Tips
These are tricks I have picked up along the way. They fix some of these windows quirks that can drive you nuts.
Prevent windows update from shutting down your update automatically
Perhaps your Windows Update is set up to install updates at 3am every night. Fine, but what about that torrent video or that big download that doesn't have a resume feature? This trick stops Windows Update. (It will restart on reboot.)The "hard" way, open a command window as an administrator (Windows Key, type "cmd", press Ctrl+Shift+Enter) then type:
net stop "windows update"
The lazy way (if you need to do this often), just right-click and download this batch file and place it on your desktop. It does exactly the same thing. (You can check that by opening it in Notepad.) Run it everytime you need it.
Login to Vista automatically
After Windows Update, Windows restarts but your computer does not login, so your download does not resume. The fix:Run netplwiz (Windows Key, type "netplwiz", press Ctrl+Shift+Enter).
Uncheck the box for "Users must enter a user name and password to access this computer".
Apply and choose the user that should be logged on automatically at start up.
The task bar is on two rows and will not go back to one row
Grab the separator slider on the taskbar, and move it up instead of trying to slide it left or right.Solving network problems
This trick will often restore a connection that has gone sour. The "hard way", you need to open a command window and type these three commands:ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
The lazy way (if you need to do this often), just right-click and download this batch file and place it on your desktop. It does exactly the same thing. (You can check that by opening it in Notepad.) Run it everytime you need it.
If this doesn't work, also remove the network adapters and com ports in device managers, then reboot (they will reinstall automatically).
A site never opens from a particular location
Once you've made sure it's not a firewall or proxy problem, download TCPOptimizer. On the general settings tab, if the MTU box on the right is at 1500 or above, click PPPoE, which should change it to 1492. Click apply changes and reboot.How to remove a question mark from Skype contacts?
Sometimes, friends try to add you as a Skype contact, but your trigger-happy finger clicks "reject" instead of "accept". Thereafter, they see you with a question mark, even if you add them as a contact. How do you get out of this loop?While you and your friend are both signed in, ask your friend to right-click your contact (where the question mark appears)and to select "request contact details". A window should appear on your side asking you whether or not to okay the contact. Don't go too fast this time!
If this does not work, try this. Make sure you are both signed in. On your side, remove your friend from the contact list, sign out, sign in, and add your friend again. Then ask your friend to right-click your contact again and to choose "request contact details". This should do it!
How to force Vista to display folders with music files like normal folders
When Vista opens a folder with music or picture files, it may not display the default information you want to see (size, type etc.).Choose View, Customize, and choose the Documents template.
Unfortunately you cannot apply this fix at the root (C\), but if your files are well organize it should be fast enough to cycle throug a few folders.
Improve the "file browse menu" in Vista
From many applications, when you try to open or save a file, the application opens a standard window that I'll call the "browse menu". On the left, there's a panel with icons such as "music", "documents" and so on. If you keep your files in your own tree structure instead of Vista's standard folders, the browse menu can aggravate you in its original form. Three little tricks can help.The first thing to notice is that you can change the size of the browse menu. Otherwise, by default, Vista opens the menu in a tiny box that forces you to scroll to the folders you want. Just click and drag the bottom corner. Vista should remember that window setting.
The second thing to notice is the "Folders" bar in the left pane, at the bottom, way below the favorite links. Click on it. A list of folders will expand. This may be just what you need to navigate to your folders. Vista should remember this setting.
The third tweak is to remove the "Favorite" links you don't need in the left pane, and to add folders that you navigate to all the time. If the expanded folder view is open, close it by clicking the down arrow on the "Folders" bar. This should give you a full view of the "Favorite links" pane. Right click on a blank spot in the pane and choose "Open favorite links folder". In that folder, delete whatever folders you don't want to see in the browse menu, and create shortcuts to your real favorite folders. To create shortcuts, open an explorer window (Windows + E), bring this window side-by-side with the "Favorite links folder" we just opened, then right-click folders in the explorer window, drag them to the favorite links window and choose "Create shortcut here".
See all message headers in Gmail
In Gmail, if someone cc'es you, you cannot see what email address they used to write to you. When you click "Show details", only the top headers are shown. To see all headers, open the message. On the top right, click the downward arrow to the right of "Reply", and select "Show Ooiginal". This will display the original message with full headers.Shrink PDF file size in Acrobat for a scanned book
Acrobat has at least three tools to reduce a file's size:1. Document / Optimize Scanned PDF
2. Advanced / Document Optimizer
3. Document / Reduce File Size
Which to use, and in what combination? I'm not really sure what these options do, but after hours of twiddling with it I found options that work for me. I had scanned a book at 150 dpi. The file size was 53MB. After reduction, the file size was 8MB. The ultimate test is how the document reads when you print it. Other options gave me similar sizes, but the printed result was horrendous. Here is my workflow for Acrobat 8 Pro.
1. Crop your pages. Your file size will decrease when you do away with those dark edges. Your book will be cleaner to look at and it will print with less ink. Document / Crop.
2. OCR your scanned book. This will make your book searchable. The time to do it is now, before you tamper with the image quality. Document / OCR Text Recognition / Recognize Text Using OCR.
4. Put in your bookmarks. This will make your book easier to navigate. View / Navigation Panels / Bookmarks.
4. Shrink the document. Document / Optimize Scanned PDF. Click "Default", then drag the slider at the top to "Small".
5. At this point you can try Document / Reduce size if you like. It only gives me another 20KB.
If you have a better workflow to suggest, please write.
How to convert images into a font
You can insert images into word documents, but when the text moves around, strange things start to happen, especially if you're exporting your text to desktop publishing software. So I've found it convenient to convert graphics into a font. When several graphics always come together, if you assign them to numbers, all you need to do to use these graphics is press 1-2-3. No more inserting! It's a beautiful solution. The method explained here can also help you convert your logo into a font (or your handwriting).I use a piece software called FontCreator. First, using an image editor such as Photoshop, convert your graphics to black-and-white bitmaps. Resize so that neither the height nor width much exceeds 400 pixels. Create a new font in FontCreator. Right-click on a glyph and choose Import Image. Click load, navigate to the bitmap, click Generate. Click Format / Naming to give your font the right name. Save your file as a true-type font, add it in control panel, now you can use it in word.
If the font name doesn't appear in word, the only thing that works for me is to copy a working true-type file, open in in FontCreator and paste your font glyphs in there. I have read advice to delete some files to clear your font cache: fbc*.tmp and fntcache.dat. This only screws my system.
How to record an audio stream in Audacity + Vista
Find the volume icon at the bottom right of your screen. Right-click it, choose Recording Devices, Rec Playback, Set Default, then Properties, Levels, slide to 100.In Audacity, choose Edit Preferences, Recording, Rec Playback.
For some reason, this works better if you have headphones plugged in. Remember to set the volume somewhere comfortable, otherwise there will be nothing to record! Test your volume in Audacity to make sure there's no saturation.
You may have to close Audacity a couple times until it works, tricking Audacity to take on the job is a bit like black magic.
Running 16-bit applications in Vista-64
First of all, let us pause and recognize that it is simply criminal of Microsoft to drop support for 16-bit applications. That's billions of dollars wasted for people who have working software, and millions of hours upgrading to unneeded software.With that rant out of the way, here are the workarounds.
For Dos Application, install DosBox. DosBox does not automatically map to your hard-drive: you have to "mount" the folder you want to use as a virtual drive. Nothing simpler. Copy your working folder to c:\. If the name is myfolder, when you run DosBox, type: mount c c:/myfolder
Notice the forward slash (backslash doesn't work on some installations without further workarounds).
Type "c:" You are now in the folder you wanted, and you are good to go!
For 16-bit Windows Application, install VirtualPC from Microsoft. The installer may say that it does not support your version of Vista-64. The key word is "support". It may not support it, but it will work anyway! Run VirtualPC. Setting up a virtual machine is a two-step process: 1) creating the virtual machine in VirtualPC, then 2) installing the OS on that virtual machine ("VM").
Step 1: Create your VM, choosing an OS for which you have the disk on hand or an ISO file. Ideal would be Windows 98 SE or Windows 2000 Pro SP4, possibly the two favorite versions of Windows pre-XP for their speed and stability. XP will probably run too slow on your VM. My favorite? 2000 Pro SP4. Make sure to allocate a workable amount of RAM, e.g. 500MB. Don't worry too much about the size of the hard-drive, as the real size used is allotted dynamically as needed.
Step 2: Once the Virtual Machine is created, install the OS from within VirtualPC. Don't install it outside of VirtualPC or you can say goodbye to your current system! To install, within VirtualPC, when your virtual machine is selected, click Setup. The new window that opens will allow you to select a CD drive or mount an ISO file. Just follow the OS install instructions! One tip: At some stage you may want to click outside the OS instructions, but find that your mouse is a "prisoner" of the virtual machine. To release it, hold the right ALT button while you move your mouse outside the window.
Once the OS is installed, choose Select, Install VM Additions. The VM will reboot a couple times until it's done. This will allow to drag & drop files between the host and the VM. You'll probably want to install an unzip utility such as 7Zip. If you want Windows 98 to log you in automatically, download Tweak UI, unpack into c:\windows\system, open Tweak UI from the control panel and change the logon options.
Need internet? In the VM's Settings, choose Networking, then select "Shared Networking (NAT)". Reboot the VM: you should have internet. If it still doesn't work, I have read, on the guest OS, go to Control Panel / Networking / LAN / TCPIP / Properties, click "Use the following DNS server addresses" and enter this: 192.168.131.254.
In the VM settings, if you choose "Always start this virtual machine in full-screen mode", you may be entering the twilight zone. When I did this, I wasn't able to switch back to the host except through ctrl + alt + del. And I couldn't change the setting back, as whenever I ran VirtualPC the VM would boot automatically! They way out? Find your VM's config file on your hard drive (it ends with vmc). Open it in a text editor. Search for "full_screen". On that like, replace "true" with "false". Now you can run Virtual PC. The first time, it will still auto-boot, but not in full screen. Hit settings, check the setting and uncheck it again, it should be fixed.
The best part about a virtual machine---as if it wasn't amazing already---is that you can take it with you anywhere. Just copy the VHD file (the virtual hard drive), install VirtualPC on another machine, point it to your VHD file, and you've got a full system already set up! If you plan to do this, it pays to shrink the size of your VHD before copying it.
1. Run a disk cleaning utility such as "Cleanup!" or CC Cleaner to get rid of temp files. 2. Defrag the disk. 3. Wipe out the delete files from the disk. (When you defrag, the deleted files are still there, so that data bloats your hard drive. You need to write zeros in that space.) In the VM, choose CD, Capture ISO, then navigate to something like c:\Programs Files (x86) \ Microsoft Virtual PC \ Virtual Machine Additions \ Virtual Disk Precompactor.iso. Allow it to run. 4. Close the VM. In Virtual PC, run Settings for the VM. Choose the hard drive, use the VHD wizard to compact it.
Last word: It works!!! Yeah!!! Some say that VMWare also works, I have not tried it.
Install Directory Opus on USB Flash Drive
If you've purchased a license, you can only run Directory Opus on one flash drive at a time (but you can install it on several drives). In Directory Opus, choose Settings, Backup & Restore, Export to USB Flash Drive.Cannot select text in Microsoft Word
You click a file name: Word opens, but not the document. You try to select text: the text won't highlight, and you can't even click inside the text. The fix is to delete the Word Data registry key. For Word 2007, it is:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data
The fix is described at the bottom of this page.
Phplist, SMF Forum, other server tips
Moved to this page.Warm regards,
Andy
Links
OldApps. Download old version of software. Useful to combat bloat.Vetusware. Repository of abandonned software.