Most of the time we click on Facebook applications and install them which seems very interesting in the beginning but irritates a lot after some time due to useless notifications. This post will tell you how to block these unwanted Facebook applications permanently. You can also remove these applications but you will still receive notifications even after removing them so it’s better to block them permanently. For your information this block is only known as “permanent block” however you can unblock them anytime you want.
How to block an app on Facebook?
Click on “Account” on the top right side of your Facebook profile page and select “Account settings” from the drop down list.
Now click on “Applications” option on the left hand side of page. This will open the list of all apps installed on your profile.
(click to enlarge)
Now select the application from the list you want to remove or block and click edit for that. After that click on the application’s name that will open the main page for that app.
Clicking the name will redirect you to the main page of that application. On the bottom left side of that page you will see few links like “Add to My Page“, “Add to My Page’s Favorites”, “Subscribe via RSS” e.t.c. There you will find the required “Block app” and “Remove app” link. Use these links respectively to Block or Remove that app.
Drop a comment below if you’re stuck somewhere. Do check FbKnol for more tutorials 🙂
If you have noticed Google recently, you should have noticed the new interface for almost all products. The interesting part is that all the interface looks very similar to Google plus interface. Google is investing heavily in Google Plus to drive growth in its future on the web. They have big plans for it.
The first re-design that took place was the black menu bar at the top of all its products.
Take a look at the Google plus interface. The tab that you are visiting is show in ‘Red’. Other significant options are highlighted with ‘Red’ prominent buttons.
Google Search Layout
Updating Google search interface is not something new. Google repeatedly updates its search interface making the searching easier and more efficient for users. However the latest update, unifies with Google plus. Nothing more than that. Take a look at the screenshot.
New Google search interface
Google News:
New edition is cleaner than the previous one. If you have noticed closely, multimedia contents are more discoverable in this new one.
Google Docs
Google added an option to switch to new interface. However you can revert back to classic interface, if you don’t like it.
Google Docs new interface
This new layout also stays consistent with Google Plus.
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Gmail
Google had added the Google plus theme to Gmail Theme library. You can enable it by visiting themes in settings and selecting ‘Preview’ and ‘Preview(Dense)’. Unlike other products, I like new gmail look. It appears less cluttered and more effective.
Google Books has also got its Google Plus like design update.
Google Books new interface
More white spaces now and less space for books, which I feel is not user friendly.
What is behind this unified design theory?
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With Google plus update on all Google product, Gmail looks more cleaner, while other products remains same and Google books appearance gets downgraded.
Google might be looking to make fans for one service more to another product or service with a lot more ease, as the design and layouts keep things familiar.
It also might be a way to suggest that all Google products will come together at Google+.
But unfortunately Google products does lose its unique look and some people might get tired of the uniformed design across all Google services.
What are your views on Google’s new design layouts for all its services and products? Do drop in your comments.
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Guest Author Girish Mony. If you would like to write Guest Posts on Devils’ Workshop, join us here.
Privacy has been major concern from internet users lately, no one wants to be tracked by companies nor they want to get their E-mail address sold. If you’re looking for some Privacy tips which can make your online life a bit more private, then you’re on the right page. Read on!
This is not a small post, so to keep it organized I broke the post into 4 parts which you can access from the links below.
This section contains tips regarding how to deal with E-mail spam, sharing your E-mail address securely and more.
Use A Disposable Email Address
I sign up for a lot of sites daily and some times I may not be ready to sign up using my default email address as I’m not interested to receive emails from the site. A disposable email address is a temporary Email address which auto destroys itself after a specific period of time.
There are many services which provide disposable email addresses, 10MinuteMail is one of them and works perfectly.
Sharing your Email address publicly is like inviting spammers and spam emails. Spammers run bots which collect Emails shared all over the web and they start sending the spam emails.
Scr.im is a nice service which will provide you a short personalized URL for you, then your friends need to break the captcha after which they can view your email address.
If you have come across a site which looks spammy and if you’re curious to know if they intrude your privacy, this trick will be handy for you. This works only in Gmail.
In Gmail, Youremail@gmail.com, Your+email@gmail.com, You+remail.com etc are all the same, you can insert the ‘+’ anywhere in your email address. So, if you’re signing up for a site, enter your email address as Youremail+sitename@gmail.com and the next time you get ‘free offer/spam’ emails, just check if the mail is sent to Youremail+sitename@gmail.com, if that’s true then the site (for which you’ve signed up) has sold your email! Definitely!
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Browsers
This part contains tips regarding how to update browser plug-ins, dealing with saved passwords and private browsing.
Keep your Browser plug-ins and add-ons up to date
Browser plug-ins especially Flash and Shockwave plug-ins (and even Java) are vulnerable, so you should keep them up to date. For this task you may use update checkers, which are plenty for Windows.
You can also do this manually. If you’re on Chrome, go to chrome://plugins/ and Chrome will alert you (with download links) if there are any outdated plug-ins.
Firefox users can simply head on to Plugins Check page and download the latest plugins.
Never save passwords in the browser itself
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Modern browsers are not really modern in privacy, there are many vulnerabilities and it is suggested to not save passwords in the browser itself. Instead you can use a password manager like LastPass (saves passwords in the cloud) or Keepass (saves passwords locally). If you use more than one browser, then you can use them to sync your passwords too.
Private browsing is a browsing mode which is present in all the modern browsers, during private mode no cookies,cache or form data will be stored. This doesn’t mean that your ISP cannot track you! It’s just that no traces will be left after you’ve done private browsing.
To switch to private browsing (or incognito mode) in Chrome, press Ctrl+Shift+N. In Firefox, click on menu and select Start Private Browsing.
Hide your IP address
This is not something new, but beginners can find it useful. An IP address can be used to track anyone’s geographical location, if you do some cyber crime, the police will contact your ISP and get your IP address and thus they can track you.
You can simply use a web proxy for hiding your IP address, Proxy.org has a list of working web proxies. If you’re looking for some advanced proxy management tool, then checkout Proxy Switchy (for Chrome) and FoxyProxy (for Firefox).
Permanently delete files before ditching a hard drive
Even after you have deleted all the files in your hard drive, they can be retrieved using some file recovery tools such as Recuva.
CCleaner does this task efficiently, just head on to Tools > Drive Wipe, select a drive and hit Wipe. So next time you’re throwing your old hard drive away, make sure you overwrite it.
UPDATE: As commentator Outspoken suggested DBAN (Darik’s Boot and Nuke) is the best drive wiper available till date. Unlike other wipers it boots via CD or USB and overwrites all the files/free space so that they can be unrecoverable. Just get the .iso file from the site, burn it to a disk and you can use it.
Turn off search visibility in your Google+ account
While you can’t do this on Twitter, it’s possible on Google+. Head on to your profile and under editing mode, click on search visibility and untick it.
Make your Tweets exclusive
Twitter is public and if you want to convey a personal message, you can always use the Direct Message option. But if you’re on Twitter to hang out with your family friends then you can make your tweets exclusive.
In the settings, tick the box under Tweet Privacy and enter your password. From now, only people whom you’ve approved will be able see the tweets. Also note that, even though you’ve enabled Tweet Privacy, your previous tweets can be visible in some places.
Delete location history in Twitter
Twitter is public, so it’s better to switch the location tracker off. If you’ve tweeted with location tracker on, you can always remove the location information from the settings.
Just click on that link and your location history will be deleted within a few minutes (depends on how often you used it).
Leave Facebook, Try Google+ !
Google+ is a lot better than Facebook when it comes to privacy. There is no annoying application spam, you won’t get tagged in irrelevant photos nor you friend requests from people you don’t know. That’s all.
Other
Contains uncategorized tips like using like blocking ad networks from tracking you, removing your presence from the web and more.
Remove yourself from people and phone directories
There are many phone directories available like White Pages, People Finder etc which gather information that is publicly available on the web. If you care about privacy, you can remove yourself from those type of sites. All you have to do is read their privacy policy and get the link for opt-out process.
Remove EXIF data from your photos
If you share your personal photographs on social networks, then EXIF data can be your real privacy loophole. EXIF(Exchangeable image file format) data is the information (geolocation, camera data and camera settings) stored in every digital image.
QuickFix is a nice tool which can remove EXIF data from digital images with a click. All you need to do is, drop the image in the program and click on QuickFix Metadata and you’re done. It won’t overwrite the original photo, instead it will create a new one.
HTTPS (Hyper text transfer protocol secured) is mainly used by banking sites as it provides better security while browsing. All the information that is transferred from your browser to the site’s server is encrypted, so a hacker need to break it to access the information which is quite tedious.
Turning on HTTPS in Facebook
By default, Facebook offers HTTP connection but you can enable HTTPS from the settings.
In Twitter
Just check “Always use HTTPS” in settings and you’re done.
In Gmail
Go to Mail settings, under General tab, select Always use HTTPS.
Using Firefox? Oh, you’re lucky. There’s a neat add-on called HTTPS Everywhere which automatically switches your connection to HTTPS (if the site offers it). Currently it supports a large list of over 1000 sites. Unfortunately, there’s no alternative for Chrome users, they need to manually enable HTTPS in the respective sites.
Ad agencies store cookies track you all over the web, they do this for ad personalization, i.e. the ads shown to you will be more relevant. But if you don’t like to get tracked, there’s a way to stop them.
If you’re using Chrome, you can install Keep My Opt-Outs (by Google) which will completely remove ad personalization and if you’re so curious to know the ad networks that are tracking you, get Ghostery. Firefox don’t need to install any add-on for this, as you can simply turn off ad personalization from the settings. Collusion is a handy tool for Firefox users to know who’s tracking.
Remove objectionable images from Google Streetview
Google Streetview which is intended to roll out in Bangalore has been banned in many countries like UK as it was taking pictures of some private places. If you’ve seen pictures of your house or any kind of objectionable element on Streetview, you can report it.
Click on “Report a problem” on the bottom of the map, then fill the form and submit it.
Never use your ISP’s search engine
ISPs generally offer their search engine as the default one, for example if you subscribe to Sify Broadband (Indian ISP), you get search.sify.com as the default search engine. It’s always better to change it to something reliable, preferably Google SSL.
That’s all. If you know some worth privacy tips, do share them.
Unlike Google+, Faceboook don’t allow it’s users to post animation on their profile or anywhere else on their website. But we know that impossible is nothing in this world. Let’s see how we can post an animated status on Facebook. 😉
I just found a profile posting .gif animations with it’s status updates. These animations are not full images rather these are just some smileys but animated ones. I tried contacting the profile owner but he simply refused to tell how he’s doing that. So unfortunately we can only share these statuses without any editing.
Click on the profile above and check out cool animated status updates shared by him. Click on the share button with every status he shares and post it on your profile as a status. These statuses are not customizable but are really good and you can share it without any editing as he’s not using any particular name with those statuses.
Alternate way:
If you can’t see the share button with a status click on the time when the status was posted like “39 minutes ago” posted below the status. Click on that link and then share it with your friends just like you share a normal post or link on Facebook.
Have more Facebook hacks? Do share them with us! 🙂
The rumors that your Phone contacts are visible to everyone on Facebook are not true, claimed Facebook on Thrusday (August 11th 2011). According to these rumors all the Facebook friend’s contact numbers in contact list of your phone was set visible to everyone on Facebook by Facebook officials but Facebook denied it.
The actual thing is that these numbers are not visible to everyone or even your frineds on Facebook. These numbers are only visible to you and are used for ease of access so that you can directly call a facebook friend from your phone just by clicking it. To enhance this thing Facebook also launched a new feature i.e “Request your Friend’s phone number” which’s available on platform’s like Facebook for BlackBerry and iPhone.
Since from the beginning, Facebook is very much concerned about it’s user privacy and they have a good privacy policy. They can’t even think of making all the contacts visible to everyone on Facebook so just Chill and enjoy Facebooking! 🙂
How to access your Facebook’s contact list?
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To access your Facebook contact list open your Facebook homepage from your PC browser. Now click “Account” on the top right of the page and select “Edit Friends” from the drop down list.
Now on the left sidebar, third option will be “Contacts”. Click on that to access your Facebook phonebook and see your Facebook friend’s contact information.
Cloud Reader is a new web app by Amazon with which you can read the Kindle books you bought. Amazon offers Kindle for PC which does the same thing, but a web app is always useful.
Features of Cloud Reader
Read Kindle books online or even offline.
Has a really nice customizable interface, wish Google Reader has something like this.
Ability to bookmark pages while reading long ebooks.
Ebooks can be downloaded for offline reading. To download an Ebook, right-click on the Ebook cover and select Download and Pin Book. You can use downloaded Ebooks from the Downloaded section.
You can also sync the last page read with your Kindle (if you have one!), so you need to search for that page again.
Amazon’s Kindle store does have many free Ebooks apart from paid ones, all you need is a Kindle account to get the Ebook.
Cloud Reader currently supports only Chrome and Safari. Do drop in your comments.
Finding people on Google+ is quite easy. With the recent mass invite URL feature, getting even strangers in your network has become easy. 🙂
If we want to get all the people we follow on Twitter and Google+ to be common, a great way to do that is use Twitter2Plus.
Just type in the twitter handle in the search bar, and get all your Twitter contacts who also have a profile on Google+. Now simply start adding them to a Google+ Circle.
What the website does, is match one twitter account to another with the corresponding Google+ profile in which the twitter URL might be included.
Considering Twitter and Google+ have the same structure of not needing to mutually follow each other, this tool could be very useful to follow your Twitter friends on Google+.
Chrome is one of the fastest browser and hence being used widely. Chrome has some nice built-in features to save passwords for websites you might be visiting regularly. Most people who use Chrome extensively might be aware that the browser can save passwords, but many are unaware we can manage those passwords or individually delete only certain passwords.
Many times we want to delete some of these passwords and but not all of them. For example banking websites or other websites which you do not visit anymore.
Managing Saved Passwords in Chrome
Click on the wrench icon at top right corner of your browser. When you click on it a drop down menu option appears where you can find the ‘Options‘.
Options are separated into 3 categories “Basic“,”PersonalStuff“, “UndertheBonnet“.
Click on “Personal Stuff” from this menu. This option will allow you to customize some the personal aspects of the browser which includes syncing data, theme.
Check your Password options here. Click on “Manage saved passwords…” button and now we can access all the passwords saved on Chrome.
Clicking on the password, we get an option asking you to “show” the password. This is useful if you have forgotten your password but have it saved on your browser.
Click on the ‘X’ symbol to delete the particular password saved on Chrome.
Alternately you can access this window by typing chrome://settings/password into address bar. 😉
Do drop in your comments.
Editor’s Note:This post was a Guest Post by Manendra. Would you like to write one for us? Do check this link.
Sometimes when I post something on Google, I wish there was an automatic way to share it on Twitter. Manage Flitter has a nice tool which allows sharing of Google+ posts on Twitter.
Manage Flitter you might remember from an older post, is a great online tool to clean up your Twitter account. Clean up means, it shows you accounts which do not follow you back, accounts which tweet too much or too little for you to choose and unfollow.
Now with new Manage Flitter’s Plus tool, it allows automatic posting of your Google Plus updates on your Twitter account.
Just link up your Google+ profile ID, sign in with your Twitter credentials and we are all set.
If you want your Twitter followers to check out your Google+ profile with the update, we can even include a link to the original Google+ post.
If you are looking to share your Google+ updates on Twitter automatically, use Manage Flitter Plus. Do drop in your comments.
One of the main reasons why Dropbox is the best file syncing service is that there many 3rd party apps which enhance it, Dropbox has released its API long ago. A few file syncing services like Wuala haven’t released their API and this is a serious drawback.
DROPitTOme is a web app with which your friends can start uploading files to your Dropbox without even having a Dropbox ID, this is quite handy as no one will prefer to sign up for a site just to send some files to his friend.
Receive files from non-Dropbox users and get notified (through E-mail) when a new file is uploaded into your account.
You get a personalized URL which you can share with your friends, your friends need to upload files there.
After you have authenticated the app, a new folder is created in your Dropbox account and all the files uploaded by your friends will be in it.
You can also set an upload password which your friends need to know to upload files. This feature is set to block spammers.
The service has one drawback is that the file size limit for uploading is 75MB but it is a break from the traditional E-mail way to get files, a must have Dropbox fans. Try this app and drop your opinions.
