Want more Vista Sidebar Gadgets?

Intelligroup, based in the U.K., has created 12 free Vista Sidebar gadgets (most are for U.K. websites). These are the ones I would recommend checking out:

• Amazon search
• eBay search
• Engagdet headlines
• Kotaku headlines

I’ve downloaded the Engadget and Kotaku gadgets and they’re pretty cool. The Engadget one is very nice but the Kotaku gadget is practically impossible to read because of the red text on a yellow background.

After downloading the gadgets, just double-click it and it will automatically be added to your Sidebar library. Speaking of, you can find more gadgets on Microsoft’s Windows Live Gallery website.

Update (2/27/2007) I provided some feedback, to Intelligroup, requesting the ability to customize the color scheme of the Kotaku gadget and just heard back from them: they are planning on adding this feature in the next release. Nice.

Filed under: Microsoft, Sidebar Gadgets, Technology, Vista, Windows

How to Stop Spam Email

Tired of being spammed? Not happy with your email’s spam filter? Well, believe it or not, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a VERY effective email address that you can forward your spam email to. After forwarding your spam email to the FTC’s email addy, your spam email will decrease by 90 – 100%. All you have to do is forward any spam email you receive to the following email addy: spam@uce.gov. After about 1 – 2 months, you’ll notice a dramatic drop in spam email. Now, you may still receive a handful of spam per month but keep forwarding them to the FTC and they will eventually stop.

I started doing this about 6-8 months ago when my .Mac email account was compromised and, after about 2 months, all spam email stopped. I find this to be much more effective than relying on spam filters. With this method, you’ll never have to worry about your spam filter catching false positive emails and you help the FTC get back at the spammers.

Filed under: Email, How-To, Reviews, Spam