My Notepad: October 2007

Friday, October 26, 2007

Remove a file association due to choosing the option "Always Open With"

Accidentally putting a tick or overlooking the tick present by default in the option "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" causes a file to open with a selected program when you may not want it to be that way all the future. How do you undo it?

Steps:
1. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Folder Options.
2. Goto "File Types" Tab
3. Scroll down to the file extension type that was mistakenly set to "Always use the selected....."

4. Click "Restore" button. The file association will change to default and "Restore" button will change to "Advanced"

If you want the file to always open by default with any other program of your choice the in Step 4, click "Change" button. Select the program of your choice and make sure ""Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is checked.

Remove words accidently added to the dictionary in Firefox

You may sometimes accidentally add a wrong spelled word in the custom dictionary in Firefox because the option to "Add to Dictionary" is so close to the correct word options. How do you remove such words?

"Open With" option in the right click context menu of a file

How to get "Open With" option in the right click context menu of a file?

Automatic Login for a User in Windows

How to have automatic login for a user in Windows instead of getting the screen to choose a user profile and then entering the password? This is specially annoying if you are only user.

Steps:
1) Click "Start" button and then click "Run"
2) Type "control userpasswords2" without quotes
3) Uncheck "Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer"
4) An "Automatically Log On" Dialog box appears. Type the username and password for the account that you want to be logged on automatically each time you start your PC
5) Reboot. Windows won't ask for username & password again.

Get multichannel audio from your PC

How to get Get 5.1 or 7.1 multichannel audio from your PC to your Multichannel Home Theater System or Multichannel Speaker System? The first obvious requirement is to have a soundcard (external or on-board) that supports multichannel analog or digital audio output.

There are several ways to get the multichannel audio signals out of the PC.

Ouput Signal	PC Output Interface	PC to External Connection (Adapter, Cable)
Analog	Six 3.5mm Mono Jacks	Mono Speaker Cable
	Three 3.5mm Stereo Jacks	Stereo Speaker Cable
	Six RCA Jacks	Mono RCA Cable
Digital	SPDIF (Optical Toslink)	Optical Cable
	SPDIF (Coaxial RCA)	Digital Coaxial Cable
	SPDIF Motherboard Header	"Header to RCA" Adapter (Link1) (Link2) or SPDIF bracket, Digital Coaxial Cable
	HDMI	HDMI Cable
Analog-Digital Combo	3.5mm-Optical Combo	"3.5mm to Mini Toslink" Adapter (Link), Optical Cable
Analog-Digital Combo	3.5mm-Coaxial Combo	"3.5mm to RCA" Apadter (Link), Digital Coaxial Cable

Ouput Signal	PC Output Interface	Type of Signal Allowed
Analog	Six 3.5mm Mono Jacks	Uncompressed PCM, MLP
	Three 3.5mm Stereo Jacks	Uncompressed PCM, MLP, etc
	Six RCA Jacks	Uncompressed PCM, MLP, etc
Digital	SPDIF (Optical Toslink)	Compressed dts & ac3, Stereo PCM
	SPDIF (Coaxial RCA)	Compressed dts & ac3, Stereo PCM
	SPDIF Motherboard Header	Compressed dts & ac3, Stereo PCM
	HDMI	All compressed & uncompressed
Analog-Digital Combo	3.5mm-Optical Combo	Compressed dts & ac3, Stereo PCM
Analog-Digital Combo	3.5mm-Coaxial Combo	Compressed dts & ac3, Stereo PCM

And then again there are two ways to get the actual audio thorugh the speakers

a) For analog multichannel audio - Use a 5.1 or 7.1 PC speaker system or Home Theater Receiver that has multichannel analog input, hooked up directly to the six 3.5mm mono jacks or six RCA jacks or three 3.5mm stereo jacks
b) For digital multichannel audio - Use a Home Theater Receiver capable of decoding multichannel digital audio hooked up to one of the digital output interfaces mentioned above.

Rules
1) Play the media in Foobar or Media Player Classic or VLC media player or Windows Media Player or PowerDVD
2) Set bit depth in these players as well as your soundcard controller to 24bit or less
3) Set sampling rate to 44.1kHz

You HAVE TO turn up the volume to maximum everywhere in your computer (player, sound controller, etc). You can control the volume ONLY through your HT receiver.

Soundcard Controller Settings
In my case its Sound Blaster Live 24bit

and

Windows XP Audio Controller Settings
1) Turn up the volume of Playback and Wave to maximum

and the use the following setting under Playback->Advanced

Players and their settings
Using Foobar
1) Install Foobar either using the following settings

2) Install Foobar SPDIF passthrough plugin from Here
3) Turn up the volume to maximum (i.e. 0dB)
4) Deselect all DSPs as shown below

5) Use the following settings under Preferences->Playback (Optional)

and under Preferences->Playback->Output (Optional)

6) Use the following settings under Preferences->Playback->SPDIF

Using Media Player Classic
1) Use the following settings in View->Options->Playback->Output

2) Turn up the volume to maximum

3) Use the following settings in View->Options->Internal Filters->DTS or AC3

Using VLC media player
1) Use the following settings in Settings->Preferences->Audio

2) Use the following settings in Settings->Preferences->Audio->Output modules

Using Windows Media Player (For playing wma pro)
1) Use the following settings in Tools->Options->Devices->Speakers->Properties

You should now have 5.1 channel DTS/DD audio through your 5.1 HT speaker system.

Notes-------------------------
When using KS output, the kmixer is bypassed, so you can mute WAVEout (and everything else except Main Volume) in the mixer. This way there's no other sound that'll find a way to your speakers
* Use S/PDIF when available: ON
* (Advanced options) Audio output module: ALSA audio output
* ALSA Device Name: hw:0,1
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=43512&hl=
http://ac3filter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=61718&hl=dts

Copy Image Url or Location in Internet Explorer Right Click Context Menu

Firefox has a nice option to copy the image url/location when you right click on an image. Internet Explorer doesn't have such a neat option. How do you get that in Internet Explorer?

Method 1.
1) Download CopyImageUrl HERE
2) Right click CopyImageUrl.inf and choose Install
3) Restart any running instances of Internet Explorer

Now when you right click on an image in Internet Explorer, you will get the option "Copy Image Url".

Method 2.
1) Download CopyImageLocation HERE
2) Unzip into your desired directory.
3) Run notepad.exe and open file CopyImageLocation.reg
4) Edit path to locate file CopyImageLocation.htm
5) Save and close notepad.
6) Double click CopyImageLocation.reg to import to windows registry.
7) Open new Internet Explorer and test it.

Play and listen multichannel files in your PC

This tutorial is ONLY for listening in your PC via the PC speakers (stereo or multichannel)

The following table lists all types of multichannel files & media

Media Type	File extension	Standard Frequency
DTS (Audio)	.dts	48kHz
Dolby Digital (Audio)	.ac3	48kHz
DTS (Audio) (DVD)	.vob	48kHz
Dolby Digital (Audio) (DVD)	.vob	48kHz
DTS (Audio-Video) (DVD)	.vob	48kHz
Dolby Digital (Audio-Video) (DVD)	.vob	48kHz
DTSWAV (Audio)	.wav	44.1kHz
AC3WAV (Audio)	.wav	44.1kHz
WMA Pro (Audio)	.wma	44.1kHz
WMV HD (WMA Pro) (Audio-Video) (DVD)	.wmv	48kHz
DTS Audio CD (Audio)	.cda	44.1kHz
Dolby Digital Audio CD (Audio)	.cda	44.1kHz

Using VLC media player (Plays all multichannel files)
1) Use the following settings in Settings->Preferences->Audio

2) Use the following settings in Settings->Preferences->Audio->Output modules

Using Media Player Classic/Media Player Classic Home Cinema (Plays .dts, .ac3, wma pro)
1) Use the following settings in View->Options->Playback->Output

2) Use the following settings in View->Options->Internal Filters->DTS or AC3

3) Use the following settings in View->Options->Internal Filters->Audio Switcher (Optional)

Using Windows Media Player (Plays wma pro)
1) Use the default settings

Using PowerDVD (Plays all multichannel files)

Get rid of all change coins for Free

How do get rid of all the coins you accumulate from your shopping at different stores. You may not have a bank with a Coin Machine that converts the coins to money for free or you may not have a Coinstar Machine nearby or you may not want to pay a fee for converting coins to bills in a Coinstar Machine.
There is a nice way to solve this.

Do your shopping in a store a that has a "Self Service" Checkout. Checkout at the "Self Service" row and use all your change coins there.

Post offices have automatic stamp dispensers that take coins of all denominations (down to a cent). If you want stamps use the dispenser to get rid of change coins.

Tips to speed up your PC

The first most important factor for a slow PC is all sorts of eye-candy. Remove all and Voila!! your PC runs a hell lot faster.

To do it in Windows XP do the following:-

1) Right click on "My Computer" icon and select "Properties"
2) Goto "Advanced" Tab

3) Under "Performance" click "Settings" button

4) In "Visual Effects" Tab select "Adjust for best performance"
5) Click "Apply", "OK", "OK"

1) Right click on the taskbar and select "Properties"

2) Select "Start Menu" Tab

3) Select "Classic Start Menu"
4) Click "Apply", "OK"

1) Right click an empty space on the desktop and select "Properties"

2) Under "Themes" Tab you will see a drop down list in "Theme". Select "Windows Classic"
3) Click "Apply", "OK"

The second important factor slowing down a PC is useless/unimportant startup programs that load when you start or switch on your PC and keep on running in the background. This also increases your boot-up time.

To remove unnecessary start-up programs in Windows XP do the following:-

1) Click on "Start" button in taskbar and select "Run"
2) Type "msconfig" without quotes.
3) Select "Startup" Tab. You will see the list of programs that load at startup.
4) Deselect/Untick all you don't need.
5) Click "Apply", "OK".

Thirdly, remove all Windows ear-candy (the Windows sounds you get when you shutdown or start your PC or sounds you hear on clicking someting in your Webbrowser etc

To remove it in Windows XP do the following:-

1) Click on "Start" button in taskbar and select "Settings" and then "Control Panel"
2) Double click on "Sounds and Audio Devices"
3) Select "Sounds" Tab.
4) Under "Sound Scheme" drop down list select "No Sounds"
5) Click "Apply". You would get a pop-up asking to save the current sound
configuration. Its upto you to select Yes or No. I don't save it since it is useless. I select "No".
6) Click "OK". Close the Control Panel

Fourthly, remove all crap (temporary internet files & temp files) from your PC

To do it use a nice freeware "CCleaner"

Windows Media Player 11 Plugin for Firefox

Have you tried to play a Windows Media stream in Firefox and got the message "Firefox needs need WMP 11 Plugin"? Click on that and Firefox tries to install the plugin but fails to find a suitable plugin and suggests a manual install.
You might think that upgrading to Windows Media Player 11 could solve the problem. You upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 but the problem still persists.
Well the problem is due to the absence of Firefox plugin for Windows Media Player 11. Fortunately some good guys have been developing it for free.

You can get it HERE

Run the exe to install it. Voila!! you can now view streaming Windows Media in Firefox.

Best Sharewares

These programs have been tried & tested and found to the best in their category in terms of quality of performance.

1) CD DVD Burning - Nero
2) DVD Ripper - DVDFab
3) File Compression - Winrar
4) Audio Editor - Adobe Audition
5) Audio Restoration - SpinItAgain, AudioLava
6) Antivirus - Symantec Antivirus
7) File Recovery - Recover My Files
8) DVD Player - PowerDVD
9) Hard Disk Partitioning - Partition Magic

Best Freewares

This is a collection of the best lightweight tried & tested freewares.
These consume the least amount of CPU and HD space

1) Universal Media players - VLC, Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, MPUI
2) Audio Players - Foobar2000
3) Video Players - Moopeg
4) Web Browser - Maxthon
5) Junk Cleaners - CCleaner
6) CD Ripper - Exact Audio Copy (EAC)
7) Audio Editor - Audacity
8) CD Emulator - Daemon Tools
9) Audio File Converter - Switch
10) Pdf Converter - doPDF
11) Pdf Reader - Foxit Reader
12) Auto Form Filler - AIRoboform
13) Image Viewer - Irfanview
14) Image Editor - Gimp
15) Program Unlocker - Unlocker
16) FTP Client - Core FTP
17) Audio/Video Converter - SUPER
18) Firewall - Jetico/Comodo
19) Anonymous Surfing - Tor/Jap
20) Torrent Client - utorrent
21) DVD Author - Sothink Movie DVD Maker
22) Registry Cleaner - Regseeker
23) Nfo Viewer - Nfoview
24) Mp3 Tag Editor - Simple ID3-Tag Editor
25) Fortran Compiler - Force
26) C Compiler - Miracle C Compiler