Cloud drive services are becoming widely popular nowadays with services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and even Amazon Drive. Microsoft has its own version, SkyDrive with many recently improved features for a better cloud experience.

Similar to Google Drive and Gmail, SkyDrive works with a Microsoft account. You can register for the service with any email, or login using an existing MSN or Hotmail account. (On a side note, Microsoft has also revamped its email service Outlook which you can also use as a login.) SkyDrive starts you out with 7GB of free storage but you can get more with pricing plans costing up to US$50 a year.

In this post, we’ll be looking at some of the features of the revamped SkyDrive and sharing with you 8 tips to enhance your experience with SkyDrive.

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1. Edit Skydrive File/Folder Sharing Permissions

SkyDrive offers sharing just like other cloud storage services. However, when generating a link to share files via SkyDrive, you have the option to control whether the files has "View only", "View and edit" or "Public" access.

This also applies for sharing by email or on a social network website. If you would like to monitor who has been editing the file you shared, you can also set the option that requires users to login first.

The details pane on the right is a quick way to see who has access to a shared file or folder and what permissions they are given. Take advantage of this by disabling sharing or changing permissions in just one click.

2. Enable Commenting on Shared Files

While traditional file-sharing services give you only a link for the other person to download, on SkyDrive you can allow users with access to your shared files to comment on them. Users who comment on your files will have their Microsoft profile picture displayed alongside their comments (ala Facebook style) and by changing a few privacy settings, you can choose to allow commenting to just some or all your Messenger friends, and their friends, or even Everyone.

Setting up Commenting

1. Go to SkyDrive.com and click on your Profile name on the top right corner, then click on Edit profile.

   

2. Then, click on the link at "Shared with:" ("Some Messenger friends" is the default option) to edit the privacy settings to your needs.

   

3. You’ll now be able to change the privacy settings on who can comment on your shared files. By sliding the ‘Comments’ bar all the way to the right, everyone on a Microsoft account who has access to the file will be able to leave a comment.

   

3. Make SkyDrive your PC’s “Primary” Drive

This is a trick for people who use Windows Libraries as you can use SkyDrive to sync all your files which will be available to you where you go. Here’s how you set it up:

1. Create the following folders in SkyDrive. Name these folders "Documents", "Music", "Pictures" and "Videos" respectively.

   

2. Under "Libraries", right click on "Documents" and click on "Properties".

   

3. In the Properties window, click on Include a folder. Then navigate to where the SkyDrive folder is and then click on Include folder.

4. You’ll now see the SkyDrive folder under ‘Library Locations’. To change your primary drive, click on the SkyDrive folder location and then click on Set save location.

   

5. Repeat the steps for "Music", "Pictures" and "Videos" after "Documents".

6. After you’ve setup the remaining 3 libraries, run the SkyDrive program and the results will look something like the image below.

   

4. Access Every File On Your PC Remotely

One interesting feature (depending on how you look at it) for SkyDrive is that you can remotely access files that are in your PC even if it is not in the SkyDrive folder. Let’s say you left an important work document at home, no problem, just access your computer via SkyDrive and look for the file in your home PC from work. The catch is, your PC has to be running and have Internet access as well as the SkyDrive program on. Good news is this also works even with the computer locked.

As for security issues, you do not have to worry as files on your computer cannot be edited or deleted in this way, and you can only transfer files from your computer to your SkyDrive folder, not the other way around. Basically, you can extract files from your PC via SkyDrive.

SkyDrive is also available on mobile devices of all platforms: Windows Phone, iOS and Android. However, this feature is only accessible through the website.

5. View or Edit Files Simultaneously

Editing documents simultaneously might not be a very new feature as it is also available on Google Drive. However, with SkyDrive you’ll be able to do that with an online version of Microsoft Office products which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote.

Any changes made to a document will be sync’ed online. Small popups will appear that notify you that a change has been made, either by you or a collaborator. You then hit ‘Save’ to view the edited section, highlighted with the other person’s name.

These Microsoft Office Web Apps give you all the basic functionalities their desktop programs could provide. You can even present slideshows on PowerPoint through the Web App.

What’s great is after editing, your file will be updated and the Microsoft Office file will be ready for immediate download or sharing.

6. Automatically Sync Notes to SkyDrive

You can add notes to SkyDrive while on your smartphone or tablet with the Microsoft OneNote Mobile app, available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Login with a Microsoft account to start using the app. The interface looks clean and organized, as you can see in the shots below: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone on the right.

You can create to-do lists complete with checkboxes or add pictures to your notes. If you want to email the note, it is created in a text format (with pictures and lists included) instead of a OneNote format.

The app syncs all your created notes with your SkyDrive account automatically which is very convenient as you can then access and edit them on your computer. There is also the option to sync only selected notes to your SkyDrive account.

7. Integrate SkyDrive with Gmail

By installing Attachments.me as a Google Chrome Extension or Firefox Add-on, you are able to attach any file on SkyDrive to your Gmail account.

By clicking on ‘Share from SkyDrive’, you can look through all the files on your SkyDrive. Once you have selected the file you want, it will create a link that you can share to your email recipients.

Note that the files that you share through Attachments.me can only be viewed and not edited, ensuring your original document will remain in SkyDrive.

8. Avoid Mistakes with Recycle Bin and Version History

If you happen to accidentally delete any file from your mobile device or desktop, SkyDrive will still have it in an online recycle bin, found at the bottom left corner of the site.

SkyDrive automatically keeps 25 changes made to your document files and with Version History you’ll be able to restore to any of these the previous versions, where necessary. If you’re a chronic saver, no worries as it will only update "Version History" after a successful sync.

Items in the recycle bin will be automatically removed after 30 days, but if the recycle bin exceeds 10% of your total storage limit, the oldest item will be deleted after it has been there for 3 days.

Conclusion

Features offered by SkyDrive can be said to be combined features of two or more cloud storage services. Overall, it has improved user experience through its revamped website which is why you should give it a try.

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Mozilla’s Firefox browser is a user-friendly and feature-rich browser, with around 35% of all web users using it to browse the Web. Today’s internet is no longer the only source of information and entertainment, but also a place of treachery and theft. Hackers, trojans, spam, and phishing scams, are just some problems and dangers that exist in the World Wide Web.

(Image Source: Fotolia)

But there is no need for this to stop us from fully utilizing the web. This is especially true for Firefox users who have an arsenal of great Firefox add-ons that will help ensure that your browsing experience can continue protected.

Here are 10 such Firefox add-ons (or plugins if you will) that can help give you a better browsing experience while on the Web.

Recommended Reading: 50 Time Saving Firefox Add-Ons

1. HTTPS Everywhere

HTTPS Everywhere is a project started by Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that fights for your digital rights. This tool will help secure your browsing experience by making the browser load the https version of any site you visit. Under https mode, the data sent from your computer is SSL-encrypted, safe from prying eyes and man-in-the-middle attacks.

2. WOT

WOT stands for Web of Trust. WOT is an online community which tries to identify untrusted or spam websites and maintains a list of trusted websites. The WOT plugin safeguards your online activity by informing you if the website you are about to access is safe to visit or not. The plugin will show you a trust meter for websites and search results as well as warn you when you are at the verge of accessing an untrusted or spam website.

You can contribute to the WOT community by giving your rating about websites you have visited, and help others browse safely.

3. Adblock Plus

As the name suggests, Adblock Plus blocks all types of advertisements shown on websites. Apart from being annoying and detrimental to user experience, ads, when misplaced or misused, can also track your online activities by way of locking down the links you click or visit. If however you stop these ads from showing on all the websites you visit, your favorite sites will stop getting ad revenue and lose their financial backing to keep the site running.

The solution provided is that you can allow non-intrusive ads that you don’t find annoying to continue showing with Adblock Plus, while avoiding ads from, for example, malware-spreading websites.

4. NoScript

NoScript is a powerful add-on for Firefox, which allows you to block JavaScript, Java, Flash and other executable content present on the web pages you visit. You can create a whitelist and allow some trusted websites (like your home-banking website) to run executable content on the browser.

By blocking executable content on unknown websites, this plugin protects you against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS), cross-zone DNS rebinding or CSRF attacks (router hacking) and Clickjacking attempts. Websites in the whitelist are allowed to run content, which will allow you browse your favorite websites without any problem.

5. BetterPrivacy

BetterPrivacy serves to protect you against unlimited-time stored Super-Cookies. Cookies are files stored on your computer, which carry information like your username, password, login date, etc. Super-Cookies known as LSOs are flash cookies which are centrally-stored and can contain many information about you and your online activity.

Many websites like Facebook, Google and advertising companies use LSOs to get information about you. LSOs are almost unmanageable from browsers and also cumbersome to be managed on centrally-stored servers. With BetterPrivacy, you can opt to delete LSOs when launching a browser or shutting down one, or even at a pre-set time interval. You can even opt to keep LSOs that you don’t want deleted.

6. Ghostery

Ghostery is a useful add-on to protect your privacy and online activities from being tracked, particularly by advertising companies who are interested in getting information about you for marketing purposes. Ghostery sees the web page and detect trackers, web bugs, pixels and beacons.

After identifying who’s tracking you, Ghostery will give you options to know more about these companies. It will provide links to their Privacy Policy and opt-out options. With Ghostery you can also block scripts from companies you don’t trust, delete LSOs and block images & iFrames.

7. RequestPolicy

RequestPolicy is a plugin which give you control of your browsing activities by showing you when cross-site requests are made by the web pages you visit. When your browser is told by a web page to access a completely different website, this is called a cross-suite request. You would have unknowingly allowed another website to obtain information from you by allowing this request.

Cross-site requests can also be used to make Cross-Site request forgery attacks where one webpage tells the browser to make a request to another website, thus making it look as if you actually made the request to access this second website.With RequestPolicy, all cross-site requests are blocked automatically and you’re notified about it so that you can allow the requests that you want. You can also whitelist requests by origin site, destination site or origin-to-destination specifically.

8. Close’n forget

You must be using Private Browsing to access certain websites without leaving a trace, or cleaning up your tracks after completing the browsing exercise. But what if you unintentionally got onto a web page that you aren’t supposed to in a public computer and you can’t remove the complete history because it’s against the usage policy there?

Then, Close’n forget will come to your rescue. With Close’n forget, you can close a single tab and Firefox will even forget that it was ever opened in the first place. You can close the tab using contextual menu, a toolbar icon or even with shortcuts like with Alt+W.

9. QuickJava

QuickJava is a simple, yet useful plugin for Firefox. It allows you to turn on (or off) Java, JavaScript, Flash, Silverlight, Proxy and automatic loading of Images from the status bar icons or the toolbar, without having to open options or dialogs. You can use it to easily turn off Flash/Java or Images on websites you visit.

10. BrowserProtect

BrowserProtect is the ideal protection your browser needs from hijacking – homepage and search engine hijacking, that is. You must have noticed sometime after installing some software, your browser homepage or search engine gets changed automatically and you have to reset your options again to suit your needs.

It can be frustating especially when you have installed and customized your software preferences and browser settings. BrowserProtect will protect your browser auto-changes by disallowing any software or app from changing your browser settings without you knowing about it.

Conclusion

The add-ons/plugins described in this article is optimized for FF12 and above, thus they may not work on older versions. I’d suggest you use Firefox’s latest browser version for added security. What security plugins do you use while surfing online? Share your favorite plugins with us.

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If you have to work with many opened folders, your desktop can get a little messy. Finding the folder you want from one open window to the next will be a nightmare. It’s no surprise that some of us prefer the tab setup like how it is on the Chrome browser. It’s easier to navigate through, locating, opening and closing tabs as required.

Actually, you can have that feature with a little help from Clover. It helps you work faster by integrating the tab feature into Windows Explorer so you can manage your folders like how you manage your browser tabs.

Using Clover

Firstly, download Clover by clicking on this download link and installing it. The first thing you will notice is the clover leaf icon on the taskbar.

All your folders from now on will be handled by Clover. Every new folder you open will open in a new tab similar to browser tabs on Google Chrome. Opening a new tab will bring you to My Computer as the default page.

Bookmark Bar

Clover also gives you a bookmark bar on which you can organize and execute .exe files from the bookmark bar. You can also group programs in folders and navigate program shortcuts with ease.

As an example, we’ve created this ‘Favourites’ folder below. You can store the locations of folders such as ‘My Documents’ and ‘My Pictures’ and even launch programs with it – launch the last link you see in the shot below to run iTunes.

Clover Keyboard Shortcuts

Just like Google Chrome, Clover works with many basic shortcut keys to help you navigate better and faster through your tabbed folders.

Shortcuts	Description
Ctrl + N	Open a new Clover window.
Ctrl + T	Open a new tab.
Ctrl + W	Close current tab.
Ctrl + Shift + T	Re-open last closed tab.
Ctrl + D	Bookmark current folder.
Ctrl + Shift + D	Place all opened tabs into a bookmarked folder.
Ctrl + Tab	Switch to next tab.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab	Switch to previous tab.
Ctrl + Shift + B	Enable or disable bookmark bar.

These are shortcut keys that most users know intuitively.

More Tips

Here are a few more tips to help you become an ultimate Clover user.

Clicking

• Double clicking on a tab closes the tab.

• Middle clicking (mousewheel click) on tab closes the tab.

• Holding Ctrl while double clicking on a folder opens that folder in a new tab.

• Right Click on a folder and pressing E opens the folder in a new tab.

• Middle clicking (mousewheel click) on a bookmark opens the location to a new tab.

Dragging

• Dragging folders to the bookmark bar bookmarks the folder.

• Dragging folders to the tab bar opens it in new tab.

• Dragging folders onto an existing tab replaces that tab with the dragged folder.

• Dragging a tab outside of the current window opens it to a new window.

Conclusion

Clover is a powerful and simple add-on to better your Windows navigation and organisation. It is also very lightweight and does not take up a lot of RAM when handling many tabs.

We expect many more features to come with future updates such as custom folder icons on the bookmark bar. You can follow them through this Google translated website, but even with its current features, Clover is a worthy download.

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