This is a cool tweak for Vista where you can add “My Computer” to the task bar, makes access to your folders, media, documents, and programs real quick through the task bar. Since I have made this tweak it has made my access to my files that much quicker, and its a simple tweak.
Link: Lifehacker
This is a useful tweak but requires you to get down and dirty in the registry. If your screen setting is set to a high resolution then the screens on Alt+TAB looks a bit small and this tweak increases the size of the windows in the Alt +TAB screen which is really useful is if you use that tool a lot.
Link: Lifehacker
With more tweaks I am finding more useful tools for Windows Vista, customizing it to my usage.
I find it funny, whenever I try to think of planning of any kind I always think about Prison Break and plans to get out of a prison. In my case I’m just trying to organize my plans.
I have some free time this weekend and I really want to watch a couple of shows I have, my plan is to finish them all in one sitting if possible and get a lot of riding in since I have both bikes back and I want see what can be done with Pyro’s new exhaust, but I will be taking it easy since the rear tire still hasn’t been replaced. Gaming is also on the to do list since I haven’t been able to game much lately, and maybe go to one movie in the theater.
I’m trying to think about what work might be coming up since I’m aiming for travel towards the end of August heading towards to the US, but right now I have a short trip to Egypt but I just have to organize all the details. Last time I was in Egypt was about 4 years ago so its going to be fun meeting up with some friends there. Just for a few days.
I was walking around in Mall of the Emirates when I stumbled upon Borders as I was walking to the Electronics wing of the mall. I was in total shock and I couldn’t believe what I saw in front of me. I felt like a kid who just discovered the biggest toy store in the world staring right in front of him. The first thing I thought is that now I have a reason to visit Dubai more often. I went straight in and all I wanted to do was buy books and other things, but I had to hold off since I only had a carry on! It was fantastic, I really wanted to just stay there the rest of the day! I was so happy, I just going from section to section checking out the books, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it may be fake and they bought the name without the quality books but I was happily wrong! They had all the books I was looking for and more! I felt I was in my zone, there was a book for every person. So much to see and so little time! It has been open for 6 months, and the last time I visited was July of 06. They have a very large selection of books, and very well presented, its worth a visit.
When I walked into my room after work I found these two boxes and I knew right away what they were.
items:
- Seagate Momentus 7200.3 100 GB HD (0.lbs)
- Ergotron Dual Desk Mount (24 lbs)
I was tired after work, but I got that burst of energy to rip apart the boxes and get working on the things inside of them. The first thing I did was physically connect my HD to my laptop and then I opened up the Ergotron package searching for the manual. The whole packaging feels really heavy duty which is great, and from there I just kept on working.
I think that I am close to burning out but I’m not sure! Yesterday wasn’t hectic as much as there was a lot to do during work and after work, and a lot of what I was doing was pleasure but at the cost of rest! I have been running on low battery and I’m sure where the energy is coming from but I was doing a lot.
I was king of Multi-Tasking!
This is what was going on and what I did parallel:
- Work until 5:30pm – Lots of meetings, talking, emails, paperwork and driving from meetings
- Got home found packages (HD & Desk Mount)
- Installed New Replacement HD in Laptop and began Vista Install
- Started putting together the Desk Mount since its in lots of parts and requires concentrated assembly
- Tristar delivered Robo back to my care
- Test road Robo around the block
- Continued Vista Install
- Mount the Desk Mount on my desk after drilling it
- Finished Vista install
- Mounted two E228WFP screens to the Ergotron Desk Mount
- Washed up and went to dinner with some friends because I had to go for a special occasion
- Its 1 am and I’m still up and I have be at work at 7:45 am
After looking around for a bit and seeing what other boutique computer stores use as parts I have rethought the case that I want to use. I usually look for a simple and solid case which will do the job. I usually don’t want too many random features which won’t be of use to me, I want functional features and at this point these are the three cases that I am looking at and I am having a hard time choosing. They are ranked by choice, but they are all excellent cases.
What I’m looking for:
- Very Solid Build
- Great Airflow to keep things cool
- Space to work in, for expandability and organization. Lots of 5.25 and 3.25 slots.
Currently these are the ones that fit the criteria:
Zalman
Cooler Master
Thermaltake
There is more at Mall of the Emirates then a little Window shopping, there is something for everyone to see in this mall. It is a large mall and my feet were killing me from walking around so much, but whats great is the variety of stores available to each consumer. After my first visit to the mall in 2006 I still remember where to go and what shops I liked, they are all in one branch instead of stretched out in different parts of the mall. It seems to be seperated into clothing, jewelery, high-end consumer goods, hobby items, consumer electronics, food, and a few other parts.
I had a few shops I wanted to check out, and I wanted to go to the movies so I made sure I went there all in the perfect time based on the movie. I love walking around there, but you get the feeling that you really are not in the Middle East. I ended up helping an American couple pick out a wireless router for their new home as well as talking to some other people about a new shop. Whats nice is that a lot of people are very approachable when you want to ask something. I don’t think I even managed to cover half of the mall during the time I was there.
There is a certain level of anticipation when you know your getting a package but you don’t know when exactly your getting it. Its always a fun feeling, but I’m also anxious because I want to get my hands on some of the stuff.
Stuff On the Way:
- New Hard Drive to Replace the Failed one
- Ergotron LX Dual Monitor Deskmount
- Hellboy and Highlander DVDs
Some are closer then the others, the DVDs are almost here but its the other items that I need more.
After finishing up the meetings in the morning in Dubai Internet City and I went straight to Mall of the Emirates to go walk around there. Whats great is I remember where I wanted to go but I was surprised that there were some shops I didn’t remember from last time and it was packed with people. I love walking around there, it really is endless and bigger then I remembered. My feet were sore from walking around so much, but I didn’t have enough time but at least I managed to go see a movie.
Then I packed up and went to the airport, the best part was that I managed to avoid the traffic usually associated with traffic. I have to say the construction is non-stop, and I don’t think they will ever stop at this rate. I went straight to the checkin desk at the Emirate Airlines, I was happy I only had a carry-on and they pointed me to the excess baggage counter since there were huge lines for the economy check-in. It was great the plane’s economy class was half-empty but the business was full. The airport was organized which was great, but the mess was landing in Kuwait since they unloaded us into buses and the bus driver was horrible. There were a large amount of people at immigration, baggage claim, and the parking lot. The only thing I was happy about at that moment is that it isn’t humid in Kuwait.
This is one hard drive I wasn’t expecting to fail as it did. This is my Alienware m3450 which is less then a year old, I don’t use it 1/4 as much as I use my Dell Latitude for work. The one part I was happy about was Alienware’s support, I registered online about the problem and they sent me the RMA details as well as details of what they are going to do. They will replace it completely if it has completely failed, which it has because I could hear the HD head has crashed, you can hear the clicking so that means it has been a physical failure.
I asked them not to install anything since I want to install Vista Ultimate on the laptop and work on it from there. I wish shipping was as fast and as easy as it is in the states, but that just isn’t the case. I’m also happy I backed-up a lot of things on laptop from a couple of weeks ago, so I only lost a few downloads which isn’t too bad. I was just really surprised that it failed since its so new.
HD:
- Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160 GB
