JiveBay » Computers

Why can’t we tab through code hints?

blogger — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:07:43 +0000

I’ve tried every major code editor out there (and a few text editors) and none of them let you tab through the code completion hints.

I’ve tried the following:

None of them support this! The only editor that ever did support this was Aptana and they gave up on PHP.

Why do I have to move my hand from where I am typing to the arrow keys or to my mouse and select an option. Why not let us tab through the list of choices? This is clearly a better approach to UX (user experience). Firefox and IE both allow you to do this from the URL box. And I wrote about how to configure Opera to allow tabbing through the URL bar. Unfortunately Google Chrome and Safari don’t support it.

A Yahoo! Messenger Security Hole

blogger — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:58:18 +0000

Why does Yahoo! Messenger allow people that are not on your buddy list to send you files? Seriously, there should be an option to disable anyone sending you a file that is not on your buddy list. If you want to trust anyone, you can disable that option, otherwise you should be able to turn it on and prevent anyone from giving you viruses. Not only that, but I’ve noticed that somehow people that send you files over and over can crash your Yahoo! Messenger or lock it up so you have to Control-Alt-Delete and kill the program.

Yahoo! Messenger is the Worst on Spam

blogger — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:30:38 +0000

This should go without saying, because I’m sure if you have used Yahoo! Messenger you know its a place for spam bots.

One thing that bothers me is that I often get conference invites.

However, there is no setting to disable or ignore those. You can only ignore chat invitations.

Seriously they need to add this option, I get these all the time. Yes, I could use Pidgin, but Pidgin doesn’t have all the features that Yahoo! Messenger has.

PDFforge’s PDFCreator sneaks in PDFforge Toolbar

blogger — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:38:00 +0000

When installing PDFCreator I told it not to install what I thought was the Yahoo! Toolbar. However, when I launched my internet browser I noticed a new toolbar appeared. So I uninstalled PDFCreator and the PDFforge Toolbar (as it’s called here) from Windows’ Set Program Access and Defaults.

I decided to reinstall it and see how it snuck by. It seems to be mentioned in the license agreement, but its buried in all that text.

On the screen I thought was for a Yahoo! Toolbar, I find out its actually for setting up Yahoo! as my default search engine, yet why put the image of a toolbar on that page? Not only that but the title of that screen says PDFCreator Browser Add On, but not only that it specifically says, “Install the PDFCreator Browser Add On and” then some bullet points and a toolbar image followed by “Set Yahoo! as my default search engine and notify me of changes.”

Therefore, I assume that it will install the toolbar and set Yahoo! as the default search engine. But then below that it says “IMPORTANT: If you don’t want to install the PDFCreator Browser Add On, then please unselect it on the next screen.” But why even mention it or give it the name of that screen if we have to select it on the next screen.

Here is that next screen

I like PDFCreator for creating PDFs from other programs, but I think I’ll be on the lookout for a replacement after this. And it should go without saying when you install programs always do the Advanced Install because they will often sneak things in by default and don’t blindly click next.

Rename Master

blogger — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:57:56 +0000

Ever have a bunch of files that you needed updated. For instance, perhaps you have a script or program that generates a bunch of incremental files or maybe you need to fix files that were not named with your naming convention. Rename Master is the free tool that will help you get this done. You can change the case sensitivity, add numbers to the end, replace just part of the name or some letters and more. You can also edit file properties such as MP3 tags, JPEG JFIF and EXIF tags. It also gives you a preview of what your changes will look like, before you implement them. It can be installed or run as a standalone app, so you can put it on a USB flash drive and add it to your arsenal of tools.

VMware Player 3.0

blogger — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:45:02 +0000

VMware Player 3.0 rocks. Finally you can create or edit your virtual machines with just this program and not having to use a site like EasyVMX or going through a bunch of hassles hacking together a VHD and VMX that you could boot up into so you could install your OS. I used to install a trial version of VMware Workstation to create any new VMs I needed or if I need to edit them. A few years back I would just have VMware Server 1.0 installed on another machine to do all this, which meant I had to copy over my VMs and then do any creating or editing which was slow and tedious. And don’t get me started on VMware Server 2.0, the web interface is horrible. Vmware Player is much lighter than Vmware Workstation or Vmware Server, so I really didn’t want to just use one of those products by itself.

I believe they included the ability to create and edit the VMs in VMware Player for a few reasons. One of which is that they probably noticed people were either getting the trial version of VMware Workstation or just downright pirating it to do the editing or creating of VMs. The other reason is that VirtualBox maybe starting to eat into VMware’s userbase and since it lets you edit, create and use VMs all in one program, it made sense to have VMware Player do the same. And the same could be said about Virtual PC. Another benefit is that now that there is a GUI for editing the VMs for probably their most popular free program, there will probably be less people having to search and post on their support forums for configuring it manually by editing the VMX file by hand. Want to expand or contract the Virtual Hard Drive size, it can now be done in VMware Player. Although if you need to convert a VM from another program, you’ll need VMware Converter, but that it makes sense that program is seperate.

New Features

Virtual Machine with Easy Install — Create a virtual machine and install any supported guest operating system with Easy Install.
New User Interface — Use the new user interface to create virtual machines and edit virtual machine settings.
Windows 7 — Create and run Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines using VMware Workstation. VMware Workstation has been enhanced for performance and to take advantage of the new Windows 7 features including Live Thumbnails and Aero Peek.
Aero Glass — A new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) graphics driver has been developed for Windows Vista and Windows 7 virtual machines. The WDDM driver can display the Windows Aero user interface, OpenGL 1.4, and Shader Model 3.0. For more information on the VMware recommended graphics hardware, see the VMware Workstation User’s Manual.
Windows XP Mode Compatible — Import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine using VMware Player 3.0 and run the virtual machine without being prompted to enter a Windows XP license key. VMware Player enables the Windows XP Mode virtual machine to take advantage of more than one processor, render high-end graphics, integrate seamlessly with Unity, and transfer files easily with drag and drop, and shared folders. VMware Player also has the ability to run concurrently with Windows XP Mode.
3D Graphics Improvements for Windows XP guests — OpenGL 2.1 and Shader Model 3.0 support is now available for Windows XP virtual machines. The XPDM (SVGAII) graphics driver works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. However, only Windows XP virtual machines
install the XPDM graphics driver by default. To switch graphics drivers in the guest operating system, see How to Switch Between SVGAII and WDDM Drivers.
Multiple-Monitor Display — Virtual machines can now take advantage of multiple monitors.
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) — ALSA significantly improves the sound of virtual machines running on a Linux host and streams the audio from each virtual machine on a separate channel so that multiple virtual machines can be heard simultaneously.
Drag and Drop Enhancements — Drag and drop enhancements include support for new file types including images and formatted text and extend the existing ability to drag and drop files to a broader set of guest and host operating systems.
On-Demand VMware Tools Download — On-demand download capability provides the latest VMware Tools for the guest operating system. This feature reduces the overall download size of VMware products by downloading only the required set of VMware Tools and enables VMware to release new versions frequently.
Virtual Printing — Print from virtual machines without mapping network printers or installing printer drivers in the virtual machine. With virtual printing enabled in the virtual machine setting, all of the printers installed on the host operating system are available in the guest operating system. This functionality is enabled through a partnership with ThinPrint, Inc.
VIX API for VMware Player — Software vendors can use the VIX functionality to add their own interface to the VMware Player menu bar.

Reduce The Number of Firefox Extensions You Have

blogger — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:13:23 +0000

Everyone else might be writing articles about the top 10 or 50 Firefox extensions you must have, but this is about uninstalling some extensions so your Firefox can run a little faster and use less memory.

Do you really need the Delicious extension installed on every browser you use, or can you get by with the Delicious bookmarklets? Chances are the computer you use at home and work (and possibly any other installations or virtual machines) have many of the same extensions, but you probably only need the Delicious extension on your main machine. You really should use the bookmarklets if you have Firefox set to clear “Offline Website Data” when Firefox is closed, because that will wipe out any data it synced from Delicious.

Use the program Faststone Capture instead of the Colorzilla or Fireshot extensions. Faststone Capture will let you grab color from not only your browser but anywhere on your computer. It will also take screenshots from anywhere on your computer, including your browser and it will scroll down to grab the full page. It also has a magnifier tool you can use also. However, the last freeware version is 5.3.

Use the Lipsumlet bookmarket rather than Dummy Lipsum, it doesn’t have as many options, but gets the job done.

There are bookmarklets to send the URL you are on to other browsers, so you can eliminate the IE View or IE View Lite as well as OperaView, Safari View Win (or for OS X), Chrome View or Browser View Plus extensions.

Also, its a good idea to get to know the Web Developer extension a lot more. I’ve seen so many extensions out there that do 1 simple thing such as showing a ruler.

There are plenty of great bookmarklets out there that you can execute from your toolbar very easily and customize the placement as well. The only thing I miss is not being able to make a cool icon for bookmarklets very easily, although I know there is an extension to do it.

OpenCards – Free Flash Cards

blogger — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:07:00 +0000

I was looking for a free Flash Card program, because the one that comes with Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005 has a limit of 5 cards (I have no idea what Microsoft was thinking, perhaps they didn’t want it to become popular). OpenCards is an extension for OpenOffice.org’s Impress, which is a PowerPoint alternative for creating slideshow presentations. I was going to do a tutorial on how to use it, but I found out they already have one. I guess all I can do is promote it now.

SATA Switches – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 6

blogger — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:11:58 +0000

I thought I would update an old series of posts I had about hard disk drive selectors. The previous solutions I had covered were all for IDE drives. Although you could buy adapters for them to work with SATA drives it isn’t worth the effort in my opinion. Indus Technologies does make SATA selectors that allow up to 4 drives, but they are quite expensive (their cheapest model is $179.95). Rumor is that they had a patent on IDE HDD selectors and that killed the RomTec Trios and the Trios II, as well as the Combox (which seems to have finally sold out on eBay). I’m not sure if they hold any patents that would prevent anyone from legally making any SATA selector products or not.

I was able to find a device called the SATA Switch also known as the SW-SATA2X4.

SATA Switch SW-SATA2X4

Here are some of it’s features:

Uses a 3½” bay
Supports SATA II (thus is SATA I compatible)
Supports up to 4 drives
Controls the drives by only powering the one selected
LED to show which drive is selected
Can be locked with a key to prevent someone changing drives
Costs only $89.99

I haven’t been able to figure out the original manufacturer of this device, but it’s being sold on a number of sites.

I’ve also come across a guide on how to make your own SATA HDD Switch. The author also sells this homemade device for $29.95 and has another version that supports switching between 2 sets of RAID 0 or RAID 1 drives for $32.95. It doesn’t have LEDs or a button to press, it works with a toggle switch (although you might want a shield for it so you don’t accidentally bump into it).

(HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors

NickLock – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 1
Romtec Trios – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 2
Romtec Trios II – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 3
Combox – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 4
Alternatives and Summary – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 5
SATA Switches – (HDD) Hard Disk Drive Selectors Part 6

Open PDFs in Adobe Reader Instead of Your Browser

blogger — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:00:02 +0000

This is my favorite setting for Adobe Reader, because too often a PDF takes too long to load or hangs and I can’t switch tabs in my browser or it gets locked up and I have to go into the Task Manager and end the task.

In Adobe Reader 8, go to Edit -> Preferences then select Internet and uncheck Display PDF in Browser and press OK. You may have to reboot for the change to take place, not sure why it doesn’t just change it on relaunching Adobe Reader, but that’s what the dialog says.

Unfortunately, every update to Adobe Reader will lose this setting.