I have been in the IT Business for about 3-4Years now and in all that time I have seen many cluttered desktops. Icons just scattered everywhere! I wonder if people have ever thought of organizing them? If you have here is one solution. Fence your icon into categories. You may download a program called Fences. It will allow you to drag icons into sections and name those sections ie. My Games, My Computer, In Progress, etc. It is really easy. It will help organize and visually identify what icon you want.
Have you bought a flash drive of certain amount and found out it being over by some software? This has happened to me so many times. Its annoying especially how sometimes, when you plug it in, it installs itself on your computer without any notice. I have found out that the most common software on flash drives is called U3. How do I remove it?!? Below are simple steps to uninstall it. First, try to format your drive. Go to My Computer > Right click on the flash drive > Click Format > Quick Format. Make sure you do not have any data on the drive!
If that does not work, try launching the software on it and go to settings and maybe look for a uninstall button.
If all fails try visiting the company's website. If you have the U3 software you can download, Launchpad Removal, a program to uninstall the program on your flash drive. Sounds counter intuitive but U3 provides such a thing.
Good luck!
I you have anymore suggestions post them below. Thanks.
Many people like to fundraiser money for charities, causes and other reason. Now through social media it make is seem much more appealing because you have a vast audience. PayPal has made it easier to put a "Donate" button on you site. PayPal has a direct link were you can customize your button and add other options like a subscriber, one time or recurring donations. Here is the link Donation Buttons - PayPal.
I always hear people being open to Linux as an alternative to Windows. But then I hear, how do I get rid of this (insert curse word(s))? Instead of messing up your computer, if you have the patience to learn, just run Ubuntu as a virtual machine. When you virtual-ize on top of Windows, you virtually (pun intended )have reduced your chances of breaking something! I use VMWare, but just about any virtual machine software will do. The process is simple:
- Create a virtual hard disk using your choice of virtual machine software; the virtual hard disk turns out to be one large file or hard drive IMAGE
- Get yourself the installation media, it is usually an ISO file which is a CD IMAGE.
- A couple of clicks, and you should be at an installation screen, all within a single window.
- Once installed, it will feel like you are running a system all within a window!
The virtual machine software usually picks a safe amount of RAM for you, it should not need more than 512MB for Linux! Other that, there should be no problems! If you like this post, I will be more than happy to expand on it.
Onetechtip.com has been around for over a year and to celebrate this achievment, we have come up with a new design for the website. The redesigned website features recent post feeds at the top of the site. In addition, the site we hope you agree with us, is a bit sleeker and cleaner. With the top posts topic sections. At the bottom you may subscribe to Onetechtip by just submitting your e-mail address. Also, we have expanded our social networking efforts, you may now find us now on Digg, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube! Let us know what you think and what you would like to be a feature on our site. Or if you would like to contribute feel free to send us an e-mail with a Tip you feel a normal user should know that will enhance their technology experience. You could become a contributor for a day!! Or maybe a regular!
Just recently, Facebook released a new way to look at pictures through their new picture viewer. Many do not like it, including myself, but maybe it just tales time to get use to. The new viewer centers the image with a black background and also allows you to easily download the image, share, comment, and tag someone. I bet you just want to know how to get rid of it. Well if you hit F5 on your keyboard when it the viewer shows up it will just go away. That simple. F5 is your answer.
In previous post, I briefly discussed Scratch as a great way to learn about programming concept and principles without learning the nitty gritty. If you are an educator or just a common user it's a great way to be introduce to some basic programming knowledge. If you delve into the Scratch website, you would notice that one of the companies contributing to the development of Scratch is Google!!
Now if or when you are ready to make a jump from Scratch to something bigger, consider APP Inventor by Google. Inventor utilized the same interface as Scratch and would feel right at home. Inventor's purpose is to enable those with out the background knowledge to develop applications for the Android OS. Sure, I will admit that initially I figured that there would be influx of not so great Android Applications, but I could see how it could be used to introduce users to mobile application development.
Fortunately you do no need an Android Powered phone to test any applications you make since Inventor enables you to download an emulator to use and test out your application. Subsequently, the Inventor has an online tutorial with a a step by step on how to make HelloPurr, which is equivalent to hello world program that many programmers are familiar with. HelloPur is a simple introductory app that enables you to create an Android application in which when you touch the picture of a cat on the phone and it purrrs. Application Inventor has a bit of a learning curve but you could make some complex applications with the right intiative.
You will need a Gmail account to access Application inventor.
If your desktop computer begins to shut down and you notice it runs really hot, you might consider doing some maintenance. It is pretty cheap to do so!
- The easiest thing to is buy compressed air to blow out the dust bunnies.
- upgrade the fans
- apply some thermal paste, I recommend Arctic Silver 5
- make sure it is not near heat sources
- make sure the back is away from any nearby walls
The usual culprits are the CPU or if you have one, the graphics card. To diagnose, you can use software like Speedfan or even the BIOS. The BIOS is a menu you can go into before Windows even loads. You can also test stress by playing a video at full screen or running a program that works the CPU at 100%. There is also software out there that will stress test such as Everest and Sandra. Hope it helps!
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Image by [Filhi][bahthi] photography ( with great hopes ) via Flickr"]
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[/caption]Google is known to be a search engine and a huge advertising company. Recently, they are know more and more for there Android OS but did you hear about www.google.com/wedding. Yes, Google and a wedding. Google has a dedicated page to weddings, were you can add a wedding website, edit wedding pictures, share pictures, and what I believe to the most useful, spreadsheets of many types. Some are
- Wedding planner
- Address book
- Guest list
- Budget planner
- To-do list
- Seating chart
- Reception menu
- Music list
It is very easy to forget crucial things so list are very helpful. Especially when you are nervous for that amazing day. Head over and check it out. You do not know when that amazing day is coming. ;o)
In today's world, we are seeing many tablets and eReader emerging to replace newspapers and books. Another thing emerging and growing is Facebook. What do you get if you mix them? You get a Social Newspaper. If you head over to PostPost.com you will see that you may see all your Facebook updates and wall posts in a newspaper style. This makes it more interesting and more viewable. You may easily customize your social newspaper to not see posts from friends that usually spam. In your newspaper you will see articles, videos, and photos from your Facebook friends. Have fun and absorb the type of media in this world.
One of the goals of OneTech Tip is to provide useful information and cool tech tips for non tech savy users. For those readers whom are not tech savy have you ever thought about writing your own program or even just something cool? Or if you are a tech savy user have you ever wish you could teach someone a peer, or a younger sibling how to program or introduce them to various programming concepts?
MIT has created a programming language that is user friendly, Scratch.
| Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.T
The language was mainly developed to encourage young kids and students to feel comfortable with programming through a drag and drop interface. Do not take this lightly, if you have never done any programming before you should try it out. Since the interface is mainly drag and drop you see the basic structure of how to write a program.
On the official site there are highlights of some user generated projects. Here's a OneTechTip Challenge Create a game using the scratch programming language and we will highlight it here. Just send us an e-mail with your file.
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[caption id="attachment_2670" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="courtesy of phandroid.com"]
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The past few months i am sure you have heard a lot about how wireless cellular data 4G is the successor to 3G. Today, I would like to advise my not so savy tech people as well as the tech people against 4G despite the growing market for 4G.
For starters, when you acquire a 4G phone you must have 4G service from which you cannot opt out of. This would not be a problem if only wireless companies did not charge at the minimum $10 extra for the 4G service.
Subsequently, 4G is not everywhere, yet. Although I have had a few friends contemplate purchasing a 4G phone; unfortunately, the area we currently reside only provides up to 3G!!! Sure there are places where 4G is probably great but in most places at this present it is sporadic.
In addition, what are you paying for? Faster downloads? Better service? Well, for the most part you are paying for an increase in download speed but not necessarily for better service. Another important question to ask as well is, do you need the faster download speed? Do you use your cellphone as your modem or as a replacement computer? If not, maybe an extra G may not be as great, especially if you have to shell out an extra $10. You may say it is only an extra $10 but have you seen the changing of price on your phone bill?
Hopefully within the next year or so, consumers would not have to pay extra for the service as it becomes widespread and the standard for all cellular purposes.
I will be straight forward with the answer to the following question. How do I fix an iphone/ipod?. The answer is plainly don't! I have heard many and I mean many cases of the Apple's Genius Bar replacing iPhone/ipod for free. Here is the key: Be NICE and explain to them, how you broke. Even with Apples new policy, it states "If a customer disputes whether an iPod with an activities LCI has been damaged by liquid contact and there are no external signs of damage from corrosion, then the iPod may still be eligible for warranty service." We have heard that Apple employees can and have been using this loosely and have been replacing iPhone/ipod for free. If there is no luck with this tip try iFixit.com
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Related Articles
- Apple Changes Policy on Water-Damaged iPods (mashable.com)
Facebook, on a daily basis, is fighting spam, scams, and hijack. I bet all of us at one point havebeen scamed over once or even become a victim of these malicious posts but here is the crucial question. Did you know that it happened to you? Or did you just ignore it? Facebook is very popular and you need to know what to watch out for. Here is an example of a wall post that hijacked your Facebook by clicking on it.
When you clicked on the post, it posted itself to your friends wall. This one you can say is pretty obvious but there are other that say," Here is a picture of you from last night, LOOK!". These are not so obvious and you must be careful because you're so anxious to know what they caught you doing last night. Do not fall for these traps.
The rule of thumb, DO NOT CLICK ON THINGS YOU ARE UNSURE OF! This includes emails and just anywhere when you use a computer.
Have you heard of the Nintendo 3DS? You probably have if you are an avid gamer, but have you heard of the Next Generation Portable by Sony? Today's tip will be more of a brief discussion on my view on both but more on the NGP. Each portable have some feature that stands out. The 3DS promises eye glasses free 3D Gaming, which is the future of 3D TVs (which there are already but priced beyond the consumer level). The NGP actually has two unique additions, it is the successor to the Playstation Portable, two analog sticks and the trackpad on the back. There are other, what I consider upgrades for both portables but I feel the hardware additions bring something new to the table.
While the 3DS is really more of the same I feel except now in 3D!!!!!! The NGP will be changing things up and I actually interested in the track pad on the back therefore putting as much available hardware surface to use.
What does this mean for you as a consumer? Well the 3DS presents a cheap effective way, and maybe right way to do eye glass free 3D viewing. Nintendo has yet to release any details about how they are achieving this effect but be sure television makers are taking note. Here's a tip if you already have an HD TV there really is now hurry to acquire a 3D one, there is not enough media taking advantage of anyway.
The NGP actually is an example of the directions phones are taking specs wise. The NGP runs on multicore processor and is stated to be almost as powerful as the PS3. By the end of the year, there will be phones that will have enough processing power to compete with some low end netbook/notebooks, so you may want to wait if you can till the summer to upgrade to a new phone - no I am not talking about the Iphone 5- you will not regret it.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by heiwa4126 via Flickr"]
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Many of the times we are on Google Maps looking if our own house is visible. Unfortunately, they are outdated and not live because of security reasons. What if you could get notified when a certain aerial image was updated at a certain point? That would be awesome! So, you did not have to go back constantly to check if it was updated. If you have a Google account and can click this link , followyourworld.appspot.com you may tell Google to notify you when there is a new image.
It is easy. Just give it the location and an email address. That is it.
Do you have problems with your wireless connection? Here are a couple of things I consider when having reception issues. I learned these from experience and some vague knowledge of physics.
- keep the router and the receptor at the same height
- improve the range of the router by not having it at ground level
- if you have a USB wireless adapter on a computer, make the best effort to not have it directly connected to the computer; use a USB male to female cable to extend it; it will mimic an antenna
- keep other radioactive devices such as cell phones away from the wireless receptor
- change the channel on the router
- keep general electronics and power extensions away from the receiver and router
Most of these issues are caused by interference ( other devices) or the propagation of the signal. Give it a try! If you have other suggestions, feel free to comment!
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Tony the Misfit via Flickr"]
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Can you actually stay in one place for two minutes? I know we are all busy and we are always on the go. Now imagine this, you looking into the sunset on the beach while hearing the waves come in and out. Sounds peaceful and relaxing. Well, that can be achieved from your computer. Go to www.donothingfor2minutes.com and take the challenge. Here is what you have to do. Once you click on the link do not touch the mouse or keyboard for 2 minutes! Sounds easy huh. I do no think so. Have fun.
[caption id="attachment_2627" align="aligncenter" width="216" caption="via Rockmelt"]
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Are you a social media butterfly? Or would you like to enhance your browsing experience by combing the integrating the best of social media like Facebook and Instant Message right on the browser? There are several social media browsers but today I will be highlighting one promising new entry Rockmelt based on Chromium source code (think Chrome). Rockmelt enables you to login with your Facebook account and from there you could FB chat, update your status, share links and/or write on your friends wall without being in the actual facebook page. Rockmelt also has integration with Twitter, but I am not a twitter user (yet?), I cannot say its my favorite feature.
Subsquently, being based on the Chromium code enables users to take advantage of many Chrome features, therefore if you are already a Chrome user and an avid FB user perhaps Rockmelt well enhance your browsing experience.
In addition, the browser features integration of Google search feature right in the browser enabling the user to discover new sites without being redirected to the Google search page.
At the moment, Rockmelt is invitation only. You may request an invitation by simply logging in via Facebook at their site http://www.rockmelt.com/
Do you use Justin.tv as part of your main entertainment? You might be interested in a small extension for both Chrome and Firefox called Better JTV. Essentially, it gets rid of the many annoying advertisements. It is similar to Ad Block Plus, but only works on Justin.tv site. There is no need to configure anything right out of the box!
