Mar
13th

Desktop Fun: Pirate Theme Wallpapers

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Are you looking for some high seas adventure for your desktop? Then get ready to hoist the colors with our Pirate Theme Wallpapers collection.

Note: Click on the picture to see the full-size image—these wallpapers vary in size so you may need to crop, stretch, or place them on a colored background in order to best match them to your screen’s resolution.

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Mar
12th

Help Protect Your Children with the CEOP Enhanced Internet Explorer 8

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Do you want to make Internet Explorer safer and more helpful for you and family? Then join us as we look at the CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) enhanced version of Internet Explorer 8.

Setting CEOP Up

We chose to install the whole CEOP pack in order to have access to complete set of CEOP Tools. The install process will be comprised of two parts…it will begin with CEOP branded windows showing the components being installed…

Note: The components can be downloaded separately for those who only want certain CEOP components added to their browser.

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Then it will move to the traditional Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 install windows. One thing that we did notice is that here you will be told that you will need to restart your computer but in other windows a log off/log on process is mentioned. Just to make certain that everything goes smoothly we recommend restarting your computer when the installation process is complete.

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In the EULA section you can see the versions of Windows that the CEOP Pack works with.

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Once you get past the traditional Microsoft install windows you will be dropped back into the CEOP branded windows.

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CEOP in Action

After you have restarted your computer and opened Internet Explorer you will notice that your homepage has been changed. When it comes to your children that is not a bad thing in this instance. It will also give you an opportunity to look through the CEOP online resources.

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For the moment you may be wondering where everything is but do not worry. First you can find the two new search providers in the drop-down menu for your “Search Bar” and select a new default if desired.

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The second thing to look for are the new links that have been added to your “Favorites Menu”. These links can definitely be helpful for you and your family.

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The third part will require your “Favorites Bar” to be visible in order to see the “Click CEOP Button”. If you have not previously done so you will need to turn on subscribing for “Web Slices”.

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Click on “Yes” to finish the subscription process.

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Clicking on the “CEOP Button” again will show all kinds of new links to help provide information for you and your children. Notice that the top part is broken down into “topic categories” while the bottom part is set up for “age brackets”…very nice for helping you focus on the information that you want and/or need.

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Looking for information and help on a particular topic? Clicking on the “Cyberbullying Link” for example will open the following webpage with information about cyberbullying and a link to get help with the problem.

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Need something that is focused on your child’s age group? Clicking on the “8-10? Link” as an example opened this page.

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Want information that is focused on you? The “Parent? Link” leads to this page. The “topic categories & age brackets” make the CEOP Button a very helpful and “family friendly” addition to Internet Explorer.

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Perhaps you (or your child) want to conduct a search for something that is affecting your child. As you type in a “search term” both of the search providers will provide helpful suggestions for dealing with the problem. We felt that these were very nice suggestions in both instances here…

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Conclusion

We have been able to give you a good peek at what the CEOP Tools can do but the best way to see how helpful it can be for you and your family is try it for yourself. Your children’s safety and happiness is worth it.

Links

Download the Internet Explorer CEOP Pack (link at bottom of webpage)

Note: If you are interested in a singular component or only some use these links.

Download the Click CEOP Button

Download Search CEOP

Download Internet Safety and Security Search


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Mar
12th

Friday Fun: Games that Look Like Productivity Apps

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We’ve been showing you fun flash games to play during company time on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully while playing them, you haven’t received a “talking to”. Today we show you some cool games to play that look like productivity apps, so the boss will be none the wiser.

The website cantyouseeimbusy.com has developed some very neat little games that look like productivity apps like Word and Excel. These apps look exactly like some project you would be working on, but are really neat little games. Here we take a look at three cool ones on the site called Breakdown, Leadership, and Cost Cutter.

Leadership

Leadership is a cool game that looks like something you would be working in Excel and is a spin off of the classic game Moon Lander.

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You navigate your ship through a variety of challenging line graphs.

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Breakdown

This one is a knock off of the classic game Break Out. Use your mouse to scroll the racket at the bottom and bounce the ball off of the text in the document. Press the space bar to pause the game and the elements will disappear…good for when the boss comes around.

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Cost Cutter

This one is a puzzle game where it looks like your working on some bar charts in Excel. You need to click combinations of two or more blocks that are the same color. Again, hit the spacebar and the game elements will disappear.

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If you’re looking for a way to goof off with some simple games without the boss knowing, these will definitely do the trick. Another cool game along these lines is Excit! which we covered previously.

Play Cost Cutter, Breakdown, and Leadership at cantyouseeimbusy.com


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Mar
12th

Listen to Local FM Radio in Windows 7 Media Center

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If you have a supported tuner card and connected FM antenna, you can listen to your favorite local over-the-air FM stations in Windows 7 Media Center.

Before the FM radio option will be available in Windows Media Center, you’ll need to have a TV or Radio tuner card installed and configured. If you have a TV tuner card installed, you may already have a Radio tuner as well. Many TV tuner cards also have built in FM tuners.

Open Windows Media Center, scroll the “Music” and over to “Radio.”

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Click on “FM Radio.”

Mar
12th

Play Your Favorite DOS Games in XP, Vista, and Windows 7

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Want to take a trip down memory lane with old school DOS games?