Design inspiration can come from a lot of different places. If you find yours from digital sources on the web, Palette Grabber for Firefox might be incredibly useful to you.

Install it, and Palette Grabber sits in the left corner of your status bar waiting to leap into action. A single click (right or left) exports a selective palette based on your current page in Firefox. Palette selection is very intelligent, producing accurate swatch sets for each of the websites I sampled.

Palette Grabber supports several file formats, including Photoshop, Flash, Fireworks, PaintShop Pro, the GIMP, and Mac OS X Color Picker. Minimalists and power users can elect to save a tabbed text listing of RGB values.

For a 25k download, Palette Grabber is definitely worth adding to your Firefox install if you do any digital design work.

I've used plenty of hotkey applications, but none is as visually appealing or easy to configure as QLiner.

Download and install QLiner, launch it, and then press win + z to open the main window (above). New hotkeys can be added by simply dragging a shortcut from your desktop onto a key - it even works with URLs from your browser.

More than just a launcher, QLiner first tries to match your hotkey with a running application. If it finds a match, it'll bring that window to the front instead of spawning a new process. You can add runtime arguments to your hotkeys as well: for example, /auto on CCleaner to add a one-key system cleanup.

QLiner also has built-in layouts that are tailored for Sony, IBM, Toshiba, and Dell laptop keyboards. Dvorak keyboards are supported, and international users will be thrilled by the massive number of languages available.

Its 45mb memory footprint is a tad on the bulky side, but it's easy to overlook because of QLiner's ease-of-use and flexibility. QLiner is freeware, Windows only.

[ via Cybernet ]

For those of you charged with the unenviable task of malware removal and defense, keeping your toolbox current can be a lot of work. Lunarsoft's Anti-Malware Toolkit simplifies the process by providing an easy way to handle downloading.

The Toolkit is really just a downloader which fetches the current versions of programs like Super Antispyware, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, HijackThis, Spybot, Autoruns, CCleaner, and LSP Fix. It also grabs programs that you'll want to install to prevent further issues: Avast, Firefox, Comodo Firewall.

Point it to your USB flash drive or network share, hit the download button and grab yourself a cup of coffee.

While you could do this with just about any decent download manager, why bother? Anti-Malware toolkit already targets most of the tools you're going to need and it's as simple to maintain them as clicking a single button.

If installing a program like Trust No Exe isn't your style, you can always use registry edits and policy changes to lock down PCs. That can be a little tiresome, but Nawras PC Supervisor makes it as simple as checking a few boxes.

PC Supervisor gives you control over just about everything you might want to restrict. Control panel access can either be blocked completely or limited to only those options you want displayed. Hide drive letters and features like "run as," network connections, and the places bar.

Use it to disable everything from registry editing and task manager to display settings changes. Set up privacy tweaks like auto-clearing the recent files list and hiding the last logged on username.

Granted, most of these changes can be made using gpedit.msc and secpol.msc (built-in controls in Windows XP Pro), but PC supervisor's interface is easier to get around and it can make changes on XP Home installs as well.

PC Supervisor doesn't require installation, and is completely free. Right now there's no help file, but it's still a nice addition to your admin toolbox.

If bookmark menus aren't enough for you, All Customized Links offers yet another tweak to speed your Firefox browsing.

A word of warning to privacy fanatics: you must register an account to use this, and your links are remotely hosted (there is no TOS that I could find). While not posting privacy terms isn't cool, your links following you wherever you install this addon is.

Adding new links is a breeze through the preferences menu. Enter a name, url, and choose where you want to open it: current tab, new background or foreground tab or window,

An interesting preview option is included, though it's not so much a preview as it is loading the whole page with it's opacity turned down. I was expecting maybe a pop-out thumbnail of a site, not the exact same thing I'd see if I clicked it's entry. You may want to turn previews off in your preferences, it's just not that useful.

All Customized Links' menu also features a quick option to add the current URL, which will save you a bit of typing over just entering everything from scratch by yourself.

This isn't the kind of addon that's going to revolutionize your browsing experience, but it's a nice option for those looking for additional bookmarking options.

While computer work tends to not be physically risky, that doesn't mean you should assume it's not impacting your health. Carpal tunnel and Computer Vision Syndrome are no laughing matter, and it's important to take steps to avoid them.

EyeDefender helps by starting breaks at intervals of your choosing (you choose the length of the break as well). To rest your eyes you can choose either your default screensaver, an image, or the visual training mode. The training mode is a bit reminiscent of the relaxation portion of Flash Focus for the Nintendo DS.

If you stick to the schedule you set up, EyeDefender breaks will also help prevent repetetive strain injuries. Like anything designed to help your quest for improved health, you've got to stick with it to see benefits.

For web workers that have a hard time tearing themselves away from their screen, EyeDefender is a handy application with tremendous potential benefits. It's free for non-commercial private use and runs on Windows only.