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Locate32 Finds Files Quickly and Reliably (Windows) "Free search utility Locate32 uses Unix-style databases and locate commands to find files by name, size, creation dates, or any other system criteria."
Click&Clean Clears the Crap from Your Browser (iPhone) "Agile Messenger isn't the only multi-client app available for the iPhone, but it makes mobile messaging seriously convenient, and it's pretty slick-looking, to boot."
Organized Widget Gives Quick Access to Calendars and To-Dos (Mac) "Donationware application Organized is a Dashboard widget that integrates with your system notes, events, and to-dos, providing you with quick access to all of your activities."
Real Simple magazine has an old but good step-by-step guide to folding an unwieldy broadsheet newspaper for easy reading on the go. It's really just a matter of a few well placed folds, but if you don't already have a good folding strategy, this post is a great starting point. On the other hand, if you're a newspaper-folding pro and your methods differ from Real Simple's guide, let's hear all about how you make it work in the comments.
Instead of shelling out more than $100 (plus refill costs) for a retail vacuum sealer, Instructable poster "Eric Forman" decided to piece together his own re-usable sealer using about $30 in materials. With a $20 brake bleeder, a cheap mason jar sealer top and some standard mason jars, he puts a serious seal on anything that can fit in a jar, and doesn't have to pay out for specialty plastic wrap. If you're not likely to be sealing $40 steaks anytime soon, this system might be perfect for camping and traveling, freezing leftover sauce, or any other small job. Got a DIY vacuum solution of your own? Let's hear about it (or see the link) in the comments.
When you've got your Windows XP or Vista setup running perfectly, you don't want to lose all your painstaking customizations to a reckless tot, an experiment-minded friend or spouse, or a rogue system-lousing program. Windows SteadyState, as we mentioned earlier this week, helps you to create a kind of virtual rubber room those types can play around in and not really harm anything. SteadyState can also restrict web site access for innocent eyes, set timer limits on user access, and get better control of those other folks who use your computer—in other words, SteadyState makes you the Grand Master Sysadmin of your single-unit empire. Let's take a look at setting up SteadyState and get familiar with a few of its key features.
Prep your system
Take Microsoft's advice and do a little groundwork before installing and setting up SteadyState. Download the latest updates for your system from Windows Update, set a password for the main user, or "Administrator," account if there isn't one already, and make sure that other users only have access to the programs you want them to. To see if that's the case, create a new user account (Control Panel->User Accounts->Create a new account) or log into an account other than your own if you're already sharing a system. Peek into the Start menu, look around on the desktop, and if they've got access to stuff you don't want them playing around with, regardless of any protections, head back to your account and uninstall the program. Some programs give you an option to install them for "Just this user," so try re-installing the app with that option if possible.
Getting started
If you haven't already done so, download your copy of SteadyState. You'll likely be prompted to install or run a Windows Genuine Advantage tool or plug-in before downloading; go ahead and do so, install the program, then launch it from the Start menu. Close down the help window that pops up, and you're at SteadyState's main launcher:
From here you decide how you want to protect your system. Are you creating a long-term, super-locked-down account for adventurous young minds or accident-prone users? Are you trying out an app or system change that might throw everything into calamity? Let's look at your options.
Restrict a new or existing account
If your potential system-messers are going to be around for awhile, you'll want to hit "Add New Account" in the lower right-hand corner, or choose one already there. Give them a name (or just "Shared" if you want everyone to use the same locked-down, guest-type account), password, and icon. If you've set up separate hard drives or partitions on your system, you could also have that user's profile placed on one of them for easier portability (and fixing), but you'll likely just be hitting "Next." You'll arrive at the main account dashboard. Here's a few items you'll want to look into:
"General" tab: The use timers are pretty helpful for parents who want to limit their young ones' monitor-zoning, but the real power-tweak here is the "Lock profile" button, which makes the account something like a public terminal—nothing a user changes in their user profile is saved once they log off.
Windows restrictions: Now we're getting to the serious stuff. There's a lot of buttons to toggle and explore, but the general High->Medium->Low category selectors are pretty good guidelines for getting started. In most cases, you'll want to block off access to the Registry editor, Task Manager, Control Panel, and (these are important) prevent them from locking the computer or changing their passwords. You can also block off access to specific drives from this screen.
Feature Restrictions: Here's where you lock down the Internet, for both young minds and those who download and install whatever they see online. Most of the options are self-explanatory, but check out the top option—you can create a whitelist that this account can only see online (at least in Internet Explorer, and assuming you've locked down installation of other, trickier browsers). You'll want to remove the users' access to IE's settings, and there's a few tweaks for Microsoft Office as well.
Block Programs: Pretty straight-forward—search for or click on an app on the left, then choose "Block" to remove access to it.
If you missed anything in any of those menus, you can always head back to them by clicking on the user account in SteadyState's main menu. Before you close out, though, click on "Set Computer Restrictions" and peruse the options there. Most important among them are the settings that remove access from the Administrator account, just in case your fellow users are good guessers or slightly devious. You've now got some seriously locked-down accounts, and you can import and export them from the main menu if you need this kind of setup on multiple systems. But you can take your protection a step further by creating a crash-proof hard drive.
Enable Disk Protection
From SteadyState's main menu, head to the "Disk Protection" section:
Close out any serious work you're doing—enabling the Disk Protection feature is going to bring up one of those inescapable restart prompts—and make sure you've got a little disk space to spare. Once you enable this feature, Windows creates a large cache file to store all the changes you or anyone else is making to the system, which it unceremoniously dumps at restart, or whenever you tell it to let go.
Let me stress this point: Disk Protection will reset everything you do while it's turned on: new Word documents, browser bookmarks, system settings, you name it. Turning it "Off," though, deletes the cache space and requires a restart, so switch it to "Retain all changes permanently" when you need to get things done.
Those are the basics of SteadyState, but if you need more help, SteadyState's home page has a video introduction and reference materials, and the program's own help menus are impressively detailed.
How do you use SteadyState to lock down your system? What settings and tweaks are indispensable for kids, virus-prone browsers, or other keyboard sharers? Tell us about it all in the comments.
Web application SimplyNoise provides a no-frills interface to configure relaxing white noise right in your browser. Just fire up the web site and adjust the sliding orb to the intensity of white noise that's your sweet spot. As the site points out, white noise can be helpful for everything from aiding sleep to blocking distraction, and SimplyNoise is a no-nonsense application that does just that. If you'd prefer a little more depth and customization from your white noise application, check out previously mentioned desktop apps like the Windows-only ChatterBlocker or the Mac-only Noise.
The Lifehacker editorial staff is taking a break from posting today to celebrate Independence Day here in the U.S. While we're off amusing ourselves with sparklers, check out the most popular posts that have been published in the first half of 2008. Back tomorrow.
Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks "Dozens of Google search guides detail the tips you already know, but today we're skipping the obvious and highlighting our favorite obscure Google web search tricks."
Top 10 Harmless Geek Pranks "Since the dawn of time, geeks have been playing harmless pranks on their beloved (but unsuspecting) associates, and it's up to all of us to carry the torch forward."
Turn Your $60 Router into a User-Friendly Super-Router with Tomato "Tomato does almost everything DD-WRT does—from Wi-Fi signal boosting to Quality of Service bandwidth allocation—in addition to offering a simplified interface chock-full of fancy charts and graphs."
Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera "If you're using a consumer grade point-and-shoot Canon digital camera, you've got hardware in hand that can support advanced features way beyond what shipped in the box."
Turn Your iPod Touch into an iPhone "Today I'm going to show you how to make VoIP phone calls from your iPod touch or iPhone using a freeware application called SIP-VoIP."
Five Best Instant Messengers "From web-based chat to desktop clients to tools that combine IM, email, and social networking, your nominations spanned a wide range of instant messaging applications."
Top 10 BitTorrent Tools and Tricks "BitTorrent is the go-to resource for downloading everything from music and movies to software and operating systems, but as its popularity continues to grow, so do the number of tools available for making the most of it."
Top 10 Software Easter Eggs "Sure we like our chocolate bunny ears, but around these parts the best easter eggs aren't painted pink and stuffed with jelly beans—they're the undocumented and unexpected fun features hidden deep inside various software apps."
Power User's Guide to Firefox 3 "You already know about Firefox 3's marquee new features, but now it's time to dig deep and unearth the shortcuts, tweaks, and even Easter eggs that Mozilla marketing doesn't mention."
For those of you in the U.S. celebrating Independence Day tomorrow, don't forget to brush up on your Fourth of July skills. First, here's one way to make a yummy-looking holiday strawberry daiquiri (pictured middle)—look at those gorgeous blueberries and the clever starfruit garnish. If daiquiris aren't your thing, opt for red, white, and blue sangria instead. Then, make sure you're prepared to be the July Fourth grill master. Finally, before you take your camera out to the fireworks display, find out how to get better fireworks photos this year. And if you've got a few extra hours this long weekend? Why not try out one of our top 10 summer DIY projects. What are your Fourth of July power tips? Do share in the comments—so we can quit early this afternoon. Have a great long weekend everyone! Daiquiri photo by TowerGirl, steak photo by Another Pint Please....
Windows only: Freeware application CostOfSmoking helps you understand just how much money you've lost to smoking over the lifetime of your habit. The end goal of your improved understanding of the financial cost of smoking is to help motivate quitting. The application, to be honest, is about as ugly as any I've seen, but while there are tons of web-based calculators, none have the options that this app has. CostOfSmoking is freeware, Windows only.
CNN reports that a third of companies offering health insurance to employees also provide a wellness program, including fitness, weight-loss, and stop-smoking programs. The article focuses on employers' motivation for wellness programs—namely circumventing eventual health insurance costs—and the extent to which they're an invasion of employee privacy, but we're most curious as to whether or not your employer offers a wellness program and, if so, if you're taking advantage of it.
If your employer does offer a wellness program, let's hear what sort of programs are included and which you've taken advantage of in the comments.
The plastic card cable organizer manages cords under or behind your desk and keeps cords—like your iPod charging cord—from falling off your desk when unplugged. The idea behind the card cable organizer is exactly the same as previously mentioned Keep-a-Cable, but this DIY version transforms your unused club cards into cable holders with a hole punch and some scissors. Clever.
Real Simple magazine has an old but good step-by-step guide to folding an unwieldy broadsheet newspaper for easy reading on the go. It's really just a matter of a few well placed folds, but if you don't already have a good folding strategy, this post is a great starting point. On the other hand, if you're a newspaper-folding pro and your methods differ from Real Simple's guide, let's hear all about how you make it work in the comments.
Instead of shelling out more than $100 (plus refill costs) for a retail vacuum sealer, Instructable poster "Eric Forman" decided to piece together his own re-usable sealer using about $30 in materials. With a $20 brake bleeder, a cheap mason jar sealer top and some standard mason jars, he puts a serious seal on anything that can fit in a jar, and doesn't have to pay out for specialty plastic wrap. If you're not likely to be sealing $40 steaks anytime soon, this system might be perfect for camping and traveling, freezing leftover sauce, or any other small job. Got a DIY vacuum solution of your own? Let's hear about it (or see the link) in the comments.
"General" tab: The use timers are pretty helpful for parents who want to limit their young ones' monitor-zoning, but the real power-tweak here is the "Lock profile" button, which makes the account something like a public terminal—nothing a user changes in their user profile is saved once they log off.
Windows restrictions: Now we're getting to the serious stuff. There's a lot of buttons to toggle and explore, but the general High->Medium->Low category selectors are pretty good guidelines for getting started. In most cases, you'll want to block off access to the Registry editor, Task Manager, Control Panel, and (these are important) prevent them from locking the computer or changing their passwords. You can also block off access to specific drives from this screen.
Feature Restrictions: Here's where you lock down the Internet, for both young minds and those who download and install whatever they see online. Most of the options are self-explanatory, but check out the top option—you can create a whitelist that this account can only see online (at least in Internet Explorer, and assuming you've locked down installation of other, trickier browsers). You'll want to remove the users' access to IE's settings, and there's a few tweaks for Microsoft Office as well.
Before you close out, though, click on "Set Computer Restrictions" and peruse the options there. Most important among them are the settings that remove access from the Administrator account, just in case your fellow users are good guessers or slightly devious. You've now got some seriously locked-down accounts, and you can import and export them from the main menu if you need this kind of setup on multiple systems. But you can take your protection a step further by creating a crash-proof hard drive. 
Web application SimplyNoise provides a no-frills interface to configure relaxing white noise right in your browser. Just fire up the web site and adjust the sliding orb to the intensity of white noise that's your sweet spot. As the site points out, white noise can be helpful for everything from aiding sleep to blocking distraction, and SimplyNoise is a no-nonsense application that does just that. If you'd prefer a little more depth and customization from your white noise application, check out previously mentioned desktop apps like the Windows-only ChatterBlocker or the Mac-only Noise.
Just uploaded an updated version of the Better YouTube Firefox extension, which is now fully Firefox 3 compatible and, you know, actually works. Download it here.
The Lifehacker editorial staff is taking a break from posting today to celebrate Independence Day here in the U.S. While we're off amusing ourselves with sparklers, check out the most popular posts that have been published in the first half of 2008. Back tomorrow. 
Windows only: Freeware application CostOfSmoking helps you understand just how much money you've lost to smoking over the lifetime of your habit. The end goal of your improved understanding of the financial cost of smoking is to help motivate quitting. The application, to be honest, is about as ugly as any I've seen, but while there are tons of web-based calculators, none have the options that this app has. CostOfSmoking is freeware, Windows only.
CNN reports that a third of companies offering health insurance to employees also provide a wellness program, including fitness, weight-loss, and stop-smoking programs. The article focuses on employers' motivation for wellness programs—namely circumventing eventual health insurance costs—and the extent to which they're an invasion of employee privacy, but we're most curious as to whether or not your employer offers a wellness program and, if so, if you're taking advantage of it.
The plastic card cable organizer manages cords under or behind your desk and keeps cords—like your iPod charging cord—from falling off your desk when unplugged. The idea behind the card cable organizer is exactly the same as previously mentioned Keep-a-Cable, but this DIY version transforms your unused club cards into cable holders with a hole punch and some scissors. Clever.
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