TechSix

Speed up your work with Bash aliases

2009-04-30T03:17:00.000-07:00

Whether you like or not Terminal in Linux, it's very useful and sometimes necessary. So, to speed up your work you can use "aliases" for commonly used commands. For example: when I type "aa", "apt-get install" is executed.

To enable "aliases" it's very simple, just follow these steps:

1. with your favorite editor open .bashrc (located in your home directory)

2. add this line

aliases xx="command"

3. open terminal and execute this command:

source ~/.bashrc

You can add as many aliases as you want but every time you need to reload bash with "source ~/.bashrc".

If you want to use aliases for the commands that can be executed only by root, edit .bashrc from your root directory, and execute "source ~/.bashrc" as root.

Move the Firefox sidebar to the right

2009-04-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

First you have to find userChrome.css file. This file is located in your profile folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\your profile\Application Data\Mozilla

Now open userChrome-example.css and enter these lines:

/* Display the sidebar in opposite side */
#browser {
-moz-box-direction: reverse;
}

Finally Save that file as userChrome.css and close it.

How to fix missing Avast icon from system tray

2009-04-05T04:31:00.000-07:00

This is a common problem with Avast Free Antivirus. Honestly I don't know the reason for this behavior, but the easiest solution is to repair Avast installation through Add/Remove program.

Open Control Panel
Click on Add or Remove Programs
Locate Avast and select repair

If this doesn't help, maybe you can try to reinstall Avast.

How to disable the Windows XP Splash Screen

2009-04-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

1. Click on Start, then Run

2. In the Run box type: msconfig

3. Click on the BOOT.INI tab

4. Now check this option:

/NOGUIBOOT

5. Click OK and Restart your PC

6. After restart you'll see this message:

7. Check "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows start" and click OK

How To Disable the Automatic Restart on System Failure in Windows XP

2009-04-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

By default Windows XP restarts immediately after important error. This is not very useful, because you can't see error message for troubleshooting.

To disable this function follow these steps:

1. Right-click on My computer and then Properties

2. Now click Advanced tab

3. In the Startup and Recovery area click on the Settings button.

4. In the System Failure area uncheck Automatically restart

5. Click OK, then OK again and that's it

How To Disable Taskbar Button Grouping in Windows XP and Windows Vista

2009-04-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

1. Right-click on the Taskbar

2. Then click on Properties in the pop up menu

3. Now in the Taskbar apperances uncheck :

Group similar taskbar buttons checkbox.

4. Finally click Apply and OK.

How To Disable Error Reporting in Windows XP

2009-04-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

1. Click on Start and then Control Panel.

2. Click on the Performance and Maintenance link then in the bottom of the window click on the System icon.

And if you use Classic View just click on System icon

3. In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab.

4. Near the bottom of the window, click on the Error Reporting button.

5. Now check Disable Error Reporting button

6. Click OK and that's it.

How to disable Windows Messenger

2009-04-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

To completely disable Windows Messenger perform the following steps:

1. Click Start >> Run

2. In the Run box, type gpedit.msc to open the Group Policy editor.

3. In the left pane, under Local Computer Policy | Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates and then Windows Components.

4. Double click Windows Messenger.

5. Now in the right pane double click the policy:

Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially

and click the Enabled option.

Then double click the policy:

Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run

and click the Enabled option.

How To Remove Recycle Bin from Desktop

2009-03-31T05:43:00.000-07:00

1. Click on Start menu and then on "Run".

2. In the dialog box type: gpedit.msc

3. On the right pane under User Configuration expand "Administrative Templates"

4. In the expanded list click on the "Desktop" option

5. On the left pane find "Remove Recycle Bin icon from desktop" and double click on it

6. In the Properties window check "Enabled"

7. Apply >> OK

8. Refresh your Desktop and ... no more Recycle Bin :).

How to Rename Recycle Bin icon

2009-03-31T05:11:00.000-07:00

By default Windows does not allow you to rename Recycle Bin icon. But this can be done easily:

1. First backup your Registry

2. Open Notepad and enter these lines:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=hex:50,01,00,20
"CallForAttributes"=dword:00000000

3. Save that file wherever you want as Recycle.reg

4. Now navigate to Recycle.reg and double click on it

5. Restart your PC

Now, right click on Recycle Bin and you'll see that "Rename" is enabled.

How to unblock Regedit

2009-03-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Some malware can disable access to your Registry. If this happens you may get this error, when you try to open Regedit:

"Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator"

If you have administrative account and still receive this message, there's no doubt: MALWARE. So, run some antivirus program and clean your computer, but before that you can unblock access to your Regedit in a few steps:

open Start >> Run
then just enter this code and hit Enter:

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Now, your Regedit works again.

Desktop Icons without text

2009-03-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

Picture worth a thousand words, so why do I need text bellow desktop icons ? :)

Well if you want to remove the text follow these steps:

Right click the icon and select "Rename"
Hold the "Alt" key and type "255" and hit Enter

That's it no more text :).

NOTE: when you type "255" use numpad (a numeric keypad).

HowTo configure Smart Update Pinger

2009-03-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Smart Update Pinger is Wordpress plugin that replaces the built-in update ping functionality. Instead of always pinging when saving a post, the plugin only pings when the post has not previously been published. Edits of posts are "silent", in contrast with the default behaviour. Also, you can see a log for the latest pings, together with error messages (in the options page).

Installation

1. Download the zip archive
2. Extract the PHP file from the archive
3. Put it in your wp-content/plugins directory
4. Make sure WordPress/PHP can write to the wp-content directory (chmod 777)
5. Activate it in the Administration Panel
6. Review the options in Options/Smart Update Pinger (Optional step. By default your previously chosen services will be pinged.)

This is explanation from official web site, but after activation you’ll maybe receive this error:

(click to enlarge)

To avoid this error, perform these steps:

with notepad create smart-update-pinger.log file
upload that file into your wp-content directory

That’s it, plugin will work. To use this plugin just enter the services you want to ping. If you don’t know which services you have to ping, check this article: "WordPress Ping List".

Happy blogging…

How to enable Plurk in Digsby

2009-03-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

There a lot of stories about Digsby these days. Digsby is a great program because it combines IM, Social Networks and emails. Unfortunately, Plurk is not on the list of social networks in Digsby. But you can enable it in a few steps:

run Digsby
login to your Plurk account
open My account -> Instant Messaging
now, enter your gmail or msn email address, select service and press Sign up
pop-up window will appear and click “authorize and add”

In your contact list will be a new contact “Bot”. Open chat window and type your Plurk username. That’s it, when you want to plurk just send IM to bot.

Happy plurking :).

Turn your Firefox tab into a Twitter Client

2009-03-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

There are indeed many Twitter clients, but I just like to experiment. Instead of desktop applications, I am trying to use Firefox as much as possible.

Twitter home page doesn’t provide any functionality. And any other web solution, didn’t meet my needs.

And what I need:

timeline updater
retweet button
new tweets notification
unread replies notification

All of these goals, I have managed to achieve with Greasemonkey. Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way webpages look and function by using little scripts (called userscripts) that are executed each time you visit a particular page. There are hundreds of free scripts ready for download from userscripts.org.

So first you need to install Greasemonkey. After installation, restart Firefox and return to this page to install the scripts.

UserScripts

Twitter Timeline updater - Manual/auto update twitter timeline. This scripts is great. Besides timeline update, it shows the number of unread tweets in the Firefox tab.

Twitter Fantastico - adds a retweet button to every tweet.

Unread Replies - this script also has "Mentions". Mentions shows the tweets, that aren't @replies, but contains your name.

Enhance Twitter - adds search box on the top of the page.

Sidebar Replies - shows replies in the sidebar

One thing is annoying - each time you open your Twitter home page, you must enter a user name and password for some scripts. But, I always keep one tab opened, so I have to do that only once, after starting Firefox.

That’s it, now you have a fully functional Twitter client in a single Firefox tab. Enjoy!!!

Gmail crashes Firefox 3

2009-03-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have this problem since Firefox 3.0.4 version. Firefox crash every time I log out from my gmail account. I hoped that the new versions will solve the problem, but... still nothing. So until Firefox developer fix the problem you can use this small tip.

open tools > Add-ons
select Plugins tab
then Disable Google Talk Plugin

Voila, no more crashes :).

Can't shutdown Windows?

2009-03-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Windows refuses to shutdown in a normal way, because it couldn't close some running application. There are two solutions for this situation:

find and close that application
or force Windows to shutdown

I'll show you the second solution.

Open command prompt (Start >> Accessories >> Command Prompt) and type this command:

shutdown -s -f -t 0

Explanation:

-s - shutdown computer
-f - forces running applications to close without warning
-t - set timeout for shutdown in xx seconds
0 - shutdown immediately (but you can enter time in seconds if you want to delay shutdown)

WARNING: save all your work, before you hit this command.

Windows doesn’t show hidden files?

2009-03-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

This problem with hidden files is often caused by virus infection. So, the first thing you need to do is Virus Scan.

If your computer is clean, it probably was infected once, but the registry didn’t properly restored.

To solve this issue, open Regedit and navigate to this location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Now, on the right pane find the value “Hidden”. Right click on it and modify it to 1.

If you can’t find this registry entry, you have to create it.

Open Notepad and enter the following text:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]

“Hidden”=dword:00000001

Save that file wherever you want as Hidden.reg
After that just double click on it.

If everything is OK, you should see your hidden files again.

Volume icon missing from system tray

2009-03-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

If your “volume control icon” is missing from system tray it means that Sndvol32.exe file is missing or damaged. The SndVol32.exe program is the native audio volume and mixer control included in Windows. It controls the volume settings for your system.

Solution:

1. Enter Windows Xp installation disk and do not run it

2. navigate to START >> ACCESSORIES >> COMMAND PROMPT

3. in command prompt enter:

: X:

(note: X is your cd-drive letter)

4. then enter:

cd i386

5. and finally type:

expand sndvol32.ex_ system_root\system32\sndvol32.exe

Note: there is a space between “ex_” and “system_root” in this command.

6. Close Command Prompt and open: Control Panel >> Sounds and Audio Device

7. On the first tab “Volume” check “place volume icon in the taskbar”

8. Apply and then OK.

YouTube no Sounds - HowTo

2009-03-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

If you don't have a sound on YouTube, but your desktop applications works fine, you can try this solution:

1. First backup your Registry

2. Open regedit (Start Menu -> Run, then type regedit and hit Enter)

3. Now in the left pane find this Registry Entry:

My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

4. Now, check if there’s a Registry Entry called wavemapper

5. If it isn't there perform these steps:

on the right pane, right click and click on New
select String value
type: wavemapper and hit Enter button
now, type: msacm32.drv and hit ENTER again.

Close Registry Editor and your sound should be fine now.

Disclaimer

2009-03-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Tweaking Windows sometimes can be very dangerous. Before you take any action on your PC, backup your system and all sensitive data.

To backup your System use Windows built-in tool "System Restore" or some third party software such as Acronis true image, Norton Ghost...

Although the tweaks on this blog are well tested, the author is not responsible for any damage that may occurs on your computer.

Reading this text you agree to use the contents of this blog at your own risk.

Neosix

Contact me

2009-03-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

Thank you for stopping by. If you want to contact me please click on the button bellow:

About

2009-03-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hello! My name is Sinisha Petrovich and my nickname is Neosix. I live in Serbia and this is my personal blog about various Windows and Software tweaks.

I know that there are a lot of tweaks around the Web, but unfortunately many of them are useless or even dangerous. My intention is to show you only those that are safe and well-tested. But, before you take any action on your PC, please backup your system and all sensitive data. (see disclaimer)

That's it for now. I hope you'll enjoy my blog and if you have any question or suggestion, please feel free to contact me or just leave a comment.

Neosix

Open Regedit in Windows

2009-03-20T02:42:00.000-07:00

Regedit is Windows Registry Editor, to open it follow these steps:

click on Start button
then click on Run
in the dialog box type: regedit

Open Command Prompt in Windows

2009-03-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

There are 2 ways to open command prompt in Windows:

1. The first way:

Click on Start button
then click on Run
in the dialog box type: cmd

2. The second way:

click on Start button
navigate through All programs to Accessories
click on Command Prompt