If you have Windows XP Professional, and you hate that little wastebasket that resides on your desktop, I have good news. You can remove the Recycle Bin off of your desktop, and believe it or not the world doesn’t end. ….click here to read more
Occasionally, I like to take a drive with my trusty laptop in tow, and check out all of the new SSID names that are broadcasting into my list of available wireless networks. I enjoy looking at all of the creative names that appear next to the little status icon, like ‘Fluffy’, ‘Rover’, or ‘John’. But, on this last trip around the block, I was alarmed to find that over eighty-five percent of the networks that appeared were using default router settings. I cannot believe that so many people in my community are this trusting. Or, perhaps the people leaving the door into their network simply don’t know that connecting the cables to the router and powering up the unit does not make the wireless network safe. After noticing this alarming trend, I decided to detail the steps to securing a wireless network. ….click here to read more
I have compiled a list of useful shortcuts for maximizing productivity on your Blackberry device. I know that all of these work on my 8830, so I am pretty sure they work on most models. ….click here to read more
I’ve always been one of those electronic do-it-yourself guys, so when I ran across a blurb about Amal Graafstra’s book entitled RFID Toys , I knew that I had to check it out. My imagination ran wild as I envisioned my Toyota truck door unlocking as I strolled up to it in a parking lot, so I immediately ordered the book from Amazon.com in early 2007. As it turns out, I lost interest in the project after reading the chapter in RFID Toys, so I shelved the book for over a year.
However, I recently pulled the book out and took interest it the fourth chapter that detailed the setup of Windows XP RFID Authentication. I ordered the Phidgets RFID reader kit online and downloaded the appropriate files from RFIDtoys.net, Then, I tested the entire authentication process on my guinea pig computer. While doing some research on the subject, I stumbled upon a great free program called RFID Pass V2.0 which stores and recalls passwords for websites or any other windows applications requiring authentication. ….click here to read more
It no longer takes a huge budget or a dedicated room to create a theater experience at home. Often, purists will insist that it takes thousands of dollars to recreate an artist’s cinematic vision on a screen, but I believe that a lot of the home theater rhetoric is nothing more than clever marketing hype. Sure, if I walk into a ridiculously expensive dedicated home theater with a huge cinema scope screen, my heart skips a beat. But, realistically I doubt that I will ever be able afford a system like the ones in my Sound & Vision magazine. That does not mean that I can’t have a great home theater in my living room that I am proud to own. The truth is, you can buy a decent home-theater-in-a-box kit that will provide a great surround sound experience. In fact, the speakers in my home theater were included with an Onkyo receiver that I purchased several years ago. I still use them because they have a great frequency response. I watch a lot of movies ranging from Ingmar Bergman classics to nameless explosion-laden flicks, and I have never received complaints from viewers on any film that is shown. ….click here to read more
It is difficult to describe the feeling you get moment that bring home a new big LCD or Plasma television. You unpack it and marvel at the sight. It has a huge screen and it’s so much lighter than that 27″ CRT television that is being replaced. And if you’re really lucky, you went ahead and took the plunge by purchasing a surround sound system to go along with the new television. It would be so great if you could simply plug it all in and enjoy the wonderful picture and sound of your new system. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to pull a complete home theater system out of a box, expecting it to sound and look perfect. That fact is true regardless of the brand or cost of the components you purchased. All home theater systems require tweaking and a little patience to set up correctly. In this post, my goal is to bring to light a few tips that can make your home theater experience a better one. ….click here to read more
My favorite programs are mostly tools that I can use both in the office, and while at home. I am a huge fan of open source and every program mentioned in this post is available for free to use and distribute. I use some of the programs in conjunction with each other, so I am listing them in an order that makes sense contextually.
Mozilla Firefox has radically changed the browsing experience of millions of people around the world. It is a fast, secure, and reliable browser. But, the most exciting feature of the browser is that its fully customizable. In this post I will show my favorite add-ons to the award-winning browser. ….click here to read more
A lot of people go to great lengths to organize their file and folder system, into a manageable system of documents, music and video, while others choose to dump every single file they find interesting onto the desktop. While I applaud the people who fall into the first category, I have noticed that very few people seem to organize the start menu at all. It is a simple task that makes navigating your computer a breeze, especially when using keyboard navigation.
Once you learn to navigate the Internet using only your keyboard, you should be ready to dive into other realms of keyboard navigation. Windows XP has a lot of keyboard shortcuts by default, but from that list I will only include the most common and frequently used shortcuts. In addition to these shortcuts I have described a method to create keyboard shortcuts to your favorite programs. ….click here to read more