User Tiketti has posted a script on the iLounge forums that will allow you to adjust your play counts in iTunes 9.

Dim iTunesApp, currTrack, newPlayCount
Dim prompt, title, defaultValue

Set iTunesApp = WScript.CreateObject("iTunes.Application")
Set currTrack = iTunesApp.CurrentTrack

prompt = "New playcount:"
title = currTrack.Artist & " - " & currTrack.Name
defaultValue = currTrack.PlayedCount

newPlayCount = InputBox (prompt, title, defaultValue)

If IsNumeric(newPlayCount) Then
If newPlayCount >= 0 Then
If Len(newPlayCount) > 0 Then
currTrack.PlayedCount = newPlayCount
End If
End If
End If


1. Copy this code into Notepad.
2. Save the file as SetPlayCount.vbs (the file name doesn’t matter; just make sure it’s a .vbs file)
3. In iTunes, play the song whose play count you want to adjust; double click the script you just saved.
4. Enter the desired play count in the input box.

A few things to note… Unlike the script for versions 8 and earlier, you must have the song playing. If you only highlight the song as before, you’ll receive a script error.

Since this script works only on the song that is playing, it won’t work on multiple tracks.

Thanks, Emma, for the tip!

Error messages, despite being annoying, are very good tools for troubleshooting problems with your computer. If you can pass along the information in the error message to IT support staff, they might be able to decrypt it. You might also be able to search Google for the error’s particular wording, or better yet, an error code.

The problem with this, however, is that these errors can be very long, or difficult to remember – as with error codes. A simple solution would be to jot down what you need on a piece of paper and type it into your email or search field. Depending on the amount of information you need to convey, this may not be terribly efficient.

What might be an even better solution is to copy the contents of the error message to your clipboard. Simply hit Ctrl-C, as you would anywhere else within Windows. Then from there you can paste the full message into your email body. Or if you need to search for a portion of the error, paste it into Notepad and then take what you need from there.

You’ll end up with an output like this:

—————————
Remote Desktop Disconnected
—————————
This computer can’t connect to the remote computer.

Try connecting again. If the problem continues, contact the owner of the remote computer or your network administrator.
—————————
OK Help
—————————

Notice that you even get the title of the error, as well as the button text.

Not only is this quicker and easier than writing out error messages on scrap paper, but it can be more accurate by negating the chance of transposing or misinterpreting letters.

Some time ago, I came across a neat little program called Taskbar Shuffle. It does exactly what it sounds like it does: Taskbar Shuffle gives you the power to rearrange the buttons on your taskbar. According to the website:

Taskbar Shuffle is a simple, small, free utility that lets you drag and drop your Windows taskbar buttons to rearrange them.  Here’s a full feature list:

• Reorder your taskbar buttons by dragging and dropping them

• Reorder your tray icons in the same way

• Reorder tasks in a grouped button’s popup menu in the same way

• Middle-click to close programs on your taskbar

• Works with UltraMon taskbars

• Tweak taskbar button grouping

During a normal day, I’m on the computer for more than eight hours. So as you can imagine, I’ve gotten used to having things certain ways; my taskbar not excluded.

I like to have my browsers first, Outlook next, then my productivity applications, and finally all of the random windows. This makes switching between applications much easier.

Before Taskbar Shuffle, if a program were to crash, or otherwise get closed, it would throw everything off when I relaunched it. But thanks to this little gem of an application, I don’t need to worry about that any more. If I have to restart Firefox, for example, I can just grab it and put it back next to my Quick Launch menu. One thing you should keep in mind, though, is that it keeps related buttons grouped together. For example, if you have multiple messenger windows open, if you try to drag one, it will bring the others with it. I’m not saying this is a fault with the program; on the contrary, I think this feature is smart.

Taskbar Shuffle is very good at what it does. I have it auto-start with Windows, and never have to think about it. Taskbar Shuffle is “just there” and leaves a small footprint in terms of resources. It’s free and works with Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, XP, and Vista (32-bit versions only.)

Click here to download

I recently had to go through another Windows reinstallation here at work. My coworker’s computer had become infected by an infected flash drive. It turns out that his antivirus software hadn’t been updating itself for more than six months, so that was a large part of the problem; but we won’t worry about that right now.

The flash drive had become infected, from what we can deduce, by an infected file he unknowingly copied from a client. When he plugged the flash drive into his laptop, the antivirus didn’t catch the virus (which was developed after the AV software was last updated.)  He didn’t even know the drive was infected until he plugged it into another coworker’s computer, and the antivirus on that machine caught it.  But by then it was too late for the laptop.

This incident raised a serious security issue: Autoplay. When a CD, DVD, or other removable media is inserted into a Windows PC, by default the machine will automatically play it. For example, the music CD will start playing, the movie will begin playing, etc. Windows does this by launching the autoplay.inf file that’s on the removable media. This file tells Windows what file to launch. For a software CD, it will likely be setup.exe

As you can probably guess, this autoplay file is an all-access pass for a virus. So, in order to block this access to your system, it’s very strongly recommended that you turn off the Autoplay feature. This can be done for each drive individually, but it’s quite tedious. And for flash drives and external hard drives, you have to connect the device first.

Here’s a way to turn off Autoplay for all devices at once.

1. Start » Run; enter gpedit.msc
2. Navigate to: Local Computer Policy » Computer Configuration » Administrative Templates » System; double click “Turn off Autoplay” in the right pane of the window.
3. Select “Enabled”
4. In the “Turn off Autoplay on:” pulldown menu, choose “All drives”

That’s it. Now when you connect a flash drive or external hard drive, insert a CD or DVD, you’ll be adding another layer of protection to your system. This should not be your only line of defense, however; you should scan any and all questionable media. At least this way it won’t install itself automatically.

BONUS: You won’t get those annoying popup windows every time, either!

As a bit of a follow up to my post about the 6 versions of Windows 7 that will be available, I want to share with you some rumored prices.

I found this on news.idealo.co.uk:

The Starter Edition should cost US $199.95 (around £135), Home Premium US$ 259.95 (around £157) and Windows 7 Professional US $ 299.95 (around £205). The system builder versions should be cheaper though.

If you could see me right now, you’d see me with my head cradled in my hands, shaking it in disbelief. Two hundred dollars for the Starter Edition?!  That’s a lot of money. Though I shouldn’t be surprised because Vista has a similar price structure.

The difference in this case, however, is that with Vista we had the choice to stay with XP. That’s not as much of an option any more since XP is no longer available outside the Pirate Bay.

Is Microsoft too greedy? They have a chance to deal a huge blow to Apple and Linux with this operating system. If they ride the wave of positive reviews Win7 is getting and offer a less daunting choice of flavors and market the crap out of it as costing less than Vista, they could generate a huge amount of momentum.

As for me, if I were still debating on whether to switch to Mac or not, the 6 tiers and heavy price tag on Windows 7 would have been enough to bump me over to Apple.

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 will be available in 6 different varieties, similar to Vista.  From Engadget:

• Windows 7 Starter (limited to three apps concurrently)
• Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (adds Aero, Touch, Media Center)
• Windows 7 Professional (Remote Desktop host, Mobility Center, Presentation mode)
• Windows 7 Enterprise (volume license only, boot from virtual drive, BitLocker)
• Windows 7 Ultimate (limited availability, includes everything)

Soapbox

Normally I try to limit the opinions I express on this site to a “professional” level, but I’m going take a moment here to talk about Microsoft’s decision.

It’s stupid, as far as I’m concerned, and I’ll tell you why I think so.

First, Microsoft is just setting itself up for user dissatisfaction. People are going to order a new computer, and when they see they can save fifty bucks on the operating system, they’re going to choose Home Basic instead of Home Premium (or Starter instead of Home Basic.) Then when they get the machine, they’re going to wonder why they don’t have all the bells and whistles.

Second, most users don’t want to have to make choices. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the majority of computer users don’t know enough to feel comfortable making the decision of what operating system to get. Hell, a lot of users aren’t even aware that XP and Vista are different operating systems. “I just want Windows.”

My Advice

So then what do I think Microsoft needs to do? K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple, Stupid. They need to forget about this tiered idea and get back to the basics.  Take a hint from Apple – put everything in one operating system. This way, the end users don’t feel pressured and intimidated by the choice between versions that appear the same to them. Also, they won’t be disappointed by features they thought they had; they’ll have everything at their fingertips and know exactly what they’re getting. While the Mac OS-X costs $129, Microsoft could charge $149 for theirs and people would think it’s worth more.

At the most, Microsoft could offer two different flavors. Back when Windows XP was first released, there was the Home edition and the Professional edition. Since Windows has a much larger share of the corporate computer market, this wouldn’t be a bad idea. Plus, it keeps the end user’s options to an easy minimum. If they’re going to use the computer at home, they get the Home edition. If it’s going to be used at work, get the Professional edition.

It’s really a shame that Microsoft is doing this. I’ve been hearing people say that Windows 7 is better than XP.  I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but if it’s true, Microsoft need to be careful how they handle Win7. They have a chance to deal a significant blow to Apple’s increasing market share. Microsoft wants to stop the exodus to Mac that Vista caused, and I don’t believe that making their users choose between 6 varieties is going to help as much as they’d like.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

A lot of the time it takes for Windows to fully boot up is taken by programs that are set to launch at Startup. Some of these applications you may have manually set to launch at startup just for the sake of convenience. Other programs – IM apps like AIM, MSN, and Yahoo! are notorious for this – will automatically set themselves to start at launch when you install them.  So the first step will be to turn these settings off.

Most programs will have a setting in their Preferences; just poke around until you find it. You’ll also want to look in your Startup folder, located in your Start Menu, under (All) Programs; anything in this folder will be loaded at launch, regardless of the program’s settings. Again, some applications will install themselves here.

What we’re going to do with this batch file is simply delay the launching of some of these programs. By minimizing the number of programs and services Windows has to start when you boot the computer, we’ll minimize the amount of time it takes. Then once Windows is fully operational, you can launch these programs at your leisure.  This comes in very handy if you’re just starting up your computer to do one little thing and don’t want to wait for a half a dozen programs to launch.

The first thing you’ll want to do is create a folder to keep all the shortcuts we’ll be making. Mine is simply C:\BatchStart. Have this folder open in Windows Explorer when you go into the Start Menu. Now, just right-click drag your desired programs into this folder and choose “Copy” or “Create Shortcut Here” if it’s available.

Once you have shortcuts to all the programs you want, go through and rename them all to a short one-word name.  For example, change “Microsoft Office Outlook 2007” to just “Outlook”. This will make it easier when we write the batch file.

Now we can create the batch file. This can be saved anywhere, but I would suggest saving it to your desktop. That way it will be easily available when you start up Windows.  Right click, highlight “New” and choose to create a new text document. (Note: Mine says “Notepad++ Document”, but yours may be different.) You’ll immediately be able to change the file name; change it to Startup.bat or something similar. It should look like the icon to the right.

Right-click this new icon and choose “Edit.” You should now have a blank Text document. Here you’ll want to enter the path to each of the shortcuts you created.  Here’s an example of mine:

c:\batchstart\Outlook.lnk
c:\batchstart\Evernote.lnk
c:\batchstart\TweetDeck.lnk
c:\batchstart\FireFox.lnk
cls

Note: “.lnk” is the file extension for shortcuts and must be included in the batch file.

That’s all there is to it.  Save the file, then whenever you want to launch this group of programs, just double-click the startup.bat file.

Here’s a quick summary of the procedures:

1. Create a folder to hold your shortcuts. In my example, I’m using C:\BatchStart
2. In this folder, create shortcuts to the programs you want to include in the batch file.
3. Rename the shortcuts so they’re short and easy to digest, i.e. “Outlook,” “Firefox,” etc.
4. Right-click in Windows Explorer or the Desktop, choose “New” » Text Document. Name it Startup.bat or something similar.
5. Right click the file, choose “Edit”
6. Copy the following code, changing the paths and file names to match your own setup:

c:\batchstart\Outlook.lnk
c:\batchstart\Evernote.lnk
c:\batchstart\TweetDeck.lnk
c:\batchstart\FireFox.lnk
cls

Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear them.

Apple makes it very easy to sync your music from your computer to your iPod.  Just plug it in and away it goes.  But what if you want to pull the music from your iPod onto your computer?  By default, Apple doesn’t want you doing this.  The obvious reason is illegal file sharing.

There are perfectly legal reason for wanting to do this, however. What if your hard drive crashes? The music might be gone from the computer, but it still exists on your iPod. Grabbing it off the iPod would be a simple solution, and would save a lot of time and money, but Apple won’t let you do it.

There are dozens of third party solutions that will copy the music off your iPod. Some are free, but most cost ten or twenty bucks, maybe more. 

I’m sure the third party software works fine and does the job wonderfully.  But if you don’t want to spend the money, or even bother trying to find a free alternative, there’s a way to get the music off your iPod with no extra software.  All you need is Windows, iTunes, and your iPod.

Note: I’ll work on a Mac version of this tutorial soon.

1. First of all, you want to make sure your iPod is set to be used in Disk Mode. This can be set in iTunes on the iPod Info page.  If you’re doing this in a fresh installation of iTunes (as would be the case if recovering from a failed hard drive) make sure you click “Cancel” when it asks you want to sync the iPod to the library and replace everything on the iPod. This will erase the music off your iPod, which is the opposite of what you want to do.



2. Once this is set, open My Computer (Windows Explorer) and go to the Tools menu, Folder Options. On the “View” tab, make sure “Show Hidden Files and Folders” is selected; click OK.
3. Still in Windows Explorer, find your iPod. It should be listed with a drive letter. Since we enabled disk use, it’s basically treated like any other USB external hard drive. In fact, you can use your iPod to store anything you want. But what we’re looking for is the iPod_Control folder. In this folder will be a Music folder. Drag this to your hard drive; the iTunes folder would be ideal, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.  If you look inside the Music folder, you’ll see a bunch of oddly named folders and files; this is your music collection.  But don’t worry, we’ll get this all sorted out.
4. Once the Music folder is copied to your hard drive, go into iTunes and from the File menu, choose “Add Folder to Library…” In the new dialog window, find the folder you copied over from your iPod; click OK. iTunes should now populate your library with all of your music.
5. In the Preferences window, on the Advanced tab, make sure “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” is checked. Now iTunes will automatically move and rename all those oddly named folders and files that were stored on the iPod.

That should do it.  You won’t have your Play Counts or Ratings, but that’s a small price to pay, isn’t it?  If you have a general idea of what some of your play counts were, you can use the Adjust Play Count script I blogged about a couple weeks ago.

I’m writing this post inside Windows Live Writer.  After reading David Risley’s post about it, I decided to give it a try.  Oh, and by the way, if you got some weird thing in your RSS feed from AG:3k about theme detection or some other kind of nonsense, please disregard it.  I apologize.  What happened was Live writer here was posting a test post so that it could pull my blog theme design information.  I’m guessing so it can display my post exactly how it’s going to appear on the site.  Looks pretty close.

Let’s use this next paragraph to see how it handles image insertion.  It displays the image as it will appear, and not just a string of HTML.  Let’s see if I can drag it around inside the text to place it just right.  When you select the image, you get a properties panel on the right, and you can change the Text Wrapping, the margins, even change the border to display a drop shadow, rounded corners, and even a reflection.  Super sweet.  Changing the margins adjusts the picture and text in real time, which is quite handy.

You can adjust the size of the image with grips at each side and corner, and like the margins, the text adjusts in real time.  In Wordpress, you’d have to edit the post, change the values, update the post, check the post, and repeat if needed.  Live Writer handles it nicely.  I just resized it so the height of the image aligns better with the height of the previous paragraph.  There are also more advance options like Rotate, Contrast, Crop, Tilt, and Watermark.  Yeah, they do what you think they do.

There are other fun things you can insert, like tables, maps, tags, video, and photo albums, but I won’t get into them right now.  I’ll just throw in a map of Milwaukee to balance out the page a little bit.

It looks like all of the functionality in the regular Wordpress interface is here, too.  Categories are at the bottom, complete with your blog’s categories. Tags are there, too; it pops up suggested tags as you type, based on your existing tags. Expanding the pane at the bottom will allow you to change the post’s slug, add a password, and excerpt, set the author of the post, turn pings and comments on or off, list sites to send trackbacks, and set the date/time of publication.  The only thing that seems to be missing are the custom fields.  Those are kind of important for me, since I need to use one for all those nifty thumbnail pictures on the main index page.  There doesn’t appear to be any way to do it.  I guess I’ll just have to schedule my posts for 15 minutes in the future, and add the custom images during that time.  No, wait… under “Save draft” there’s an option to “Post draft and edit online.” That should make it easier.

As if all this functionality isn’t enough, there’s a bunch of plug-ins available to expand it even more.  Like this plug-in I just downloaded that will turn any highlighted text into a link to its Wikipedia entry. (Yeah, I just used the plug-in to make that link.)

The bottom line: Windows Live Writer is pretty amazing.  Aside from the custom fields, there’s nothing missing that I can tell.  In fact, it even adds a bunch of impressive, useful features. It takes WYSIWYG to an entirely new level.  Aside from Wordpress, it also supports the other major blogging platforms.  I will be using this to compose my blog posts from now on.

Update – After publishing the post, I gave it a once-over, and it appears exactly as it did in Live Writer. Yeah, this is an amazing program.
Second Update – As you may have already guess by now, Live Writer is for Windows only. It’s not available for Mac, unless you dual-boot or run a virtual machine.

If, for whatever reason, you find yourself needing to adjust the play count of a song or songs in iTunes, here’s a really simple way to do it without having to muck through XML files. I don’t remember where I found this script, but it works like a charm, so I’ll pass along. Thanks to the original author, whoever you are.

1. Download this file: AdjustiTunesPlayCount.txt (Right-click, “Save Link As…”)
2. Change the file extension from .txt to .js
3. Right-click the file and choose Edit. (If you choose Open, it will run the script; choose Edit)
4. Find the line currTrack.PlayedCount = 64 and change “64″ to your desired play count. Save and Close
5. In iTunes, highlight/select the songs whose playcounts you want to change.
6. Double-Click the AdjustiTunesPlayCount.js file to run the script. Voila.