10 MORE AWESOME GOOGLE TRICKS

10  MORE AWESOME GOOGLE TRICKS

Getting the most out of Google products such as Gmail, Docs, and YouTube is a must if you're using them for business. However, the products are so packed with features that it can be hard to keep up.

Here are 10 little-known features across various Google services that could change the way you work, or perhaps make life that little bit easier.

1. View All Kinds of Files Online

Google Docs Viewer is a neat little Website that lets everybody view files online, avoiding the need to download and open them manually. Despite its name, you don't have to be a Google Docs user to access it. All you need do is visit Google Docs Viewer and enter the address of the file you want to view. (Gmail users will find that attachments in messages are automatically linked to the Google Docs Viewer--just click the View link at the end of the message.) Until recently it was only possible to view office documents, such as Microsoft Word or Excel files, but a few weeks ago the list expanded significantly to include Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files, TrueType fonts, AutoCad files, and even files created by Apple's iWork Pages.

2. Send Somebody a URL to View a File Online

Google Docs Viewer lets you view all kinds of files online. Another feature of the Google Docs Viewer Website mentioned above is that you can create your own URLs that point to files online, and send them to others so they can instantly view the file by clicking the link.

Just make the first part of the URL read as follows:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=

And then add the URL of the file straight afterwards, including the http:// component. If I wanted somebody to be able to view the Microsoft Word file located athttp://keirthomas.com/dump/testfile.docx, for example, I'd send them the following URL:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://keirthomas.com/dump/testfile.docx

3. Add 'S' For Safety

Practically all of Google's services can be accessed via HTTPS, which makes for a totally secure connection across the Internet--the same kind of connection online banks use. Just add an "S" to the http:// part of the address to make https://. For example, to view the Microsoft Word file mentioned above over a secure connection, you could type the following:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://keirthomas.com/dump/testfile.docx

Gmail can be configured to use HTTPS always by clicking the Settings link at the top right, and then selecting Always use HTTPS under the Browser Connectionheading that appears.

4. Avoid Account Hijacking

To ensure that nobody but you ever accesses your Google account, you can have Google phone you with a confirmation code or send a SMS to your cell phone, every time you login. That way, even if somebody steals or second guesses your password, there's simply no way they can access your account.

This security is known as a two-stage verification procedure, which you can set up here. Note that this service is still being rolled out and might not yet be available to you. Keep checking back, however, because the intention is for it to be available to all Google users.

Gmail users can also use an @google-mail.com address.

A drawback (or benefit) of the new security is that you might need to add new, specific passwords for certain Google services, such as mobile Gmail, desktop Picasa, or AdWords Editor. This is because these services don't yet work with the two-step verification process. Signing up using the link above will walk you through what's required.

5. Use Two Different E-mail Addresses

You might already know about Gmail aliases, which is to say, using periods or plus symbols to extend your standard Gmail address so you can filter for spam.

What you might not know is that you can use @google-mail.com as well as @gmail.com. In other words, if you normally use example.address@gmail.com for your e-mail, then you can also use example.address@google-mail.com , and the message will still reach you. You could use @google-mail.com when signing up to newsletters, for example, and create a filter rule within Gmail to sort any messages sent to that address into a spam folder.

The @google-mail.com address came about because of trademark issues in Europe, where Gmail was already being used by rival services.

6. See Who Last Accessed Your Account

Worried somebody's been snooping on your Gmail account? By clicking the Details link at the very bottom of the Gmail page, you can view when, where and how your Gmail account was last accessed. The last 10 logins are listed.

7. Test Your YouTube Connection

Has YouTube been stuttering, or just a little slow? By right-clicking any video and selecting Take Speed Test or just visiting this speed-test link , you can compare your playback speed to others who use your ISP, as well as comparing it to the average speed for your city, and country. By clicking the Show Video Test link, you can measure your speed. Just look at the HTTP section in the information window at the top left of the video display to see how quickly you're receiving the video file.

8. Drag and Drop

You can drag and drop files onto Gmail windows if using Chrome or Firefox.

If you're using Firefox or Google Chrome to access Google's services, you can often drag and drop files onto the browser window if the Google product is one that works with files.

For example, when creating a mail message, you can simply drag and drop files onto the browser window to instantly attach them (you'll need to "drop" them over the green Drop Files Here area). If creating a word processor document in Google Docs, you can drag and drop pictures into the browser window to place them on the page.

This doesn't work with Internet Explorer, unfortunately.

9. See if Google Services Are Working

Ever tried to access one of Google's services but you've been unable to? If you're like me, the first think you'll do is ask any colleagues nearby whether they can access the service. Well, no more. By visiting the Google Apps Status page you can see at a glance whether there are any problems, and if so, what the nature of the problem is.

10. Collaborate on Documents within Microsoft Office

If you're not quite ready to take the plunge into working with Google Docs through your Web browser, you can download the Google Cloud Connect plugin for Microsoft Office, which is now freely available after a long period of testing. This allows more than one person to work on a Microsoft Office file that's been uploaded to somebody's Google Docs space. Any edits made by others are instantly reflected within the document, all within the standard Microsoft Office program window, and you have the added benefit that files are stored in Google's cloud and revisions tracked.

MUST HAVE CHROME EXTENSIONS...

GOOGLE DICTIONARY: With this extension, you can:

1) Double-click any word to view its definition in a small pop-up bubble.

2) View the complete definition of any word or phrase using the address bar dictionary.

SPEED DIAL: Speed Dial for Chrome - replace Chrome new tab with your predefined visual bookmarks. Use site logos as speed dials. Customized dials thumbnail image. Edit dials title and url. Add new dials directly from the speed dial page. Dials thumbnails are updateable (see the options page). Customize the distance between the dials. Speed Dial grid can be set up to 9x9 matrixes. Bookmarks bar now displays also folders.

ESPN CRICINFO: ESPNcricinfo extension for Google Chrome, giving you the latest cricket news, features and live scores from the world's leading and favourite cricket site, ESPNcricinfo.com.

CURRENCY CONVERTER: This extension add a new button to your browser toolbar. Click the button 

to open a popup where you can convert 162 different currencies.

FACEBOOK PHOTO ZOOM: Facebook Photo Zoom is a simple, light-weight extension that integrates directly into Facebook so you can see the larger images of photo albums, profile photos and more whenever you hover over a zoomable image!

FACEBOOK FOR GOOGLE CHROME: Extension which lets you read your Facebook news feed and wall. You can also post status updates.

COOLIRIS: Meet Cooliris, the 3D Wall that speeds up search on Google Images, YouTube, Flickr, and more. Enjoy the richest way to view photos from Facebook, Picasa, and even your own computer. On our infinite 3D Wall, you can effortlessly scroll though thousands of images and videos in seconds without having to click from page to page.

GOOGLE CALENDAR: Anyone who uses Google Calendar will want to install the excellent Google Calendar extension. Click its icon, and you'll be able to see your calendar, complete with all events, right in its own pop-up window. You can also add events. A nice plus is that it displays all of your Google calendars, or just those you want to see.

GOOGLE MAIL CHECKER PLUS: Another excellent extension, Google Mail Checker Plus, notifies you when you have new mail in Gmail--and it does plenty more, as well. Its icon shows you the messages waiting in your inbox; click the icon, and for each message you can see the sender, the subject line, the first line of text, and the day it was sent. Click any message to read the whole thing, or to reply. It's a great way to use Gmail without having to actually visit the site.

MAILBROWSER: Although it focuses on contacts and attachments rather than messages, MailBrowser is another terrific way to get the most out of Gmail when you're using Chrome. You click its icon to drop down a list of all of your Gmail contacts. Afterward, you can click any contact to get more details, including links to the business where the contact works. You'll also be able to see all the e-mail you've exchanged with each contact, as well as to manage all the file attachments sent between you and the contact.

CHROMED BIRD: Chromed Bird is a Twitter extension that allows you to follow your timelines and interact with your Twitter account.

PANIC BUTTON: PanicButton makes it easier for you to hide all of your tabs at once just by clicking on a button. They are then saved as bookmarks in a separate folder. After that the PanicButton turns green and shows you how many tabs are currently hidden. Another click on the PanicButton restores all of the tabs you have hidden earlier. You know when this would be useful. 

GLEEBOX: Plenty of extensions out there can help Chrome work better when you're browsing the Web. GleeBox, for one, is a clever extension that lets you use your keyboard rather than a mouse, for more-efficient browsing. Using it, you'll be able to scroll and select text fields from the keyboard, for example.

GOOGLE QUICK SCROLL: Another top-notch choice is Google Quick Scroll. First, search using Google, and then click a search result to go to a Web page. When you do so, Google Quick Scroll pops up as a small window at the bottom of the screen, showing you the text on the page where your search term appears. Click the window, and you'll jump straight to that spot.

IE TAB FOR CHROME: Chrome users at times get frustrated when browsing the Web, because some sites were built to display in Internet Explorer, and as a result they display improperly in Chrome. There's a simple solution: Grab IE Tab for Chrome. When you visit a Website that needs Internet Explorer to display correctly, click the IE Tab link, and the site will open in a new tab that uses Internet Explorer to display it.

DOCS PDF/POWERPOINT VIEWER: The useful Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer solves a frequent and annoying problem: waiting for Adobe Reader to launch when you come across a PDF on the Web, or for PowerPoint to launch when you encounter a PowerPoint file. The extension opens PDF and PowerPoint files in their own tab, with an excellent file viewer. You can also save files to Google Docs or to your local hard disk.

FORECASEFOX WEATHER: You'll also want to collect several miscellaneous Chrome extensions that accomplish a wide variety of tasks. Forecastfox Weather, for example, puts weather information within easy reach. Its icon shows you the current temperature and whether conditions are sunny, cloudy, raining, or snowing. Hover your mouse over the icon, and you get a brief description of the weather, such as 'Light rain, 36 degrees Fahrenheit'. Click it, and it produces a full week's weather forecast from Accuweather in a pop-up window, including a weather map. Click any day to go to the Accuweather site for more details.

FASTEST CHROME: Doing some quick research? Fastest Chrome does a nice job of grabbing Wikipedia content and displaying it in its own window. Highlight a term, and you can then see a Wikipedia summary, or else transfer to the Wikipedia Website. Fastest Chrome also enhances Google search.

APTURE HIGHLIGHTS: Since Fastest Chrome can be somewhat erratic, an even better bet is Apture Highlights. Just highlight a term and click an icon that appears above the term--a pop-up appears with a definition of the term, photos, and links to videos, pictures, and search results. Click a picture or video, and it appears in a full window over your screen. When you're done, click the X to make the window disappear.

You can install all of these at the original google extension store at https://chrome.google.com/extensions?hl=en

Google Crome Tricks

1.     Create desktop and Start menu shortcuts to web apps such as Gmail - go to Gmail.com and then select Create application shortcuts... from the Page Control menu (in the top-right corner of your browser - it looks like a page with the corner folded over). Now choose where you want to place your shortcut. This works for other Google apps such as Calendar and Documents, and other services such as Windows Live Hotmail.

2.       Control + Shift + N opens an 'incognito' window - sites you view in this window won't appear in your history and cookies served by sites in this window will be deleted when the window is closed.

3.       You can open a link in an incognito window by right-clicking the link and selecting Open link in incognito window.

4.       Alt + Home loads your Google Chrome home page, with thumbnails of your most visited sites shown in the active tabbed window.

5.       Control + T opens a new tab. You can drag tabs around to change their order or drag a tab out of the window into its own window.

6.       Control + Shift + T opens your most recently closed tab. Press the key combination again to open the tab closed before that one. Google Chrome remembers the last 10 tabs you've closed.

7.       Jump to different open tabs using Control + 1, Control + 2, Control + 3, etc. Control + 9 takes you to the last tab.

8.       Control + Tab lets you cycle through your open tabs in order.

9.       Control + Shift + Tab cycles through your tabs in the opposite order.

10.   As with Firefox 3, you can drag a link onto a tab to open it in that tab, or drop it between two tabs to open a new tab in that position.

11.   Right-click or hold down the back button and you'll get a drop-down list of sites to go back through. Show Full History, at the bottom of the list, opens a new tab with your full browser history.

12.   Control + H is a faster way to bring up the History page.

13.   Control + J brings up your Downloads page.

14.   Press Control + K or Control + E to search from the address bar. Once pressed, you'll see a ? symbol appear in the address bar and you can simply enter your search query and hit Return.

15.   Right-click the top of the browser window and select Task manager to see how much memory different tabs and plug-ins are using. Highlight one and click End process to stop it running. Shift + Escape is a quicker way to bring up the Google Chrome Task manager.

16.    To see what plug-ins are installed, type about:plugins into the address window.

17.    You can also type the following commands into the Google Chrome address window: about:stats, about:network, about:histograms, about:memory, about:cache, about:dns.

18.   Type about:crash to see what a crashed tab looks like.

19.   A three-second diversion: type about:internets. (Only works in Windows XP.)

20.   Edit any web page - right-click a page and select Inspect element. Now edit the HTML source code and hit Return to view the changes.

Windows 7 Facts and Tools You Might Not Know (Contd..)

1. Use Sticky Notes

The Sticky Notes app is both simpler and more useful in Windows 7. Launch StikyNot.exe and you can type notes at the keyboard; right-click a note to change its colour; click the + sign on the note title bar to add another note; and click a note and press Alt + 4 to close the note windows (your notes are automatically saved).

2. Open folder in new process

By default Windows 7 opens folders in the same process. This saves system resources, but means one folder crash can bring down the entire shell. If your system seems unstable, or you're doing something in Explorer that regularly seems to causes crashes, then open Computer, hold down Shift, right-click on your drive and select Open in New Process. The folder will now be launched in a separate process, and so a crash is less likely to affect anything else.

3. Watch more videos

Windows Media Player 12 is a powerful program, but it still won't play all the audio and video files you'll find online. Fortunately the first freeware Windows 7 codecs package [shark007.net/win7codecs.html] has been released, and installing it could get your troublesome multimedia files playing again.

4. Preview fonts

Open the Fonts window in Windows XP and Vista and you'll see the font names, probably with icons to tell you whether they're TrueType or OpenType, but that's about it. Windows 7 sees some useful font-related improvements.

Open the new fonts window and you'll find a little preview for every font, giving you a quick idea of how they're going to look.

The tedium of scrolling through multiple entries for each family, like Times New Roman, Times New Roman Bold, Times New Roman Bold Italic and so on, has finally ended. There's now just a single entry for each font (though you can still see all other members of the family).

And there's a new OpenType font, Gabriola, added to the mix. It's an attractive script font, well worth a try the next time you need a stylish document that stands out from the crowd.

5. New WordPad formats

By default WordPad will save documents in Rich Text Format, just as before. But browse the Save As Format list and you'll see you can also save (or open, actually) files in the Office 2007 .docx or OpenDocument .odt formats.

6. Protect your data

USB flash drives are convenient, portable, and very easy to lose. Which is a problem, especially if they're carrying sensitive data. Fortunately Windows 7 has the solution: encrypt your documents with an extension of Microsoft's BitLocker technology, and only someone with the password will be able to access it. Right-click your USB flash drive, select Turn on BitLocker and follow the instructions to protect your private files.

7. Minimise quickly with shake

If you have multiple windows open on your desktop and things are getting too cluttered, it used to be a time-consuming process to close them all down. In Windows 7 you can use the Aero Shake feature to minimise everything in seconds, using a cool mouse gesture. Grab the title bar of the window you wish to keep open and give it a shake, and rejoice in a clear desktop area.

8. Run As

Hold down Shift, right-click any program shortcut, and you'll see an option to run the program as a different user, handy if you're logged in to the kids' limited account and need to run something with higher privileges. This isn't really a new feature - Windows XP had a Run As option that did the same thing - but Microsoft stripped it out of Vista, so it's good to see it's had a change of heart.

9. Tweak PC volume

By default Windows 7 will now automatically reduce the volume of your PC's sounds whenever it detects you're making or receiving PC-based phone calls. If this proves annoying (or maybe you'd like it to turn off other sounds altogether) then you can easily change the settings accordingly. Just right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar, select Sounds > Communications, and tell Windows what you'd like it to do.

10. Rearrange the system tray

With Windows 7 we finally see system tray icons behave in a similar way to everything else on the taskbar. So if you want to rearrange them, then go right ahead, just drag and drop them into the order you like. You can even move important icons outside of the tray, drop them onto the desktop, then put them back when you no longer need to keep an eye on them.

11. Protect your data

If you have confidential files in a particular folder or two, and would like to keep them away from other network users, then right-click the folder, select Share With > Nobody, and they'll be made private, for your eyes only (or your user account, anyway).

12. Reorganise the taskbar

Windows 7 taskbar buttons are now movable - feel free to drag, drop and otherwise reorganise them to suit your needs. And then remember that each button can be launched by holding with the Windows key and pressing 1 to activate the first, 2 the second and so on, up to 0 for the tenth.

13. Repair your PC

If Windows 7 won't start, you may not need an installation or repair disc any more, as the repair environment is now usually installed on your hard drive. Press [F8] as your PC starts, and if you see a "Repair Your Computer" option, choose that to see the full range of Windows 7 recovery tools.

14. ReadyBoost revamped

If you were unimpressed by ReadyBoost in Vista, it may be worth trying the technology again under Windows 7. The operating system now allows you to combine multiple USB drives, each with larger caches, to deliver an extra speed boost.

15. Fixing Windows 7 N

If you have Windows 7 N then this means you'll be missing key multimedia applications, like Media Player, Media Centre, DVD Maker and more. But that's not all. You also won't have some of the subsystems required by third-party apps like Nero MultiMedia Suite, which means that even if they install, you could have problems getting them to work correctly.

Fortunately there's an easy fix, though, as the missing components are available in the form of Microsoft's Windows Media Pack. If you're currently having media-related issues on a Windows 7 N installation, grab your copy from support.microsoft.com/kb/968211.

16. Find bottlenecks

From what we've seen so far Windows 7 is already performing better than Vista, but if your PC seems sluggish then it's now much easier to uncover the bottleneck. Click Start, type RESMON and press Enter to launch the Resource Monitor, then click the CPU, Memory, Disk or Network tabs. Windows 7 will immediately show which processes are hogging the most system resources.

The CPU view is particularly useful, and provides something like a more powerful version of Task Manager. If a program has locked up, for example, then right-click its name in the list and select Analyze Process. Windows will then try to tell you why it's hanging - the program might be waiting for another process, perhaps - which could give you the information you need to fix the problem.

17. Keyboard shortcuts

Windows 7 supports several useful new keyboard shortcuts.

Alt+P
Display/ hide the Explorer preview pane

Windows Logo+G
Display gadgets in front of other windows

Windows Logo++ (plus key)
Zoom in, where appropriate

Windows Logo+- (minus key)
Zoom out, where appropriate

Windows Logo+Up 
Maximise the current window

Windows Logo+Down
Minimise the current window

Windows Logo+Left
Snap to the left hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+Right
Snap to the right hand side of the screen

Windows Logo+Home
Minimise/ restore everything except the current window

18. Drag and drop to the command line

When working at the command line you'll often need to access files, which usually means typing lengthy paths and hoping you've got them right. But Windows 7 offers an easier way. Simply drag and drop the file onto your command window and the full path will appear, complete with quotes and ready to be used.

This feature isn't entirely new: you could do this in Windows XP, too, but drag and drop support disappeared in Vista. There does seem to be a new Windows 7 complication, though, in that it only seems to work when you open the command prompt as a regular user. Run cmd.exe as an administrator and, while it accepts dropped files, the path doesn't appear.

19. Customise your jumplists

Right-click an icon on your taskbar, perhaps Notepad, and you'll see a jumplist menu that provides easy access to the documents you've been working on recently. But maybe there's another document that you'd like to be always available? Then drag and drop it onto the taskbar icon, and it'll be pinned to the top of the jumplist for easier access. Click the pin to the right of the file name, or right-click it and select "Unpin from this list" when you need to remove it.

20. Faster program launches

If you've launched one instance of a program but want to start another, then don't work your way back through the Start menu. It's much quicker to just hold down Shift and click on the program's icon (or middle-click it), and Windows 7 will start a new instance for you.

21. Speedy video access

Want faster access to your Videos folder? Windows 7 now lets you add it to the Start menu. Just right-click the Start orb, click Properties > Start Menu > Customize, and set the Videos option to "Display as a link". If you've a TV tuner that works with Windows 7 then you'll appreciate the new option to display the Recorded TV folder on the Start menu, too.

22. Run web searches

The Windows 7 search tool can now be easily extended to search online resources, just as long as someone creates an appropriate search connector. To add Flickr support, say, visit I Started Something, click Download the Connector, choose the Open option and watch as it's downloaded (the file is tiny, it'll only take a moment). A "Flickr Search" option will be added to your Searches folder, and you'll be able to search images from your desktop.

A multitude of other ready-made searches, such as Google and YouTube, can be downloaded from the windowsclub.com website.

23. An Alt+Tab alternative

You want to access one of the five Explorer windows you have open, but there are so many other programs running that Alt+Tab makes it hard to pick out what you need. The solution? Hold down the Ctrl key while you click on the Explorer icon. Windows 7 will then cycle through the Explorer windows only, a much quicker way to locate the right one. And of course this works with any application that has multiple windows open.

24. Block annoying alerts

Just like Vista, Windows 7 will display a suitably stern warning if it thinks your antivirus, firewall or other security settings are incorrect.

But unlike Vista, if you disagree then you can now turn off alerts on individual topics. If you no longer want to see warnings just because you've dared to turn off the Windows firewall, say, then click Control Panel > System and Security > Action Centre > Change Action Centre settings, clear the Network Firewall box and click OK.

25. Faster file handing

If you hold down Shift while right-clicking a file in Explorer, then you'll find the Send To file now includes all your main user folders: Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Music and more. Choose any of these and your file will be moved there immediately.

26. Create folder favourites

If you're regularly working on the same folder in Explorer then select it in the right-hand page, right-click Favourites on the left-hand menu, and select Add to Favourites. It'll then appear at the bottom of the favourites list for easy one-click access later.

27. Disable hibernation

By default Windows 7 will permanently consume a chunk of your hard drive with its hibernation file, but if you never use sleep, and always turn your PC off, then this will never actually be used. To disable hibernation and recover a little hard drive space, launch REGEDIT, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power, then set both HibernateEnabled and HiberFileSizePerfect to zero.

28. Create a new folder shortcut

When you need to create a new folder in Windows 7 Explorer, don't reach for the mouse. Just press Ctrl+Shift+N to create the folder in the active Explorer window, then type its name as usual.

29. Open a jumplist

Most people right-click a Windows taskbar icon to view its jumplist. You can also hold the left mouse button over the icon, though, then drag upwards to reveal the jumplist and choose the option you need, a more natural action that should be just a little faster.

30. Search quickly

If you'd like to search for something in an Explorer window then there's no need to use the mouse. Simply press [F3] to move the focus to the search box, enter your keyword and press [Enter] to run the search.

31. Search file contents

There's no obvious way in the Windows interface to search the contents of files that haven't been indexed, but all you need to do is start your search with the "content:" search filter. So entering content:Microsoft , for instance, will find all documents (whether they're actually indexed or not) that contain the word Microsoft.

32. Close in a click

Hover your mouse cursor over a Windows taskbar button will display a preview thumbnail of that application window. You don't need that app any more? Then middle-click the thumbnail to close it down.

33. Leave the Homegroup

Homegroups are an easy way to network Windows 7 PCs, but if you don't use the feature then turning it off can save you a few system resources.

Click Start, type Homegroup, and click "Choose homegroup and sharing options". Click Leave the Homegroup > Leave the Homegroup > Finish.

Now click Start, type services.msc and press [Enter] to launch the Services Control Panel applet.

Find and double-click both the HomeGroup Listener and HomeGroup Provider service, clicking Stop and setting Startup Type to Disabled in each case, and the services won't be launched when you need reboot.