“Software” collection
Discover essential software reviews and tutorials designed to enhance your productivity and digital security. Learn how to navigate complex operating systems, optimize professional tools, and protect your information with our expert software evaluations.
HTD Tech Briefs
View all →December 8, 2006
Best Windows Screen Saver ever!
I came across this great screen saver for your Windows machines...but only install it if you are a bit of a geek, or you want to pull a prank on someone. Basically, this screen saver emulates a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD). When the screen saver starts, it looks like the infamous BSoD (actually pulling configurations from your system). This…
Read more →November 29, 2006
Firefox Add-ons that I really like (and use)
I've been finding Firefox more and more to be the browser that I naturally launch first. It's starting to beat out Safari and Maxthon as my preferred browser. It is great that it is basically the same across all platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux). The other great thing about it is the huge amount of plug-ons or add-ins (e.g., Extensions…
Read more →November 15, 2006
Blackberry 7100t sync issues resolved
My wife has as Blackberry 7100t and the other day, it just "stopped" synching with the Desktop Manager (4.1). Basically, it would connect and then just hang when trying to do a weekly update. I got on the usual forums (pinstack, blackberryforums, howardforums) and did some futile searching. However I did find that there was recently a new release of…
Read more →November 14, 2006
Install Apple’s Front Row on Mac OS 10.4.8
This is one of the "neater hacks" for those of us who cannot normally run Front Row (e.g., you don't have a Built-in Infrared (IR) receiver). For the most part, it's any of us with the "older school" Macintoshes. It basically allows you to have a mini-media center (Music, Photos, Videos and DVD). More info here on Apple's Site. So,…
Read more →November 6, 2006
Way behind on my posts
Just been way to busy. Here are some highlights of things that I have done: Update my activeCollab site to the latest Release Candidate Fixed my wife's computer (issues with RAM upgrade and Windows XP) Helped a friend get reconnected on their wireless network Helped another friend get their Powerbook on their wireless network as well as got them off…
Read more →October 30, 2006
Microsoft Outlook 2003 and ZoneAlarm anti-spam plugin issues
I recently had some issues with my ZoneAlarm install and MS Outlook 2003 and the Anti-Spam plug-in. Whenever I launched Outlook, the ZoneAlarm plugin was not initializing despite efforts to enable (through ZA and through the COM add-in within Outlook). I found a solution that seems to have worked. Basically, you need to fully delete the COM add-in and then…
Read more →October 17, 2006
Windows Update Error 80245003 – Windows Update won’t run on Vista RC2
Updated on 06.25.07: I have added some more detailed steps based on feedback I received. See end of post for further details. I'm playing around with Windows Vista on a test box that I have. So far, it's looking like a fairly nice upgrade to XP. It doesn't feel like a complete overhaul (which, from my understanding, it somewhat is…
Read more →October 13, 2006
Helper apps for the Mac (specifically Remote Desktop Connection)
I'm sure that if you are a mac user and you use Microsoft's Remote Desktop (RDC) to connect to other PCs, that you have become frustrated on how limited the capabilities are. I found a couple of tools that may help with that lack-luster experience. First, there is RDC Menu. " RDC Menu adds an icon to your menubar, allowing…
Read more →October 10, 2006
Fun with PHPSurveyor v1.08a2
I'm finally getting back to testing out other opensource software. I just installed the latest version of PHPSurveyor (1.08a2) and ran into some .htaccess madness. No matter what I did, after initializing the security features (which depend on .htaccess and .htpasswd), I could not get passed the login prompt. Also, I noticed that my .htpasswd file showed my password in…
Read more →September 27, 2006
Voice call hangups after 4 minutes on Tmobile MDA/HTC Wizard
I figured that I would post this little bit of mobile phone tweaking for any users who may be searching for a solution to the following issue. Ever since I upgraded my Tmobile MDA to the "latest and greatest" rom (v 2.26), I have been plagued with dropping calls after 4 minutes. It was definitely a bug that I had…
Read more →September 25, 2006
Evaluating two Open Source Apps: Vanilla Forum & CraftySyntax
First one that I was looking at was Vanilla forums by Lussumo. What I was looking for was a forum that was different from all of the others out there. A looong time ago, I played with SnitzForums and phpBB. They seem to be ok, full featured, highly configurable...there are many others out there but they all look the same.…
Read more →September 21, 2006
Cookie Monster killed my Safari
Over the past few days, I had been having issues with Safari simply crashing every time that I launched it. No matter what I did (Disk Repair, Repair Permissions, etc.), I was unable to correct. I had to resort to using Firefox (which I actually now kind of like a bit better). So, on a whim, I posted to the…
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