If you’ve actually used the internet before, you’ve probably come across a page with an auto-playing YouTube clip, and chances are good it was a rather annoying one. Here’s how to stop them from starting automatically in Chrome.

We’ve already told you how to stop them from automatically playing if you’re a Firefox user (best answer: use Flashblock!), but now it’s time for Chrome users to get their turn.

Use the Stop Autoplay for YouTube Extension

The great thing about this extension is that it stops the video from playing, but it allows it to continue buffering, so when you do feel like playing the video, it’ll already be downloaded—really useful for people with slower internet connections.

There’s no UI or anything fancy, just head to the extension page and click the Install button.

If you want to get rid of it later, use the Tools –> Extensions menu (or you can type chrome://extensions/ into your address bar), and then click the Uninstall link for that add-on.

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Download Stop Autoplay for YouTube [Google Chrome Extensions]

Using FlashBlock for Chrome

If you really wanted to, you could just disable Flash across the board using FlashBlock for Chrome. Once you’ve installed the extension, you won’t see any Flash elements anywhere, and you’ll have to move your mouse over them and click to enable them each time.

When I installed the extension the first time, I noticed that YouTube was already in the allow list. I’m not sure if that’s the default setting or not, but you can use the icon in the address bar, or the Options from the Extensions panel to get to the settings page, and from there you can remove anything from the White List that you wouldn’t want.

Another nice feature about Flash Block is that it can also block Silverlight, or you could simply uninstall or remove unnecessary Chrome plug-ins.

Download FlashBlock for Chrome

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If you’ve actually used the internet before, you’ve probably come across a page with an auto-playing YouTube clip, and chances are good it was a rather annoying one. Here’s how to stop them from starting automatically in Chrome.

We’ve already told you how to stop them from automatically playing if you’re a Firefox user (best answer: use Flashblock!), but now it’s time for Chrome users to get their turn.

Use the Stop Autoplay for YouTube Extension

The great thing about this extension is that it stops the video from playing, but it allows it to continue buffering, so when you do feel like playing the video, it’ll already be downloaded—really useful for people with slower internet connections.

There’s no UI or anything fancy, just head to the extension page and click the Install button.

If you want to get rid of it later, use the Tools –> Extensions menu (or you can type chrome://extensions/ into your address bar), and then click the Uninstall link for that add-on.

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Download Stop Autoplay for YouTube [Google Chrome Extensions]

Using FlashBlock for Chrome

If you really wanted to, you could just disable Flash across the board using FlashBlock for Chrome. Once you’ve installed the extension, you won’t see any Flash elements anywhere, and you’ll have to move your mouse over them and click to enable them each time.

When I installed the extension the first time, I noticed that YouTube was already in the allow list. I’m not sure if that’s the default setting or not, but you can use the icon in the address bar, or the Options from the Extensions panel to get to the settings page, and from there you can remove anything from the White List that you wouldn’t want.

Another nice feature about Flash Block is that it can also block Silverlight, or you could simply uninstall or remove unnecessary Chrome plug-ins.

Download FlashBlock for Chrome

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Do you ever wish you could quickly preview a song without having to play it? Today we look at a quick and easy way to do that in Windows Media Player 12.

Open Windows Media Player in Library Mode and select your Music library. Hover your cursor over the Title of the song and a Preview pop-up window will appear after a few seconds.

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Click on the Preview in the pop-up window and the song will begin to play.

As the preview begins to play, you will see the Skip link and a song timer. Click on Skip to jump ahead 15 seconds in the song. When you are finished previewing the song, simply move your mouse away from the preview window to stop playback.

Automatically Preview Songs

You can adjust settings in Windows Media Player to automatically preview songs when you hover your cursor over the title.

Select Tools? from the menu and click Options.

On the Options window, select the Library tab and click on Automatically preview songs on title hover. Click OK.

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Now when you simply hover your cursor over the song title the preview window will appear and playback will begin automatically.

This feature works just as well in Details view as it does in Expanded Tile view.

Would you like to stream your music to other computers on your network? Check out our article on how to stream media to other Windows 7 computers.

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Have you ever wanted to fill an entire row or column with a series of values? If you’re an Excel user, you can do the same thing in Google Docs. If you haven’t used either, here’s the quick way to do it.

Just type in a couple of numbers in sequence… 1 2 3 works pretty well. You could also put them across a row instead of down a column.

Then move your mouse over the dot in the corner until the pointer changes, then just drag it downward (or if you are filling a row instead, you can drag it to the right).

Let go of the mouse, and your data will be automatically filled in.

You could also make it skip by 1 instead, like 2 4 6 8, etc…

It all works the same way. Sadly there’s no really advanced options like Excel has, but for most uses, this is good enough. Also, we’re aware this is a very simple tip for most of you, but we’re trying to help the beginners out as well!

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Sometimes you might want to leave a text message for a user before they log into a Windows 7 computer. Today we show you a neat trick that allows you to leave a message they can read before logging in.

Add a Text Message

To add a message, click on Start and enter regedit into the Search box and hit Enter.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionPoliciesSystem and double-click on legalnoticecaption.

In the Value data field enter in the header you want…for instance your company name or the name of your computer…whatever you want it to be, then click OK.

Then double-click on legalnoticetext …

And in the Value data field enter in the message you want to display and click OK. Close out of Registry Editor and reboot the computer.

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After the machine reboots you’ll see the text message you just created at the Welcome screen.

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You can include whatever text message you want to be included for the user to read before they log in.

This is a neat trick if you have a company or school and want to show a particular message to the user before they log into the machine.

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If you’re already running a full anti-malware suite, you might not even realize that Windows Defender is already installed with Windows, and is probably wasting precious resources. Here’s how to get rid of it.

Now, just to be clear, we’re not saying that we hate Windows Defender. Some spyware protection is better than none, and it’s built in and free! But… if you are already running something that provides great anti-malware protection, there’s no need to have more than one application running at a time.

Disable Windows Defender

Unfortunately, Windows Defender is completely built into Windows, and you’re not going to actually uninstall it. What we can do, however, is disable it.

Open up Windows Defender, go to Tools on the top menu, and then click on Options.

Now click on Administrator on the left-hand pane, uncheck the box for “Use this program”, and click the Save button.

You will then be told that the program is turned off. Awesome!

If you really, really want to make sure that it never comes back, you can also open up the Services panel through Control Panel, or by typing services.msc into the Start Menu search or run boxes. Find Windows Defender in the list and double-click on it…

And then you can change Startup type to Disabled.

Now again, we’re not necessarily advocating that you get rid of Windows Defender. Make sure you keep yourself protected from malware!

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OneNote is the new star of the Office Suite, and is included in every edition of Office 2010.? OneNote’s file format has been changed in the 2010 version, so here’s how you can still share your notebooks with those using OneNote 2007.

Convert your OneNote Notebooks to 2007 Format

If you open a notebook from OneNote 2010 in OneNote 2007, you may see this warning informing you that the notebook was created in a newer version of OneNote and cannot be opened.

To make your 2010 notebooks compatible with OneNote 2007, you need to convert them inside OneNote 2010.? In OneNote 2010, open the File menu; this should open to the Info tab by default.? Select the Settings button beside the notebook you want to use in OneNote 2007, and select Properties.

In the properties dialog, click “Convert to 2007”.

You may see a warning that some formatting, content, and history that is incompatible with OneNote 2007 will be removed.? Click Ok to continue.

OneNote will automatically convert everything in this notebook to 2007 format.? If your notebook is very large, this may take a few minutes.

Once the conversion is completed, you can re-open the properties dialog to see the change.? The format is listed as OneNote 2007 format, and you have the option to convert to 2010.? Your 2007 formatted notebook is still fully usable in OneNote 2010, but you may not be able to use some of the newer features in it.

Now that your notebook is in 2007 format, you can share it with OneNote 2007 users.? Here’s our notebook, the OneNote 2010 guide, open in OneNote 2007 after the conversion.

Conclusion

OneNote can be a great collaboration tool, and with this simple trick you can collaborate with those using older versions of OneNote.? Additionally, if you are currently running Office 2010 beta but plan to switch back to Office 2007 when the beta expires, then make sure to do this to any new notebooks you’ve created so you can still use them.

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Anyone who has used the CoolPreviews extension in Firefox knows how wonderful that preview window can be. Now you can get the same kind of functionality in Chrome with the ezLinkPreview extension.

Note: Extension will not work on websites containing “frame buster” code (navigation to the actual URL will occur).

Before

Normally if you want to have a better look at a particular webpage the only option you have is to go ahead and open it in a new tab or window. But it would certainly be nice to be able to take a quick “sneak peek” before-hand…

After

As soon as you have finished installing the extension everything is ready to go…just refresh any pages open prior to installation and enjoy the preview goodness. When you hover your mouse near any link you will notice a small “Preview Button” appear with the letters “EZ” inside.

A closer look at the “Preview Button”.

Click on the “Preview Button” to open the popup window. Now you can get a very good idea of whether the page is worth visiting or not.

Here is a closer look at the popup window. Notice that you can see the URL for the webpage and access a convenient set of buttons on the right side (Open to new tab, Pin to keep overlay open, and Close). You can even resize the window as desired to best suit your needs (you can actually grab any of the four corners to resize the popup window).

It is also possible to open a “preview window” inside the popup window…you can see the “Preview Button” here…

If you have Chrome maximized you can enjoy using a large sized “preview window”. Now that is nice!

For those who may be curious you can see that ezLinkPreview works nicely with images too.

Conclusion

The ezLinkPreview extension provides a quick and simple way to preview links and/or images while you are browsing. If you are looking for similar functionality in Firefox then be sure to read our article on CoolPreviews here.

Links

Download the ezLinkPreview extension (Google Chrome Extensions)

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Are you a geek in the IT field that wants to share your skills with the world? We’re looking for an experienced Sysadmin / IT Admin / Webmaster geek with writing skills that wants to join our team on a part-time basis.

Please apply if you have the following qualities:

• You must be a geek at heart, willing to try and make the boring world of IT sound glamorous and sexy. If that’s not possible, at least be willing to share your wisdom and skills to help other IT geeks save time and become better at what they do.
• You must be able to write articles that are easy to understand.
• Either Windows or Linux writers are welcome to apply.
• You must be able to follow our style guide.
• You must be creative. You must generate ideas for articles on your own, and take suggestions like a pro.
• You’re ambitious, looking to build your skills and your name, and are prepared to work hard.

If you aren’t willing to work hard, put some dedication and pride into your work, or aren’t really interested in the topic, this job might not be for you. We’re looking for serious individuals that want to grow with us, and as we grow, you’ll grow as well.

How To Apply

If you think this job is a good fit for you, send an email to i.am.supergeeky@howtogeek.com and include some background information about yourself, why you’d be a good fit, some topic areas you are familiar with, and hopefully some examples of your work.

Bonus points if you have a ninja costume and a keyboard strapped to your back.

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When you encounter shortened URLs there is always that worry in the back of your mind about where they really lead to. Now you can get a “sneak peak” at the real links behind those URLs with the View Thru extension for Google Chrome.

The URL Shortening services officially supported at this time are: bit.ly, cli.gs, ff.im, goo.gl, is.gd, nyti.ms, ow.ly, post.ly, su.pr, & tinyurl.com.

Before

When you encounter a shortened URL you are pretty much on your own in deciding whether to trust that link or not. It would really be nice if you could just hover your mouse over those links and know where they will lead ahead of time.

After

Once you have the extension installed you are ready to access that link viewing goodness. Please note that you will need to reload any pages that were open prior to installing the extension.

For our first example we chose a shortened URL from “bit.ly”. As you can see the entire link behind the shortened URL is displayed very nicely…no hidden surprises there!

Note: There are no options to worry with for the extension.

Another perfect result for the “goo.gl URL” shown below. View Thru will certainly remove a lot of the stress related to clicking on shortened URLs.

Bonus Find

Just out of curiosity we looked for a shortened URL not listed as being officially supported at this time. We found one with the “http://nyti.ms/” domain and View Thru showed the link perfectly…so be sure to give it a try on other services too.

Conclusion

If you worry about where a shortened URL will really lead you then the View Thru extension can help alleviate that stress.

Links

Download the View Thru extension (Google Chrome Extensions)

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