In Mail for OS X Leopard, you can disable HTML email and view messages in plain text instead.

1. Exit out of Mail and open the Terminal application from the Utilities Folder

2. Type defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText true and press Enter.

To enable HTML again you can type the command defaults delete com.apple.mail PreferPlainText instead.

A friend of mine was headed for a job in Iraq as a helpdesk tech. For some reason he didn’t get complete security clearance to go over there. He really wanted to go because the money he would’ve made a ton of money. He thought it was completely worth it to go over there for a few years and take home a bundle. Here’s how his salary would’ve broken down:

Salary @ $40/hr: $80,371.20
20 hours OT @ $32.12/hr: $34,444.80
Sign on bonus: $22,532.00
Total: $137,348.00/yr

Thanks to my friend at TweakXpert for breaking down the totals. The contract he was given was even more interesting. I have posted it below:

Click to Read the Full Post »

How to change how thick the glass window borders are in Windows Vista.

7. Click OK 3 Times.

Vista is not only struggling because it’s a bad upgrade. It’s struggling because it’s just not necessary. Windows XP runs fine, it has all the bells and whistles we need to run efficiently. If it’s not included in XP, power users can find free, open source alternatives. Power users can also find satisfaction in other operating systems such as Ubuntu.

Businesses around the world have no need for Vista either. XP is stable and suits them just fine. It’s too bad power users and businesses don’t decide the fate of what really dominates the market, because Vista will find it’s way through the rough time it’s going through right now. Do you know why? Because when people like your grandma call up Gateway for a new PC, what do you think they will offer her? A PC with Vista pre-loaded. Eventually, PC manufacturers will stop selling XP because it’s “too old”. PC manufacturers can make or break an OS’s success. No way will they decide to offer XP forever.

So Vista will be out there for the novice users, which means software and hardware will be created for Vista and will not be supported under the “older” XP. Which will then push businesses and power users into finally buying the upgrade. The master plan of Microsoft will then be complete once again. Just as it was with XP, 2000, 98, 95, 3.1 and DOS.

THUMBS.DB is a file used by versions of Microsoft Windows that stores a cache for Windows Explorer’s thumbnail view. These files end up everywhere on your hard drive where you are working with images. They are annoying. I like to prevent these things from being created. Here’s how:

1. Hold down the Windows Key and press R, type regedit and click OK

2. Click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER
then Software
then Microsoft
then Windows NT
then CurrentVersion
then Program Manager
then click on Restrictions

Create or edit the DWORD value NoSaveSettings. Give it a value of 0.

After you restart your computer, Windows will stop creating Thumbs.db files.

If you’re more keen on the classic Dock you’d find in Tiger, you may want to enable it in Leopard. Here’s how to kill the new Dock and make it the old 2D version like the one you’d find in Tiger.

1. Launch Terminal located in the Utilities folder.

2. Type the following and press Return:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES killall Dock

3. Restart the Mac and you should have the old Dock again.

If you ever find you want to enable the 3D/Glass type Dock again, you can use:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO killall Dock

Tags: os x, leopard, glass, dock, mac

You know when Windows sits there chugging away and your desktop icons haven’t loaded yet? I learned about a setting that speeds this process up quite a bit.

1. Open My Computer.

2. Click on Tools and select Folder Options…

3. Click Folder Options select the View tab.

4. Uncheck the very first box that reads “Automatically search for network folders and printers”.

5. Click OK

Tags: icons, speed, windows, xp

Use these RUNDLL32 commands to clear your tracks in IE. You can also make shortcuts for each of these functions.

Delete Temporary Internet Files:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 8

Delete Cookies:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 2

Delete History:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 1

Delete Form Data:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 16

Delete Passwords:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 32

Delete All:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 255

Delete All + files and settings stored by Add-ons:
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351

Tags: ie, internet explorer, tracks, cookies, shortcuts, commands, rundll32, rundll

Launching Word in Safe Mode comes in handy when troubleshooting problems with the application. If Word starts successfully in Safe Mode, it can indicate that third party applications are causing the issue.

To run Word in Safe mode, use the /safe switch. You can accomplish this a couple of ways.

1. Press the Windows Key + R to bring up the Run dialog and type winword /safe in the box and click OK.

2. Create a shortcut that points to the location of the Word application.

• Right-click the desktop and select New > Shortcut.
• Click Browse and select the location where Microsoft Word is installed. On my computer it was “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\winword.exe”.
• Click OK once you have selected where the winword.exe file is.
• The path should now be in the field for Type the location of the item:.
• At the end of this line, put a space and then type /safe. So it should read “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\winword.exe” /safe
• Click Next and type in a name for the shortcut. Click Finish when you are done.

Your shortcut for running Word in Safe Mode should now be created on the desktop. Try it out. You can verify if Word is running in Safe Mode by the title bar, which should read Microsoft Word (Safe Mode).

Tags: word 2007, safe mode, microsoft, office

In an effort to compete with the media features of Windows Vista and the many Linux based media applications, TiVo has put their TiVo Desktop application right in the face of TiVo users. A software update last month forced me to check it out. I saw the features it promised. It said I would be able to transfer video from my TiVo to my PC and vice versa. This sounded great! There’s only one problem, it doesn’t work. Here is a list of my experiences with this new TiVo “feature”.

• I tried downloading an episode of Harvey Birdman from the TiVo to my PC. It downloaded but wouldn’t play at all in any of my players. I tried another video and got the same problem.
• I placed a video in the My TiVo Recordings folder to make it where I could view a video on the TiVo. It didn’t work, so I tried several videos in many different formats. None of them showed up on my TiVo.
• My PC hardly ever shows up as an option in the Now Playing list. It seems to pick and choose when it wants to be available at random.
• I tried playing some of the little games the feature enabled on my TiVo, every one of them locked up about 2 minutes into the game.
• I tried playing music from standard MP3 files on the TiVo, it wasn’t able to find any of my music though.

I’ve tried to solve the issues by troubleshooting the normal things, but I give up. I think the only thing that worked so far is that it can find my photos in my My Photos folder. If I can’t get any of the main features to work without trying to fix them first, it’s just not worth playing with. TiVo, you may have lost me as a customer. Why am I paying you for services I can obtain for free anyway?

Tags: tivo, multimedia, tv