Bug fix – “Save as…” prompt takes the whole screen and can’t be re-sized

Hello!

I came across a weird annoying bug/behavior while browsing the web and saving stuff (images, files, etc.).

One day, the “Save as…” prompt decided it would take the whole screen’s size (full size) and not allow me to resize it. Here’s how to quickly fix that:

Either :

-Double click the title bar
or
-Click the “Hide Folders” button

Then simply resize the window with your mouse as usual!

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

Reference
-http://superuser.com/questions/417867/resizing-the-save-as-window-in-windows-7

Skype – How to fix Japanese characters in Skype

If for some reason your Japanese characters (kana and kanji) are not displayed in Skype when you chat, here’s an easy fix. It should work for most Windows OS (XP, 7, 8):

Change Skype’s font

1. Sign in your Skype account.
2. Go in Tools > Options
3. Click IM & SMS and select IM appearance.
4. Click Change font.

It possible that the Tahoma and/or Arial font won’t display Japanese characters properly. Try using the font “meiryo“: kana and kanji characters should be displayed again.

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

References
-https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA338/how-do-i-change-the-font-of-my-instant-messages-in-skype-for-windows-desktop
-http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Cannot-see-Japanese-characters/td-p/366847
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana

GIMP – Edit multiple files in a single window

I recently discovered a bug in GIMP: whenever you edit multiple files with GIMP, if the program is NOT already opened, you will get as many windows as files you asked to edit. Not really desirable.

Here’s how to fix this problem:

GIMP, always numero uno

1. First, start GIMP.

2. Then select all the files you wish to edit.

3. Edit your selection with GIMP.

Gimp will then open all the files in tabs WITHIN GIMP instead of separate windows. Problem solved!

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

Checksum, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256… What’s all this?

Checksum, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, etc. all mean the same thing: a way to verify the integrity of data, file or software.

Simply put, it’s an easy way to tell if the file you have is genuine or have been tempered with. (infected, modified, corrupted, etc.)

 

EXAMPLE

You download a software from a mirror server and you want to verify if the file you have is genuine. You navigate to the author’s website and see a checksum code: you then verify the file you have with that code. If they match, you know you’ve got genuine file!

 

Simple MD5

For those who simply want a simple MD5 generator/verification, I packaged one along with an icon. See references below.

 

FREE TOOL – File Checksum

I recently substituted my simple md5 app with File Checksum because it also includes SHA-1 and SHA-256. Note that it’s standalone and requires no installation to run. Since we’ve just discuss how checksum works, you might want to verify the integrity of File Checksum itself before using it.

How can one do that WITHOUT a checksum application? Use an online checker! : http://onlinemd5.com/

 

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

References
-http://www.filechecksum.com/
-http://onlinemd5.com/

Download the simple MD5 Checksum from the now defuntc
“TSoft Ltd -www.midwavi.com” here (provided by me) :
-http://www.mediafire.com/download/t22kjtj8moz53c6/md5_custom_icon.7z (Requires 7zip to open)
–

How to find and identify Windows version offline

Here’s a very simply way to find the version of Windows when you can’t run said operating system. Typical scenario is a hard drive with Windows installed on it and you need to know which version is installed for troubleshooting purposes, repair, etc.

Here’s how!

STEPS

1. Access the hard drive. You can plug it internally or via USB with the appropriate adapter, use a Live CD, etc.

2. Go to Drive_letter:\windows\system32

3. Find the ntdll.dll file and right-click it.

4. Go to Proprieties and then click on the Version tab

5. Click on the Product veriosn entry and voilà! Simply read the value/description. If it’s not clear (most of the time), simply check the NTDLL Version number here :

http://www.geoffchappell.com/studies/windows/win32/ntdll/history/

NOTE

Remember you can save this page in .mht format to future proof this information’s accessibility.

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

References
-http://www.geoffchappell.com/studies/windows/win32/ntdll/history/
-http://www.unmht.org/unmht/en_index.html

How to change default picture editor in Windows XP

Welcome to another simple & easy life-saving how-to!

So, you know how to change a file’s default program : right-click -> Open with -> Choose Program… -> check the check-box “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file”. Cool!

Now, what about changing the default image EDITOR? (Right-click -> edit) Dunno about you, but for example, if I wanna edit a picture, I don’t want MS Paint: I want GIMP (or Photoshop, if you have too much money) to be launched.

Most solution I kept finding all over the place were overkill crap-ware (useless software) solutions or overly technical procedures (Registry Hack) for what is already available in Windows. So here’s the easy short method:

STEPS

1. Open Explorer (WIN Key +E) -> Tools -> Folder Options… -> File Types tab

2. Click once on any item of the list, then press the first letter (with your keyboard) of the file type you wish to modify the default editor. Since all the files extensions are in alphabetical order, it’ll take seconds to find what you’re looking for. (.jpg is J, .bmp is B, .html is H, etc.)

3. Once you’ve found the file type you want, select it, then click the bottom right button Advanced.

4. Create a new Action entry and call it “edit“, then browse which application to be used to perform the action (aka the editor of your choosing).

5. Finally, click in the application’s path and add two double-quotes at the very end, around the variable %1 like this “%1”. Otherwise it won’t work. That’s the killer detail that is hard to find anywhere.

6. Press OK and voilà! You’re done!

Now all your files will be opened by that editor when you click edit!

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

P.S. : Leave a comment if it helped! And if you have any questions, lemme know!

Animal tested! This how-to was tested on:
-Windows XP
-Probably similar for Windows Vista/7/8… Needs more investigation…

List of all MAC (OS X) keyboard shortcuts

Here’s a list all the keyboard shortcut for MAC.

From Apple: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

More detailed: http://guides.macrumors.com/Keyboard_shortcuts

 

Also, here’s a comparative chart of Windows, MAC and Linux (KDE/Gnome) shortcuts. Notice how some are almost identical from one system to another!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_keyboard_shortcuts

 

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca