Edit the "Send To" destinations in Vista

How cool is the "Send To" function when you right-click but too bad you can't add your own destinations to Send To, oh wait you can!!

Open a Windows Explorer file and type this in:
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Press enter, now paste the shortcut files in this folder, shortcut files, not the actual file else it will send it to the actual file, unless you wanted to send it to an application such as Photoshop.

The website i got this from is: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/04/use-vista-sendto-folder-to-add-or-delete-send-to-menu-items-or-shortcuts/

Fixing blunt pencil sharpeners

Do you got a very annoying pencil sharpener that won't actually sharpen your pencils, it barely rubs against the wood?

Well, As i mentioned before, its very handy to have one of those jeweller's screwdriver kits of computers and technology, it turns out its good for fixing pencil sharpeners too!

All I had to do was tighten the screw on the blade and now the sharpener cuts nicer or at all now. Still not as sharp as brand new but really can't do anything about that without sharpening the blade which sounds very dangerous.



And yes if you just noticed this is the first post of the labels of non-tech posts, which will be on random fixes that aren't inside the circle of high tech.

Yucky Premium SMS experience

Well it would start from when i decided to switch from company X and decided to change to Vodafone. I brought a sim cad for $2, came home and activated it. I sent sms to all my friends to tell them about my new number. On the first Sunday after activating it, i got a premium sms and was angry at my account balance being robbed. It was a new number so i couldn't have given it over the internet, I didn't sign up for anything and only my friends being idiots with my number could be the only reason. I continued to get these sms every Sunday and knew it wasn't mine because the star sign it talked about wasn't even my star sign. I contacted Vodafone and they gave me contact details to premium sms company. I had to deal with them for ages and then deal back with Vodafone and threated to leave the service, return my sim card or even take it up with gov agencies. Then they gave up and contacted the sms service who elevated my case and i was contacted by them to work out a cheque which came to me a few weeks later with the wrong name! I then contacted Vodafone and then they finally gave up and credited my $12.50 to my account.
The sms stopped and a few weeks later I got an sms from Fernwood Parramatta (I am a male student) and it was then that i realised that maybe my number is owned by someone else and I am coping their subscriptions. I then started to use my phone more and regularly receive calls from friends of the ex-owner of my mobile number.

My questions were why didn't Vodafone give me my credit back in step one and take it up with the premium sms service. The other is how does the number system work and how long does a number have to be inactive before its re-sold as a new number.

My Article

I hate wasting electricity but I hate bumping my head against the keyboard holder even more. In the past when trying to unplug devices I don’t need I’d shift backwards and bump my head due to the position of the electrical plugs and keyboard holder. Not any more, to save electricity from devices such as printers, modems, wi-fi routers and external hard drives I use a surge board with individual switches for each plug, that way I can prevent wasting standby energy overnight (or day them if I am not using them) without the hassle of unplugging at all, just turn off the device and flick the switch off on the surge board. It’s a really simple solution and has saved me the stress of dealing with stubborn tight plugs as well as letting my power packs rest.

Switching between windows

Did you know?

To switch between windows open you can use a keyboard shortcut:

ALT + TAB


To switch between files opened in the same program:


CTRL + TAB



(For some Vista versions) to switch between windows opened with a nicer interface:

WINDOWS + TAB

Can't receive "unsafe" files over MSN,

Read the message properly, geez, it says how to fix it. Actually I took 3 times before i actually read it, LOl

Fine, you can be lazy too, just go into MSN > Tools > Options > File transfer > Add a virus scanner.

Need drivers for HP Deskjet 3325 for Vista

I've installed Vista like i mentioned before and am yet to get my printer and scanner working.
I am developing a solution but haven't yet seen it working.

Don't install the CD like you do in Windows XP for this printer, instead make Vista detect the device and ask you for drivers, get it to search for drivers and then insert the CD and make Vista search around for it, it should find a Deskjet 3320 driver and install that instead of the 3325 one but its meant to be compatible (fingers crossed)

So far I haven't been able to the printer to respond to the computer. And I am not even going to bother with my scanner cause its so old.

My best solution for you is to dual boot with Windows XP and use it when you need to print, that's what I am doing as Vista provided better graphics card performance (doesn't make sense yes? well its not better performance but in XP i get graphics glitches)

I will see if I can get it working with the 3320 driver as you can imagine its very annoying to switch and restart OSes in order to print.

Post your comments if you've followed my instructions and got it to work some how.

Clean up networking record

Do you have some wi-fi connections/networks that you don't use any more and would like to get clean off from your computer?

Say you connected to a wi-fi in an airport and will never be there for ages and want to get rid of the airport connection in your list of wi-fi networks.

Do this then:

Start > Network > Network and sharing centre (button at the top part of window) > Manage wireless networks (from side menu)

Select network you want to remove > Click Remove button at top of window)

Vista on my desktop

Just got a spankin copy of Windows Vista Business =D I've been avoiding installing it on my desktop:

AMD Athlon 3500+ (2.25Ghz)
1.2GB of ddr400 Ram
200Gb of HDD space
128 MB nVidia GeForce 6600gt+

Due to the forecast of knowing thign s just won't work. But due to a glitch I've been having with y grpahics card in Windows XP i decided to give it ago to see what happens, on another partition of course to avoid harsh recovery methods.


Heres what i found:

PLUSes:

• Windows Vista has seemed to be able to help me skip finding my 10 or odd CDs for drivers, which I have to do in XP
• Windows Vista's driver for ym graphics card has made my display nicer and clearer and best of all prevented my graphics glitch of freezing up when scrolling too fast or switching windows too often
• The Internet seemed to work straight away, no set up, no account setting, This may have been due to my router having all the settings? Not sure and hoping to not have to re-install XP to find out
• The computer seems to perform faster, what the heck? Vista is suspoe to not work and be slower, but... I am confussed
• Most of my old software seems to work ok, feeew
• Installing MS software seems to take forever but other software seems to zip right through, maybe its visualisations of the transfer / progress bars but it makes me feel like the hard drives are faster and performing better but this could also be due to comparison of a fresh Vista and year old XP install.
  

FAILs:

• Creative Sound Augity sound card is fully dead on this OS
• Yet to test printer and scanner
• UAC is delayed for longer than other Vista computers
• Screen blacks out during log ins and log outs (not sure if its an effect or problem due to the controlling of the graphics' card)
• Software installs are taking longer after installing other software to the OS
• Can't get a Vista experience rating
  

OVERALL:

• If I can't get the sound to wrok at least this partition will be a high performing PC in terms of graphics card reliability and will be suffice to work for school and office.
• I could get a new sound card but me being a greenie and all, I don't think i shall waste this card yet.
• I can always use the onboard motherboard sound if needed, but it will mean no 5.1 sounds
  

Beijing Olympic 08 Tech.

Looking at the opening ceremony I was surprised at some of the technology that may well soon become general consumer technology.

I saw:

Cloths with LEDs in them, in future it is predicted that cloths will be able to have dynamic advertising and designs as well as changing colours.

Flexible and large LCD screens, the future newspaper medium?

A quick look at MS SyncToy

Ok, I installed SyncToy and tested it between two files, I get an error telling me that the folder location name is too long and has to be less than 200 characters.

I uninstaller, my opinion? you tell me

Looking for web translation

If your looking for a website that can translate English to Chinese or Chinese to English or other languages, I recommend that you use Google's translator. I have used Yahoo!'s Bablefish or AltaVista but for Chinese it gives them in simplified characters even though traditional is selected so I am quite weary of its accuracy.

You really could do without accidentally insulting someone in another language!

How to Create / Insert the Infinity Symbol in MS Word

Start Up MS Word > Insert > Symbol
Then enter in the following
Character code: 221E from: Unicode (hex)

OR you could always try to copy and paste this: ∞

You can usually Copy and Paste symbols from MS word and use them in other applications such as MSN Messenger Display Names, etc. So keep this tip in mind for when you want to use symbols that are non-keyboard assigned. You could always try to use it for graphic designs and abstracts etc.

Turn off lcd screen with one click / keyboard shortcut

How To Manually Turn Off Notebook or Laptop LCD Screen
How to turn off lcd screen with one click
How to turn off lcd screen with keyboard short cut

I've been googling for a click or one keyboard shortcut solution for turning off my lcd screen on my lapyop manually without using the power settings cause its only someitmes that i need to turn off the lcd after 1 minutes of idle but it gets annoying if it does that all daya every day.

I downloaded a software called Orandy OneClick but it ended up being a freeware that placed an icon in the system tray and requires a right-click on the icon and then left click on monitor and then a left click on turn off screen. This was quite annoying and didn't allow me to apply any keyboard short cuts but was better than nothing.

A good freeware that i found was simple and did what it was suppose to, and that is turn off the lcd screen, I really couldn't see why other alternatives had shut down and hibernate functions when all i wanted was a turn off lcd. Is Redmond Pie's Turn off LCD screen, downloadable here and belongs to here.

Its basically a icon you click and then it opens a command prompt like window for half and second and then turns off your screen, when you move the mouse or keyboard it will tun back on and the window will be gone, you basically have no interface for the software (unlike other software) so you pretty much have yourself a virtual off button that functions like a real button on lcd screens.

BTW I haven't managed to make it wok yet, but if you place a shortcut to the .exe file on the desktop and right click it and click properties and then add a keyboard shortcut it will work but the screen will only turn off for a few secs and then turn back on but I am working on it.

After that last post

I think I can say before calling technical support if your using Vista and something won't run properly (especially if it ran perfect in Windows XP) try:

* Disabling UAC
* Running as Administrator.

Installing Applocale In Windows Vista

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/26/workaround-to-install-microsoft-applocale-utility-in-windows-vista/

That is a good link to a solution but lacks some details like how to get to command prompt and how to move navigate command prompt to the location of the apploc.msi file directory.

Command prompt:
Start > All Programs > Accessories > Right click command prompt > Run as Administrator

Navigating to apploc.msi
I still have no idea how to navigate to another hard disk so I simple copy and pasted the installer file into the System32 folder (default place that my command prompt was at) so all I have to do was type "\apploc.msi" and press enter

Turning off UAC
Go to control panel > User Accounts > Turn on or off UAC



It installed correctly but I still can't get a program to work using Applocale. Save Me

Fix: I was running Applocale from the start menu, you have to run it as administrator (unless you followed link above and disabled UAC first) for me it was installed in C:\Windows\AppPatch\

If you want to find out you can right click on the shortcut in the start menu and click properties and the address in the "Start In" form box is the place its located in, copy and paste that into Windows Explorer address bar and hit enter.

BTW what I am trying to do is open a rar file that has files saved in Chinese and it won't extract as my Vista can't recognise the file names. So I use Applocale in XP and am trying it in Vista.

Update: It wasn't as quick and easy as XP, Using IZAC to extract Chinese files only extracted the English files but double clicking the other files extracted it into the folder with only English files that were extracted in the first go.

Vista Search

I just realised something. When your searching for files using MS Windows Vista's search toolbar, you have to search for the whole file name. You can search for half of it. I was looking for a song called something Driver.mp3 but when searched it would show up. Then I remembered my computer course I did and used a wild card (? and *) so *driver brought up all the mp3 songs with driver in the file name and found it!

? - Used for when your not sure of a certain letter in the search word
e.g. ?ing can give ping, ding, bing, sing

* - Used for when your not sure of an unlimited number of letters in search word.
e.g. *top can give rooftop, stop, bigtop, coolestbiggestcircusbigtop

? and * can be used in many search programs and they can be used in anywhere in the search words. Like it can be Toma?o or Tri*

Comments

My advice is the best I can give but there are many great people on the Internet who have invested the time and effort and have post many good suggestions to solutions and other sites you should check. So please if you have time, compare my post and comments of others, You'll often find that the material in the comments are very valuable and better than my suggestions.

Enable Hibernation in Vista

Re-enable hibernation in vista
Hibernation disappeared in Vista
Can't hibernate computer in vista
Enable hibernation in Vista
Turn on hibernation in Vista

I've been searching everywhere for a way to enable hibernation again, it was so useful for my laptop especially running with the battery and such.

Here is a good solution site:
VistaJuice

It writes:

1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on "Command Prompt".
2. From the context menu click on "Run as administrator".
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
4. In the command prompt window, type "powercfg –h off" (or "on" without the quotes) followed by Enter button.
4. Close the Command Prompt window and you're done :)


But I'd prefer due to different "All Programs" set out:

1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories and then right click on "Command Prompt".
2. From the context menu click on "Run as administrator".
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.
4. In the command prompt window, type "powercfg –h off" (or "on" without the quotes) followed by Enter button.
4. Close the Command Prompt window and you're done :)

200th Post!!! (Cheap adhesives)

Picture stolen from (hope its ok)

Thanks all to those who have read all my 200 posts (which should be almost none of you)
Anyway Yay, and i hope to get to the 500 mark with more readers : )
__________________________________________________________________

The 200th post is about an easy cheap way to sticking computer/technology together. Do you have anything that was glued but due to cheap labour it has come off? SuperGlue is a solution and can be quite cheap, blu-tack won't hold and sticky tape makes you look like an irresponsible technology consumer.

My solution can be undone unlike SuperGlue, My solution; is pineapples, WHat?? All this excitemnet about the 200th post must have made this autor crazy. Well I am not sure about in other countries but in Australia, most pineapples come with a sticker tag label which is held by glue, usually flexible sticky glue, take a bit of it and use it as blu-tack to stick things together. When you, if, want to undo this adhiesive, just pull really hard and you should be able to remove whatever you stuck together with a bit of a glue smudge that is removable but that's it, completely undo-able, but for those moments that you want to stuck things flat and never remove, use SuperGlue! enjoy, and I hope that your pineapples don't use solid hot glue or what not.

The Marketing of this Blog

I just came across this Blog also about technologies, sort of.
A special thing I have noticed is that each post is accompanied by an irrelevant or semi-relevant picture of good looking girls holding or using the technology (its kinda like some Japanese marketing theory, lol) but has little contribution to the content at all.
I mean I have an irrelevant banner with two females on it but is that enough? What can I do to increase the presentation of my Blog? your comments are necessary.

Backspace and Delete

A common function that I've been using ever since I discovered it is the del key.
You usually use backspace (commonly known as the delete key but in fact its a backspace for obvious reasons after reading this post) to delete letters you've typed and you usually have to move the cursor in front of the letter(s) you want to delete then press backspace to delete backwards.

If you use the del key it deletes keys that are in front of the cursor and this can be very useful for when you want to fix mistakes in front of the cursor without having to press the arrow buttons or use the mouse to adjust the cursor position to backspace.

NOTE: Del and Delete is the same. On my laptop its written as Del, on desktop keyboards it can be either Delete or Del. And whilst I am at it, INS is the same as Insert.


Website with worksheet for keyboard learning

A really good website for royalty-free stuff

Wow, i wished i knew about this earlier. I usually Google what media I want with an additional "royalty-free", "free", "public domain" "free to use", "freeware", "opensource" or "GNU" etc. keyword to make sure the things I download and use for school/uni projects/websites/games are ok to use (I usually give credit to them anyway just in case I broke a condition, I hate fine print)

Anyway, There is this search engine that does that for you, it only brings up results that have had the licence of use determined and sorted so you can be sure that there is the ability to use the material free no strings attached, free with credit given or special usage conditions etc.

Its called : CC Search or Creative Commons Search

Exceptions for clear cookies action firefox add-on

Ok, I have no idea how do this but I know someone who does!

Link

Quote:

1. Go to Tools->Options->Privacy tab.
2. Make sure 'Accept cookies from sites' is checked and in the dropdown menu underneath that starts with 'Keep until' , make sure 'I close Firefox is selected.
3. Now click 'Exceptions' and in the Exception - Cookies window, type in the name of the site you want to keep the cookies for and then click the 'Allow' button. It should be added to the exceptions list below.
4. Repeat for all the different cookies you want to keep and click Close. You should now be back in the Privacy tab.
5. Keep in mind that some sites may have multiple cookies with slightly different addresses from a particular site. So check out your current cookies for that site by clicking the 'Cookies' button to make sure you have all needed cookies for a particular site added.
6. These next steps are very important and if you don't do these correctly, there may be a conflict that prevents the cookie saving from working properly. In the Private data section of the Privacy tab, make sure that 'Always clear my private data when I close firefox' is unchecked.
7. Click on the 'Settings' button and in the 'Clear Private data' window, make sure that 'Cookies' is unchecked and then click OK.
8. Make sure 'Ask me before clearing private data' is checked and click OK to close the Options window.

Woolworths Self-Serve Counters

You've heard about the use of RFIDs (microchips that are wirelessly detected and have individual reference ids unlike barcodes) to automatically checkout a cart of items in 5 seconds all in one go!

In Australia we might be behind in technology due to us having to import in lots of technology and not inventing enough (I think) You might be thinking self-serve checkouts? ... oh i remember them, the good old days before these robotic checkout androids (in your country).

Anyways, I was scared!! scared!! an indescribable feeling when i went to Woolworths and suddenly there are self-serve checkout counters. I wasn't surprised by iPods or such but wow (btw, I am only like 19)

My Summery about it is:

* I didn't feel it was simple enough (too many buttons possible for non-tech savvy customers, the steps to take next aren't clear enough, I felt there was too many other options (which are needed but yeah I like to complain)

* You need to place items in the bagging area for sensors to detect before you can get next item scanned. I was buying a cube of Coke, for me this was doing weights, picking it up, scanning it, placing it in the bagging area (but not placing it in a bag) and then picking it up and re-scanning it (I was buying more than one cube)

* I would like a detachable scanner but most products have barcodes in the right places (even the box of Coke had a barcode on the bottom so no need to tilt the box.

* The notes change and coins come from very separate areas and I fear that many people may forget to get their change, but I haven't experienced the machines enough to know how it works in reminding people to get their change. I guess i should trust IT ppl in the design more

* A good thing is the supporting check out staff was very supportive and will tutor you in how to use it, which made me feel that it wasn't fast and easy enough, maybe my IT student ego had a play in that...

Lets discuss if you want. Here are some more solid facts: (I could be wrong . . . . sometimes . . lots)

I liked the change system (I wonder if its fool proof, how can I prove that I did put in $100 note and it ripped me off $80, but then again who uses a $100 note for $20 of items)

I feel like a thief, without interacting with a human and just grabbing the items and walking out after pressing some buttons, something the next generations should feel (I am feeling old now)

News Article about it (Apparently I am months behind, I should go to shops more, lol)

Creating your own power plan (Vista)

How do you create a new power plan in Vista? and Why?
Sometimes you want to use Power Saver or High Performance mode but want to have some adjustments to them in less common cases.

Like for me, I want all Power Saver/High Performance/Balanced modes to turn off the screen on battery/plugged in after about 5-10 mins cause that's how I liked it on the desktop.

My problem is when I am watching a movie or whatever the screen turns off automatically, which is annoying to move the mouse every 10 minutes. But I also don't want the screen on all the time when I am defraging the laptop or left it.

Here is How

Right-click on the power icon in the system tray > Power Options

In the left menu click "Create a power plan" > Give it a name > Choose what plan you want to edit > Make further edits if you want like never turn off the screen etc.

Now everytime you want that power plan just left-click the power icon and change it like you usually do with changing to power saver plan etc.

If you don't have a power icon on your system bar:

Right-Click bottom bar > Properties > Notification Area > Check Power


If you don't have a power icon on your system bar and DON'T want it:

Start > Control Panel > Power Options



I hope I've been detailed enough, questions always welcomed

MSN sound clip not working

Hmm, Not sure if it is obvious how to fix this but just then I got taps instead of what my mic was recording and it annoyed the recipient as they thought I was playing with it but I was really saying and sending a message which turns out to be a tap.

Tools > Audio and Video setup > go thorough the process and set up mic to right level etc.

Sending E-mails to many people w/ the use of BCC

A very very very commonly asked question and exam question is that use and acronyms for BCC and CC.

BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy - Used so no one can see who (in Bcc) you sent the e-mail to

CC stands for Carbon Copy - Hmm, Not really sure, maybe you in the past couldn't be able to use "," in the "To:" section to add more recipients.?? Can someone please confirm for me?


Anyway, If your e-mail client/program/website doesn't let you send an e-mail with no one in the To: section, just add your own e-mail address in the To: and then all recipients in the Bcc field. This will allow you to send an E-mail to everyone without anyone knowing who else you sent the e-mail too.
I find this should be used for when sending e-mails to different groups of friends to help protect your high school friend's e-mail addresses from being visible to your relatives and vice versa for example. Especially if you send chain mail!


If your using Thunderbird, just select the To: (which is a drop down) and select Bcc to not even need to Add a To: in the e-mail. Your recipient(s) will only see a From: field with your e-mail and nothing else.

Open links in new tab Firefox (V2.0)

For those who didn't like my method of using the CTRL or CTRL + SHIFT to open links etc. in a new tab. You can get it to open in new tabs as default.

• Get a add-on called Tab Mix Plus
• Goto Tools > Tab Mix Plus Options > Events > Tab Opening > "Open Tabs From:" section tick all the things you want e.g. search box, hyperlinks, bookmarks.

Some may find this annoying but I think you can use the CTRL to inverse the open in tab actions?

Anyway, use this method only if you like to open in new tab more than open in existing tab web surfing experience.

Firefox not opening jpgs

Firefox tries to save jpgs/pictures instead of opening/viewing them in a tab/firefox.
Firefox tries to save images
Firefox won't display images and asks me to save it instead.

I was having some problems, selective actually, not all jpgs do this but some from some websites won't open in a new tab, window or existing tab instead it shows me the Open with/Save As dialogue. Its been very annoying as I will save images I want (to see only) manually and hate it when my documents folder gets filled up with useless pictures.

I figured out the simple solution, its actually quite obvious, I've just been too lazy to read the dialogue till it annoyed me enough.

Anyway, Go to the open with bit, it should by default have something like windows fax viewer or something like that. Click browse to select a new program to open the pictures with. Find Firefox, check the "Always perform this action from now on" or similar message and click OK. Future pictures should open in Firefox now, that way you can always clear temp internet data and delete all the pictures you've viewed instead of having to select them manually from your my documents folder to delete.

Vista Disk Clean Up Results

Is it a coincidence?
I just did a disk clean up scan on my Vista computer and it had 50MB of Temporary Internet Data and 1.2GB of Windows compatibility data (apparently data used to try and track down and solve compatibility issues?)