Dan’s Space on the Web

Got myself a shiny new HTC Snap phone. first thing it did was to start shitting SMS’s without my permission.

Fortunately there’s a fix for it (http://www.htc.com/www/SupportViewNews.aspx?dl_id=638&news_id=225), but I didn’t know about it until after some of my friends probably thought that I was desperate for their attention.

I’ve been using Windows Live Writer to manage my posts. It’s great.

Lightweight enough for me to launch at will, and plays well with Wordpress (and many other CMS/blogs, apparently). It’s so much faster than having to log in to the usual web interface, especially when just updating a draft (which can be saved locally or on the web).

Also, the editor is sweet. It’s able to mimic what the post will look like, so you don’t have to keep hitting Preview. It’s also a lot more robust, providing easier hyperlinking, adding images (which can do minor image edditing too), text formatting etc.

You can also set post metadata such as categories (syncs up with what you have on the server), tags, date right from here. and when you’re all done just hit Publish. Like I’m going to do now.

Dropbox doesn’t allow you to sync folders outside of the “My Dropbox” folder, so here’s a workaround to have your Documents folder (and any other user folder) automatically synced using Dropbox.

(This guide written for Vista, but it works the same in XP)

Motivation/Background: I first did this a few months back when my Macbook Pro had to be sent in for repair (the video card broke. again.) Not having my main work machine with me, I was working off my old PC instead. I wanted a way to easily transfer all my documents back to my macbook when I get it back, and in addition at the time I had a 2nd laptop (on loan to me for our Senior Design class) which I was using occasionally. Syncing files using Dropbox was the solution, but it was troublesome to always remember to specifically save files in the My Dropbox folder. I then explored and found out that I can change the location of my Documents folder. As a bonus, I was also able to sync easily sync files with the Documents folder on my OSX side, and more recently I was able to quickly format my computer without worrying about manually backing up my documents. It’s also giving me a peace of mind while I operate out of Win 7! OK, enough banter.

1. Right Click on Documents folder > Properties

2. Location Tab

3. Click on Move…

4. Browse to ”My Dropbox” folder.

5. Create a Documents folder there, if you don’t already have one.

6. Select this Documents folder. You’ll see that the path back on the Location tab has changed to reflect this (for example mine is, C:\Users\Serenity\My Dropbox\Documents)

7. Click OK

8. It’ll prompt you asking “Do you want to move…” Select Yes.

Done!

Notice the Dropbox sync status icon overlayed on your Documents folder.

Now the Documents folder is no longer at C:\Users\<you>\Documents, but as far as navigating to it through tabs, shortcuts, start menu, it’ll automatically jump you to the correct folder in Dropbox (and for the most part this appears seamless! you don’t see that you are in the My Dropbox folder). Applications that use the Documents folder (eg. some video games) would also automatically be directed to the correct folder. So far, I’ve not come across anything that was hardcoded to go to the old Documents folder.

You can do this for almost any other user folder (ie. any folder in C:\Users\<you>\), but Dropbox only gives you 2GB (unless you go premium) so I would stay away from syncing Videos, Pictures, Music, and Downloads, unless you are careful how much you put in there.

from the search box in Vista’s start menu, hit ctrl+shift+enter to run your selection as Adminstrator.

One of the few things in Vista that I actually hate is its file operations system.

To begin with, before doing anything it tries to search and index the files or something, to get info on it. This takes ages when trying to modify(delete) a large number of files.

Next, the copy operation is junk. Not only does it run slower than my grandmother, it is highly unreliable – often disappearing as though it has completed copying files when it actually did not. I lost a bunch of data thanks to this – I was backing up my files over my wireless network, and I suspect that the other machine’s wireless dropped and so the copy operation stopped and disappeared. I thought that it completed, and wiped my drive. Big mistake – I should’ve verified it first.

Anyway, that’s a mistake I’ll never make again – I’ll never use the regular Copy and Paste in Vista, especially on large files. Heck, I’ve even started to unzip files using 7-zip, because it takes an unreasonable amount of time to unzip files using the built in zip manager (which appears to use the same file operations system as copy/paste).

Enter Robocopy, my new best friend (for copying/moving files) and one of Vista’s hidden gems. Not only is it 102938 times faster, it provides you a handy log of the files copied. There are also a bunch of useful options, such as mirroring two folders to easily keep them in sync, or copying in restartable mode which allows you to resume a file transfer over a network if it were to be interrupted.

robocopy, however, is a command line tool, so you’ll have to open a command prompt to use it. you should also open the prompt as Administrator.

if you’re not familiar with command prompts, fear not: there is a GUI version of Robocopy.

http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-freeware-utilities/

http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-open-source-software/index.html

1. Download the free program Command Line Wallpaper Changer and install (or rather, extract).

2. Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks

3. Click “Add Scheduled Task”

4. Click “Next”

5. Browse for CLWCP.exe (it’s wherever you extracted it to).

6. “Perform this task” however often you want, I have mine daily. (Time is set in next step)

7. Set the Start Time (time at which you want to change wallpaper). Leave the rest of the options, or change as you see fit. Click “Next”.

8. Fill out user name and password as needed. Click “Next”.

9. Check “Open advanced properties…” and click “Finish”.

10. In the Advanced Properties window: under the “Run” entry, add the path to the wallpaper you want to change at the end, putting in quotes if you have spaces.
eg. “D:\Customize\Command Line Wallpaper Changer Portable\CLWCP.exe” “D:\Customize\wallpaper\1 wp.jpg”

11. Click “OK”. Done!

Repeat 3 to 11 for multiple changes.

No, and that’s a MSN virus thing you got there. Received 3 of these so far.

oopz, i clicked it cuz i rly tot it waz mi pic
don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world. There are three things you should do immediately:

1. Exit MSN Messenger. You don’t want to keep sending out those embarrassing messages, now do you?

2. Google it. do a google search for exactly what the virus makes you say, and you’ll definitely find someone who’s already beat you to being hit and someone else who has found a solution. The internets is full of people like you. That’s how the virus reached you in the first place, right?

3. Download/Update/Execute your anti-virus software. This should usually clean up the mess, but I’ve come across a couple of cases where this didn’t work for some reason. Maybe the virus definition database was not updated in time. If it doesn’t work, try doing a spyware search & destroy.

If neither 2 or 3 works out, contact someone with moderate tech experience, before you accidentally break more things.

And in the future, please don’t be so click happy. If we avoid so many people getting infected, perhaps they’ll stop putting in that virus scan requirement.

Maybe ask the person who sent you the message about it, be like “wth how u got my pic”

“stalker.”

[woot link]

freeware, all platforms.

finally, no more panicking to try and find something to get that report combined on time.

http://www.convertico.com

quick and easy to use.