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Monday, August 13, 2012

The Orbit uninstaller sometimes doesn't clean-up after itself.


I use Google Chrome as my browser, and a while ago i downloaded a program named "Orbit Downloader" to try it out.
I didn't like it, and decided to unstinall. Fair enough.
But after i uninstalled it, i tried to download a file. And the popup came up with "This download has been transfered to Orbit Downloader ..."
But i dont have the program installed?
I checked through all my folders to search for it. Found nothing.
I reinstalled Google Chrome. Nothing changed.
Whenever i have to download anything, i have to find the download link and go into Internet Explorer and use that.
The problem only exists in Google Chrome, not Firefox or IE. (But i like Chrome too much to change :) )
The Orbit uninstaller sometimes doesn't clean-up after itself. 

In Win7 go to Users\yourusername\AppData\
Local\Google\Chrome\Application\plugins and delete nporbit.dll

Saturday, August 4, 2012

How to Clean Video Games & Consoles with Household Products

Below are some quick tips on how to clean your video games and game systems using household products. The most common problems like dirty contacts, stickers, and markers are covered. Most of this info pertains to older cartridge based consoles but will work on newer consoles in some instances.

Warning: While cleaning the inside of a game system with a liquid solution, ALWAYS UNPLUG THE CONSOLE first to avoid electrical hazards. Also make sure the electronics are completely dry before powering the system back on.

HOW TO CLEANING GAME CARTRIDGES

Supplies Needed:
For cartridge based consoles it is highly recommended to clean your games and the system (Mainly the cartridge slot) before playing games on it. I say this because some games or cartridge slots may be really dirty and the last thing you want to do is insert a dirty game into a clean cartridge slot or the other way around.

It is very common for people to simply blow on cartridge based games to clean them. This is a simple solution but not a perfect fix. I would recommend using a Q-Tip and original Windex, yes Windex not rubbing alcohol. Believe me it works much better to clean games.

I usually have a small jar I put Windex in and dunk the Q-Tip in to soak the end with Windex. You will want to then place the wet end of the Q-Tip on the contacts of the game cartridge and run it across the board a few times on both sides of the board. You may see the tip of the Q-Tip turning black from the dust it has collected, even if you did the old blowing into the cartridge technique you will be surprised how much more dust and grime is still left on the board. When done using the wet side of the Q-Tip you will now want to use the dry side of it to dry the area you just cleaned.

HOW TO CLEAN CARTRIDGE SLOTS

Supplies Needed:
Cleaning cartridge slots in the game system is a little different. Usually I like to take a credit card and wrap it in a thin felt cloth and spray it with Windex. Do not completely soak the cloth just dampen it. Simply take your dampened cloth with card and slide it into the cartridge slot moving the card up and down through the slot. To dry it you can simply blow on it or you can use a can of compressed air. Windex is designed to dry quickly without having to wipe it off. So not much to worry about if you just dampen the cloth it should dry without a problem.

HOW TO REMOVE STICKERS FROM GAMES

Supplies Needed:
Removing those pesky stickers can be a little annoying and involves a little patience. It is recommended to slowly peel the sticker off, but we all know chances are the sticker will just tear and you will be stuck with a white torn sticker left on your game or sticker residue. Only if you’re lucky will the sticker simply come off with no problem. The longer a sticker is on the product the harder it is to remove.

If the simple tear method doesn't remove the entire sticker try this.

Use either high content rubbing alcohol (Usually 90% or higher) or Goo Gone. Whichever you may have at hand. Take your product and apply a generous amount to a paper towel and soak the sticker. You may also slowly pour the chemical directly from the bottle onto the sticker but be careful for spills. Let the product sit for approximately 30-60 seconds, rubbing alcohol dries very quickly compared to Goo Gone so keep that in mind.

After the chemical is applied you may just want to scratch away at the sticker with your fingernail until the sticker is removed. Sometimes you may need to apply more chemical and repeat these steps until the sticker is removed completely.

You can also use a razor blade and scrape the sticker off instead of scratching with your fingernail, but the razor may cut the product you are cleaning if not positioned right, so be careful and patient if you try that. For any leftover sticker residue after the sticker has been removed I recommend using a rubbing alcohol soaked paper towel or even hot water soaked paper towel and wiping the area clean. Then simply dry it off with a paper towel. Now you should be sticker free!

These tips are for stickers stuck on game cases, game cartridges, or consoles. If you have a sticker on a paper game cover art or manual I cannot recommend using these techniques as they will damage your product. Also this only works on paper based stickers. Some stickers may be metal based "Non-removable" rental stickers. There are ways to remove rental stickers but that is a completely different method and may damage your product.

HOW TO REMOVE PERMANENT MARKER FROM GAMES & CONSOLES

Supplies Needed:
So you just got a game or system with someone's name or initials. What do you do? Well truth be told permanent marker really isn't permanent and can be removed using two easy techniques.

Technique 1 involves hairspray. I prefer hairspray in an aerosol can as it seems to work better. Simply spray the area with hairspray and let it sit 5-10 seconds. You should see the ink start to bleed off quickly. Now wipe the area vigorously with a dry paper towel. Most if not all the ink should be gone. If some ink remains simply repeat the above steps.

A few things I want to address about hairspray are that it does not leave a sticky feeling at all to the applied surface. Hairspray is designed to be absorbed in the hair and then cure after being absorbed. Hairspray cannot be absorbed in plastics and metals. If stickiness is of a concern to you it is possible to wipe the area clean with a paper towel soaked in water and wipe dry afterwards. This method works great for areas like LCD screens or any area where light pressure is needed to remove ink from a product. Since the hairspray does most of the work for you.

Technique 2 involves using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser soaked in water. Simply soak the magic eraser in water and start scrubbing away at the permanent marker ink. With a little patience and elbow grease the marker will come right off.

HOW TO CLEAN & RESTORE CORRODED ELECTRONICS

Supplies Needed:
Corrosion can appear as a light blue or white gunked up substance on game cartridge boards or system cartridge slots and electrical connectors. Corrosion and rust are completely different types of degrading on metals. Corrosion is usually formed by two dissimilar metals. There are several other ways it can be formed, but you're not here for a chemistry lesson you want to learn how to clean the corrosion off.

To clean corrosion off you simply need baking soda and hot water from your faucet, that’s it. I would suggest one cup of hot water then about 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Mix the two together with a spoon. Now you have a safe corrosion cleaning chemical. Depending on what you are using it on makes a difference how you apply it. If it is a cartridge slot on a game system than you may want to just apply it to a felt cloth and wrap the cloth around a credit card (Make sure the cloth is damp you and not soaked. You may need to lightly squeeze the cloth to release some liquid), then proceed to move the card up and down in the slot to clean the area.

For game cartridge contacts you can simply dunk a Q-Tip in the solution and use it in a similar way you would to clean games with Windex. I would allow the solution to sit for a few minutes before you dry the area. When done dry the area with compressed air or a dry Q-Tip. You can also use a Scotch Brite pad dampened in this solution to clean electronics if you can access areas with it. Corrosion rarely forms on electronics, so only use this guide if corrosion is present.

HOW TO CLEAN CD OR DVD DISCS

Supplies Needed:
If a disc you have has scratches or scuffing you may want to seek out a place in your area to correct these problems and resurface the discs. Most places only charge a few dollars to resurface discs. I would not recommend using cheap cleaning kits to clean a disc as most people have reported that it may make your disc worse. I have experienced this first hand with Disc Doctor as the machine left many scuffs on my disc.

For discs some problems may be from simple finger smudges present on the surface. For a light cleaning of the disc use a dry felt cloth and rub the surface of the disc from the inner ring outward. Do not rub the disc in a circular motion as it will go against the 'grain' of the disc. No chemicals needed here.

HOW TO CLEAN CONSOLE CASINGS

Supplies Needed:
So you have a game system and its collecting dust and you want to let it shine like new again. Or maybe you have a console or controller that has buttons that may stick and may not rebound all the way back or get stuck. Cleaning consoles goes a long way for looks but also in the consoles functionality.

If you want to properly clean the entire shell of the system you can simply remove the screws and the electronics connected to the case. I really would only do this with systems that have ridges in their molding such as an Atari 2600 or Sega Genesis systems. Cleaning those grooves can be a pain without taking the system apart.

Don't be afraid to take the old school game systems apart they are literally just a couple of screws and the motherboards come out easily. You can take the bare casings of the system and wash them in a sink with soapy water and a sponge. Dry it off and put back together. This method also works to clean jammed buttons that are filled with grime and food crumbs that get stuck in the buttons from kids using the system/controller.

A Swiffer duster and a can of compressed air are great products to invest in. No need to rip the console apart to use those. Keeping your consoles free of dust helps them breathe better keeping them less prone to getting clogged with dust, which can overheat the system. I've seen modern systems fail due to overheating from being covered knuckle deep in dust.

I'm always interested hearing new technics and what methods you use to clean games and consoles. Feel free to leave a comment with your cleaning technics below.

HOW TO: Install XBMC + Plugins On Your iPhone And iPad

Over the time we showed you a lot of cool XBMC plugins for the AppleTV 2 but, since most of you don’t own an AppleTV 2, today we’re showing you how to take advantage of the same plugins on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
NOTE: as an example we’re going to use our previous XBMC plugin: NaviX
1. To install XBMC on your iPhone and/or iPad follow our previous tutorial
2. Load Cydia and install iFile
3. Load MobileSafari and browse to http://website.navi-x.org/downloads.html ( or to our page if it says ‘ download this zip file ‘ ) . And tap on ‘ Latest
4. If you have apps like GoodReader, it will probably ask you to open the zip file with it. If that’s the case, choose ‘Open In..’ and select iFile
5. The .zip file will be downloaded and iFile will load. Upon load it will ask you what you want to do with the .zip file you just downloaded. You want to leave it as a .zip file so you will tap on ‘Cancel’ . By default the .zip file will be downloaded on /var/mobile/Documents/ . If you want you can move it somewhere else, but you need to know the exact path.
6. Load XBMC on your iPhone/iPad
7. Go to Settings > Addons > Install from zip file > Home Folder > Documents ( or wherever you saved the zip file ) > locate the .zip file and tap to install it.
8. Now back on the homapage of XBMC go to Programs > NaviX

How to Backup a Blogger Blog / Make PDF Blogbooker

If you have a blog hosted on Blog*Spot and you've upgraded to the new version, there's an easy way to backup your blog.

This page lists the latest N posts from the blog:
http://blogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=N
Instead of N, type the number of posts. If your blog has less than 1000 posts, you can save this page:
http://blogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=1000

To download all the photos uploaded to your blog, DownThemAll comes to the rescue. The Firefox extension lets you download all the files with a certain extension from the current page, so it's a good way to download all the images from the previous listing.


There's also a way to get all the posts in an XML feed. This is a better format if you intend to import it in a database.
http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?max-results=1000

The number of posts can be easily obtained from the dashboard.



You can also backup the comments:
http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?max-results=1000

Save the whole page and then archive it for later use.


Also can use http://www.blogbooker.com/ to make a PDF copy of the blog and download it. 

Friday, August 3, 2012

Gmail: how to use 'plus' sign for filtering mails : tools & tips

You can use 'plus'(+) sign for filtering the mails in your gmail account. Like many other Email providers, Gmail supports the standard "plus" addressing scheme. But just what is it, and how can it help me?

The "plus" method of addressing lets you add additional words to your account name (the "left side" of your email address.) For example, if your email address is "amitshahc@gmail.com", you could add "+office" when you give your email address to members of a club to which you belong. So, your email address would now be "amitshahc+office@gmail.com". But why would you want to do this? Think of the "plus" word as an extra "keyword" or "tag" that you can use to better manage your messages.

Using this example, say you email an invitation to your colleagues in a office asking them to rsvp to the invitaion. You ask them to reply to "amitshahc+nope@gmail.com" when sending you a response, if they don't want to come. and reply to "amitshahc+ofcourse@gmail.com". Assuming they follow your directions, You can then set up a Gmail Filters to automatically route emails to specific Labels based on the addresses. It's a simple example, but the uses can be numerous.

Another use is when you are shopping online. When asked for an email address, use something like "amitshahc+amazon@gmail.com". That way, whenever you get future emails addressed to that address, you'll know that it's either from Amazon directly or from someone to whom they sold your email address. This can be a somewhat effctive way to track spam. Just be aware that not all email systems recognize or accept "plus" addresses. In fact, some spammers even strip it out completely, but it's a cool tool, none the less. The best way is to just try it and see if it works for your application!

Using Clips for Wire Management

Why didint I think of this before ?

Altering Outdated Chrome Extension Source Code

Today I tried to install/load into chrome an old extension that was not on the offical chrome market. Chrome will now only allow apps on their market to be installed. So I downloaded the .crx extension package, unpacked it into a directory with winrar and then went to settings -> extensions -> load unpacked extension from chrome. When i  did this i got an error about a manifest 1 not being supported. It was a simple fix, just add a line of code in the manifest.json that is in the unpacked directory.

Now i can play my apple IIe emulator in chrome.
http://www.virtualapple.org/rockysboots.html

Manifest Version

Extensions, themes, and applications are simply bundles of resources, wrapped up with a manifest.json file that describes the package's contents. The format of this file is generally stable, but occasionally breaking changes must be made to address important issues. Developers should specify which version of the manifest specification their package targets by setting a manifest_version key in their manifests.

Current Version

Developers should currently specify 'manifest_version': 2:
{
...,
"manifest_version": 2,
...
}
Manifest version 1 was deprecated in Chrome 18, and support will be phased out

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Coin Dozer iPhone/iPad/iPod Unlimited Coins Hack

Find your Coin Dozer Folder via iFile in the /var/mobile/Applications (ensure in settings, Application Names is set on)
Navigate to Library
Navigate to Preferences
Open in text editor com.leftover.CoinDozer.plist

Scroll all the way to the bottom
look for total_coins
right below it you will see
integer(the number of coins you had left after you exited)integer

Click edit

Change the number, to anything you want (I have tried 500000000 and it works) DO NOT USE COMMAS,,,,!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click save
Click done

Load Coin Dozer and have fun!