Posted by Mitch on Sep 02, 2010 under Software Tips |
If you’ve installed a new version of iTunes, sometimes it will malfunction and run the installer every time you start it up. A common message that appeasers Please wait while Windows configures iTunes.
This issue can be traced to a problem with Windows Installer and the shortcuts it tries to create. The solution is simple though.
1. Delete all shortcuts you are using to start the program.
2. Go to C:\Program Files\iTunes\
3. Right click iTunes.exe and select Send to > Desktop (Create Shortcut).
These steps will usually fix the issue.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 02, 2010 under Software Tips |
Users of iTunes 10 may not like the new Album by Artist column. The album art appearing in this column annoys me too. Luckily, you can disable it and make iTunes look like it did the old way with these simple steps.
1. Click View at the top of the screen.
2. Select as List.
The Album by Artist column will now be removed.
Posted by Mitch on Aug 17, 2010 under Software Tips |
Using Google Chrome on multiple PC’s? You can sync your bookmarks, themes and preferences to the other computers.
1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click the wrench on the upper-right side of the window.
3. Click Set up sync.
4. Type in your Google ID and password, then click Sign in.
Perform the same steps on the additional computers. Your data will then be all synced up.
Posted by Donny D. on Jul 05, 2010 under Software Tips |
When trying to use the Adobe PDF printer sometimes in the full version of Adobe Acrobat, I sometimes run into this error “Adobe PDF creation cannot continue because Acrobat is not activated”, even though my version is fully activated.
The Adobe site runs you through a laundry list of things to repair, or tells you that your software is not activated, but here is a trick that always works for me:
1. Pull up Windows Task Manager by either right clicking the task bar and selecting Task Manager, hitting Control-Alt-Delete and clicking Task Manager, typing taskman in the run command in XP, etc.. however you get there doesn’t matter.
2. On the Processes tab, Click on Image Name at the top to sort the list alphabetically. Look for Acrobat.exe and acrotray.exe, highlight each of them and click End Process on each.
3. Once each process is gone, try to print to the Adobe PDF printer again and it should work this time.
Posted by Mitch on May 11, 2010 under Software Tips, iPad Tips |
By default, the iPad automatically syncs when you attach it to your computer. Sometimes you just want to plug it in to charge it, or maybe you want to sync it later. Here’s how to disable and prevent syncing for one time.
1. Open iTunes.
2. Connect iPad to the computer.
3. Quickly press and hold Shift + Control for Windows PC or Command + Option for Mac.
You can always sync your iPad manually by using the button in the bottom-right corner of the iTunes window.
Posted by Mitch on May 02, 2010 under Software Tips, Windows Tips |
Every time I install a new version of iTunes, the icon on my Start menu throws an error.
This action is only valid for products that are currently installed.
I started thinking that iTunes just wouldn’t start most of the time. It turns out that it’s only a problem with the icon. To solve the problem, do the following steps.
1. Right-click on the icon and select Delete.
2. Navigate to another icon. You can usually find another one on your desktop or in the folder where the program is located. In this case, I navigated to C:\Program Files\iTunes and right-clicked on the iTunes.exe icon > Send to > Desktop (create shortcut)
Now there was a new shortcut on the Desktop I can use to launch iTunes just fine.
Posted by Donny D. on Apr 05, 2010 under Software Tips |
There is an Addon for Firefox that I really like called Session Manager. All it does is add the option to restore all of the tabs you have open when you close Firefox. I like this because I could just leave up all of the pages I go to frequently, and there they were the next time I opened the browser without having to bookmark everything.
Google Chrome does this by default with no extra addons. Simply click on the Wrench in the top right and select Options. On the Basics tab, the top section called On Startup is what controls how Chrome acts when it’s opened.
The option you’re looking for is called Restore the pages that were open last.
Posted by Mitch on Feb 15, 2010 under Software Tips |
I had a client who was getting an error message every time she tried to use Hotmail.
Unable to poll for new messages on your Http server.
The problem would occur whenever she connected to the company VPN. Hotmail was blocked on our proxy server though. So you have to setup a proxy exception to get past this issue.
1. Open Internet Explorer (even if you’re not using IE to get to Hotmail).
2. Go to Tools > Internet Options.
3. Click the Connections tab.
4. Click the LAN Settings button.
5. Click Advanced.
6. Where it says Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with, type *hotmail*;*services.msn*
7. Click OK three times. Hotmail should work now.
Posted by Mitch on Feb 14, 2010 under Software Tips |
Whenever I download a full album in iTunes, it slows my PC down to a crawl. It uses a ton of resources because it downloads and processes so many files at a time. Thankfully you can make iTunes download only one song at a time using these steps.
1. Open iTunes.
2. Click the Downloads option on the left pane.
3. Uncheck the Allow simultaneous downloads box.
Now iTunes shouldn’t take up so much memory so you can do other things while your music downloads.
Posted by Mitch on Dec 21, 2009 under Software Tips |
Today I tried to launch a Microsoft LiveMeeting session from a link provided to me via email. When I clicked the link or copied and pasted the link into Internet Explorer, I received the following error message:
Error loading C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\LiveMeeting Shared\RtcRouter.dll
The specified module could not be found
Luckily I found a patch that fixes this issue. Just click this link and then click Accept Terms and Install Client. Then run the file. You’ll have to exit out of Microsoft Outlook prior to running it. Once it’s completed, LiveMeeting should work just fine.
Posted by Mitch on Dec 07, 2009 under Software Tips |
One of the annoyances I always had with iTunes, was having to click so many times to get the window up so that I could skip songs. Starting with iTunes 9, there is a new Mini-Player mode you can enable by going to View > Switch to Mini Player. The only problem is, that I want it on top of all of my other windows so that I can quickly access it. Luckily, there is a setting to enable this feature.
1. Click Edit.
2. Click Preferences.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Check the box for Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows.
5. Click OK.
Now you can quickly rewind, play or forward songs.
Posted by Mitch on Nov 07, 2009 under Software Tips |
If you are trying to use a device like a BlackBerry or Droid with your iTunes music, there exists a challenge with compatibility. Some of the songs may be protected with DRM and cannot be played on any device other than an iPod or iPhone unless you remove the DRM out of the file. For those of us that can’t afford to do that or aren’t savvy to do it illegally, you might just want to simply learn which music files are protected and which aren’t. Here’s how you can tell.
1. Open iTunes.
2. Click View > View Options.
3. Check the Kind box and click OK.
4. Now you should now have a column named View. Each song will have something in this field. If it shows as Protected AAC audio file, the file is protected with DRM and most likely, can’t be played on devices not made by Apple. If it shows as MPEG audio file, Purchased AAC Audio File or pretty much anything else, the file is not protected with DRM and can be played freely on any device that supports the format.
It’s worth noting, that I can drag and drop the unprotected files directly from iTunes onto the SD Card drive of my Motorola Droid. It’s much easier than navigating to the iTunes folder on the hard drive and dragging them from there.
Posted by Mitch on Nov 05, 2009 under Software Tips |
If you want to take a screenshot of your favorite DVD or video, VLC Media Player makes it easy. This will work for Windows, Mac, Linux and Unix operating systems.
1. Download and install VLC Media Player.
2. Click Tools > Preferences.
3. Click Video.
4. Set a Directory where the snapshots will be saved in the Video snapshots area. Click Save when done.
5. Start the DVD or Video in VLC.
6. When you get to the part that you want to screen capture, press Pause.
7. Click Video > Snapshot.
The image is then saved to the directory you specified in the Preferences.
Shortcuts to take a screen shot are listed for each system below:
Windows / Linux / Unix: Ctrl+Alt+S
Mac OS X: Command+Alt+s
See Also: VLC FAQ
Posted by Mitch on Oct 24, 2009 under Software Tips |
I was at work and suddenly the McAfee icon in the taskbar turned red. Baffled, I wondered why.
I right-clicked the icon and looked at the Open Access Protection Log File. Immediately the icon didn’t have the red frame around it. Looks like it turns red when some rule or policy is violated. The log file will tell you which policy was violated.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 30, 2009 under Software Tips |
There are so many media players you could choose as your default. Windows Media Player, VLC, QuickTime, etc. Chances are that you have a favorite. You can set the default with these steps:
1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open Add or Remove Programs.
3. Click Set Program Access and Defaults on the left side.
4. Scroll down to where it says Choose a default media player.
5. Select the preferred player. Click OK when done.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 21, 2009 under Software Tips |
iTunes 9 takes sharing between computers one step further. You could always listen to tracks that were in iTunes on another computer, but you needed to have the computer on all the time. Now you can easily copy the music from other computers in your house to your library.
Perform these steps on all computers you wish to share music with.
1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes.
2. Click the Home Sharing option in the left pane.
3. Enter your iTunes Store username and password.
4. Click Edit > Preferences.
5. Go to the Sharing tab.
6. Check the boxes Look for shared libraries on computers you wish to copy music to. Check Share my library on my local network on computers that you wish to share music on. You can also limit your sharing to selected playlists.
7. If each computer has iTunes running, you should have a selection for the library on the left pane. Here it’s called Owner’s Library. You can now simply drag and drop songs from the remote music library to the computer you’re on.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 11, 2009 under Software Tips |
The Prefetch feature in Chrome takes up resources grabbing pages you may never go to. I like to disable it using these steps:
1. Click the wrench in the upper-right corner.
2. Click Options.
3. Click the Under the hood tab.
4. Uncheck Use DNS pre-fetching to improve page load performance.
Posted by Mitch on Sep 06, 2009 under Software Tips |
You bought a new computer, and you need to get your iTunes music over to the new PC. Here’s are the easiest methods you can use to start enjoying your music on the new computer.
Method 1: Flash or External Drive
You can use a thumb drive or external drive to get your data over to the new location. If you have a large amount of music, you may need a large drive. You can find out how large your music library is in iTunes by clicking Library on the left pane and viewing it at the bottom of the screen.
In this case, I only have 178.2MB of music. So I won’t need a very large drive. I can simply copy the iTunes folder located at:
Windows XP/2000 : C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music
Windows 7/Vista: C:\Users\username\Music
Copy the iTunes folder to the external drive. Then plug the external drive into the new computer and copy the iTunes folder to one of the above locations. Be sure you use the correct location depending on the OS you are using. If you’re going from Windows XP to Windows 7 or Vista, you would copy the files from C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music to the new location: C:\Users\username\Music.
This method will copy all of your music, playlists and preferences over to the new computer.
Method 2: Using the iTunes Backup Function
If you don’t have an external drive, you can use DVD’s. Of course it is likely that your iTunes library will not fit on one DVD. Don’t worry about that, iTunes will back it up and spread it across several discs.
1. In iTunes, Select File > Library > Back Up to Disc…
2. Choose whether you just want to backup iTunes Store purchases or the entire library and playlists. Place a disc in the drive and click Back Up when ready.
3. Go through the steps as prompted to complete the backup.
4. Take the discs that iTunes backed your music to over to the new computer. Launch iTunes and insert the first disc that was used in the backup process. iTunes will prompt you to Restore.
I hope you find this tutorial useful. These are the 2 easiest options for getting your iTunes music to a new computer. You could copy the files over a network if both computers are connected, but it takes forever and there is a lot of configuration involved. Stick to one of these 2 options to keep yourself from tearing your hair out.
Posted by Mitch on Aug 25, 2009 under Software Tips |
Q: Where can I locate the version of Flash Player that is currently installed on my computer?
A: There are several ways.
Method 1:
You can right-click on any Flash movie in your web browser, and it will provide the version.
Method 2:
Visit Adobe’s Flash Version Test web page.
Method 3:
Windows users can locate it in the Registry by running the regedit application and navigating to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Macromedia / FlashPlayer
There is a value there called CurrentVersion that will provide the info.
Posted by Mitch on Aug 22, 2009 under Software Tips |
Want to change how your name appears in the Google Talk chat application? You won’t find the setting within the application itself. You have to login to your Gmail account to change it.
1. Login to Gmail.
2. Click Settings in the upper-right corner.
3. Click the Accounts tab.
4. Click edit info.
5. A popup screen opens. Check the bullet with the blank box and type your name how you’d like it to be displayed.
6. Click Save Changes.
Now the next time you login to GoogleTalk, your name will be changed.
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