As I was learning the nuances of Android, I ran into an issue where any time I plugged in the phone via USB to my computer I could no longer use any phone applications that needed to access the SD Card. What perplexed me was that I was choosing, via HTC’s Sense UI popup, that I only wanted to charge the phone. What was even more frustrating was that any time I wanted to listen to music or watch a video from the phone’s SD Card I would have to unplug the USB cable. I could not charge my phone while using the applications I wanted to.

After looking through multiple settings on the phone, trying to find the cause of the problem, I finally stumbled on the cause and solution. I had, upon purchasing the phone, installed doubleTwist as my media player replacement. What I had not realized is that doubleTwist has an option to auto mount the SD Card any time you plug in a USB cable that is attached to a computer. As soon as I changed the setting in doubleTwist my problem went away. So what setting do you need to change?

Open doubleTwist on your Android phone. Open the Menu and choose Settings. Under the Settings look for Auto USB drive and uncheck the box. This should prevent doubleTwist from auto mounting your SD Card when you plug in your Android phone via USB.

I spent a little time looking into the problem and it all came down to the same source as the culprit, Windows 7. It turns out that Windows 7 has a new feature that when it thinks you’re communicating with someone, ie. voice chat in TF2, it automatically reduces volume of all other applications by 80% as a default. You can change this by going to Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sound -> Communications. You have the option to mute all other sounds, reduce the volume of all other sounds by 80%, reduce the volume of other sounds by 50%, or do nothing. I personally have chosen to have Windows 7 do nothing.

If you happen to like this feature and want it to happen most of the time you can always open your game or communications software first, and then open your other application, such as Windows Media Player or TF2, and it won’t modify the volume. I hope this helps those of you out there experiencing the same problem.

1. In Windows Explorer, hit Alt+D
2. Type cmd
3. Hit Enter
4. A command prompt window will open to the folder you had open in Explorer

I’ve been working on some Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer extensions and for the ease of testing I have to constantly restart Explorer.  Heck, I’ve just probably saved myself an extra 10-20 seconds per day.  I know, I’m weird, but you know what they say about special weird people…

If you’ve been looking for a reason to upgrade to Vista folks, this is definitely it (only kidding, of course) because it doesn’t work on XP (ugh, I feel my subconscious bullying me into creating an extension for XP to mimic this functionality…must…resist…urge)!

Disabling IPv6 on Windows Vista SP1

Option 1:

1. Click on the Start Menu.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Once the Control Panel is open, click the Classic View link on the left sidebar.
4. Find and double-click Network and Sharing Center.
5. Click Manage Network Connections on the left sidebar.
6. Find your Broadband connection (usually named Local Area Connection) and right-click on it.
7. On the context-menu, click Properties.
8. Click the Networking tab.
9. Remove the checkmark from Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).
10. Click Ok.
11. Close all the windows opened in the previous steps.
12. Restart your computer.

Option 2 (requires modifying the registry but allows you to change one setting to affect all network adapters):

1. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article – KB929852 – How to disable certain Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) components in Windows Vista

Known Issues with disabling IPv6:

1. Any programs that require IPv6 will not work.  One example is Windows Meeting Space:

Hopefully Microsoft gets this issue fixed soon as I hate workarounds, especially ones that make compromises.  Though we all know that workarounds are a necessity of the digital life.

MuvEnum has released the MuvEnum Address Bar v1.3.1.0; the ultimate replacement for the missing address bar in Windows XP SP3!

MuvEnum Address Bar (x86 and x64 compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 2003 Server)

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Update 04/30/2008: v1.3.1.0 Released

• Added x64 support.
• Added support for checking for updates from the about dialog.
• Added support for showing Typed Url history from explorer/internet explorer in the dropdown.
• Added support for running applications with arguments.
• Added ability to clear text by pressing escape.
• Added support for MuvEnum Google Sponsored Search (currently redirects directly to Google).

Enjoy!

Using the tool and steps below, you may disable UAC prompt for the specific application. This does not disable the User Acount Control feature for the whole computer.

1. Download and install the Application Compatibility Toolkit from this link:Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=24DA89E9-B581-47B0-B45E-492DD6DA2971&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=24DA89E9-B581-47B0-B45E-492DD6DA2971&displaylang=en)

2. In the Start menu, locate the new folder. Find the shortcut icon for Compatibility Administrator. Right click it and clik Run as administrator.

3. In the left hand pane, right-click on the database under Custom Databases and select Create New, and select Application Fix.

4. Enter the name and other details of the application you want to alter behavior on and then browse to it to select it. Click Next.

5. Click Next until you are in the Compatibility Fixes screen. 6. On the Compatibility Fixes screen, find the item RunAsInvoker, and check it.7. Click Next and then Finish.8. Select File and Save As. Save the file as a filename.SDB type file in a directory you will easily find it.9. Copy the <filename>.sdb file to the Vista computer you want to alter the elevation prompt behavior on.

10. Click Start>All Programs>Accessories. Right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.

11. Run the command below:

sdbinst <path>\<filename>.sdb

For example, if you saved the .SDB file as abc.sdb in the c:\Windows folder, the command should be like this:

sdbinst  c:\windows\abc.sdb

It should prompt: Installation of <name> complete.

Now do this for each program that annoys the heck out of you with UAC and you should be good to go. This really helps if you share your computer with other users since UAC cannot be disabled on a per-user basis. You get to keep your kids safe (read, “protect them from destroying your computer”) and you get to keep your sanity!

 I work on my machine, then I lock it.  Later I come back and type my password to unlock it and I get to stare at black monitors with only the cursor showing.  Previously I would have shutdown the machine (power button does this gracefully) and then start it back up.

 Yesterday, I found a workaround while trying a bunch of different things, since I had a couple of Visual Studio 2008 instances open among other things:

1. Lock your machine again (Windows Key + L) or (Alt+Ctl+Del, then L).  At this point, you still won’t be able to see anything, but your cursor should technically be in the password box for your login.
2. Now, type your password, hit enter, and your desktop should come back they way it should have when you first unlocked it.

Update 04/04/08 – You may have to repeat these steps a couple of times to get it to work.

Annoying, but at least now I don’t have to restart my computer everytime I get the BSOD (Black Screens of Death).

MuvEnum Address Bar is the ultimate replacement for the missing address bar in Windows XP SP3.  It recreates the experience of the original address bar to help you quickly open files, folders, programs, websites, bookmarks, browsing history, web searches, and more from your Windows Taskbar!  Easily activate the toolbar using a global system-wide shortcut.  Includes support for the most popular browsers, keywords, themes, a calculator, and more!

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Product Home: http://www.muvenum.com/products/muvenumaddressbar/

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View Version History

Post bug reports and suggestions at: MuvEnum Address Bar UserVoice

The good news is that I’ve found a free Explorer Plugin that lets you set Vista to use the XP style of deselection: QT Tab Bar

Vista Default Sample:

If I click on the date column in this case, Music
remains selected.

Vista w/ QT Tab Bar Sample:

If I click on the date column in this case, Music
is deselected, the same way it would work in XP.

To set the option, please do the following:

1. Install QT Tab Bar (requires log-off).
2. Open Explorer.
3. Hit Alt to show the default file menu.
4. Right-click in the empty space to the right and check QT Tab Bar.
5. Right-click next to one of the tabs that now appears and choose Options.
6. Click the Misc. tab and make sure that Full row selection in details view is unchecked.
7. Make sure that Hide menu bar(Vista) is checked on this tab as well. (hit Alt+M to toggle the menu bar)
8. Click OK. (If you get an error, just click Continue and everything will work fine).
9. Close and re-open Windows Explorer.
10. Note: If you switch from a different view to details view, it will possibly show full-row selection in the current directory. Once you change directories and go back, it will correctly show without full-row selection.

There are a bunch of other features that QT Tab Bar provides. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Tabs! – Very cool way to organize your numerous open Explorer windows. As a developer, I have way too many explorer instances open. This allows me to become better organized and save time. It also doesn’t require me to use a different program that is meant to be an explorer replacement but lacks much of the functionality I already depend on.
   
2. Tab Groups – Again, as a developer switching between different projects, I can have preset groups of folders I need open while developing. QT Tab Bar gives me that functionality.
   
3. Restore Tabs – When I close Explorer I lose my open folders. This makes it so I can close Explorer, go do something else and re-open Explorer with the same folders I previously had open.
   
4. Application Groups – I haven’t used this one yet, but I’m sure it will help. An easy way to startup a set of applications that you need for a specific task.
   
5. Plugins – Create your own additional functionality to plugin without having to do everything yourself (the download comes with some plugins which I have yet to use – If I find one that stands out, I’ll make sure to add it to this post).
   
6. Shortcut Keys – For all the QT Tab features: undo last closed tab, clone tab, forward, back, next tab, etc.
   
7. Change Selection with F2 – A nifty feature that toggles the filename selection when renaming. Hit F2 to rename, in Vista, it selects the filename without the extension. Hit F2 again and it changes the selection to no selection but with the cursor at the end of the filename in front of the .ext. Hit F2 again and now the extension is selected. This will save a bunch of time when all I want to do is change the extension.
    

Sample of Tabs added by QT Tab Bar:

It’s definitely a tool to add to your collection if you’re using XP or Vista. Did I mention that they also created a plugin to add the Vista Breadcrumb Bar to XP?

Download QT Tab Bar

Now how do you disable UAC? 

1. Click on Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account Control On or Off.
2. Uncheck the box next to “Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer”
3. Click on “OK”. 
4. It will say you need to reboot, and it isn’t kidding so go ahead and reboot.
5. Once you’ve rebooted into Vista, install Windows Messenger 5.1 and then follow the same instructions above, this time placing the check in the box, to re-enable UAC.

Be careful though, Windows Messenger 5.1 doesn’t like to work very well when a scrollbar appears in a chat window.  This is somehow tied to the “don’t give out your credit card information” message.  More on that later if I can find an easy answer to how to fix it.