Jan 14

CyberNotes: XP Tips & Tricks

Posted in: CyberNotes, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on January 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Microsoft Monday

XP Tips and Tricks Many of our Microsoft Monday posts over the last several months have focused on Windows Vista — after all, it is the latest operating system from Microsoft. While it’s the “latest and greatest” as they say, we know many of you still use and prefer Windows XP. Today we thought we’d spend some time going over a few Windows XP tips. Some of the tips you may be well familiar with while others will be completely new to you. This will be the first in a two part series, so stay tuned for the 2nd edition.

Many of these tricks use the Windows Registry Editor, which you can start by pressing WinKey+R and type regedit into the box.

Note: Some of these tips may work in Vista, but we have not tested them in Vista.

–Rename the Recycle Bin–

Want to rename the Recycle Bin? Here’s what you gotta do:

  1. Run the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\ {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
  2. Double-click on (Default), and change the name of the Recycle Bin. Close the Registry, and press F5 on the desktop to refresh the icon.

–Network Sharing–

When you’re looking at files on a network drive you might have noticed that it can take a rather long time (up to 30 seconds). What happens is XP checks to see if the other PC has any scheduled tasks. You can disable that by:

  1. Run the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace.
  2. Delete the {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} key. Close the Registry.
  3. While you’re there you can also delete the {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} key if you don’t use printer sharing.
  4. Reboot your computer.

–Excessive Printing–

This probably isn’t for home users, but for all the people out there that do a lot or printing this is something you should consider doing. By tweaking this Registry setting the printing process will have a higher priority. Here’s the details:

  1. Run the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHING\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print.
  2. Create a new DWORD called SpoolerPriority, and give it a value of 1.
  3. Reboot your computer.

–Disable Last Access Time Stamp–

This small little tweak is a great one, because it disables a feature that most people never even use. By default Windows always keeps track of the “Last Accessed” date in the file or folder’s properties. If you’re constantly opening and closing files you’re causing some additional work for Windows since it has to update the last accessed date each time. If you never use that property feel free to disable it:

  1. Run the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ FileSystem.
  2. Create a new DWORD called NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate, and give it a value of 1.
  3. Reboot your computer.

–Remove Text from Icons–

I would have to put this trick up near the top of my favorites list. With it you can prevent the text from appearing below icons on the desktop. If you’re looking to clean up your desktop a bit this could be the perfect way:

  1. Right-click on an icon, and choose the Rename option. Delete all of the text.
  2. Hold down the Alt key and type 0160 (note: you shouldn’t see any text being typed). That will essentially make a space character the file name. Press Enter to save the results.
  3. You can repeat this for several icons, but there is one catch. You probably know that you can’t have multiple icons in the same folder (or on the desktop) with the same name. To get around that for a second shortcut you can do Alt+0160 + Alt+0160. That will essentially create two spaces for the filename, and for a third shortcut you could do Alt+0160 + Alt+0160 + Alt+0160. As you can see this would get tedious rather quickly, but for a handful of shortcuts it is pretty nice.

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Jan 14

Helpful Tip: Disable the System Beep in Windows

Posted in: Software, Today's Chili, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP

This article was written on October 23, 2007 by CyberNet.

One of the things that annoys me the most in Windows is the system beep. It’s loud and often happens at the most inopportune times, like during a meeting or a class. All heads turn towards you as people wonder what idiot would have the sound turned on.

On most operating systems when you mute your audio it has no affect on the system beep. To me that’s like turning the ringer off on your cellphone, but still have it make a sound each time you press a key. It just doesn’t make much sense.

Drastic times lead to drastic measures. You can mute the system beep by turning it off in the Windows Registry:

  1. Press the Windows Key + R to bring up the Run command. Type regedit into the box to start the Registry Editor.
  2. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound and double-click on the Beep entry. Replace the yes value data with no:

    (Click to Enlarge)
    Disable System Beep in Windows

  3. Press OK and exit out of the Registry Editor.
  4. Reboot Windows, and enjoy your refreshing beepless computing!

A world without beeps is a peaceful one. ;) Beep free is the way to be … go disable the system beep!

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Jan 13

Home-Made Ice-Claws Won’t Crampon Your Style

Posted in: Hacks, Mods and DIY, Today's Chili

Snowed in? Sick of a winter where nothing but permafrost and ice stretch ahead of you until the spring thaw? Then you might consider buying some crampons. Better still, why not make your own, like Instructables member Kresimir Pregernik? And even better than that, why not give them a bad-ass name, like ice claws?

Pregernik’s ice claws are dead simple. Just take a t-section bracket/plate, and screw in a few rust-proof screws (galvanized steel is a good option). To stop them unscrewing, Pregernik soldered them in place. Then simply place them under your boots, locate the screw-heads between the grips of the shoes and strap into place. A bicycle toe-strap would be a good choice here, as it’s both secure and quick to remove.

Repeat for the other shoe and then head out into the snow, laughing as your hapless fellow pedestrians – less resourceful than you – slip and fall.

Going by Pregernik’s article, he really stress-tested his home-made ice-claws. He’s walking on steep ground, in a forest, covered with thick, slippery ice. And he’s taking photographs. That, on its own, is pretty bad-ass.

Ice crampons [Instructables via Life Hacker]

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Jan 12

Video Shows Craftsmen Debossing Moleskine Notebooks

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili, video

I’m a sucker for videos showing the inner workings of factory production lines, and even more so when the products are hand-made. I suspect you, as a gadget lover, have a similar weakness, so take a look at this wonderful video shot inside the Moleskine factory.

It shows not the making of the iconic overpriced notebooks, but the process of debossing Moleskine’s special edition books. Debossing is just like embossing, only the patterns are stamped into the cover instead of sticking out like the text on a trashy airport bookstore thriller. The brass die, seen here being machined and then hand-finished, is heat-pressed into the faux-leather cover. In this case, the die also uses a white foil to make the design stand out more.

Like anything, this would probably get boring if you had to do it all day, but this quick glance is like magical heroin stuck right into the vein of my curiosity.

Debossing: how custom editions are made [Moleskine via Core77]

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Jan 11

Helpful Tip: How to Keep your Desktop Clean

Posted in: Today's Chili, Windows Vista, Windows XP

This article was written on September 11, 2007 by CyberNet.

If you’re one of those that installs a lot of applications or saves documents to your desktop, it doesn’t take long before you’re staring at a sea full of icons and you can’t find the one you’re looking for.  Often times, most of those icons can go unused for months at a time which means they’re just taking up space and making the important icons harder to find. Here are a few tips on how to keep your desktop clean:

  1. Create folders for the icons you don’t use regularly – You could create one folder for applications, one for documents, and another for pictures that you don’t access regularly. It’ll be much nicer to look at a few folders filled with icons versus a desktop full of icons. To create a new folder, just right click on your desktop and then click new>folder.
  2. Use the Desktop Cleanup Wizard in Windows XP – If you’re using Windows XP, there’s a tool called Desktop Cleanup Wizard that will remove unwanted shortcuts from your desktop. To access the Desktop Cleanup Wizard, just right-click on your desktop, then click "arrange icons by" and then click "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard." You’ll be taken through the process of selecting which shortcuts will be left on your desktop. The ones you decide not to keep will be placed in an "Unused Desktop Shortcuts" folder. This is only a feature found in XP.desktop cleanup wizard 
  3. Auto Arrange Icons – Maybe it’s not that you have a lot of icons, but they’re just thrown all over the screen. Using the "auto arrange icons" feature will arrange the icons so that they look nicer on your desktop. They’ll be evenly spaced out and placed in columns. To auto arrange your icons in Windows Vista and XP, right-click on your desktop then click "Arrange Icons By">Auto Arrange.
  4. Hide Desktop Icons – In some instances, you may want to hide all of your desktop icons.  I know when I’m taking screenshots, I’d rather that my icons stay out of the shot. You can hide all of your icons very simply by right-clicking on your desktop > Arrange Icons by> Show Desktop Icons. Once you do this, your icons will be hidden.
  5. Save the position of your icons – This won’t necessarily help you keep your desktop clean, but it will help keep your desktop organized. To learn how to save the position of your icons to restore at any time, checkout this article.

Of course, if you have your own suggestiosn for keeping your desktop clean, feel free to share…

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Jan 10

Convert Images to ASCII Art, in Color!

Posted in: Freeware, Newly Released, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

Image to ASCII Converter

Being the geeks that we are I’m sure you’ve tried at one time or another to create some sweet ASCII art. When you look at some of the ASCII art that has been done it almost looks like it should be simple, but there is an insane amount of time that is spent getting the spacing and character density just right.

You can now be the envy of all your geeky followers friends by generating your very own gallery of ASCII art. We’re not talking something as simple as the last trick we showed you either, instead this is a full-blown software application. It’s called ASCII Generator, and I found out about it today while doing our Daily Downloads. After I looked into it I knew that I had to give it a shot.

The nice thing is that ASCII Generator is an open source project, and doesn’t require any installation to run it. Once you have loaded an image into the generator it will pump a bunch of text into the main content area. There is the “Size” option on the top toolbar that can be used to decide how many characters are on every line, and the more characters you have the more detail you’ll see.

Once you’ve got all of the settings adjusted you’ll be able to save your artwork as an image or text file. The sweet thing is that it also adds color to the text to help give the ASCII art a more photo-like effect.

Below you’ll see an image that I converted of an extremely colorful garden. I set the Size as large as it would go so that I could capture as much detail in the photo as possible. Think about how long it would have taken to make something like that without the generator. :D

ASCII Generator Homepage
Download Page

Here’s a garden that I converted (click to enlarge)
ASCII Garden

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Jan 08

How to Do Automatic Color Correction On Your Pictures For Free

Posted in: camera, Freeware, Photos, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 25, 2009 by CyberNet.

photo autocorrect.jpgarrow Windows Windows only arrow
If you’ve ever toyed around with any digital camera for five minutes, you know that the pictures it takes often look different than what you saw in real-life. Common complaints include photos being too bright/dark or having an odd-looking color balance. Looking for a one-click fix to these problems? Read on.

The tool we’re going to use is the recently overhauled Paint.NET. It has been around for some time now and gained quite a following since its inception. It’s great for the occasional photo resizing and cropping job and supports layered picture editing. It was only recently that I discovered that it also has an auto-fix function to make your pictures look better. Here’s how it works.

  1. Open an image in Paint.NET.
  2. Go to the Adjustments menu and select Auto-Level.

Pretty easy, right? I’ve taken a few pictures with my cheapskate digital camera to test it out. The results range from pretty good to downright awkward. Let’s have a look. (Click a thumbnail to enlarge it.)

BeforeAfter
before 1.jpgafter 1.jpg
before 2-1.jpgafter 2.jpg
before 3.jpgafter 3.jpg
before 4.jpgafter 4.jpg

As you can see, your mileage may vary. Still, for that tiny bit of extra production value, it’s always worth a try before showing off your pictures to friends and family . For a look at some of Paint.NET’s other functions such as red eye removal, click here.

Download Paint.NET (Windows only; Freeware)

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Jan 07

7 Ways to Download Free Independent Music

Posted in: MP3, Music, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on November 02, 2009 by CyberNet.

If you consider your music tastes a little more adventurous than FM radio, you probably already know that the internet is a gold mine for good yet rather unknown music. It has allowed independent bands to flourish and often, they’re more than happy to put out some free MP3′s to get the word out about their songs. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at a handful of sources for free and legal MP3′s across all music genres.

emusic.jpgeMusic’s Daily Download
Every day, this page features a new free MP3 that you can download without signing up. Since eMusic is a big name in online music, you can get some good freebies here as long as you’re into the genre that’s being featured.
Link

flyfi.jpgFlyFi’s Free Music Fridays
Formerly named Goombah, this service not only brings you fifteen new MP3s every Friday but also suggests downloads based on what’s in your iTunes library. The downside is that FlyFi’s iTunes Helper is always running in the background, whether iTunes is active or not. You can opt in to FlyFi’s New Music Friday newsletter if you’d like to receive new MP3s via e-mail.
Link

lastfm.jpgLast.fm’s Free Music Downloads
Aside from tracking your listen habits and streaming music, Last.fm also has a section of their site dedicated to free MP3s. You can filter their catalog by genre and – if you’re logged in – get personalized recommendations.
Link

we7.jpgwe7
Do you remember Spiralfrog? They offered their users free DRM’ed downloads of mainstream music that was supported by advertising. While that service is long gone, we7 is a similar site with one big difference: their downloads are DRM-free 192kbps MP3s. There’s a big buzzkill however… it’s only available in the UK.
Link

bandcamp.jpgBandcamp
Bandcamp is a music hosting service that features bands on its homepage. And although not every song on the site can be downloaded for free, there are still more than enough freebies left to grab. If you’re excited about a band you found, know that their albums are usually available for download on a pay-what-you-want basis.
Link

amiestreet.jpgAmie Street
Even though Amie Street is a paid music service, their model is entirely different than iTunes’. Much like auctions, the prices of their MP3s rise when their popularity goes up. But here’s the good part: all songs start as free downloads, so if you’re fast you can get great albums absolutely free. Currently, you’re being offered a whopping 75 free songs upon signup. The site will also recommend songs to you by importing data from services such as iTunes, Last.fm, Pandora or Facebook, but of course it’s only as good as the algorithm behind it.
Link

insomniaradio.jpgInsomnia Radio’s Daily Dose
This is one of many podcasts dedicated to bringing you new music every day. If you like a song you heard, you can head over to the Daily Dose website to check if there’s a free download available for that song. Similar podcasts include IndieFeed‘s genre-based podcasts and NPR’s The Current Song of the Day.
Link

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Jan 05

HOSTS File Manager

Posted in: Freeware, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on July 23, 2010 by CyberNet.

hostsman hosts file manager.png

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
The Windows HOSTS file is a way for you to redirect a domain on your local machine to any IP address that you specify. There are a lot of reasons for doing this, such as a web developer testing a website locally or even making certain sites inaccessible by pointing them back to your machine (a common method used for ad blocking). The HOSTS file is not something most people work with each day, but if you are one of the few that are regularly making updates to it this is one tool you’ll love.

HostsMan Editor provides a GUI to managing what could ordinarily be an overwhelming file. Some people may have hundreds or thousands of entries in their HOSTS file, and that makes changing it quite a pain without a manager like this. On more than one occasion I’ve found myself creating duplicate entries, which can then cause confusion when trying to figure out why a change I’ve made isn’t necessarily taking affect (when duplicate entries exist it’s normally the last entry that is the accepted one).

With the help of this free and portable HOSTS file manager you can make things a little easier on yourself. You can backup/restore HOSTS files, make changes, validate entries, bulk update IP address references, enable/disable the HOSTS file, and more. You can even go a step further and subscribe to HOSTS files that others have created (such as ones for ad blocking), and have them automatically merged with your own HOSTS file. It’s a great app to keep in your back pocket for those times you have to update the HOSTS file.

HostsMan Editor Homepage (Windows only; Freeware)

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Jan 03

WrapUp: End of the CrunchPad, Useful Keyboard Shortcuts, and More

Posted in: amazon, Today's Chili, WrapUp

This article was written on November 30, 2009 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

crunchpad.jpgEnd of the CrunchPad
 For quite awhile now the fantasy of a cheap tablet computer has been lurking, and went by the name CrunchPad. It was all started by TechCrunch who thought it would be possible to develop this kind of computer for around $200 to $300, and actively pursued the idea. Unfortunately, just as a release was imminent, they ran into some legal complications that has caused them to declare the project as dead.


kindle.jpgKindle Outsells Everything Else on Amazon for November
According to Amazon the Kindle outsold every other item that is available on their site for the month of November. That is quite an accomplishment for their device, but I guess you do have to take into consideration that no other merchant sells it. If you want a Kindle you have to buy it at Amazon. Either way that means a lot of people will be reading e-books for Christmas.


mininova.jpgMininova Goes Legal
One of the most popular BitTorrent sites, Mininova, has “decided” to go legal after five years due to pressure from a Dutch anti-piracy group. Now only torrents uploaded through their Content Distribution system are allowed on the site, and the results are apparent. Doing a search for “Windows” results in wallpapers, mini-guides, and other non-copyrighted content.


–News in Brief–

linux mint.jpgLinux Mint 8 Released
The newest version of this Ubuntu-based OS is even sweeter with bug fixes and improvements designed to make a newbies Linux journey that much better.


mac windows.jpgNo, Windows 7 Market Share Has Not Passed Mac OS X
There have been some people saying that the Windows 7 market share has already surpassed that of the Mac OS X user base. These stats, however, are only based off of web usage at this point.


bing cashback.jpgGet More Cashback from Bing
Bing is offering some crazy amounts of cash back on purchases made at select stores until December 2nd.


ebay sales.jpgeBay Maps Out Black Friday Transactions
eBay offers a new way to visualize sales on Black Friday from over 33,000 different ZIP codes in the United States.


microsoft office beta.jpgOffice 2010 to Ship in June 2010
According to the Office 2010 Beta site the suite of applications will be shipping sometime in June 2010.


android.jpgAcer Launches Android Phone
Earlier this year Acer entered the cellphone market with several Windows Mobile powered devices, and now they are working on their first Android phone.


chrome logo.jpgDell Releases Customized Chrome OS
Some employees over at Dell decided to make a version of Chrome OS that works well with the Dell Mini… despite the fact that the operating system is still in the early stages of development.


chrome extension.jpgChrome Extensions One Step Closer to Completion
Google has created a site for developers to upload their extensions in preparation for the big launch.


–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

google notifier.jpgAll-in-One Google Notifier App for Windows/Linux
Google offers so many different services now that it can be difficult to keep up with them all. This single notifier, however, will let you track your Gmail, Google Voice, Calendar, and Reader accounts. Whenever there is something new you’ll get a simple notification on your desktop.


screenr-1.jpgEasily Make and Share Screen Recordings
There can be nothing more frustrating than having someone try to explain a computer problem to you over the phone, and you trying to figure out what they’re actually seeing. This simple no-install site takes all the hassle out of making fast and easy screen recordings that can be shared with everyone.


mouse launcher.jpgA Mouse-Activated Launcher
I’m always keeping an eye out for a good application launcher, and this one looks like it would be pretty nice for the mouse lovers out there. It’s easy to load up with all of your favorite shortcuts, and can be activated by simply pressing the middle mouse button (or any other configurable mouse/keyboard shortcut).


–Tips in Brief–

coffee.jpgTemporarily Change the Default Program
Coffee is a free app that can temporarily change the default program for a given filetype.


play broken avi.jpgPlay Corrupt AVI Files
This application will actually play AVI files that some other programs may say are corrupt.


keyboard shortcuts.jpgUseful (and Somewhat Unused) Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard ninjas will enjoy the plentitude of unique keyboard shortcuts found in this guide.


mac theme.jpgMake XP Look Like Mac OS X
Give your Windows OS the same look and feel that Mac OS X users get.


remove drivers.jpgRemove Driver Files from Uninstalled Drivers
Clean up files that get orphaned after removing drivers from your machine.


wolfram alpha.jpgMastering Wolfram Alpha
There are so many things that Wolfram Alpha can be used for, and this list covers some of the ones you probably didn’t know about.


gvnotifier.jpgGoogle Voice Notifier
Windows users can grab this free app and get notified whenever there is a new voicemail or SMS in your Google Voice account.


ie bug.jpgSolving Common IE Bugs for Web Developers
 Internet Explorer is notorious for giving headaches to web designers, but this guide tries to ease some of that pain.


backupify-1.jpgBackup Your Online Data
This isn’t your traditional backup utility… instead it’s a site you can use to backup your precious online data from your social websites.  


–Downloads–

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