Another reason to use this is when inputting repetitive keys that might take a while to reach. The ampersand sign (&) is very useful but can be incredibly annoying to find when under pressure to write fast, such as when taking notes in class. Therefore, I made a script which replaces the numpad “-” sign with “&” for instant access. This may seem trivial and unnecessary, but the time it saves in the long run is immense.

To do this, first download autohotkey and install it.
Once installed, you can right click in any folder and choose New -> AutoHotKey Script. Then, right click the newly created script and choose Edit.

To define a hotstring, enclose the triggering abbreviation between pairs of colons as in this example:

::btw::by the way

For example, my file has some of the following code:

::ls::liveslick@gmail.com
::ls2::il[snip]@gmail.com
::ls3::tr[snip]@gmail.com
::ty::Thank You
NumPadSub::&

As you can see, I use ls, ls2, ls3 to quickly type my different email address, ty as a quick way of typing Thank You and the numpad “-” to become &. This has infinite possibilities. I hope it will benefit all of you.

For more info check out: http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Hotstrings.htm

1. Plug in your external hard drive
2. Open up Disk Utility
3. Click on the name of your external harddrive
4. Click on the “Restore” tab
5. In the “Source” field, select the image file (such as leopard.dmg) from wherever it is on your hard drive
6. In the “Destination” field, drag your external hard drive from the Disk Utility drive list on the left onto this field. Of course, if it’s only a partition on the external drive that you want to use, drag only the partition.
Note: anything on the partition will be erased and replaced with the installation files for Leopard. Therefore, it is best to make a partition on the external hard drive which has about 8 gigabytes. Use this partition as the destination so that everything else on the drive remains unchanged.
7. Click on restore. This may take awhile.
8. Once its done, open up System Preferences
9. Click on Startup Disk
10. Select the external hard drive (or partition in it) with the Leopard Install
11. Click Restart. The leopard installation will begin from the external hard drive. This installation is identical to installing leopard with a DVD.

If you are having any trouble, read the comments - there are some great tips there.

Some of the new features include:

Opera link - which let’s you synchronize many features of Opera
History Search - which gives you the ability to search terms (such as website titles, headlines) if you  forget the website URL.
And much more.

If you never tried Opera, give it a try. It’s one of the best browsers around.

cd\myfiles\music

cmd2.gif
Now, just type this command:

dir /on /b /s >list.txt

The file list.txt will be created in the directory (in this case c:\MyFiles\Music\list.txt) and will include all the files and sub-directories that are included in the current folder. If you only want a list of the files and folders in the current folder without its sub-directories, remove the /s, to make it:

dir /on /b >list.txt

The /on orders the lists by alphabetical name, the /b makes it only list the filename, and the /s includes subdirectories files in the list.

Of course, you can change the text file to anything you want by changing list.txt to anything.txt.

This is how the text file will look like:
list.gif

You can modify this file in seconds and make it look exactly like you want it (like removing the c:\MyFiles\Music part) with your favorite text editor and the Find and Replace feature. This can be used to make lists of everything on the computer - music, documents, pictures and programs.

This whole process takes less than 30 seconds and is vital at times. Especially before a reformat.

Another reason to use different profiles is when using FireFox for different purposes. Obviously, most people don’t use every extension every time they use Firefox. However, the fact that the extension is installed makes Firefox startup and run slower than usual. The more extensions you run, the slower Firefox will run.

Use Firefox Profiles for different browsing habits

You can create Firefox profiles for the different browsing habits that you have. For example, if you are a web developer, you can have all extensions for that on one profile, without the unnecessary ones cluttering your Firefox. Likewise, if you want to browse without leaving any trace -”private browsing” - you can have a profile with the extension distrust or stealther and noscript.
For normal browsing, you can have another profile, and so on. This will keep your Firefox neat and fast - leaving only the necessary extensions and bookmarks for their respective purposes.

To use Firefox Profiles, follow these steps:
More…
1. Go to Start->Run and type:

Firefox -p

ffprofile.gif
2. Click on Create Profile and name it whatever you want (porn mode, work…)
3. Run each profile and set it up exactly how you want it - download the correct extensions and place the bookmarks that you need.

Place desktop shortcuts for each profile:

To create shortcuts for each Firefox profile, put a shortcut for Firefox on your desktop for each profile. So if you have 4 profiles, place 4 shortcuts to Firefox. Right click->Properties on each shortcut and go to the Shortcut tab. In the target field, it will be something like this:

“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”

Simply add -p name to the end where name is the name of the profile. So if the profile name is ‘private’ the Target field should look like this:

“C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -p private

ffprofile21.gif
Do this for every shortcut of Firefox.

Depending on how many extensions you normally use, this can speed up your firefox significantly (especially how long it takes it to start up) because the extensions are spread over more profiles. Also, it’s much less cluttered because you can spread bookmarks also.

    Basically, every day we nominate one software title that will be a Giveaway title of that day. The software will be available for download for 24 hours (or more, if agreed by software publisher) and that software will be absolutely free. That means - not a trial, not a limited version - but a registered and legal version of the software will be free for our visitors*.

Also, there is a game giveaway of the day with the same concept - only for games.

For example, if you want to search IMDB for the movie Ice Age, all you have to do is type ‘i ice age’ into the address bar and press enter. This makes searching sites like google, newegg, amazon, or any other site which you search at much faster. Of course, you can designate any keyword you want for any site, so IMDB can be ‘i’ or ‘imdb’ or anything you want the keyword to be. To set a keyword for a specific site, follow these steps:

1. Go to the website that you want to create a keyword for.



2. Right click on the search form and choose “Add a Keyword fro this Search…”
3. Type the Name of the Website and the keyword that you want to use. To make your bookmarks more organized, you can add all of you search websites to a folder called “Search”.



4. Repeat for every website that you search at.
5. Now you can search any website by typing “[keyword] [phrase]” into the address bar. Makes everything a lot simpler.

Once you are done, you can even remove the search bar from Firefox - you won’t be using it anymore.

Luckily, there is an amazing program which lets you be in control of every single program which launches during startup:

This program is called Startup Control Panel and it comes in two forms. One form allows you to install it on your computer so that it shows up inside the control panel. Honestly, Microsoft should’ve included this program themselves in XP. There is no reason for the user to have to go to MSConfig through run and figure out which program does what and so on. A second option is to simply download the program standalone, and run it whenever you want to.

Once you download it, you will see many tabs - Startup (user), Startup (common), HKCU / Run … - each one signifies a different type of startup:

• Startup (user) - the current user’s Startup folder in the Start Menu.
• Startup (common) - the common (all users) Startup folder in the Start Menu.
• HKLM / Run - the Run registry key located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. These apply for all users.
• HKCU / Run - the Run registry key located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. These apply for the current user only.
• Services - system services that are started before the user logs in. This appears only in Win9x; on NT/2000/XP, use the Services control panel, or the Services item in Computer Management.
• Run Once - started once and once only at the next system startup.
• Deleted - programs go to the Deleted tab when you remove them from another location. They will not run at system startup, but will merely be stored should you ever want to use them again. If you delete an item from the Deleted tab, it is removed permanently.

One each tab, you can easily delete any program you don’t want to start or even change it from running on everyone to only one user or vice versa. Simply right click on a program and select what you want to do with it:

• New… - create a new entry. You can also drag & drop files from My Computer or Explorer.
• Edit… - edit an existing entry.
• Delete - delete the currently selected entry.
• Disable / Enable - disable or enable the selected entry. A disabled program will appear in the list with a special icon, and will not run at system startup. You can also use the checkbox next to an item to enable or disable it.
• Run Now - executes the program now.
• Send To - moves the entry from the current location to another.

The advantage this has over going to MSConfig is that it also shows the startup files from the startup folder on the Start menu. Also, it lets you easily move around the programs from one place to another, which isn’t possible with MSConfig.

Getting The Infrared Receiver

First, you’ll need the Infrared Receiver Dongle which comes with the Xbox DVD-Remote. Once you connect that to the Xbox, you can use any universal remote control. You can easily find these dongles on eBay for very cheap - around $10-15. Just search for the Xbox Remote Control Playback Kit.

Setting The Code

Once you connect that to the Xbox, you need to set your universal remote control VCR or DVD code to an RCA code. This is the protocol that the dongle receives. Your remotes manual should have a list which includes many different types of DVD’s or VCR’s; choose a code that is for RCA. Once you see that some of the buttons work - like up, down, menu - you’re done setting the code.

Personalizing The Remote Buttons

This is the most important step - making the remote behave exactly as you want it to. Fortunately, XBMC makes it incredibly easy to find each button that your unique remote sends the receiver, so that you can change its settings.

This is done by changing the <displayremotecodes> to true in the AdvancedSettings.xml file. Sounds confusing? It’s really not. All you have to do is locate the UserData folder in XBMC and open the AdvancedSettings.xml file. (If it doesn’t exist - create it). In it, type this code:

<displayremotecodes>true</displayremotecodes>

Now restart XBMC and you should notice that every time you press a button with the remote, a code displays on the screen. This is the code that you will use to change individual buttons. Take note of each button code which you want to change the default function of.

Next, open up the file Keymap.xml - which is also in the UserData folder. It will have this structure:

<keymap>
<global>
<remote>
…

Before the <remote> tag, add this:

<universalremote>
<obc##>[Command]</obc##>
<obc##>[Command2]</obc##>
…
</universalremote>

Where ## is, you replace it with the code that you previously wrote down. Of course, it should be replaced with the same number in the same line. Where [command] is, replace it with the different commands that XBMC knows - found in this list. You can add as many commands as you want for each button code. For example, if XBMC tells you that the ‘Stop’ button is code 24, ‘Pause’ is 32 and ‘Rewind’ is 49, you should add this line of code:

<universalremote>
<obc24>Stop</obc24>
<obc32>Pause</obc32>
<obc49>Rewind</obc49>
</universalremote>

Once you are done, restart XBMC and all the buttons should be set exactly as you want them to be. Finally, you should edit AdvancedSettings.xml and add ‘false’ instead of true, so the codes will not bother you every time you press on a button.

That’s it! Enjoy your ultimate media center.

Here are screen shots of the results from the front page of Yahoo News.

Internet Explorer:

Opera & Firefox:

Notice the difference? Internet Explorer’s is much more smooth and looks a lot better. However, it is very easy to get this style on all of Windows, not just Internet Explorer.

If you want to display this font on any font that Windows XP displays, all you have to do is enable ClearType; here are the directions:
1. Right click on the desktop and choose Properties.
2. Click on the Appearance tab and then choose the Effects… button.

3. In the ‘Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:’ choose ClearType.

Check out the results in Firefox:

This will change the font in everything in Windows - applications, desktop, start menu.

It might not look like a huge difference - but it is, try it.

[Edit] You can also get the ClearType Tuner PowerToy from Microsoft here. It lets you fine-tune ClearType so that it looks best on your specific screen.
Thanks Phil