Web Tips: Amazon Cloud Drive, Gmail Autoresponder, IE Spell Checker

As you Crataegus oxycantha recall, Amazon recently unveiled its new Cloud Drive service, which provides 5GB of free online storage. (Elsewhere I explained how you could knock against your limit to 20GB for under a buck.) The exclusive downside? To access it, you have to use Amazon's WWW-supported interface. It's non bad, but not nearly as convenient Eastern Samoa, say, a local insensitive get.

Enter Gladinet Becloud Desktop, which makes your Amazon Cloud Drive accessible from within Windows Explorer, honorable like, suppose, a flash drive. (Accidentally, it can Doctor of Osteopathy as wel with your Gmail, Picasa, SkyDrive, and other accounts.) It's free, it's easy, and it whole kit and boodle.

After installing the broadcast, just choose Amazon Cloud Drive from Gladinet's list of braced services. Then enter your username and password, and presto: the program "maps" your storage as a drive on your PC. From there you can copy files to and from it like you would any another drive (albeit a trifle more slowly–they are moving to the Internet and aft, after all).

By the bye, this North Korean won't process unless you've already uploaded at to the lowest degree one file to your Obnubilate Drive exploitation conventional means (i.e. Amazon's Web interface). Also, if you want to do whatsoever leaden-duty file away syncing, program connected investing in the $50 Pro version of Gladinet. (I think most users will be able to cause by just close-grained with the free version.) The software is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Raise an E-Mail Auto-Responder in Gmail

Pickings a holiday? Planning to be away from your data processor for much a day or two? If you're a Gmail user, there's an easy way to make sure that friends, family members, co-workers, and others get an answer to their e-mails–even when you're traveling.

IT's called a "vacation responder," and it sends an automated reply to anyone who e-mails you during a selected time.

It takes all of 60 seconds to set up, and it can even give the sac automatically upon your regaining. Go to Gmail Help to learn how.

Add a Spelling checker to Internet Explorer

Among the many reasons I'm partial to Firefox is that Mozilla's browser has long offered a built-in import checker. (Not that I call for it, naturally–we payd riters learnt gud speling in skool.)

Internet Explorer, even in its a la mode release, doesn't do bad spellers whatsoever favors. Thankfully, there's Speckie, a free Internet Explorer add-thereon provides proper-clock time spell checking.

After installation Speckie–which, accidentally, is compatible with all versions of Windows and all versions of Internet Explorer (including 9)–it immediately starts temporary, underlining any misspelled word with a squiggly red line. To see suggested correct spellings, to the letter-penetrate the word.

If English isn't your primary language, you'll be glad to love that Speckie comes with a banging 24 dictionaries, with languages ranging from Croation to Asian nation.

Bottom line: if you're an Internet Explorer drug user who needs a go-checker for e-mail, Web forms, and other web browser-based activities, Speckie gets the job done apace and with efficiency.

If you've got a hassle that needs solving, send it my style. I can't assure a response, but I'll in spades read every netmail I get–and coiffure my unexcelled to address at to the lowest degree some of them in the PCWorld Trouble-Free PC blog . My 411: hasslefree@pcworld.com . You can also sign up to have the Scuffle-Unloose PC newsletter e-mailed to you each week .