Chrome handles most browsing tasks like a champ, but the browser itself can slow down for various reasons. If you’re a Chrome “power user”, you might have noticed that its startup time takes a hit once you have a dozen or so extensions and apps installed.1 Chrome spins off every single...

Online images often fail to load when you’re on a slow or flaky connection. Whenever this happens, most browsers (except Firefox, which shows the image title) replace the actual image with a broken image icon. The most obvious way to combat this problem is to reload the webpage, and hope that the image...

The status bar of a browser is a quick way to view the destination URL of any hyperlink, but it has little use beyond that. Hence, having it turned on all the time and occupy some vertical screen space isn’t really a good idea. Chrome was the first browser to introduce an “intelligent” status bar...

TIPP10 is a cross-platform, open source app that aims to be your touch typing tutor. Like the previously mentioned TypingWeb, TIPP10 throws a series of typing ‘lessons’ at you, with gradually increasing difficulty levels, while helping you out with hints and tips all the time. I have tested out...

Direct Connect (DC++) hubs are quite popular for sharing data among logged in users, especially so in residential college networks. A DC++ client is obviously required to tap into such hubs, with the most popular options being the official DC++ client, Strong DC++, and Apex DC++. While all of the above...

UPDATE: In a recent move to streamline itself, Google has shuttered the entire Labs unit, which includes this particular bot. If you’re a regular Google Talk user, here’s a useful chat bot that you should add to you chat list now – the Google Talk Guru, straight from the Google Labs. You can “friend”...

Text Only, Please! is a no-frills Chrome extension that strips out junk from most web pages, and lets you focus on the actual article content. Once you have installed the extension, you will find a new icon next to the address bar. The next time you come across a website filled with junk ads, just click...

There is something about oil paintings that makes me a big fan of them. Sometimes I come across an image, and I am instantly like, that should have been oil painted! If you are like me, there’s some good news – you can create an oil painting out of any photo using the free Paint.NET! While Paint.NET...

One of my favorite features in Firefox has always been the Sync extension. Back when I was a Firefox user, Firefox Sync was my online safe, taking care of passwords for 70-something online accounts, autofill data, and tons of bookmarks. I used to be very jumpy, reinstalling Windows even when the slightest...

You might have noticed that playing a video on a freshly installed VLC player usually triggers a ‘”Building font cache…” pop-up that stays for some time before allowing the video to play. Technically, the window should show up only once, thereby making it a lot less irritating that it’d...