Items filtered by date: December 2015

IMPORTANT NOTE: Tekmaven brings up a valid point -- Those that join a domain with Media Center 2005 will *not* be able to use extender devices due to the Fast User Switching dependency (who uses extenders anyway?)

UPDATE (January 8th): I have received news the Linksys MCE Extender device works fine when joined in a domain.

1. Insert Windows XP CD.

2. Start > Run > X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons

   (replace X: with the appropiate drive letter)

3. Acknowledge prompt by clicking 'Yes'.

4. Skip updating process by clicking 'Cancel' or by pressing 'Esc'

5. After installation, acknowledge success msg. by clicking 'Ok'

6. Start > Shutdown > Restart

7. At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'

8. Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'

   (If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')

9. Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd system32\config'

10. Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\'

11. Type (without quotes) and press enter: exit

12. At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'

13. Log into Windows and play a game of minesweeper (very important)

14. Start > Run > Type: 'regedit' and press enter

15. Click on 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE'.

16. File > Load Hive...

17. Browse and select C:\SYSTEM

18. Specify key name 'BANANA' and click OK

19. Expand: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > BANANA > WPA > MedCtrUpg

20. On the right-hand side, double-click IsLegacyMCE value

21. Change selected value to 1 and click Ok. (THAT IS NOT AN L!)

22. Click on BANANA subkey (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).

23. File > Unload Hive. Confirm.

24. Start > Shutdown > Restart

25. At boot menu, select 'Microsoft Windows Recovery Console'

26. Take sip of Dr. Pepper (very important)

27. Select proper installation to log onto (default: 1) and press 'Enter'

   (If prompted, enter Administrator password and press 'Enter')

28. Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'cd \'

29. Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'copy SYSTEM C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM'

  (Yes, you want to overwrite - Go ahead and do it)

30. Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'del SYSTEM'

31. Type (without quotes) and press enter: 'exit'

32. At boot menu, select 'Windows XP Media Center Edition'

33. Take a piss while you wait.

34. Join domain. What, you were expecting instructions on this too?

Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop

A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.

All you need to add a Favicon to your site is a Windows Icon (.ico) file called favicon.ico that you upload to the main directory of your website.

Download The Plugin

You'll need the Windows Icon (ICO) file format Photoshop Plugin to export to the .ico file format. You can download the plugin from Telegraphics. The plugin reads and writes ICO files in 1, 4 and 8-bit Indexed and 24-bit RGB modes, and also reads and writes 32-bit "XP" icons (with 8-bit alpha channel). Make sure to install the plugin before you begin this tutorial.

Let's Begin

Because 16 x 16 is such a small canvas area, it can be very difficult to be creative. So instead start your project with a canvas set at 64 x 64 (always use even multiples when you plan on resizing files). Do this by selecting File>New, and opening a new canvas that is 64 x 64 pixels in size.

The Design

If you already have a logo you should reduce it to the 16 x 16 size to see if it holds up. If it doesn't look good at this size, work with the 64 x 64 canvas and try creating a simple design that incorporates colors from your website's palette.

When you're ready to test the design select Image>Image Size menu and enter 16 x 16. Click on Resample Image and choose "Bicubic Sharper" from the drop-down menu (CS only for this step). This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur as it's being resized.

If you feel the icon is not quite what you wanted, just keep tweaking it until it is perfect. At this tiny size it can take a few tries before you get it right.

Saving The Custom Icon

Go to File>Save As and make sure you name the file favicon.ico. Under Format you must choose Windows Icon (ICO) from the pulldown menu. This format will only be available in Photoshop after you download and install the plugin. In the next step you'll need to upload this new file to the root folder of your website, so it's a good idea to navigate and save it to that location on your hard drive now.

Uploading The Favicon.ico File

Connect to your server and upload your Favicon.ico file to your website. You must place it into the same directory as your home (index) page, and leave it loose, making sure not to put it in an images directory or other folder.

Some browsers will look for a direct link in the HTML source code to your site's favicon.ico file. You can help these browsers by adding this link in the head section of each page on which you want the Favicon.ico to appear. Here is the link code to include: <link rel="Shortcut Icon" href="/favicon.ico"> Once you've added this code, upload all of your modified pages

Testing

If your new Favicon does not show up right away, try refreshing the page — or put a '?' at the end of the url, which will trick a browser into thinking the page is new and not cached.

Troubleshooting

• Browser Issues: Microsoft IE 6 for Windows will not display the favicon until the URL has been added to the favorites, and Safari for the MAC will not display an updated favicon until the browser cache has been cleared. But choosing ‘empty cache’ from the menu won't help because Safari stores favicons in a separate cache. You must empty the icon cache yourself. Look for it in User>Library>Safari>Icons.

• File Format Not Available: The Windows Icon (ICO) file format will not be available until you have downloaded and installed the plugin, and then Quit and Restarted Photoshop

Inspiration

If you need some inspiration have a look through this nice collection of favicons. Also look at the nice categorized list of 50 remarkable favicons at Smashing Magazine. You might find something that triggers an idea for your own.

Original Article

Western Digital

"WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWD"

Seagate

"Seagate + 25 blanks"

In Vista SP1 the default Administrator account is disabled. But enabling it is a simple task.

Enable a command prompt with administrative privileges.

1. Enter "cmd" in the search box under the Start menu and press CTRL + SHIFT + Enter to launch the command prompt with administrative privileges.

or

2. Alternatively, you can also right-click the highlighted result and choose the "Run as administrator" option.

Now run the appropoiate command below.

To enable the account type the command:

net user administrator /active:yes

To disable the account, type the command:

net user administrator /active:no

This bookmarklet diables CSS on any page.

javascript:__ds=function(){var%20i,s=document.styleSheets;for(i=0;i<s.length;i++)s[i].disabled=true};__ds();

On epson injet printers after setting up a normal printer share and the appropiate permissions you cannot print even thought the print job has arrived in the queue on the host machine, though not always completely dowmloaded.

Explanation:

This is a problem caused by epson status monitor having conflicts with other programs such as antivirus and firewalls and the data not being passed to the spool queue properely.

Solution:

1. got to printer preferences

2. select maitenance tab

3. then press, speed and progress button

4. tick 'Disable EPSON Status Monitor' and enable 'Always spool RAW datatype'

Boot windows in safe mode.

Run regedit and goto:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents

In the right pane, right-click OOBETimer, and the click Modify.

Change at least one digit of this value to deactivate windows.

Restart normally and reactivate.

This problem occurs when the Disk Cleanup Tool disables the hibernation file. The hibernation file must be enabled to access the hybrid sleep feature and the hibernation feature in Windows Vista.

When the hibernation file is disabled, and the hybrid sleep feature is enabled, a backup of open programs and open files will not be saved to the disk when you use the sleep feature in Windows Vista. Additionally, if the computer loses power while the Windows is in sleep mode, open programs and open files will not be recovered, and any unsaved work will be lost.

Also You cannot see the Hibernate option in Power Options.

Solution

access the command prompt and type the text below to turn hibernation back on.

powercfg -h on

1. Click on Start button, then select Control Panel.

2. Click on Network and Internet link, and then click on Network and Sharing Center.

3. You will see that network discovery is off. Click on the corresponding 'Drop Dowb Arrow' button to expand the section.

4. Click “Turn on network discovery”, and then click Apply. Administrator permission required. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Note that network policy settings might prevent you from completing these steps if your computer is connected to a network.

Common Options : 0.25%, 0.5%, Smart Clock, Disabled

When the motherboard's clock generator pulses, the extreme values (spikes) of the pulses create EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). The Spead Spectrum feature reduces the EMI by modulating the pulses so that the spikes of the pulses are reduced to flatter curves. It does so by varying the frequency slightly so that the signal doesn't use any particular frequency for more than a moment. This reduces the amount of interference that will affect the other electronics in the area.

The BIOS usually offers two different levels of modulation - 0.25% or 0.5%. That's the amount of modulation (or jitter) from the baseline signal. The greater the modulation, the greater the reduction of EMI. Therefore, if you need to significantly reduce EMI in the surrounding area, a modulation of 0.5% is recommended.

In most conditions, frequency modulation via this feature shouldn't cause any problems. However, system stability may be slightly compromised in certain situations. For example, enabling Spread Spectrum may cause improper functioning of timing-critical devices like clock-sensitive SCSI devices.

Spread Spectrum can also cause problems with overclocked systems, especially those that have been taken to extremes. The slight modulation of frequency may cause the processor or any other overclocked components of the system to fail, leading to very predictable consequences. Of course, this depends on the amount of modulation, the extent of overclocking and other factors like temperature variation, etc... As such, the problem may not readily manifest itself instantly.

Therefore, it is recommended that you disable this feature if you are overclocking your system. The risk of crashing your system isn't worth the reduction in EMI. Of course, if EMI reduction is important to you, enable this feature by all means but reduce the clock speed a little to give this feature some "space" to modulate safely. If you are not overclocking, the decision to enable or disable this feature is really up to you. But if you ask me, unless you have EMI problems, it's best to disable this feature to remove the possibility of stability issues.

Some BIOSes also offer a Smart Clock option. Instead of modulating the frequency of the pulses over time, Smart Clock turns off the AGP, PCI and SDRAM clock signals that are not in use. Thus, EMI can be reduced without compromising system stability. As a bonus, using Smart Clock also help to reduce power consumption. The degree of EMI and power reduction will depend on the number of free (empty) AGP, PCI and SDRAM slots. But generally, Smart Clock won't be able to reduce EMI as effectively as simple frequency modulation.

Still, if your BIOS comes with this Smart Clock option, you should select it over the 0.25% or 0.5% options if you need some EMI reduction. It will allow you to reduce EMI without any risk of compromising stability.