Hacksar » How-To Guides

How-To: Keep a Flash Video Full Screen on Dual Monitors

Omni — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:03:30 +0000

If you’re one of the lucky people who have a computer setup with multiple monitors, you probably have realized that any Flash-based video player that has a fullscreen mode essentially prevents you from doing much else. Once you fullscreen, if you click anywhere else, the video goes back to regular size. Often times, this doesn’t fly with people like me (multitasking!) because I have a video on one screen and some other window (like an IM session), and every time you go to type something in the other window, the Flash video leaves its fullscreen mode. Frustrating, isn’t it? Thankfully, there’s a easy one-click fix for that that works across almost all browsers! Keep reading for the guide.

Go to the IgnoFlash Patch website and download the latest patch version.
Close all open web browsers (and anything else that may use Flash).
Unzip this to a folder, and run the supplied .exe file. It will present you with a simple interface.
For each option (should be a file) that is given in the browseable filepath, select it, make sure Netscape is selected, and make sure “Ignore Focus Changes” is checked. Hit apply.
You’ll see if it was a success or failure in the log, but don’t go by this.
Open up your favorite browser, go to a site with a fullscreen flash video player (i.e. Hulu), play a video, click fullscreen, and marvel at your ability to click on your other monitor while still keeping the video full screen!

This has been confirmed to work on Firefox (FF4 beta included!) and Chrome, so sound off if you have any issues. The program itself has a convenient little “restore” button next to apply if you ever feel the need to revert your patches, but why would you?

How-To: Disable Windows Update Automatic Restart

Omni — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 06:00:52 +0000

If you have used Windows in the past few years, (and now with Windows 7 out, if you aren’t using it, you should), you may have noticed that there are certain options that Microsoft claims to have implemented for “your benefit” or “security”, when in fact they are just plain annoying. Have you ever come across automatic updates downloading and completing installation all without even informing you, only to find a window pop up saying “Windows needs to restart to complete installing updates” and has a postpone button (which has a max time of clearly not long enough) and just a count down timer that will automatically restart your computer if you aren’t there to hit Postpone? I hate that option, because there have been so many times when I have important documents open, or processes that I’m waiting to complete (I’m looking at you, Adobe installation), and so I’m not at my computer. If you want to disable that option, there is a simple (but hidden) way to forever turn off the automatic restart and even stop automatic updates from pestering you to restart, so you can do it on your own time. Keep reading for the step-by-step guide.

Go to the Start Menu and hit Run. (Note: If you do not have the Run option in your start menu, you can either enable it through the Start Menu’s advanced properties, or simply search using the search bar in Windows 7′s Start Menu).
Here, open up (or search for) gpedit.msc.
Navigate to Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
Here, you will find an option along the lines of “No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates” – Double click it and set it to enabled.
Close that and now you should be rid of those pesky auto-restarts!

How-To: Use uTorrent from a Flash Drive

Omni — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:47:14 +0000

Sometimes, you may want to be able to take your torrenting capabilities along with you. There’s an easy way to do this – and the program itself is barely 1 mb! You can keep torrents, keep partially completed downloads (assuming your flash drive is large enough), or whatever, all in your thumb drive. To find out how to do this, keep reading.

Go to the uTorrent Portable Apps webpage and download the exe.
Copy it (or save it directly) to your flash drive.
You’re done! You should now be able to just plug your flash drive into any Windows based computer and run uTorrent on it.

Best of all, you can choose where you want to download the torrent on the local computer that you’re using (which basically means you don’t have to download everything onto your flash drive). This is the most handy when you have access to a computer that you aren’t allowed to install new programs on. Since this technique isn’t installing anything new, it should be able to work almost all the time. The only thing you have to watch out for is router or firewall configurations that may block torrents.

How-To: Password Protect a Subdirectory with htaccess with WordPress Installed

Omni — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:17:01 +0000

If you have ever used WordPress on any of your websites, you may have noticed that it likes to take over everything that’s in its subdirectories and redirect any error 404′s (file not found) to its own custom error page. This is a very big problem when you try to password protect a directory using an .htaccess file (or through cPanel). WordPress will grab that page and redirect it to “file not found”, since it asks you to log in (but WP doesn’t like that). Thankfully, there are two solutions that may work for you. Keep reading to see them.

The root cause of this is WordPress’s .htaccess file. Open up the .htaccess file that’s in your WP root folder. You will see a section that has things like RewriteCond and RewriteRule, etc. Right above all the RewriteCond’s, add the following line with the word “folder” replaced by the name of the directory you want to password. Note that the pipe (|) means or, so this will not redirect both www.site.com/folder OR www.site.com/folder/ OR www.site.com/folder/stuff.html.

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(folder|folder/.*)$

This theoretically should exempt all links that have the name of the folder in them from being redirected by the WordPress rules.

However, it does not always work. Also, it is a pain because every time you add a new passworded directory, you have to edit this file and add it. There is a quick, easy, and effective solution that has a higher success rate that also works for ALL passworded directories, and doesn’t need to be modified once set up.

To do this, create a blank file (or you can just have in it, the contents do not matter at all – it’s just a placeholder) and name it something with an html extension. (A good name would be 401.html if you can’t think of anything.) Upload this file in the root of your WordPress installation, and to the .htaccess file, add the following code at the very top.

ErrorDocument 401 /path/to/401.html
ErrorDocument 403 /path/to/401.html

The /path/to/401.html should be replaced with the server path to the file. (It usually is something like /home/username/public_html/401.html assuming you’re on a Linux server and have WordPress installed to the root.) You should now have no problem accessing your password protected directories, even with WP installed!

Hopefully, one of these two methods worked for you. I personally tried both, but while the first one failed for me, the second one worked. So, you just have to try it until it works.

Keep Track of Airtimes for Your Favorite TV Shows with Google Calendar or iCal [TV Calendar]

Omni — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:18:27 +0000

If you are a television aficionado, you probably have noticed that there are more and more TV shows that have captured your interest, and it’s getting difficult to keep track of when each show is airing (and if it’s even on that week). You may have already read about our article on How to Automatically Download Your Favorite TV Shows, but for one reason or another, TED may not be enough. Sometimes, you just want to know if there is an episode that will air this week just so you can either look forward or… not look forward to that day.

You may also have embraced Google Calendar or iCal to keep track of your life’s daily activities and be your personal secretary (I know I have), and so here’s a great way to automatically update your gCal or iCal with the airdates/airtimes of your favorite episodes with no interaction from you. It’s a good-old set-it-and-forget-it. Keep reading for the info.

Visit the CAT TV Calendar website and register for a new account.
Create your account, log in, and go to “Add Shows to your Filter” link at the top of the page. You will now be at a page with a ton of TV shows.
Simply click on the names of all the TV shows you’d like to subscribe to in your calendar, and hit the big Save Filter button at the bottom.
Now here’s the slightly tricky part. You’ll be back at the homepage calendar. At the top, you’ll see a link labeled “Download iCal File”. Now if you just click this link and download it, iCal will copy only the shows that they have information for, but it will NOT update itself in the future. Also, you cannot get it to run on Google Calendar this way. Instead, right click on the link copy the URL.
(This guide covers how to do this in Google Calendar, but it’s the same process in iCal.) Open up your Google Calendar, and on the left under “Other Calendars”, click the “Add” button, and then press “Add By URL”.
Here, paste (rightclick -> paste or Cntr+V) the link you copied from before into the box.
Change the word “download” to the word “generate” in the link. This step is very, very important. Your link should now look something like http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/generate_ics/RANDOMDIGITS.
Hit add and now your calendar should show up, timings and all, in your Google Calendar. You never have to do anything again!

If you are having trouble with incorrect timings, your timezone may be incorrectly set. That can be changed at the CAT TV Calendar website under the Settings link.

http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/index.php

How-To: Make Firefox 3.5 Open External Program Links in a New Tab

Omni — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:29:26 +0000

With the recent release of Firefox v3.5, I’m sure many people have upgraded their old versions of Firefox to take advantage of some of the new features that were placed in this release. However, there also seemed to be some “downgrades” (or maybe just bugs) in the release that I’m surprised that the developers/testers didn’t catch. For example, if you click a link in an external program (like an IM client such as AIM for example), and you have Firefox set as your default browser, the link will open up in the last tab you have open (rather than opening a new tab). In older versions of Firefox, the setting under Tools -> Options -> Tabs -> “Open New Windows in a New Tab Instead” would allow you to open external links in new tabs. However, now, it does not. Thankfully, there is a simple fix for it – keep reading for the solution.

Open up Firefox and type “about:config” into your address bar.
Promise that you’ll be careful at the confirmation screen and search for “browser.link.open_newwindow” in the search bar at the top of the page.
Double click on that option and it will open up a dialogue box with some number in it. Change this number to “3″ (without quotes) and press OK. Close the window, and now it should be fine. (You may need to restart your browser once.)

Clicking links from external software should open in a new tab. I know that this annoyed me A LOT when it didn’t work for the first day of having FF v3.5, but now it works so I’m content; hopefully you will be too.

How-To: Use Gmail Instead of Webmail (i.e. College Email)

Omni — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:41:44 +0000

If you are just going into college, you probably just received your college email account – and it most likely uses some ugly webmail based client. (This also applies to jobs, etc that supply you with email addresses.) You probably also have a Gmail account that you use (since Gmail is so awesome). If you don’t you can sign up for one at the Gmail website. If you absolutely hate your online web email account and yearn for the ability to send and receive your college emails to with your Gmail account, fret no more! There is a very simple and straightforward method of doing this. Keep reading for the step by step guide.

Go to your Gmail account, and go to Settings (found at the top right).
Go Settings -> Accounts Tab -> Get Mail from Other Accounts -> Add a Mail Account You Own.
Put in your college email address and hit next. It should automatically fill in certain pieces of information, such as your username and POP server/port.
Put in your password, leave the POP server and port as it is, and choose the appropriate checkbox settings. If you are not sure about the “Always use SSL when retrieving mail” option, leave it checked first, and send a test email to your college account to see if it works. If it does not, change that option to unchecked.
Note: If your POP server information was not automatically filled in, your college / email address may not support this feature. Sorry, but your only hope now is to search for a way to forward your emails from your college email. (Try forums or your school’s technical help.)
Then, under the Accounts Tab still, go to the Send Mail As section and add your college email. You should receive a confirmation shortly regarding the ownership of your email. Validate the ownership and you should now be able to send emails from your college email address using Gmail! (It’ll show up as a drop down option for From when you Compose a new mail.)

You have successfully converted your college account to your Gmail account. Bear in mind that this way, your emails being received may not be instantaneous, as Gmail will check your college email account automatically every hour (or so) and update if you have received any new emails. You can also force it to check if you have received any new emails by going to the same Accounts tab and pressing “Check mail now” next to your account name.

How-To: Get a Free Upgrade to Windows 7 with a New Computer

Omni — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:46:12 +0000

If you are in the market to purchase a new computer or laptop (especially for those college-bound freshmen!), you are in great luck. Windows 7 is the next Windows operating system (like Windows XP and Windows Vista), and it is tremendously better than Vista ever can be. Not only is it much faster and streamlined, but its user interface is also much better. It has multiple features for backwards compatibility for Windows XP programs.

However, nowadays, almost all computers (and laptops) come with Windows Vista. In fact, companies charge you extra if you want to downgrade to Windows XP. Being a computer geek myself (as are many others out there), I have absolutely refused to touch Vista ever since it was released. I tried out the beta for Windows 7 and I was blown away – I can’t wait for the actual release of that amazing operating system. I also happen to be in the market for a laptop, but I found that all the good laptops seem to ship with Windows Vista preinstalled (which I can’t stand). Rather than having to dish out $100 or more when Microsoft finally releases Windows 7, I did some research and found out how to get a free upgrade from Vista to 7 (when it comes out). Keep reading for the simple, official, and legal way of doing this.

On June 25th, 2009, Microsoft officially announced the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. This program states that any computer sold with Windows Vista after June 26, 2009, will receive a free copy of Windows 7. That’s it. No hoops to jump through, other than just having to confirm 2 things:

The version of Windows Vista you are getting is Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate. (This does not apply to Windows XP).
The manufacturer of your computer must support the upgrade program. To do this, simply call their customer service (or search online) and ask if they support it. They will tell you flat out – they make more sales, so they have nothing to hide! It only applies to OEMs, though, and can differ for various models, so make sure you ask!

That’s it. Just make sure you qualify with those two facets and you will be on your way from not having to touch Windows Vista for too long and jump straight to Windows 7, the widely acclaimed and well received Microsoft operating system.

How-To: Get RSS Feeds to Your Email Inbox

Omni — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:20:05 +0000

If you’ve browsed websites, you may have seen certain links or images that indicate an “RSS Feed”, but may not have any idea what that means. An RSS feed basically is a link to a file that updates whenever the site itself updates, and you can use this feed with other websites or softwares to alert you when there is an update to the original site. However, not everybody has access to some sort of RSS reader (whether it’s Google Reader or simply Google Personalized Homepage).

However, if you still want to be alerted when there is an update to a specific site, there is a very simple way. Keep reading for the guide.

Visit the website Feed My Inbox and put in the link to the site you want. Hopefully, they have some sort of RSS feed. If they don’t, look for the link to the RSS feed (it probably is some file that has a .xml extension, but can be different) and use that link.
Put in your email address and hit Submit. You will now be alerted once a day with every update that occurs on the website of your desire.

This way, you can consolidate all of the websites you would normally check into one site – your email account. If you see an interesting post or something, then you could go to the website and read more about it. This is especially useful if you need to track things such as deals and sales from sites like SlickDeals or FatWallet.

How-To: Recover Deleted Files (Unformat Camera, etc.)

Omni — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:49:07 +0000

If you have ever used a digital camera before, you probably have noticed that there is some sort of “Format Memory Card” option, which basically deletes all the pictures on the memory card. However, this can be painful if you accidentally format your memory card (or even if you accidentally delete one or two pictures that you really wanted).

The first and most important thing to keep in mind if this happens is DO NOT TAKE ANY MORE PICTURES, OR USE THE MEMORY CARD AT ALL. All recovery programs that can undelete your files rely on the fact that when a file gets deleted, the actual data isn’t erased (at least until something overwrites the section where it is written/saved). Keep reading for the guide on how to recover your deleted or formatted files.

Visit the PCInspector File Recovery website, download, and install PCInspector File Recovery. (It’s free.)
Connect your memory card via USB (or whatever) so that it shows up as another drive.
Run the program and select the appropriate drive. The format should be whatever file you are trying to recover are. (If you are not sure, try it with JPG first, and if not, you can try something like RAW).
Press Recover, and you should have your files back.
If for some reason you can’t seem to view the file (but it recovered successfully), look up a different guide on how to view corrupt image files. (Hacksar may even feature an article on this soon!)

So, recovery is relatively straight forward, provided you remember to stop taking pictures. Once you take more pictures, your old pictures are gone and probably won’t be recoverable. Take note that this method could also work on flash drives, etc., assuming that the file type you wish to recover is supported by the software.