TimWeb

For those of you ‘lucky’ enough to have already updated to the new Windows 7 then you have probably already noticed the major changes to the task bar. Good or bad, you decide. Personally, I like some of the new functionality that it provides but I also enjoy a slim task bar — similar to that of Vista. Fortunately Microsoft provided a “Use small icons” option in the task bar properties (right-click the task bar and select properties) which makes the task bar a similar size to that of Vista.

Changing the task bar to use small icons, however, does not fix the fact that Windows Live Messenger likes to constantly take up a space in the task bar even when the window is not open. Since there does not currently appear to be an option in Windows Live Messenger to display the program in the system tray, instead of on the task bar, we need to use a simple work around.

First, close any current Windows Live Messenger instances. Then open your start menu and locate the Windows Live Messenger shortcut. Right-click the shortcut and select properties. Switch to the Compatibility tab and check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select Window Vista (Service Pack 2)”. Now start Windows Live Messenger and problem solved. You should now see the Windows Live Messenger icon in the system tray. As you would on Vista, XP, etc.

ONE of the best features built-into the HTC Touch HD would have to be the weather module. This module allows you to view the current weather conditions, as well as a four day forecast and all in a pretty cool looking interface. However; for some unknown reason Telstra decided to disable the weather module by default, instead opting to include a bunch of somewhat completely useless modules of its own.

There is good news… through a bit of editing you are able to re-enable the weather module and, if you desire, remove the unnecessary Telstra modules. First thing is first; we need to find the file which contains the HTC Touch Flow configuration. The file we are after is 26948339_manila.xml which is located in the Windows directory. Back this original file up. Copy this file on to your storage card, or somewhere you can access it from your computer (alternative you could use an application such as Total Commander to edit the file from your mobile device).

The section we are interested in are the items under the Navigation node and directly under the “root” PageGroup. This section contains a collection of Page elements, which define the items located along the bottom bar of the Touch Flow interface. The one we are interested in is weather.page — this should be commented out and appear similar to the following:

<!--
<Page Order="3" Name="weather.page" PackageName="HTC" Title="[[IDS_WEATHER]]" >
  <ComponentReference Name="page" Mode9Path="HTC\weather.mode9" Component="GizmoRoot" SmartComponent="true"  />
  <ComponentReference Name="icon_normal"   Mode9Path="HTC\icons.mode9" Component="Weather_Off" />
  <ComponentReference Name="icon_selected" Mode9Path="HTC\icons.mode9" Component="Weather_On" />
  <ComponentReference Name="icon_preview"  Mode9Path="HTC\icons.mode9" Component="Weather_Preview" />
</Page>
-->

To enable the weather module simply remove the comment blocks (<!– && –>) to end up with something similar to:

<Page Order="3" Name="weather.page" PackageName="HTC" Title="[[IDS_WEATHER]]" >
  <ComponentReference Name="page" Mode9Path="HTC\weather.mode9" Component="GizmoRoot" SmartComponent="true"  />
  <ComponentReference Name="icon_normal"   Mode9Path="HTC\icons.mode9" Component="Weather_Off" />
  <ComponentReference Name="icon_selected" Mode9Path="HTC\icons.mode9" Component="Weather_On" />
  <ComponentReference Name="icon_preview"  Mode9Path="HTC\icons.mode9" Component="Weather_Preview" />
</Page>

You could now also go and comment out the modules you do not wish to appear on the Touch Flow interface.

Once finished editing the file save it and replace the original file under the Windows directory (if you aren’t editing it directly) with this edited file. Restart the mobile device. You should now be able to see the weather module button on your Touch Flow interface. Enjoy.

Do not be alarmed if you incorrectly edit the xml file as the Touch Flow interface will simply not load, but you will still be able to use your mobile device. Simply go back and replace the file with the original back-up, or attempt to fix the issue.

Adobe has release version 2.3 of Lightroom which includes a number of bug fixes. Some of the big fixes include a memory leak while processing files with local adjustments, failure to burn to disc on windows machines and undo (ctrl+z) on windows could a series of previous actions to be undone. The upgrade is free for all Lightroom 2.x users, with 1.x users required to purchase an upgrade disc (which if you haven’t already done, is definitely worth it with all the changes since version 1.x).

Update for Windows or Update for Mac.

I think the new taskbar in Windows 7 might be a bit annoying for some users, especially those who still prefer the XP style start menu, however I personally think it has some cool features (even if it takes a little getting used to). I noticed one such feature while copying some files. While the copy dialog is open a progress bar is displayed in the taskbar, although it’s only a small change it’s a pretty cool change.

Using Recovery Console

The standard, and correct, way to repair your boot.ini is to boot to your Windows installation CD and through the recovery console perform a repair on the boot config. This can be done by calling bootcfg /rebuild however this requires you to have administration privileges for the windows installation that you are attempting to fix. As I recently discovered this may not always be the case, luckily i remembered my good friend Knoppix.

Knoppix is a free Linux bootable Live CD. It allows you to boot to a fully functional Linux system, without having to perform an install or without any other permanent affects.

Using Knoppix

This work around allows you to fix the boot.ini file, without requiring administration privileges, however in order to be able to boot to Knoppix you will need to be able to boot from your CD drive.

1. Download the latest version of Knoppix. *The version I used was 5.1.1
2. Burn the ISO to a bootable CD.
3. Insert the Knoppix CD in to the problematic computer and boot from CD.
4. Once the boot screen is presented press Enter to start loading or press F2 or F3 for more boot options.
5. After Knoppix has finished loading you should see a HDD image (you may see multiple images, depending on the number of fixed drives on your machine).
6. Right-click your windows drive and press “mount”.
7. Right-click the drive again and press “change read/write mode” in order to be able to edit the boot.ini file.
8. Open the drive and navigate to the boot.ini file.
9. Open boot.ini and edit as required.
10. Save the file and restart to windows, being sure to remove the Knoppix CD.

Apple have just recently released Safari 3 beta and with this release they have included an XP and Vista version, for the previously Mac only browser. Steve Jobs announced the release of Safari 3 during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (see video here) and showcased some of its features and benefits. Aside from the claims of being “the best browser ever”, Jobs also claims that Safari is 2x faster than IE7 and 1.6x faster than FireFox 2.

Personally I’m not a fan the Mac look and feel, especially that big grey toolbar, however there are a few features which are useful, if not at least intriguing. For example, while tabbed browser, you can drag a tab off the tab toolbar and a new window will be opened with that tabs contents displayed. Another useful feature is the ability to resize text areas, without the need for this to be implemented by the website (of course this is available in FireFox through the use of a Resizeable Form Fields extension by Justin Watt).

Aside the aforementioned features of Safari, it does appear to render HTML quicker than IE7 and FireFox. However, there are a few bugs or unimplemented features which should be included. One notable downfall is the lack of support for the scroll wheel click feature (I’m not sure if this is lack of support for my Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 or if it’s not included at all), which is presumable a direct side affect of the mac mouse having a 360 scroll ball instead of a wheel. Another downfall I noted was that the tab toolbar does not always close once you close all of the tabs (excluding one), but granted it is only a beta I’m sure that bug will be fixed before the final release.

All-in-all I think Safari is just another standard browser really, and I’ll be sticking to FireFox for now. However, if you would like to try out the new Safari you can head to http://www.apple.com/safari/ and download your free beta copy. Or alternatively you can download the real “best browser” from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/.

Update June 13^th: Apparently there have already been several vulnerabilities found in Safari.