Category Archives: How To

Where I show you how to (or how not to) do stuff.

How To

Mechanical locks on the way out?

At least their current iterations, anyway. Turns out a $1 bumpkey – a key whose every notch was cut to its lowest setting can easily open any lock of a given brand. (You need a bumpkey for each brand/kind of lock). Basically, this bumpkey then becomes the master key for all of the locks that use a particular kind of key. Since there are about a dozen kinds of locks on the market, all a thief needs to carry around is a dozen or so bumpkeys, and he can get into your home in less than a minute.

It gets worse: insurance companies don’t reimburse for theft due to bumpkeys, because no damage is done to the door. They can’t determine that someone forced their way into your home, and they’ll simply assume that you left your door open, or are trying to scam them.

Both Make and Engadget are talking about this, and there’s a video as well. You won’t believe your eyes!

Lest you forget, you can open “tough” bicycle U-locks with a BIC pen.

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How To

Do you like Remote Desktop Connection?

If you use the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection tool to connect to other Windows computers, you’ll appreciate their Remote Desktop Client for the Mac. That’s right, with this tool you’ll be able to connect to and manage Windows computers from your Mac! I’ve used it, and it works great!

Did you also know you can set up your Pocket PC with a Remote Desktop Client, and manage your main PC with it?

Finally, if you’ve ever lost the shortcut for Remote Desktop Connection from the Start > Accessories menu, you know how annoying that is. You can’t reinstall the software, because it’s built in. What can you do? There are two things you can do:

  • Run the program directly by using Start > Run, then typing “mstsc”.
  • Put a shortcut to it back on the Start Menu, perhaps even pin it there, by going to “C:\Windows\System 32” and browsing for the “mstsc” executable. Once it’s back on the Start menu, if you don’t like its name, just right-click on it and rename it to “Remote Desktop Connection”.
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How To

How to open Office 2007 documents in Office 2003

I recently installed the Office 2007 (also known as Office 12) Beta on my PC, and I love it. I ran into a problem though: the documents I saved in it weren’t accessible from Office 2003. That’s because Microsoft made a slew of changes to the document formats, both inside and out. The most conspicuous change is the addition of an “x” to the end of the document extension. For example, an Excel spreadsheet is now saved as a “.xlsx” file instead of an “.xls”. Similarly, a Word document is now “.docx” instead of “.doc”.

So what can we do to open these new formats if we’ve only got Office 2003? Microsoft provides an easy fix. Just go to their Office 2007 Compatibility Pack webpage, and download the Office 2007 File Format Awareness Update for Microsoft Office 2003, then download the English Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.

A similar update is available for Office XP (also known as Office 10), so make sure you’re downloading the right compatibility pack for your needs.

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How To

Getting back to Archimedes

In 1906, a German scholar discovered some of Archimedes’ long lost works in a medieval prayer book. A 10th century scribe had transcribed them from an even earlier manuscript, but in 1229, the pages were erased and used to make a prayer book. Normally, I haven’t got anything against prayer, but I think a priceless piece of history is worth more than a medieval prayer any time, period.

At any rate, science can now rectify this reckless destruction of knowledge. Using a synchrotron, which accelerates electrons to nearly the speed of light to produce x-rays, and has only a 50-micron wide beam, Stanford physicists can read under the misbegotten prayers to get at the hidden knowledge of the Greek mathematician. Gives a new meaning to reading between the lines!

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How To

How to install Apple Front Row on your Mac even if it didn't ship with it

I wanted to highlight a great guide and some wonderful free (no catch, really) software from a fellow named Andrew Escobar. He’s put together a Mac app that will enable your computer to install Front Row even if it didn’t come pre-installed.

As you know, Apple’s Front Row software is now available for download right from Apple’s website. However, if you try to install it on your computer, and it didn’t come with an Apple Remote Control, the installation will not go through. I think it’s high time for Apple to make Front Row available to everyone. Why they continue to snub users of older Macs when this app will run just fine on their computers is a mystery to me. Front Row is a wonderful app, it’s simple to use, and lots of people would enjoy its functionality. Apple, if you’re listening, please make this app play nice with all Macs.

At any rate, until Apple gets on the ball, Andrew’s written an application which he calls Enabler, that will modify system settings to allow you to install Front Row and manipulate it just like one of the folks with newer Macs. The nice thing about his application is that it will automatically adjust system settings, without the need for you to go messing around stuff you’d rather not touch.

The whole process is very simple. You download Front Row, then Enabler. First you run Enabler, reboot, then run Front Row, then reboot. Then you run Enabler again, and do a final reboot. After that, you’re free to use Front Row to your heart’s content. You’ll be able to modify its settings through System Preferences, etc. It’s a thing of beauty, and you’ll really like it.

So, if you’ve been wondering how to hack Front Row to use it on your Mac, wonder no more. Andrew’s made it really simple.

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