In Windows 7, Chrome extensions can be found in the following directory

C:/Users/*UserName*/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data/Default/Extensions

The problem: The default places bar sucks. I want to customize it.

How to change it.

1. Start

2. Type gpedit.msc

This opens up the Local Group Policy Editor. You can do cool things with this tool.

1. Navigate; User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Windows Explorer --> Common Open File Dialog --> Items displayed in Places Bar

For Windows 8 Users; Navigate; User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> File Explorer --> Common Open File Dialog --> Items displayed in Places Bar

1. Double click and select the enable option.
2. Copy and Paste the directories you want quicker access to.
3. Done.

Notes

• Windows Vista/7 only. If your on XP, its time to grow up and move on.

• I tried this in Win7 Ultimate. I heard that the Local group policy editor is MIA in the Win7 "home" editions. Not sure if this is true or not. Don't care. I'm on Win7 Ultimate.

• [UPDATE 02/17/2013] - I upgraded to Windows 8, There is a minor change in step three. I have updated it accordingly. Instead of Windows Explorer, it is now File Explorer. All the steps are otherwise the same.

This is a quick guide about how to automatically import new music into your iTunes music library.

The problem

You have an existing music library in iTunes that syncs to your iDevice. You download a ton of new music over time. You want to get that music onto your iDevice, but you don't want to drag and drop every file.

The solution

In your iTunes media location, there is a folder called Automatically Add to iTunes which you can simply drag and drop your music MP3 files. iTunes watches this folder and automatically adds your new MP3's to your music library. This way, you can drag a whole bunch on new files to that folder and won't need to worry about dragging and dropping directly to the iTunes window.

The folder locations are as follows:

OSX: ~ / Music / iTunes / iTunes Media / Automatically Add to iTunes /

Windows: C:UsersYour UsernameMusiciTunesiTunes MediaAutomatically Add to iTunes).

Quick notes

• Placing non-mp3 files will automatically won't be imported to your library, so you don't need to worry about accidentally . It will create a folder with those files that didn't get imported.
• This feature apparently was available from version 9. iTunes 10.6 is the latest version as of this writing.
• Bear in mind that this means the file is copied to iTunes, and not just indexed at its original location.

Solution #2

File -> Add Folder to Library, select your music folder.

It'll rescan that folder, and add anything new.

Don't forget to check for duplicates!

So I am thinking of exploring plug computers because the idea of having cheap, low power computers that are essentially mobile appeals to me. This is especially appealing because I want to setup a little private web server for local development and as a super mini file server that I can connect to access basic media (HTML pages, text files, documents and images).

My demands are very light. I want to be able to run a very small webserver that has all the standard features of a webserver such as PHP5, MySQL or SQLite running on Nginx, LightHTTP or even Apache2, depending if the hardware can handle it. This is for personal use so I only expect at most 1-2 concurrent users. Flash storage or HDD storage is no issue for me, 4gb is plenty for me.

I want to do this with the following requirements;

• minimal power consumption, maximum uptime.
• sleek or mobile hardware profile. I don't wan't to build a Mini-ITX PC because that is already too big and the power consumption goes up.
• minimal peripherals. I wan't to try and avoid keyboards, a mouse and monitor. This is a distant third, so I really don't care. I simply prefer a small hardware profile and low power consumption.

So with the requirements above, I'm am looking into the following

• Rasberry Pi
• SheevaPlug
• GuruPlog
• Tonido Plug
• Old iPhone or iPod touch
• MK802 II
• olimex

So far, Raspberry Pi looks like my best bet because its cheap and powerful. However, as I write this, most people who ordered them did not get them yet. So in a few months, I hope someone experiments with it and see what issues they come up against. Then Ill decide from there.

Things to lookout for

Based on some quick research, things I should lookout for when revisiting this topic in a few months are

• memory issues regarding Raspberry Pi. Apparently, the USB & ethernet Bus are shared which means speeds will go down if you are copying files from a USB device when having concurrent users accessing the network. FOr my needs, it should be no big deal.
• Raspberry Pi has like 256mb flash ram so that limits the ability of apache2 quite a bit. I'll see what others run into.
• SheevaPlug apparently has a short lifespan. This is anecdotal, but I want my mini server to last a long time (i'm thinking years). Keep warranty, customer support and or manufacturing quality in mind.

Bonus features

If the hardware can handle it, things that would be cool.

• wireless relay. Simply plugging in a USB wifi dongle to act as a signal booster in my home network would be cool. I am a big home wifi user and my gets crappier the farther away you go away from the downstairs computer. Having a signal booster/ or relay should solve this problem.

• Bittorrent client and seedbox.

Sometimes when you try to launch BF3 from battlelog, it shows the game is launching, but it instead just hangs there showing the loading message. This happens to me particularly when I leave the computer on for long periods of time without restarting. I am not sure what causes this problem, but I found a solution that fixes it without the need to restart the entire PC.

1. Open up taskmanager and kill origin.exe
2. Close battlelog.
3. Restart Origin
4. Once started and booted up, select BF3 and select play game.
5. Open up battlelog and try to join server. It should work as normal.

It didn't work!

Then restart your PC. Like I said, I don't know what causes this problem, but following the above steps has worked for me 100% of the time. If you know more solutions to this problem or you know what causes it, feel free to get in touch with me and i'll update this post with more info.

In Google Chrome, you can install custom user javascript (a.k.a "userscripts") that lets you do cool things to website. I think of them as power-ups for your browser. In recent builds of Google Chrome, attempting to download and install userscripts will be met by the following error;

Extensions, apps and user scripts can only be added from the Chrome Web Store

Like the message says, you must download userscripts from the Chrome Web Store. This is to protect your average Joe from malicious code which is fine and dandy, but i'm a pro and I know what the hell i'm doing. I don't wan't to make an extension, I just wan't to install the script.

The solution

1. Make a folder where you will store your userscripts. My Documents is good for most people, but it can really be anywhere. I personally store my userscripts in separate partition where all my development work is saved.
2. In Chrome, navigate to your extensions page; type in chrome://chrome/extensions/ or you could open up the Chrome Main menu -> Tools -> Extensions.
3. Drag and drop your .user.js to the extensions page. It will ask you if you want to install. Click yes.
4. There is no step 4. You're done.

FYI

The best place for userscripts is at userscripts.org.

Like always, if you find a new/cool/more efficient way to do this, let me know by tweeting @y00fie or sending me an email. I will update this post accordingly.

The problem

Project Reality crashes when starting up in Windows 8. The splash screen appears for a little bit then disappears. No sign of life from the game meaning that Task Manager shows that the game hasn't/isn't launched/launching.

My situation

I installed BF2 from the disc and skipped the patches and expansions. I then downloaded BF2 patch 1.5 and patched it without launching BF2 first. Then I tried launching Project Reality but it didn't work. I also tried launching BF2 and that didn't work.

My solution

Download and patch your BF2 install to patch 1.41 and then boot up BF2. It should work fine now. Login and load up a game if you want. Then patch the game to 1.5 and then try launching PR. It should work.

Get in touch with me if have other solutions to this problem.

The problem

The media keys / the function keys that your keyboard comes with stopped working for some reason. They worked before, but they stopped working after doing something.

The solution

HID (Human Interface Device) service stopped running. This services lets your keyboard do cool things. For whatever reason, it got disabled or turned off. My guess is that you installed a program or system update that disabled it.

How to turn it on

In Windows 7 or 8

1. Start --> Search
2. type services.msc and hit enter
3. Look for HID (Human Interface Device) service and turn it on. Go into the properties and set the option to auto start.
4. Problem solved. System reboot is not necessary.

$ wget –mirror -p –convert-links -P ./LOCAL-DIR WEBSITE-URL

• –mirror : turn on options suitable for mirroring.
• -p : download all files that are necessary to properly display a given HTML page.
• –convert-links : after the download, convert the links in document for local viewing.
• -P ./LOCAL-DIR : save all the files and directories to the specified directory.

Yes, this is possible. By default, #Windows will not allow the logon over a network with a blank password. There is a KB article that details how to allow blank passwords for network logons. You can disable blank password restrictions by using a policy. To locate and change this policy:

1. Click Start, point to Run, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK to start the Group Policy Editor.
2. Open;

• Computer Configuration
• Windows Settings
• Security Settings
• Local Policies
• Security Options
• Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only.

1. Click Disabled, and then click OK.

Quit Group Policy Editor NOTE: By default, this policy is on (enabled). Under the cover, in Registry, this is controlled by

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlLsa]
"LimitBlankPasswordUse"=dword:00000000
 Therefore, alternatively, this can be achieved by directly setting 

LimitBlankPasswordUse to ``. Setting it to 1 will restore the default behavior.

1. Open Command prompt as admin
2. Type fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify in the console
3. If it says 0, then TRIM is enabled. If it says 1, then TRIM is disabled.