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Use Dropbox to automatically backup your files

Dropbox logoWant a simple way to backup your important files quickly and easily? Dropbox is the answer. We’ll talk you through getting your own Dropbox and even get you 250MB of extra storage space for free.

  1. Create a free Dropbox account. Using this link will net you the extra 250MB of space.
  2. Download and install Dropbox by following the instructions on the site.
  3. When the install has finished, you will find a new folder called Dropbox within your Documents folder (although you can choose where you want this folder to live in the Dropbox settings).
  4. Any files you put into this special folder will now be automatically uploaded to Dropbox and can be accessed from any web browser via the Dropbox website.

The standard free account gives you 2GB of storage (plus 250MB if you use this link to sign up) and if you find it useful, they also offer premium accounts with 50GB or even 100GB of space.

If you have a smartphone, there are apps available which let you get to your files from your phone too: Android | iPhone | iPad | Blackberry

This is a great way to sync files across multiple devices – no more emailing files to yourself or forgetting to bring your USB thumb drive home from work! Still not convinced? Take the quick Dropbox tour.

We’ve also covered some other ways to backup your files in our backup tutorial.

As it’s such a versatile service, people have come up with all sorts of interesting ways of using it. Tell us how you use Dropbox in the comments.

Add a Facebook like button that validates to your website

Facebook logoAdding a ‘Like’ button to your site is very easy but the code Facebook gives you doesn’t validate correctly. In this post, we show you not only how to add it with valid code but also make it load last so your visitors aren’t waiting longer than they have to for your content.

Instead of pasting the copied FB code directly into your page, use the following (stuffing your copied FB code into line 4).

If you’re not happy editing your website code, we would be happy to add this for you, simply contact us.

Many thanks to Tian Valdemar Davis for this elegant solution. He also posted a similar answer for Twitter’s tweet button.

[Update] Now outdated, see the FB dev article.

Let us know what you think in the comments. If you found this useful, please give us a like on Facebook.

Firefox 4 final available for download

Firefox logoFirefox 4.0 is slated for official release today at some point but readers of an impatient nature can grab it from Mozilla’s FTP server. We’ll update this post with official links as they become available.

We’re not linking to the FTP server directly as it’s not really a public distribution channel so here are the downloads hosted on Fileforum:

A word about incompatible extensions. If you come across one, do this:

  1. Type about:config into the address bar
  2. Create or modify this boolean value: extensions.checkCompatibility.4.0
  3. Set it to False

Or install the Addon Compatibility Reporter.

Unlike Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 4 does support Windows XP.

[UPDATE]: Firefox 4 now officially released! Get Firefox 4

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Internet Explorer 9 Offline Installers

Internet Explorer 9 logoDespite not being fans of IE, we know that many of our customers will want/need to install it. Rather than link to the annoying setup file that downloads as it installs, here are the full offline installers.

Select which version you need based on your operating system. Remember that x86 means 32bit and x64 means 64bit.

If you are not sure which version you have, see Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows?

Download Internet Explorer 9 RTM For Windows 7 (x86)
Download Internet Explorer 9 RTM For Windows 7 (x64)
Download Internet Explorer 9 RTM For Vista (x86)
Download Internet Explorer 9 RTM For Vista (x64)
Internet Explorer 9 is not available for Windows XP.

Let us know what you think of IE9 in the comments here or on Facebook.

[Update] Why IE9 is a Web Designer’s Nightmare

Make your browser’s search box more useful

search iconAll of the modern browsers have a search box built right in but they don’t always feature the sites you’d like to use. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to search your way.

Head over to the Mycroft Project homepage where you will find more than 22 thousand sites to choose from. It’s now just a case of finding the site you’d like to use (YouTube UK and Wikipedia are good examples) and clicking on the name. You will be presented with a box asking if you would like to make this your default search provider and in IE, if you would like to use search suggestions.

You can now search your favourite sites without having to go to their homepage first. What sites do you search most? Let us know in the comments here or on Facebook.