Tutorials

Itunes Error 69 when syncing iPod

I have been experiencing the Error 69 in iTunes lately when syncing iPod. The full error message read "Attempting to copy to the disk failed. An unknown error occurred (-69)" which is not really that helpful if you ask me. I figured that this was some kind of transfer problem and decided to investigate it further.

Change the Source Viewer in IE, Firefox and Opera

The default source viewer for all browsers mentioned in the title is not optimal and sometimes posing more problems than solving them. Mozilla Firefox is displaying the source in a new stripped down Firefox window, the Internet Explorer is using Notepad and Opera is displaying it in a new Opera tab.

Fix PDF Document Display Problems in Browsers

I'm not sure what is causing it but I do know that a lot of users have difficulties opening PDF files in browsers. In my former tech related job I had to find a way to find out why those pdf documents were not shown in the Browser correctly and how it would be possible to fix this issue and make them display correctly.

Stop Folders from being monitored in WMP 11

Windows Media Player 11 is constantly monitoring several folders in the My Documents folder structure for media changes. If you do not use WMP 11 as your main media player you might be wasting resources caused by this monitoring. By default the My Music, My Pictures and My Videos folders are monitored and new files are automatically added to the Windows Media Player 11 library.

Clear the Chat History of one contact in Skype

Did you know that the default setting for the Skype Chat History is forever ? That means, every chat with every contact is still visible using the View Chat History right-click menu option. This could be a privacy related issue if someone else has access to your computer.

Clear Temporary Files during System Shutdown

Windows does not automatically delete temporary files during system shutdown. This means that deleted files in the trashbin and temporary files like those in the Internet Cache are still accessible after a restart of the system. System cleaners like CCleaner or Disk Cleaner are able to delete those files but I would like to show a way how many of them can be deleted by using a Windows system tool.

Bin, Cue, Img and Iso files explained

Bin and Cue, Img and Iso files are CD and DVD formats that store all the information of the CD or DVD. Users come across them on many occasions such as Linux distributions, Open Source software distributed on CDs and of course when downloading files from P2P networks, ftp, irc or the Usenet.

How to avoid saving spaceball.gif at Flickr

Some images at Flickr are weakly protected with an image overlay called spaceball.gif. Whenever you right-click the image to save it you do save spaceball.gif instead which is a 1x1 pixel image showing nothing at all. The same happens if you try to drag the image to your desktop or hard drive.

Edit Internet Explorer 7 Favorites in Fullscreen

I do not like the way all major browsers display and let you manage the bookmarks and favorites. Internet Explorer 7 displays the favorites either in a sidebar or a tiny window and it becomes really annoying if you have to edit a lot of favorites from time to time. I do add a lot of websites to the favorites at work because that is the only computer that I'm forced to use the Internet Explorer.

The best way to create pdf documents

I have been using two methods to create pdf documents lately and made the decision to stick with one of them after evaluating both of them. Creating pdf documents is not something that I have to do on a daily basis but it was always a rather complicated process because I did not want to purchase a professional version of Adobe Acrobat only to create a handful of documents each year.

Speed up Open Office

My biggest complaint that I have when using Open Office is the speed of the application. It loads terribly slow for instance and it only topped by the time GIMP needs to startup. Way to slow to edit a document quickly in my opinion. The guys at Zolved found a way to speed up Open Office by editing a few settings in the software's settings.

How to extract multiple independent rar files

Extracting multiple independent rar files did take some time in the past until I found out how to do this with just a few clicks of the mouse. The rar files should be in the same directory for this method. Just mark all rar files, right-click the marked area and select to uninstall all files in this location.

Par2 Files Explained

Par2 Files are common on the Usenet today.They are not that common on the Internet in general and I can't think of a location where I encountered them except for the Usenet. Par2 Files can be used to repair broken archives. That is the basic explanation of course, the technical is a little bit more complicated. Lets use a example to make it clearer. Let us assume that you have downloaded a number of rar files (.rar, r01, r02 and so on) that can be unpacked to create the file test.avi which has a size of 700 Megabytes.

Video Wallpapers for all Windows Vista editions

How to migrate from Internet Explorer to Firefox

A reader was asking me if there was an easy way to migrate his data - that is cookies and bookmarks - from Internet Explorer to Firefox. I can see that this could pose a problem for some users that want to use Firefox but don't want to manually add all their bookmarks again. The process of exporting and importing cookies and bookmarks on the other hand is relatively easy and can be done in a matter of minutes.

How to join, split and create mp4, mov and 3gp files

A long timer reader asked in the forum if I knew of a program that would be able to join mp4 files. I was not able to give the answer immediately but after a short research I found a program called Yamb which is able to join, split and create mp4, mov and 3gp files. You do need the mpeg 4 converter mp4 box because Yamb uses it for the conversions. Yamb is mainly a gui for mp4 box, the hardcore users could simply use the command line to work with mp4 box, all others should better use Yamb.

Share the iTunes Library on a network

I don't like the iTunes software that much - it is slow and big and the only reason for me to use it is that it is the offical software that comes with the iPod. I recently ran into a problem which was fixed pretty fast by a quick tip that I found at one tip a day. I assume that iTunes is already installed at least on your main computer and you want to access the same library of songs that are stored on the main computer.

Migrate from Bitcomet to uTorrent

I finally decided to give uTorrent another try and switch from my favorite client Bitcomet to it. It seemed to me lately that Bitcomet was using more system resources than it was expected to use which is the main reason for the switch. Others are that the torrent community frowns upon Bitcomet naming it bandwidth stealer.

Convert and Burn Avis to DVD

I sometimes have the desire to create custom DVDs of movies that I own or that I downloaded to be able to view them on my tv using a dvd player. Many people might think that it is a rather difficult procedure to convert a avi file into a DVD compliant format and create DVD menus to be able to playback the movies on a standard DVD drive. This is not the case.

Fix Do not Disconnect on Ipod

Do not Disconnect was implemented on Apple Ipods to prevent data loss by warning the user not to disconnect the iPod while it is still in use on the computer. This message should be taken serious most of the time. If you transfer files to the iPod for instance. Removing the iPod while transferring files could lead to data loss and file corruption.

Save Quicktime Movies from Apple Trailers

I do not like Quicktime that much. I hate to use additional clients next to VLC to be able to view certain movies on websites. I also do not like the fact that you can't save movies easily if you do not use Quicktime Pro. I discovered a method that makes it possible to save movies from the Apple Trailer website to your local drive and watch them in your favorite movie player afterwards. I use VLC for this purpose but Quicktime Alternative for instance should be fine as well.

Convert DVDs to Avi

As you might know I have a modded xbox that has a replaced bigger hard drive and I use it to watch movies from my Xbox Media Center. I dislike watching downloaded movies on my computer and transfer them to the Xbox via ftp to watch them on tv instead. I was looking for a solution to add some of my DVDs to the Xbox as well which has the main advantage that I have them accessible all the time from there. No matter if I lend them to someone for instance.

Preparing myself for Linux and Vista

Today I'm going to write about my master plan to install Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista on my system to have them at my disposal next to my current Windows XP installation. I personally try to make the switch to Linux because I'm fed up with all the restrictions that Microsoft build (on pressure I assume) into Windows Vista. Nevertheless more than 99% of all my readers use Windows XP and I will continue writing articles for XP and Vista.

Find out which codec is missing for playback

It happens sometimes that you download a video clip from the internet and have troubles playing that movie on your computer. This problem is most of the time codec related, one indication would be a black screen or no sound after hitting play. One solution, which is not that perfect, would be to install a so called codec pack and hope that the coded that is needed for playback is included in that pack.

Triple Boot Vista, XP and Ubuntu

I like guides like the following. The author is detailing the process to triple boot Windows Vista, Windows XP and Ubuntu with one single boot screen. I always thought how I would react when Vista comes out and I figured that I had to install it to bring you the latest and greatest tips about Vista next to XP. I always wanted to make the switch to Linux and it is a great coincidence that I decided to try Ubuntu first.

Ipod Errors and Freezes - how to fix them

Ipods can be compared to small computers that thankfully do not run on a windows operating system. They still tend to spit out an occasional error once in a while. Most of the time it either freezes, is stuck in disk mode or displays other errors that are not that common. (like icons that should not be there).

Create your own mp3 ringtones

Most teens love ringtones, new ones, unique ones that none of their friends have. It almost seems like a race for the newest coolest ringtone which starts again with every passing day. One method to get the newest ringtones would be to buy them for horrendous prices - honestly I never understood why users would pay so much money for a 20 seconds song. A better (cheaper) way would be to create the ringtones on your own which ensures two things:

How to create a data safe

Would you prefer that important data like information about yourself, account numbers, personal documents and the like are accessible all the time from everyone who has access to your computer or that this data is only available to someone with special access ? I would like to give details on an easy way to store your data safely on your computer without wasting lots of time. It may be safer keeping the data in a safe in your appartement but this is not really practicable.

Linux Windows Dual Boot Video Tutorial

Dual Booting is a nice way to keep your existing Microsoft Windows installation while being able to try out a new Linux installation at the same time. The following video tutorial explains how to setup a system that is able to dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux.

Ipod Disk Mode Ok to Disconnect

The message "Disk Mode Ok to Disconnect" appeared suddenly on my Ipod Nano without me knowingly turning this mode on. I tried to use the buttons or the wheel to turn it off but nothing seemed to work. I was getting desperate and decided to google for a solution. Many people are using the Ipod and it was highly unlikely that I was the only one experiencing this strange disk mode.

Speed up your torrent downloads

I´am not using bittorrent that often anymore but it is still a great way of transfering large files. You see less complaints of people about low download speeds but certainly there are some that are having troubles downloading at a great speed. This can be of course torrent related, if you don´t have many seeders or only seeders with low upload speeds you will experience a slow download.

How to convert Avi, Divx and Xvid to DVD

This guide might be useful for you if you have some avi / divx / xvid movie files and want to watch them on the big television screen. I don´t like watching long movies on the computer, can´t exactly describe why but it feels out of place somehow. A nice way to watch those movies on the television screen is to convert the formats to DVD.

Howto make sure that your files are safe

It is a good idea to make sure that no one is able to find and use private files on your computer against you. I can think of several reasons why it is wise to secure private files. If you are sharing a computer you have multiple users working with it, would not it be embarrassing if your mother (wife, sister, girlfriend..) found your hidden adult picture stash ? A thief would be more than happy to use all the personal information (login details to sites like paypal or ebay for example) to make some extra bucks.

How to speed up the loading time of pdf documents in Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader is really slow when it starts. Did you ever try to view a pdf document that was available on the web ? The reader tends to load very slowly although the document itself might be only a few hundred kilobytes. This is bothering me and I suppose it´s bothing a lot of people who are using the Adobe Reader to view pdf files.

Introduction Series Part 3: User Name and Password Protection

Protecting yourself on the internet is at the forefront of nearly everyone’s mind these days yet so many people are careless when it comes to this area. It is easier than ever for hackers to break in and get all of the personal information from your computer in this day and age and few people are doing anything to counteract this theft.

How to disable USB Drives

It is sometimes a good choice to disable USB drives and still use other USB hardware. This is especially true for computers and notebooks that are publically accessible from time to time. So, to disable USB Drives you simply fire up regedit and browse to the following key:

How to fix the Cannot delete Avi Bug in Windows Xp

The avi bug which makes it impossible to delete avis in windows xp by chosing delete from the menu or hitting del at your keyboard is caused by Explorer reading the .avi file to determine file information as soon as you move the mouse over the file. This causes 'permission denied' errors when trying to simply move, copy or delete these files as they cannot be changed while Explorer has an open handle on them.

How to increase download speeds with Azureus and uTorrent

I´am using Bitcomet and love it but Azureus and uTorrent are two great bittorrent clients as well and I know that a lot of people are using them. The AureusWiki site has an entry that tries to help you to download your torrents faster. They post some interesting links in that article that deal with common problems and settings that slow down downloads. They provide a chart for example that take different upload speeds and define other settings that are optimal for good download speeds.

Ten Tips for Microsoft Words

The article "Ten things every Microsoft Word user should know" is for those of you who are still using Microsoft Word (and not Open Office or similar freeware products). I think most companies still rely on the Microsoft Office productline, also many computers come preinstalled with an OEM version. You get a great explanation and guide for every tip that shows you how to use the feature described.

How To Encrypt BitTorrent Traffic

Some ISPs are beginning to throttle bittorrent traffic. There is a possibility to overcome this throttling by encrypting your bittorrent streams. Torrentfreak.com posted a guide which tells you how to encrypt your torrent streams with three popular clients: Azureus, Bitcomet and µTorrent.