Month: April 2005

Tip of the day: Quick-pick files in Windows Explorer

When it’s time to clean out a crowded directory, learn these file selection shortcuts for maximum efficiency:

  • Hold down the Ctrl key and click to select or unselect files one at a time.
  • Select one file, then hold down the Shift key and click on another file to select all files between the two you selected.
  • Press Ctrl+A to select all files.

Here’s a shortcut that most people don’t know about. Say you have a folder that’s packed with files and you want to move or delete a large number of those files while keeping just a few. Select the handful of files you want to keep, and then choose Edit, Invert Selection. All the files in the folder except those you originally clicked on are selected and you can go ahead with your file operation.

DirecTV aiming to kill TiVo?

Wow. I just read this longish post by Matt Haughey at PVRBlog: DirecTV’s HD problem. And I am very glad that I chose not to drop a grand on a high-def TiVo/DirecTV combo box earlier this year, when it was on my short list. Matt’s post is worth reading in its entirety, but here’s a quick summary:

Unless you live in LA or NY, you can’t get local channels in HD via DirecTV. Matt says:

Local stations in HD format like Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC were subject to pending FCC approval even though DirecTV has a pretty page set up to sell it. I called today to see how that FCC ruling went and unfortunately, DirecTV lost. If you get local channels in standard definition format, you cannot get HD. DirecTV can only offer Over the Air (OTA) antennas…

Hey, I can put up my own antenna, thanks very much, and hook it up to a Media Center PC that costs less than the DirecTiVo box. Which is about to become technologically obsolete, apparently. Matt goes on:

DirecTV sent up a couple new satellites last year to increase their bandwidth for more HD channels. They’re talking about adding dozens-to-hundreds of channels in HD format in the next year, but (drumroll please…) it’ll be in a new encryption/encoding (MPEG-4) format which won’t work with $999 HD DirecTiVos… DirecTV will offer their competing NDS DVR for recording HD signals instead of TiVo, with no concrete plans for converting current owners from one to the other.

The Washington Post had this story last weekend:

DirecTV spokeswoman Jade Ekstedt said in an e-mail that owners of older hardware [Ed: this means you, TiVo owners] will still be able to watch the service’s current HD lineup, which includes high-def versions of ESPN, HBO, Showtime and other non-network channels, plus the standard-definition network fare it offers now. She added that those owners will get “an offer” to upgrade to the new service but didn’t say what it might be.

So, let me get this straight. I can pay $999 for a TiVo that will get five or so HD channels and won’t work with the exciting new features due later this year? And I will get a chance to pay more to “upgrade” to new equipment from DirecTV? Uh, no thanks.

This is certainly not good news for TiVo.

Update: In the comments, my buddy Michael says that DISH subscribers can expect the same: “DISH will happily sell you a $600 HD/DVR box, with no mention that it’ll be obsolete when they roll out their new mpeg4 technology in the second half of 2005. [The sales rep] tried to argue that their current box won’t be obsolete– you’ll still receive what you currently receive– you just won’t be able to receive any of the new HD channels they plan to roll out in mpeg4. (They must have similar plans to Direct TV’s new advertising campaign. The future is coming… you just won’t be able to see it.)”

Tip of the day: Tweak your windows settings

The best of all Windows customizing utilities is free – and it comes from Microsoft. Tweak UI lets you adjust dozens of tiny settings without having to mess around with the registry. Microsoft has released several versions of Tweak UI through the years. The most recent one is version 2.10, which requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or later or Windows 2003. Download it from the PowerToys for Windows XP page. After installing this utility, you’ll find its icon in the Powertoys for Windows XP group on the All Programs menu.

Using Tweak UI, you can make all sorts of customizations to the Windows interface. In virtually every case, the effect is to add or toggle a registry setting. You could accomplish the same thing by editing the registry manually, but Tweak UI is quicker and eliminates the risk that you’ll inadvertently muck up your registry by mistyping something.

The screen shown here is one of my favorite tweaks. Click the Focus option under the General heading and select the Prevent applications from stealing focus checkbox. This eliminates a common annoyance that occurs when a program running in the background pops up a dialog box unexpectedly. If you’re typing away at full speed, you might accidentally dismiss the dialog box (or worse, select one of its options). This setting prevents these dialog boxes from appearing and flashes the taskbar button instead.

 Tweak_ui

You won’t find any documentation for Tweak UI online, nor is it officially supported by Microsoft. Carl Siechert, Craig Stinson, and I cover many Tweak UI settings in Windows XP Inside Out Second Edition (and the larger Deluxe Edition), including the automatic logon option (which changes the Winlogon key in the registry), the ability to create custom search shortcuts for use in Internet Explorer, and tweaks to change the five icons that appear in the Places bar at the left of common dialog boxes.

There’s lots of other good stuff in Tweak UI, too, like the ability to hide logon names from the Start menu, customize the list of drive icons in My Computer and the list of options in Control Panel, reassign navigation keys on your keyboard, and toggle AutoPlay settings for CDs and other removable drives.

Note: If you use any older version of Windows, including Windows 2000, get Tweak UI 1.33 from Microsoft’s Web site. (Do not use this version of Tweak UI with Windows XP or Windows 2003!) After unzipping the compressed file, you’ll end up with four files. To install Tweak UI, right-click the Tweakui.inf file and choose Install from the shortcut menu. This version of Tweak UI adds an icon to Control Panel and not to the Start menu.

The incredible shrinking iTunes

Once upon a time, someone pointed out that Steve Jobs appears to be surrounded by a reality distortion field that makes it impossible for independent observers to see his actions clearly. George Hotelling has been following the remarkable disappearance of features with each new iTunes version:

It seems every new version of iTunes removes some feature in the interest of Apple’s suppliers. Are Apple’s customers filing bug reports saying “please make your program not work with my other programs” and “please let me do less with my music”? Is DRM a dealbreaker for the music industry? If people demanded that their music to work with every music player would the music industry respond by stopping production and sales of music?

It’s a lengthy list. All I can say is, if Microsoft did anything like this, it would be on the front page of Slashdot.

Windows desktop search tools compared

Over at Ars Technica, Adam Baratz does a fine job of reviewing five free Windows desktop search tools. Skip over the first few grafs of the long-winded introduction and you’ll get to this clear summary of the review criteria:

The real novelty of desktop search apps can be found in their interfaces. The central design problem in these programs isn’t finding the best way to catalog your information, but finding out how to let you best traverse it. A quick comparison of the programs reviewed here shows that there’s still a long way to go with this on interface design. There’s no consensus on a best method; everything from web interfaces to Start menu toolbars are used. However, this indicates that these developers are open to experimentation. The battles for the desktop has barely begun, but no one is going to let it go without a fight. Let’s see what they have to offer.

I was surprised by the conclusion (Baratz picks MSN Desktop Search as his favorite), but this review does what any good review should do: it gives you enough detailed information to help you decide which product is appropriate for you. Based on what I read here (and my hands-on tests of three of five products), I see no reason to change from my preferred utility, Copernic Desktop Search.

PS: Copernic Desktop Search just released a new version 1.5, with support for Firefox and Thunderbird, iTunes, network drives, and a host of other features.

(Via Marc Orchant)

CableCard – not a panacea after all?

John Ludwig dashes a little cold water on my eagerness to bypass the cable company’s set-top box with a Media Center PC and a CableCard:

… it is a PITA to get these cards and to make them work. I have one TV limping with a card from Comcast — but the overall experience (ordering, install, daily use) is awful because comcast does not want you to use this product.

This is not surprising, unfortunately. Whoever owns the box, owns the customer, so it’s in the cable company’s interests to make any alternative to their box needlessly difficult. Of course, there’s no reason for this to be true, and perhaps in 6 or 12 or 18 months, when CableCards actually become widely available and usable in third-party DVRs, they’ll work properly.

Tip of the day: Four shortcuts that work in IE or Firefox

Here are four handy shortcuts that work identically in Internet Explorer and Firefox:

Save a favorite Web site

To add the current page to your list of Favorites (Internet Explorer) or bookmarks (Firefox), press Ctrl+D. You can move on to other pages, knowing that the location is saved for future reference. To recall the page, use the Favorites (IE) or Bookmarks (Firefox) menu.

Switch to full-screen view

Menus, toolbars, and other screen clutter can get in the way of some pages. Press F11 to turn on full-screen view, which hides everything except the toolbar and status bar. Press F11 again to restore the normal view. (You can also click the Restore icon in the top right corner of the screen to return to normal view.)

Change your home page

Ff_homeWhat’s your home page? If you don’t specify a preference, Microsoft sends you to its home portal, MSN. Firefox sends you to a custom Google page. But you can change your start page anytime. The slow way is to go through dialog boxes. Here’s the faster alternative: First, go to the Web site you want to use as your home page. Then click the icon in the Address bar, just to the left of the site’s URL, and drag that icon onto the Home button.

Move back to the last page

Your hands are on the keyboard and you want to quickly return to the previous page you were viewing in your browser window. Don’t move your hand to the mouse; instead, press the Backspace key, which has the same effect as the Back button on your browser’s toolbar.

Yes! It worked!

My cable DVR just got a major upgrade, and it was ridiculously easy. The cable that I ordered last week arrived on Friday. I plugged one end into a 300GB external SATA hard drive, and plugged the other end into the SATA connector on the SA 8300 HD DVR. I powered up the DVR, and after a few seconds I saw a message that the drive was recognized and was compatible with the DVR. Woo-hoo!

For another 60 minutes or so, I saw a message telling me to wait. Eventually, I got tired of the message and just restarted the DVR, and when it restarted everything looked perfectly normal. The difference? When I checked the available recording time, it showed that I had used only 19% of the unit’s capacity. Before the upgrade, about 50% had been used.

Easy…

Got a Tablet PC? Get this add-on

Scoble points to the Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, which was just released today. I’ve just upgraded the hard drive on my Toshiba Portege 3500 to 80GB (up from 40GB), so I’ll have enough room to bring along some recorded TV from my Media Center when I travel, so this tool is especially nice:

Easily copy media files from your home computer (running Windows XP Home, Professional, or Media Center Edition) to your Tablet PC with Media Transfer. Queue up your favorite music, movies, and digital photo albums and copy them over a wired or wireless network. Then off you go, fully stocked with entertainment.

There’s some other interesting stuff too. Definitely worth a look.