Check

Spell check may be Internet Explorer's Achilles' heel

A reader named Lenny responded recently to a post from last August about browser spell checkers to ask whether Internet Explorer 8 finally has a built-in spell checker. Unfortunately, the only way to get spell check and suggested corrections in IE 8 is by relying on the spell check built into the site you're visiting or by installing a third-party extension.

But even then, Firefox and Chrome out-spell-check IE in a landslide.

The earlier post compared Firefox's built-in spell-check feature with the spelling checker in the free IE7Pro extension for Internet Explorer. It seems IE7Pro is no longer … Read more

Mozilla expands plug-in check to other browsers

Mozilla designed its plug-in check page so Firefox users could see if they're running the latest versions of their plug-ins. Now the company has invited the other major browsers to the party.

In addition to handling Firefox 3.6 and higher, the plug-in check page now supports Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 and 8, Google Chrome 4, Opera 10.5, and Apple's Safari 4. All the browsers are compatible with the plug-in check. But Mozilla cautions in its official blog that IE 7 and 8 need specific code written for each plug-in, so full support of Microsoft's … Read more

Port-a-ping

Nirsoft's PingInfoView2 is a small and handy utility that network managers, Web site administrators, developers, and even regular folks can use to ping multiple host names and IP addresses and display all the results in one table. You can specify the time interval between pings in increments down to seconds. PingInfoView displays each successful and failed ping as well as the average ping time. Results can be saved as text, HTML, or XML files, or pasted to the clipboard for use in other apps.

This is a compact piece of software that downloads as a ZIP file but requires … Read more

Spell-check and other useful functions when typing in OS X

OS X has a few useful built-in correction and substitution functions that you can use when composing documents in various applications. One of these is the option to check spelling as you type, which has been around for a while, but more recently Apple has introduced system-wide character substitution and word suggestion options. While these options are available to applications, they will only work for those coded to take advantage of them. These include Apple's iWork and iLife programs, as well as TextEdit and Safari, but other third-party programs also support these services.… Read more

Catch all your spelling mistakes

Spell Catcher is the modern-day descendant of a spell-checking app from ancient times (as a Desk Accessory called Thunder, from 1985), now with powerful, system-wide spell-checking and text-expanding features.

By default, this muscular app tracks every word you type on your Mac, across every application, and provides you with much more than the live visual feedback you get in separate apps with built-in spell-checking. Spell Catcher can give you automatic typo fixing, spoken alerts (for example, pointing out repeated words, or curious spellings with a quick "Curious!"), instant access to the dictionary and thesaurus (with support for multiple … Read more

Slow typing in text fields? Check the spell checker!

Entering information in text fields should be smooth and fast, with no pauses or delays of any kind. Despite this, some background tasks if corrupt or otherwise malfunctioning may interfere with typing. One of the most common is OS X's spell checking behavior, but sometimes, the built-in options are not to blame.… Read more

Spyware checker

Autorun.inf Check scans your computer and looks for autorun.inf files. The program will remove or back up autorun.inf files.

The program's interface is minimal and contains no instructions or Help file, so we based our summations of its operations and functionality on educated guesses. The About link on the interface takes users to a forum created by the program's manufacturer, but it offers little useful information. Autorun.inf Check's job is to scan your computer for autorun.inf files, which are files that automatically run programs when triggered. You have the option to tell … Read more

How iPhone apps can ruin your Christmas

Everyone who is anyone, or who would like to be anyone, knows that the apps you have on your iPhone say a lot, well, almost everything, about you.

However, there are a couple of new apps that might truly revolutionize your Christmas and not necessarily in a good way.

The first is called the Background Check App. Not only is it wondrously free, but it also strikes a huge and lasting blow for personal freedom.

You can look around your dinner table this holiday season and, with your usual lithe grace, pull out your iPhone. Using your Background Check app, … Read more

Registry scammer?

If you've been computing for a while, you've probably encountered Registry cleaners, a class of software that promises to boost your system's performance and security by searching out and eliminating junk and clutter. Used carelessly, however, these programs can wreak havoc by deleting critical files and registry entries.

Registryproductreviews.com is a Web site that reviews Registry cleaners; it claims no product affiliations. However, it does offer one product of its own, PC-CheckIt, a free Registry diagnosis and scanning tool. It differentiates itself from the crowded field of Registry cleaners and editors by merely offering to help … Read more