My Computer Back in Service

Are you tired of opening different windows and having to click back and forth just to get something done? Is it slowing your workflow down to a crawl?

Got a Monitor you’re not using?

Here is how I quadrupled my productivity by adding a second monitor to my laptop in a few easy steps…

Open your Control Panel and click on Personalization and you get the screen below

There you want to click on “Connect a projector or other external display”. That will bring you to the Windows Mobility Center

Window Mobility Center

At this point make sure your external monitor is connected to the Comm port of your computer, then click Connect Display which will give you the next Screen.

Choose Show different parts of my desktop on each dispaly and apply/Ok.

You should now be seeing the same Background on both screens but will only see the Icons on the “Main screen”. Open an application, then drag it to the other screen (be sure it is reduced in size, maximized won’t move).

Each application will work independently on the individual monitor you choose to work on. (ie Internet Explorer on the right screen and Outlook Express on the other screen) This way you can perform multiple tasks on each monitor independently.

Experiment with different applications you use simultainously using both screens and you will see a marked increase in your productivity too.

The above was done using Windows Vista but any good Operation System will be similar in principal to accomplish the same objective.

I come across quite a few programs, applications and features almost every day in the course of normal work-a-day research trying to find the right tools to use in the Computer Consulting Business.

As a result, I often find some little known Free Downloadable or Online Features that could be of use to almost anyone to make their computing experience a little bit better and more productive.

This is just such a find…

If your like me, you can always use a little help organizing your day, week, month and remembering what to do when…

I found the KABE Desktop Calendar to help me with keeping things straight on a daily basis. It’s takes a little getting used to because the English documentation is a little weak (the author is from Japan). Setup is fairly simple and usage is pretty easy once you figure it out.

I picked the zip file download at first, but then you have to activate the exe file every time you want to use it. The easiest way is to download the Installer and it will launch automatically when you first boot up your computer.

Once installed, you can schedule individual events for a particular day(and time), weekly events and even monthly events such as billing clients. You can even add a memo for something specific you want to accomplish.

There is even a way to set up particular Tasks for a given number of days so you can follow your progress.

Choices of how it looks are Transparent (as mine is pictured above), Semi-transparent or Gray(ish).

I hope you find this tool to be something useful in your daily computing experience.

If you find something you think should be included, please use the comments below or use my Contact Form to let me know and I will be sure to check it out for inclusion in a future article.

Ok, your Password doesn’t work to log into your WordPress Blog.

You tried the e-mail password recovery from the Login Screen and you either didn’t get the mail or the password doesn’t work.

You tried going through the MySQL command line and making changes there and even tried Resetting your password through phpMyAdmin (both of which should only be tried by experienced users) to no avail.

You even tried to reinstall your WP installation from your Backup file (you Do have a backup right?) and still can’t get into your Administration page.

I know just how frustrating all those steps can be, I had to go through them myself and none of them worked for me either.

Then I found the emergency.php script on the village/idiot.org.

It was originally written for versions 2.2 and 2.3x of WordPress. Well, I’m here to tell you it works up to version 2.7x from my own experience.

Installation instructions

1. Dowload the zip file and unzip the file
2. Upload the emergency.php file to the root directory of your WordPress installation (where wp-config.php is)
3. Type http:// yourblogname.com/emergency.php into your favorite browser.You get a screen that looks like the one above.
4. After you are able to log into your WordPress blog, DELETE the emergency.php file from your server. You don’t want to risk someone else getting in there this way.

Last but not least, Change your password in the Users portion of the Administration page.