Tip of the day/General Tips etc

[MilesAhead]

I haven't tried it in Firefox yet, but Mr Tech Local Install sure worked for me in Thunderbird. A lot of add-ons that would work if not for the version checking .. Mr Tech allows to bypass the version check and install from your local HD. Here's a link to
the Firefox Mr Tech add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/421

[MilesAhead]

Speaking of Thunderbird, don't bother trying to update to AutoCopy 0.8 in Thunderbird.
Way at the bottom of the Thunderbird Auto Copy page, after "How to install in Thunderbird" there's a one-liner that Thunderbird support is nada. So stick with the old one!!

Does work in Firefox though.

[Dan]

I haven't tried it in Firefox yet, but Mr Tech Local Install sure worked for me in Thunderbird. A lot of add-ons that would work if not for the version checking .. Mr Tech allows to bypass the version check and install from your local HD. Here's a link to
the Firefox Mr Tech add-on:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/421

Been using Thunderbird for quite awhile now but never really bothered with any add ons. Mr. Tech looks good though thanks for the link Miles.

[MilesAhead]

you're welcome

Been using Thunderbird for quite awhile now but never really bothered with any add ons. Mr. Tech looks good though thanks for the link Miles.

You're welcome. I just recently found a great add-on for Thunderbird called
ImportExportTools (Mboximport enhanced.) It's great if you are running Thunderbird on multiple machines and partitions because you can export your mail folders, then import them to a different copy of Thunderbird and merge the folders.. syncing your mail in all the Thunderbird copies. I did it on the first shot without deleting my mail so it can't be hard to use.

Just create an empty folder before importing so you don't overwrite anything.

http://nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html

[MilesAhead]

Manual transfer of Firefox bookmarks to Opera

I haven't found a good freeware that will automagically transfer my Firefox bookmarks to Opera but it turns out the manual method isn't difficult.

Export your Firefox bookmarks.

Go into Opera profile folder and rename opera6.adr to opera6.adr.save


Import your Firefox bookmarks to Opera using the
File=>Import and Export=>Import Netscape/Firefox bookmarks

Close Opera.

Now is the good part.. open opera6.adr in a text editor.
Right below the entry for Trash you should see a dash on a
line by itself, then a Folder entry for Netscape bookmarks you
imported. Delete the folder entry for Netscape and save the
opera6.adr file. This will get rid of all the imported bookmarks
being stuck under a Netscape submenu in the bookmarks
dropdown.

Now when you open Opera the bookmarks should have the same structure
as your Firefox bookmarks. The only thing left to do is stack the bookmarks
toolbar.

In Opera open Bookmarks=>Manage bookmarks and select Bookmarks Toolbar Folder on the left pane.

Make sure in View menu Toolbars that Personal Bar is checked.

Open Firefox.

Drag & drop stuff from the Opera bookmarks manager onto the opera
personal bar so that it's in the same order as your Firefox bookmarks toolbar.

All done.

Close Opera to save the changes to file, then open to check that
all looks as expected. If stuff got hosed, just go back into the
profile folder and rename the opera6.adr.save to opera6.adr to undo changes.

Merging stuff into Opera bookmarks is left as an exercise for the reader.

[MilesAhead]

good page for tweaks and tips

A good page for tips and tweaks:

http://www.howtogeek.com/

A couple of shortcuts or hotkeys I didn't know about for Vista that I found there include Alt-UpArrow in Explorer to go up one folder and Shift-Right Mouse Click on files/folders in Explorer to get "Copy as Paths" to copy a list of paths to the clipboard. (For some reason even if there's no space in the path it wraps them in double quotes. Go figure.)

[MilesAhead]

make your own registry hacks

I didn't know how to delete a registry key or value using a .reg script so in searching the answer I found this reference how to create your own .reg registry hacks:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516

(Of course before testing your scripts it's advisable to back up your registry with some tool or create a system restore point.)

[MilesAhead]

My Computer/Computer in quick launch bar

Windows-E hotkey brings up My Computer but sometimes it's more convenient to run it from the Quick Launch Bar with one mouse click.

Right click a blank space on the desktop and select New=>Shortcut.

In location put explorer

for a name put Drives or whatever you prefer

Right click it and select Properties.

In Target field after explorer.exe leave a space and add these params
/select,X: where X: is your system drive.

Drag the shortcut to your Quick Launch Bar.
Optionally delete the copy on the desktop.

-------------------------------------------------------
btw-I tried at first just using Show On Desktop
on the Computer icon in Start Menu and just copying
to the Quick Launch but that seems to create hassles
with the Show Desktop icon. This way produces the same result
except the system drive is highlighted when the folder opens.

-------------------------------------------------------

Note: I found the official Microsoft Way. It's cheating!
Way too easy!!

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w959838.mspx?mfr=true

[MilesAhead]

Double Back Bookmark Hack

Maybe it's just me but it bugged me that every enhanced, modified, hacked
"back button" I've ever seen required 2 clicks to go back 2 pages in the browser. I mean, if you're going to go back 5 pages, then it's cool to click a drop down list and pick etc.. but if you want to go back 2 pages, to get the list you've already clicked so you might as well just click the back arrow twice. Not good!

In Opera I could easily do a custom button with one of those button wizard sites. I just used a Left Arrow and put it to the left of the one already there and put 2 "back" commands with a pause in between.

But if Firefox seems there's no such thing as a double back button and no easy way to do one yourself short of investing hours into it. So instead of a button I figured an easier way might be a bookmark on the Bookmarks Toolbar.

I made a bookmark named Double Back and for the URL put:
javascript:history.go(-2)

That's it! Now when I'm in a forum or whatnot and want to back up
2 pages with one click I just click the Double Back bookmark.

[MilesAhead]

hmmm just found this on Bookmarklets.com

I guess the "right" way to do it is:

javascript:window.history.go(-2)

[MilesAhead]

messin' around with Double Back

hmmm just found this on Bookmarklets.com

I guess the "right" way to do it is:

javascript:window.history.go(-2)

Hmmmmmm I've been messin' around with this a bit. What I want is
a Marklet that backs up 2 pages in the history with one click, but
if there's only one page in the history, it will back up one page instead
of doing nothing.

history.length is supposed to give you the number of pages in
the history but it seems to vary with browsers and maybe even
settings. So this debug string should let you set it up to work
on your browser with your settings:
javascript:N=history.length;alert('History Length is ' +N)

For Firefox as I surfed I watched the Back Button. When it came
enabled I clicked the bookmarklet and it told me history.length was
2 instead of the 1 I expected. Whatever answer you get, try using
it in this javascript for the bookmarklet:

javascript:if(history.length==2){history.go(-1)}else{history.go(-2)}

If you get a '1' as N use that instead of '==2' above etc..

This seems to work pretty well.. at least in Firefox.


(With Opera I have a button from a custom button site but I haven't figured out how to have it show disabled if there's only 1 page in the history. But since it's only 2 Back commands with a pause in between, if there's only 1 page in the history it still backs up the one page. So you don't end up clicking for nothing.)

[soup]

On my continuing trip through the wide world of computers, helping build systems, Operating Systems, I had just started looking into slipstreaming, when I came upon the following links I will supply. Now they are kind of out of date with SP3 coming in, but I am sure you will see how you can adapt. The normal rule applies, if you don't know what you are doing, don't do it until you do. If as usual I am the last to know about the program involved, I apologize up front, but if I find stuff, I like to share. I will hopefully be getting to it this weekend, so if you want to wait on my findings, you are quite welcome to.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/Autostreamer.shtml

http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/using_autostreamer/using_autostreamer.shtml

http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/slipstream_sp2/slipstream_sp2.shtml

[gonwk]

REVO Unistaller

Hi folks,

I found this by accident ... so, I decided to share it with my buddies here at DD ...

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

I think you will find this a pretty handy software ...

Let me know if you like it.

G!

[soup]

Looks okay, might try it out, but it looks like it won't work on 64 bit systems. Thank you.

[PurpleDemon]

My favorite shortcut is when I shut down my computer for the night I don't like navigating the mouse to go through the shut down process.

So I hit the windows start button then u then u and it closes everything and shuts down my computer properly.

I don't have a power or sleep button on my keyboard so this is quick.

I understand this only works in XP