Wednesday, June 20, 2007
stolen elections
Google video - watch the first 12 minutes at least... especially if you or anyone you know is in the military. Not news to me.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
O&O Defrag 10
O&O Software - Product Information
I've been a fan of O&O's defrag for a few years because it reorganizes files according to a set of rules as it defrags. With version 10 we can finally have our defrag jobs run whenever Windows goes into screensaver mode! As if that weren't cool enough by itself, they also include a screensaver as part of the install package. Here's a crappy digital camera shot of my screen with the O&O screensaver in action. On the left side of the screen file names with their full path scroll up as they are defragged & taken care of. The image map of your defragmentation in process spins and rotates in a 3D space on the right. It almost looks like something out of CSI Miami or some Sci-Fi show. As cool as it is I will stick to the Power Dimmer screensaver just because I like being able to see my desktop at all times. You certainly don't need to be running O&O's screensaver in order to have their software defrag while your PC is running a screensaver!
I've been a fan of O&O's defrag for a few years because it reorganizes files according to a set of rules as it defrags. With version 10 we can finally have our defrag jobs run whenever Windows goes into screensaver mode! As if that weren't cool enough by itself, they also include a screensaver as part of the install package. Here's a crappy digital camera shot of my screen with the O&O screensaver in action. On the left side of the screen file names with their full path scroll up as they are defragged & taken care of. The image map of your defragmentation in process spins and rotates in a 3D space on the right. It almost looks like something out of CSI Miami or some Sci-Fi show. As cool as it is I will stick to the Power Dimmer screensaver just because I like being able to see my desktop at all times. You certainly don't need to be running O&O's screensaver in order to have their software defrag while your PC is running a screensaver!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Yahoo Mail, Firefox and Vista
Let's say you have a new computer and are using the combination of Yahoo webmail, Firefox and your OS is Vista and you want to be able to click email links on webpages in firefox and have a compose yahoo email page open in a new tab with the proper info from the mailto link you clicked. You'd think this was a pretty straightforward and easy thing to set up. I just spent 3 hours looking for a way to get it to work.
I used to use Yahoo mail. Yahoo used to have a little app that would install and make it so all your clicked mailto links would open their webmail instead of Outlook Express or Windows Mail (vista). Apparently Yahoo doesn't support or distribute that tiny application anymore. They want you to install their Yahoo Instant Messenger in order to be able to click a mailto link and send mail with them... in firefox. Things like this make me glad I switched to gmail way back when.
I went down the path of trying to get Yahoo's old webmail application that I used to do and it was a dead end. If you search you will find a .cab file and can install this thing without problems under XP (right-click->install the .dll file) but it doesn't work so easily in Vista and I didn't want to figure out how to make it work in Vista. It should NOT be this freakin hard so I kept searching.
I eventually found a WebmailCompose add-on for firefox that works with all kinds of webmail providers and mailto links but the extension is gathering dust and won't install in FF 2.0.4. Download v0.6.5 and save it somewhere because who knows if it will still be around for long. The original author's website that most download links point to was a vast wasteland of 404s.
Next you need to get Mr. Tech's local install add-on for FF. Install this first, restart FF, then open the WebmailCompose .xpi file you saved... open it with Firefox of course. You should get a pop-up window from the Local Install add-on. Check off the box that says something about maximizing version compatibility or whatever and it installs just fine in FF 2.0.4. It looks like all of the WebmailCompose add-on's options are present but some of them went beyond the bounds of the options window in Vista. It still works though as far as I can tell.
Credit goes to this link Posted: Oct Thu 12th 2006 6:36pm by Mr. E but I thought I would make a post backing it up just in case that page disappears someday too.
I used to use Yahoo mail. Yahoo used to have a little app that would install and make it so all your clicked mailto links would open their webmail instead of Outlook Express or Windows Mail (vista). Apparently Yahoo doesn't support or distribute that tiny application anymore. They want you to install their Yahoo Instant Messenger in order to be able to click a mailto link and send mail with them... in firefox. Things like this make me glad I switched to gmail way back when.
I went down the path of trying to get Yahoo's old webmail application that I used to do and it was a dead end. If you search you will find a .cab file and can install this thing without problems under XP (right-click->install the .dll file) but it doesn't work so easily in Vista and I didn't want to figure out how to make it work in Vista. It should NOT be this freakin hard so I kept searching.
I eventually found a WebmailCompose add-on for firefox that works with all kinds of webmail providers and mailto links but the extension is gathering dust and won't install in FF 2.0.4. Download v0.6.5 and save it somewhere because who knows if it will still be around for long. The original author's website that most download links point to was a vast wasteland of 404s.
Next you need to get Mr. Tech's local install add-on for FF. Install this first, restart FF, then open the WebmailCompose .xpi file you saved... open it with Firefox of course. You should get a pop-up window from the Local Install add-on. Check off the box that says something about maximizing version compatibility or whatever and it installs just fine in FF 2.0.4. It looks like all of the WebmailCompose add-on's options are present but some of them went beyond the bounds of the options window in Vista. It still works though as far as I can tell.
Credit goes to this link Posted: Oct Thu 12th 2006 6:36pm by Mr. E but I thought I would make a post backing it up just in case that page disappears someday too.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Cable Modem Blower
So after years of dealing with a Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem (with firmware version 1.0.6 (befcmu10v2_106.bin) of course) that likes to stop working properly when downloading alot of stuff I figured I'd finally try something to fix it since I don't have alot of other things to do lately. I stuck a fan into the thing that blows down onto the main processor chip. Gallery of the mod of course... it's not pretty since I just wanted to be done with it quick (I don't like being disconnected for very long) and I cracked the case trying to use utility scissors to cut it instead of my Dremel. Lesson learned hopefully... ALWAYS use the Dremel.
It took more than a day but the modem eventually stopped sending any data just like always. The thing isn't very warm to the touch anymore though so it's still an improvement over the stock design. The white thing taped to the modem is a de-cottoned cotton swab and has been there for almost as long as I've had the modem. It goes into a hole and makes contact with the reset switch so I can hit tthe switch without turning around the modem or standing on my head to find the hole with a paperclip or pen.
It took more than a day but the modem eventually stopped sending any data just like always. The thing isn't very warm to the touch anymore though so it's still an improvement over the stock design. The white thing taped to the modem is a de-cottoned cotton swab and has been there for almost as long as I've had the modem. It goes into a hole and makes contact with the reset switch so I can hit tthe switch without turning around the modem or standing on my head to find the hole with a paperclip or pen.
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