my Computer Quest: May 2010

17 May, 2010

Making Money Online

Making Money Online.

While there are hypes about making money online, and there are so many 'gurus' as they would call themselves that, the truth can never be known from simply listening to these guys.

I'm years now into blogging, and I was once enamored by this enticing possibility. Why not? It is free, and all you have to do is blog your heart out. It's what we'd usually call enjoying what you like doing, and earning from it at the same time.

All that easy, right?

Wrong!

when these gurus talk, it is most probably that they are talking about something that is true. They show you their money. They show your their car. They show you their house (mansion, to be more precise). They show you many things that makes you drool, and say to yourself, "I want what this guy has."

Enticement. That is the whole truth of it. They speak only half the truth. That's where the danger lies.

You see, if you are working hard, and at the end of the day, the money you hold in your hand is what you'd call the produce of your hard work, your sweat and blood, your hard-earned money, would you part with it that easily? Would you think twice if you were to put it in some mysteriously high-paying plan, the source of which you wouldn't know, or couldn't even understand?

That's the whole truth of it. Making Money Online is:
1. Hard Work
2. Takes Time
3. Can't be through AdSense alone
4. Can't be through Affiliate Marketing alone
5. All the other hypes that you'd usually hear from 'multi-millionaire gurus'....

You earn when you sell. So basically, Making Money Online is about selling. And you don't sell crap to people, mind you. Don't be like those scammers and fraudsters who make money online by cheating you with your eyes open!

So please, making money online is not something mysterious. You want to earn, sell. And it has to be a legit product. It has to add value to your customers. It has to be a product of value and quality. Not hype. Not scam.

That is Making Money Online.

Agree? Spin a win!

14 May, 2010

The iPhone Manual

If there is one great gadget, many will say that it's the iPhone. Well, I don't own one right now, and I'm not crazy about it. Really!

And while many are enjoying that cute gizmo, many who wanted to try it out are turned off with it, because when you open up the box, all you get is that cute gadget - nothing more.

So where's the manual?

Many years ago, I remember one supplier trying to sell their product to our Facilities team, a software monitoring tool for building management. It was cute and nice, will all the nice icons and buttons and all those functions that I can consider quite advance that time.

Well, the guy did the demo very well, and the Facilities guys were impressed, and as by default, they would usually want to try it out - on their own.

The question was asked, "Where's the manual?"

"Their ain't none," was the answer.

Immediately you would know that these guys were turned off. They turned their back slowly, and one by one they left.

Fast forward to today. I have a colleague who bought the iPhone, and she don't like it. She's used to a Windows Mobile phone, and making the switch to an i-, i-, i- and all others i-'s drives her nuts.

It's worse. There's no manual, and she doesn't know what to do, how to make it work, what buttons to press, whether to slide up or down, etc., etc., etc.

So, for me, I take that as a warning. But hey, nobody is telling you not to buy an iPhone. It's a cool gadget, but the learning curve isn't just that steep since you have to do things by trial and error - basically by self-discovery, either by you, or by others.

Would you rather have an iPhone manual coming along with the unit? And if there is none to come in the decade or so, would you want one to be drafted and made official by all the ipHone users the world over?

Want to contribute now? That would be great! Looking forward to it, then.

04 May, 2010

Restoring the Show Desktop Icon in Windows 7

Image via Wikipedia

For the many changes from NT, XP and Vista, and all other previous OSes, Windows 7 engineered the Show Desktop feature in 2 ways:

a rectangular bar at the far right side of the Taskbar (which means bottom-right side of the screen), and
a mouse right-click on the Taskbar, and the Show Desktop selection is somewhere in the middle of the list

Change is almost always a bitter pill to swallow, and while Windows 7 generally is a change that is welcome, not all that it brings along is. At least for some, it isn't - until another 5 to 10 years of encountering it, and getting used to it.

For those who want to "see it" just like before, one way to have it like before is to show again the Show Desktop icon - at the left side of the taskbar.

There are 2 ways to do that: simple, and simpler, method.

New Registry Cleaner, if you are looking for one...

Base method:
Open up Notepad.
Enter below (5) lines, exactly the same, as is, no change.
Save As "Show Desktop.scf" in desktop folder, or the folder of your choice. (Note that the common place to keep this file is in the following folder: "C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar\". But why save it there, when it will be done for you by Windows 7? Save it to a safe folder of your like, that is.
We're done with the base file.

-----

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop
-----

Simple method:

Select an icon that is currently on the desktop (e.g., Notepad, Sticky Notes, etc.)
Right-click the icon, select Copy, then Paste on the desktop, as well. This is a duplicate icon.
Click-and-drag the duplicate icon to the Taskbar, and drop it there nicely (on the left next to the pearl button, since that is the closest to the Show Desktop XP/Vista icon).
Right click the pinned icon, select Properties.
Replace the following: Target field, to the file that was saved earlier (Show Desktop.scf), so you have to remember where the file was saved for faster execution.
Empty the Start In field.

Finally, do a Change Icon. Click on that button, and select from the list offered when using %SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll, or from the list offered when using %SystemRoot%\system32\shell%.dll. It is the blue screen icon, or select which one you prefer for that matter.
To really have it show "Show Desktop" when hovered by the mouse, rename that icon by clicking on the General tab in the Properties dialog.
To conclude, restart your PC/laptop for the changes to take effect. You should see the 'Show Desktop' icon where you planted it.
Enjoy!

Tinting a physical window

Simpler method:

Do base method, and make sure that you save the file in Desktop.
Click and drag the icon to the Taskbar, to the leftmost part, next to the pearl button.
We're done! Restart your PC/laptop to see the changes.

Disclaimer: