STFU && RTFM

Windows 7: Shake the windows away

razumny — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:00:04 +0000

Many of the innovations in Windows 7 are more about estetics and eye-candy than anything else. Some of them are downright silly; such as this one:

You’re working on your computer, and you have a lot of windows open. You then need to focus on a specific window, and minimize all the others. That’s done by clicking the title-line of a window, and shaking it, which will make the other windows minimize.

You can still use the keyboard shortcut Win+d to achieve the same result.

Windows 7: Using libraries (part 2)

razumny — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:00:53 +0000

In addition to using libraries to see files from several places on your computer, you can also use it to display files sorted by meta-data, such as the date the files was edited last, or tags.

Libraries have an arrange-by option, which, by default, is set to Folder. By clicking it, you get the option to arrange by day, month rating or tag. The music library can be arranged by album, artist, song, genre, or rating.

Windows 7: Using libraries

razumny — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:00:20 +0000

Windows 7 takes a new approach to file management, which they have called libraries. Simply put, you library will show files from any and all folders you choose. There are libraries for documents, videos, pictures and music.

You can create folders in the libraries, the same way that you would create a folder elsewhere on your computer. You can also have your library display folders from different locations on the computer. There are two ways:

Open the library in question
Click the link that says “Includes # locations”
Click add
Browse to the folder that includes the folder you want to display, then click the folder you want to display
Click “Include folder”, then OK

-OR-

Open the Explorer window
Browse to the folder you want to include
Click “Include in Library”, then select which library to include the folder in, or choose to create a new library

Windows 7: Windows side-by-side

razumny — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:00:46 +0000

When working with two windows at the same time, you can have them aligned so that they take up half the screen each. Simply click and drag the title line of the window to the left or right hand side of the screen, and you’ll see the window autmatically adjust to fit half the screen’s width.

There’s also the option of doing this through a keyboard shortcut. Win+left arrow will align the window to the left hand side, while Win+right arrow will align the window to the right hand side. To maximize the window, use Win+up arrow, and to minimize, use Win+down arrow.

Note: Comments disabled due to massive amounts of comment spam

Windows 7 month

razumny — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:00:35 +0000

For the month of March, all of my posts will be centred around Windows 7. I’ll post tips, tricks and useful shortcuts to help you, and me, use Microsoft’s newest operating system efficiently.

Enjoy!

Android – Choosing apps

razumny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:00:28 +0000

Like the iPhone and its app store, Android offers a market for download and purchase of apps for the Android phones. They’ve cleverly called this market the Android Market. It is directly accessible from the phones, and you can find it on the main menu.

The only problem with the Android Market, as I see it, is that navigating it tends to get tedious. Luckily, there is a website from which you can browse apps and see what rating they’ve got. The first is called Cyrket, and you can find it here. Unfortunately, Cyrket has a spotty record as far as uptime goes. An alternative to Cyrket is Androlib, which can be found here

There are basically speaking two ways of installing apps. The obvious one is using the Android Market to download and install them automagically. You can also get the installable package (Android uses .apk-files for installable packages) and install it directly from the file manager.

To do this, you first need to Allow installation of non-Market apps. In the main view, click the “Menu” button, then click “Settings”. In settings, choose “Applications”, then activate “Unknown sources”.

STFU && RTFM on mobile devices

razumny — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:00:03 +0000

After reading this post at NRKBeta (link in Norwegian), I decided to follow suit, and install a theme to help speed up access to my blog from mobile devices.

I’m doing this for two reasons: Firstly, this blog is my personal knowledgebase. As I work a lot in the field, I needed a speedier way of checking for solutions than what I had. Secondly, I’d like whoever reads this blog to be able to reference it, even when on a portable device. I’ve been testing it for a month or so, and like what I am seeing!

I’ve installed WPTouch from BraveNewCode, which works out of the box, no tweaking necessary. I’m also thinking of installing Crowd Favorite’s Wordpress Mobile Edition, but am hesitant as it does not support the automatic upgrade function all of my other WordPress plugins support.

Firefox does not save tabs on close on Mac OSX

razumny — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:00:42 +0000

My girlfriend recently got herself a shiny new MacBook Pro, and installed Firefox, as that’s her browser of preference. She kept having a problem that her tabs would not be saved when she closed Firefox, and asked me to look into it.

All the settings under Preferences were OK, so the problem was not with the settings. Likewise, the relevant settings under about:config were set correctly. We tried deleting prefs.js, but that didn’t help either.

Then, as a last-ditch attempt, I tried closing Firefox using the option on the menu bar. I then got the beloved question “Do you want Firefox to save your tabs”. I clicked yes, then restarted Firefox. All the tabs were reloaded. I then used the red X in the upper right-hand corner, the opened Firefox, and the tabs were not reloaded.

I registered the bug with Mozilla (bug #544880), and it seems like this is not so much a bug, as the way Firefox is handled in Mac OS X; when you use the red “x”-button, it does not shut down Firefox, but rather closes the window in question.

Removing Personal Security

razumny — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:00:33 +0000

I’ve recently had a few users call in, telling me that they’ve been infected with Personal Security, a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Cyber Security. Luckily, it’s pretty easily removed. Here’s how:

Turn off System Restore on the infected computer
Download and run rkill.com, which kills the processes
Download and install Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
Run a full scan of the computer
Remove all threats
Reboot, then repeat step 4

The second search should turn up no threats at all. If it does, repeat step 2, then step 4. If a second removal run doesn’t do the trick, my advice is to reinstall the computer.

More God modes

razumny — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:00:33 +0000

I recently wrote about the so-called God mode in Windows 7. As it turns out, there are as many as seventeen of them. In addition to the “full” God mode, you also have the following:

Function	Code
Monster Control Panel	{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Enter a default location	{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
Use biometric devices with Windows	{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
Select a power plan	{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
Select which icons and notifications appear on taskbar	{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
Store credentials for automatic logon	{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
Install a program from the network	{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
Choose the programs that Windows uses by default	{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
Assembly Cache Viewer	{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
Manage wireless networks	{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
Network	{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Computer	{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Devices and Printers	{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
RemoteApp and Desktop Connections	{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
Windows Firewall	{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
Windows Explorer	{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
System	{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

To use the different modes, simply follow the guide from My original post.