SAN FRANCISCO – Not long ago I extolled the virtues of using side-by-side Windows Explorer windows to manage files and folders.

I still think that’s a great way to go, but it does require you to manually open two instances of Explorer, then drag one to each side of the screen (or use keyboard shortcuts for faster Aero Snap snapping).

Another option: Windows Double Explorer, a tiny, free utility that provides two Explorer windows–each with a little more oomph than you get from Windows Explorer. (I promise that sentence makes sense. Go back and read it again.)
True to its name, Double Explorer employs a dual-pane interface, which you can view stacked or side by side. Within each pane you can create multiple tabs representing different directories on your hard drive. And you can drag any folders to the Favorites toolbar for easy access to them down the road.

Novice users will find there’s a bit of a learning curve here, as not all the file/folder-management options will make immediate sense. But for seasoned users (and those willing to learn), WDE is definitely worth a look. It’s a compact, installation-free bit of handyware that reminds me of the classic Total Commander.

One important note: Windows Double Explorer works in Windows 7 only. If you have an older version of the OS, the aforementioned Total Commander is a good bet.

Add Extra Rows to Firefox’s Bookmarks Toolbar

Everyone has their preferred method for keeping their favorite sites close at hand. Me, I take advantage of Firefox’s bookmarks toolbar, which provides one-click, at-a-glance access to around 20 favorites.
Just one problem: Any favorites that won’t fit the width of my screen get dumped into a pull-down menu that appears at the far end of the toolbar–rendering them much less easily accessible.

Enter Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, a head-smackingly obvious Firefox extension that lets you add extra rows to the bookmarks toolbar–thus putting more of your favorites close at hand.
You can add as many extra rows as you like, but I was happy enough with just a second one. (More than three and things start to look awfully cluttered.)

What’s more, you can scroll through your remaining bookmarks, instead of having to drill into that pull-down menu (which, in case you’re wondering, no longer appears when MBT is active).

Bottom line: If you rely on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar might just be your new favorite Firefox extension. It’s definitely one of mine.

Disable Your Laptop’s Touchpad While You Type

Recently two of my relatives complained of the same maddening problem: They’d be typing along on their laptops when suddenly the cursor would jump, resulting in garbled text or even an unwanted mouse-click.

This is usually the result of your thumb or palm accidentally grazing the touchpad. Fortunately, there are ways to combat this problem, usually by tweaking the Windows mouse/touchpad settings.

If those options aren’t available on your system or you’re still not getting the results you want, try TouchFreeze. This free utility serves one simple purpose: to disable your laptop’s touchpad while you type. Actually, it disables touchpad tapping, which is what causes the aforementioned problems. (It doesn’t matter if your cursor moves while you’re typing, as long as that movement isn’t followed by a tap–the touchpad equivalent of clicking a mouse.)

I tested the utility on two laptops, one running Windows XP, the other, Vista. On both systems it worked as advertised: No amount of tapping while typing would actually register a tap. If you’ve been tearing your hair out due to flaky laptop behavior, this handy freebie may just solve the problem.

SAN FRANCISCO – After working reliably for over a year, my Richard Solo Model 1200 backup battery for the iPhone unexpectedly caused some major grief. However, I believe that at least part of the blame for the trouble resided with me. With my iPhone’s battery running low, I connected a fully-charged 1200 to the iPhone. I then stuck the connected combo into my pants pocket. Although this was something I had done numerous times before without incident, I believe this was the precipitating cause of the problem (more on this point in a moment).

When I later removed the iPhone and battery from my pocket, I could not get any response from the iPhone. The screen remained dark no matter what button I pressed. I disconnected the 1200 from the iPhone. This had no effect. The iPhone remained completely dead.

Later, after returning home, I connected the iPhone to its charger. This too had no effect. Even after waiting 30 minutes or so, the iPhone showed no sign of life; its screen remained completely dark. I was starting to get concerned that the iPhone had been permanently damaged.

As a last resort, with the iPhone still connected to a power outlet, I reset the iPhone (simultaneously pressing and holding both the Sleep/Wake and the Home buttons for at least ten seconds). This did the trick. The screen finally lit up and the battery icon appeared. However, in a further unexpected and unwelcome surprise, the screen indicated that there was zero charge left in the iPhone’s battery. In other words, not only had the Solo backup battery failed to charge my iPhone, it had led to a loss of battery power beyond what would have occurred if I had never connected the 1200 to the iPhone in the first place.

The good news was that, after waiting a couple of hours, the iPhone fully recovered its charge and all seemed well again.

What the heck had happened? As an initial test, after confirming that the Richard Solo battery was charged, I reconnected the 1200 to the iPhone. This time a message appeared that said: “This accessory is not made to work with iPhone.” This had never happened before. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery several times. Exactly what happened on each occasion varied a bit. For example, on one try, no error message appeared but the iPhone’s battery icon did not shift to indicate that charging was taking place. Clearly, whatever message did or did not appear, something was wrong with the Solo battery.

As it turned out, Macworld Expo was just around the corner. While there, I brought up this incident with some friends. One of them had had the exact same thing happen. After some discussion, we concurred that the immediate cause was almost certainly a bent wire in the battery’s dock connector. From a brief inspection of the 1200, I could see no obvious damage, but I assumed it was there.

In my case, I assumed that the damage resulted from unintended pressure applied while the connected phone and battery resided in my pocket. Problems with the dock connector are a known source of the “accessory is not made…” message (as noted in this Apple support article). I suppose I should consider myself lucky that the damage was restricted only to the Solo battery’s connector and not to the iPhone itself.

As for the completely drained iPhone battery, I can only theorize as to the cause. My friend suspected that the damaged wire may have led to a reversal in the direction of current flow, so that power was going from the iPhone to the battery instead of the reverse. I can’t confirm this, but it would certainly account for the symptoms. I contacted RichardSolo.com for a reply, but did not receive an answer.

In any case, I’ve learned my lesson. In the future, whenever I have any accessory connected to my iPhone, it will staying far away from my pants pocket.

SAN FRANCISCO – Everyone has their preferred method for keeping their favorite sites close at hand. Me, I take advantage of Firefox‘s Bookmarks Toolbar, which provides one-click, at-a-glance access to around 20 favorites.
Just one problem: Any favorites that won’t fit the width of my screen get dumped into a pull-down menu that appears at the far end of the toolbar–rendering them much less easily accessible.

Enter Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar, a head-smackingly obvious Firefox extension that lets you add extra rows to the Bookmarks Toolbar–thus putting more of your favorites close at hand.
You can add as many extra rows as you like, but I was happy enough with just a second one. (More than three and things start to look awfully cluttered.)

What’s more, you can scroll through your remaining bookmarks, instead of having to drill into that pull-down menu (which, in case you’re wondering, no longer appears when MBT is active).

Bottom line: If you rely on the Bookmarks Toolbar, Multirow Bookmarks Toolbar might just be your new favorite Firefox extension. It’s definitely one of mine.