Posts

Showing posts from 2010

Windows 7 Shared folder on All Users Desktop

Image
This is very similar to a previous post that I've done, but I thought it is worth mentioning since this is done differently than XP. I wanted to create a shortcut to a shared folder for all users that log in to a Windows 7 machine. In XP, you can just create a shared folder in shared documents, and create a shortcut to it in the all users desktop. In Windows 7 you can't do this, so you'll have to create a symbolic link. 1. Create the folder you want to link. I just created a folder named "Shared" in C:\Users\Public\Documents. Everyone already has access to this folder, but it's not super easy to find. 2. Open the command prompt as administrator. (find "cmd" and right-click then click run as admin, you'll see administrator in the window title) 3. Run this command to create the link:  "mklink /J C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Shared C:\Users\Public\Documents\Shared"

Change your blog URL to dot com

Image
I haven't had a ton of experience with blogs, so I wan't sure if I could purchase a domain name and still have my blog hosted by blogspot. I was thinking that I would have to purchase from godaddy.com and do some funny business like redirecting to my blog website, or move the content and possibly pay for server space. I've seen some solutions say that you need to move where your hosted content is if you want to get a .com, .net or something similar. Google has made it super easy to change the URL (if you purchase the domain from them). Domains from Google are $10/year which is reasonable. I don't know if WordPress or other blogging sites have options to purchase domains, but it only makes sense. The good news is that the old URL and new URL both work, so your countless hours of SEO won't be wasted. This website is available from both places: www.yanzzee.com yanzzee.blogspot.com Making the change was super easy, but was still new to me, so this is what I did:

Move Windows 7 Users folder to another drive

Image
If you've already installed your operating system and want to move the entire Users folder to another drive use these instructions. This will create a symbolic link which will leave the operating system using the same path to avoid breaking anything pointed to the Users through the C drive. You will still be able to get to this directory through the normal C:\Users path. This is an alternative to making changes with the unattend.xml file on installation. Moving the Users Folder 1. Copy C:\Users to your secondary drive, or wherever you want it to be located. This works best if you boot into a Linux disc or some other boot drive since windows will lock files while you are logged in. If you have a WinPE disc, you can make all these changes at once. 2. Rename, delete, or move the original folder after making sure that the files have copied. It is difficult to rename that folder while you are logged in to the operating system, so I would do this step while booted to another drive.

Remove Ads from most websites

Image
The web is a lot nicer without ads all over the place. There are a few tools out there that are designed to remove ads from your web experience, some more functional than others. I've tried a few, and by far, the best is Ad-block plus which is only on Firefox. There's an add-on in Chrome called ad-sweep, but I've tested, and there's still a lot of ads that come through. Too bad, since I really like Chrome otherwise. Ad-Block Plus is easy to install, so I'll just direct you to their website: http://adblockplus.org/en/ Alternatively, you can just click tools, add-ons, get add-ons, and search for "ad-block plus". You'll want to subscribe to the "EasyList" to get current lists of ad urls. You can temporarily disable it from the icon that it puts in your web browser. Typically I hate adding toolbars or anything to my web browser, but this isn't that big, and is a must since the only thing more annoying than toolbars is ads. Below is an e

Bypass Cisco NAC Agent

Image
The Cisco NAC agent is run either in Java or ActiveX to check your windows update and virus definition status. If your operating system or antivirus is not up to date, you won't be able to fully access the (wireless) network until you install the required updates. This is all nice, except that it doesn't tell you what updates are required, which ones failed, and it sometimes takes an hour or more to update your machine. This, plus the fact that there is a ridiculously small amount of time between the new updates being released and them being required. This makes your computer fail to access the network at the most inconvenient times. I've found myself spending many class periods failing to listen or take notes because I had to get connected. Here's how you can get logged on without having to even run the NAC agent. Simply put, change your operating system to either Mac, or Linux. Rather, change what your web browser is reporting as your operating system. Currently the