The problem is that the launcher is using Internet Explorer with scripts. If you’re like me and have IE locked down as much as possible (only for those stupid enough to use it on my computer, I prefer Firefox) then that is why. You need to enable javascript using the following steps:

1. Open IE (7/8/9).
2. Tools -> Internet Options
3. Click “Security” tab.
4. Click “Trusted Sites”. (The Green Checkmark icon)
5. Click “Sites” button.
6. Temporarily uncheck the “Require server verification” box.
7. Type http://launcher.startrekonline.com into the “Add this website to the zone” field and click “Add”.
8. Type http://launcher.champions-online.com into the “Add this website to the zone” field and click “Add”.
9. (If you desire, you can recheck the “server verification” box now!)
10. Click the “Close” button to close the Trusted Sites window.
11. Click “OK” to close the IE Options Window.
12. Close all instances of IE.
13. Close all launcher instances and then restart any of our launchers.

Original post by ZeroniusRex

I’m reposting this information because I wasn’t able to even get to the forums my account stuff was so screwed up.

After I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter I sat at my computer scouring the Babies R’ Us website for things to put on my baby registry. One of the things I stumbled upon was this Baby Banana Brush. It had a lot of very positive reviews from parents saying how much their child loved to use this as a teething aid and how much they loved it. I put it on my registry and went about my business.

Fast forward in time. My daughter was around three or four months old and I was thinking she might have started teething. She was chewing on stuff and drooling excessively, all classic signs. I dig through all the new baby stuff and pull this out hoping she’ll like chewing on it like the rest of the reviewers said their kids did. Well, she showed little to no interest in it. I think she held onto it a bit, but nothing much else. I sighed and put it with the rest of her toiletries she still had no use for… like her hairbrush.

Now my little angle is 9 months old and I feel like I need to go get a couple more of these. Around eight and a half months I came across her banana brush again, washed it off, and it’s been a struggle to keep up with it ever since. To say she loves it is putting it mildly. It pleases me to no end that it was NOT a wasted purchase. The first time I had tried to give it to her was just too early. She wasn’t even teething back then, doesn’t even have her first tooth yet. Now that she is proper teething she is near inseparable from it.

What is so great about this?

For starters, unlike a lot of other teethers I’ve found, this one she can comfortably hold in her hand. It’s not big and bulky. The curved design fits prefect in her hand, with just enough girth for her to get a good grip without being either too large or small. She will on occasion turn it wrong end up to nom on the studded bottom, but she mostly seems to like the feel of the bristles. Traditional teethers put most of the ‘chewing’ focus on the front part of the mouth, yet for months now my daughter is always shoving things towards the back of her mouth where her molars will be. I’m not sure if that’s just instinct or if that’s where her pain is. In any case, with the Baby Banana Brush she is able to move the brush head back to where she wants it the most, not forced to stay towards the front of the mouth.

Some parents might be concerned with the possibility of choking since there is no guard to prevent it from going farther back in the throat. The designers gave the Banana Brush it’s curve so that it’s less likely to go down the throat. I’ve watched my daughter with it, and a few times she’s gotten it a bit farther back than she wanted, but she’s always handled it with ease and there have never been any real issues with it. The manufacture does say the the Original Banana Brush is for 12 months or older. For any child under that they do make a specific Teething version that has handles that not only make it easier for younger babies but also act as a choking guard.

My hope is that my little girl will continue to love her Banana Brush and it will make it easier for me to get her in the habit of brushing her teeth with little to no fuss. Time will tell.

All in all I highly recommend this product to any parent. I might be trying out the Teething version soon.

Anyone have any requests? Are you looking for specific product reviews or possibly looking for something to help you with a certain area in your mommy/baby life? For now I’m going to just post what I feel strongly about.

Upcoming reviews: Baby Banana Brush, Mrs. Smith’s Bags, WubbaNub, Robeez, Wrapsody Breeze, and more.

The same applies to the internet and website profiles. Probably 90% of websites with profiles allow those profiles to be listed in Google and other search engines by default. Almost all of them have options to be ‘unlisted’, but you have to make that setting change yourself. If that site does NOT have an option to be ‘unlisted’, then immediately remove your information, delete your account and don’t use that site.

The burden of responsibility falls on YOU the user.

Yes, it sounds like it would be a lot of work, but only at first if you haven’t been following ‘safe surfing’ practices. After that, it’s only a matter of following some simple rules. Here are the ones that I follow:

• I never use my real name  unless I absolutely have to. When I first signed up for Facebook I actually had it listed under my handle, not my real name. Eventually when my family started to join Facebook I did switch over, but only after I was satisfied with Facebook’s privacy settings (which was ages ago). I strongly suggest that people carve their online identity under a handle or pen-name that is extremely hard to track back to your real name. Anyone who tries hard enough can find out who “Lethann” is, but I’ve tried to make it hard. Right now there is only one point of easy cross over and I’ve just rectified that.
• Only buy from established and verified websites. I feel confident giving my information to sites like Amazon and NewEgg, but even then I often opt not to have them store my purchasing information (ie Credit Cards, etc). If you want to buy from a smaller site, you can often go to your credit card’s website and generate a temporary number for your credit card that’s strictly for online use. If that number is compromised you don’t have to worry about cancelling your entire account and changing all your subscriptions. You can also sign up for PayPal as another buffer, though not all websites accept it as a payment option. Just remember, offline you’re not really going to hand over your credit card to someone selling watches off a table on the street (If you do, you’re a dumbass). Sadly on the internet it’s a lot easier to make a website that looks all nice and professional but actually the equivalent of that shady table on the street. “Better to be safe than sorry”, and “If it looks too good to be true it often is” are two phrases to remember when online shopping.
• When asked for my birth date, I lie, unless it’s for a money transaction that has to match my Credit Card information. Often I will stay with the same month/day but change the year so it’s a bit harder to dig up personal information. Keep it reasonable, a year or two off, but honestly most don’t NEED it other than saying they are trying to keep minors off of certain stuff.
• Don’t list your exact address or even city. This is easy for folks who live near a big city. I tell folks I live in Atlanta, GA. Obviously I don’t live in Atlanta Proper (few do), but Metro Atlanta covers almost all of northern Georgia. If you don’t really live near a big city, I’d still suggest using the nearest large/big city. Sadly if it’s something that requires delivery you don’t have much choice, but that’s why you use trusted sites that have security measures. Even then, it isn’t hard to find someone’s address no matter how hard they try to be invisible, so don’t stress over every little instance.
• Don’t list your home phone number or your cell number. If you need to use a phone number, I suggest getting a Google Voice number that will ring either/both lines and yet acts as a buffer. If the scammers can use them to trick you, you can use it to protect yourself from them. This is great for online resumes. I really need to use mine more than I do.
• Don’t have a single email address. I suggest having at least 3, if not more. One address for friends, one for professional use, and one for spam/websites. I actually have even more than that. I have a separate one for my family, especially since some of them are very bad about forwards. If you have a gmail account, you can use the nifty ‘alias’ feature to your email address to find out which sites are distributing your email to spammers. If your gmail is username@gmail.com  you can use username+website@gmail.com and then monitor your spam box to see if you start getting email sent to that address.
• Have multiple passwords. While the best practice is to use different randomly generated passwords for every computer account (both online and off), we all know that’s a bit unrealistic. For things like forums I have a couple easy to remember passwords. Yes they can be hacked, but there is nothing in them. For things like bank accounts and email boxes, I use far more secure randomly generated passwords that use both lower case, upper case and numbers. The point of passwords isn’t that they are completely unhackable. Anything can be hacked given enough time and processing power. The point is to make it so hard it’s not worth the time and effort. Using an encrypted program like KeePass will help you store and generate your logins and passwords. My rule of thumb: if it’s all false/non personal info, I don’t care if it gets hacked. Annoying but not dangerous. If it has anything personal (name, address, phone, deals with money), that get’s a secure password.  If you don’t think this is important, then read how the Anonymous hackers were able to bring both HBGary’s businesses to it’s knees because two VPs decided to use easily hackable passwords and use them repeatedly.
• Use secure passwords for email accounts! This is so important I’m putting it separately. From forum access to bank accounts, all of these logins have password recovery feature that is typically nothing more than an email sent to you with either a new dummy password or a link to reset the password itself.  So if someone has access to your email account, they have access to all those logins. If you have a single email for web logins, lock it down with as secure password as possible. You can then use a less secure, easy to remember password for your ‘chatting’ email if you want, but I still suggest using a secure one. Email is just that important. If you read the article I liked above about the Anonymous attack on HBGary the major damage was done because they had access to employee email accounts.
• Never store passwords online! I know there are websites out there that boast being secure enough to store your passwords, but nothing is foolproof. Not only that, but what if something happens to their servers and you don’t have those passwords backed up elsewhere? Again, I suggest using KeePass or another desktop equivalent, making sure to backup the program and the encrypted database file that has your passwords in it. I specifically use the “Portable KeePass” and regularly backup my KeePass to a USB thumbdrive.
• Don’t leave account creation or password recovery emails in your inbox.  Often when you create a new login, you are sent a confirmation email with your username and password. Many of us, myself included, have a nasty habit of leaving this emails hanging around in case we forget our login information. This is a very bad idea. If your email account DOES get compromised then all of those accounts are ALSO compromised, which is another vulnerability that was exploited in the HBGary attack.  Reading that article reminds me that I need to go through my massive Google inbox and search for all those emails and delete them, AND empty the trash can.

Following these basic rules won’t keep you entirely invisible. That’s pretty much impossible to do in this day and age. You’d have to not own property, a car, a phone, work for a job that pays only cash and doesn’t report taxes, pay for things only in cash, and basically live a life of fear and paranoia. Simply accept the fact that you’re traceable. This is nothing new to the digital age either. Ever since there were birth certificates, property deeds, taxes, social security, and more we’ve had a paper trail to tell people who we are and were we can be found. Most of us were just blissfully unaware of how easy it was.

The digital age has indeed made things fairly easy, but not as much as you think. There have always been services that anyone willing to pay the subscription fee for could use and all they needed was a name, social security number, or previous address. I used to work for a law office and they had a private detective on staff. It was a bit scary to see that anyone who subscribed to these services could access this information, but there it was. It’s all publicly available, not private like you think. The moment you own a house,  buy a car, pay taxes, etc, all of  that is put into public record.

The point is not to be afraid. We’ve lived with the fact that our names, phone numbers, and addresses were in the phone book for decades. You could opt out and be unlisted if you choose, but it didn’t make you live in fear of being stalked or robbed. We take precautions at home, locking our doors and windows, but don’t live in fear because of it. Don’t let the information age change that.

Practice safe surfing rules and be smart, not afraid.

What other tips, tricks or rules do you follow to keep yourself safe on the internet?

After hearing how many people would like to buy it, I’ve made a few things over on CafePress under the store name Silver Phoenix Designs. Right now it’s just a basic store with a few t-shirts, buttons, a magnet and a bumper sticker. I’ve had requests for more bumper stickers but sadly the basic store only lets you have one version of any type of product. If folks start buying stuff I’ll consider upgrading to a premium store and adding more things (like a ‘grandchild’ version of the bumper sticker I’ve had requests for).

First off, what is LibDataBroker (LDB)? I think the best way to describe it to non-techies is a type of RSS feed for addons. In RSS you have two things: RSS Readers and RSS feeds. The readers are called “LDB Displays” and are either bar addons like Titan/Fubar or can be modular based ones that scatter around your screen as you wish. The feeds are addons that provide information for the displays to.. well.. display. Addons such as Atlas, Auctioneer, Gatherer, IceHud, Pitbull, ArkInventory (just to name a few) include LDB feeds, mostly to include icons on the bar that open their configuration panels, though so do more. Other addons have separate plugins available and they typically have more functionality than simply opening a configuration panel. Fishing Buddy, Deadly Boss Mods are just two I can think of off hand. Then you have LDB only addons that require you to have a LDB Display or you can’t even use it. Plugins like Auditor, WhisperWhisper, Broker_Portals, and lots more.

So why use LDB based addons? Frankly, I like it because it helps keep my User Interface ‘clean’. Blizzard already has a LOT of buttons that show up around the minimap (Calendar, Clock, Mail, PvP, Dungeon Finder, etc). If you only have one or two addons that have Minimap buttons, and they are movable, it’s not that big of an issue. However, after a while things start to overlap and it get’s cluttered. There are also features that I get annoyed with having to go through 3 menus to access, like my VOLUME CONTROLS! If I get a phone call I either have to turn off my computer speakers, mute my system sound, or navigate through Blizzard’s menus to simply mute WoW. Using the LDB plugin Volumizer all I have to do is click the icon and WoW is muted, allowing me to talk on the phone but still get notifications from other programs I’m running (like calendar alerts).  The LDB plugins also allow easy access to configuration menus that would otherwise take chat commands or more menu navigation to access. Easy access is very very nice for addons like PitBull that do take a bit of playing with and constant tweeking.

Getting started using LDB addons is fairly simply. There is an unofficial list of LDB compatible addons HERE, but it’s not exhaustive in the least.

LDB Bar Displays

• Chocolate Bar – This is what I use. Just like Titan and Fubar it’s highly customizable. Allows for multiple bars to be created. I love the “More Chocolate” that allows for a bar to be hidden until clicked/moused over. I keep all my ‘config’ and rarely used plugins there. You can also enable/disable plugins on the fly.
• Titan Panel – Not only does Titan still use it’s old plugin code, but it now reads LDB feeds.
• Bazooka
• NinjaPanel – I had a friend who tried this and hated it because there was so little customization available. Not suggested if you have more than a few plugins.
• Docking Station

LDB Displays

• Button Bin – Seems like it’s evolved from a simplistic ‘button only’ to being able to mimic a bar display.
• Carousel – Hasn’t been updated in awhile but still functions with Cataclysm. A comment from the author says a new version is in the works.
• Fortress
• StatBlockCore – makes everything a free floating ‘block’ to move around. Could take a while to configure.

There are other types of display mods but honestly those are confusing even to me so I’m not listing them. Most are found on the GitHub page I linked above.

Now, before you go hog wild and download a slew of LDB plugins, install the display and go into the game, see what addons are already being fed into it and configure things appropriately. Trust me, do this FIRST. Some displays have everything turned on by default (Or don’t have an option to turn off a plugin at all), which can get very cluttered when you first start off. Some have everything turned off to prevent the ‘overflow’ that typically happens if everything is turned on, with text. Be sure to go into the configuration menu for your display addon and enable/disable what you want. Turn off minimap buttons, move around the icons, turn off text where it’s not needed (I do that for almost all my plugins unless they have actual text information, like Money display, location, etc). Adjust size of your display and colors. If you’re using a bar display you’ll typically find an option to “Adjust Blizzard Frames” which will push down things like the player/party/target frames, buffs, and minimap so they don’t overlap the bar at the top, or if you have it on the bottom to push up the action bars.

Once you have all of those squared away, it’s time to go hunting for plugins to fill your needs. It’s very easy to get too much too fast and bog down your system. At least the one good thing about LDB is that it was made to be lightweight. In my previous article I listed all the addons I’m currently using, but I’ll go ahead and list just the LDB plugins again here, then toss in a few that folks might also like.

LDB Plugins that I use:

• Auditor – I like keeping track of all my gold. Not only how much is on what character, but also where it’s coming from and where it’s going. There are many addons that do this, but Auditor has the best display, and works with Bean Counter from Auctioneer.
• Ara Guild Friends – This is actually two separate plugins in one download. Some will put both friends and guild in the same display, but found this to be cumbersome in a large guild. Handles RealID friends, broadcasts, notes, etc. I like the guild plugin to sort by zone so I know who all is off raiding and where.
• Ara Tradeskills – I love this addon for easy access to my tradeskills and monitoring what my skill level is at. It also monitors your cooldowns and has ‘shortcuts’ you can setup to specific recipes.
• Broker Portals – Easy access to things like your hearthstone. Also registers items as well as spells.
• Whisper Whisper – If you just want something small to keep track of your whisper conversations this is great. The display shows the last person to whisper you or that you whispered, while the tooltip shows the conversations. Very flexible in how it’s displayed and how much information it retains. Preserves across login/logout and characters. Works with RealID whispers too.
• ShuckIt – It displays ‘container’ items you have in your inventory to open. I wish I could just click on it to open things but they have a macro you make that does it. Not sure why the click to open doesn’t work, something about Blizzard click requirements.  It’s better than nothing.
• Volumizer – Access your volume controls quick. Click to mute, make presets, change options. All sorts of fun stuff.
• Broker uClock – I know they fixed the clock on the minimap, but I was so used to using this before Cata that I always keep looking on my bar for the time.

Addons that have LDB feeds/Plugins:

• ArkInventory – Has many LDB feeds that come with it.
  ~ Bags – Displays item count #full/#total, click to open bags, right click to access menu for config, open other locations, etc.
  ~ Money – Simple money display. I don’t use it.
  ~ Mounts – click to summon mount, will auto select which type to summon, right click to configure. I actually have this keybound so mostly hide the plugin.
  ~ Pets – Click to summon a pet, right click to see entire list and pick which ones you want it to pull from. There is also a keybind for this but I don’t have one setup. Not important enough to keybind IMHO.
  ~ Currency – pick which currencies you want to easily follow, hover over to see entire list.
  ~ Item – Track item counts. This is tricky because you have to use the /ai track [ itemlink | item name | item id ] chat command to add things to this. The list is also shared across all characters, but display is a ‘pick and choose’ selection. Once I got used to it found myself using it a lot to monitor crafting materials.
• Broker Fishing Buddy – the author just made this separate from the ‘bar support’ package he used to keep up with. Basically mimics the minimap button.
• Archy – I love the tooltip information this gives, not to mention the click to turn Archy display on and off.
• Atlas – left click to open Atlas, right click to open options.
• Auctioneer – Another one that comes with a ton of feeds. Most of these are just configuration buttons so I store them on a hidden bar except Swatter. This does mean I can turn off the ‘slider bar’ addon that comes with it.
  ~Swatter - I’m going to mention this one because it’s something people might want to keep an eye on. Swatter catches all your addon error messages and puts them in an easy to copy window so you can report the error easily. It also stores them so if you don’t copy it right then and there that’s ok.
• Deadly Boss Mods Broker – Separate plugin that mimics the minimap button. Left click to open, right click for configuration.
• Gatherer – minimap button replacement
• IceHUD – minimap button replacement
• MagicRunes – (Death Knight only) configuration menu and lock options
• Omen – minimap replacement
• Pitbull 4 – minimap replacement
• Prat – configuration menu
• TomTom – it has two feeds you can turn on ‘Coords’ and ‘Crazy Arrow’, which will put both coordinates and the tomtom arrow information in your LDB display. I actually turn these off.

That’s everything I’m currently using.

I was going to list some other LDB plugins that I think people might find useful, but honestly the list is so exhaustive and it varies depending on what people actually WANT or NEED. If you’re looking for a plugin the does something specific, then ask and I can probably give a recommendation. Otherwise I suggest looking through the GitHub site or browsing through the categories on WoW Interface, Curse, or WoWAce.

Have a LDB plugin you love? Leave a comment and tell me what it is! I’m always looking for more awesome Addons to use.

Here is the full list of Addons I am currently running. Feel free to ask questions about them. I might go into further detail about specific addons later.

• WoWHead Client – Because I feel like contributing to the site.
• Addon Control Panel – Not sure if I’m going to keep this.
• Ara Broker Guild Friends – Simple and easy to use.
• Ara Broker Tradeskills – Best broker professions addon I’ve found.
• Archy – Can’t do Archeology without it.
• ArkInventory – Can’t play WoW without this. Inventory replacement addon. I could probably do an entire article just on this. Also comes with a bunch of broker plugins: Currency, Money, Bags, Item Tracker, Mounts, and Pets (maybe a few others). You can also hotkey summoning mounts/pets.
• Atlas – Useful at times, but not sure if I’m going to keep it. Might turn it off unless I go into an instance.
• Auctioneer Advanced – Use it too much.
• Auditor – Best addon I’ve found to keep track of your expenses.
• Broker Portals – Works good for easy access to thinks like Hearthstone and other teleport functions.
• Chocolate Bar – LibDataBroker display addon.
• Deadly Boss Mods – If you do instances or raids this is almost mandatory.
• DoTimer – Highly customizable to monitor your DoTs and HoTs, as well as cooldowns and buffs.
• Factionizer – Expands your reputation pane, includes telling you what dailies you can do and how long it will take you to get your rep up. Still being updated for Cata changes though.
• Fishing Buddy – Adds click to fish, easy swapping to fishing gear and more.
• Fishing Buddy Broker – LDB plugin for Fishing Buddy to keep your minimap clean.
• Fishing Buddy Outfit Display Frame – (optional) Adds an outfit frame to tell it what your fishing gear is. You can use the default Equp Manager or Outfitter instead. I prefer this.
• Gatherer – Tracks gathering nodes for miners and herbalist, as well as other things.
• Gryphons Remover – Simple addon to remove the gryphon artwork. If you have an action bar mod this probably isn’t needed.
• IceHUD – Adds player, target, and pet health/mana bars in the center of the screen around your avatar.  Added this because I kept not noticing when I was dying in instances. Might remove it once I tweek Pitbull some more.
• Magic Runes – For my Death Knight. Better Rune, Runic Power, and disease tracking.
• Move Anything – So I could move the Tol Barad timer and breath/fatigue bars. Litterally allows you to move any of the default Blizzard UI elements around.
• Omen Threat Meter – Monitors the threat of you and your party. Tanks know when to step things up, DPS knows when to tone down so not to pull aggro.
• PitBull v4 – Total Unit Frame replacement. Highly customizable, but does take a bit to really get it to look how you want. Sadly right now the ‘configuration’ modes are broke so if you’re not picky like me it could be very frustrating. If you want your frames to look a certain way, THIS is the addon to do it. Simple workaround is to actually be in a party/raid to tweek those frames (suggest getting pet classes to help you or you won’t get party pet frames to work right).
• Postal – Adds functionality to your mailbox like mass open, easy delete, addressbook, auto fill (better than Blizz’s dropdown box), etc.
• Prat v3 – Chat addon. Adds a TON of features like shortening channel names, coloring RealID names, Alt/Main linking, etc.
• ShuckIt – Broker plugin that shows when you have a ‘container’ to loot and adds a macro for easy opening.
• Skillet – Tradeskill frame replacement. Adds more room, a queue, shopping list, and more.
• Tidy Plates – Changes the ‘name plates’ you can get to appear over the heads of mobs/players.
• TipTac – Tooltip customization addon.
• TomTom – Waypoint addon. I only needed this to help me find all the Lunar Festival elders. Might keep it for Archeology but other than that don’t really have a need for it anymore.
• Volumizer – Broker plugin that adds easy access volume control.
• WhisperWhisper – Broker plugin that shows you who last whispered you, and keeps a record of incoming/outgoing conversations. Preserves across sessions and characters. Also works with RealID. Very basic. If you’re looking for more powerful whisper display I suggest WIM.

To start off with, the new default User Interface (UI) of WoW is amazing. Unless you have specific needs, you really don’t need to mod much of anything anymore. I suggest to everyone to first play with a clean, non-addon UI for a bit before going Addon crazy. Find out what you simply just can NOT live without, and go from there.

Before I go into a list of Addons you might want to try, I’m first going to tell you a few addons you need to get rid of and why.

• TomTom – Blizzard had pretty much included this in it’s default UI. It’s even tied into the new quest system to show you where your quest objectives are. I actually like this better because it’s more of a general area and still makes things fun for me, rather than exact coordinates which make the game pretty boring if you ask me.
• Lightheaded – Again, Blizzard has pretty much included this into the default UI. The new quest log and quest tracker are utterly amazing. Every quest has been reworded to include more details about where you should be looking and for what, tied in with the map to show you entire areas that glow where the objectives can be found. Since I started playing again two weeks ago, I’ve only had to look up a quest ONCE and it was because I was being a dumbass and not looking -behind- me, not to mention being patient for the quest item to respawn on the ground.
• Any Quest Tracker replacement – Absolutely do NOT get any quest tracker replacement addon. The default tracker does things that addons can screw up: it shows the item you need to use with a clickable button so you don’t have to go searching in your bags; occasionally it will auto popup with a new quest either from killing a mob or reaching a certain area in an instance; it will auto update to allow you to turn in a completed quest and pick up the next leg in the quest chain without going back to the quest giver (only on certain quest, mostly in instances).
• Any Map replacement – The new map is sexy. Period. The big map now includes your quest log and tracker, shows your objectives on the map including the highlighted areas for said quest. You can now also shrink the map to see a movable area map that doesn’t completely obscure your UI. The ONLY type of map addons you might consider are minimap tweeks like “SexyMap” that simply only change the frame.

That covers the Addons to stay away from. Did I mention that most if not all of the above addon types are huge and lag inducing? Now let’s get into the Addons you might want to look at.

Tradeskill Addons

Let’s face it, while there have been improvements to the tradeskill windows, they are still pretty crappy. Not to mention actually using some of them is a pain in the ass (like fishing). Here are 4 tradeskill addons you might want to consider to make your life easier. Of the two, only pick one or the other, don’t run both.

• Cauldron (or @Curse) – Changes your tradeskill window to be a bit bigger, adds some more filtering options, includes a ‘queue’ and a ‘shopping list’ that you can take to a vendor or the auction house.

or

• Skillet – Total Tradeskill replacement window.  Larger, easier to read window, better filtering, add notes, includes a “queue” and a “shopping list”, auto buys from vendors, tracks materials on your other characters, and more. If you’re a major crafter, this is my suggestion on what to get.

Other tradeskill mods:

• Fishing Buddy – Click casting, fish tracking, auto lures, and more.
• Gatherer (or @WoWI) – Almost a must have for Miners and Herbalist. Tracks mining nodes, herb spawns, and even treasure chests.

Broker Addons

What is Broker (or LDB for Lib Data Broker)? Think of it as an RSS feed for addons. It’s meant to replace addons like old TitanBar and FuBar by allowing addon authors to include broker compatibility in their mod without any extra plugins. To make use of Broker functionality you will first need a Broker display addon.

• Chocolate Bar – My absolute favorite broker display bar. Highly customizable, allows you to not only show addons, but also enable/disable many broker addons from within WoW.
• Ninja Panel – A nice broker display, but you can’t chose to remove this display of any broker functions. Can get very cluttered very fast.

While many addons have Broker built into it, there are some addons you might want that are specific for bar display. Here are a few of the more useful ones that I like.

• Ara Broker Tradeskills – Allows quick glance to see what all your tradeskill levels are and easily open them without having to open the tradeskill window. You can pick and choose what skills are tracked. Also keeps track of your crafting cooldown timers.
• Broker Currency – Easy viewing access to all your currencies. Tracks your gold income and spending, see your badges without opening the currency tab.
• Travel Agent – Easy location showing as well as shows a list of all level appropriate zones, instances and battlegrounds.
• Volumizer – Easy access to all sound options and levels in WoW without having to go into the Sound Options menu.

General UI Addons

• TipTac -Edit your tooltip display, position, information, etc. I can’t stand the default tooltips look or position.
• Pitbull Unit Frames v4 – Another thing I can’t stand is the default unit frames. I want more information and I want it displayed nicely. Completely, totally, utterly customizable, but really geared for more advanced users. The newest (v4) is a bit more user friendly, but it’s not there yet for me to say anyone can use it.
• Macaroon! – Actionbar replacement. Completely, totally utterly customizable. Make your bars any size or shape, keybind them on the fly, and much much more. Truthfully I don’t use this right now because I can easily use the default action bars now, but if you want something more customizable this can do it all.
• Macaroon Xtras – Adds a few more things to Macaroon like editing your bag bar and whatnot.
• ArkInventory (or @WoWI) – I simply can NOT play WoW without this mod. Combines all your bag slots into one window, but allows you to create ‘bars’ and sort your inventory how YOU see fit. Put all your trash in one area, keep all your quest items together, sort your crafting materials as you need. Includes a custom Rule feature for more advanced users. It also uses “profiles” so each character can have their own setup, or use the ‘default’ and share. Includes windows for Inventory, Bank, Guild Bank, Pets, Mounts, Auctions, and Mail. Keeps track of inventory for all your characters and has a search feature. Will also put in tooltip which character has how many and where.
• Clique – Adds click casting and hover casting to your unitframes and more. Great for healers/cleansers.
• Postal – Better options for your mailbox. Includes bulk actions and more.
• Factionizer – Expands the faction window to include how many points till your next rank and how to go about getting more faction.
• Auctioneer – The Auction House addon. Better search functionality and tracks the prices for your server so you can sell things for current pricing. Highly customizable. Suggest getting only basic auctioneer unless you are a major auction house player. Enchantrix is only needed for enchanters so either disable or don’t install if you’re not one.  If you don’t play on the Auction House much and rarely sell anything, you can pass this up. It IS a major memory hog.

Misc Addons

Here are a few addons you might look at if you have need of them.

• Magic Runes – Death Knight only addon, tracks your runes and their recharge timers
• FlagRSP Cataclysm – RP addon that adds character descriptions to player characters.
• Omen Threat Meter – Keeps track of your threat in a raid/instance. If you don’t raid or do instances, you can pass on this.

So that’s all I have for now. A lot of these addons I’m not even using but I know people who do even now and can recognize the need for those that are here. I probably won’t be doing updates on when the addons are updated, but if I find something nifty I think folks might like I’ll post about it here.

Do you have any suggestions for what addons people might still like to use? I know I’m lacking more raid/instance addons because I simply don’t run them anymore. Comment with your suggestions!

My husband Quutar started playing Star Trek Online (STO), and when Steam had a sale on it a few months ago and he gave it to me as a gift. I’ve been playing it ever since. While yes, it has a way still to go, the game I find very fun and am looking forward to whatever Cryptic has in store for it. So far I have one Federation character of each class: Engineer, Science, and Tactical. Both my Eng and Sci are up to Lieutenant Commander, but my Tactician is only an Ensign. While I enjoy my Science character, I have to admit I like my Engineer the most. Like a lot of people I endure ground combat when I can’t do space combat. It’s not that it’s bad, I just don’t enjoy it as much.

Not only did Quutar get me to start playing STO, but told me about  Subspace Radio, a player run streaming radio station for the Star Trek audience. He had been listening to it for awhile and the station manager had been trying to get him to be a DJ, which he said, “No, but I have a geek wife!” After talking with the station manager and thinking about it for a good long while, I went ahead and said yes. My first show, the Voyage Through Sound, will air live on Tue, May 4 at 19:00 GMT (3pm EDT) till 22:00 GMT (6pm EDT). It’s an incharacter show with my Science character Lethann Aeda, a trill female who’s mission is to explore the uncharted areas of the galaxy and really enjoys Earth music from the late 20th – early 21st centuries. After organizing and re-organizing my playlist for the show numerous times, I hope there are plenty of people listening. We’ll see how it all goes.

Note: Due to the release of the 3.1 patch, this list is very extensive. I’ve sorted it somewhat alphabetically, but due to how large the list is did not denote which addons I do not use so be careful if you are picking up new addons that they do not overlap.

A

• Auctioneer – @WoWI @Curse @OfficialSite
• AckisRecipeList – @WoWI @Curse
• Altoholic – @WoWI @Curse
• ArkInventory – @WoWI @Curse

B

• BagFu – @WoWI @Curse
• ButtonFacade – @Curse
• ButtonFacade: Trinity – @WoWI
• Bejeweled – @Curse
• Broker uClock – @Curse

C

• Clique – @WoWI
• Cosplay – @WoWI
• Cartographer – @Curse
• Chatter – @Curse

D

• DeadlyBossMods – @Curse @WoWI @OfficialSite
• Decursive @Curse

E

• eCastingBar – @WoWI @Curse

F

• FuBar-uClock – @WoWI
• FollowMe – @WoWI
• Fubar – @Curse @WoWI
• FishingBuddy – @Curse
• FlagRSP – @WoWI
• FlagRSP2 – @Curse
• Factionizer – @Curse

G

• GroupCalendar – @WoWI @Curse
• GroupFu – @WoWI @Curse
• Gatherer – @WoWI @Curse @OfficialSite
• GatherMate – @Curse

H

• HandyNotes – @Curse
• HandyNotes Vendors – @Curse
• HandyNotes Trainers – @Curse
• Handynotes Mailboxes – @Curse
• HoloFriends – @Curse

I

• IceHUD – @WoWI
• ItemRack – @WoWI

J

• -None-

K

• -None-

L

• LightHeaded – @WoWI

M

• Mapster – @WoWI @Curse
• Macaroon – @WoWI
• Macaroon Xtras – @WoWI
• Magic Runes – @WoWI
• MyRolePlay – @Curse
• Monkey Buddy – @Curse
• Monkey Quest – @Curse
• Monkey Speed – @Curse
• Monkey Clock – @Curse

N

• NotesUNeed – @WoWI @Curse
• NinjaPanel – @WoWI
• NameToggleFu – @Curse
• Necrosis LdC – @Curse
• nQuestLog @WoWAce

O

• Omen – @Curse

P

• Prat – @WoWI @Curse
• Postal – @WoWI @Curse
• PallyPower – @WoWI @Curse
• PitBull 3.0 – @WoWI @Curse
• PitBull 4.0 – @WoWAce
• Perl Classic Unit Frames – @Curse 
• Priest Friend – @Curse

Q

• Quartz – @Curse

R

• RuneWatch – @WoWI
• Recount – @Curse
• RecountFU – @Curse

S

• -None-

T

• Titan Panel – @WoWI
• TomTom – @WoWI
• Tongues – @Curse

U

• -None-

V

• -None-

W

• WIM – @WoWI @Curse

X

• X-Perl Unitframes – @WoWI @Curse

Y

• -None-

Z

• ZHunterMod – @Curse