To keep USB viruses from injecting themselves to your PC or laptop is to Disable the USB Autorun feature:
- Click the Start button, then Run and enter "gpedit.msc" without the quotes
- Go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System
- Scroll down to "Turn off Autoplay" and double click on it
- Click on the "Enabled" radio button, then for "Turn off Autoplay on" select "All drives"
OR
just keep holding Shift when you insert a USB disk. It cancels the autorun.Delete autorun.inf file in the usb drive if you suspect it is infected with virus.Link:SizlopediaStop windows from executing AUTORUN.INF
From my previous post on getting A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth) on Win XP/Vista, there is another popular software called BlueSoleil that you can use.
However, I prefer the Toshiba bluetooth stack due to the fact that BlueSoleil does not seem to have the option to change A2DP streaming quality.
However, BlueSoleil is very user-friendly in terms of getting your Bluetooth equipment paired up. However, BlueSoleil is not free. The trial version of the software has plenty of limitations. If you are very good in web searching, there are copies of full version floating around for you to download for free. *Hint: torrent sites
As an example, sometimes your built-in laptop Bluetooth adapter or Bluetooth USB dongle does not have the capability to support the high bandwidth required for high quality stereo bluetooth (A2DP). When it happens, the sound will be "cut-off" for a moment every few seconds/minutes to the point of my frustration.
With the Toshiba bluetooth stack, you have the option to change audio quality. To do so, you must have paired the A2DP-capable headphone. Then.
1) Go to Bluetooth Settings
2) Right click the icon of your paired A2DP headphone and choose Detail
3) Under Setting, you can choose a four options (Auto, High Quality, Standard, Low Quality) for Sound Quality
The default setting is Auto. If your A2DP audio skips, you can try changing the quality level to Standard and the skipping should go away.
Link:
Download BlueSoleil
If you have used haoting.com to play asian (Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, English) music, you would realize that haoting.com only works fine with Internet Explorer (and Windows). If you are using Firefox on Windows, you will realize that the song will play, but it will not move down the list. Also if you are on Mac, you are in a tough luck since haoting.com uses Windows Media Player (WMP) to stream the music, and Microsoft no longer supports WMP for Mac.
So the only solution to keep enjoying asian music on your Firefox / Mac is to find a website that streams through flash. And I have found one such website!
99.cn is one of the many asian music streaming websites from China. It uses flash, so it will definitely work on any web browser that has Adobe Flash plugin!
Based on my observations, all those streaming websites have the same musc catalogs, if not almost the same.
Go ahead and enjoy your favorite asian music from 99.cn
Note: These music streaming websites from China might not have the proper licenses from artists to broadcast music. Please listen at your own risk.
If you hate to install another application/software just for the purpose to shut down your PC at a scheduled time, you can use a quick and easy command line function to do so. And it is free!
1) Go to Command Prompt from either
a) Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt
b) Start->Run where a new "Run" window will pop-up. Type in the following and press OK:
cmd
2) Another window with black background will appear. Type the following and press enter to schedule your shutdown time (where xx:xx is the time in 24-hour notation):
at xx:xx shutdown -s
For example if I want my PC to shutdown at 6am:
at 06:00 shutdown -s
Another example if I want to shutdown at 10pm
at 22:00 shutdown -s
3) If somehow you want to cancel the scheduled shutdown. Just type the following and press enter (where "a" means abort):
shutdown -a
To follow up on the A2DP (stereo bluetooth) post on Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) here, here and here, I would like to introduce the method to get A2DP to run on your Windows XP via Boot Camp on Mac computers.
If you are still using Windows XP and refused to upgrade to Vista (and probably waiting for Windows 7 to release later this year), you would realize that Win XP does not allow you to use headset profile (mono or stereo). It is because Microsoft did not include those profile stacks in Win XP and never bothered to include them in the subsequent Service Packs!
As a result of that, you cannot enjoy neither mono nor stereo sound on your computer even though your laptop/pc comes with built-in bluetooth (especially true for Macbook/Macbook Pro/Macbook Air).
The solution is first proposed by U.C. and further explained by reesd at InsanelyMac forum. I decided to combine their solutions to make an easy-to-understand step-by-step guide.
Also, this guide deals primarily with getting those profile stacks installed on Mac computer running boot camp in Windows XP. However, it also works with any laptop that has built-in bluetooth.
1) Download the Toshiba bluetooth stack profile and driver from http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/bluetooth/?page=download
*Please know that the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack only valid for 30 days. After that, you would probably have to purchase the software in order to continue to use it. HOWEVER, if you are savvy enough, you can search and download it from torrent site.
2) Install the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack. It will reach a point where it tries to find for a compatible hardware, but cannot find it. Click "cancel".
3) Go to Device Manager and look up your built-in bluetooth device info under Bluetooth (the device is probably called Apple Bluetooth). Look for DeviceID and copy the info down.
For example, my DeviceID is USB\VID_05AC&PID_8205
4) Browse to the folder "Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\Drivers\tosrfusb"
5) Open tosrfusb.inf file using notepad or any text editor.
6) Scroll down the file to the middle until you reach [Standard] section. You will need to assign a new number that has not been taken by other items in the [Standard] section.
For example if the list has up to 140 items, I will type in the following line after the line %TosrfUsb.DevicDesc140%=TosrfUsb_Device, .....
%TosrfUsb.DeviceDesc144%=TosrfUsb_Device, USB\VID_05AC&PID_8205
7) Scroll down the file until you reach [Strings] section.
Type in the following line after line
TosrfUsb.DeviceDesc140 = "xxxxxx"
TosrfUsb.DeviceDesc144 = "Apple Built-In Bluetooth Toshiba"
8) Save the tosrfusb.inf file and reboot your computer.
9) Return to Device Manager. Select the first Bluetooth device and choose to Update Driver. Don't let Windows search for the driver, but choose the option that you want to search for the driver on your own.
You will reach a point where there is an option "Have Disk". Click it and select Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\Drivers\tosrfusb as the directory.
It will prompt you about unsigned driver. This is because you have edited the .inf file. Proceed with the driver update.
10) With the update, you can click on the toshiba bluetooth icon on your taskbar. Enable the bluetooth and choose new connection to search for your bluetooth device.
**The usual default passkey for pairing bluetooth devices is 0000 (as in four zeroes)
***I assume you know how to set your bluetooth device to pairing mode. If not, read your user manual. It is usually by holding the power button on your device for a certain amount of time (a couple of seconds) until both LEDs blink continuosly (usually red and blue)
****Handsfree (hf) is a newer mono bluetooth profile than Headset profile. Both are mono audio, but handsfree seems to support more options.
11) After you have paired the device to your built-in bluetooth, you can go to Bluetooth Settings (or double click on the icon on taskbar), double click on the selected bluetooth stereo device.
*****If you are using A2DP and the audio skips, go to Bluetooth Settings->Right click on your paired device name->choose a lower Quality setting such as Standard to see if there is any improvement.
12) Enjoy your full headset/A2DP/AVCRP support on Windows XP! (for up to 30 days or unlimited if you decided to torrent)
13) To disconnect, go back to Bluetooth Settings and right click on the bluetooth stereo device, choose Disconnect.
Note: Another software that enables A2DP on Windows XP and Vista (non-mac) is covered here.
Samgine.com is a relatively new website that strives to provide next generation puzzles for all generations. If you looked carefully, Samgine is the reverse for Enigmas :) The website has a lot of free online puzzles available that will certainly entertain you for hours.
Quote from website:"Samgine (enigmas backwards) regularly adds free online puzzles and logic games. We also create original puzzles and provide a fun family-friendly experience you cannot get elsewhere."
Check it out at Samgine.com!Have fun playing the puzzles.
I came across three easy-to-use cross-platform remote access software that could save you all the headache if you are using Windows Remote Assistance. Since they are cross-platform, you could it any of them on Windows machine to control Mac, or on Mac to control Windows machine.
Remote access is very useful if you are good in computers and your friend needs your help but he is at another location. Just ask him to launch the remote access application, give you some info generated by that application on his computer, and voila, you can connect to his desktop and help him to solve his computer problems remotely!
==============================================================1) LogMeInNot as powerful as the pro version, but at least it supports voice. The other two software do not have voice support.
Download LogMeIn
==============================================================2) TeamViewerFor TeamViewer, the main selling point is that the person requesting for remote access or help from you do not have to install anything on his computer. He/she just needs to download and run an executable file either for Windows or Mac version. The app will generate the code and once he/she gives you that code, that app can be deleted from the his/her computer.
Another good feature of this app is that it has a portable version for Windows machine. So you can just download it into your flash drive and bring it wherever you go. Unfortunately, no portable version for Mac yet.
Download TeamViewer
==============================================================3) CrossLoopCrossLoop has just recently introduced the Mac version. As with TeamViewer, you don't have to register to use this software.
Download CrossLoop
==============================================================Happy remote accessing!
From Microsoft website:PowerToys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released.
Note: We take great care to ensure that PowerToys work as they should, but they are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys. PowerToys are for Windows XP only and will not work with Windows Vista.
Recommended tools:RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer - Allows you to edit RAW format files right from windows explorer!
HTML Slide Show Wizard - This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site.
Alt-Tab Replacement - With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open. This cool function is already built-in in Windows Vista.
Image Resizer -This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click. If you are using Windows Vista, you can download
Image Resizer Clone.
Virtual Desktop Manager - Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy. Similar function as the desktop manager for Linux!
Check out the website for more cool add-ons for Windows XP.
via:
Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
If you have used btchina.net, you would have noticed that firefox could not display the list on the website. It seems that the website on works fine on Internet Explorer. However, there is a solution to use btchina.net on firefox without ever launching Internet Explorer anymore. Here is the simple 2 step:
1) Install Greasemonkey add-on for Firefoxhttps://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/latest/748/addon-748-latest.xpior you can read more about this add-on at here
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748What greatmonkey does is allow user to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript.
2) Install this user scripthttp://userscripts.org/scripts/source/33286.user.jsor you can read about this script at here
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/33286via (chinese language website)Linuxtoy.orgMozestUserscripts.org
From Consumerist.com,
Here's how it works:
- Search Google News: Pop the headline you want into the Google News and enjoy the link straight to the full and free content. You can alternatively build a Firefox keyword shortcut using this string:
http://news.google.com/news?q=%s+source%3Awall_street_journal - Use The Firefox Extension Refspoof: Step 1: Download the extension here.
Step 2: In the refspoof toolbar's "spoof:" field, type "digg.com.
Step 3: Also in the refspoof toolbar, click the R icon, and select "static referrer."
That's it. Click around the site; the WSJ thinks each click is coming from Digg. The WSJ is now yours for free!
LINK
