Hidden Feature: Chrome ABOUT Pages

Notes:

• This article covers a semi-advanced topic, and is not recommended for those that don't understand technical information about applications, network and system information.
• Use these features at your own risk, some of them are for debug web page or the browser and can intentionally cause the tab or browser to crash.

Want to enable experimental features in Google's Chrome browser, get diagnostic data, or see hidden information and features. Then you want to check out the Chrome's ABOUT pages, to access them in the address bar type "about:about" to see a list of available pages.

• about:about: Lists available Chrome About pages.
• about:appcache-internals:  Displays information about the  HTML 5 AppCache manifests.
• about:blank: Displays a blank page.
• about:cache: Displays a list of cached URLs.
• about:crash: Displays a crash page in the active tab.
• about:view-http-cache: Displays a blank page.
• about:credits: Displays credit information about different browser features.
• about:conflicts: Lists all modules loaded into the main process.
• about:dns: Displays browser DNS preresolution information.
• about:flags: Allows the enabling and disabling of experimental features.
• about:flash: Lists information about Flash.
• about:gpu: Displays informaton about the GPU charactoristics.
• about:histograms: Lists histogram about different browser features.
• about:inducebrowsercrashforrealz - Crashes the Google Chrome browser.
• about:kill: Displays a generic error message when a webpage crashes unexpectedly
• about:memory: Displays processor and memory data.
• about:net-internals:  Lists internal network and cache information.
• about:plugins: Displays informaton about the installed plug-ins.
• about:stats: Displays a blank page.
• about:sync-internals: Displays the browser sync information.
• about:tcmalloc: Lists memory and processor information for the browser.
• about:terms: Displays information about Google Chrome Terms of Service.
• about:version: Lists version information for the Chrome browser.

Security: Avoid Cybercriminal Tech Support Scam

Microsoft.com reports: "Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:

• Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software. 
• Take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings to leave your computer vulnerable.
• Request credit card information so they can bill you for phony services.
• Direct you to fraudulent websites and ask you to enter credit card and other personal or financial information there.

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Network: Diagnostics and Performance Web Sites

Here are some useful web sites that  may come in handy from time to time to perform some network diagnostics:

• Need a second opinion if a web site is really down?
• http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/
• Do you need an easy way to find out your IP address on the Internet?  
• http://www.whatismyip.com/
• Are you having problems watching YouTube videos, you can check the download speed here?
• http://www.youtube.com/my_speed
• Find out how fast your Internet connection really is, or if your ISP is providing the speed you pay for.
• http://speedtest.net/

New Firefox Beta with Enhanced Performance

Below is a excerpt from the Mozilla blog: "The latest Mozilla Firefox Beta is now available for testing on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. This beta includes performance enhancements that improve the browsing experience for users and enable developers to create faster Web apps and websites." (see the article to view the rest of the features or download the application)

Security Tip: HTTPS Everywhere

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has crated a Firefox extension called HTTPS Everywhere. The extension forces major web sites to use HTTPS to encrypt all your traffic if that option is available.

As most people may know, HTTPS is the standard protocol used by all web browsers and servers for sending encrypted data between the client and server.

Many sites offer an HTTPS option but don't enable it by default. If traffic is unencrypted, then anyone, organization, or government can monitor your traffic.

Windows Live Family Safety 2011

With Windows Live Family Safety 2011 you can monitor and control your children's computer and Internet activities. Some of the features of this service include: reports showing what your children are doing, or control access to websites, games, and programs they can access or set times when they can use the computer.

Other features of the program are:

• SafeSearch allows you to locked down search engines, such as Bing, Google, Yahoo! and others.
• Manage your child’s permissions remotely online.
• When installed on multiple PCs in the household, Family Safety enforces the same settings. 
• Block inappropriate content or even limit kids to age-appropriate web sites.
• Limit your children's email and instant messaging access to approved contacts on Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger.

Microsoft Camera Codec Pack

The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack (download) enables the viewing of a variety of device-specific RAW formatted camera files in Window Live Photo Gallery as well as other software that is based on Windows Imaging Codecs (such as the Windows Explorer).

Win7′s no-reformat, nondestructive reinstall

Windows Secrets reports: "Microsoft won’t tell you this, but you can do a fast, nondestructive, in-place, total reinstall of Windows 7 without damaging your user accounts, data, installed programs, or system drivers.

That means you may never have to do a full, from-scratch reinstall again, even when your system is misbehaving so badly that a full reformat-and-reinstall seems the only answer!

As I’m sure you know all too well, from-scratch reinstalls are ordeals. They take hours. And when a reinstall is done, you still have to recreate all your settings, reinstall all your software, and so on. It can take days to fully recover from a total reformat/reinstall."

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