After installing, all you have to do is grab your log files from your hosting account in question.  WebLog Expert Lite supports IIS and Apache logs, can automatically detect the log format and can read GZ and ZIP compressed logs.  It will then crunch away at the numbers and export an HTML page for you to view to see how your web page is doing stats-wise.  You get numbers, links, stats and graphs.  It is a beautiful thing.

The free version however should be sufficient for most personal web sites and provides a nice overview of general traffic activity.

If you want to see what you are missing out on, you can see a comparison list of the professional, standard and lite versions of the program here:

http://www.weblogexpert.com/comparison.htm

It might not have all the bells and whistles down, but WebLog Expert Lite has enough to keep me happy.

Marsh Aqua

Marsh Chrome

Marsh Pink

Marsh Red

Marsh Orange

Marsh Purple

Marsh Green

Marsh Brown

So what do you think of these more colorful versions of the default Firefox 3 theme?

Customize Firefox: Check out our our reviews of the new Firefox 3 themes!

© Mitch Keeler 2008 | Check out my personal blog and my hosting podcast too!

 

tick - Want to focus on hitting your budgets?  Tick is a simple and friendly time tracking application that will help you do just that.

1time - this tool is a web-based time and expense tracking application that allowse you to easily keep track of projects in real time.

tempo - another time tracking tool, this one also comes with powerful reporting and mobile access.

Santexq -  here is the answer to the time reporting, task managing and billing needs of your dynamic business.

toggl - the time management tool you want to use.

Klok - this app is a little different because it is a personal time tracking tool.  It can tell you how much time you have spend on past projects, which in turn can tell you how much time you might spend on future projects too.

Paymo - this tool acts as an assistant for anybody working as a freelance adgent out there as well as a time manager.

SlimTimer - time tracking, without the time sheet.

Harvest - this tool lets you and your staff track time, log expenses, and create invoices in one simple, integrated workflow.

Clocking IT - this keeps track of all your tasks and the time you spend on them.

Have another suggestion, tip or application that is helping you get more of your time back this year?  Let me know about it.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 176!
Running Time: 10 minutes | File Size: 4.99 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode:

• Quicker Web Site Uptime (or Downtime) Alerts
• A Great Web Site Log Analyzer Programs for Windows
• A Review of the WHIR Redesigned
• Learn to Please the Niche Markets

Here are this week’s web hosting news headlines:

• PHASE 2 Unaffected by Island-wide Power Outage
• Host Color Celebrates 2009 With Instant Debate On Web Hosting Services

I won’t do like most sites and do reviews of 2008, or looks ahead at 2009. I am here to talk to you about the here and now, and what we can all do to make the wild and wacky world of web hosting a better place for everybody.

To launch, all you have to do is hit Ctrl+Space (or for the Mac users Ctrl+Alt).  If you want to use it without the graphical launcher above, use Shift+Alt (or Shift+Ctrl for the Mac users).

Some of the best features include the ability to customize the appearance, set the launcher to open in current or new tabs, set the launcher up as your homepage and you can add as many sites to it as you need to.

You can get more information about it via the official web site, and download it via the Firefox Add-ons site.  It is nice to see a good looking and well thought out extension - and this one fits the bill.

+ Download the Yellow Coin Desktop Icon! (.zip)

Here are a few more familiar Mushroom Kingdom forms of currency I have turned into desktop icons:

• Download the Red Coin Desktop Icon! (.zip)
• Download the Question Mark Desktop Icon! (.zip)
• Download the Purple Coin Desktop Icon! (.zip)
• Download the Baby Mario Desktop Icon! (.zip)

The icons are compatible with the following sizes:  256 x 256, 128 x 128, 64 x 64, 48 x 48, 32 x 32, 24 x 24, 16 x 16.  It is also in both .ico and .png format.

If you enjoyed these, be sure to check out some of the custom desktop icons I have released in the past too here:  http://www.mitchelaneous.com/category/desktop/free-icons/

Let’s see the federal government top that!

• 10 Tools to Turn Firefox into WordPress’s Little Helper
• Super Mario’s Boo Desktop Icon
• WordPress
• Bubble Wrap Wallpaper
• WordPress Sucks? Try Nucleus CMS
• LifeType is Your Blogging Solution?
• Best of the Blogging Scripts
• Nice and Easy Forum Setup with bbPress
• This Year’s Christmas Desk-orations
• Beautiful Blogging with Textpattern

Hope you all have a great new year, and 2009 brings you all the good things you, want, need and love.  I’ll keep doing my thing here, day after day - doing my best to deliver you the best random geek candy from around the Web.

Also, be sure to check out the best web hosting podcasts of 2008 too!  Great list of great shows!

Useful Firefox Add-ons

• Keep in Touch with Friendbar
• Create, Save and Share Your Image Collections
• Quicker Web Searches with Searchy
• Find Greasemonkey Scripts for Your URL
• Kid Friendly Browsing with KidZui
• Easily E-mail and Save Your Open Tabs

Mozilla and Firefox News

• Firefox Plans to Turn Web Apps into Desktop Apps
• Merry Christmas from Firefox Facts
• Go Shopping with the Mozilla Community
• Do We Really Need an Add-on for That?
• Watch Out for the Trojan Greasemonkey!

Best of the Best Firefox Tools

• Turn Your Firefox into an Arcade
• 7 Easy Ways to Make Firefox Better

Firefox Themes

• Pour a Black Glaze on Firefox
• Another Mario Firefox Theme
• The Colorful Themes of Avant.Garde
• LumiNight Theme for Firefox

Firefox Tweaks, Hacks and Tips

• Trouble Removing a Firefox Add-on?
• How to Clear Private Data in Firefox
• How to Recover Your Master Password
• Firefox Nebula Wallpaper
• A New (Simple) Face for an Old Google Reader
• Faster Refreshing for Live Bookmarks

From everybody at Firefox Facts (which I am pretty sure, that is just me) I want to wish all the Firefox fans out there who come in and visit or subscribe to the RSS feed a very happy new year!

Also, be sure to check out the best web hosting podcasts of 2008 too!  Great list of great shows!

Better PDF Editing Abilities

Need an easy way to edit PDF files without the expensive PDF editor?  In the past, I have told you about creating PDFs via Open Office.   However, what if you could convert those PDFs to Word doc files to edit instead?  Pickup the Free PDF to Word Converter for Windows to get the job done.

Better PDF Browser Support

How about better PDF support for the browser?  PDF files are notorious for crashing your modern web browser.  So with that said, what tool can you use to make the experience better?  A browser add-on named PDF Download.  It’s features include:

• Convert Web pages to PDF. (NEW) Convert any Web pages to great looking PDF files, and then save, share, print or archive them.
• View PDF as HTML. View the contents of PDF files faster and eliminate browser problems by instantly converting any Web-based PDF to a browser-friendly HTML Web page.
• Control PDF files in Firefox. Stop crashes and get the upper hand on Web-based PDF files by automating and controlling how your Firefox or Flock browsers deal with them.

PDF Download works with Firefox 2 & 3, Flock 1, and Internet Explorer 7 & 8 (beta) web browsers.

Better Printing Abilities to the PDF Format

Now this one isn’t really PDF’s problem, however I do have a solution.  If you are wanting to cut down on the paper you use, printing to the PDF format can save you some cash in the long run as well as conserve that printing paper.  All you need to do is grab PrimoPDF for Windows.  It will add the ability for you choose “Print as PDF” from any print screen.  All you have to do is select it as the printer of your choice.

So what other things bug you about PDF files, or have you found any other solutions to your PDF powered problems?  It might not be the best standard in the world, however it can come in handy from time to time.

The nice thing here is that it displays a running stream of text and photo updates from Facebook and Twitter right on the toolbar, and allows you to post updates and reply from the toolbar itself.

Some of the features included are:

• View your Facebook and Twitter updates, right on Friendbar
• Get a stream of your friends Facebook photos right on Friendbar
• Roll over the photos to view an enlarged version
• Click on the enlarged photo (or album name) to visit the photo or albums web page
• Get an alert when a new message arrives
• Send Twits and Facebook updates from Friendbar (separately or both together)
• Automatically create a tiny URL for the web page you are viewing
• Click on links in text updates to open the link in a new tab
• Toggle Text updates and Photos on and off

For those people out there having a hard time managing their friends from one web site to the next, this experimental add-on from Firefox can come in really handy.  I would like to see them add support for other social networks down the line - but since this is still a brand spanking new add-on for Firefox, I am sure even more updates are yet to come.

You can pick the Friendbar up via the Firefox add-ons web site.

It appears there are plans to include “Prism-like features” into a future release of Firefox.

The plan thus far is to help users discover when they might want to make a web application into a desktop application.  For example, if you use Google Reader a lot - after so many uses, Firefox may suggest to you, “Would you like to make Google Reader a desktop application?” or “Would you like to add Google Reader to your Quick Launch bar?”.

I like the idea - and I can’t wait to see it happen.  How about you?  (Source: Download Squad)

That’s right - you can’t.  It is just so perfect, yet so simple.  The only thing you have to worry about now is keeping people from touching your screen.

You know you feel the urge to pop some bubbles too!

Pick up this wallpaper for yourself at many different screen resolutions at Mandolux.

PONG! Multiplayer - Play a game of PONG! while you are waiting. (also see the PingPong add-on)

Cards - A collection of patience (i.e. single-player) card games. Included are: Aces Up, Black Widow, Canfield, Demon, Double Klondike, Double Solitaire, Grounds for Divorce, Fan, Forty Thieves, FreeCell, Golf, Gypsy, Klondike, Maze, Mod 3, Montana…

Pacman - The Retro Extension. Yet another Pacman-clone. (Also check out PagMan)

Clines - Clines, a little game. (with dots!)

Mozteroids - Mozteroids is a variant of the computer game classic Asteroids.

Xultris - Xultris is a variant of the computer game classic Tetris.

Snake - Snake is a clone of the popular Snake or Worm…

Xoom - a top-down racing game with simple graphics, but tons of fun.

Red vs. Blue - The goal of this little game is to sort all red dots to left side and all blue dots to right side. Do this as fast as possible.

Froggr - Froggr is a clone of the classic Frogger.

There are tons of free flash games out there too, so to help you with those - I have another add-on that is worth mentioning.  Flash Game Maximizer does exactly what it claims to do.  It maximizes the flash game you are playing to fill the entire browser.   Also, you can’t forget about FireNES, which (last time I checked) allowed you to play tons of old NES titles.

Have any other favorite games you can play from within Firefox?

As you can see, it has a very simple look and feel to it (which is something I like to look for in a theme, personally).  You can pick it up on the Firefox Add-ons web site and be sure to stop by and see the creator of the theme at theme-oasis.org.

As a ‘bit of an extra tip - you can pick up a white version of this same theme here.

For some reason, PDFs remain a popular file format.  Created back in 1993 by Adobe Systems, PDF (the Portable Document Format) makes it easy to share a document with text, specific fonts, 2-D vector graphics and images.  Instead of downloading the PDF to view (as most of us do) I want to introduce you to a new way of dealing with these files without the need of any download.

PDFMeNot.com is a free Online PDF viewer. All you do is give them the URL to the PDF in question, and they will make it viewable for you using their online tools.  They also allow for you to upload a PDF too.

If you like the service, you might be intersted in the fact that you can use it in a number of different ways too.  From Firefox extensions to bookmarklets, they have many ways you can take advantage of the service.

• Learn More About the PDFMeNot.com Tools

The easiest way to use it would be to include “http://pdfmenot.com/view/” before your PDF link.  As an example, try this link out:

http://pdfmenot.com/view/http://www.webhostingshow.com/includes/HostingGuideEbook.pdf

So add PDFMeNot into your web developer’s toolkit.  This is one of those services that you might not need everyday, but you will be happy to have it when you do need it.

Web Hosting to Go - Episode 169 - October 20th

What would I like to have today?  Lets see.  I will have a large data center mashup map, a side of hosting tools (just remember to hold the tomatoes), a HP performance-optimized datacenter and a definition on what domaining is all about?  For here or to go?  I think I am about ready to go - because the Web hosting Show is now on the air.

The Magnificent Fantastico - Episode 168 - October 6th

From the first time I ever heard about Fantastico, I always thought about the traditional magician pulling rabbits from his hat.  Who would have a clue that a few years later on down the road I would have a chance to speak with one of the magicians behind the magic at Netenberg to find out more about this favorite cPanel addition.

Bobcares About Support - Episode 166 - September 22nd

Any web host will tell you the hardest part about the web hosting business is finding a team of support people that care about your clients as much as you do. You want to make sure they are in good hands. One company that promotes themselves as those good hands to trust is Bobcares.

They specialize in support for small, medium and large hosting companies.

What is the AIHSP? - Episode 162 - August 18th

That is the question a lot of people are asking about coming out of this year’s most recent HostingCon.  Paul Hirsch of the AIHSP stopped by to answer a few common questions we all have about this new association of internet and hosting service providers.

Personally, I am fully behind any organization that promotes the success of the hosting industry as a whole.  The AIHSP looks to be on the right track.

Lower Your Hosting Costs - Episode 160 - August 4th

Want to save some of the green stuff? We have tons of great tips to help you lower your web hosting bills. That is not all though, but we have to leave some of it for the show. The Web Hosting Show is now on the air.

When Spam Attacks - Episode 157 - July 14th

Did you know the peaceful Swiss people have problems with spam?  The king of all spam has also met his fate.  Spams not the only thing we got on the line up today, there is a lot of hosting news, and information coming to you.  So stand back, there is a Web Hosting Show coming through!

Hosting Hustle - Episode 155 - June 23rd

You can only do so many silly intros to a podcast before you run out of idea.  Let me just say I got lots to talk about this week from domain marketing to somebody spitting in your web hosting fast food.  Confused?  Good I like to leave you wanting more and well, here it comes!

Inside Web Hosting Reviews - Episode 152 - May 12th

On today’s special edition of the Web Hosting Show we have in the studio Emory Rowland of Clickfire.com. Emory has been an insider in both the web hosting and web development worlds for a long time - so there are many topics I would like to pick his brain about. Today though we will be cover from head to toe the world of web hosting reviews.

Zangief Does Domains? - Episode 150 - April 22nd

Did you know that the Web Hosting Show was Yakov Smirnoff’s favorite way to spend a lazy afternoon? Ok, maybe that isn’t true but I will update you on the rise of the Soviet Union domain name extension as well as pull the curtain other myths and rumors about SEO. Now just as long as Yakov’s lawyers don’t shut me down, the Web Hosting Show is on the air.

Troubleshoot Your Hosting Woes - Episode 148 - April 14th

From coast to coast, and all around the hosting world we all have times where we contact support and they say that nothing is wrong. Today I’ll show you how to paint a better picture for support of your hosting problems as well as…

Well a lot more hosting podcast goodness right here on this week’s edition of the Web Hosting Show.

Searching the Free File Hosts - Episode 145 - March 17th

On this week’s show I am going to give you a run down on some of my favorite search tools to find files hosted for free on the services such as Rapidshare, Megaupload and more. Also tune in to hear about the basics of traceroutes for both Window and Macs as well as a lot more hosting goodness packed into one awesome podcast.

Hosting Podcast Turns 3 - Episode 143 - February 25th

It is not only my birthday, but it is your birthday too. The Web Hosting Show has been rocking the web hosting industry for three year now, and hopefully for many more years to come.

No surprises, no special guests no fluff will be here today though. I am just going to do my job and give you a grade A podcast you will soon not forget.

Checking in with Dr. Hosting - Episode 140 - February 4th

The hosting doctor is in and is ready to see you now. There are several sicknesses out there in the web hosting world that could bring you down.

I’ll inform you about those, and let you know of a few hyper-linked medications to check out too. The Web Hosting Show includes no side effects and an awesome orange-like flavor I’m sure you will enjoy.

Shiny Happy Hosting - Episode 138 - January 21st

You ever wonder why hosting people always seem so up to beat and happy? Maybe it is due to the fact we have to be due to dealing with customer relations all day.

Maybe it is because the angry part of our brain died a long time ago. Shiny happy hosting people rejoice, the Web Hosting Show is on the air.

With 2009 on the way, that means there will be even more web site web hosting podcasts, interviews, web site improvements and oh so much more. If you have any feedback you wish to share of the past year’s content please feel free to do so here.

Capture your Desktop with CamStudio

You can pick up an awesome desktop capturing program at CamStuido.org to capture the video from your computer’s screen.  After installing, all you need to do is highlight the area you wish to record - and then hit the record button.

Record Your Audio Track with Audacity

Audacity is the free audio editor I have used to produce my podcast since day one.  It is free and really easy to use.  You could use it to record any audio commentary you wanted, so that way you add a little more helpfulness to the tutorial you are making.

Edit your Video Tutorial Together

To edit your video, there are several programs out there you could use.  Personally, I just used the free Windows Movie Maker than came with my computer.  Then again, I am all about keeping things as ghetto as possible.  If not Windows Movie Maker, I am willing to bet you have some free program that came on your computer that would do the deed.  An online video editing alternative would be Jumpcut.com.  Another free desktop solution would be VideoSpin from VideoSpin.com.

Check out Wikipedia’s List of Commercial and Free Video Editing Software

Final Tweaks, Edits and Uploading the Final Product

Before you upload, you might also want to make sure you have your URL, brand or logo somewhere on the video.  It never hurts to do a little advertising - so people know where they can get more of your fine work.  After that has been done, you can upload your video to YouTube or a number of other video sharing sites.  Grab the embed code, and you have your own video tutorial ready to go.  To get you inspired, here is one I created on doing trace routes:

If you are a web host on a budget, there is no reason to spend more than you need to.  If you have the free time and creativity, then rolling your own video tutorials can also be a great way to gain exposure and do a little self advertising too.

For all of you I have two very special presents - a couple of my other side projects you may or may not know that much about.  I wanted to take a minute or two of your time so that you could check them out, and if you like them as much as you like Mitchelaneous - feel free to subscribe there too.  Merry Christmas!

The Web Hosting Show

The Web Hosting Show is my weekly podcast on and about the wacky world of web hosting.  From news, to help and even some shopping tips - I like to help people get the most out of their hosting accounts - while having a little fun along the way.

My Favorite Web Hosting Show Posts of the Year:

• 5 Best Ways to Search Rapidshare, Megaupload and More! (plus 4 More Ways)
• Free eBook - Best of the Web Hosting Show Guides
• How to Trace Route (on Windows and Mac) (and the Video Walkthrough)
• Podcast Archives - 175+ Web Hosting Podcasts to Learn From!
• Talking Data Protection with R1Soft - Episode 139

You can subscribe to WebHostingShow.com for free by plugging the RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Firefox Facts

Firefox Facts is my daily blog about all things relating to Firefox.  It started out as an e-book project, but has expanded by leaps and bounds since then.  Find reviews for useful extensions, great looking Firefox themes and a whole lot more.  I even toss in an occasional roundup of the best tools for this, that and the other.  If you use Firefox, you need to subscribe.

My Favorite Firefox Facts Posts of the Year:

• Darkest Popular Themes for Firefox 3 (also have the lightest)
• Freshest Top 10 YouTube Greasemonkey Scripts
• Change the Default Search in Firefox
• 25 Tweaks for Your Firefox Statusbar (also 25 more tweaks too)
• Give Firefox 3 Firefox 2’s Address Bar

You can subscribe to FirefoxFacts.com for free by plugging the RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Thanks to all my visitors and free RSS feed subscribers for keeping this rambling side project of mine fun to do.  This November was the 5 year anniversary of Mitchelaneous.com, and hopefully we will have many more years to come.

Mitchelaneous

This is my blog filled with geek candy.  More personal and of the wall in nature, this is my personal spot to rant and rave about any miscellaneous thing that might cross my mind.  From web development help to custom desktop icons - I am sure there is something for everybody to enjoy here.

My Favorite Mitchelaneous Posts of the Year:

• 10 Tools to Turn Firefox into WordPress’s Little Helper
• Open Google Notebook in Firefox’s Sidebar
• 37 WordPress Free Theme Databases and Blogs
• Free Mega Man 9 Desktop Icons
• 10 Best Paint.Net Tutorials (and 10 More Paint.Net Tutorials)

You can subscribe to Mitchelaneous.com for free by plugging it’s RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Firefox Facts

Firefox Facts is my daily blog about all things relating to Firefox.  It started out as an e-book project, but has expanded by leaps and bounds since then.  Find reviews for useful extensions, great looking Firefox themes and a whole lot more.  I even toss in an occasional roundup of the best tools for this, that and the other.  If you use Firefox, you need to subscribe.

My Favorite Firefox Facts Posts of the Year:

• Darkest Popular Themes for Firefox 3 (also have the lightest)
• Freshest Top 10 YouTube Greasemonkey Scripts
• Change the Default Search in Firefox
• 25 Tweaks for Your Firefox Statusbar (also 25 more tweaks too)
• Give Firefox 3 Firefox 2’s Address Bar

You can subscribe to FirefoxFacts.com for free by plugging the RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Thank you all for listening to the Web Hosting Show this year, and I hope this holiday gift of amazing posts from around my little network of web site will at least give you something to do while you are in between football games or wanting some along time after all the in-laws have gone back home.

Mitchelaneous

This is my blog filled with geek candy.  More personal and of the wall in nature, this is my personal spot to rant and rave about any miscellaneous thing that might cross my mind.  From web development help to custom desktop icons - I am sure there is something for everybody to enjoy here.

My Favorite Mitchelaneous Posts of the Year:

• 10 Tools to Turn Firefox into WordPress’s Little Helper
• Open Google Notebook in Firefox’s Sidebar
• 37 WordPress Free Theme Databases and Blogs
• Free Mega Man 9 Desktop Icons
• 10 Best Paint.Net Tutorials (and 10 More Paint.Net Tutorials)

You can subscribe to Mitchelaneous.com for free by plugging it’s RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

The Web Hosting Show

The Web Hosting Show is my weekly podcast on and about the wacky world of web hosting.  From news, to help and even some shopping tips - I like to help people get the most out of their hosting accounts - while having a little fun along the way.

My Favorite Web Hosting Show Posts of the Year:

• 5 Best Ways to Search Rapidshare, Megaupload and More! (plus 4 More Ways)
• Free eBook - Best of the Web Hosting Show Guides
• How to Trace Route (on Windows and Mac) (and the Video Walkthrough)
• Podcast Archives - 175+ Web Hosting Podcasts to Learn From!
• Talking Data Protection with R1Soft - Episode 139

You can subscribe to WebHostingShow.com for free by plugging the RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Thanks to one and all for making Firefox Facts one of the most popular Firefox blogs out there in the world today.  Hope you all have a happy holiday, and I promise to keep delivering you the best of the Firefox world day after day.

I think that the theme creator describes the inspiration for this theme much better than I could do.   So I made a theme based on the humble spiral, and I wanted it to be colorful and fun, but also inherently functional and practical. There are certainly colorful and fun themes out there, and there are definitely practical themes out there, but never both. Why? Or more to the point, why not? As one more surprise to toss in there - there are several flavors of this theme to choose too.

Choose Your Favorite Theme Flavor!

Click on the thumbnail above to check out that theme’s page on the Firefox Add-ons site.  They are experimental themes, so you may have to login to Firefox’s site before you can download.  I am looking forwad to seeing more themes by this interesting designer.  Also, interested in hearing what you think about them too.