In the battle for consistent design there is no more fearsome foe than Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. Despite the browser quickly coming up on its eighth birthday, it is still in wide use - particularly in markets where software piracy is more wide-spread and users aren’t able to upgrade to the “Windows Genuine Advantage”-required IE7 or IE8.

As such, it’s important that you be able to test your design, theme/template, or even your blog tweaks to assure that they work alright in the archaic and anarchistic browser.

One problem - due to kernal code differences, it isn’t possible to install Internet Explorer 6 or lower on a machine running Windows Vista. So where handy bundles like the MultipleIE package worked well on XP - they’re a no go on Vista.

There are some great static checks you can do using Web apps like Browser Shots and IE NetRenderer, but sometimes you need to interact with the design to see where things are, or aren’t, functioning.

Enter IETester. Created by the same developer as the IE DebugBar, the free Web browser offers up the rendering and javascript abilities of IE5.5 to IE8.

Not only are you able to test how your layouts will look in various IE versions, with the use of the browser’s tabs, you can test multiple versions in the same browser window.

What’s more - it works on both XP and Vista (sorry Mac and Linux users). It’s not flawless, and preliminary usage showed a couple hiccups in the page loading - but for an alpha release, and with nothing else to turn to, who’s complaining.

With users slowly overcoming their adversity of pushing away from the Microsoft monopoly, there’s hope that IE6 will die the death it so rightly deserves, but until then apps like IETester are a welcome helping hand.

First, I should preface this with the tidbit that I spent a couple hours looking around the net for some way to hack my lousy Home Basic to enable the Aero theme (glass/transparent windows, thumbnail preview and Flip 3D task switching). Despite the claims of about a zillion Web sites all touting the same registry hack - it appears this isn’t possible. What follows is part one of my free “Aero alternatives”.

Shock Aero 3D

Shock Aero 3D is pretty damn close to the actual Flip 3D effect, and at this price (it’s freeware), we’re certainly willing to overlook any small discrepancies. The program allows you to choose between a flat “tile” display, or the cooler “flip” effect that stacks your open program windows on a 3D z-axis.

The utility also gives you quite a bit of control over animation effects and background styles, both so you’re able to customize things and so you’re able to disable more graphic-intensive processes should your system not be able to handle them.

You can grab Shock Aero 3D here, and be sure to check out the developer’s other cool apps for customizing your desktop experience.

Shock Aero works on XP/2000/2003/Vista systems with OpenGL support.

Madotate

I’ve no idea who comes up with these names, but considering this comes out of Japan, I guess we can allow for a bit of a tongue-twisting moniker. Madotate is similar to Shock Aero in the style of its effect (throwing your open apps onto a 3D axis), however where Shock Aero separates the application selection from your desktop, Madotate integrates right into it.

By a small button which the program adds to the top-right of your windows (beside the minimize, maximize, close buttons), you are able to instantly slide the open app into 3D-mode and out of your way. The windows automatically dock to the screen edge they are closest to.

Madotate comes with a rather comprehensive set of options to customize things. You can turn transparency of the 3D-ified windows on or off, tag the windows, change the angle and distance of the effect, set hot keys to effect both the active program and all programs, and a few more.

As mentioned, Mandotate is a Japanese program, but some kind folks went to the trouble of translating it into English. Grab the English version here, or if you’d rather, get the original from the site of the author, Takayuki Shinohara.

Madotate works on pretty much every version of Windows since Windows 95.

Both of the programs have their pluses. Shock Aero has a slightly simpler functionality about it, while Madotate has more organizational/workflow possibilities. When it comes to resources though, Madotate wins hands down, barely pushing the 6MB mark on memory resources.

Know of any other apps that add some pizazz to the otherwise rather mundane task-switching functionality? Leave us a comment.

I like to keep my non-system/program files on a partition, while leaving the standard C drive to hold the bulk of installed programs and system files. This keeps all my media (movies, music, photos, etc.) seperate from the drive that houses my OS - allowing me a quick and easy way of formatting the system drive, and not needing to back up the much bulkier “media” drive.

Windows, by default, works counter to this by setting up the My Documents folder’s location to the C drive. In the past I went around this by denying that the My Documents folder even existed, and just making my own file system.

As many programs use this area as a default storage area for certain data, as well as some games using it for saved game files, this eventually led to a rather messy file structure that had half of my data on the media partition and half of it on the system partition. Sucky to say the least.

But as I said, a new system - new rules. I finally decided to dig a bit and see if I couldn’t change the default location of the My Documents (or “Documents” directory - as it’s called in Vista). The solution was a WHOLE lot simpler than I had assumed, and I felt rather stupid I hadn’t noticed it sooner.

To change the location, simply follow these steps:

1. Click the START button. With the mouse over the My Documents (”Documents” for Vista) folder/icon, right click and select Properties.
2. For XP: On the Target tab (Location for Vista), simply change the Target folder location to whichever location you prefer.
3. To select a location from the standard file/folder selection box, choose “Find Target…”, or if you prefer to move your current My Documents folder to the new location, choose “Move…” and select your new location.
4. To restore the original location, just click “Restore Default”.

That’s it. It’s just that simple. You can get a few more My Documents customizations at Microsoft’s support page.

The completely free, Flash-based Internet speed test gives you a sweet graphical interface to view while testing your hook-up to the Web. Additionally, the site allows you to choose from a wide selection of servers from across the globe to check your speed with.

For any unaware, the speed test, like most on the net, simply calculates the time it takes to download and then upload data to and from your computer. Due to net congestion and actual physical distance, test results can vary quite a bit, making Speedtest.net a handy way to compare results across a wide selection of servers in various geographical locales.

SpeedTest.net also gives users a rundown of their average and best download/upload speeds. It shows how the user’s speed compares to others - on the same ISP, in the same city, same country, same continent and globally. Additionally, the results display an overall rank percentage that rates your connection globally and nationally.

Not only is it a handy tool for testing your Internet connection, it can also work as an excellent way to source out new ISPs, as the site displays global statistics on what the fastest ISPs are. With the site getting “hundreds of thousands of visitors a day”, and rankings based completely on actual test results, its unlikely you’ll get more un-biased method of sorting out who has the fastest connections - as you can see from the screen shots, sadly it’s not me.

Twhirl is a desktop Twitter client that runs under the rather clever Adobe AIR platform on both Mac and PC operating systems. At the forefront of it’s impressive feature list is the ability to quickly manage multiple Twitter accounts, and runs somewhat akin to an IM client (MSN Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, etc.) making the act of posting new tweets a breeze.

Despite the Twirl project still being in its infancy, its feature list is quite impressive (from the site):

Twirl Feature List (v0.7.3)

• remembering login credentials on user’s computer
• all-in-one timeline with tweets, replies and direct messages
• configurable auto-updates for the timeline
• displaying user’s latest 20 status updates and direct messages sent
• sending status updates
• sending replies to other users (with quick buttons on others’ statuses)
• sending direct messages to other users
• showing user’s friends and followers
• deleting own status updates and direct messages
• input area can be hidden (configurable auto-hiding)
• multi-account support
• keyboard shortcuts
• sys tray / dock icon support
• audible and visual notifications
• viewing and (un)setting favorites
• (un)following users
• auto-updating the program
• changeable color schemes
• searching for public tweets (powered by terraminds)
• filtering the timeline

All lists (statuses, direct messages, users) can be cleared and refreshed. To keep the user interface compact, the different lists are on seperate “layers”, of which only one is visible. You can change the visible layer using a combo box.

The free download installs quickly (despite requiring the Adobe AIR runtime - get it here) and its customizable interface is slick and easy to get the hang of. Twhirl is essential for anyone that likes the idea of Twitter, but finds the browser-bound interface cumbersome.

Oh, and be sure to follow the official Tip. Trick. Mod. Twitter for instant updates on what’s happening around here.

The one thing that Thunderbird always lacked, however, was a slick task/event/calendar interface, a fact that very nearly caused me to dig into my dusty MS Office folder to run the rather bloated Outlook.

I had considered using the sweet-running Sunbird (yet another Mozilla product), but having to launch an additional program on the off chance I had an appointment that day seemed like application overkill.

Then along comes Lightning. This fantastic add-on to Mozilla Thunderbird solves the whole quandary by adding a straight-forward calendar/task manager right into my e-mail client. The integration is so well handled that you’ll swear the add-on was part of the program’s core - which indeed it will be when Thunderbird 3 comes out later this year.

Lightning adds an additional “Calendar” layer to Thunderbird, which is easily switched to and from via the addition of “Mail” and “Calendar” icons just below your folders list. Additionally, a quick-view pane nestled to the right of your e-mail viewer gives you a heads up when you have scheduled events or tasks coming your way - and is easily hidden if not needed.

The calendar page operates as you would expect it to. Multiple views (day, week, multi-week, month) allow for as detailed a view as you’d like. New events or tasks are added with the click of a button, and a variety of categories and colours help keep things organized.

You can also layer additional calendars, toggling them on and off with the click of a button - similar in function to Google Calendars.

Importing of iCalendar and Outlook CSV files is included, as is the ability to export your calendars as .html, .ics, or .csv files. Additionally, should you require integration with Sun Java System Calendar Server and its WCAP protocol, separate Lightning installs are available.

With the addition of Lighting, Thunderbird is on the cusp of becoming a fantastic free PIM. Its address book still requires a bit of work, but small complaints for what it offers, and at what price.

The browser addon lets you quickly “stick” a sticky note (Post-it®) on any Web page you visit. Write whatever you want on the sticky, and the next time you return to the page the note will be there to remind you of whatever it was you didn’t want to forget.

Once you’ve installed the plugin, you’ll have a small in your status bar at the bottom of your browser. When you want to add an Internote (sticky) to a particular page, simply click the icon and up it pops. You can add as many Internotes as you like to a page.

Additionally, the notes feature custom fruity background colours (banana, melon, blueberry, lime, grape and cauliflower), earthy font colours (charcoal, topsoil, grass, aluminum, rose and snow), as well as various sizes for both text and stickies.

Other options include the ability to set the default position (top-left/top-right/bottom-left/bottom-right/centre) and whether or not the note is translucent.

In case you lose track of the various notes you’ve posted throughout your surfing, Internotes comes with a handy Internote manager, where you can browse, modify and delete the various Internotes you’ve created. The manager also allows you to print and export the notes, should you need to.

And if there are any Canadians in the crowd, they’ll be pleased to note that the addon’s creator is named Tim Horton.

The free desktop client, which resembles any of a thousand messenger programs in looks, gives you quick access to MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, blogs and pretty much anything with an RSS feed. It puts the notifications of updates on any of a half-dozen social networks (with more in the works) right in front of your face.

No longer do you have to log into all the various sites to gain access to what your friends are saying to and about you - 8hands keeps track of it all. Additionally it tracks media updates for both YouTube and Flickr.

What’s more, it can also act as an IM client, allowing you to chat with other 8hands users - update the app’s status bar and it instantly sends the update on to Twitter.

The program is still in “Alpha” stages, meaning it’s far from complete, but it’s off to a very strong start. Planned social site additions include Friendster, Last.fm, Bebo and Xenga. Unfortunately this is currently strictly a PC program, but the 8hands site indicates a Mac version is on its way.

Additionally, I’d really like to see further integration with other popular IM clients (a la Pidgin or Trillian). The program isn’t all that light on memory real-estate, so it would be nice if I could do away with my other messenger clients to make room and keep things running smoothly.

Growing pains and future features aside, 8hands is certainly better than the two genetics gave you and will no doubt save anyone who’s a Web 2.0 junkie a whole lot of time.

The Zune theme, which was previously called “Royale Noir”, has been out for a while - but unless you’re on a serious hunt for XP customizations, or have a Zune player, you’re not likely to stumble across it. However, if you’ve upgraded your Windows Media Player to version 10 or 11, you might be familiar with the look.

It features a rather dark, very Web 2.0-ish feel, with bright orange highlights and START button. And, unlike skinning software (such as WindowBlinds), it’s extremely light on system resources.

Installing this mod couldn’t be easier. Simply click here to download the theme’s install file - once downloaded, double-click it to install. The theme should activate automatically, but if not, or should you like to tweak it a bit, all the settings are available in XP’s Display Properties - under the Themes and Appearance tabs.

Grab a couple cool new wallpapers, sit back and enjoy the new look of your desktop.

Somewhat fitting perhaps, considering the high-tech ocean around us, and its penchant for driving us me to drink.

Jokes aside, this blog is birthed for that very reason - the sea of information looking to crush us with her digital waves. It seems I spend a solid portion of my day navigating the Web in search of ways to make navigating the Web more efficient. I load my computer with application upon application in hopes that one of them will speed it up or trim it down.

In short, I waste my time in a sometimes seemingly futile attempt to save time. And I don’t think I’m alone.

Tip. Trick. Mod. is a blog for folks like us. People who want to make this digital world around them start working for, not against, them.

Every day our writers will bring you practical tips, tricks and modifications that you can use to better your Web site, browsing experience, home computer, mobile phone or just your life in general.

Tip. Trick. Mod. is published by yours truly, Ryan McLaughlin, as well as Rick Martin - just two average guys that spend far too much time online and far too little of it being productive.

Though we also do our share of the writing, much of the content comes from much smarter Webizens than us. Bloggers from all walks of life. Young and old. Women and men. All size, shape, colour and creed. Because, lets face it, when it comes to the great ocean that is the ‘Modern World’, we can use all the help we can get.

So let us be your guides, your hunters, your tow to calmer waters. And by all means, if you can return the favour, drop us a line and let us know your tip, trick or mod.

After all - life’s about the customization.