This is something I’d wondered about for quite a while, and wasn’t able to do until now!

With Windows 7 there are a number of changes to how folders work.  You are now able to make ‘symbolic’ folder links among other cool things.

This allows you to congregate files from multiple locations and have windows recognize them as actually being in a location different than the one they are actually in (for example if you have a split archive with different parts on different hard drives you’d be able to make a “symbolic folder” to view them as if they were all on the same hard drive).

1. You’ll need a tool called Link Shell Extension.  This will add shell context menus to your right click context menus in Windows Explorer (giving you an option to make Symbolic Links and folders etc).   While this feature is new in windows 7 it is kind of buried and you would normally need to use the command line to utilize it.  Link Shell Extension provides a graphical front end to make this tool more useable in everyday situations.
2. Second of all, you will need to create a target folder to “paste” your symbolic links into, so Windows will be “tricked” into thinking that your files are actually there.  I guess that’s the best way of explaining it.
3. After creating your target folder wherever, navigate back to where your file is actually stored, and then right click and select Pick Link Source.
4. Navigate to your target folder and select Drop As and then select Junction (this was in instructions for linking folders; for your files you may need to try other options).
5. In your target folder you will see your file again with a little overlay icon. 
   
6. Repeat for all other parts of your archive.

Thanks to unifex from SevenForums.com for providing me with this knowledge!

Having trouble booting into windows with hal.dll errors and the like?  Here’s how to get rid of your problems.  Make sure you back up before you do it.

Things you need

• Your Windows XP CD
• About an hour of free time
• Computer with Boot problems

Read Here

My Daily Tech RECOMMENDED APPLICATIONS!

If you are looking to convert an AVCHD movie to another  format so that you can use it in your project, then you should definitely check out a piece of software called TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress.

It accepts AVCHD and just about any video format as an input, so that you can convert it to the most popular video formats.  Unfortunately it doesn’t support AVCHD as an output.

There ARE free ways of doing this too, I should mention that a free program called Avidemux that can do this too, so if you are technically inclined (Avidemux is harder to use) you may want to go that way instead of spending money on TMPGEnc (but of course TMPGEnc supports more formats etc).

Also, if you are looking for video editing software that is simple and support AVCHD input and output, check out Sony Vegas 9.0.  It is excellent and it supports many plugins and addons that make it really expandable.  It also has an amazing feature that makes recompression not necessary on certain AVCHD files (ones that you don’t edit), and that really speeds up the time that it takes to render videos.

Here’s a neat article I found recently!

http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/general-other-im-news/33739-connect-google-talk-aim-msn-yahoo.html

Hey everyone!  I just got the new uTorrent update, as it was rolled out a couple weeks ago, and it updated in like two seconds after clicking Yes.

I then went on TorrentFreak, and I read that in this uTorrent update there is a new protocol developed by BitTorrent Inc and Bram Cohen, called uTP – and it basically throttles your downloads so that the ISPs don’t have to.  I don’t believe that by limiting global download speeds we will see any sort of improvement in our internet – likely it will give our ISPs who are already sluggish at upgrading their infrastructure another reason not to spend money on infrastructure upgrades.

To disable UTP fully, then go to Options > Preferences > Advanced and set bt.transp_disposition to 5.
Then go to Options > Preferences > BitTorrent and uncheck Enable Bandwidth Management.

If you’d like some extra levels for your Cube Runner iPod Touch game that we recently reviewed you’ve come to the right place!

It’s as simple as going to add new level pack. and typing in one of the URLs found at the bottom of this post.

I am not 100% sure these are working, so if they don’t, blame the forum I got them from – but please leave a comment letting us know whether they did or didn’t work for you! These were tested to work on cube runner one and not two, and it is the first version of cube runner, so it may be outdated.

cr2://cuberun.org/$$$$.txt

cr2://cuberun.org/.nNoobEatern.txt

cr2://cuberun.org/0000nightmare.txt

cr2://cuberun.org/00camylles00canal00.txt

Pic stolen from blogsdna.com

One really neat way to customize windows to your personal preference is to change your logon screen background.  In Windows 7, this is possible with no additional software, but that is a bit tricky.

We’re going to show you how to perform this with a very small software tool that is virus-free.  This tool is called Windows 7 Account Screen Editor.

You can choose any image you’d like and set it as your logon screen!

If the image you choose is too large, then it will automatically resize it for you!

This handy little tool is a great download, and when you’re done with it, because there’s no installing required, you can simply delete the tool!  You don’t need to leave it on your hard drive because the feature is built into windows!

Download it today!

Read more on DeviantArt…

If you’ve imported your blog from Blogger and find that all of your Labels turn up as Categories, when you were using them as if they were tags back when you were using Blogger, here’s how to batch-convert (convert more than one at once) them to Tags.

In your wordpress admin, go to Tools and click Import.  Then in that list, click Categories and Tags Converter, which “Converts existing categories to tags or tags to categories, selectively”.  Then it will show you a list of all your Categories and allow you to convert them.

This tool was particularily helpful on this blog when moving it from our old site on blogger.

Watching Hulu, the american TV show streaming service, is usually prevented by Hulu’s geoblocking, yet some in the past have found ways to bypass that through proxies.  Hulu is now implementing Proxy detection, which makes it even harder to watch the last few episodes of your favorite show in high quality.

You can watch Hulu using Hotspot Shield, but you have to make sure that the Hotspot Shield server you’re using is the White Plains, New York server.  To do this, just connect to Hotspot Shield, and then go to ip-adress.com and it will tell you which server you’re using.  If it’s not the White Plains server, then just disconnect from Hotspot Shield and then try reconnecting till it assigns you to the White Plains server.

This also should get Pandora and Spotify to work outside of the US.

Enjoy your new free streaming media, and don’t forget to post in the comments section and tell us if it works!

Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7 has a new UI that doesn’t include as many sleek transparency features as WMP 11 did, and Microsoft also for some reason removed the Advanced Tag Editor, one of my favorite features because my WMP Custom Album Art tutorial uses it, and because you can edit a whole albums tags in batch.

I see no real benefit to using Windows Media Player 12, as Windows Media Player 11 seems, at least to me, to be a much more well-rounded, and better looking too, music / video organizer and player.

How to install Windows Media Player 11 onto Windows 7:

1. Go to the start menu, type services.msc and hit enter.
   
   
2. Stop the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service.
   
   
3. Install this registry edit (zipped): Take Ownership Context Menu Hack.
   
   
4. Now take ownership of these items by selecting them in Windows Explorer and then right-clicking them and selecting Take Ownership in the context menu:All files in “Program Files\Windows Media Player\” folder
   All files starting with “wmp” in System32 folder
   wmploc.dll.mui in “System32\en-us\” folder.
   
   
5. Download Windows Media Player 11 for Windows 7 and install. If you get an error message saying that wmploc.dll.mui is in use by a process, then kill sidebar.exe.  You’ll need to restart after install Windows Media Player.
   
   
6. Run regedit and delete the key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Setup\Installed Versions”.
   
   
7. If you want a good Windows 7 theme for WMP 11, check this one out:

   http://bogo-d.deviantart.com/art/7-for-Windows-Media-Player-11-105796300

   This skin is quite amazing – it combines the best elements of both WMP 11 and 12 to make an amazing looking skin.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my tutorial, and enjoy your newly installed WMP 11 on Windows 7!

A better version of this tutorial: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-windows-media-player-wmp-taskbar-toolbar-back-in-windows-7/