A few Vista Keyboard Tricks

 

  Key commands and shortcuts are becoming a lost art.  This is due to super intense GUI ( graphical user interface) menus for programs and such.  Keyboard shortcuts are usually quicker than the mouse and great when you walk by and need to do something quick or just multitask better.

Here are a few Vista keyboard shortcuts I like to teach people.

-- Sometimes you may find yourself in a rush but need to go back to your PC to turn it off.

Press “Start” key. Then tap the right arrow key three times. Then hit the letter “ U” . It will shutdown the PC.  This key shortcut can be done as fast as you can type. For whatever reason this always impresses people who do not know it when I do it.

You can substitute “R” to reboot machine in the key sequence above.

--  On the bottom left of your taskbar you may see icons that you can click for fast launching of installed programs.  In Vista, the first is usually “show desktop” and the second is “aero flip” feature.

By pressing and holding the “Start” key and hitting a number on number pad, it will launch the program in the list.  So in the pic above we can see that my Maxthon browser icon is the blue circle with white M. To quick launch that I would press and hold Start and the hit the number “3” since it’s third from left.  The seventh icon is the ITunes program. Start + 7 would launch that program.

--  You can also change desktop icon size really easy also.

Just hold CTRL and scroll your mouse wheel up and down to quickly change the icon size.

--  To minimize all open windows and show right to desktop hold “Start” + “D”

--  To lock the system so you can walk away and not have anybody see your work or use your PC hold “Start” + “L”

--  Bring Sidebar gadgets to from and activate the sidebar Hold “Start “+ “SPACEBAR”

--  My two favorites are CTRL+C for copy and CTRL+V for paste since you can do that with one hand and not have to leave control of the mouse with your right hand.

 

In our fast paced world, sometimes every second counts!

Technorati Tags: Vista,shortcuts,keyboard

Easy Port Forwarding on your Router

  Port Forwarding on a high speed router or modem is pretty hard to explain to a newbie much less have them do it alone.

Some programs that run on any PC platform sometimes need special access through the home router. This may be because of an advanced type of connection like VPN, Torrents, or VOIP. Or for performance issues like lag time on PC games, Xbox, PS3 ect.

A port forward direct internet traffic directly to the host PC or game system or whatever. It bypasses all the firewall protocols that would stop or slow it down.  Most applications that require this will tell you.  Most gamers would know to research which ports to use but may not know how to do it.

Enter http://www.portforward.com/

It can automatically do this process for you by answering a few simple questions.  Or there are instructions on almost all of the commercial home routers and modem router combo’s.

FYI* if you had your home network setup by someone else make sure you have user name and password for router!  Not the same thing as a wireless password.  Some people change this on setup and others leave it alone.  For safety, it should always be changed from factory default.

Technorati Tags: router,port forward,free setup

Confirm Email Delivery to a Blackberry

 

 

 

I love My blackberry and also working with other people’s BlackBerry's.  “There’s an app for that”.  Ok iphone, we’ve had most of the useful stuff and we can run more than one app a time, ect.. But that’s a fight for another day. 

  Sometimes you just want to make sure a important email get delivered so the recipient can’t wiggle out with any excuse.  With this little trick you can.

 

In your subject line just type “ <confirm> “ – without quotes of course.  When email hits the blackberry you will get a return receipt in your email inbox.  Now if they read it is a whole other story..

This is good for BlackBerry's on personal use ( BIS ), corporate (BES), or even email accounts they may have pushed to their blackberry like Gmail, hotmail, Zenbe, ect.

Technorati Tags: blackberry,email reciept,delivery confirmation

10 Things Your IT Guy Wants You to Know

  I read this from a Blog, who copied it from another Blog, who coped it from a site that does not exist anymore.  However, it is so true and bears repeating. I could not put it into words better!

 

 

1. If you ask me technical questions please don’t argue with me because you don’t like my answer. If you think you know more about the topic, why ask? And if I’m arguing with you…it’s because I am positive that I am correct, otherwise I’d just say “I don’t know” or give you some tips on where to look it up, I don’t have the time to just argue for the sake of it.
2. Starting a conversation by insulting yourself (i.e. “I’m such an idiot”) will not make me laugh, or feel sorry for you;  all it will do is remind me that yes, you are an idiot and that I am going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me;  you don’t want to start a call that way.
3. I am OK with you making mistakes, fixing them is my job. I am not OK with you lying to me about a mistake you made. It makes it much harder to resolve and thus makes my job more difficult. Be honest and we can get the problem resolved and continue on with our business.
4. There is no magic “Fix it” button. Everything takes some amount of work to fix, and not everything is worth fixing or even possible to fix. If I say that you just need to re-do a document that you accidentally deleted 2 months ago, please don’t get mad at me.  I’m not ignoring your problem, and it’s not that I don’t like you, I just can’t always fix everything.
5. Not everything you ask me to do is “urgent”. In fact, by marking things as “urgent” every time, you almost ensure that I treat none of it as a priority.
6. You are not the only one who needs help, and you usually don’t have the most urgent issue. Give me some time to get to your problem, it will get fixed.
7. Emailing me several times about the same issue in the same day is not only unnecessary, it’s highly annoying. Emails will stay until I delete them. I won’t delete them until I’m done with them. I will typically respond as soon as I have a useful update. If it is an urgent issue, let me know (see number 5).
8. Yes, I prefer email over telephone calls. It has nothing to do with being friendly, it’s about efficiency. It is much faster and easier for me to list out a set of questions that I need you to answer than it is for me to call and ask you them one by one. You can find the answers at your leisure and while I’m waiting I can work on other problems.
9. Yes, I seem blunt and rude. It’s not that I mean to, I just don’t have the time to sugar coat things for you. I assume we are both adults and can handle the reality of a problem. If you did something wrong, I will tell you. I don’t care that it was a mistake, because it really makes no difference to me. Don’t take it personal, I just don’t want it to happen again.
10. And finally, yes, I can read your email, I can see what web pages you look at while you are at work, yes, I can access every file on your work computer, and I can tell if you are chatting with people on an instant messenger or chat room (and can also read what you are typing). But no, I don’t do it. It’s unethical, I’m busy, and in all reality you aren’t all that interesting. So unless I am instructed to specifically monitor or investigate your actions, I don’t. There really are much more interesting things on the internet than you.

The point of that article is one that everyone wants to make, whether they are in IT, or are testers, consultants, or engineers. The point is we are all trying to do our jobs the best that we can and it’s easiest to do that if we all work together, stop pointing fingers and give other people the space that we would like to get as well. If we can do that more often than not, things will go well and work out.

More free music!

Check this link over at Amazon which lists all the free mp3’s. 

http://www.amazon.com/b/?=undefined&node=334897011&pf_rd_p=469729471&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=678551011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0HS7N99JKKDARVY32PKZ

Sure it’s a real random mix and a lot of unknown artists; but you never know when you might find something you like.  Plus it’s a great way to boost your music collection or fill a mp3 player your giving to someone as a gift. 

Save You Tube Vids to Your PC or Mobile Device

   I often am asked how to download You Tube videos to a file for storage on a PC.  Also choosing which format to save it in varies from person to person based on what they want to do with it. 

http://www.grab-tube.com/converter is a free site and service that automates this process.

--  When you load up the page, you will see the green header with box to type in the URL.  The URL is the exact page of the You Tube video. Often, on the Video page it will have this link labeled just under the user channel.  Just copy this and paste into grab-tube URL box.

--  After a minute or so it will load a preview page and a download link to save to your PC.  It will be in .flv format but the next step will convert to any format.  Just remember what folder you saved it to on your PC.  FLV are flash videos for adobe flash player. Some people may find this is all they need.  \

Next step is optional.

 

--  Once downloaded, go back to grab-tube homepage.  Under the green header is a media choice ( browse from your PC) and format to convert to.  You can do mp3, mp4, 3gp ( most cell phones), AVi ( good for most PC’s and laptops), flv, and MPG.  It will upload and convert the file to any of those formats.  This process can take a few minutes to ten or fifteen minutes depending on factors.  It will then give you a final download link. Save and then copy to mobile phone or other PC’s. 

Super simple!

Technorati Tags: you tube,video,video conversion

Wolfram Alpha Search Engine

  The Wolfram Alpha search engine is a new method of finding information on the internet. http://www.wolframalpha.com/

  It’s a service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, instead of providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer.  Anything from complex math, Chemistry, Financial, Science, and even just random facts.

It results are sometimes amazing and other times downright strange.  You can query anything and it will try to give you an answer rather than just a bunch of links.

Here’s a couple of cool things I tried.

-I typed in “hello” and it’s response was “ hello human”.

-I asked “ what is answer of life” and it responded “42” which is a nod to Douglas Adams.

-“Pea soup” gave me a list of ingredients, nutrition facts, and even some chemical breakdown.

-“tallest gravestone” confused it.

-“ average life expectancy of a Slovenian male” gave me answer of 73.04 years.

  I would advise anyone to play around with it and make it your first choice when searching for raw data on the web.

Technorati Tags: search,data,wolfram alpha,engine

PDF Readers and Print to PDF

  PDF files (Portable Document Format) have been around for some time.  PDF’s can be useful for some and a hassle for others.  I personally think with today's PC document options that it’s a bit outdated due to it’s limitations. 

--  The most common PDF reader is from Adobe. They hold the patents and anyone can download their PDF reader free of charge.  However, they are security concerns with versions 7, 8, and 9.  It’s also a huge program that seems to have succumbed to bloat and useless features.

*  By default, PDF reader from Adobe ( 7,  8,  9) has JavaScript enabled by default.  This actually a huge security issue. PDF do not need JavaScript and turning it off will not change how it works.  A few “holes” exists that can allow hackers to execute remote code through JavaScript.  To fix: open Adobe reader, choose “edit”, then “preferences”, choose “JavaScript” on left column and uncheck “enable JavaScript”.

--Alternative to Adobe reader.

  Foxit reader is a smaller and a bit safer PDF reader. http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

It’s free for the basic reader. The pro version can create PDF’s and has full features.  Most people will be fine with the free version.

--Print to PDF.

  This is one of my favorite applications.  CutePDF writer allows you to print files straight to PDF format. http://www.acrosoftware.com/products/cutepdf/Writer.asp

This is great for online receipts, backing up emails, or for use on online list or spreadsheet programs.  You can just select the CutePDF printer when you click print on your PC.  Then just save in your documents folder.  This great for saving on paper but still allows you to “print” all the web documents now have to deal with.

Technorati Tags: PDF,free software,vitual printer

Retro Brick phone. Neat gadget!

  I would hope it comes with a stock Hall and Oats or NKOTB ringtones.

It works on GSM networks.  Now you can be just like Zack Morris!

http://craziestgadgets.com/2009/01/08/retro-brick-cell-phone-holder-miami-vice-ifies-your-phone/

Technorati Tags: brick phone,crazy,cell phone,retro

Kryder’s Law. Ultra geek Theory

 

Mark Kryder is Seagate’s senior VP or research and chief technology officer. He is also an authority on development of magnetic and magneto-optic data storage.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kryder

Kyder’s law is based on Moore’s law  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_Law.  Where PC computing power based on hardware has a predictable exponential growth curve.

Kryder’s Law basically states “ ..for storage drives: Since the introduction of the disk drive in 1956, the density of information it can record has swelled from a paltry 2,000 bits to 100 billion bits (gigabits), all crowded in the small space of a square inch. That represents a 50-million-fold increase.”

In other words data that can be stored on any kind of disk is growing rapidly.  By calculating the growth trends in disk storage, we can see it actually outpaces Moore’s law.  The CPU processing power required to use all that data will soon be eclipsed by the amount of sheer data.  This is a problem. 

If CPU’s don’t increase at a equal rate, things will slow down.  It is like overloading a car with a small motor. The motor will struggle to haul all that weight.

We can already see this effect in Mobile phones, Portable music players, and even some laptops.  There is more than enough room to store files but not enough processor power to give the appearance of a speedy system.

Kryder also states that there is not as much incentive to develop faster CPU architecture as there is data storage.  This is based on the fact of the popularity of media players and smart phones.

I to believe the general public looks more toward how much a device will hold rather than how it performs.  Ask yourself this, would you rather have a MP3 player that hold more music or one that access data faster?  I do not think it would be wrong to choose one that holds more data, but it only helps prove the theory that data storage is sometimes given priority.

I also believe the answer to this is data storage  “in the cloud”.  Things like web desktops, virtual drives hosted on a server, or home network storage drives.  We’ll see if future developments prove me correct.

Technorati Tags: data,kryder's law,moore's law,storage,CPU,cloud computing