Tag Archives | Windows

How Do You Customize My Documents?

Jul/18 in Desktop, Personal

fun-folder I’ve been out searching for a program that will allow me to quickly color code the folders on my Vista machine.  The only problem is, I can find a lot of good programs that work with Windows XP but this must be a harder task to accomplish on Vista.

Here are a few of the Windows XP programs I have tried (all good solutions by the way) that just haven’t gotten the job done thus far.

So I am asking you, do you know of a good Vista folder customizer out there?   I need something that would allow me to quickly change the colors to kind of help organize things a ‘bit in my PC.   Better yet, how do you organize your “My Document” folders?

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Create Your Own Super Mario Tune!

Jul/03 in Desktop Apps

ss1This is one of those programs you just happen to stumble upon but you know you have to at least give it a shot.  Mario Paint Composer allows you to create your own Nintendo inspired tune using the old SNES Mario Paint-ish layout.  Even if you don’t have a musical skill in your entire body, it is fun just to drag and drop things onto the board and then hit play.

It is both Mac and Windows friendly too.  Just download, unzip and you’ll be off on your own music creating adventure.  Here is an example video I found via the ‘ol YouTube:

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Best 3 Programs to Make Windows Vista Better

Mar/24 in Desktop

I have been using Windows Vista for some time, and sure – it does have a few quirks that make me want to beat myself over the head with my keyboard.  Overall though, 85% of the time, I have to say I am pretty happy with it.  I am at least as happy as I was with Windows XP.  Here are three of the best programs I have found that have just added a little more icing to the Vista cake.

Shadow Explorer

This program makes it a quick and easy job to browse through the shadow copies of your files created by the Windows Vista volume shadow copy service.  Without, it is kind of hard to hunt down an exact file backup, but with it – it gives you a familiar interface to find all your backed up files.  I would still recommend backing up using other means, but this is just one more nice Vista addition to have handy.

Logon Studio Vista

Tired of how your default Windows Vista logon screen looks?  This free download will allow you to change that background picture you see on the logon screen to whatever you desire.  They also have several you can download and use too.  Sure, this is just an eye candy improvement, but we all like for things to look nice, right?

Lifextender

This tool, used with Vista Media Center, is an application designed to remove any and all commercials from the video that you record.  I have used it a number of times for the various cable shows I watch and it has yet to let me down.  Might just set it up to work overnight, so it doesn’t get in the way of your day to day work.

For some more applications to make the Vista experience better, check out Ave’s Vista Stuff.  There are a handful of neat little application there that will add a few more perks to your shinny new OS.

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Windows Live Writer Rocks

Feb/17 in Desktop Apps

Ok, maybe I am a little behind the times – or am very careful before I give Microsoft the fair shake. Whatever my reason was, I never tried Windows Live Writer till the other day. I figured it would be like every other blog updater I’ve seen out there. It would do everything but (insert feature here). Well, I am happy to say that Windows Live Writer does it all – and does it well.

I am damned impressed with the entire product. I hate to sound like an anti-Microsoft goon, but it is a little hard to believe they developed such a nice product. (Just in case any of the Microsoft guys are reading, really don’t mean that as a back handed compliment) It worked with WordPress right off the bat too with no problems at all.

Inserting pictures into posts is as easy as dragging the image from the desktop of folder into the main editing window of Live Writer. It gets automatically uploaded, just as any other image would to my hosting account. The in-dept draft feature is nice too. I can save as a draft here on my machine, or on the server.

The only downside I have found (and this might be more my fault than Microsoft’s) is the Web Layout preview doesn’t work that well with all of the various places I write. Other than that though I would highly encourage any and all to go check it out if you haven’t. Windows Live Writer is definitely worth your time for sure and won’t cost you any money.

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Play Any Video Type in Windows Media Player

Feb/08 in Desktop, Desktop Apps

I was searching for a way I could view media files recorded on my Vista machine (through Media Center) and found this beauty of a freeware program. The Windows Essentials Codec Pack gives you the an easy way to play just about any audio or video type in Windows Media Player.

The Windows Essentials Codec Pack supports:

GP, AAC, AC3, APE, AVI, DivX, 3ivx, DAT, h.264, x264, AVC, Nero Digital, DTS, FLV, FLAC, HD-MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, M4A, MPC, MP3, MP4, MO3, MOD, MKV/MKA, MTM, OFR, TTA, OGG/OGM, S3M, Vorbis, VOB, WavPack, ATRAC3, XviD, XM, WV, UMX and many more

After installing it, just try to open the file in question via Windows Media Player and it should work. If it isn’t already the default player for that type of file, just dragging and dropping the media file into there should work too.

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Things that Bug Me About Vista

Dec/03 in Desktop Apps, Personal

I think the world has seen enough over the top Vista bashing. I did want to share some of my bad experiences for others though. I have to say I am amazed by reading the press that I didn’t have more problems than I did. If you believe what a number of reviewers and tech minds would have to believe you would think that Vista was about as useful to you as a newspaper is to a homeless man in the rain.

User Account Control in Vista is annoying, but not driving me crazy yet.

The only device I had trouble with getting to work with Vista was my old Logitech keyboard. Other than that though, all my other gadgets seem to have worked the first time around.

Had to finally upgrade my old version of NoteTab Pro to the newest version (actually ended up buying NoteTab Std cause it got the job done for me. Continue Reading →

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Vista, Quick Thoughts = Not That Bad!

Nov/21 in Desktop, Desktop Apps

Windows Vista, not that bad?For those of you watching my recent twittering, you probably noticed that I ordered myself a new PC. The one thing that made me really reluctant about moving from my old 3 or 4 year old previous Windows XP machine was Windows Vista. I have heard so many horror stories on the Web how could somebody not be scared?

After spending some time with it last night though I have to say it is not that bad. Sure, there is room for improvement – but think about any previous Windows version. It is never “right” when you pull it out of the box. It takes a lot of tweaking, love, tossing midgets at it and affection before you get it the way you want it to be. Continue Reading →

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Pin Windows to Your Desktop

Oct/09 in Desktop Apps

Working support, I have to look at a multitude of programs and windows on my desktop every single day. Now sure, I would like to pin certain things on top and let other things fall to the bottom of the window stack. The question is – is there an easy way to get that done?

DeskPinsThe best program I have found to do just that is DeskPins. This freeware application allows you to put simple pins in the corner of your windows to keep some things on top. Here is some more information on it from the developers of the program:

DeskPins can be used to make any application topmost, that is, to keep it above all other windows. Just grab a pin from the DeskPins icon in the system notification area (a.k.a. taskbar tray) and click on any window.

This adds the “always on top” functionality to every program you use. If you have Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and you want to organize your desktop clutter this is one good way of getting it done.

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New Gnome Look for Windows XP

Sep/25 in Desktop

I always love finding new Windows XP visual styles that are not only good – but great. Some of them are ugly, others are Mac-clones. Very rarely do you get one as cool as MurrinaFancyClearlooks.

Gnome Style for Windows XP

Need help figuring out how to change your XP visual style? Don’t worry this past post should have you covered. Finding this one was kinda like hitting the Windows XP visual style lottery. Just look at all the pretty colors.

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