Coleman Technologies Blog

Adding More Organization Into Your Chrome Browser

Admit it, you have a tendency to use too many browser tabs. At any given time, you may have 5-10-20 browser tabs open. If you use more than one screen, it could be more. Way more. Most users use their Chrome browser for so much of your online life that you hardly pay attention. Then you wonder why your PC is running slow. The truth is people use a lot of browser tabs, and they are better off for it. 

Google, knowing their users’ behavior better than most companies has come up with a new feature that will allow you to assign a certain color to a browser tab and then group them together with like-colored tabs. This feature will be rolled out to users in this update. 

The update should be coming this week, but it will hit everyone at different times (Google is deliberate about their updates). You may already have the feature in your Chrome browser. When it does come it will be as a default browser update, and will be a change for all Chrome users. All you will need to do is right-click on tabs, group them together, and assign a color.

Are you a tab-hoarder, or a tab-minimalist? Is this feature going to help you? Leave your comments below and be sure to return to our blog for more great information about technology.

When someone mentions cookies, people start paying attention. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodles… Browser? While Browser cookies aren’t the most scrumptious, they do need some attention. Nowadays, many websites you visit have a popup asking if they want to allow cookies for that site and knowing what you are agreeing to is important. In today’s blog, we will describe what cookies are, how they work, and why they can sometimes be better than cookies with chocolate chips. 

What is a Browser Cookie?

Browser cookies are small text files created by websites and stored on a user's device (computer, smartphone, or tablet) while they browse the internet. These files contain data about the user's interaction with the website, such as login information, preferences, and activity history. The primary purpose of cookies is to enhance the user's browsing experience by remembering their actions and preferences, which enables websites to provide a more personalized and efficient service. For example, cookies can store login sessions, so users do not have to re-enter their password each time they visit new pages on the site.

Cookies Aren’t All the Same

There are different types of cookies, each serving specific functions. Session cookies are temporary and are deleted once the browser is closed, while persistent cookies remain on the device for a set period or until manually deleted. First-party cookies are created by the website the user is visiting, while third-party cookies are set by external services or advertisers embedded in the website. These third-party cookies are often used for tracking users across multiple sites to gather data for targeted advertising and analytics, raising privacy concerns among users and regulatory bodies.

Why Do Cookies Exist?

Cookies also play a crucial role in website functionality and user experience. They enable features such as online shopping carts, where items remain in the cart even if the user navigates away from the site. Cookies can also help websites remember user preferences, such as language settings or themes, making future visits smoother and more customized. However, due to privacy concerns, many jurisdictions have implemented regulations requiring websites to obtain user consent before storing cookies, and users have the option to manage or delete cookies through their browser settings.

While you may not enjoy browser cookies as much as you would the sweet kind, they do play an important role when browsing online. For more great technology content, return to our blog soon. 

What is Breadcrumb Navigation?
As per the aforementioned fairy tale, breadcrumb navigation consists of a path leading home. In this case, home is the homepage. With breadcrumb navigation, you can more easily keep track of how you got to the current web page you’re on, as well as the path back to the home page. This path can typically be viewed at the top of the page. Each step includes a link that navigates back to a specific page.

Let’s say that you’re looking at a service page on a website. If the path you took leads back to the home page, you’ll see all of the pages in between in the breadcrumbs menu. For the sake of this example, let’s say the pages in between are the second menu item and the fifth menu item. It would look something like this:

Home > [Menu 2] > [Menu Item 5]

Since these breadcrumbs are links, you can click on any one of them to be brought back to that page. This lets you continue browsing with minimal chance of getting lost on the site trying to backtrack.

More Than Just Websites
You might notice that this navigation style is similar to the ones used in toolbars in file folders or files saved on your desktop. The reason is the same--it makes finding certain files easier at a later date. The location can also be shared with others who need to know where it is.

Breadcrumbs are typically meant for helping users with browsing and organization. Are there any other features out there you can think of that do the same thing? Let us know in the comments.

How often does this scenario happen to you? You’re going about your workday and are being quite productive, when all of a sudden you close the wrong tab in your web browser, putting an end to your productivity. This isn’t crippling downtime or anything, but it’s an inconvenience that we know you can do without. Thankfully, modern web browsers let you reopen closed tabs or windows to get back to where you left off.

How to Reopen a Closed Tab or Window in Google Chrome

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll use Google Chrome for our examples, but know that the other popular web browsers have similar functionality, and the process is similar if not identical to perform the same tasks.

First, close out one of your other web browsers. Go ahead, do it. We’re confident you can get it back, as long as you’re not filling out a form or there is other sensitive content on it that must be re-entered. After you’ve closed the tab or window, right-click the Plus icon as if you were going to open a new tab. You’ll see an option for Reopen Closed Tab. This will reopen the last closed tab, just like it says. You can even do this multiple times for multiple tabs, too.

For a quick reference, you can use the keyboard shortcut as well: Ctrl + Shift + T.

Reopen a Closed Window in Google Chrome

But what if you accidentally close the entire window without realizing it? Thankfully, Chrome has functionality for this, too, and it’s just as simple. Go ahead and open up a new window for testing purposes. Next, close out of it by clicking on the X button in the top right corner of the window. Go back to your current browsing session and right-click the tab bar at the top of your screen. If the last thing you closed was a different window, you’ll see the option for Reopen Closed Window. Go ahead and click it. Your closed window should reappear.

The keyboard shortcut for this is just as easy: Ctrl + Shift + W.

That’s all there is to it! It’s a simple but helpful tip to be just a little more productive with your day.

What other tips would you like to see us write about on our blog? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe.

It probably isn’t hard to think of a time when you’ve stumbled across something that would be useful for work while you were doing some personal browsing. What if I told you there was an easy way to send a website to your browser to view later? Thanks to Google Chrome, this is the case.

Let’s discuss how you can use Chrome’s multi-platform nature to your advantage to access the same web page on different devices.

Chrome Users Have a Few Options to Push Web Pages Between Devices

First off, simply being signed into the same Chrome account gives you the option to access a page from your history, as activity from all devices will be tracked. All you have to do is access Chrome and open History by pressing Ctrl+H when using a computer, or accessing Recent tabs from the three-dot menu in the Chrome mobile application.

If you’re in the process of reading something, however, and want to proactively have it ready on another device to continue viewing it, Chrome also supports this. When using the desktop, there’s a small icon in the address bar that looks like a corner with an arrow emerging from it. Clicking this icon, or alternatively right-clicking on the browser tab’s title will give you the ability to Send to your devices, with a list of all devices you’re signed into appearing for you to select from. If you’re on an Android device, access the three-dot menu and select the Share option. You’ll be provided a variety of options, including one to Send to your devices.

We’re committed to doing anything we can to help make your time in the office easier, whether it's through tips like this or through our comprehensive IT services. Learn more about the latter by giving us a call at (604) 513-9428 today!

If you want to try them out as you read along, make sure you open a new browser window… we don’t want you leaving this page before you read all of them!

Jump to Address Bar: Ctrl+L

Let’s say that it’s the beginning of your day, so you are checking your email for the first time. Afterwards, you know that you need to go to a particular website. Windows offers a quick shortcut that selects and clears the address bar so you don’t have to even stop typing before you move along. To make the jump, simply press Ctrl+L.

Quickly Add the Dot Com: Ctrl+Enter

Let’s use an easy example for this one, like the official website of the 1996 movie Space Jam. Visiting this website is as easy as typing in “www-dot-spacejam-dot-com,” but this shortcut allows you to just type in “spacejam” instead. Pressing Ctrl+Enter will automatically add the “www-dot” and “dot-com” in for you.

Open a Search in a New Tab: Alt+Enter

Of course, a lot of searches come about as something else is being done online, and that something isn’t always something you can navigate away from. If you’re trying to open a new website up or perform a search in a new tab, pressing Alt+Enter rather than just the latter will open what you typed in a new tab.

These two shortcuts also work together, so pressing Ctrl+Alt+Enter after typing “spacejam” would add the missing domain information and navigate to it in a new tab.

Open Clear Browsing Data: Ctrl+Shift+Delete

Finally, when you’re all done browsing the Space Jam website (or whatever else you may have used these tips to do), you can more conveniently open your option to clear your browsing data.  Pressing Ctrl+Shift+Delete will bring you to the requisite screen for you to press the button.

Before you navigate away from this page, make sure you subscribe to our blog for more useful tips and time-saving best practices!

It’s easy to open up far more tabs on your web browser than you need, especially when so many tools are cloud-based. If you find yourself in need of a quick way to close all other tabs besides a handful or so, we’ve got just the tip for you. You can close all open tabs to the right of your preferred window, or you can close all tabs outright.

Close All Other Tabs

If you have one specific page that you want to remain open, then it’s very easy to close all other tabs that you have open. All you have to do is right-click on your chosen tab and select the option for Close Other Tabs. You’ll notice that all other tabs will close, leaving you with just your chosen tab open.

Close Tabs to the Right

If you want to leave multiple tabs open, however, you can do this pretty easily, too. You can close all tabs to the right of your chosen tab. Just take a moment to organize your tabs so that all the ones you want to close are on the right side of any particular tab. To close them all out, right-click on the chosen tab and select Close Tabs to the Right. All tabs to the right side of this tab will close out. Pretty handy, huh?

Sometimes it’s the little tips that make a big difference in the way you go about the workday, and this one can potentially save you loads of time and frustration. For more great tips and tricks, keep your eyes on our blog feed.

If you feel like you have too many browser tabs open at any given time, then you'll be happy to know that you can sometimes save certain browser tabs as a standalone application on your device. This will give them their own icon and make accessing them much easier than constantly navigating to them through your web browser.

How to Turn a Website Into a Standalone App

If you frequently refer to websites throughout the day, you might need a quick and convenient way to open them. The aforementioned apps can help you do so without opening even more tabs on your browser.

For example, you might want quick access to your email or other cloud applications that load in your web browser. You can use this trick to remove your often-accessed browser tabs and have them open in their own standalone window, complete with a taskbar or start menu icon. It’s great for freeing your brain of just one more browser tab.

Here’s how to turn your favorite websites into standalone apps in Google Chrome:

1. Go to your designated website and go to the page that you want the app to start at.
2. Click on the three-dot icon in the top right corner of your browser.
3. Select Save and share > Install page as app… Some of the Google services you want to do this with don’t let you do this, like Google Docs and Gmail. Some websites might prompt you to install a preexisting app, too.
4. Give your app a name. If you don’t, it will automatically generate one for you.
5. You’ll find your new app in the taskbar and you can search for it through the Start menu. You can also pin the app to the taskbar if you’d like to have easy access to it. All you have to do is right-click the taskbar icon and select pin to taskbar.

Be sure to visit our blog periodically for more great tips like this!

How Do These Threats Work?

These attacks work similarly to how a phishing attack or a spoofed email would, as a user is promised one thing but winds up receiving something very different. While a malicious application may perform the task it claims to, it also may redirect the user to a phishing website or ad (making the cybercriminal some money) or simply steal some of the user’s information, like their birthday or email address.

In the case of these extensions, the code needed for several different malicious operations was present, including:

• Redirecting traffic to advertisements (falsely generating revenue)
• Redirecting traffic to phishing websites
• Collecting personal data
• Collecting browsing history
• Downloading additional malware onto a user’s device

Avast’s researchers believe that only the first code was actively utilized, generating ill-gotten revenue for the creators of these extensions. Regardless, these extensions should be removed from any systems on your business’ network that they may be installed on.

The impacted extensions are as follows:

Chrome

• App Phone for Instagram
• Direct Message for Instagram
• DM for Instagram
• Downloader for Instagram
• Invisible mode for Instagram Direct Message
• Odnoklassniki UnBlock. Works quickly.
• Spotify Music Downloader
• Stories for Instagram
• The New York Times News
• Universal Video Downloader
• Upload photo to Instagram™
• Video Downloader for FaceBook™
• Vimeo™ Video Downloader
• VK UnBlock. Works fast.
• Zoomer for Instagram and Facebook

Edge

• DM for Instagram
• Downloader for Instagram
• Instagram App with Direct Message DM
• Instagram Download Video & Image
• Pretty Kitty, The Cat Pet
• SoundCloud Music Downloader
• Stories for Instagram
• Universal Video Downloader
• Upload photo to Instagram™
• Video Downloader for FaceBook™
• Video Downloader for YouTube
• Vimeo™ Video Downloader
• Volume Controller

Again, we encourage you to check your company’s network to ensure that these extensions are not installed in any of your users’ browsers, and that you encourage your employees to do the same.

Not sure how to go about doing so? Coleman Technologies can help. As a managed service provider, our services include remotely monitoring your business’ technology and network for threats while keeping abreast of this kind of news so that we can proactively resolve any issues that may influence your operations.

Find out more today by reaching out to us at (604) 513-9428.

Since its domain was first registered on September 15, 1997, Google has exploded from a relatively simple search engine to the massive assortment of platforms and services that fall under the Alphabet umbrella. That being said, most people tend to think of very specific aspects of Google’s Search function… like the amusing Easter Eggs that the platform has become somewhat famous for.

Let’s explore some of the many, many jokes and entertaining features that Google has added to Search over the years. Who knows, you might find out about a new favorite.

Full Disclaimer: Google Has WAY Too Many Easter Eggs to Cover Here Comprehensively

Honestly, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. With these Easter eggs first being secreted into Google’s assorted offerings back in 2000, the sheer volume of these hidden features has grown to be truly significant. Plus, some of them are no longer active, being tied to a specific day or event—for example, the search for “2/22/22” made the phrase “Happy Twosday 2You!” appear on that day, but no longer. 

Others have been rendered inoperable with Google’s shift to an infinite scroll format, rather than pages, as the “Goooo…gle” indicator housed many of these Easter eggs as well.

Many, many of them, however, are still active, with more being added all the time… just do a quick search for “Barbie” for a practical example of how up-to-date these Easter eggs are kept. So, let’s explore some that are (as of this writing) still active.

A Tiny Sample of Google’s Easter Eggs

• Searching for “dvd screensaver” will cause the Google logo in the top left corner to begin bouncing around the screen, changing colors as it goes, similarly to—you guessed it—the screensaver that DVD players would display after remaining idle for too long.
• Searching for “text adventure” and then using the Ctrl+Shift+J shortcut to open the developers console will give you access to a Google-themed text-based adventure game, where you set out in search of the letters in the word “Google.” As a bonus Easter egg within an Easter egg, responding “no” to the introductory prompt “would you like to play a game” produces a reference to the 1983 movie WarGames.
• Searching for “puppy/puppies/dog/canine” or “kitten/cat” will produce a button that, when clicked, will cause a paw belonging to the corresponding animal to swipe up and leave a paw print behind.
• Searching for “define anagram” asks you if you meant to search for “nerd fame again,” which itself is an anagram of “define anagram.”
• Searching for “pi” will produce the Google calculator with the pi symbol prominent. Clicking it will start a memory game that takes the player through the digits of pi.
• Searching for “meteor shower” will darken the screen momentarily as three meteors pass by, shifting back to the way it was once they have passed.
• Searching for “netwon/Isaac Newton” will produce a button with an apple tree on it, which causes an apple to fall down the screen when clicked, just as the legend goes about how the physicist conceptualized the theory of gravity.
• Searching for “han/greedo shot first” will show the alternate result, posed as a “Did you mean” at the top of the screen. 
• Searching for “the one ring” will ask if you meant “my precioussss,” in a nod to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.
• Searching for “world’s best boss” will ask “Did you mean Michael Scott” as a reference to Steve Carell’s character from The Office.
• Searching for “breathing exercise” will pull up a functional breathing exercise that you can follow along with.
• Searching for “pac-man/google pacman/play pacman” will pull up a functioning game of Pac-Man with a board designed around the Google logo. 
• Searching for “the answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything" brings up the Google Calculator, presenting the answer “42.” This is a reference to the Douglas Adams novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and has been around since the first Easter eggs were developed—even predating the calculator feature it now appears in. 

When We Said This Was a Tiny Sample, We Meant It

There are dozens more Easter eggs to have fun with, and we encourage you to seek them out and see what the developers at Google do in between major projects to keep themselves sharp. If you find a fun one, be sure to let us know when you call us to learn more about our managed services!