Can't Beat a Mac Keyboard

Well today I went to Best Buy to go and get me a keyboard to hook up to my Windows 7 laptop. When going to Best Buy I went over to the keyboard section and started testing them all out. I found plenty of them that I liked, with lots of features that I would never use, but they all looked like some kind of Mac Keyboard clone to me.

After some playing around with them I grabbed one and started to walk out of the store. On the way out the Apple section caught my eye. I wandered over there to look around and saw the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard that I have at work.

I love this keyboard. The only drawback to it is that it is expensive, is a battery killer, and it is not a full size keyboard with a number pad. Then the answer to appeared to me, the Apple Keyboard with Numeric Pad.

This keyboard is not a wireless one, but that is just fine with me. I don’t need that anyway. It is a full size keyboard which is great, has the number pad, and also two USB ports on the sides. It was also only 50 bucks, which was cheaper than the one I picked up.

When I got home I plugged it into my Windows 7 laptop, the keyboard was found, and all of the necessary drivers were installed without any issues. Windows 7 actually recognizes the keyboard as a Apple Keyboard and works great. Now I have the keyboard that I have always wanted without having to go out and spend the cash on a Mac.

Posted on Jun 15, 2010 by Mike Jennings in Mike | 0 Comments | Permalink

How Quickly my New Years Resolution Failed

Well I had decided to try and to a post a week on the Blog for my New Years Resolution. Well that sure did not last long. I seemed to only be able to do it for one month before I failed on getting a new post out there. I expect that is not too bad of a thing, since I have been busy at work, and have not found enough free time to get back to this. Oh well..... I am going to reset the clock, and see how many weeks in a row I can go now, without missing a post.

Posted on Feb 15, 2010 by Mike Jennings in Mike | 0 Comments | Permalink

Windows 7: Removing AutoPlay Handlers from Options List

Recently I did a uninstall of Nero 7 from my Windows 7 computer and installed Nero 9. After I had completed this I found that there were many orphaned Nero 7 AutoPlay handlers left in the options list. I had to manually remove the options from the list using the Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

To do this, execute regedit.exe, then navigate to the following location in the registry editor.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ AutoplayHandlers

At this location of the registry you are concerned with two different folders, the Handlers and EventHandlers folders. The Handler folders holds the reference to the software that is executed. The EventHandlers folder contains the different AutoPlay option lists.

First you will need to go through the Handlers folder and delete all folders associated with the software that is showing up. After you have done that then go through the EventHandlers folders and remove all of the references to the Handlers in each event. I had to go through each individual EventHandlers subfolder.

Posted on Jan 31, 2010 by Mike Jennings in Mike | 0 Comments | Permalink

Windows 7: Removing Prompt for CTRL-ALT-DEL to login

I have my Windows 7 computer setup with a account profile where I have to provide a password to log into the computer, or resume the session after the computer goes to sleep. Since I am the only user on the computer, I hate having to do the “CTRL-ALT-DEL” keystroke to get to the login prompt.

This is a easy fix though. You just have to press the windows key and type in “Local Security Policy”. Then expand “Local Policies” and click on the “Security Options”. You will now see a list of local security options. Go to “Interactive logon: Do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL” and set it to enabled. After you have done this, you will need to restart your computer so the setting will be in effect.

I have found that after some windows updates, or for a reason I still can’t figure out, the setting gets reverted. You might have repeat these steps again and again, as mine keep on getting reset.

Posted on Jan 23, 2010 by Mike Jennings in Mike | 0 Comments | Permalink

Motorola Droid rocks!!!!!!

On December 31st of 2009 I got a Motorola Droid smart phone. I got the phone because I had a old Alltel phone and Verizon suggested that I get on there network so that I would get better service. Now getting the new phone did not give me better service at all at my house, but everything else about the phone is simply amazing.

At first I was a little uneasy with the phone. I have a Iphone 3g for work and it is really a nice phone. The things that I recognized right off the bat that were better was my feelings that the GPS on the Droid seemed to be much better and the wireless internet device was much more sensitive along with the better 3G coverage. After using the phone for a while I found the following things that I do love about the phone.

  • The Google Navigation is Amazing
  • The fact I can make it a alarm clock
  • The use of Widgets with Apps
  • The Fact I can get different Browsers
  • The super integration with Google apps

I would suggest this phone to anyone. It really is a nice phone and has a great developers interface for it. I am excited about the opportunity to start developing Android Apps. The SDK for the OS is all in java and is very API based.

One thing that I would suggest to anyone who gets the droid is to go to BestBuy and get a ZAGG invisibleSHIELD body wrap for your phone. It makes the phone so you can’t scratch it. I love not having a stupid case on the phone and just being able to throw it in my pocket without worry. One thing to do is pay the extra $13 to get them to do the installation. It is a pain to get the wrap put on your phone and well worth the money for them to do it for you.

Posted on Jan 15, 2010 by Mike Jennings in Mike | 0 Comments | Permalink