However, one problem I do constantly run into is sites that display an excerpt in the feed instead of the full content – even more frustrating if it’s a site that ONLY posts pictures – requiring you to click through to the slow-loading full site in order to view the picture. (Just so you know, MakeUseOf and the Geeky Fun section all produce full feeds for you to browse at your Google Reader leisure)

Well, no problem. Today I’m going to show you 3 ways in which you grab the full feed from the partial feed – one website that could be used with any feed reader service or browser – one browser extension for Chrome and one for Firefox. If you’re using Internet Explorer, then stop it. It’s not a good browser by any standards, it’s the most insecure and the bane of every web developer with incompatible standards. Download Chrome or Firefox now.

FullTextRssFeed.com

We have introduced this in the directory before (as well as FiveFilter and WizardRSS), but this particularly site wins awards from me for the simplest and most beautiful interface. Open the site, paste in the feed URL of the crippled RSS and click submit. You can try with this fascinating UK news feed from the BBC if you like: http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/uk/rss.xml

When the site comes back with the full feed – it’s quite speedy too – you can see a quick preview to make sure all is working well. then simply copy the URL it gives you above, and subscribe to that instead. If only everything on the internet was this simple, and worked so well.

Chrome: Super Google Reader:

Grab the extension from here and install.

Now, if you open Google Reader as normal, you should see a new Readable, Link and Feed tabs above each post. Feed is the default view which might only show you partial content for certain feeds. In this case, click on Link to be shown the actual page in context, including any banner ads or sidebar from the site in question – or click Readable to let the plugin have a shot at grabbing content intelligently.

During tests, I found that not all pictures were pulled in if it was a mixed text/media based article, but in general worked just fine – especially for sites that previously only allowed pictures to be shown when clicking through.

Firefox: (not v.4)

Firefox requires a little more work I’m afraid, but it is possible. Unfortunately, this method will only allow to use the iFrame tactic of loading the article from the actual site inside of Reader, rather than extracting the content – and it doesn’t work in Firefox 4 according to my tests.

First up, you need to install GreaseMonkey extension that allows you to run user-submitted scripts, then install both this and this script. Now when you open Google Reader in Firefox, you’ll be able to enable full entry content on a folder or feed basis.

Conclusion:

If you love feeds as much as I do and regularly read through the news on your iPad or similar device, your best bet is to go through your feeds and replace them all with a fulltextrssfeed.com equivalent. The Chrome extension is nice, but given that most of my feed reading is done away from the PC it would be more effective to just change the URLs.

If you know of a similar or better solution for Firefox – or even Opera as I know a few readers hate it when I forget that browser – do post your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

If you’re interested in how the Internet has rendered $40 million worth of effort redundant, then read on.

A Quick Word Before We Begin

This article is designed to demonstrate just how easy it is to get around protection like this, and is certainly not meant to deprive the New York Times or its journalists of money. We here at MakeUseOf are not the authors of any such techniques.

We do however feel this is within our readers interests, hence this article. If you do feel particularly strongly about this issue then be sure to have your say in the comments, at the bottom of this article.

Clearing Cookies

Currently the paywall does not use IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to track visits. The site also allows you 20 free articles per month, and these are tracked using cookies. If you were to browse 20 articles using Chrome, you’d then be free to browse another 20 in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and so on as the cookies are browser-unique.

So, by this logic (you probably don’t want to go swapping browsers just to read the news) you can simply clear your cookies and continue browsing. The only problem with clearing all your cookies is that other sites you regularly visit and rely on may forget who you are.

Using JavaScript, Digital Inspiration created a bookmarklet to clear the NY Times cookies alone. Drag the Remove NYT Cookies link into your bookmarks bar and click it every 20 articles or so to reset the counter to zero.

Note: Disabling cookies in your browser altogether won’t work, as the site requires cookies to function.

Removing The Overlay

Once you’ve hit article number 20, any subsequent articles you attempt to access will present you with an overlay, which will stop you being able to scroll the page and view the content beneath the “buy a subscription” box.

Dave Hayes of euri.ca has come up with a bookmarklet that, when clicked, removes that pesky overlay and restores your ability to scroll. Drag the NYTClean bookmarklet onto your bookmarks bar, and every time you hit the paywall, click it. You’ll see the overlay disappear and you’ll be free to read the article again.

The Google Approach

If you really want access to an article behind a paywall, you can (for a few articles) use Google. Searching for the full article title or URL in Google should bring up the article you’re looking for as the top search result.

As many websites consider the “first click free”, you should be able to view the article as you are coming from a search engine result. To read your next article, repeat the process and click through from your search results. You should get 5 free articles a day using this method.

This technique has been known to work on other paywalls, including the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times.

The Social Backdoor

As the newspaper is keen on building up its social networking grunt, for the time being articles that are accessed via Facebook or Twitter are free to read. You don’t necessarily have to follow every story as you can use this page to find Twitter feeds that are relevant to your interests.

It’s worth mentioning that the paper has stipulated if this method of accessing content is abused then this perk will be withdrawn. How soon this will happen remains to be seen – there’s not much point following the paper on Twitter if you can’t click the articles, is there?

You can also follow @freeUnnamedNews for NY Times articles as they’re published.

Browser Extensions

Firefox users can install Greasemonkey (and Safari users Greasekit) to run user scripts (like this one at userscripts.org) that claim to get around the paywall. Just be careful when installing scripts from sources like this, and disable them when you’re not browsing the NY Times.

There was a Chrome extension that did this with 2 lines of CSS, but Google took it down and the NY Times modified a class or two.

Conclusion

The decision to put online content behind a paywall comes with plenty of issues. By hiding content altogether search engine optimization suffers. On the other hand leaving content in an easily accessible online location is bound to result in a similar debacle.

These five techniques probably won’t last for long, as the newspaper is bound to try and protect its content in other ways. This article hopefully provides some insight into the problems faced by traditional print news outlets and the difficulty in protecting content destined for both keen readers and search engine traffic.

What do you think of the NY Times paywall? Have you browsed the site via one of the methods above? Any other techniques? Give us your ethical, technical and financial reports in the comments below.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The complexity of the validation used, however, has increased over time. Today, Microsoft has online activation servers that must validate your installation key, and your installation key is often tied to your computer. Installing a copy of Windows with the same key on a different computer can cause issues, but it’s possible to get around them.

Understanding Different Versions of Windows

The conditions under which you might need to hassle with Windows activation vary depending on the version of Windows that you own. Microsoft sells its operating systems with different licenses attached, and those licenses impact how validation works when you try to remove Windows activation from one computer and install it on another.

If you go to the store and buy a copy of Microsoft Windows you’re likely buying a standard retail license. A retail license lets you install Windows on one computer. If you try to install it twice, Windows activation can tell (so long the computers have a connection to the Internet) and will call foul.

However, it’s likely you instead have an OEM copy of Windows. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, and this label is slapped onto software that comes pre-installed or packaged with a computer. OEM copies of Windows come with a license that only allows Windows to be installed on the machine the manufacturer shipped. You can’t take the OEM copy and install it on any other computer – if you try, Windows activation will notice.

Finally, you may end up with a volume license which makes it possible to install Windows on multiple machines at once. The Windows 7 family pack is a good example of this; the activation keys that come with the family pack can be used on three computers simultaneously.

Removing Windows Activation

Unfortunately, there is no Microsoft tool that lets you remove your Windows activation from a computer once you have installed the operating system. This is not surprising when you think about it; if you could simply remove your activation, there would be no point to the OEM license. There are cracks, of course, but these are not difficult for Microsoft to counter over time by releasing new updates. If you want your copy of Windows 7 to work reliably you need to legitimately install Windows with an activation key.

So What Do I Do?

Pick up the phone!

Oddly, Microsoft is not strict about making sure you obey the terms of their software license. They are often happy to help you activate a copy of Windows on a new or upgraded computer even if you have an OEM license. They just want to talk to you about it in person.

The process is simple. Install Windows on a computer and insert the activation key as normal. When Windows starts and you connect to the Internet you will receive an error message letting you know that your copy of Windows is not genuine. Click on the text link that lets you solve the problem online and try to activate the key again. When it fails once more, you are given the chance to call into Microsoft support.

Do this. You will end up speaking to a representative who will ask you the circumstances of your installation. While these representatives are likely to let you activate even if you’re blatantly moving an OEM license, a simple white lie can help smooth the gears. Just let them know that you’ve upgraded your computer, causing the activation to flag. They’ll press a few buttons on their end and presto! You’ve just activated your Windows key on a different computer, and since it’s 100% legit, you don’t need to worry about a new Windows update messing with your PC.

Conclusion

This is effectively a method of removing your Windows activation from the computer that your copy of Windows was originally installed on, because the key will no longer work on the original PC. If you do boot up the original PC and allow it to connect to the Internet you will soon be hit with an error message letting you know your copy of Windows is no longer genuine. Which is correct, because your activation has been transferred.

To be absolutely clear; this DOES NOT duplicate your Windows activation.

Also, be warned that Microsoft does keep track of how your activation key is used. They will take notice if you’re calling into their hotline once a week to transfer an activation key. Microsoft could be more strict about this process than they currently are. Don’t give Redmond a reason to change its policy.

The first text message was sent in 1992 and texting soon became a mass phenomenon. Subsequently, the magic number of 160 characters was adopted for other forms of communication and today we see similar character limits on micro blogging platforms like Twitter or Plurk. Twitter for example, reserves 20 characters for user names, hence bringing the limit down to 140 characters.

In the age of information overflow and short attention spans, the limit is a blessing because it forces brevity. On the other hand, a lot of information is lost. Fortunately, there are ways to escape the character limit. Below I will introduce 5 services that let you share text, images, videos, code, or formulas anywhere using a short URL. You don’t even have to sign up.

TinyPaste

By far the most popular service is TinyPaste. You can share text, images, videos, or code snippets using a short URL. Each paste can be protected with a password and you can set it to self-delete after 30 minutes to 3 months. If you would like to manage your pastes, i.e. edit or delete them after posting, you have to sign up.

Standard Features:

• WYSIWYG text editor.
• insert images, videos, and code snippets.
• no character limit.
• set password.
• set paste to prune / self-delete after 30 minutes to 3 months.
• receive short URL to share paste.

Login Features:

• manage pastes.

Tools:

• Bookmarklet
• Firefox Extension
• API

shortText

With shortText you can share up to 30,000 characters, link images and videos, and set a key for private access. The service provides no login option, making it perfectly simplistic. However, it has one key feature that distinguishes it from TinyPaste: you can enable comments.

Features:

• BB Code tag / rich text support.
• link images or videos.
• 30,000 character limit.
• allow comments.
• set key to make text private.
• receive short URL to share text.

CopyTaste

If you find shortText too simplistic, but like the idea of comments, try CopyTaste. In addition to making your snippets interactive, you can also embed videos and upload photos from your hard drive to create a gallery. Before you can ‘TasteIt’, i.e. submit your post, you are asked to specify whether your snippet is safe for work and select a language. You may also set tags. To manage your posts, you can sign up or log in with your Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Windows Live, Twitter, Facebook, and several other accounts.

Standard Features:

• WYSIWYG text editor.
• add URLs.
• upload photos.
• share video URL or embed code.
• allow comments.
• set password.
• tag posts.
• receive short URL to share data.

Login Features:

• login using Google, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, or other existing accounts.
• manage posts.
• profile page.
• blog page.
• inbox.

Tools:

• Internet Explorer and Firefox Toolbar.

JustPaste.It

With the united features of the above services we should have covered just about anything,  right? Wrong! There is a geeky reason why JustPaste.It made this list: you can enter mathematical formulas using LaTeX. Moreover, you can upload photos, embed videos, import text files from your computer, and export the result to PDF.  Best of all, while you edit your post, it is saved every 3 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about losing anything.

Features:

• WYSIWYG editor.
• HTML editor.
• automatic backup every 3 minutes while editing.
• upload photos.
• embed videos.
• import .doc, .rtf, and .odt files.
• insert mathematical formulas with LaTeX.
• export to PDF.
• create custom page name.
• receive short URL to share what you pasted.

snip.ly

Finally, here is a highly simplistic tool for occasions when you just want to share a text snippet from a single webpage.

What you do is enter the URL of the page that contains the piece of text you want to share. In the next step snip.ly loads the page and you highlight the respective paragraph. You can also browse through available images to add a thumbnail. To comment your selection you can log in using Twitter or Facebook or email your snip. As with all these services, you receive a short URL. Your snip appears in the foreground of the source page. Closing the snip reveals the underlying page and the snip can be loaded again through the toolbar.

Features:

• share text from any website.
• receive a short URL to share snips.

Login Features:

• log in using Facebook or Twitter.
• add personal comment.
• view recent snips.
• RSS feed for your snips.

Tools:

• Chrome extension
• Bookmarklet

If you do not suffer from a short attention span, you’re probably still wondering why your text messages are limited to 160 characters. The limit was set in the 1980s, when a team of European engineers invented the short message service (SMS) and defined its standards. Back in the days, bandwidth was very limited, so they had to determine a manageable yet reasonable amount of characters. One fine day in 1985, Friedhelm Hillebrand experimented with random short sentences and questions on his typewriter. Most of his messages turned out to count just under 160 characters – the magic number [Source: Los Angeles Times].

A selection of Twitter-specific services are summarized in Bakari’s article 6 Tools That Allow You To Write Longer Twitter Tweets.

How do you manage to compress your life experiences into 140 – 160 characters?

Image credits: ARENA Creative

It’s fun and easy to browse, has an incredible array of videos and sports one of the best web players I’ve ever seen. The whole shebang is integrated by default; dimming the lights, different aspect ratios and even downloading those videos to your computer.

Here’s the catch; it isn’t free. Not that it should come as a surprise to those of you who are already familiar with MegaUpload. Everything works fine at the start, but after exactly 72 minutes of viewing pleasure, the dreaded pop-up appears.

The 72 Minute Lock

The 72 minute mark seems to be a crucial point in many documentaries and TV series. It might be me, but the MegaVideo time limit seems to appear when it’s least wanted. You have watched 72 minutes of video today. It means you’re not about to finish that show.

You can finish your prescribed dose of waiting and enjoy your next 72 minute batch, or upgrade to a premium account at $9.99 per month to enjoy unlimited use of MegaVideo.

Below are three workarounds to bypass the MegaVideo time limit. All of these will work regardless of your operating system.

1. Using CacaoWeb or Illimitux

CacaoWeb is a free, cross-platform application that removes so-called cyberlocker limits, as used by RapidShare and a batch of other file sharing websites. It also effectively removes the 72 minute time lock of MegaVideo.

CacaoWeb uses peer to peer (P2P) technology to make this work. Instead of downloading your video from the server to your client computer, you’re downloading small parts of the video via other users. That way, no one user should reach the time limit. Using CacaoWeb from Rapidshare works the same way.

Illimitux is from the same minds, and based on the same technology as Cacaoweb, but instead of installing a full-fledged application, it works by installing a Firefox add-on or Chrome extension.

2. Work Offline

This second workaround requires no third-party software except your web browser. On the flip side, it’s harder and less forward to use.

First, you buffer part of the video. This means you’re letting it load without actually playing it. When you’ve buffered the entire video, or a good enough part, switch your browser to Work Offline mode. While you’re still in Work Offline mode, you’ll be able to watch the video without adding to the time limit. Keep in mind that you have to disable Work Offline mode to continue browsing or buffering the video.

In Firefox, this is done by navigating to File -> Work Offline. In Internet Explorer, to Tools -> Work Offline. There currently appears to be no Work Offline alternative embedded in Google Chrome.

3. Watch Video on MegaStreaming or EzyWatch

Last but not least, you can use MegaVideo embedded sites to surpass the time limit, by using a variety of techniques.

If you copy your MegaVideo URL to MegaStreaming, you’ll be redirected to a page with said video embedded. Here you can watch the video like normal or, depending on the video, even in HD.

Once you reach the limit, press the button at the top right, shown below. This will redirect you to a different page with the same video embedded and you’ll be able to continue watching.

So how does this work? Apparently, different players all have different time limits. By using two different embedded players, you can watch up to 134 minutes (72+31+31) instead of just 72 minutes.

An alternative website that also allows you to bypass MegaVideo’s time limit is EzyWatch. It does not share how it circumvents said limit.

EzyWatch looks more professional, but has regular performance issues; slow buffer times, videos that won’t load, and similar problems.

Do you know any other tools or websites that allow you to eliminate the MegaVideo limit? Have you used the ones above? Let us know in the comments!

Lucky there’s an easy fix. The enthusiastic community over at the Boxee forums found a way to get Hulu working on Boxee, at least for now. By masking Boxee so that Hulu can’t tell it’s not a desktop browser, this simple hack will give you access to your favorites once again.

Get Hulu working on Boxee again, quickly, without having to pay for Hulu Plus. Just follow these simple instructions.

What Happened

So you fire up a video in Boxee, and instead of seeing your show you see this message:

With the recent release of the Boxee Box, Boxee is trying to get as many for-pay services working on the platform as possible. The NHL, Netflix, Vudu and MLB are all signed on; Boxee’s hoping Hulu will sign on too.

Hulu, incidentally, recently launched their new pay service: Hulu Plus. It would seem Boxee is posed to become an official platform for Hulu Plus, but support for free Hulu videos needed to go as a condition.

That’s a shame. Guess we’ll just have to get it working ourselves.

Get The Script

First things first: you need to download a script. Don’t worry; it’s easy. Head over to this posting on the Boxee forums and download the text file in post number four. If you download the script from here you’ll first need to register, and you’ll also need to rename the .txt to “hulu.js”.

Too complicated? Fine. Check out this handy post on 9minutesnooze, which features a download you don’t need to register for or rename.

Drag And Drop

Now that you have what you need, it’s time to put it in the right place. Where the right place is, of course, depends on your operating system of choice. For Windows users, the right place is “C:\Program Files\Boxee\system\players\flashplayer\”. Ubuntu users should move the file to “/opt/boxee/system/players/flashplayer/hulu.js”. Finally, Mac users should move the file to “/Applications/Boxee.app/Contents/Resources/Boxee/system/players/flashplayer”.

That’s it. Fire up Boxee, if you closed it, and try to play something on Hulu. It should be working!

Enjoy

Note that Boxee is starting to show content only available on Hulu Plus, meaning some of the videos listed as working on Boxee won’t work. But if you just use Boxee to watch Hulu’s free content, you’ll find everything working beautifully.

This is how it should be. In a blog post back in March of 2009, Boxee founder Avner Ronen promised Boxee users they’d always have access to legal online content:

To our users: if you choose to use Boxee as your media browser to view legal and publicly available content on the internet, we will do everything we can to ensure that you can access it, no matter what the source.

It would seem Boxee’s dropped this commitment, in the name of becoming an officially approved device for the Hulu Plus store. Sad.

Alternative

Is this hack not working? I guess they patched this hole, for now. I’ll try to keep you up to date about alternative solutions, but until then here’s an alternative. Download the Hulu Desktop app. You’ve now got an easy way to watch Hulu shows from your couch.

You can even launch this app from within Boxee, thanks to the Launcher app. Check out my article about using Boxee as the ultimate ROM and game launcher to find out how.

We’ve told you how to watch news online, and even how to watch college football online for free (albeit, assuming you use a supported ISP). These legal services are amazing, but think about it: Hulu offers only a fraction of what you can find with a good BitTorrent tracker.

Likewise, there are more than a few underground communities where people share streams of their favorite sports teams online. Beware, though: this is very piratey and not really legal at all. Consider this an intellectual tour of sites you should never visit.

MyP2PForums.eu

This site is very active, and tends to be the source of many of the streams found elsewhere. Browse the forum and there’s sections offering streams for a variety of different sports: football, basketball, American football, ice hockey, racing, rugby, fighting and more. Additionally, special events (the Olympics, for example) tend to have their own section.

The kinds of streams vary, of course. There are many flash-based streams, but more advanced streams tend to use services such as SopCast, StreamTorrent and TVAnts. In the future, perhaps, I’ll write about all of these programs individually; for now there’s an entire section of the forum dedicated to keeping you up to date on each program.

ATDHE

Quick and dirty, this site aggregates streams from around the web and offers them in an easy-to-process list. If there’s a sporting event happening tonight there’s a good chance it’s listed here. The streams are almost all flash, but they work.

Note that the people at MyP2PForums tend to not like these guys, claiming that they “steal” feeds from them. Kind of funny when you realize that all these streams are stolen from their original broadcasters, but whatever.

Streaming Sites

The web’s major streams sites, such as uStream or Justin.tv, seem to always be filled with major sporting events. This is, of course, illegal, but these sites don’t always do a very good job of policing their content. Search for a given team and something might come up.

Know that the best way to watch sports streams online on these sites is myp2pforum.eu though. This is because users will frequently name their stream something unrelated to the game (in order to avoid being caught and then shut down by the site). The link to streams like this is then found elsewhere.

Conclusion

There you have it: just a few ways pirates managed to find live sports on the Internet without paying. These streams vary in quality greatly, but it’s actually shocking sometimes just how good they can be. Make sure you’re well aware of your nation’s laws regarding piracy before you look at any of them though, and always try to find a paid alternative before pirating.

I’m curious: are there other such sites out there? Share them below if you know any.

None of the conventional proxy servers worked, and even Google Translate failed. My hopes were down until, yesterday, I discovered that one of my personal domains could be accessed.

Back on my home computer, in a matter of minutes, I had set up my own functioning proxy server. With the instructions below, so can you.

Prerequisites

If we want to pull this off there are a few things you need.

• Web Host

In theory, any webhost will do, if they comply with the other requirements; an old computer in your basement, or even a free online webhost.

• PHP5 or greater and cURL

Look for this on the website of your webhost. If it’s paid hosting, you can almost count on it. Especially cURL is a feature that’ll be disabled on most free webservers.

• Permission

That’s right. Some webhosts will explicitly forbid you to create a proxy server (or a chat room, for that matter) in their terms of content. And you can expect them to find out.

1. Download and Install GlypeProxy

GlypeProxy is a free, standalone PHP script. That means it’s lightweight and incredibly easy to configure. You can download it from their website.

Next, upload the files to a sub directory on your webserver. If you see a folder called ‘www’, or called after your domain name (e.g. domain.com) create the sub folder in there. You need to avoid using the word ‘proxy’, because some companies pick up on it. Instead, use ‘web’ or ‘surf’.

There are a few different ways to upload your files. If you already know this, skip to the next paragraph. Here they are arranged from the least to the most effort.

• Upload and unpack ZIP

Look in the filemanager for an ‘unpack’ or ‘extract’ option. You can then upload it in one take. This is not always supported.

• FTP access

Use an FTP application to access your webhost, and let it transfer the files while you fetch some more coffee. Most often supported.

• Manual upload

You really don’t want to do this – are you sure the previous two alternatives are blanked out? Your last resolve will be to manually upload all the files and folder structures. Or start looking for a different host – it might not be such a bad idea.

2. Ready For Use

There’s no real set-up needed. Just point your browser to the directory where you put all those files (ex. domain.com/surf) and GlypeProxy will pop up. If you don’t like the logo, you’ll have to replace it manually. But if you want a proxy server for personal use, some little branding won’t matter.

Users can enter any URL and, after expanding the options, choose to encode the URL, the page, allow cookies, scripts and objects. Encoding the page can help you access some sites that are still being picked up and intercepted, but might give you a corrupt webpage at times.

3. Admin Preferences

Although Glype is a powerful proxy script, the admin tools are obviously the backing power. You might not know this, but a lot of online proxy tools are powered by Glype, just like the one you just set up. The admin preferences leave room not only for customization, but for improvement. You can assign site-specific code for trouble-giving websites, and change user-agent and proxy lists.

Most useful to novice users will be the caching tools (pictured above), logs, and blacklists. The caching tools can help you improve the browsing speed by storing some files from all, or some of the already visited websites. Logs are off by default, but might have legal importance in the future, depending on who uses your proxy server. Always explicitly mention you’re keeping these logs. Finally, the blacklists will allow you to block (all but) a few sites, or users.

To access your admin panel, point your browser to admin.php on your webserver (e.g. domain.com/surf/admin.php).

Are you setting up your own personal proxy server? Do you have any other tips or experiences on the issue? Let us know in the comments below!

There are a few different methods to see the hidden content on these Facebook fan pages without having to let all of your friends know that you like a fan page called “Justin Bieber Smashes His Head! Epic Fail!”

BypassFanPages.com

BypassFanPages.com gives you easy access to most of the hidden content on fan pages. Copy and paste the title of a fan page with hidden content into the search bar in the upper right corner of BypassFanPages.com to see if a post has been made for it. If it has, the hidden content will be available right there on the site. It’s frequently updated, so you should be able to find most of the Facebook fan pages with hidden content that you encounter.

Page Style Removal

Another simple way to see hidden content is to use your browser’s page style function. First, load the page that has the hidden content on it. Then, remove the style from the page. If you’re using Firefox, this is as simple as going to View and then Page Style in the menu bar and changing the page style from “Basic Page Style” to “No Style.”

Now scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page until you find the hidden content. It will typically be below the content that was already visible and just above the Facebook copyright text.

Sometimes the hidden images or text will be right on the page, but keep in mind that you might only be looking for a link to another website, like above. If clicking the link reveals a small box with the content in it, you can change the page style back to normal to make the box bigger and the content easier to view.

The Bookmarklet Method

Another simple method requires the use of a bookmarklet. Drag the following link to your bookmarks toolbar: reveal hidden content. You can instead copy the code below and bookmark it as a link if you like:

javascript:(function(){for(var%20t=document.getElementsByTagName("*"),l=t.length;l--;){t[l].style.visibility=""}}())

Now, go to a fan page with hidden content.

Click on the bookmarklet, and voila!

Script Solutions

If you don’t want to have to click something every time you go on a new fan page, installing a script is the permanent solution. You can install the Bypass “Become a Fan” Greasemonkey script for Firefox here. It will automatically make all hidden content visible on Facebook fan pages. You can also get it as a Google Chrome extension here.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that the above methods won’t necessarily work for everything. And if a fan page asks you to complete a survey to see the content, definitely don’t bother, because the content most likely doesn’t exist. Otherwise, best of luck finding out things like “The Status Update That Got A Teacher FIRED!” without having to like the fan page.

What is your preferred method for bypassing fan page requirements?

But none of these fancy fixes will help you when you’re unprepared, sitting at school or work desperately wanting to check up on Facebook. For this, you need a quick fix.

Something web-based is best as you’re probably also blocked from running your own software. So it’s time for you to check out the best Facebook proxies and hacks for viewing your Facebook profile.

#1 – Web Facebook Proxies

The most basic thing to try first are websites which run proxies for you. These are most likely blocked by your firewall too, but it’s worth checking. This is quick and it’ll stop you chewing off all your nails. Keep in mind your firewall probably also blocks URLs with the word “proxy” in it.

Take a look at these:

• Hide My Ass
• Facebook Proxy Server
• Click Facebook
• Zero Bypass
• Chrono Bypass

If these aren’t working, try this fantastic list of free web proxies which is rated and updated all the time.

#2 – Change Your Browser To Use A Facebook Proxy

It’s really easy to change the settings in your browser to use a proxy. Look in “Preferences” under “Advanced Settings” and “Network“.

Finding Facebook proxies you can use can be a little bit problematic as things change quickly. This is why some websites feature great lists of public proxies you can use that are updated daily. To keep up with the best proxies, bookmark the list, not the proxy.

• Proxy Sites
• Free Proxys
• Public Proxy Servers

#3 – Use Facebook Via email

When it comes to communicating with your Facebook friends, don’t forget that if you have email notifications turned on, you can now email replies directly back to Facebook from your email. This will keep you in the conversation for anything you’re already following, so if you’ve “liked” a bunch of status updates before you go to school or work you should be able to read and reply to those notifications by email as the conversation develops.

Now, if only Facebook would allow you to always get notified of any action from certain friend lists you could keep track of all the important people by email all day long.

Prepare Yourself For Using Proxies In The Future

If needing a proxy is an ongoing problem for you you can prepare yourself a little. For future access, you could save yourself some hassle and sign up to one of these 4 services that will send fresh proxy lists to your email and bookmark these 4 sites that give you a free updated proxy list.

Image Credit: JayCameron and Mobology