This freeware doesn’t really do anything that shouldn’t be implemented in the operating system itself. But hey, it is not, so Process Manager – to the rescue.

Download Process Manager for Windows (freeware)

Kill unwanted processes

This is the original function, and also the one used very often when testing some programs. By simply right clicking on the application on taskbar you can select “Kill”, stopping and closing the program. This has the same power as “End Task” button in the “Process Manager” (BTW accessible by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc).

Assign priority to processes

I don’t really use this much, but might come in handy when multitasking. Let’s say you are watching movie while crunching some data, converting pictures or downloading stuff from the internet. This may slow down your computer and the movie will sometimes twitch, especially if it is a HDTV resolution. With Process Manager, you can simply assign priority to different processes with right click on their icon on taskbar. In our example, you might assign “High” or “Above normal” priority to the video player. Or just decrease the priority of the process causing the lags.

Adobe Photoshop is extremely useful, professional and complex program. You can do almost anything with it. But not without understanding the basics, not without taking the time to learn from others, without observing, studying.

Here are some tutorials that helped me, or that have been recommended to me:

• Learn Photoshop Now - free trial video, then you need to buy the access. Advantage is the complexity of this tutorial, they have all the different versions covered, which is impressive. Video is a great way to learn, and to have a systematic approach as well as a great amount of ways how to search for specific solution is something you will appreciate. Try the free lesson and see if you like it.
• Adobe original tutorials - believe it or not, Adobe publishes several free of charge tutorials. I really like them - they are not as complex as LPN, but it is a good start and I found it quite useful.
• You Suck At Photoshop - the funniest tutorial for Photoshop. Ever. Donnie is a (fictional) Photoshop master, who, however, has many other problems. Of course, he tries to solve them using Photoshop, cleaning the carpet or deleting the wedding ring, and generally making you laugh really hard. One of the funniest tutorials ever. Of course, again, you won't find it useful if you are a beginner who wants to learn Photoshop, but they are just fun to watch.
  YouTube - and if you have a very specific question about how to do something in Photoshop and for some reason you don't want to pay for professionally made tutorial, try googling questions like change hair color photoshop tutorial and something will pop up. Unfortunately, these are often videos of poor quality (which I don't mind) and poor understanding of principles of bitmap editing (which is much worse).

If you have any other favorite Photoshop tutorials, I'll be happy to hear form you. I'm always happy to learn new things in Photoshop. 

This article is based on article from Photobanks Reviewed.

I encountered a problem of my PC with Windows 7 shutting down too slow (about 80 seconds). Being otherwise really happy with Windows 7 and it's stability, I investigated what causes this slow shutdown.

Turns out the solution was pretty easy. Some Windows 7 tuning utility allowed me to set some "security setting" which deleted the pagefile.sys each time I was shutting down the computer. Luckily, I stumbled upon this site with solution.

1. Run gpedit.msc
2. Find the thread Computer configuration/Windows settings/Security settings/Local ploicies/Security options/
3. Find the Shutdown:Clear virtual memory pagefile setting
4. Set it to Disabled
5. Reboot

And that's it. My computer now shuts down in about 20 seconds. Of course, you don't need to shut down your computer every day, just put it to sleep or (when traveling) hibernate, but sometimes it is necessary and it is handy when shutting down the computer with Windows doesn't take too long.

Obviously, there are way too many books to choose from, and this is just a very limited sample of them. But all of them resonated very well with me - they are clever, interesting, provide meaningful information and useful insight. I would recommend it to people interested in decision making, in technology and in education.

I hope you will find this collection of tips helpful. Thank you for reading.

Links lead to the British web-based on-line bookstore Amazon.co.uk where you can immediately buy these books. You get the same price as anybody, I get few pennies since you have come through my link. Thank you for your support. If you wish not to support this site, simply search for the book through your favorite search engine.

RescueTime seems like the ultimate tool for geeky time-savers and lifehackers. It provides you with the statistics of your time on-line, and you can observe or set up almost anything. You can also create goals for yourself, e.g. no more than 1 hour of YouTube a day etc.

You need to register and then download the application (there is Download link at the bottom of the page).

Join RescueTime

What RescueTime does:

• monitor every application you run
• monitor webpages you open (not their content, just the URL)
• provides Google-Analytics-like interactive graphs and statistics of virtually anything you could think of when talking about internet and computer usage
• shows how different tasks you were engaged in were productive or unproductive (community assesment + your assesment)
• all statistics are available on-line, but just for you (password-protected)
• for personal use it is free, there are some sophisticated ways how to use this in companies, too
• gives you overview of what you should improve
• you can add categories to different webpages or apps: work, fun, education etc...
• evaluates your "efficiency" and compares it to other users (in percentiles)
• you can create custom views, custom overviews, categories, almost anything

I can't think of any other easy way how to get these data. Of course, it is up to you what you will change based on what you find. But TimeRescue really grew over the year I've been using it, and I think you might find it fascinating, and perhaps very useful, too.

 In this 20 minutes long video, through simple animation and verbal explanation, the story of stuff will be introduced to you. It includes all different links, context, theories... Did you know that in 50s, manufacturers intentionally decreased the lifetime of their products to increase sale, and thus, consumerism?

Annie Leonard explains all the different aspects of modern consumerism-oriented life. Materialistic economy is simplified, but not over-simplified. I have to admit that I sometimes don't enjoy being talked to like a little kid, but at least it is accessible to many people across the world.

And, I simply like simple things. I hope you will enjoy this, as I did.

• Check out Explanations in Plain English for similar, short and "cooler" educational videos
• Yann Arthus-Bertrand documentary HOME about Earth and people destroying and saving it

One of the first podcasts I subscribed to turned out to be the best one - Grammar Girl talks to me through my iPod every week to correct my grammar habits. Instead of being offended, I enjoy her sessions more than any other podcast so far. She has a great way of explaining seemingly casual grammar issues. She goes deep enough to keep things interesting even for advanced students or native speakers, yet she offers simple mnemotechnics and quick and dirty tips for everyone to improve their daily language.

Quick and dirty tips are not only about grammar, not any more. Many other podcasts are now coming from the same qdnow.com "family". I didn't really explore them all, they're probaly worth checking. But what I can recommend, that is Grammar Girl.

Pros

Regular schedule

Interesting topics (really!)

Witty and rich language

Enthusiastic about her topics

Transcripts with every episode

Funny examples

Guest writers

This podcast really improves your grammar

Cons

Sometimes a bit too much of (announced) advertising

Some example hard to follow (but there is always the transcript)

Listening to podcast about grammar a bit unusual at first

QR codes are special kind of bar codes, usually with much more information in them. Although originally used in car manufacturer industry, their usage is now penetrating wider and wider audience. Many magazines include these codes to make it easier for readers to save some information or navigate their mobile browsers to specific address without having to type URL.

Read QR Code with Windows Mobile phones

This of course assumes that you have appropriate software to read such codes. Some mobiles will have them preinstalled, but mostly you'll have to add them yourselves. I found these two interesting ones:

• QuickMark - requires registration (I used mailinator, just in case) and the functions are quick and seamless on my HTC TyTN II. It allows to read 2D as well as 1D codes, save the information automatically, select which browser is to be used for opening the addresses and even connecting to Twitter. However, sometimes this software had trouble running or autofocusing (this can be fault of other software I have).
• QR-Code Reader was even easier to install and quicker to use, it doesn't offer so many options, however. Just point and center the QR code in the viewfinder and it will display the message "Would you like to go to http://website.com...". Wh
• Java enabled reader (Kaywa Reader) is also available.

How to create your own QR codes?

There are several options, I tried only few since I am not really needing this right now. It can be interesting for business owners, webmasters, marketing or just to play with it. 

• QuickMark for PC

 For some time I've been experimenting with photobanks - it is a great and challenging way for amateur and professional photographers to earn some cash by selling their pictures on-line, one by one. It is often called stock photography or micro stock photography sites, too. Here are the sites I'm experimenting with so far:

• ShutterStock.com - great photo stock site allowing you to make money by selling your photos and more. Reviewing process is strict but you know you are in a good company. They seem like the best one so far.
• Dreamstime - actually my first sale was on Dreamstime almost two years ago. I still like Shutterstock better, because it has better upload from my point of view, but we will see how it will go.
• Fotolia - not sure yet.

I started a special webpage which will cover my experiences and reviews of photobanks. I hope you'll like it, it should grow over the summer. More reviews to come.

Where to find free photos on-line?

Maybe you don't want to sell your pictures, but you don't want to buy them, either. Free stock photography sites it is, then.

• StockExchange.hu - one of the largest free photo stocks. Allows you to register and get high resolution pictures.

While looking for some quality heart rate monitoring watches on-line, I stumbled upon this rather cheap watch on eBay and ordered it just to try it out. The name differs: Pulse Watch, Heart Monitoring Watch etc. Price is usually under 10 GBP (15 USD) and it promises to "use optical technology to sense your blood flow through your finger."

How does it work?

I was surprised how well the watch look. The design is not bad for watch under 10 pounds and even though it looks cheap, it doesn't embarass you necessarily. What is alsa nice is the well adjusting strap, again, nothing to write home about, but didn't disappoint.

What was disappointing, however, was the pulse function, i.e. the main characteristics of this watch. It requires you to press carefully your finger to the sensor for around 15 - 20 seconds. The results seem solid enough when you are careful, but as much as walking during the measurement can give very different results. So it is quite unfit for many purposes.

Nice function is the Exercise mode, where you time how long you've been exercising and the watch then calculates how many calories you've burned, provided you've input your age, weight and type of activity. But you can easily count these on-line, like using this Calories Burned Calculator.

Few times I encoutered an inconvinient issue: when my finger was sweaty, I was not able to get the watch to measure my pulse, no matter how I tried. Of course, you often want to check your heart rate exactly when you are tired and sweaty, so this is definitelly a minus. Watch will tell you to "repeat" the measurement. Well, it is better than just telling me some random made-up value...

Overall, these watch are still good deal for the price and apt for some fitness purposes. However, I absolutely woldn't recommend them as your only watch.