MSN has been tainted with ads in the contact list and message windows. There is a solution to removing these distractions for good over at apatch.org. A-Patch allows you to quickly select all the items you want to remove from your MSN messenger. You can easily remove items including ads, Whats Hot, Windows Live Branding and more. Via [apatch.org]
Whether we like it or not, spam is a part of our digital lives. Personally I hate spam in my inbox. Guy Roberts, anti-spam research manager, McAfee, Inc. has some tips to help you avoid getting more spam with his DIY Tips for a Spam-Free Inbox.
via [ Enterpriseitplanet.com ]
If you’re used to navigating application menus by hitting the Alt key, this won’t be a hard system to adopt. Traditionally, when you hit Alt on a normal Windows app, the focus goes to the application’s File menu. From there, you can navigate the menus by hitting the underlined letter. Office 2007 has taken this a step further.
Via [LifeHacker.com]
CueCats are barcode scanners that were given away by Digital Convergence in the late 1990s. They were designed as a way for consumers to scan barcodes from magazines and other media and be directed to a website with more information on the product or service they scanned. The scans were encrypted to prevent law suits based on the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) of 1998. However they are still useful today as a low cost barcode scanning solution with a little hardware modification and or some free software known as CatNip which bypasses the encryption. The nice thing about these devices is that they type any scan into any field and press enter which makes them perfect for passwords. In this article I am going to show you how to take your modified or unmodified CueCat and use it to login to your computer via passwords encoded into barcode format.
What you will need.
1. A CueCat USB or PS2 will work.
2. A barcode (You can use one from an existing rewards card or make your own here)
3. An account to test it on before using this as your form of authentication.
If you are using Vista you may have noticed that the run command is no longer visible in the start menu. Restoring this useful feature is easy. There are two ways to do it.
Google AdSense banned me from participation in their program last summer. The resons to me are not clear but there seems to be a number of other people in the same boat. Appearntly I was banned for “fraudulent clicks” which translates into the same IP or computer system clicking on ads published by an AdSense account.
If you create an AdSense account at a public WiFi spot or a public network and someone else accesses your ads from the same network then you may appear to be generating “fradulent clicks” to Google and it wont be long until they ban you even if you did not intentionally click your ad’s. So what can someone do once they are banned from use of Google AdSense. Well according to Google they will not reinstate any previously banned accounts. Well I am banned and I plan to try and get unbanned from the program. I will be posting about it here to keep anyone interested up to date on my progress.
Google’s adress
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
phone: (650) 253-0000
fax: (650) 253-0001
I plan to call them this week and see what I can find out. If any of my readers have encountered this problem and have any insight on how to correct this issue please feel free to send it to tips@timmatheson.com
I made a quick video to demonstrate how you can tell if a CD or DVD is blank. If you look on a disc that is not blank you will notice a ring indicating the disc’s contents. The further the ring is to the “outer” edge the more data the disc contains. Pretty simple but useful.
If you have not already downloaded Google Desktop I highly recommend it. Google desktop makes finding your files easy not to mention adding tons of other functionality to your desktop. What if you want to search for only files with a specific extension? Well the answer is simple you just type filetype:jpg or whatever extension you are looking for. This is a great way to sort, categorize, and delete your files and become more organized. Here are some of the different types of files you might want to search for and how to do it.
As you can see the filetype: tells Google desktop only to find files with the extension after filetype:. Replace the search string with any other related text you might have to narrow the results.
The thought of repairing your own laptop can be painful. There are lots of little screws, springs, prongs, nuts etc. However some PC shops will not even fix laptops and recommend you contact the manufacture for repairs. So what is one to do when their laptop power supply breaks? Should you contact your laptop manufacture and see about a warranty? Or do you try to mend it yourself and save time and possibly some money? Repair4laptop.org has a great guide that covers in detail, with pictures how to repair your laptop power supply cables. The guide features Apple and PC models and the list is quite extensive.
WNPP (Wireless Number Pooling Portability) AKA LNP (Local Number Portability) is an FCC regulation that requires cellular providers to allow for anyone to take their number with them to another carrier as long as the number doesn’t cross zip codes or change telephone exchanges. (e.g. 262-555-1212 could not be ported to 715-555-1212 really your just porting the last four of your number) so if you move because your carrier doesn’t cover your newly found home and decide to keep your number it is likely to be long distance for incoming local callers. This should be especially considered by anyone using their cell phone for business.
If you own a car you should also own an auto accident kit. An auto accident kit can mean the difference between getting you much deserved settlement and getting screwed by an insurance company. For the most part accident kits are easy to put together and you may already have some of the items around your home or office. I have put together a list of items you should have on hand in the invent of an accident.
Entering your debit card pin number is a great security feature to prevent fraud. However it is not even required by most stores. This is useful and troubling at the same time. I have been in situations where someone is right behind me and I don’t want to enter it in front of them. The solution is simple choose the “credit” option when prompted by the magstripe terminal. When you’re using credit no pin is required and this will work at any self serve or swipe it yourself payment terminal. For other places where the merchant swipes the card simply answer credit when they ask “debit or credit?” and you wont need your pin number. This method also comes in handy when sending the kids out for some milk or any situation where they ask for a pin just say “run it as credit”.
Water conservation is alway a good practice. Here is a tip on how to use less water on your next stop to the shitter.
Start by filling up the jug with sand, water or whatever you want just make sure its heavy enough to stay submerged with the toilet back removed. Flush the toilet to allow the water to drain from the basin and place the jug down into the basin. The water will rise but will have less volume to fill this time resulting in less water used for each flush.
I heard a rumor that McDonalds charges a dine-in tax to its customers who eat in the restaurant. I had to see for myself, so I called four McDonalds in four different states and asked them about it. To my surprise every one of them confirmed they did have such a charge.
I try not to eat at McDonalds as much as possible because of health reasons but I am anxious to see if anyone out there has a receipt from their dine-in experience. I would love to see what they are actually calling this alleged tax. I am not even sure they can call it a tax unless the U.S. Government is actually levying this tax. If any of my readers have any information on this please comment.
I made a quick video tutorial on how to use any AC adapter to power low voltage electronics. NOTE: I am not responsible for any damage to your electronics. This video is for informational purposes only.
As a former U.S. Cellular employee I experienced first hand the shady business practices U.S. Cellular uses against their customer base. I worked for the carrier for about 8 months through a reseller agent program. Often I looked for ways to get people to want to sign up for service to earn some commission and move some handsets.
If you are a gambler and frequent the local casinos or take an occasional trip to Las Vegas you may be missing out on the big pay out. (more…)
Have you ever been told you favor a celebrity? Well now myheritage.com has an online tool that will take a 100 X 100 pixels or greater photo of you and compare it against celebrity photos to find your twin. I wasn’t too impressed with some of the results this widget came up with but hey it’s a neat idea.
Using the tool requires registration and they try to trick you into filling out a survey just click “no thanks” at the page where they ask for your SSN (crazy talk these days) and your on your way to finding your famous twin or so they say.Link
Tiggers love bouncing, we all know that. Well apparently they also love boxing as this video shows Tigger connecting with a left hook to a 14 year old boys face. The teen went to the hospital and the Tigger was suspended. The plush bully has yet to apologize to the boy or his family.
Ok this is a tip I have used for years to reduce my cell phone bill. Actually I haven’t had to put it into practice much since I left a certain unnamed PCS provider.
In short you just waste their time on the phone untill it costs them money then reap the benifits.