay:

Click on the Start Button, type in regedit and hit Enter.

Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Right click on Advanced and select New DWORD and name the new value “ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime“.

Right click on ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime and select Modify.

Switch to Decimal base and enter in your new number in milliseconds. 1000 = 1 second. Anything larger than 0 is a valid value. 

 Once changed click OK and restart your computer.

You will notice the change in response time.

AVG is a smaller application, so it does not bloat your system with features that you will never use.  I am yet to ever need the Lotus Email function in my Symantec products….but I did pay for it! AVG offers neat, effective protection which stays silently minimized in your system tray and only activates when needed to protect your system.

This is precisely one of the best things about AVG Anti-Virus. It works completely in the background, without the need of half the system resources and of course, without constantly bothering you with warning windows or update messages. You can just go on with your work and you won’t even notice you have an antivirus application up and running.  The default install has slightly more verbose language than I like, but you can edit the settings and disable these notifications.

AVG Anti-Virus features real time system protection against viruses and spyware, an email scanner, special plug-ins for Office and a browser toolbar that lets you browse the web safe and sound. Please note that installing the AVG Toolbar with Yahoo! obviously installs the Yahoo! toolbar.  You can opt to not install it if you choose.

The whole package should be enough to ensure you’re not infected with any virus. Also, the program integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer, thus allowing you to scan files from context menus by right clicking. AVG Anti-Virus’s database is automatically updated on a daily basis so you are always protected even from the most recently discovered threats.   You can obviously change the settings as to how frequently the database is updated.  From what I have seen, the database is very comprehensive and provides more than adequate protection.  The program supports scheduled scans as well so for those that are super paranoid, you can have it run every night, or every week without having to sit there.

AVG is offered in English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Brazilian (Portugese) and works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and many Linux flavours.  We’ll have more articles on that later.

Special Offer

Get AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 – 2 years for the price of 1! today.

Windows 7 includes five themes that will help you customize Windows to fit your taste.  If you are tired of the default themes there are a few sites where you can download more. Check out these sites:

• The Official Microsoft Windows 7 Personalization site
• iThinkDiff.com’s Windows 7 Themes
• IntoWindows Windows 7 Themes 
• Mike Swanson’s Themes
• Windows 7 Box Logo Themes

People have been wasting their time troubleshooting plugins and extensions but usually this leads nowhere as the real issue is that during installation the actxprxy.dll file did not install properly during the upgrade.  This is because of a bug in the code, that if the dll was loaded it could not be overwritten.  If you have a similar problem with IE8, fixing the issue is as simple as a running one command.

Just open up an administrative level command prompt and type in regsvr32 actxprxy.dll and hit Enter.

Reboot your computer and your tab issue should be resolved.

1. Click on the Start Button, type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
2. Once the Local Group Policy Editor has loaded navigate through User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Start Menu and Taskbar, and locate Add Search Internet link to Start Menu near the top.
   
3. Right click on Add Search Internet link to Start Menu and select Edit.
4. On the edit screen select Enabled and click OK.
   
5. Close the Local Group Policy Editor.  You should now see the link restored on the Start Menu.