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Guide for the Perplexed: Where the How-To’s Are, and Office 2007 Commands
Drop in for a roundup of helpful Web sites that offer instructional content in textual form, news about a Microsoft Office add-in that helps you adapt to Office 2007, and all about run-time environments in Linux.
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Play Music and Get a Date at the Tool Bar & Grill
June 9 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Wherein Jonathan recommends a great simple media player and a Web site that can get you out of trouble, and Mark reviews Linux calendar utilities.
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Venturing into Culture: Cinema and Iconography
June 2 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 3 weeks ago)
Tags:Jonathan recommends the best movie review Web sites, and Mark recommends icon utilities.
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Sticky Notes On Your Screen
May 6 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:I describe my pick for an on-screen version of Post-It Notes, and Mark demonstrates perl scripting.
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Dupe Finders and One-Liners
April 27 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (2)(edited 11 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Utilities for identifying and deleting duplicate digital photos; interesting survey on firewalls; and one-line Perl commands in Linux.
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Polish Up Your Image at the Terminal
April 15 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (1)(edited 11 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:The best free image-editing utilities, how to trap Web plagiarists, and all about the Linux terminal.
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Making Much From Little: Text Expanders
Read on to learn about text-expander utilities, PhraseExpress in particular, and equation editors.
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Rule the World
Wherein I discover a screen ruler utility and offer free copies of Titan Backup Business, and Mark explains both sides of Linux window management.
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A RAM Cleaner That Really Works – and Specs for TWs
March 24 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Wherein I recommend Instant Memory Cleaner for certain purposes, and Mark Lautman gives the lowdown on documentation standards specifications... And read for a special offer!
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Someday You’ll Thank Me For This
March 16 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (2)(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill is back! This week, read about a memory booster for Windows XP, a useful reference source, and how to find files in Linux.
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Best Free PDF Yet
March 10 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Howdy once again from the Tool Bar & Grill, where thesearch for better utilities and Web sites never ends. We have found some great free solutions today, too.
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Convert PDF to DOC for Free
January 21 2008 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:This week, Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill (http://jonathanstoolbar.blogspot.com) describes some absolutely free tools for converting PDF files to Word DOC format.
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In this week's Tool Bar & Grill: XML authoring tools.
December 17 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:The latest post in Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill includes a brief review of XML tools by Mark Lautman that will be of special interest to technical communicators. Be sure to check all the previous posts, too, for valuable tips on useful free utilities and helpful Web sites. See you there!
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Looking for Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill?
We have moved to a new location. From now on, you'll find my new posts about great free and cheap utilities and useful Web sites at http://jonathanstoolbar.blogspot.com – see you there!
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Never Back Down. Just Back Up
October 7 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Reviews and recommendations of hard disk backup utilities, both freeware and shareware, for Windows and Linux.
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Get Your Back Up
October 1 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
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Staying Up To Date
Updates of favorite utilities (Karen's Power Tools, MP3DirectCut, 1by1), and recommendations of software update notification services.
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Stupid Email Tricks
September 2 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Today let’s try to find good uses for some interesting new Web sites that integrate with email.
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Solutions for Slippery Shortcuts
August 25 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Cool Tools for Hot Days
Here are handy small utilities for freeing files that Windows has locked up for their own protection; unlocking all your computer's secrets; and converting the masses -- or volumes, temperatures, distances, and anything else that needs converting.
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Fabulous 15 Firefox Favorites
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I Blog, Therefore I Am. I Back Up, Therefore I Will Continue To Be
August 5 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Here Comes the Big One
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Now It Can Be Told
July 21 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:In which I share my list of essential "Desert Island Disk" utilities, and review Dead Pixel Buddy.
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The Calculating Type
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Syncing Spirits
July 8 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
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Sync or Swim
June 30 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Review of Allway Sync file synchronization utility, and update on Web-hosted backup service DivShare.
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Back ’Er Up, Fellas
June 23 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
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For Desktop Neatness Freaks
June 17 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
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Get Your Blah-Blah Out Faster
June 9 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 3 weeks ago)
Tags:Reviews PhraseExpress, a time- and keystroke-saving autotext utility for all Windows applications. Also updates on Ad-Aware and SecureZIP.
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Better Windows Accessories
Reviews of two free improvements on windows accessories: TaskSwitch XP Pro and Moffsoft FreeCalc.
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It's About Time
May 26 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
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Good Things Come Faster To Those Who Don’t Wait
May 19 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Reviews of Safarp for quickly uninstalling programs, Speedbit Video Accelerator, and Slawdog Smart Shutdown.
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Fly By the Seat of Your Pants
May 13 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 1 week ago)
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See Food Diet on the Web
Review of three nutrition and fitness Web sites for dieters: NutriDiary, SparkPeople, and Calorie-Count.
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Small, Powerful, and Free
April 29 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Capsule reviews of great free utilities – VoluMouse, Documeron, TinySpell, and Actual Doc – plus updates of old favorites WinPatrol, SecureZip, IrfanView, and TraxTime.
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Putting Movies On Disks Shouldn't Be So Hard
April 22 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (1)(edited 10 months ago)
Tags:Converting movie files in AVI, MPG, or other formats for burning onto disks and playing in DVD players can be either simple or cheap, but not both. But I have found a few utilities that make the time-consuming chore at least bearable.
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Save Time Opening and Saving Files
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WordWeb, Your Dictionary On Disk
April 10 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Where do you go to look up word definitions, spelling, synonyms, and antonyms? My choice is WordWeb, a fairly complete dictionary on your hard disk.
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Your Personal Proofreader
March 25 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Reviews of Smart Type Assistant, a utility that provides AutoCorrect- and AutoText-like functionality in all Windows applications, and Giveaway of the Day, a Web site that gives away a different commercial program each day.
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Love Is Fickle
March 10 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Update on newly discovered utilities I like even as much or more than some I previously recommended: startup and process managers and a tray clock.
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To Do: Find To-Do List Manager
February 25 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (1)(edited 10 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Jonathan reviews ToDoList, an excellent and free task manager that espouses the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach to time management and productivity, and also visits some Web sites for to-do list management, including Backpack, Vitalist, Rememberthemilk, Taskfreak, and Nozbe.
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Control Your Startups
February 10 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (2)(edited 11 months ago)
Tags:Reviews of some of the best free startup monitoring and control programs: Windows XP's built-in tools; Mike Lin's Startup Monitor and Startup Control Panel; CodeStuff Starter; BillP Studios' WinPatrol; and Web sites describing startup programs and processes.
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Safer Surfing Safaris
January 25 2007 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 4 weeks ago)
Tags:Reviews ways to stop identity theft through phishing Web sites: McAfee SiteAdvisor, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Opera 9.
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For Music Lovers Only
Some favorite free tools for managing music files: Switch, MP3 DirectCut, ID3 TagIt, Slice, Stamp.
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A Few of My Favorite Things
Review of some free screen capture and WiFi tools: FastStone Capture, Screenshot Captor, SnagIt, MWSnap, NetStumbler
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Search Beyond Google
Using only Google when searching the Internet might result in missing a lot of information. Metasearch tools pull results from multiple search engines. Also: Review of Distant Music, Adam Klein's debut CD.
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EULAppreciate This: Help with Required Reading, and Flame Retardant
November 10 2006 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 11 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Reviews of EULAlyzer, a clever little utility that reads a EULA and flags suspicious words and phrases, and Comodo, the best free firewall.
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A Great Explorer Is Discovered
October 25 2006 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill(edited 10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Tags:Review of xplorer2 file and disk manager utility, a replacement for Windows Explorer, and other such utilities.
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Print File Lists and See the Time
October 10 2006 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (1)(edited 11 months ago)
Tags:Reviews of Karen's Directory Printer (print file and folder lists) and TClockEx (enhance Windows system tray clock).
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I Know It's In Here Somewhere
September 25 2006 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (1)(edited 10 months ago)
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We Don't Pay for Zip
September 10 2006 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (2)(edited 2 months, 1 week ago)
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That @#$%^& CAPS LOCK Key!
August 25 2006 Jonathan Plutchok under Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill | Comments (3)(edited 10 months, 1 week ago)
Tags:Today's featured utility is tiny but potent. How often do you hit the Caps Lock key accidentally, RESULTING IN A SENTENCES LIKE THIS? Or you tapped Insert when you meant Home, and overwrote your latest pearl of wisdom?
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List of Articles
Jonathan Plutchok identifies useful free or inexpensive utilities, plug-ins, and Web sites.
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For Hire Now!
Upcoming Events
- Feb 17 2010 (18:30 - 20:30)FM UG (Kfar Yona + Web): FrameMaker & Localization
- Feb 23 2010 (19:30 - 21:45)Voices Israel poetry group - Tel Aviv
- Mar 09 2010Advanced Industrial Control Conference (AIC 2010)
- Jun 15 2010 - Jun 16 2010SwSTE 2010
Upcoming Courses
- Feb 10 2010 (19:30 - 20:30)Webinar: Automating High-Quality Pagination
- Feb 10 2010 (21:00 - 22:00)Webinar: Word-to-FrameMaker Conversions
- Feb 15 2010Photoshop for Technical Communicators
- Feb 16 2010Single Sourcing with FrameMaker
Other Events
SummariesUseful Information
Columns on Elephant
Translatable but Debatable
Each month, Mark L. Levinson presents one hard-to-translate Hebrew word at a time for discussion.
Of Mice and Keyboard Shortcuts
Michael Cohen will teach us practical shortcuts that save us time and make our lives easier.
The Why of Style
Mark L. Levinson examines the big and little factors that make writing effective.
Broken Bell Education in Israel
David Siegel looks at the problems in education in Israel and discusses what can be done.
Jonathan's Tool Bar & Grill
Jonathan Plutchok identifies free or inexpensive utilities or plug-ins that save time, increase productivity, improve your computing environment, perform a task you otherwise couldn't do... or is just too much fun to ignore. This column has grown into its own blog at http://jonathanstoolbar.blogspot.com where you can find new issues every week.
It's in The Script
Paul Schnall teaches us about the power of FrameScript and how to use it.
Do it Yourself
Did you ever wonder what was inside a PC, laptop, or other microcomputer system? Michael Cohen teaches us what's inside and how to configure and build our own.
Coaching for Success
Dr. Tal discusses the principles of professional coaching, focusing on resiliency.
Hunters and Gatherers
Eric Gluch looks at modern marketing.
Moving to Chelm
Esther Shira Stepansky takes us on a humorous adventure in the modern day land of Chelm as we look at some of the challenges of making aliyah and finding work in Israel. Making aliyah is supposed to be the fulfillment of my of your Jewish identity, so why does Israel make it so difficult?
Why am I a Tech Writer?
Life as a Tech Writer
By Mumpy
Building Bridges (in Hebrew)
Dr. Zaidel discusses another aspect of mediation within the framework of Israel's court-approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process.
Don't Forget
Hezy Asher teaches us how to improve our memory.
World of Podcasting
Tom Johnson's podcast episodes, provide tips on recording presentations, and other podcasting related news and events.
Effective Management ניהול אפקטיבי
Scribblin' With Steph
Life in Northern Israel
By multiple authors
Life on the Southern Front of Israel
By Israel Ivri
Event Summaries
Summaries of events held by Elephant and other organizations throughout the Israeli technical/marcom community.