menu

Menu Planner and Cookbook helps plan meals and even prepare them. With simple direction and health-conscious tools, users can get their eating habits quickly in order.

We were initially turned off by the program's unimaginative, black and white layout, but the interface proved to be simple and informative enough that we forgot about it. The program was divided into tools focusing on a cookbook and meal planning. The cookbook was a delight, since it let us choose ingredients to work with and provided recipes that met those criteria. All were simple to follow and sounded tasty. Another aspect we … Read more

With Snow Leopard, Apple changed the "International" preference pane organization, and also altered the input menu icon so that depending on the options in the menu, it removes the country flag. This is a subtle change, but I personally liked having my country's flag in the upper-right corner of my computer.… Read more

Apple has released a couple of knowledge base articles that offer information about the new AirPort menu as well as cover a problem people are having in which OS X 10.6 does not recognize iPhones or iPod Touches.… Read more

The browser wars are heating up again. Microsoft's touting the improved performance and security of Internet Explorer 8, dozens of new Firefox extensions are released every day, and, according to Apple, Safari 4 will be even faster than its speedy predecessor. Meanwhile, Opera just keeps chugging along at version 9.64, with version 10 beta 3 now available.

Just a few weeks ago, Google announced its plans to create an operating system based on Chrome. Considering that the browser itself is barely a year old, such plans may be premature. Then again, maybe not. But for right now, I'll keep looking for ways to make the Chrome browser more useful.

Last June, I described ways to change Chrome's default settings. Here's a look at ways to revamp the browser's interface and access some of its useful hidden features.

… Read more

Tidy Start Menu is an intuitive way to organize the programs in your Start menu. Although the program is easy to use, we found that some of the features we most like to see in such programs are available only by upgrading to the Pro version.

The program's interface is clean and moderately attractive. The program comes with nine categories, such as Games, Programming, and Entertainment, and a series of check boxes allows users to specify what programs they would like to have appear in each category. Users can also drag and drop programs from one category to another. … Read more

Aston2 Menu allows users to replace the standard Windows Start menu with a variety of fun and useful alternatives. The program maintains the integrity of the original menu's layout while adding interesting graphics and utilities.

Once installed, the program transforms users' Start menus automatically, but it's easy to access Aston2's settings in order to make changes. Users can choose from seven different skins that are included, or visit Aston2's Web site to download additional skins for free. The skins come in a variety of themes--natures, holidays, and specific time periods, for example--some of which contain sounds … Read more

Q: As an AVS forum member, I have to tell you we really look forward to your reviews. They are often cited when discussing the various brands and models. I am writing to you however to make a suggestion on how to make your reviews even more effective for the videophiles and those thoroughly researching new TVs. I understand you at one time included service menu calibrations, but now you do not. There are those of us who would like you to access the service menu during reviews, enabling you (and us) to gauge what the real potential of what the TV being reviewed is capable of. Why don't you?

--Dean from Oregon

A: Thanks for writing Dean. I appreciate the suggestion, I understand your reasoning, and I agree that calibrating the service menu is often, depending on the model and its available user-menu controls, the only way to fully realize the potential of the TV.

For the uninitiated, the service menu contained on most TVs is typically only accessible by inputting a string of specific button-presses that aren't described in the manual. It usually contains advanced settings that control all aspects of the TV, from color points to grayscale controls to noise filter thresholds to bulb life countdowns. Some of these controls can be tweaked to improve the picture beyond the controls available in the TV's user menu. But for people unfamiliar with service menus, they can be a minefield of potential screw-ups, and in some cases an incorrect adjustment can completely disable a TV. Moreover, most service menus lack a "reset" button to take everything back to the default values.

A couple of years ago, I decided to stop using the service menu for calibrations of TVs I review. I did so for what I consider a few very good reasons. … Read more

Keyboard shortcuts don't just save you time, they're also good for you. Using shortcuts is one of the easiest ways to wean yourself from your mouse and cut down on repetitive strain injuries in your hands and wrists. So any app like KeyCue that can help you learn new shortcuts and remember old ones is worth a look.

KeyCue is a very simple app; you just hold down the command key (or any key combination you choose), and KeyCue instantly displays a clear, clickable menu of all the shortcuts currently available in the application you're using.

KeyCue … Read more

If you find yourself spending way too much time trying to locate frequently-used Microsoft Office commands through its newly designed interface, this program is for you. It reintroduces the toolbars found in previous versions of Office.

During the installation process for Classic Menu for Office 2007, you have the option of selecting which of the MS Office programs you want to apply its changes to. The program doesn't dramatically change the interface. For MS Word and Excel, it simply added an extra Menu tab that contained all of the old toolbars from previous versions. If you want to remove … Read more