http://www.meebo.com

If you’ve never heard me preach the good news of meebo, pull up a pew and lend an ear.

Meebo started off as a very interesting idea. Let’s take a chat client and throw it into a web browser window. Many of you who follow MSN / AIM / Yahoo know that this has been done by each of the respective companies into something they call a web messenger. It’s usually a Java or ActiveX version of their full featured software that runs in a browser window. However, when meebo decided to undertake this vision, they envisioned something totally different. Where the webmessengers would force you to keep separate browser windows open for each of the contact lists, as well as another window to keep each conversation you were wanting to have, meebo went to a one-windowed approach. They used a web technology called AJAX to create all these floating windows inside of your one browser window. Where you had to download either an ActiveX control or Java with plugins for whatever messenger you were wanting to run, as long as you’ve had a browser built within the last 3 years, meebo will work for you. It uses JavaScript and XML, both of which are built into browsers by default, to do everything that it needs to.  Take a look, check it out, and see what you think.  It comes in really handy when you are out on a computer that’s not your own and you need to get onto messengers somehow.

Let me know how it goes.

<EDITORS NOTE> For those that didn’t know, I write a column for a local tech help group I’m a part of. Mostly, I deal with Open Source topics, and Firefox is usually my main focus. I like to take up the cross of extension developers and I help them market their free wares by telling the readership of the group’s weekly newsletter to go out and download ones I reccomend for helping make their web experience better. This summer, I’m posting what I write up, so that a whole other realm may be enlightened. <END EDITORS NOTE>
Hi again folks! This week we have a pair of old tips combined and updated to help out the readers that happened to miss this series last summer. Even if you were here for the original pair, take the time to go through and update your extensions as well, because they’re very much new and improved since last year.

For those that have never seen this column before here’s the general format. I’ll give you the link or links to this weeks extensions in order of which to install. Click on the link, and then click on the “Install Now” link in the green box. Another box will come up and will count down 5 seconds until you install. Wait the 5 seconds, then click the Install button. If I’ve provided a second link, do the same. Next, restart Firefox. Then, I’ll usually dive into further instructions.

This week’s extensions deal with blocking ads on almost all web pages.
For this week:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1136/
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/

After you restart, you’ll get two extra windows that pop up on the first restart. One says “Updated Versions”. Put the check mark in the “Don’t show me this after automatic updates”, then click the close button. Then on the Adblock Filterset.G Updater Options, click the OK button. You’re all done!

Now, if certain websites you go to don’t work they way they used to, here’s what to do. When you are at the site that is not working right, click on the button next to your “Home” button that looks like a bug with the No Entry mark over it, more specifically, the black down arrow part of that button. When you do, you’ll see an option to “Disable on ” Click that, then refresh the page, and it should be back to normal.

Now you don’t have all those ads all over the place, and you can see the Internet in a much less cluttered light.

Hope you can take something away from this, and please, feel free to e-mail me with any questions or problems you have.

Daniel A. Williams
PCGurus Team Member
http://www.thepcgurus.com
daniel@thepcgurus.com