All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Tip

ZipTorrent weirdness

In BitTorrent, Tip on 23 November 2005 with no comments

Why do downloads reappear after I’ve deleted them already? Their torrent file is gone, and I’m not seeding them anymore. Answer: The torrents are kept in C:\Program Files\ZipTorrent\torrents

Save as DOC by default

In Open Source, Tip on 5 October 2005 with 1 comment

By default, documents in OpenOffice are saved automatically as SXW files, not DOC files. To change this, open Text Document and go to Tools > Options. Expand Load/Save, go to General, and under “Standard file format“, change the “Always Save As” dropdown box to one of the Microsoft Word formats (whichever one would be the earliest version you work with). It stinks that Microsoft Word doesn’t read SXW files, because DOC files are larger than SXW files.

A friend just asked told me that a document she sent to herself wouldn’t open on another computer for this reason, so I’ll have to change that setting for her. Apparently, she’s not liking OpenOffice that much. On the other hand, I’m doing just fine with it. I actually used the Drawing program to create a offense template for coaching, so that was actually really cool.

My methods of troubleshooting computers

In Computers, Hardware, How-to, Software, Tip on 8 August 2005 with 6 comments

Basically, what I’ve learned in the past two weeks of dianosing problems with a system is that in most cases, you need to test the hardware level before testing software. The following is what I do so far, but I’m really in need of any additional tips, links, and/or articles that have more things I can do. (more…)

Quick T-Shirt folding

In Asides, Lifehack, Tip on 5 August 2005 with 2 comments

I don’t know if I saw this before, but this amazingly-fast method of folding a T-shirt finally clicked. Just note where the hands are, and where they grab on the shirt. In the video, the right hand is by the collar and the left is in a straight line where you want the bottom of the fold to be. This is wicked! See the short flash video (Source: Tricks of the Trade)

20 Ways To Say No

In Asides, Life, Productivity, Tip on 3 August 2005 with 2 comments

Note: I posted this before. Oops! Ramona Creel writes “20 Ways To Say No”. I’m pretty easy going, so I probably need to give this list a few looks from time to time. (Source: Lifehacker)

Easy coupon storage and purging

In Money, Organization, Tip on 28 July 2005 with no comments

If you’ve heard of the Zipster, I have another idea you can use it for. I’m sure you despise bringing a coupon somewhere, only to find out that it’s expired. How aggrivating!

Using the Zipster template, print the tab cards and create one for each month. Store the coupons in the month that they’ll expire. When each month passes, and you can easily trash the unused coupons.

Unblock number?

In Cell Phone, Tip on 17 June 2005 with 15 comments

(Edit: Too many questions I can’t answer. Stop asking me.) If you have your phone number set to block caller ID all the time (like *67), what’s the code to unblock it on a call-by-call basis? I wanted to ask my friend if they can press that code for me. Thanks.

Awesome chess tips

In Tip on 23 May 2005 with no comments

I think I’ve played 3 quick chess games in the past 5 months. I’m a bit fascinated with it, especially since it’s a complicated game. However, if I can get myself to read through these chess tips and techniques, I might like to play more often. (Golf clap: Forever Geek)

Handwriting tips

In Asides, Lifehack, Tip on 23 May 2005 with no comments

These handwriting tips caught my eye, because I don’t think my handwriting is any good. I hate writing, and love typing. I’d like to be able to write legibly quickly and effortlessly - a quality I can’t say I have at the moment. I’ll give it a go. (Golf clap: The Indiana Jones School of Management)

Locate printers easier

In Printers, Tip, Windows, Work on 9 May 2005 with no comments

At work, we have eight printers stationed throughout the building, and each project/department has their own. I think a few people print to a different printer and can’t figure out where it went. To help them out a bit, I went through and wrote down the locations of all the printers in relation to people’s offices and which floor they’re in. Then, if I work on someone’s computer, I make the change of adding the location in their printers documents. Finally, I change the view in “Printers and Faxes” to “Details”, in addition to unchecking all the columns except for Name, Documents, Status, and Location.