@liku: Per my comments above, just install the full AVG with the LinkScanner, then disable the add-on from within Firefox or IE. Keeping it enabled in AVG will allow it to update and keep it from chucking a wobbly in your taskbar.

@cisengineer: Yeah, it was the reason I held out and kept using AVG 7.5 for so long, until stopped supporting it this month. Necessity forced me to find the workaround by disabling the Firefox add-on, which keeps the AVG tray happy.

@forpeterssake: You can disable it automatically installing by choosing the "Advanced Install" during the installation process of AVG 8, where you can choose which features to install or not.

I'm glad the linked-to blog filed this under "Stupid Photoshop Tricks" because that is certainly where it belongs. Reflections are the new lens flare, and because so many people are simply doing them wrong (exhibit A from PhotoshopDisasters) we just need to abolish them outright.

Is there any one "right" way to use a press pot to brew coffee? I just got one as my first foray into coffee but I can't find consistent instructions on how to best use one. The Jerry Baldwin article linked here pours enough water to get the bloom, but doesn't pour the rest of the water until right before pressing.…

@gmerin: You, sir, are not average. My girlfriend recently lost her cellphone at the mall and despite my continual text messages and calls to it offering a reward, it was never returned. Same thing happened to an earlier cell phone she lost. Regardless of her carelessness, people, generally, are jerks.

So, you'd get all the distortion of a fisheye lens but none of the field-of-view!

@tok3ninja: Pfft. Thats nothing, I've got at least 12, all of which are pretty much spam-free. My Yahoo addresses are the most susceptible to spam, but all of them end up in the spam folder so I never have to see them. A big key is to not list your address on the web anywhere so as to keep it away from the spam…

@LastVigilante: Crap. I'm an idiot. Here is that link for that "really nice non-partisan article on the what and the why Mac/Win use different font smoothing techniques" that I promised in my previous post: [www.joelonsoftware.com]

Here is a really nice non-partisan article on the what and the why Mac/Win use different font smoothing techniques.

@goodywitch: I think the only justified comparison should be between Google Earth and WWT, because they are both in the same category of applications. Celestia is a 3D space simulator, and Stellarium is a true planetarium/sky-chart application. Google Earth/Sky and WWT are good for education, for looking at nice…

@goodywitch: VS Stellarium?

I love Send Later and have been using it for as long as I can remember. It is especially helpful at work when I finish a project quickly, but want to make it seem like it took longer to the client. I don't need everyone expecting 1-hour turnaround.

@The Limority Report: Lucky day for you! Install the add-on MinimizeToTray, which does exactly what the name says.

Dear Diary,

Not bad, but they need to update their photos of Comiskey Park/US Cellular Field (pictured above). They, thank God, got rid of those gaudy bright blue seats and the whole nosebleed section of the upper deck long ago.

@pk: Yeah, my office, dining room and living room are all the same room, it would've been nice to have living room furniture available to complete my digital setup. Either way, it has allowed me to confirm the desk I want.

@48crash: You and me both! I'd die for my own cube! Right now I'm in an office that is about the same space as two of those cube's pictured but sharing it with 5 people and 7 computers. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to listen to my boss chew his sandwiches while breathing through his nose.

I've been using a "DIY" monitor stand for years. Just a 7"x3/4" plank of wood, cut into one long length and two small, and nailed 'em together. Its not pretty, but my monitor is higher and my keyboard has somewhere to hide. Mission accomplished.

I've been a loyal Microsoft ICE user for my panoramas ever since LH introduced it to me. There's no need to even drag and drop, you just give it your group of photos and it figures out the order and does all the stitching. 99% of the time the results are nearly flawless.