So many in technology and consulting are amazing at what they do. They can figure out things no one else can. But, they, like the rest of us are at war with one of the most difficult obstacles. Is is their own internal dialog? Is it the other companies that want the business? Is it the client that second guesses them? No, they’re at war with the one thing that levels the playing field. You might call it clarity, understanding or transparency, but with this simple piece missing, the most brilliant person is reduced to ineffective.
You might remember a post on this very blog talking about a game addiction to Plants vs Zombies, the very popular strategy game on many platforms. One of my first experiences playing the game was on an iPad, and then on the iPhone and, more recently on an Android phone and tablet. Since purchasing the Nexus 7, I’ve wanted to try to Plants vs Zombies again so I went to pick it up in the Google Play store. What I purchased for $2.99, however, was disappointment.
The landscape for encryption tools today is incredibly dense. Certainly, this process is done in many novel ways and with tools that far surpass that of the simple. One of the most amazing encryption tools (for example) is TrueCrypt – I covered it in a recent “That Great Tool” post. While tools like that offer a great deal of options and uses, I’ve always thought there was room for the simple too. CRCutil is just that – a simple way to compare two files or encrypt and decrypt small amounts of text. Read on for more details and a download link for this free tool.
When asking a Tech Support person, or someone you trust to remotely assist you, they may ask you “What is your computer name?” or “Please find me your computer name”. This process can be quite challenging for some people since every new operating system seems to change the process ever so slightly (while manufacturers, don’t).. Well, fear not – I’m going to list the simplest of ways to get that information so you can supply the details you need and move on.
In a more fragmented way, these tools were borne of necessity and never grouped together while I created them in the late 1990s – until now. Today, I give you three new tools to download and I simply call them Reboot / Log Off / Shutdown. Read on for download links and details.
You might have come here once or twice to see reviews of various hardware devices or software applications. But, one thing you may have noticed is that there aren’t star ratings attached to the reviews you see here. Why’s that? Well, let me explain.
One of the more unusual Windows-specific errors we’ve come across is the above pictured “This terminal server display is inactive”. There are certain conditions where this error occurs and a way to recover from this remotely. Read on for more details.
One of the biggest casualties with Windows versions after XP, was the loss of all those settings you could control in the “Display” applet in XP’s Control Panel. They allowed you to turn off a bunch of things that would improve performance for slower computers – and in some cases – take an unusable machine and make it useful again. Are you looking for those settings that will let you “Turn off Window Contents while Dragging” or how to turn off the “Aero” interface? look no further, all the details are here.
You might remember the recent articles called Laws of craigslist: Sellers and Laws of Craigslist: Buyers. Both articles were a great introduction to the idea of buying and selling online and were an incredible success here on the blog. Such an amazing success, that I thought I would add some more points to those two articles. If you haven’t done so yet, I encourage you to go check those out and come back for more Online buying and selling tips.
New with Windows Vista (and included in later versions) was the Windows Mobility Center. This great little tool typically allows mobile users to see and control many of the most obvious and useful settings on a Windows machine. The settings are arranged as tiles on a single window with each tile containing a specific setting. Also possible by OEMs, is extending the interface to include other tiles for controlling a system. I thought, this is cool and useful but really, really ugly. I thought, there must be other stuff I can do with this.