Cannot write files to drives in Vista?

Vista UAC is getting on people's nerves every time they want to do something as simple as writing to a drive. When a drive, whether it is internal or external, was created under XP, by default everyone has access to it because of XP's relatively lax access restriction policy. Vista changes all that because in Vista, you are not really the root user (super admin) when you are the admin. This idea was taken from Unix and is found in Linux and MacOSX. So to fix the problem of you as the "admin" should be able to write to a drive that you were able to access in XP, do this.

1.Right-click the drive letter in Explorer and select properties
2.Click the security tab
3.Click "Edit." You will be asked to elevate. Remember, until you do you are still in admin approval mode and for all practical purposes you are not an admin
4.Select "Users" and check the Modify box
5.Click OK enough times to get back to where you were.

The Holy Grail of Calendar Sync?

http://www.fusecal.com/

Would you like to feel a dead hand?

Quick Log Off and Log Out from XP

If you want to do a quick log off of your XP machine, create a shortcut to:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe -l -t 00

If you want to do a quick log out, just use the keyboard Windows Key + L.

The difference between log off and log out is logging out does not close any programs running. Therefore, The process of logging out is very quick.

Good Resource for Home Networking

http://lifehacker.com/software/home-server/

This link contains great tips and tutorials on how to run servers and networking services from home. Running servers from home can get pretty addictive and may get you into trouble with your ISP.

Speak without speaking

Finally, some peace and quiet on the bus.

Share and Sync files over the Internet

https://www.foldershare.com/

https://www.mesh.com/Welcome/Welcome.aspx

http://synkron.sourceforge.net/index.shtml

http://www.getdropbox.com/

Remote Desktop for Mac

http://lifehacker.com/365673/get-back-to-your-mac-without-paying-for-it

This is akin to Remote Desktop for XP Pro. This feature, called Back to
My Mac, is only available in Leopard.

Slipstream PostSP2 patches into XP install CD

http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/updatepack-sp2.html

This should save you at least 30 minutes of the installation time.

Free "clientless" FTP program

When you need to do some serious ftp transfers and do not want to use the jack-of-all-trades web browsers to do the job, then this Java-based client is for you. It's basically a Java applet that you download and run from your desktop.

Granted, some of you may feel nervous about giving these websites the right as a proxy to your FTP account. The same can be said of any program you use to access the Internet to log into private accounts like emails and your online bank. Basically, there is no complete safe way to access the internet. You just have to keep an eye out for any suspcious programs. While it is doubtful that the people who make Firefox would send a copy of that secret log in that you did using the browser, malicious hackers out there can exploit security holes in the program to piggy back on it to steal your private info. This is why given people use web browser so much, they have to keep the programs up to date with security fixes. Incidentally, there is an extension to Firefox that acts like an FTP client. It's called Fireftp.

http://www.anyclient.com/

http://www.net2ftp.com/

http://www.01ftp.com/

http://www.jscape.com/sftpapplet/index.html

FINALLY!

http://googledataapis.blogspot.com/2008/03/3-2-1-contact-api-has-landed.html

If you are a Google Apps power user like myself, you know exactly what I
mean by the exultation.

Calendar sync with Gmail for Outlook and Thunderbird

http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=89955

The above link app is made by Google itself. It only works with Outlook.

However, if you are an avid Thunderbird user like me, have no fear, there is an add-on that offers the same two way functionality for Thunderbird. Actually, this is more of an add-on for an add-on because Thunderbird itself does not have calendar capability. However, an add-on called Lightning provides this functionality nicely. Therefore, this calendar sync add-on is for Lightning. The good news is the upcoming Thunderbird 3 will have Lightning incorporate into it. As with many add-ons, when such add-ons get popular and useful enough, they will become part of the main program. Therefore, I have no doubt that this calendar sync add-on will be absorbed into Thunderbird as well with version 3.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/sunbird/addon/4631

Free software from Microsoft

The good kind. The otherwise expensive kind. You have to be a student though.

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Overview.aspx

What was old is new again

I was cleaning out some junk in the attic and came upon a sheet of paper with my old email account from Yahoo. It was way back to year 2002. Just for fun, I tried to log back in using one of my old passwords (it was my girlfriend's name at the time). It worked! This account has been lain dormant in the Yahoo server all these years. Well, the account was still active, but all of the emails were purged. I emailed my ex girlfriend using this account just for fun. So far, no reply yet.

I wonder how long Yahoo keeps their inactive email accounts.

Annoying bug in Thunderbird and Gmail

I use Thunderbird to access my Gmail account. I really like Thunderbird for its clean interface and the fact that it is open source. This means if there is any problem serious enough, it can be fixed quickly. However there is an annoying bug which I am not sure it's in Thunderbird or Gmail. It's not a serious one, but annoying if you are a neat freak. In the folder list in Thunderbird, you see a folder called [Gmail]. This is basically the core system folders on Gmail. System folders are the ones that come with the account: folders like Inbox, Sent, Draft, and Trash. If you create your own folders, then these do not appear inside the [Gmail] parent folder.

To remove this annoying folder, go to the Advance option in the configuration in Thunderbird. Enter [Gmail] in "IMAP server directory". If you use GoogleMail, enter [Google Mail] instead.

Now the folder listing column in Thunderbird is cleaner. You can still create your own folders and organize your emails in them and have them accessible when you log into Gmail via a web browser. These folders have the [Gmail]/ prefix to them as labels on Gmail. For example, let's say you create a folder called Jokes to store all those dirty jokes that your Uncle Fester sends you. On Gmail when accessed via the browser, this folder has the label of [Gmail]/Jokes.

This method works great if you never use a browser to access your emails including sending out mails from this interface. However if you do, then the sent mails stay in the Sent Mail folder "on the server," one that is not visible in Thunderbird. So keep this in mind. Incidentally, this Sent Mail folder has the label [imap]/Sent in the browser's interface.

For more tips on how to setup Thunderbird using Gmail, see this link.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite

Free screen capture tool

http://www.utipu.com/app/

It's a pretty basic tool but it will do just fine if your needs are modest. However, if you need features like editing your captured footage including adding additional audio tracks, then I highly recommend Camtasia Studio or its little cousin SnagIT from Techsmith. SnagIT is primarily a static screen capture tool akin to the free PrtScrn option in Windows. With SnagIt, you can also capture with short video clips. With Camtasia Studio, there is no limit as to how long you want to "video tape" the screen. As far as I can tell, there is also no time limit for uTipu as well. You can download Camtasia and SnagIT to try out for 30 days.

Other free screen capture tools are:

http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html

http://www.jingproject.com/

http://www.bugshooting.com/web/index.php5

http://lightscreen.sourceforge.net/