Create your own Self-extracting self-installER

The following will show you how to use the Iexpress2.0 tool.
The tool allows you to make a self extracting file and much more : To play with this hidden feature of XP :
Navigate to : Windows\system32\
look for a file called iexpress.exe.
Double left click on it and follow the wizzard.

Change the Size of Desktop Icons (All Windows)

Are your icons too small? Or too big? This setting will let you resize them to suit your desktop preference.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create a new value named ‘Shell Icon Size’ and set the value, or modify the existing value, to equal the size of your icons in pixels. Smaller values = smaller icons!

Settings:
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
Name: Shell Icon Size
Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
Value: Size in Pixels (Default = 32)

3 Steps To Better Digital Prints

3 simple steps you can take to get better prints from your digital photos…

1. Watch the resolution - Remember that in order to get a quality print, you’ll need to have the DPI to back it up. The “Dots Per Inch” – pixels if you will – are the stuff your photos are made of. If you don’t have enough of ‘em, you aren’t going to get a good print.

As a general guideline, try to keep your resolution between 200-300 DPI. More than 200-300 DPI doesn’t hurt, but usually isn’t going to improve the image much either (unless you look at your prints with a magnifying glass or something).

If your photo doesn’t have the resolution to make the size print you want, consider a smaller print and some nice matting. Don’t “force” your photo program to create the extra pixels you need – it just never works very well.

2. Use Good Paper – When printing photos, use a “photo” paper. Generally, the stuff the printer manufactures sell is really good. It’s designed to be used with the ink in your printer and will almost always give great results.

If you don’t want to fork over the big bucks for the paper from your printer manufacturer, there are some good alternatives out there. For instance, I’ve had a lot of luck with various papers from Kodak, and I have a friend who’s had great results with Office Depot photo paper (really). It usually takes a bit of experimentation to get the printer settings (paper, color, etc) just so, but once you have it, these alternative papers do look great.

Oh, and if you really wanna get fancy, I’ve even seen some pricey “fine art” photo papers you may want to consider.

3. Printer Settings – This is the most important of the bunch. When you print a photo, be sure to hit the “Properties” button on your printer dialog box.

The first thing to check is for a “paper type” option. If you’re stuffing photo paper into your printer and have plain paper selected. In order to get the best quality, always match your paper type properly!

Next, check the color settings. Some printers give you a ton of options here, some none at all. In my experience, most of the time I just go with the defaults and I’m pretty happy. If you think your photos could look better, by all means use this area to try and enhance ‘em.

Here’s how my screen looks – your mileage will almost certainly vary:

In conclusion, don’t be afraid to experiment. Sure, you’ll go through some photo paper in the process, but discovering the best print settings will be worth it. Besides, once you find the ideal match between paper, resolution, and printer settings you’ll be able to repeat it all the time.

Create Cool Images With a Wet Floor Effect Maker

Ever since the beginning of “web 2.0″, designers started creating logos or images with reflections that look pretty cool. Most of the time these images are done by professional in-house web designers which most of us bloggers don’t have the skill or access to. Fortunately there are two sites I came across that can add this effect to any image you’d like to apply it to.

The first one is called Wet Floor Maker which has several options such as angle, camera height, brightness, reflectivity, and more. Just upload your image and adjust the options to your liking and voila….you’ve got a cool new wet floor effect image. Here’s the end result of one test image I created:

The second site is called Image Reflection Generator and it doesn’t have nearly as many options as Wet Floor Maker does. The final image did look a bit more professional, however but you have no control over the angle of the reflection which I don’t like. Here’s the same image but after converting it with Image Reflection Generator:

These are convenient and quick ways to create images with a wet floor effect without any photo editing experience. The one thing I don’t like about both of these sites is you can’t preview the image before you click the “create image” button. Several times the end result image wasn’t exactly what I wanted so I had to go back and start over again. Kind of a pain but since the service is free, I can live with it. Try both out and let me know which you like better!

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Backup Outlook Express email

One of the most important things to create backup copies of, is your email messages. Here’s a short guide on how to do this if you use the Outlook Express mail client.

Copy the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{long sequence of numbers and letters}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

to a backup location (blank CD, Zip disk, backup HD, etc.).

———————————————————

To import the email back into OE:

1) Open Outlook Express
2) Click File – Import – Messages
3) Highlight Microsoft Outlook Express 6, and click Next
4) Choose Import mail from an OE6 store directory, and click OK
5) Browse to the location (folder) where you backed up your email and click OK.

That’s it. You’ve now imported all your old emails.

This is especially useful for clean installs of your operating system, or moving emails to a different machine.