Here is the breakdown of what it does.

1. Show a pleasant, matter of fact message: Windows will now format your hard drive
2. Wait for three seconds
3. Enlarge the DOS window
4. Display the contents of the entire drive.

It simply lists the name of every file on the entire hard drive, but it happens so fast and moves so quickly that it is sure to get a couple of knee jerks here and there.

If you want to be really devious, place this on someone’s hard drive, then create a shortcut to the batch file and change the default icon to something that isn’t as obvious as the batch icon. To be reeeeally devious, rename the shortcut to something like “Internet Explorer”.

Here is the batch file in plain text. To use this, copy the text below and save it to your computer as “format.bat”.

@echo off
REM Fake Format - A perfect April Fool's Day gift
REM Rename to your liking (something like "Free.bat" is suitably devious)
REM Then make sure you are there to watch their response
REM http://brockangelo.com/2010/02/03/april-fools-batch-file/

@echo off
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo            Windows will now format your hard drive
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
ping -n 3 127.0.0.1 > nul
cd c:\
mode con: cols=140 lines=60
dir /w /s

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What I’ve always wanted was a way to reload the current page after I have logged in. So if I’m on the “Search” page, I just want to go to the login page, then go back to the page I was on when I clicked the “Login” link. Finally – a solution!

Thanks to David Chambers – it is as easy as changing the url that the “login” link points to.

<a href="<?php echo get_option('siteurl'); ?>/wp-login.php?redirect_to=<?php echo urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>">log in</a>

He calls it WordPress Login Redirect. I would imagine that this would be a handy plugin for a lot of people. On an intranet, you may want to provide a link to the dashboard if they are an admin, or a link to logout if they are not. I have been using a very simple conditional statement that determines what to put in place of the login link after you are logged in.

<?php
	global $current_user;
	get_currentuserinfo();

	if (!(is_user_logged_in())) { ?>
		<a href="<?php echo get_option('siteurl'); ?>/wp-login.php?redirect_to=<?php echo urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>">Log in</a>
	<?php } elseif
		(
		(($current_user->user_login) == "brock") 	||
		(($current_user->user_login) == "admin")
		)
		{
			echo "<a href=\"";
			echo get_option('siteurl');
			echo "/wp-admin/\">Dashboard</a>";
			} else { ?>
			<a href="<?php echo wp_logout_url( get_permalink() ); ?>" title="Logout">Logout</a>
			<?php
		}
?>

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If you are on Windows, create a batch file with the following content:


@echo off
cls
"C:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" startvm vm-name
@exit


You should replace “vm-name” with the name of the Virtual Machine you want to start. If you are on XP, make sure you are using TweakUI to auto-login to XP.

Enjoy!

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This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: 0:6

…don’t fret. You simply need to check the “Enable PAE/NX” found under Settings –> System –> Processor.

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However, for some reason, my Run Box decided to stop suggesting files or folders on my C:\ drive or any of my networked drives. This makes work so much more difficult, especially when you rely on this feature and don’t remember the names of all of the folders.

Open the Windows Run Box in Windows XP (by clicking Start à Run or typing Win+R on the keyboard). Then start typing the location of a file on your computer. You can start by typing “C:\”. If you Inline AutoComplete is working, you’ll see this:

If Inline AutoComplete is not working, you’ll see this:

Of course, you wouldn’t know that it was called “Inline AutoComplete” just by looking at it, and it will drive you mad if you go looking for it. You won’t find this in the properties of the Start Menu.

To enable Inline AutoComplete, you have to go to Internet Explorer. Yes, this is a feature of IE. Under Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, scroll about half way down and check “Use Inline AutoComplete”.

There is no indexing necessary, and the change is immediate. Now when you go back to the Run Box, it will suggest as you type. See the Microsoft Knowledgebase Article here for more info.

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Its very simple. Instead of telling the batch file to run, you tell a Visual Basic script to launch the batch file; and Visual Basic has the ability to launch things invisibly.

Follow this demo and you’ll be up and running in just a few seconds

You’ll create two files: the vbs script and a sample batch file

 

Open Notepad, and paste this content, then save the file as invisible.vbs to the Desktop

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Desktop\1.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

Open Notepad again, and paste this content, then save the file as 1.bat to the Desktop:

echo hello > "C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Desktop\1.txt"

Now double click on invisible.vbs. You should see a 1.txt file get magically (invisibly) created on the Desktop.

That’s it! Modify to your liking!

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I set this up because my photography workflow had turned into something horrid: I have two digital cameras that we use. One of the two has video, but I don’t use Flickr for my videos, I use Motionbox. So to get photos or videos off the cameras involved the following:

1. Plug in each card
2. Copy the pics from the card to the PC, name the folders, etc
3. Copy the videos to the My Videos folder
4. Delete the photos & videos from the card
5. Use the Flickr Uploadr and hope it successfully uploads all the pics
6. Upload videos to Motionbox.
7. Come back later and delete the photos & videos off the PC after they got uploaded

I decided to put a little thought into it and get a better setup. I now do the following:

1. Insert flash card into card reader right after taking pictures – pictures & videos download automatically in less than 10 seconds – card automatically formats (optional, but recommended)
2. (photos are now uploading to Flickr in the background – so I leave )

I’ve completely eliminated my involvement with the computer. I simply plug in the card reader (or camera) and the computer takes care of the entire process of copying the photos over to the computer, then deleting them from the card. It then automatically uploads the photos to Flickr as private. All in the background without any of my involvement.

You can modify the batch file to upload all photos and videos to Flickr.

There are several steps you’ll need to take in order for the process to be completely automatic. Here is an outline of what all is involved. Start to finish the process takes about 15 minutes.

1. Give Digital Cameras persistent drive letters (E:, F:, G:)
2. Download Python
3. Download the “Uploadr” python scripts
4. Download the batch file for your camera
5. Install TweakUI and add Batch file to the AutoPlay menus
6. Configure AutoPlay for your digital camera
7. Test it out

First Step

Give Memory Cards and Digital Cameras persistent drive letters (E:, F:, G:)

In order for you to be able to reliably copy images from a particular card or device, you should set it up so that every time you plug in the device it uses the same drive letter. With your memory card or device plugged in, right click My Computer and select Manage:

Select Storage ⇒ Disk Management (see picture)

In the right panel, your devices will be listed, probably with letters like E, F or G. Do not change the drive letter of the C: drive, and you probably shouldn’t change a D: drive if you have one either. Right click on the flash drive that you need to change and select Change Drive Letter and Paths: (see picture)

The next box shows you the letter that is already assigned. Just click Change:

This box will ask you what letter you want to assign to it. I start from the bottom, in this case, Z: (see picture)

It will ask you to confirm this. Click Yes. (see picture)

Repeat this for each card or camera that you would like to setup for this.

Now if you go to My Computer, your drive letters should be updated to the new letters.

Next Step

Download Python

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I keep a folder called “Downloads” inside the My Documents folder. Inside “Downloads” I’ve created three subfolders:

1. Applications
2. Drivers
3. Operating Systems

Most people wouldn’t need all three of these, but everyone should use both the “Applications” and the “Drivers” folders.

Anytime I’m downloading a new application, driver or operating system, I keep the install file (.exe, .msi, or .zip). This saves a ton of time waiting for downloads, but in my experience the real time-saver is not having to go out and find the download again. It is just right there in my downloads folder whenever I want it again. This is especially helpful when it comes to drivers.

If you are good about keeping it organized, you can get quite a collection of applications going. My current tally puts my collection at close to a gigabyte of applications (not including operation systems).

If you just use one PC, you may not think you would need this. But after you have to reinstall a program or two, you’ll find this shortcut can really help. What’s more, if you keep this folder on the network, you can use this for any PC you are using!

I’ve found that these three sub-folders have kept it pretty well organized after having been doing this for several years.

Bonus Tip: Don’t include version numbers on folder names. Instead of “Adobe Reader 8.0”, name the folder “Adobe Reader”. Then keep the most current version in the root of that folder, and old versions I move to a sub folder called “Archive”.

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You may have several network connections in this box, depending on your configuration. But most likely you will need to modify the “Local Area Connection”. If you are unsure which one to modify, look for the one that is not grayed out and does not have a big red X on it. It doesn’t matter what it is called. If you are really brave, you can test to make sure you have the right one by right clicking on it and selecting Disable. Once it is disabled, you should no longer be able to browse the internet. If so, you’ve found the right Network Connection. (Now right click it and select Enable.) (see picture)

Double click on the “Local Area Connection” icon.

A box will appear with the name of the Network Connection in the title. It will be called the the “Local Area Connection Status” box. The “General” tab will selected. Click the “Properties” button at the bottom. (see picture)

The “Local Area Connection Properties” box will appear. You will need to scroll down inside the white box until you see “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”. Select this and click the “Properties” button. (see picture)

In the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties” box, your setting is probably on “Obtain an IP address automatically”. This means that on your local network, your private IP address can change from time to time. To set a S tatic IP Address, click “Use the Following IP Address”. (see picture)

You shouldn’t just guess what IP Address to use, or you’ll have a hard time with your local network down the road. Instead, go back to the “Local Area Connection Status” box (it should still be open) and click the “Support” tab. Your current IP address, Subnet Mask and Gateway will be in this box. Change the last number in your IP address to an IP address that is below 100, but not 0 and not 1. It should be an IP address that is not in use. (192.168.1.3 is generally safe) If you want to be sure that the IP Address is not in use, open a command prompt (Start-> Run -> type “cmd” and hit enter) and type “ping 192.168.1.3″. If it says “Request Timed Out” then the IP address is not already in use and you are safe to use it for your PC.

Enter this new IP address and the values for Subnet Mask and Default Gateway into the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties” box that you were just on. Where it asks for “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value that you used for the Default Gateway (it will probably be the IP address of your Router, most likely 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1). (see picture) Now click OK to all open boxes until you are back at the Network Connections box. Your network connection will now refresh. When you double click on the “Local Area Connection” icon in Network Connections, you can click the Support tab and see the new “Static IP Address”.

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If you have always eyed the Bose SoundDock, but balked at it’s $400 price tag, then stop reading reviews and buy this iPod player! At a quarter of the price, you’ll have enough money left over to buy an iPhone!

I bought this iPod player on a whim after briefly skimming reviews. Honestly, it was a bit of an impulse purchase; but I got really really lucky. We love this thing! We move it around the house with us as we move from room to room, and I’ve taken it outdoors as I was painting our house, and watching a marathon. This is a great little stereo with very high quality sound. It sounds great at both high levels and at quiet levels, which is important to us because we have small children. One thing that I’ve had to deal with in the past is stereos that just don’t work at quiet levels, but this one sounds crystal clear at very quiet levels. A big plus.

The battery life just goes on and on, and the added features like the remote control (that stows on the back) and FM receiver make this one a no-brainer.

With its well-regarded inMotion system, Altec Lansing has raised the bar again with the iM600USB, offering full play and chargeability for all iPod models with a 30-pin connector. Featuring a myriad of exciting technologies, the iM600USB offers big, crystal-clear sound, and it folds up compactly for easy portability. (more…)

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