Grammer Checker Plugin uses ‘After The Deadline’ web service to check for spelling, style, and grammar mistakes. If you are on of those users who is using ‘After The Deadline’ plugin for WordPress but needs similar functionality in Windows Live Writer, this plugin is godsend.

It checks for grammatical mistakes and provides you with in depth information regarding the nature of the mistake, with details about the correct grammatical format. To use this plugin, just download and install the MSI file and restart Windows Live Writer (in case it is in use) for Grammar Checker to integrate to it. To check for grammatical mistakes, highlight the text area you wish to check and click on Grammar Checker from the Insert tab.

A new window will pop-up and display the relevant information about grammatical mistakes (if any), with an explanation of the mistake according to grammatical rules. Because Grammar Checker uses the “After the Deadline” web service to provide advanced grammar checking abilities, you must be online (active internet connection) to receive grammar correction information.

Grammar Checker plugin is open source and was tested on the latest version of Windows Live Writer.

Download Grammar Checker

Read After The Deadline Plugin For Windows Live Writer Corrects Grammar Mistakes by Farshad on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

WP Comments Notifier is an opensource app which, unlike the name says, is both a desktop notifier and a place to moderate the comments. You can approve a comment, mark as spam, delete, edit, and reply all from within the nifty little tool that resides in the system tray.

It will also alert you whenever a new comment is posted, which by default is checked for after every 5 minutes.

There are three tabs on top, each representing the total comments, comments pending approval, and spam comments. Click each comment to bring up it’s moderate options.

You can edit a comment and leave a reply without having to visit the website. Astonishingly it is very stable app that never crashed during my testing.

It can be set to run with Windows startup. If you want an easy-to-use yet powerful app to keep tab on all comments made on your blog, this is a must-have app for all WordPress webmasters out there.

Download WP Comments Notifier

It is developed on C++ and works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

Read Moderate WordPress Blog Comments From Desktop by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Robots.txt which is sometime called as Robots Exclusion Protocol is a file that is used to exclude content from the crawling process of search engine spiders/bots. If you have been familiar with the robots.txt you must have been acquaint with it’s directives like : Allow, Request Rate, Crawl-delay, Visit time, etc

ROBOTStxt is a spruced up freeware with a very snappy interface to create and edit robot.txt file. With it’s help you can keep your web/blog content secure and prevent search engines from prying into your personal content.

Here is an example of robot.txt file

User-agent: * (allows all search engine spiders)
Disallow: /secretcontent/ (disallow them to crawl secretcontent folder)

Choose a robot.txt file by going to File menu and hit ‘Open From www’ in case of opening it from website or simply hit Open to choose it from the disk. Once the file is open, use the ‘Add/Modify Entry’ drop-down box to pick any directive and set its value.

By choosing a User-agent from the list, you can make agent allow/disallow or set their attributes.

As you can see that I have added two user agents and disallowed them on my folders. Any of the directive can be chosen from the drop-down list and applied on the user agent.

It requires a minimum of .NET 2.0 Framework and works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

Download ROBOTstxt

Read Create, Edit, & Generate Robots.txt Sitemap by Usman Javaid on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

To solve this problem Google has come up with a new code which loads faster. Apart from speed it also collects data more accurately and eliminates all tacking errors when the JavaScript hasn’t fully loaded.

WordPress users: To set it up, make sure you have entered the code before the </head> tag in Header.php file as shown in the screenshot below. You will need to replace the old code with this new code but make sure you have noted down the User Account(UA) number which goes like UA-XXXXXX-X. You will have to enter this UA in the new code.

Every Analytics user have a unique User Account number so make sure you enter it correctly. After implementing this new code on my site I have observed slight increase in speed, but it is so slight that it is not observable to an average user.

Also please note that if your Analytics code fails to load sometimes, it won’t effect the web page. In other words, your web page will load just fine.

Asynchronous Tracking

It is recommended that every webmaster should enter this new code if they want to speed up Analytics and improve tracking.

Read Faster Google Analytics Code by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

The best thing about Widgetbox is the impressive collection of widgets available on it, as well as the ability to create your own. It’s remarkable how easy it is to make a widget of your own in Widgetbox. Furthermore, when the ease of embedding the widget you have created or chosen into your site is a breeze too. With the new Blogger integration, this is a completely automated process.

You don’t need to manually write or maintain any code; this widget takes care of the blog updates itself. This widget can help your blog getting easily discoverable across the web. The widget will showcase posts, images and branding etc.

Here is a widget that is created in seconds for the Google Blogger official Blog.

Widgetbox let you build your blog widget easily and within seconds. You can customise the widget as well. For example, you can change the default colors and background with the help of themes and patterns provided by Widgetbox. Your widget will be automatically updated as you create a new post. Another benefit is that you can put this widget on different sites that will eventually drive more traffic back to your blog.

As you can see in the screenshot above, making a widget of your own requires only your blog’s URL or feed address. All the rest of the customization is optional. Once you have made the widget, you will get a line of code that you can simply copy and paste into the HTML of any website or web page that you want this widget to appear on. This is probably the only technical aspect to it, and even this doesn’t involve any code editing on your part.

Ready to put Widgetbox to work for your Blogger blog? Simply visit this link, provide your blog feed address, update the look and feel to your taste, publish the widget, and start getting more traffic. Don’t let us know of your experience in the comments, and also feel free to share any alternative widgets or similar tools you know of that you use and that you have found to work well for you.

Read Create A Widget For Blogger’s Blog With Widgetbox by Ali on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Today Blogger proudly announces the Jump Breaks.

This feature is already present in many other blogging platform. It helps you to show only a snippet of your post on the index page. Blogger will insert a “Read more” link that will lead the reader to the full post page.

This feature is available in the Updated Editor. Enable Update Editor feature under Setting | Basic | Global Settings.

There are several ways to insert the “Read more” link in your post. Notice the “insert jump break” icon in the updated editor. Insert this jump wherever you like in you post.

If you don’t want to shift to the updated editor, you can still insert the break manually from HTML. Add <!– more –> where you want to position the jump break.

So Blogger users have got the long awaited feature, use it and make you blog home page more convenient to read.

IMAGES VIA  BLOGGER BUZZ

Read Finally, Blogger Introduces “Read More” Feature by Ali on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

There is a new worm spreading fast that can install malware and spam in your posts published on a self-hosted WordPress blog(yes, even WordPress can be infected). Once installed, all your information becomes available to hackers. This warning unlike other previous warnings comes directly from Matt Mullengen, founder of WordPress, because….ummm…its tough to catch.

According to Matt, “It(the worm) registers a user, uses a security bug(fixed earlier in the year) to allow evaluated code to be executed through the permalink structure, makes itself an admin, then uses JavaScript to hide itself when you look at users page, attempts to clean up after itself, then goes quiet so you never notice while it inserts hidden spam and malware into your old posts.”

The vulnerability that allowed the attack was fixed earlier in mid August by WordPress and they encouraged users to upgrade to latest version 2.8.4, but most users have still not upgraded.

Those who haven’t upgraded yet, there is a good news for them. The worm is spreading quite fast and there is a chance…huge chance….that your blog might get infected. So either rejoice or use common sense! (Sorry for being sarcastic here).

Moral: When WordPress tells you to upgrade, then upgrade without question. They have a reason to tell users that they need to upgrade. If you think the guys over at WordPress are a bunch of apes, then you can ignore their advice otherwise follow it immediately.

If you think your site was hacked, WordPress has a whole FAQ there to help you. Enjoy!

Read Is Your WordPress Up-To-Date? No? Then Do It Now! by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

This is a notice to all webmasters out there. If you are thinking of upgrading to WordPress 2.8.3, then you should wait until WordPress releases a fix. The biggest problem you are going to face is Widgets.

You won’t be able to move the Widgets around and most people are having such problems, including me. As you can see on the right sidebar, all widgets have vanished. I can’t move the new widgets, nor restore the one that were lost.

Note: If you are reading from feed or email, you will need to click the link in order to visit AddictiveTips and see my sidebar.

There are two types of bugs:

• Can’t move the Widgets at all, nor is editing possible.
• If you change the theme, your previous widget configuration will be lost.

The second one is rather strange due to which all my sidebar content is now lost, to restore it I need to move widgets, but then I can’t move them in the first place.

Update referring to second point: The content is not lost, but rather it has been removed from the widget in the right-sidebar(which makes it technically lost). Now to restore it back, I will need to move the widget back(which is not possible).

WordPress calm to have a solution for such problem and they list the following three solutions:

1. A number of plugins have been reported to present problems so deactivate all plugins and reactivate one-by-one to find culprit
2. In Appearance->Widgets under Screen options, try the Enable Accessibility Mode
3. Delete or refresh the browser cache

But all three points have failed to make any difference on my side, here is what I have say about these points.

Ans 1. I have disabled all plugins and still the widgets won’t move, heck even the widgets in the right sidebar won’t open.

Ans 2. This solution works for some people only. When I clicked Screen Options button, nothing happened at all.

Ans 3. Widgets still won’t move. I believe that it is not a javascript problem since I can move things easily in the main dashboard, but when it comes to Widgets, it fails.

You might not face the widget problem, but it is still better to wait. Like the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”.

PS…In the meantime I am trying to find more solutions to this problem, if I am successful this post will be updated accordingly. If you have any similar stories to share, please leave a comment. Enjoy!

Read WordPress 2.8.3 Can’t Move Widget Bug (Don’t Upgrade Yet) by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

For those who want to get their blogs re-designed, I would highly recommend going over to Cozmos Labs and contacting Crisiti. He is one heck of a great guy to work with!

So, What Has Changed…

The whole concept behind the redesign was to increase the branding and improve the overall navigation. As you can see on the main page, next to every post there is a logo that will tell you which category a specific post belongs to. Apart from it, there are 3 featured post on top, these posts are those that I would highly recommend to my readers.

If you click on any Category, such as Windows, you will find links of every post that we have covered before. There are 100 post links per page, you will have to click ‘Older Posts’ on the bottom to get 100 more post links, and so on. Adding links instead of excerpts gives a clutter-free look and makes navigation much more easier.

Although this redesign looks great, I am still working with Cristi to make some small changes internally. Now what do you think about this re-design? Do you love it, hate it, covet it, or want to marry it(ok this is a joke)? Pease let me know in the comments. Enjoy!

Update: We are gearing up for Windows 7 tips too and you will see lots of Windows 7 tips this summer!

Read AddictiveTips Has A Brand New Re-Design by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Suppose you discover a new fish species(let’s name it X) and tell your friend about it. Your friend goes to a group of people and tell them about a new fish called X without stating that it was discovered by you. Will you like it? Is this fair? Does it make a bit of sense? The answers is NO.

Now suppose another situation where you discover a new software and review it on your blog. Now your readers(both Direct visitors and those coming from RSS feeds) which include plenty of bloggers, will read about this new software and write about it in their respective blogs without mentioning that it was discovered by you. Will you like it? Is this fair? Does it make a bit of sense? The answer again is NO.

So what is this all about? It’s about using a bit of common sense. I have always tried to find the reasons why bloggers fail to credit the original discoverer and here is what I found.

Some Reasons Why Bloggers Are Afraid To Give Credit

• The competing blog’s PR might increase
• More outbound links would mean less PR
• Readers might shift to new blog and it would lead to less RSS readers
• Readers might think the blogger is too lazy to find the software himself

Busting the Blogger’s Myths Once and for all

The competing blog’s PR might increase

More outbound links would mean less PR

Yes, but No. The competing blog to which you link will obviously benefit from the PR, but remember that PR does not increase on incoming links only, if you credit a blog that is trustworthy in Google’s eye then yes even your PR can increase(since Google will find you more trustworthy). So in fact linking is a good thing.

Readers might shift to new blog and it would lead to less RSS readers

No, No, and No. Some readers would visit the credited site and might even subscribe to it, but this doesn’t mean that they would dump you. In fact, the readers would thank you because you helped them find more interesting blogs.

Readers might think the blogger is too lazy to find the software himself

Wrong. Most Readers are open-minded and they know what it takes to write a review of a software or service, so they would never think like that. In fact, when you find a new software in any blog and write about it, it’s obviously not laziness. Lazy are those who would sit and dream about taking over the world.

So What Doesn’t Make Sense

• Copying the full post with/without crediting(Mostly Spam Blogs)
• Copying an excerpt without crediting(Happens most of the time)
• Writing about a new software and not giving credit to the original blog where it was discovered(Happens all the time)

What Makes Perfect Sense

There are two ways in which you can give credit, either copy an except from the blog and link to it or write your own review of the software and give credit to the blog where you discovered it.

Ofcourse, there are times when multiple blogs write about the same product, in this case there is a possibility that these blogs share the same source. So it is perfectly normal in such cases.

So what’s the point? Honest bloggers like me try really hard to find and review the software. For others it is quite easy, simply copy the post, add an Adsense code and enjoy free bucks. So the next time some outlaw bloggers feel like stealing my content or not crediting to my little discoveries, all I want them to think is that they are stealing a poor man’s apple.

Read Dear Outlaw Bloggers, Please Use Common Sense! by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Do you want to send unlimited SMS(Short Messaging Service) to India, UK, Germany, Norway, Poland, Ireland, Estonia, Austria, Czech Republic, Taiwan for free? It seems impossible at first, but you can actually send free SMS using my-cool-sms , SeaSMS service.

There are many similar services out there which promise free SMS service, but they never work. I thought the same when I tried this service out, but to my surprise it worked very well. I send an SMS to my cousin in UK, and he received it within seconds. This service will save enormous mobile bills. I am using it to send more SMS than ever, and truly enjoying it.

To send an SMS simply visit their website. Select the country from the list of 10 countries and enter the receiver’s mobile number. Now enter your message(should be no more than 160 characters) and click Submit.

In the next step, enter your phone number which will be displayed as a sender in your SMS. You can leave this blank too, for it is not compulsory. Next enter the verification code and click Submit.

Now you SMS has been send. You can write your name at the end of the SMS to let the receiver know that it is you. In this way he can reply to your original number, and you can send him another SMS using this online service. Enjoy!

Read Send Free SMS To India, UK, Germany, And Other Countries by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

I know that the title of this post is a bit comprehensive, but it pretty much explains what I am talking about. Hiding your wordpress version is the first step in keeping your blog secure and I recommend that everyone should do this to keep themselves safe from amateur hackers. Forget Professional hackers, they can hack into anything(even Pentagon). Anyway this is how you can prevent your blog from small hacks.

When a hacker wants to hack your site, he will simply check the version number and then proceed, so it is better that you prevent him from seeing your blog’s version number.

Prevention is better than cure

If you are using WordPress version 2.5 or older, simply navigate to your header.php file and remove this line,

<meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress <?php bloginfo(’version’); ?>” />

But if you are using any version greater than 2.5, then you won’t find this line because it is now generated from wordpress core engine. So the best way is to add a plugin.

There are two plugins for this which you can downloaded from here and here. I have hosted these files in my server, in case they get deleted from their original location.

Got any question, suggestion, or comments? Feel free to comment.

Read Blogging Tips: How To Keep Your Blog Secure By Hiding Your WordPress Version Number by Nakodari on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter