AskSeth.com

Tired of news websites requiring you to register an account just to read the news (which they probably didn’t even write)? Enter BugMeNot. They offer usernames and passwords for any free registration sites. (The usernames/passwords are entered by other users.)

Don’t forget to drag their ‘Bookmarklet’ link up to your toolbar. Then, next time you show up to a site that requires you to log in, simply click on the bookmark and it will pop open a new window with a username and password in it.

If none of their usernames work, register a new account (using fake information and a Mailinator email address).

Adblock is a popular plugin for the FireFox web browser. AdBlock allows you to block any piece of content. (In short, this allows you to block all the annoying banner ads that flash by on every web page you visit.)

To install Adblock, go to their website and follow the links to the Install page. Look for the link to a .xpi file and click on it. Firefox should offer to install it for you. Restart Firefox.

You are now ready to start blocking! In Firefox, select the Tools menu, Adblock, Preferences. I recommend turning off Obj-Tabs (under “Adblock Options”). It has caused me problems in the past.

To get started, download my filters and import them into Adblock.

What is it:
“RSS” stands for “Really Simple Syndication” among other things. What does that mean? It means it’s a way to view headlines (or the like) from a website. You will see an RSS icon on many sights such as news sites, blogs like this one, and more. Any website that has continually changing (or even occasionally changing) content can offer one.

What to do with it:
Find yourself an RSS reader! Personally, I use NetNewsWire Lite for the Mac. Unfortunately, I do not have any recommendations for a Windows, but you can check VersionTracker or TuCows.

Now that you’ve got an RSS reader, add in the RSS feeds that you want to monitor. Put in as many as you like. The point is that you now have one RSS Reader to read the “headlines” from all your favorite websites. Any headline you want to read more about, you can click on and it will open up the article in your browser.

Technical:
Usually the “RSS” icon is a link. Copy the location of the link. That is what you’ll need to put into your RSS reader.