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Software: How to completely disable Google Buzz.

google-logo UPDATE: MSNBC has a story concerning everything that is wrong with GBuzz, including the fact that Google may have broken a few laws in the way they implemented Buzz. (LINK)http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/02/epic-google-may-have-broken-wiretap-law.html (http://redtape NULL.msnbc NULL.com/2010/02/epic-google-may-have-broken-wiretap-law NULL.html)

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Like everyone else, I’m into technology and wanting the latest things.  However, if I start using a product, I want to have full control.  I should be the one picking how information about me is going to be shared (and with who), and I should be able to manage if and when that information goes out.

With that being said, a couple of days ago Google “released” (added) their new Google Buzz program to Gmail.  What is Google Buzz for those who may not pay attention to “tech” things.

(LINK From the Google Buzz Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Buzz (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google_Buzz))

Google Buzz is a social integration (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Social_network_service) and messaging tool by Google (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google), designed to integrate into the company’s web-based email (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Webmail) program, Gmail (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Gmail).[1] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-latimes-0)[2] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-1) Shared links and messages show up in the user’s inbox.[3] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-gizmodo-launch-2) Buzz focuses on integrating photos, videos, and links as part of the “conversations” aspects of Gmail like conversation threading.

Buzz allows users to choose to share publicly with the world or privately to a small group of friends each time they post.[4] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-3) Picasa (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Picasa), Flickr (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Flickr), Google Reader (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google_Reader), YouTube (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/YouTube), Blogger (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Blogger_(service)), and Twitter (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Twitter) are currently integrated. The creation of Buzz was seen by industry analysts as an attempt by Google to compete with social networking websites like Facebook (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Facebook) and microblogging (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Microblogging) services like Twitter.[1] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-latimes-0) Buzz also includes several interface and interaction elements from other Google products (e.g. Google Reader (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google_Reader)) such as the ability to “like” a post.

Google executive Sergey Brin (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin) said that by offering social communications, Buzz would help bridge the gap between work and leisure,[5] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-nytimes-4) but the service and its rollout have been strongly criticized for taking insufficient account of privacy

Google Buzz basically is Facebook, Twitter, Email (plus a few more pieces) put in a blender for a few minutes and then what comes out is Google Buzz.  Part of the problem I have with it (as well as MANY MANY others based on the loud complaints that have been heard since its release) is that I DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE TO USE IT OR NOT TO USE IT. Basically a few days ago when signing onto Gmail I was greeted with a pop up welcoming me to Buzz and encouraging me to configure my profile so that the world can find me.  Well what if i don’t want to be found (there was no “No thanks” button to be found), and that alone started the loud complaining about Buzz.  In addition (At least for me), GMail is a business use. It is used for work related issues and by Google’s own admission

Google executive Sergey Brin (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin) said that by offering social communications, Buzz would help bridge the gap between work and leisure

this was a leisure add-on. I am “old school” in that I don’t believe it is right to mix non-business appearing functions into a business environment (I also am not comfortable using Facebook while working for the same reasons, not to say I haven’t….but its just not a comfortable thing to me).  Well it seems Google did listen enough and they have now added the OFF SWITCH to Google Buzz. Here is how you turn it off, if you don’t want to be “Buzzed”.

1 – Sign into your Google Account (Most likely Gmail)

2 – On the top right click on settings

3 – Now click on Buzz on the orange (looking) bar on the right.

4 – There you will see a few choices ( the last one should be Disable Google Buzz)

disable1

5 – Now you will get a 2nd pop up asking if you want to delete your Google profile and Google Buzz posts. This is not your Google account, the message just refers the public profile that was created on Google. image

6 – once you say YES, then you will be sent to your Google Accounts page, where you will see what your signed up for with Google and also see your Google settings and even recreate a profile (Public or Private) on your own terms with your own choices in settings.

disable2

Software: How to Recover Passwords from Internet Explorer (from Mind of Root Podcast)

microsoft This story originally from the Mind Of Root Podcast (Friends of TGM) (LINK: http://podcast.acoupleofadmins.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Episode129 (http://podcast NULL.acoupleofadmins NULL.com/pmwiki/pmwiki NULL.php?n=Main NULL.Episode129)).  Recovering passwords from Internet Explorer.

  • IE Password Editor Utility [KEITH]

-User had a password saved for a site that made her constantly change passwords. So, whenever she went there it was auto-filling with the wrong one.

-Didn’t want to clear all passwords, so I found this utility from the fine folks at NirSoft (http://podcast NULL.acoupleofadmins NULL.com/pmwiki/pmwiki NULL.php?n=Main NULL.NirSoft?action=edit)? (http://podcast NULL.acoupleofadmins NULL.com/pmwiki/pmwiki NULL.php?n=Main NULL.NirSoft?action=edit) that pulls them all up and let’s you individually manage your saved passwords.

-Of course, I lectured about even storing them in the first place as I showed her how I could view all of her passwords with the utility.

-Link: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet_explorer_password.html (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/internet_explorer_password NULL.html)

Additional Software from nirsoft

Related Links
  • IECacheView (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/internet_explorer_password NULL.html) – Internet Explorer Cache Viewer
  • PasswordFox (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/passwordfox NULL.html) – Reveal the passwords stored in Firefox.
  • MessenPass (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/mailpv NULL.html) – Instant Messenger Password Recovery Tool
  • Mail PassView (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/mailpv NULL.html) – Recover POP3/IMAP/SMTP email passwords.
  • Dialupass (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/dialupass NULL.html) – Recover VPN/RAS/Dialup passwords

Download YouTube Videos

Ever wanted to save a YouTube video as a WMV file or just wanted an MP3 of a song played on youtube (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com)?

While there are a number of ways to do this, there is a free tool out there that is simple and easy to use.

The program is called FLVtoAVI. You can download the video into the formats listed in the screen shot below and save it to your computer!

Download from flvtoavi.com (http://www NULL.flvtoavi NULL.com)

image

 

From their website:

FLV to AVI – Freeware to converting Flash Video (.flv) to AVI

Do you need convert internet Flash video to popular AVI video format? Do you want to play your Flash video with your portable video player (MP4 players)? This small and powerful flash tool "FLV to AVI" can help you.

FLV to AVI is one free software to convert Adobe Flash video to AVI video, simple and easy to use, just input the file name of your Flash video file, and choice one output AVI video format, the software will convert your Flash file (.flv) to the AVI video (.avi) in minutes (the default output AVI video is MPEG4 video format).

FLV to AVI support several different AVI video codecs, include MPEG4, DivX, Xvid, QuickTime (MOV), WMV and 3GP. It can only convert audio data form Flash video file to MP3 audio (output MP3 audio is 128kbps 44kHz stereo, standard "CD quality" bit rate).

Simple and Easy to Use

This free Flash conversion tool is simple and easy to use very much, no complex settings, program is smart, the output video can have good quality, with this program, anyone (specially for newbie) can convert their flash videos by themselves, without any video codec knowledge about FLV and AVI.

In the main FLV to AVI interface, there have three zones: the "Source Flash¡±, "AVI Video Format" and "Process". The "Source Flash" is used to select the source Flash video, the "AVI Video Format" is used to change the output video format, and the "Process" is used to show the conversion process and status.

The source flash of FLV to AVI can be "Flash Video File" or "Youtube Web Page". For converting existed Flash video file on your PC, you can input the full path file name or click "Open" button to select one.

About Convert YouTube Video

FLV to AVI can be used as one handy youtube video downloader, it can download the high quality MP4 file from youtube video server, and you can save this video as one standalone AVI video file (MP4 format), or convert it to other video format as you like.

If you want to save the Flash video form Youtube directly, just input the YouTube web page address (URL) in the edit box as Flash video source, you can copy this address form the address bar of Internet Explorer & FireFox and paste it there.

A important feature about YouTube Video is that once the users ask to download and convert one Youtube video, the FLV to AVI will redirect and download the high quality video version directly from the YouTube video server, and not the low quality FLV video, so users can get one higher video quality than the normal youtube web page. Each YouTube video have two video quality versions, one is MPEG4 video, the other is Flash video, program will download the high quality MPEG4 video version.

How to Use
  1. Download the setup file of "FLV to AVI", and install it on your PC;
  2. Input one Flash video file or Youtube Web Page address;
  3. Default outout AVI codec is MPEG4, you can change with "AVI Video Format" options;
  4. Click "Convert" to start the Flash conversion process.
Output Video Support
  • MPEG4
  • DivX (Digital Video Express)
  • Xvid (contrast with the DivX codec)
  • WMV (Window Media Video)
  • MOV (Apple Quicktime Player)
  • Song PSP (MP4 format, video stream has the dimension of 368*272)
  • 3GP (3G mobile, rescale video to 352*288)
  • MP3 (no video, audio only)
Download
  • Download FLV to AVI (http://www NULL.flvtoavi NULL.com/flvtoavi_setup NULL.zip)
  1. Current Version: 1.2
  2. File Size: 2.77MB
  3. System Platform: Microsoft Windows XP/98/2000/VISTA (http://www NULL.softsea NULL.com/review/FLV-to-AVI NULL.html)
  4. Program can work with VISTA 32bits and 64bits, can wotk with Windows 7
  5. Price: $0, Freeware

FLV to AVI is absolutely free software, free for any private use.

Software: EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition 5.0.1 – Free Giveaway until Feb. 20th, 2010.

image EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition usually sales for $39.95, however EASEUS has a give away from now until Feb. 20th that will give you the Professional Edition for free (No strings attached). 

What can Partition Master do for you –

From the EASEUS website (LINK: http://www.partition-tool.com/giveaways/epmpro/#Title2 (http://www NULL.partition-tool NULL.com/giveaways/epmpro/#Title2))

Enjoy Free Data Recovery Software Now!

Do you want to recover your important files today for free? Free download the full version of EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition – The professional data recovery software to recover your lost data for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 (32 bit and 64 bit)!

EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition is an advanced Data Recovery Software to do Format Recovery, Partition Recovery, and Recover Deleted Files emptied from the Recycle Bin or restore data lost due to software crash, virus attack, etc. It offers users with quick scan, easy and safe data recovery.

Overview
  • Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit compatible.
  • Recover data from formatted partitions.
  • Recover data from accidently deleted partitions.
  • Recover data from partitions lost due to disk partitioning, boot manager, etc.
  • Recover accidently deleted files.
  • Recover files from RAW drive or unknown file system.
  • Recover files from virus attack, software crash, drive crash, etc.
  • Resize/move/delete/format/create partition and lots of useful features.
  • Backup all data or copy entire hard disk to another without Windows reinstallation.

 

The actual download can be found at (LINK) http://www.majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Partition_Master_Professional_Giveaway_d6355.html (http://www NULL.majorgeeks NULL.com/EASEUS_Partition_Master_Professional_Giveaway_d6355 NULL.html)

TGM Q&A: Software: iTunes says its running in compatibility mode when started fix

apple In the past couple of days, I have received may requests for help concerning another iTunes issue.  It seems that on some iTunes installs, that when you start iTunes you get a message

“iTunes.exe has been set to run in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows.
For best result, turn off compatibility mode of iTunes before you open it.”

TS1489_2

If you click ok on the message then iTunes opens just fine and works, but seeing that message every time is just an annoyance that just shouldn’t be there.  The solution offered by Apple (LINK: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1489 (http://support NULL.apple NULL.com/kb/TS1489)) is

Resolution

Try these steps to turn Windows compatibility mode off:

  1. Quit iTunes.
  2. Windows XP and Windows 2000: On the Start menu, click My Computer (or double-click My Computer on the Desktop).
    Windows Vista and Windows 7: On the Start menu, click Computer.
  3. In My Computer, open the C:\ drive (or whichever disk your Windows is installed on).
  4. Open the Program Files folder or “Program Files (x86)” if you are using a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7).
  5. Open the iTunes folder.
  6. Right-click on the iTunes application (iTunes or iTunes.exe) and from the shortcut menu, click Properties.
  7. Click the Compatibility tab.
  8. Deselect the checkbox under Compatibility mode if it’s selected.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Open iTunes and play a song.

However, as many of the requests for help have said the Apple solution does NOT work for everyone.  For those, who still have issues after following the Apple solution, the I have a fix for you.

NOTE: THE SOLUTION WILL INVOLVE A CHANGE TO THE WINDOWS REGISTRY.  FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY AND DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES TO YOUR REGISTRY UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THOSE CHANGES WILL DO. THE REGISTRY CONTROLS WHAT YOUR PC DOES. ANY UNNESSESARY CHANGES COULD BREAK YOUR MACHINE. THIS IS YOUR WARNING. Now with that said on to the solution.

  • Go to start –> run –> regedit
  • When the registry opens go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

compatibility fix reg1

***Note that there are also sections for Windows, WindowsNT, Windows Mail, etc, so make sure you are looking under Windows NT (You can also verify at the bottom).

  • Once you are on the Layers section, look at the Window on the right and you will see a software key that says iTunes.exe.  Delete that key by right clicking on it and then selecting delete. (Your key may look a little different depending on where you installed iTunes).

image

Once that is done, close the registry editor and start iTunes, and you should no longer see that message.

And More! Don’t you wish you would have kept your old Video Games. Nintendo NES sells for 13k on eBay.

nintendo-entertainment-system As a kid I had a couple of Atari Systems (2600) (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600 (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Atari_2600)) 5200 (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_5200 (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Atari_5200)), an Intellivision (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Intellivision)) , and a ColecoVision (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/ColecoVision)).  All the systems included countless games, that were very much fun, and I think the reason that I got into Technology in the 1st place.  However, now as an adult, if I knew then what I know now, boy would I be making a lot of $$$$$$$ money.

From a story posted on boingboing.net (LINK: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/10/old-nintendo-nes-sys.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+boingboing/iBag+%28Boing+Boing%29&utm_content=Bloglines (http://www NULL.boingboing NULL.net/2010/02/10/old-nintendo-nes-sys NULL.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+boingboing/iBag+%28Boing+Boing%29&utm_content=Bloglines))

Screen%20shot%202010-02-10%20at%2011_13_05%20PM

Up for auction is an original Nintendo NES gaming system with 1 hand control.  There are 5 games with it. They are, Family & Fitness Stadium Events in the original box with the dust jacket inside of the box, Major League Baseball in the original box with the dust jacket inside of the box, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 the arcade game in the original box with the dust jacket inside of the box, Super Mario 3 in the original box with the dust jacket inside of the box and the original game, Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt.  I have had this stored in the closet for years for my kids to play but the way that electronics come & go and change from one year to the next they wanted all of the new hot items of their own now and now it’s time to get rid of things that are no longer being used or wanted.  This system worked perfect when i stored it but somehow over the years, we have managed to misplace the AC cord & the television hook up.  I am listing this and selling without hook up but it I find them, I’ll send them along with the rest at no additional charges to you. Please keep in mind though that any ac cord will work with this and the hook up from a VCR would hook it up just as well as the original cords!

It seems one of the games offered draw all the attention.  The game called Stadium Events (From Bandai) is a rare find for collectors of the rare.  The following explains why (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadium_Events (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Stadium_Events))

Rarity

The North American, or NTSC (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/NTSC), version of Stadium Events is universally accepted as the rarest licensed NES game (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_games) available for purchase in North America.[2] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-1)[3] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-2)[4] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-3)[5] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-4) It was recently named #6 on a list of 20 “Holy Grails of Console Gaming”[6] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-5), a list that covered all gaming systems in all countries. The reason for its rarity and subsequent high market price[7] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-6)[8] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-7)[9] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-8) is due to its limited production and sales.[10] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-racketboy NULL.com-9) At the time of its launch during the holiday season of 1987, Stadium Events was only available at Northern-region Woolworth’s Department Store (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/F NULL._W NULL._Woolworth_Company), which was a test market for Bandai (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Bandai).[11] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-the-nextlevel NULL.com-10) In 1988, Nintendo (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Nintendo) purchased the North American rights to the FFF mat technology and re-released it as the Power Pad (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Power_Pad). The two Family Fun Fitness-branded games that had already been released, as well as Bandai’s version of the running pad accessory, were pulled from shelves and presumed destroyed. Because of this odd sequence of events, only 2000 copies are believed to have been produced, of which it is estimated that 200 copies reached consumers before being recalled.[10] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-racketboy NULL.com-9) Today, collectors who follow the online sale of rare video games believe that fewer than 10 complete copies of the game exist, only one of which is factory sealed. An eBay auction of a NES console along with a copy of the game with manual and box landed the seller a winning bid of $13,105 on February 13, 2010.[12] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-11)

So with that said look in your closets, storage units, and everywhere else that you keep your old stuff.  You may just be holding onto a lot of $$$$$$.

(The actual eBay listing Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370330327400 (http://cgi NULL.ebay NULL.com/ws/eBayISAPI NULL.dll?ViewItem&item=370330327400))

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