Cryptech V2 » Software

Disable Windows Media Player Album Art – Turn Off Information Retrieval

Tim Cinel — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:39:46 +0000

Windows Media Player downloads album art into the same directory as music files. As a result, your music file structure end up littered with hundreds of ugly AlbumArt___….jpg files. There’s no way to disable only album art, but you can turn off information retrieval which will stop Windows Media Player from getting new album art. Unfortunately, it will also stop Windows Media Player from obtaining meta-data for CDs that you rip. Here’s how to turn it on and off.

In Windows Media Player, click the small down-arrow beneath “Library” (Alternatively, press the ALT key, click “Tools > Options …” then go to the “Library” tab)

Check or uncheck “Retrieve additional information from the internet”

Click “Ok”.

Note that if you want to rip a CD, you should turn this back on – otherwise you’ll have to manually enter the album name, track names, artists, etc. Of course – this means the album art for the media will be obtained again. Just delete the AlbumArt____ file after ripping the CD. Better yet, use a different program to rip.

How To Share Photos with Picasa Web Galleries

Tim Cinel — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:19:30 +0000

In 2010, more photos are viewed on screens than on actual photographic paper. We’re sharing more photos than ever. However, sending large emails packed with photos is becoming too cumbersome and inefficient.

You may have noticed more and more people are now ’sharing’ their photos through an online service such as Picasa Web Albums or Kodak EasyShare. These services make things easier. For one, it’s easier for the recipients to view photos and share their photos with you. Also, having the photos online is like having another backup. The best part is that it’s much more social – people you invite to view photos can discuss and contribute to the gallery with each other.

Here’s how to share photos online using my photo manager of choice, Picasa:

Make sure you’ve got Picasa 3.5 at least, and a Picasa Web Galleries account.

If you’re not signed in to your account, click “Sign In”

When you’re signed in, your username will show up.

If you only want to share some photos from a folder, and not all, follow these steps:

Select the photos you want to share by holding CTRL key (bottom-left) and clicking on each of the individual photos or by “pinning them” to the tray.

Once you’ve selected the files you want to share (they should be in the tray, near the bottom-left of the window) click the album button to the right of the tray and then “New album”

Notice how the selected photos show up in the tray.

Enter a name for the new album and click “Ok”. You might want to give it an obvious name.

Simply find the new album in the album list and click on it. Now we can continue!

Find the folder or album you want to share, and click “Share” above the album, like so:

Enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite to view the photos:

Decide on whether you want your album to be listed publicly, not listed publicly but available to the invitees (unlisted), or only available to Picasa Web Gallery members (sign-in-required).

Click “Send” to start uploading. Obviously, the more photos you share, the longer the upload will take.

Black screen after installing LogMeIn and restarting

Tim Cinel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:47:45 +0000

It was suprising to see what I saw after installing LogMeIn on a new computer. Actually, it’s what I didn’t see that surprised me. The screen was completely black after windows finishes its loading screen.

Uninstalling and reinstalling didn’t fix the problem so I hit a certain search engine that I like to use to find a solution. Fortunately, somebody else had experienced the problem previously and it had been solved. Here’s the solution…

Fixing The Problem

Start the system in “Safe Mode” by tapping “F8″ key while the computer is starting, before the “Loading Windows” screen is shown. Select “Safe Mode” and press enter.

Once in safe mode, follow these steps:

Windows XP

Click “Start > (Settings) > Control Panel”
Double-click “System”
Click “Hardware > Device Manager”
Find “Display Adapters >LogMeIn Mirror” then Right-Click and click “Uninstall”

Windows Vista

Click “Start > Control Panel”
Double-click “Device Manager”
Find “Display Adapters >LogMeIn Mirror” then Right-Click and click “Uninstall”

You may then need to reinstall your display drivers. Download the latest drivers from your display adapter’s manufacturer website.

Problem solved.

Shareaza.com – Taken Over and Injected With Filthy Spam

Tim Cinel — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:21:12 +0000

All Shareaza websites out there be careful when downloading upgrades for Shareaza because their original site (shareaza.com) has been taken over by a malicious company and is now posing to be the “Official Shareaza Website”. The software offered by these creeps requires registration and either shows advertisements or requires payment – things that don’t bother you in the real Shareaza.

The real official home of the Open Source Shareaza Project that we love dearly is:
http://shareaza.sourceforge.net/

Tell your friends and family – who knows what dirty little secrets the fake ‘Shareaza 4.0′ comes loaded with. Even a Google search for “Shareaza” will show the spam site as the first unpaid result.

I have only linked to the real Shareaza website in this article to help it reach the top of search engines…