On my Gmail page I first noticed the Scroll Bars on the left (in yellow, shown at bottom of page).  With this feature you don’t have to check which labels you want to see, you have all of them with a simple scroll up or down.  Neat addition.  These are now defaults so if you don’t like them (I can’t imagine why) you cannot set them back to the old GUI.

Another new default change with Gmail. Notice when you scroll down an email page, especially with Vertical/Horizontal view off, the command/control bar scrolls with your view so they are available anywhere while viewing your email. Another great long overdue innovation again by Google.

Next, you can now show your emails to the right of the selected email (Vertical) or below it (Horizontal).  However, unlike the scroll bars this must be added through the Labs part of Gmail. To add this feature:

1. Click the gear in the upper right of the window.
2. Choose Mail Settings.
3. Next, Labs.
4. In the search box type Preview Pane.
5. Enable it.
6. Save Changes.
7. You are done.

Back in Gmail it will be set up Vertically like mine below and sorry for the blurring but hey, its my stuff.

To change it to Horizontal click the down arrow above your email and to the right (orange arrow in graphic) and choose the way you want to view your email.  You can also reset it to the old way by clicking the button or using the arrow again.  Now when you click an email from the list it will open where you want it.

Have fun and thanks Google!

Tags: cloud, Email, free apps, Gmail, gmail settings, google, horizontal view, innovation, labels, online email, personal, preview pane, scroll bars, search box

You may be tired of reading about Google Earth, Gmail, Google Calendar, Gmail Call and all other “G” related apps from me.  However, when they offer something unique, useful or just plain fun, I feel like I owe it to you to let you know about them.

This week I stumbled on one I had never heard about.  It may have been out for a while and I was just uninformed; nevertheless, it is new to me and may be new and quite useful for you.  “Gmail Alias Address”.  Yes, I know it is another “G” feature, but this is good and useful.

Pretend you have some communications going with a local company or person.  You would like all of the emails from that entity to go to a particular folder/label in Gmail.  You could always create a filter in Gmail for any email coming from that person to go into the correct folder.  But think ahead a bit.  What if that person hands your email address to another person to send you more information about the project?  That email will then go to your overcrowded inbox and you may miss it.

OK, how about this?  Instead of a filter for the person create a filter for the Subject Line.  That way, if anyone sends you an email with “Super Project” in the subject line the email will go to a particular folder in Gmail.  But wait (again).  What if someone misspells the subject line or changes it?  You may have another missed email.

Here is the way Alias Address works in Gmail.  You have the ability to create a “new” email address or “alias”.  Just place a “+” between your actual Gmail Username and your created alias then add “@gmail.com”.  Give the concerned parties that address only.

To try it out I created a Gmail address for us to play with “dblclx@gmail.com”.  Do not write me there since I may delete it in a couple of months.  However, for the next couple of weeks write me at dblclx+DNR@gmail.com.  Capitalization does not matter in the address.

I created a filter in that account for the DNR alias to move emails addressed to that alias into a particular folder.  That is all you do.  Just add the plus symbol between your username and whatever you want to call it.  It is not a new account and any email sent there will still be delivered to your email address.  If one day you don’t want to deal with those emails any longer, you can create a filter to delete them instead of placing it in the specific folder.  Think of the possibilities.  You could set up different aliases for people, websites, news, a group of people, etc.  The possibilities are endless…as long as you can keep up with them all.

Tags: +, alias, email alias, Gmail, google

If you are a Gmail user you will have noticed something new in the last couple of weeks. If you did not notice it you must have popup ads blocked on your browser. Google was pretty persistent in letting you know about it. I am not sure of the exact name of the feature since it appears to be part Gmail and part Google Voice. However, since the link to details about it is gmail.com/call, I guess we can call it Gmail Call.

It is a contender for the almost monopolistic hold Skype (skype.com) had on the internet calling/phone business.

They both allow you to call a phone or computer via their website using their designated add-ons. Yes, both are free (in the US) and both require you to install software. Do not be too concerned. The software install is pretty painless for both. Since you already have a Gmail account it is a bit easier and quicker to use the Google version.

Gmail Call is very easy to set up. When you are in your Gmail account look down the left side  of the window for a link titled, “Call Phone”. It will be located under your “Chat” section. All you have to do now is click on the link.

If you have not used it previously you will be asked to install the calling software. It took somewhat less than a minute to install it on my system.

The next time you want to try it out simply click the same, “Call Phone” link again. This time you will be presented with a dial pad that looks like it came from a different sort of phone. For instructions and pictures of what to expect go to, “gmail.com/call” where you can install the dialer and get more information.

The first day it rolled out I saw it right away since I am on my Gmail account most every day. Of course, I immediately installed it and it worked flawlessly. I naturally called my own cell phone first, just to see how it sounded. Keep in mind I was using my Acer Aspire One netbook’s little speaker to talk to my phone. It sounded very clear. I next left myself a voice mail; also good. Finally I called my wife and once she figured out it was me (coming from a Google phone number) she could hear me, and vice-versa, just fine.

I thought it was a good experience and though I only use my cell phone for calling people, with the video addition to Gmail Call I could be using it more. Google created a funny little cartoon you may want to take a look at about the new feature at, “bit.ly/Gmail-Call”.

Tags: Gmail, google, IP, phone, telephony, voice

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

I recently received a distressing email from Barbara, Broadway, VA, about being hacked.  Her email started like this, "Yesterday I got up, turned on my computer, and found that my Gmail had been hacked…"  Once they had her email address it allowed them to gain control of her Facebook account too.

Her passwords were not accepted and her alternate Gmail address had been changed to one that she didn’t own.  (Gmail and other online email apps use an alternate to contact you in case something detrimental happens on their site and they need to get a hold of you.  I have never had the need for one yet.)  The hacker had also gone on to delete her address book and all of her contacts in it. 

Of course, all of her email was deleted…or so she thought.  She found later, after communicating with Gmail that all of her Sent mail had been put into her Junk folder, so at least she still had those.  They had forward all of her incoming emails to another account of theirs.  If your Gmail account is hacked you may want to read this and check a few account settings http://bit.ly/9u1CZi.

Why do we get hacked?  As Barbara later discovered it was not someone local who got into her accounts.  They were hacked by someone or some organization in Nigeria.  The bad guys are usually hoping to get your bank account numbers, charge card info, etc.  They also may want to run scams on your friends, making them think you are excited about something the hacker can make money on.  The reasons are endless.

Barbara has not been the only one in the area to be hacked, so do not think it can’t happen to you.  Please take preventative action online or you may have some headaches.

At this time there isn’t any way to stay absolutely "unhackable" but there are things you can do to help prevent it.  First and foremost, make your passwords hard for others to get.  Make sure they are at least eight characters long.  Use upper case, lower case and symbols in your passwords.  Absolutely do not use the same password on all of your accounts.  If you do, when they get one, they get them all and your info is theirs!  Change your passwords several times a year.  If you don’t use an account, close it down.

I have over 194 different password protected sites I keep up.  Yes, I have a super-human photographic memory.  I remember each and every password for each individual site.  NOT! More about that in the near future.

Tags: Email, facebook, Gmail, hack, hacked, hijacked

Last week we talked about the top online email programs.  Today I will discuss the top two I have heard about from readers and others in the area.

Although, Yahoo! Mail was listed as number one around the world, those I have heard from put Gmail and Windows Live Mail as their favorites.  Mine is not a very scientific poll since I used emails from you all and asked people I work with.  Keep in mind, the majority of my coworkers are geeks which could be skewing the results. 

Windows Live Mail (WLM from here on out) has two different address formats.  In 1996 there was Hotmail.com.  Then in 2005 Microsoft decided to revamp the name and add more functionality so Live Mail was born. Therefore, if you have an older account you have a "hotmail.com" address, while the newer members have "live.com" as their address.  Being the geek tester that I am, I have one of each but rarely use either.

With Gmail everyone has the same domain in their address.  They are all formatted as, name@gmail.com.  Gmail started in 2004 by invitation only and then went public for everyone in 2007. 

WLM  will very shortly (maybe by the time you read this) be expanding storage on the site to 25GB.  They will allow this for email and all other types of files with their "Live Sky Drive" app.  Gmail started out with 1 GB of storage and continues to expand daily.  It is now at approximately 7.5 GB.  The issue I have with Gmail is that the storage is not contained in one location.

As stated above Gmail provides an ever increasing 7.5 GB of storage for email only.  Google’s Picasa Web Albums offers 1 GB of storage for photos and videos only. Google Docs gives you 1 GB for everything else; all of your docs, spreadsheets, presentations etc.  You should know this free storage is not transferable from one product or application to another.  My belief is that Google will be merging them together sooner or later. It will most likely be sooner, once Microsoft finishes rolling out their 25 GB.

Both WLM and Gmail offer calendars, address books and more online.  One very important factor is that it is all free.  Of course, both offer upgrades in storage size for a charge.  The basics should be more than enough for the average user.

After doing a review of the two I found that even though I exclusively use Gmail; Live Mail has a lot to offer.  Of course, there is Google Voice but more on that another time.

Tags: applications, Email, Gmail, live mail, microsoft, online, yahoo

I get a lot of questions about online email programs.  I hear: Which one is safest?  Which one is best?  Which one has the better features?  Etcetera, etcetera.  I have to say that I believe a lot of those questions can best be answered by each individual.  You may have to try out several if you don’t use one as your main email program now.

I prowled around the net looking for the most popular programs and found the following as of May, 2010.  At that time, the most popular email websites according to “Email Marketing Reports” were Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail and AOL Mail.  This data is based on US Internet usage and is in descending order of popularity. First of all I wonder who does not have an email account by now.  However, I am sure new users hit the net every day.  Toward the end of 2009 there were a reported 1.4 Billion active email accounts in the world.  That works out to about one for every five people on earth.  So there are still many out there that have none.

Many users have multiple email accounts.  For instance, I have one specifically for this column.  I have another one for friends and family, an extra for online purchases and a final one acts as a “throwaway” account.  The last one is used when I have to sign up on a site for something and I know that it will create more spam.  I use it for what I need and then check it every week or so and delete all of the junk mail.

In some respects I realize that I am not that much different from other geeks.  I imagine that in reality less than 1/5 people have email accounts.  As an example, my wife, a non-geek, has two email accounts – one for personal use and the other for work.  I would imagine that is more the norm.

As for me I have tried them all.  However, some I haven’t looked at in years.  In the past I have  used all of the top four and still have those accounts active.  I know they are because I checked them this week.  Over the long haul I have chosen to go with Gmail.com as my main online email provider.  They have other extras I really appreciate although Windows Live mail is looking good.  Maybe we will look at that next week.

Let me know which online email services you use and like best.

Tags: aol, Email, Gmail, windows live, yahoo

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

From Monday’s call about how to remove Buzz from Gmail, I received another resolution from a listener.  (Sorry I deleted the email and can’t remember show sent it…but you know who you are.)

I told the caller to first log into Gmail:

1. Click Settings.  
2. Go to the Labels link.
3. Click the hide link, see below.

That’s it, now go back to your Gmail inbox and that’s all.

The listener who emailed me later in the day suggested that you could just remove Google Buzz, like this:

1. Log into Gmail
2. From the main screen look at the bottom and click the Turn off Buzz link.
3. That’s it…
4. However, I have read that Google may tie this in to other Gmail features so that when you cut Buzz of you could loose other functionality…which hasn’t happened at the time of this post. 
   (See the before and after pics below.)

Personally I prefer, at this moment in time, to hide the link as described in the first instructions above.  But you can pick and use your own.

Also, either one can be turned back on or unhidden so you can try them both…just make sure if you Turn it off first you Turn it back on before you try to hide it.  If Buzz is off it will not appear in the links to be able to be hidden.

Tags: Buzz, Gmail, google, Jim Britt, Q&A, talk radio, WSVA