I receive many emails with questions regarding RSS feeds, so it must be time to revisit them.

RSS means (pick one) “RDF Site Summary”, “Rich Site Summary”, or more commonly “Really Simple Syndication”.  There may be others out there.  I have no idea what the problem is with picking one name for this feature.   “Really Simple Syndication” seems to be the most popular.

How would you like to get regular revisions on sites you often visit without having to go there each time you want to check for new updates or “news feeds”?  That is RSS.  You can receive the site’s latest information whether text, audio, video or just about any other form of media in RSS feeds.

There are basically two steps for using RSS.

First you need a RSS Reader which allows you to read the news feeds.  Be aware…there are millions!  Try Google’s Reader and see what you get.  If you have a BlackBerry, as I do, you can use Viigo.com.  A good basic freebie is Bloglines.  You can also use Mozilla’s Firefox or Thunderbird.  The possibilities are endless.  The last one I will mention is “FeedReader” which is an old favorite of mine.  Just pick one out, and try it. If you like it, keep using it. If not, toss it since they are all free.

FeedReader is a good choice for a new person just starting out with RSS.  This is because it has several categories where “Feeds” are already set up.  You can play with them and see how they work before adding your own.  Also FeedReader looks a lot like a regular email program so you don’t have to get used to a new GUI (Graphical Use Interface).  Again, there are a multitude of readers out there — try them and find one you like.

All readers work very similarly, some just have more “buttons and bells”.  Usually you click on the category that you want to read, say “Sports, Baseball” and a list of recent news items will be made available.  Click on the item/feed you wish to read (there will be a sentence or two describing it) and enjoy.

Next, a site must be configured for a RSS “feed”.  You don’t have anything to do with that, it is done by the web site.

RSS feeds are usually very easy to spot.  Go to almost any news site and look for the standard RSS logo.  It is usually an orange square with rounded edges. There is a dot in the lower left corner with two arches pointing to the NE corner.  Give RSS feeds a try and you can stay up-to-date with many of your favorite sites.  I don’t use the RSS logo on my page.  It simply says, “Entries RSS“.

Click the orange link. When the page opens choose the area you like and copy the URL into your reader’s new feed area.  Experiment because you can add and delete feeds at will.

There are “feeds” for everything. Just find the orange emblem and try it.  Try one of my favorites at the Weather Channel.

Tags: Double Click, feed, Firefox, Gmail, google, microsoft, mozilla, news, rss

Thanks for the emails I received regarding the last column about “Secure P@55w0rdz“.  Most of you commented on the spelling I used in that word.  That is somewhat standard usage by geeks.  I’m glad you enjoyed it.  Apparently it caused a few of you to increase your passwords’ difficultly level which is a good thing.  Several of you asked how to rate the strength of your password. Here is a site at Microsoft where you can check yours out, http://bit.ly/cG2pw0.

On to today… I received many questions about programs to read and send email.  Today we will look at some of the most popular free ones.  Don’t forget, “Ron likes free best!”, so that is all I will discuss today.

My old favorite was Microsoft Outlook Express; however, since companies always like to change things – they did.  With the dawn of Windows 7, OE was done away with and replaced by Windows Live Mail, explore.live.com/windows-live-mail.  This is a good email program but MS has something I like even better.  If you do not want to add another program to your computer, MS has an online version which includes even more.  There you will find email which does not require a download called Windows Live.  You can get to it the old way at hotmail.com or the new way at mail.live.com.  They go to the same site.

Next on my list is Thunderbird which is located at Mozilla.com.  If that address looks familiar to you it is because they are also the company which created Firefox (a great browser you could try while there).  Thunderbird has all the bells and whistles too, but make sure you only use IMAP in the setup if you know what it is.  I personally don’t care for IMAP but that’s just me.  To find out more about IMAP go to bit.ly/bYXOtk.

In my opinion those are the best for Windows users.  I would also like to mention that if you use Google’s Gmail account, they made a big change just this week.  Now Gmail is a little off topic since it is online only (although it can be added to the other two programs).  However, if you have multiple Gmail accounts you should use this new feature.

Log into your favorite Gmail account because this will be set to default.  Now, go to Settings / Accounts and Import / Google Account Settings and change “Multiple sign in” to on.  Then add your other Gmail accounts, follow the directions and you will like it.  After that you will be able to switch back and forth between those accounts without having to log off and back on.  Nice feature Gmail…thanks!

Tags: bit.ly, Firefox, Gmail, live mail, microsoft, mozilla, thunderbird

Thanks for the emails regarding the previous Firefox Add-ons I have written about over the last couple of columns.   Also, I’m glad to hear that several of you saved a lot of money using the "Invisible Hand" add-on I mentioned.  Tim wrote to say he saved almost $100 on a purchase he made using that add-on!  This will be the last week we’ll deal with Add-ons and then we will move on to something different.

Today I have three for you; one for help, one for fun and one for a neat application.

First, for Google-lovers is the "Google Toolbar" add-on.  If you use Google and/or Gmail and want a quick way to access their features you have to try this one out.  This add-on is also available for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.  It is added into FF differently than the previous ones I’ve mentioned.  Go to "toolbar.google.com" in either browser and the correct toolbar will be installed.  After the installation is finished you will be able to search in Google and check your Gmail, as well as access many other Google related features conveniently from your browser.  Play with the options and see what other useful resources you can come up with!

Next is an add-on which is mostly for convenience, (OK, and a little bit of fun for the geeks out there) "Prism for Firefox".  Prism is the reason I no longer use Google Chrome which allows you to create a "web-application" from a web site.  Yes, I know it is a Google product and I am a Google fan-boy but I don’t care for their browser. 

Prism allows you to create an individual web-application out of any webpage.  For instance, for those of us who enjoy listening to the free music from Pandora.com, it can be combined with Prism to act like a separate program on your computer. 

After installing it in Firefox, log into your Pandora.com account (Prism will work on any site but Pandora shows how well it works.)  Now choose Tools from the menu bar and "Convert Website to Application".  You will be asked to choose a couple of settings such as where to save the link, etc. Placing the link on the desktop is a good starting point.

Next, go look on your desktop and you will see an icon for Pandora, or whatever site you used.  If you double click the icon only Pandora will open in a window. It will run in its own window.  You can run Prism with any website, including online games. 

Be creative and let me know how you have used these add-ons.

Tags: add-on, Firefox, google, Google Toolbar, Prism

I received many emails asking me more about Firefox Add-ons after last week’s column.  So today we are going to look at a few more.  Keep those emails coming since I want to write about what interests you!

If you have any questions about basic Firefox Add-ons you need to read last week’s column about "Invisible Hand" and "Tabloc" online at the DNR or at the DoubleClicks.info site.   

"Forecastbar Enhanced" is another helpful add-on.  It allows you to set your location, via zip code, to get your local weather forecasts.  The forecasts are from Accuweather.com.  Other than the current weather forecasts, radar images, etc., you can display it in different locations in FF.  I keep mine in the status bar at the bottom of the Firefox window, which is the default.  You can also set it up to show forecasts for several days in the future. 

The next one I would like to share with you is called, "FoxTab".  "FoxTab" will allow you to set the sites you most often visit.  It will allow you to add any site to your top site "list" and quickly go to it at another time.  It enables a screen preview of "My Top Sites" in several great GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) which you can pick from.  Not only is it useful, it also looks good.  Once you bring your top site window up by clicking a button on your toolbar, you click on the site you want to go to and it pops right up.  Yes, this is like your favorites but in a slick new format.

The last one I will mention today is for you Gmail users.  It is called, "Gmail Manager".  This add-on allows you to set your Gmail account to be visible in your status bar, showing your unread emails.  By clicking on the account it will open your Gmail account in Firefox as if you had logged into Gmail.com yourself.  Then you can deal with your emails as you normally would.  It is set to a default of checking for new emails every 15 minutes but you can adjust that, along with other settings in the options for this add-on.  It will also allow you to keep track of multiple Gmail accounts at the same time.  Of course, that is for you geeks who, like me have more than one Gmail account.

Have fun trying these out and remember they are all free.  If you don’t like them you can easily uninstall them. 

Let me know if you would like to see some more next week…I have about 20 add-ons that I use in Firefox.

Tags: accuweather, add-in, add-on, Firefox, Forecast, foxtab, Gmail, GUI, mozilla, radar, tabloc, weather

I get many questions about Firefox Add-ons and have not written about them for the past several years.  So today I will discuss two of my favorite Add-ons.

Add-ons "add" more features to this great browser and if you haven’t used FF you should download it and try it out at mozilla.com.  Add-ons can get extra info from the browser that can be really helpful and save time. 

Getting to Add-ons is simple.  While in FF, click on Tools | Add-ons and a window will open  revealing those currently installed.  Next, click the Get Add-ons tab and they will supply a few suggestions or you may search for others.  To search for others type in the name of the Add-on you need in the search box.  Double click on the one you want to try out and it will install.  You must restart Firefox for it to start working.

The first one I would like to suggest was built for those of you who like online shopping.  "Invisible Hand" is really a cost saver.  Once you install it, (without having to make any setting changes) it sits quietly in the background and you can forget about it. 

I was looking for a SanDisk® Cruzer® 32GB Flash Drive at an office supply site.  Within 15 seconds of reading about the drive; a bar popped up at the top of the page.  It gave me the exact item at three other sites.  You are thinking, "Well, terrific! That is no big deal."

However, the terrific part is that it lists the other three prices.  The site I looked at had the drive on sale for $139.99.  The other suggested sites had it for $58.90, $64.84 and $79.99, respectively.  It also does the math for you and says you could save $81.09!  Then (if I had $60 extra to spend) I could click the link and purchase it elsewhere.  And did I mention that all Add-ons are free?

Firefox has tabbed browsing as do all modern browsers.  When you look up something on Google or Bing you get a list of sites to check out.  When you click the link it usually replaces the search page with the link you clicked.  Then to view the other list items you have to click your back button to see them. 

With "Tabloc" running you can set it up so that when you double click a tab it locks in place.  This causes all other links on that page to open in a new tab.  Just view the other site you choose and click back on the existing search tab to check others.  This will significantly decrease your searching time.  Tabloc has other neat settings too, so explore the "options".

Last time I wrote about Add-ons I received overwhelming requests for more.  If that happens again I will talk about more next week.

Tags: add-on, addons, Firefox, invisible hand, mozilla, save money, savings, tabloc

Several of you continued the USB line of thought from the last column and mentioned portable applications.  I thought I had written about these years ago.  However, after a search of over 750 columns I’ve written I realized that I had not mentioned them, so here we go.

A quick definition is needed here for what portable applications are and how are they used.

A portable application is a “stand alone” program that does not need to be installed on a computer’s hard drive.  When you install a regular program there are files that are written all over your computer.  For instance, many entries may be made in your windows’ registry file along with other folders somewhere else.  A portable application is installed in one main folder and no other entries are written anywhere else on the system.  This is like a step back in time.  In the DOS days and the originating days of windows all programs were installed like this; however, things are now different.

The first and predominate portable applications site is called, appropriately enough, “Portable Apps“.  If you go there you can install the basic program on your USB stick and it will provide a lot of good “little” programs.  It creates a menu system so that when you plug your USB stick in it will pop up and you can run your portable applications from there.

There are three different Portable Apps from which to choose.  The differences are in size and  what programs you get with each one.  The first choice, “Platform Only” will only install the basic program.  I don’t find this one to be very useful.  It  is only 1.3MB in size but it doesn’t do much to help you out.

The other two installs are called “Suite Lite” and “Suite Standard”.  These two are respectively 150MB and 355MB in size.  The minimum recommended sizes for your USB device is 256MB and 512MB, again depending on which version you choose.

Each of the larger versions include most of the Mozilla apps like the FireFox browser, Thunderbird email, a messaging program, an antivirus program and several other apps.  The difference between the two is that the larger version includes Open Office Portable version.  That is an excellent substitute for Microsoft Office on a budget…it is free as are all of these apps.  You can look for other portable programs online too.

Why would you want to install these or a USB stick?  You go to a friend’s house and want to do some work on your newspaper column or your personal budget.  You can perform everything you need to on your USB stick after plugging it into their computer.  None of your information is left behind on their computer since you have used your portable “system” to do your work and store your files.  You can check your email, surf the web, etc. without leaving behind any of your private information on someone else’s system.

It provides a good use for your USB thumb drive other than using it for storage only.  There are other portable app sites online – Google for them.  Even so; “Portable Apps” is the first, and in my opinion the best.

Tags: computer, Firefox, google, iPod, memory, Portable Applications, Ron Doyle, thumb drive, usb

Today we get to see part two of the 2009, Double Click review.  Sit back, relax and browse the web for the sites that interest you.  As always, if you prefer clicking to typing please visit the DoubleClicks.info site and read the column later the same day it is published in the paper and actually click the links.

Here they are in their order of their appearance with short descriptions if needed.

• WalMart.com and Costco.com, these need no explanation; although, I wrote about their specific ability to print your vacation photos online.
• Picnik.com, an online photo editing program.
• Picasa, a site where you can download a photo organizational tool to edit and store digital pictures but you can also upload them to Picasa online to create photo albums.  (Our vacation photos shortened, http://bit.ly/lJgaF)
• Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows, an excellent blog about MS Windows products.
• MSNBC news & information site
• CrossWalk, a Christian study, blog, information site, etc.
• RonDoyle.wordpress.com, my boring blog which is pretty much in no way related to my columns.
• WordPress.com & WordPress.org, two sites for creating your own blog (There are differences between the two.)
• Hulu.com, an online site where you can view movies and many current TV shows for free.
• Firefox (mozilla.com), today’s best internet browser (in my opinion).
• Microsoft Office 2007 discount (TheUltimateSteal.com), the entire MS Office program for students at a much discounted price of $59.95 (as of the date I wrote this…it may not last long).
• Bing.com, Microsoft’s new online search engine.
• Google Earth, a great mapping application.
• MMTaskbar, extend your task bar across multiple monitors.
• Desk Drive, allows a desktop icon to appear when you plug in an external drive, including thumb drives.
• MS Live Workspace & Google Docs, two similar but different free online file storage sites.
• Google Chrome, Google’s internet browser.
• Evony, free online role playing game.
• Gutenberg.org, Audible.com & Podiobooks.com, three online books sites which have text and/or audio books for free and/or a price.
• Medicalert.org.
• Go to My PC, a site that allows you to login to your home/work computer from another location.
• Team Viewer, similar to above but free and not as stable.

I hope you have found the two "Year in Review" columns helpful!  Don’t forget to keep those emails coming in 2010.

Tags: audible, bing, chrome, Costco, crosswalk wordpress, desk drive, evony, Firefox, google, google docs, gutenberg, hulu, medicalert, mmtaskbar, mozilla, paul thurrott, picasa, picnik, podiobooks, RDP, supersite for windows, taskbar, team viewer, Wal-Mart