Subscribe RSS

Posts Tagged ‘windows’

Remove Ads in Windows Live Messenger with A-Patch

December 13th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in Tech

apatchThe advertisements in Windows Live Messenger, the popular instant messaging program, can be very irritating, especially when you just want a clean look for your chat windows and contact list.

There is a way to remove the ads, using a free program called A-Patch for Windows Live Messenger.

This program is 166 kB, and it doesn’t require an installation, so it simply patches your Messenger install, and then it is done!  You can then erase the executable from your computer, and then nobody will know that it was ever there, except for the fact that you’ll notice that the ads are gone from Messenger.

Here’s the list of all the possible options that you can choose to patch using this tool:

  • Remove Advertisements (inside Contact List)
  • Remove What’s Hot Section
  • Remove Nudge Delay (allow you to spam your buddies with nudges :D )
  • Disable Nudge Shake (disables the window shake when nudges are received)
  • Accept more than 3 files (transfers) at a time
  • Polygamy (log in to two messenger accounts at once
  • Shorten Status Info in Info Bar
  • Remove Advertisements (inside Convo)
  • Remove “says” text (english only!)
  • Remove Billing Info Menus
  • Disable Photo Sharing (so people can’t spam you with photos)

This tools violates Microsoft’s EULA, so we’re not responsible if you get in trouble!

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Change Windows 7 Logon Background

November 1st, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in How Tos
Pic stolen from blogsdna.com

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…

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , ,

Downgrading from WMP 12 to 11 in Windows 7

October 20th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in How Tos

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/

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

How to fix MySQL Error 1067

October 14th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in Tech

When installing MySQL, if you install it in a non-standard directory, then you’ll need to specify where your defaults file’s path is before you can run MySQL or install the MySQL service, otherwise you’ll get Error 1067.

First let’s open up the command prompt.  Navigate to your MySQL install folder and find wherever mysqld.exe is.  Then run this:

mysqld –remove MySql

That will uninstall the MySQL service.
Now reinstall the service with the defaults-file parameter:

mysqld –install <service name> –defaults-file=<full path of “my.ini” file>

For example:

mysqld –install MySql –defaults-file=c:\mysql\my.ini

Enjoy your error-free MySQL install.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , ,

Windows 7 – Is it worth it?

October 1st, 2009 by Michael Louie | View Comments | Filed in Tech

Some people have heard the new name, Windows 7, Codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna. Lately, you might have heard that you can get Windows 7 for free when buying a new PC or You can upgrade to Windows 7 at a discount price. But is this new OS worth it? (note: light review)

So we all know about the lows Vista set with its paranoia over everything and multiple errors / driver issues and benchmarks at all new lows. This of course made many stay back at home with their Xp computers.

But little do people notice the great things about Vista.  With its new Aero feature, improved support for 64 bit and multicore processors, peer to peer file transferring and sharing and etc. These new features would set the path for the next OS to improve on these new programs, features and layouts.

File:Windows 7.png

(screenshot of Windows 7)

This here is the new Windows 7. There are some obvious differences…..obviously. Some parts you may recognize such as the start menu but you notice our classic taskbar looks a little different. This new little gadget is called Aero Peek. Now unlike the previous aero which shows a preview of the window when hovering above it, Aero peek will show you the windows all by hovering over the ONE app. So lets say you have 3 internet explorer windows open. Instead of hovering over one at a time to find which one you are looking for, you can hover over the internet explorer icon in the taskbar and you will see all three in realtime and if you hover over the preview, you can get a large screen preview .     =)

File:Windows 7 Taskbar.png

Another New feature is the Snap In feature. Open two windows drag them on the two sides of the screen and they will adjust to fit perfectly in your monitor ,and don’t worry  the pesky messages that black out your screen just to ask the redundant question of permission are gone.

Now for the features that you won’t notice right away. So first you get improved accessories, boot times and performance on multi-core processors. (yippe for me and my core 2 quad) Your control center has been renovated with extra items such as Clear type and Gadgets. Also, for the sake of XP which kept windows alive in my opinion will have its cousin in Windows 7. Which will be Windows XP Mode which will basically run XP in a virtual machine.  Read more about Windows XP Mode.

To be honest, Windows 7 isn’t going to be as revolutionary as Vista was yet it still improves on the great features of Vista.

I will be definitely upgrading to Windows 7 because of the improved benchmarks and benefits it features.  It has many organizational upgrades too.  I wouldn’t lie to you. Its up to you whether you are going to upgrade but beware….Windows is back.

The planned release of Windows 7 for consumers is set for October 22, 2009.

Watch Windows 7 on Youtube

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , ,

Make a Webcam Timelapse Easily

June 18th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in Apps, How Tos, Tech

Wanted to make a timelapse of you doing something, such as putting lego blocks together or eating a cheesecake?  Now you can, and quite easily too, with the Timershot Powertoy for XP.

Requirements

  • Windows XP (I’m not sure that the Timershot powertoy works on vista – this is only tested with XP)
  • Timershot Powertoy
  • Windows Movie Maker (included with XP)
  • USB Webcam / USB Digital Camera

Steps

  1. Download the Powertoy and install it – pretty straightforward.
  2. Go to Start Menu > All Programs > Powertoys for Windows XP > Timershot and launch the application.
  3. The program will most likely start taking pictures right away.  Don’t worry about it.  Just set the capture rate as one picture every second, and set it not to just take one photo and replace that one, but to take individual photos each time, and so that way you’ll end up with the “frames” for your timelapse.
  4. Set a folder for the pictures to go into (not just your desktop – that will be messy !!! Remember , it takes 1 picture every second!!
  5. Now, point the webcam where you want it to take the timelapse , and away you go!
  6. Open up Windows Movie Maker (Start, All Programs, Windows Movie Maker)
  7. Go to the Tools menu, click Options, and click the Advanced tab.
  8. In the “Default Durations” section, decrease the Picture Duration to the lowest amount possible, and click OK.
  9. In the Capture Video section inside the “Movie Tasks” pane, click Import Pictures.
  10. Go to the folder you saved all your timelapse photos into, and import all the photos in that folder.
  11. Now, highlight all the pictures in the “Collections” pane (which is just right of the “Movie Tasks” pane) by pressing Ctrl + A, and then drag them to the timeline / storyboard below.
  12. In the Edit Movie section of the “Movie Tasks” pane, click View Video Effects (or just Effects, in Vista).
  13. Now, in the timeline / storyboard, click one of the pictures and press Ctrl + A to select all the pictures.
  14. In the “effects” window, click on “Speed Up” and hit “CTRL + D” to apply it to all the frames you have selected.If everything went correctly, each frame will now have a star at the bottom, indicating it has an effect paired with the frame. You can hit CTRL + D as many times as you want, if the video is still too slow.
  15. Now just hit Ctrl + P to save your movie, and share it with your friends or upload it to YouTube!

You can view  a couple sample timelapses I made myself:

Making Lego Structure

Cleaning up Lego Timelapse

Enjoy! Thanks to onlinephototutorials.com for the “Speed Up” enhancement to this tutorial.   Also, thanks to Microsoft for their great Windows XP Timershot PowerToy.
Jul 25th 2008
2 Comments
respond
trackback

Time lapse videos show motion over a long period of time. Set the camera on a tripod, switch it to manual focus, and you’re pretty much done. The hardest part is finding interesting things that will change over time, clearly. Many things change over time, in that you take one photo and they’re gone the next. However, things like clouds or stars are interesting as they move fluidly.

The goal of this tutorial is not taking the photos to make the timelapse, rather assembling the photos into a timelapse of high quality. Step One Before importing, set Windows Movie Maker’s “default image duration” to it’s fastest setting of 0.125 at “Tools > Options > Advanced”. First, you must import the necessary images into Windows Movie Maker. Hit “CTRL + I” and navigate to the folder where they are stored. Since Windows Movie Maker doesn’t support RAW or sizes about 1080p [1920x1080], I suggest you set your camera to the smallest JPEG size at “fine” or “high” quality. This means it won’t take as long to import all the images to your computer, it’ll take less space, and Windows Movie Maker will be faster. Import the JPEGs Step Two Under the “imported media” window, click on an image and hit CTRL + A to select all. Hold and drag the images into the timeline or storyboard at the bottom of the screen. Drag to Storyboard Step Three At the left hand pane, select the “effects” option under the “edit” category. Select "Effects" Now, at the bottom of the screen, select the “Storyboard” view. Select one of the images and hit “CTRL + A” to select all. Select "Show Storyboard" and select all

Step Four

In the “effects” window, click on “Speed Up” and hit “CTRL + D” to apply it to all the frames you have selected.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Windows 7 Requirements

March 24th, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Thanks to consolespot.net!

Apparently, the specs were ‘leaked’ recently.  Currently, the expected release date is January 2010.  Unfortunately, Microsoft closed the Windows 7 beta downloads last month (February), but you can still get a key if one of your friends, or you managed to download it while it was available.

For the Basic Windows 7:

* 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 512 MB of system memory
* 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory
* DVD-ROM drive
* Audio Output
* Internet access (fees may apply)

For the Premium Windows 7:

* 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 1 GB of system memory
* 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
o WDDM Driver
o 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
o Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
o 32 bits per pixel
* DVD-ROM drive
* Audio Output
* Internet access (fees may apply)

Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.

While all editions of Windows Vista can support multiple core CPUs, only Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise can support dual processors.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , ,

Cracked LegitLibM.dll for Windows Media Player 11

February 3rd, 2009 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in How Tos, Offline, Online, Tech

Still having trouble downloading Windows Media Player??  Here’s how to download and install it easily.

Download Windows Media Player 11 here without any WGA validation requests.

After doing that, you have your Windows Media Player Installer.  Install a program like WinRAR and then right click on the WMP installer and click on ‘Extract To’.

more

Now open the new wmp11 folder that appears, not the original .exe.

The folder will look like this (the important files are circled):

more2

You need to replace LegitLibM.dll with the cracked one.  Download the cracked LegitLibM.dll and then drag it into the directory.  Windows will ask you if you really want to replace the file – replace it.

more21
more3

Click yes to replace it, and then go into the folder and launch setup_wm.exe as you saw in the above folder picture.

Enjoy Windows Media Player 11!

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Acer is no longer with us…

June 14th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in Offline, Reviews

UPDATE: I bought the computer- it really lives up to the expectations!

I returned my Acer Extensa yesterday. I’m sure you’ve read about my share of issues with it, and I returned it, because the chance to return it to costco (I had 6 months to return it there) was drawing to a close. 

We did have many issues with it – even though the hardware inside of it was great quality – an ATI Radeon 2400 XT video card which is quite high-end, there was a good hard drive and lots of ram. The problem was, the cooling was awful, and the screen and body of the computer were cheaply made. I tried to hold onto it for as long as I could and considered sending it in for repairs but then I had to scratch that because, if I sent it there, what would happen would be that it would probably say “there’s nothing wrong with the computer” and then there would be a huge waste of gas and fuel and money spent on buying sufficient postage, anyways.

So now I’m searching for a new laptop. I’m looking into HP – perhaps an HP Pavilion dv6753ca “entertainment PC”. It has similar stats, and is at a similar price-point. A bonus is that it has a LightScribe drive which is great for all you people who like being creative – me included. It’ll be great for the Kunadiuns’ next movie.

Click here for an extremely high resolution photo of my laptop.

Here are some other “Plusses” over the Acer:

  1. Some sort of Remote Control is included – it sounds good, because I use my computer to download TV shows off of BitTorrent and then I hook the computer up to the TV to play them. I think that the Remote will have a pause and play button on it, hopefully, which will save me from getting up and off of the couch and running over to the Laptop to pause the show.
  2. The awesome volume controls on the top of the keyboard – I love these!!! They are great, and you need just bearly to tap them lightly to make the sound go up and down – not push down hard – thinking about that though, you could accidentally brush against them and lose your spot in a movie.
  3. HP webcams are Great – end of story
  4. Good reliable Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection & Bluetooth™. The Acer didn’t have bluetooth, which is pretty essential to most people, so this is a definite plus.
  5. Mouse buttons are more soft and aesthetic-feel to click and don’t make such a loud annoying noise. The ones on the extensa made a huge noise when clicking.
  6. Two headphone ports – great if you and a friend are listening – much better than sharing a pair of earphones.
  7. HDMI output – this kind of video output it commonly only seen in $1000+ laptops, so this is a huge improvement over the DVI-D output that was in the Acer.
  8. HP QuickPlay media player software and its dedicated menu controls, music and DVD buttons – the only problem is, I hear, is that the “Direct” option of QuickPlay that allows you to watch DVDs without actually even starting up the computer.
  9. Apparently, it has Altec Lansing speakers – a great improvment over the awful ones in that Extensa.
  10. There is more room to expand the memory to 4 GB

Overall, this is a great laptop. I think I might get it. Tell me what you think, readers.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Validate Windows Media Player – Without Having To!

March 15th, 2008 by Connor McBrine-Ellis | View Comments | Filed in How Tos, Offline, Older Posts, Tech

I just installed XP onto my laptop and so now that I have my dual-boot set up, I wanted to upgrade me Windows Media Player installation. The problem is, when I finally installed it, the Genuine Activator thing wouldn’t work. So I peeked into the Program Files/Windows Media Player folder, and saw a .DLL called LegitLibM.dll (clearly a Genuine Advantage DLL), so I deleted it, and then ran Windows Media Player again. This time, the whole thing worked, and when I clicked on “Validate” (I think that was what it said), it said that there was a problem with the Validation, and then because of that, I think it bypassed the whole thing! This is a very useful trick for people who have trouble with the stupid WGA. I really hope Microsoft goes the Linux path soon :p !

Hope it helped!

Digg my article

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , ,