As you might have discerned from the title, I am officially announcing the closing of not just Spiderman’s Web, but also Thinking Chair.

It’s crazy to think that just two years ago, my friend and I started this blogging website. A lot has gone by since then: a new President, an economic recession, Michael Jackson’s death, the Amazon Kindle, my Twitter account, the breaking of the Curse of Billy Penn, etc… Even our very own website went through it’s own changes in the beginning – who could forget our “Coming Soon” screen with the stage curtains that stayed up for 2-4 months? Or the original split screen site? Or Pedro’s Notebook using WordPress? Okay, so I’m the only one who remembers, but that’s not the point. The point is that since we’ve (me and Pete) started this site, a lot has changed. We were both young, somewhat ignorant (okay, that’ was just me), and had just scratched the top of what our lives would become. Life was good… and manageable!

Since then, life’s gotten a little bit harder, a little bit more stressful, and a little bit more annoying. Blogging had gone from being my pastime to something I remembered to do every 1-3 months. The only thing that reminded me that I even had a blog were the constant emails from WordPress notifying me about a new user registration on the site (which had always turned out to be spam). What had been something that was enjoyable had turned into an annoyance (the guilt of not having written a blog post in 3 months)

That’s not to say I didn’t like blogging… it’s just I never had time and my free time was better used elsewhere. Maybe if I had more readers or if I had ads I would have taken more interest in the site… but that was never the point of starting this site. This site was meant to be a place where I could say what I thought when I felt like it for everybody to read. Through writing with this purpose, it taught me a lot about technology and has definitely increased my interest in the field. It also taught me some writing skills – which I was in dire need of – as well as some grammatical skills. It also taught me how to organize my disorganized thoughts.

Because of this, I am not just going to close down Spiderman’s Web. I will be exporting it to my old site spidermansweb.wordpress.com. It will not only serve as a shrine to the former glory of Spiderman’s Web, but I will still be able to post a blog post here and there whenever I feel like it. I think this is probably the best thing to do for this site because (1) everything I need to do on this site can be done on wordpress.com, (2) it’s free, and (3) I won’t have to update any of my plugins or WordPress (hallelujah!).  Does this mean I’ll be posting more? Probably not. Just because this sites changing, doesn’t mean my life is changing too. But, this new site (or rather the resurrection of the site)  still allows me to write while just closing down this site does not.

Would I like to keep thinking-chair.com? Sure, I designed the front page and I have some good memories with it! But because of the fact that I rarely use it and that it costs $40 between both me and Pete to run, it’s just not worth it for either of us.

Thanks for hanging in there,

Trevor Hawkins

Editor in Chief of Spiderman’s Web and Co-Founder/Co-President of Thinking Chair

The Problem: I updated my old 2002 PC to Windows Vista (en Route to Windows 7) from Windows XP. Unfortunately, when I updated to Windows Vista SP1, it just completely pooped itself. For some reason, my ATI graphics card doesn’t support DirectX 9 (or 10, I forget), so I could only use it in a beautiful 600×400, 8-bit color scheme. As nice as that might be, my only real option was to downgrade to Windows Vista (sans SP1). So, now I was stuck on an extremely slow system that was barely usable. Although, it was fine for just playing my music which is what I used it for.

Now, it’s unacceptable. Multi-tasking was near impossible.

The Solution: After some partition sleuthing (an adventure for another time), I finally got Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope installed alongside my Vista installation (I’ve got too many iTunes-DRM’d videos to give Vista up completely).

So, I’ve got this puppy on here right now. I’ve used Ubuntu many a times, but this is the first time I’ve actually used it to resurrect a system too slow to run Windows. Here’s some thoughts:

• Quickness: On Windows, I couldn’t even drag the Window boarders without lag! I can finally run multiple programs without taking up at least half the memory (Firefox, Songbird, Transmission). It feels like I’m on my regular PC using Windows. When I would scroll down a web page, it would pretty much redraw the entire thing. Now, I’ve got nice ‘n’ smooth scrolling. Also, for some reason, I feel like internet is a lot faster for some reason.
• It just works: Out of the box, I didn’t need to install ANY drivers. I was very surprised because I had some WiFi issues with my Acer when I had Ubuntu up and running. No WiFi drivers, no audio drivers, no DVD drivers, no USB drivers… nothing. It was great.
• Compiz Fusion = Wow! I’ve always thought that Compiz had some of the best effects out of all other operating systems. Although, I had known this from my Intel 945 Integrated Graphics, which ran it with relative ease. I was unsure about a system as slow as my Sony. Let me say it again: WOW! I have Compiz running full blast and let me say… it doesn’t falter. Right now I have four virtual desktops running with different backgrounds on each one. The transitions are all smooth,  easy, and best of all they look good too!
• Songbird: I chose Songbird because (1) it resemble iTunes (2) it supports ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) which for some reason I had trouble get Amarok to support and (3) its based off of the Mozilla platform, which is pretty cool (and very extend-able!). The only beef I have with it is that there are almost no widgets for AWN,  Screenlets, or the Ubuntu panels (that works with the Beta).
• Installing programs is still a pain: Find a cool program online that’s not in any repository? Good luck installing it if its not a .deb package. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, if an easier way to install .tar.gz files doesn’t come up, Ubuntu will never go main stream. Though Ubuntu has gotten better over the years, there is still way too many things that depend on the user using the command prompt.
• I still hate that orange: One of the first things I did after installing Ubuntu was look for a new theme. I hate the orange and brown. Yuck. I don’t know what it is, but I cannot stand it. So, I settled on the blue theme which comes prepackaged in Ubuntu. Lovin’ it.
• I still hate those fonts: One of the next things I did after using a new theme, I installed the Microsoft font package. Now, you might be saying, but that’s not open source! To be quite honest, I really don’t care about programs being open source or proprietary. I love to support open source stuff, but at the same time, I hate boycotting proprietary programs too. If something is proprietary and I does the job better than its open source alternative, I won’t think twice. Microsoft Office over Open Office, every time. Microsoft fonts over Ubuntu fonts, every time. In my opinion, it’s kinda stupid to sacrifice some software that makes life easier. Now, sure I could live with the ugly Ubuntu serif fonts, but why make life harder?

So, though I’ve had a few problems with Ubuntu, the great thing is that everything can be fixed or close to being fixed. So, since I’m going to be using Ubuntu for at least the next couple of days, you will see a couple of posts centering around Ubuntu (yes, really). I’ve got to say though, using this computer with the speed of a new computer is very awesome. It’s going to make this whole sans-laptop period a whole lot easier.

Just thought I’d post something quick so that way it doesn’t seem like my blog is too dead. Anyways, I just wanted to mention something to current bloggers, newbie bloggers, or those thinking of starting a blog.

Don’t EVER put “clips” or “snip-its” of your blog posts in RSS feeds.

EVER.

Now, you may be thinking, “But I want people to actually come to my blog!” Guess what? If you have people reading their RSS feeds, they aren’t going to go out of their way to go to your blog just to read one measly little post by somebody they probably don’t care about. Most people (well, at least me) are quickly going through all their 100s of unread RSS feeds and looking for things that catch their eye. Once your blog post catches their eye, you only have a couple of seconds to pull them in and read your entire post. Unless they really (and I mean really) want to continue reading from that little clip of your post in their RSS reader, then you probably don’t have a problem. But if you’re just a little blogger like myself who has trouble even grabbing attention, then you’re going to want to expose ALL of your work, not just a “clip.” Trust me, you want your readers to see more than a clip.

Okay, so maybe you’re saying “But I really want people to come to my blog directly so they can comment!” Guess what? People will comment on your post if they want to, not if you want them to. Let them choose whether or not to comment, not you. If you write it, they will come (and comment!). Ehhh… tried to make a Field of Dreams/Shoeless Joe reference. Didn’t work out. Anyways, if they want to comment, they’ll come to your blog and comment. For now, just let them read your posts, then let them comment. Don’t assume they’re reading what you write to comment on it.

Besides, you really don’t have any reason to not put up your entire blog post anyway. Sure, you might have some ads (which can be put into your RSS feed anyway), but if you want genuine readers, then you shouldn’t even think about your Google Ads. You need to be thinking about getting readers who like what you write. You should  not think about how much money you made this month. If that’s what you are thinking about, then you’re probably not going to have too much of a successful blog.

So, if you made it this far through my post, congrats! You win a cookie an imaginary cookie (hey, times are tough. I don’t have the money to throw cookies at you).

I wish you could strikethrough the titles of posts because really… time doesn’t fly when you are having no fun. Yes, school has been a pain in the rear end the past couple of months, but a little vacation is just what I needed. I’m terribly sorry to some of the people who had originally subscribed to my blog with the intention of seeing some posts, but yeah, the whole school thing. Like I said, a pain in the rear end.

But guess what? I may not be the most frequent blog updater in the world, but Twitter is a whole different story. I do occasionally post some interesting links in my Tweets, but most of time, its just about my life. So whether you just want to get to know who runs the blog just a little bit better or you’re just a creeper, go ahead and follow me at www.twitter.com/11hawkinst (please, no followers from the latter category).

Fast forward to mid-2008.

My parents got a brand new computer (and for a very good deal might I add) and Office Depot threw in a new ergonomic keyboard. As I set up their computer, I could tell that this was no ordinary keyboard. Why? Well, that’s why I bought one for myself and why I’m reviewing Microsoft’s Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000.

The Good

Typing in General

• The keys are extremely silent. They make some noise, but not nearly as much noise as its beige ancestors of the 90s. In fact, they are probably the most quiet keys I have ever typed on, even compared to all the laptop keyboards I have typed on. Although, I will admit there is one key which does not fall into this quiet key category which I’ll explain later.
• Touch typers, good news: I just saved 15% by switching my car insurance to Geico the keys are very easy to type on. Umm… there’s not much I can say about how non-resistant these keys are, so you’ll just have to go by my opinion.
• The palm rest feels comfortable. While it’s not a pillow, it doesn’t feel like the hard plastic palm rests which come with other keyboards.
• I feel no pain in my fingers, palms, or wrists. It’s that simple. On most keyboards, if you are typing on it for a long time, it can be rather hard. If you feel some “paresthesias, numbness (or) muscle weakness,” that could be an early sign of Carpal tunnel syndrome (according to Wikipedia). I have never felt any of these pains since I’ve used this keyboard for the past 3 months.
• It really isn’t that hard to get used to. In all honesty, I hooked up the keyboard and typed away with no problem in seconds. Although, this could be different for some people if they have developed some weird typing habits or haven’t learned the correct finger strokes when typing. But, if you are like me and you don’t have weird typing habits, then this keyboard will be very easy to get used to.

Keys ‘n’ Goodies

• I love the keys above the num pad. For people who use Excel a lot, this will be extremely handy. For your convenience, I have included a picture. If you can’t quite see what the keys are, they are (from left to right) “ =  (   )  (backspace) “. Having used Excel quite often the past few months, these are very helpful for creating formulas.
• It has tons o’ Hot Keys! I love the fact that it comes with 5 no picture associated hot keys and not just some pre-programmed hot keys which can’t be customized whatsoever. I’ll talk about the software a little bit later. I really like the dedicated calculator button. Surprisingly, it comes in pretty handy (and, having Windows 7, they calculator doesn’t suck either!). Like most keyboards with hot keys, it has a search key, mail key, and web key which opens your default browser, not Internet Explorer. Well, unless that’s you default browser (I surely hope not). Like some Logitech keyboards, it also has the alternate functions on the function key row. Although, if you use the regular function keys, this feature is turned off by default.
• In the middle of the keyboard (along the ergonomic split) there’s a zooming scroller and back/forward buttons. Honestly, I don’t use the back/forward buttons that much nor did I use the zooming scroller. Luckily, I found a better use for it. Instead, I use it as a scrolling scroller (boy, that sounds weird) instead using Roy Osherove’s .bat file. I don’t even use my mouse to scroll down pages anymore!
• It has an elevated front (or an “elevated palm lift” as Microsoft calls it), which supposedly puts your wrists in a natural position. If you don’t like it, good thing it’s removable. Although, I really have no idea why you would do that because, if anything, it is one of the main reasons why your hands don’t hurt while typing for long periods of time. Picture below:
  

Software

It comes with Microsoft’s “Intellitype” software, which isn’t a burden on your computer (thankfully). Actually, it’s not really a program, but rather a plug-in for your Keyboard Properties under the Control Panel. Snapshot on the left.

You can change just about every hot key, including the shortcuts on the function key’s row. For the shortcuts on the function key row, you can either keep its default setting or open a program, file, website, choose a different command, or disable the use of the key. For some reason, these options are not available for the customizable keys at the top of the keyboard. Now here’s the best part: you can disable the Caps Lock key! Hooray! No more accidentally typing the beginning of a tweet then having to go back and edit it! It also allows you to disable the right click key or left windows key.

One interesting feature which I have no idea how to use is the Assign/Manage macros function. You can’t use it on the customizable keys at the top, but it does allow you to add macros to all the other programmable keys. I’ll figure it out another time.

I think that the CD said it was compatible with Mac OS X, but, um, I kinda lost the CD so don’t go off my word on that one.

The Bad

Can a keyboard this great have any faults you may ask? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. This actually is really annoying. Unlike the rest of the keyboard, the space bar is freakin’ loud and hard to use! When I say it’s hard to use, I mean it like this: on some areas of the space bar, you can’t click down. Although, this isn’t half as annoying as the loudness of the space bar itself. I tend to ignore it, but sometimes, it can really get on your nerves.

Overall

Trust me, the goods far outnumbers the space bar horridness. The space bar won’t slow you down when typing, so don’t make it too big of a factor if you are going to buy it. Still, I’ve got to say that this is the best keyboard I have ever used. If you are in the market for a new keyboard or you are feeling some of the pains caused by typing too much, I highly recommend considering the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard. If there’s one thing Microsoft knows how to make, it has got to be its hardware.

The Hookup:

Amazon (tons of reviews)
Microsoft Product Page
CNET Editor’s Review
GearLive Review

(by the way, Thinking Chair and its subsidiaries are in no way affiliated with Microsoft or Geico)

Widgets are interactive virtual tools that provide single-purpose services such as showing the user the latest news, the current weather, the time, a calendar, a dictionary, a map program, a calculator, desktop notes, photo viewers, or even a language translator, among other things.

I used to be a Widget nut. I always was trying to find the latest Widget-engine which not only had good-looking widgets, but would also not take a huge chunk out of my memory. For years, I tried to center myself around widgets, but behold, I have seen the light.

Okay, so now I can understand where gadgets could come in handy. It’s basically a way to combine a ton of information into one location (your desktop). Okay, I don’t have a problem with that. Now, here’s the problem. Do you really ever see your desktop? For me, I always have iTunes open, a couple of Firefox windows open, and a blank Word document – all full screen. I will rarely ever make a pit stop to my desktop. In reality, if I ever did want to check the weather, see how horrible my portfolio is doing , or translate my French homework into English, I really just use the internet. Why? Because I’m probably already on the web and I don’t want to minimize all of my windows just to check one measly little bit of data. Besides, with all of those windows open, I need to find a way to salvage every little piece of the 1.5 GBs of memory I have. Let me tell ‘ya, whether it be Google Desktop Gadgets, Windows Vista Sidebar, the Yahoo! Widget Engine, or Samurize, they all take up a fairly hefty amount of memory.

I do think the sidebar-based gadget engines (Windows & Google) are better than the Desktop-based ones because of the fact that their always open on your screen. Then again, it still takes up memory and some valuable screen real estate. I also think Apple got it right when they created a Hotkey which would bring up your widgets and then they would go away one you are done looking at them. Still, valuable memory is at stake.

So, under certain circumstances, widgets do make some sense. Under most circumstances, I think they are extremely pointless. What do you think?

If you’ve ever watched TV shows or movies online that were not available on Hulu or its network site, chances are you’ve probably watched video on some pretty ugly sites. It’s probably ad-ridden, ugly, in Chinese, and an overall eyesore. That’s were Zorro comes in. Here’s the developers description of the program:

Zorro is a utility to completely blank the screen except for a rectangular area selected by the user. This is especially useful for watching videos on your computer without being distracted by other programs.

Like it says, you choose an area of your screen which you would like to see. Using some magic which is unknown to the common man and the pressing of a hotkey, it blanks out the rest of the screen. I’ve found this very useful for watching videos on foreign sites (especially when it has Chinese/Japanese subtitles). In my opinion, it makes watching video a whole lot nicer and it also doesn’t hurt your eyes as much. Zorro is also useful to block out some of those pesky toolbars at the bottom of a full screen video. Although I use it for mostly video and what not, I’m sure this is very useful for productivity as well. For example, if you always check the time or your email, this can be a helpful way to keep you focused. That’s just one (lame) example, but I’m sure there are many other ways to use this flablawesome program.

The Hookup: Gabriele Ponti

P.S. Just incase you want to watch the Conestoga Drum Line Special, here it is.

(by far my favorite iPod ad)

You’ve already heard our two cents over the iPhone 3G and it’s SDK (oh here’s Pedro’s write up on dat SDK), so let’s look at Apple’s new update to it’s grossly popular iTunes/iPod lineup. I’ve heard a lot of rumors that past month or so. Some of them came true and some of them didn’t. Some features weren’t even rumors! Here are some of my opinions of Apple’s announcements (by product).

iPod Touch

One of the major improvements to Apple’s iPod line would have to be to its iPod touch. For one thing, it got price cuts which were needed after the 3G iPhone was selling for $100 less than the iPod touch (not including monthly bills of course!). So, for $229 you can get an 8GB flavor, for $299 a 16GB flavor, and for $399 a 32 GB version. One of the most surprising features to come to the iPod touch was the addition of the speaker and the volume control buttons. Nobody had even predicted either of those features for the Touch (unless you’ve heard otherwise). Gizmodo, in their write up of the new iPod touch, said that the speaker is decent. I think these features alone will help the iPod touch sell since there were so many complaints about the lack of speakers and a physical volume button on the previous version.

(picture property of Gizmodo/Gawker Media)

Also added to the iPod touch is a built in Nike+ adapter, which almost nobody saw coming. Whereas Nanos had a little extension that plugged into the iPod, the new Touch has it built in (how nifty!). Along with the volume control buttons, this will be very appealing to joggers, runners, and walkers who currently use the Nike+ program (and it will potentially attract even more to the program). Unfortunately, this feature will not be integrated (or work with) any previous generation iPod touches, iPhones, or iPhone 3Gs. If you don’t know about the Nike+ program, I’ll point you in the right direction!

The iPod touch also got a few minor cosmetic changes. It has thin edges and a thick middle section just like it’s mother iPhone 3G. The wireless sensor (aka WiFi radio) is now a little bit smaller and less noticeable (it’s that black thing on the back). You’ll also notice that the trim now matches the steel back instead of the old black trim (another thing that makes it look like the iPhone). Gizmodo reports that it feels a lot lighter than the 1st Gen, but of course, I can’t confirm this.

Overall, Apple did the right thing. By adding the Nike+ plus support, volume controls, and speakers, the iPod touch is now even more appealing to those who wanted the iPhone without the Phone and to athletes (or people who go on a daily jog, run, etc.). I rule this a WINNER!

iPod Nano

Along with the iPod touch, the Nano hardware has gotten a major overhaul, and the UI has gotten some tweaks as well. As you can tell, Apple ditched the “fat Nano” design and has gone back to the tall and skinny version. Although the screen may look smaller, just turn the 3rd Gen Nano horizontally and you’ll see that they have the exact same screen. I also think this has to be the most amount of color I’ve ever seen for an iPod line. It also is curved all around (like a long oval if you look at it from the top. Here’s what I mean:

This should be more comfortable in your hand, but I don’t have one so I’m just guessin’ it is.

One of the most striking features of the Nano has to be the accelerometer. Nobody had guessed this feature (until early today), so really nobody even expected it. So, if you turn the iPod horizontally, you’ll go to cover art, just like the iPod touch. Not something that we needed, but nice none the less. To go along with the iPhone/iPod touch-esque cover flow, they’ve made the “now playing” screen look a bit more like its iPod touch brother as well (see picture above). Another cool feature is if you hold the center button, you can choose a number of various option such as a Genius, Add to On-The-Go playlist, Browse album, and Browse artist option. A very nice shortcut alternative to the menus. So, if you have a song in a playlist by an artist you feel like listening to, you can just hold the center button and choose “Browse Album” (see picture below).

Of course one of the most noticeable features to come to the Nano has to be the Genius feature (now in iTunes 8). By holding the center button, you can start the Genius mode. Whether your listening to a song or just browsing through your songs, you can activate this feature at any time: iTunes sends your play history to the iTunes Store servers, which recommend music that “works well” with your current selection, presumably based on “other people who bought your stuff also liked this” type data gleaned from years of iTunes Store operation. From there, it creates a Genius playlist which will let you save the playlist (on your computer) in case you like the songs it chooses. If you don’t like it, you can refresh it and it will come up with more songs. So, if you’re in a certain mood and you’re listening to a song which matches that mood, this is a great feature which no other PMP player offers (that I can think of).

Overall, a nice improvement to the Nano. I rule this a SORTA-WINNER (I’ll explain why later).

Click Here to watch the Nano Quick tour.

Other Minor Things

The iPod classic doesn’t have anything new. It does have the genius feature, but nothing else. Oh yeah, except for the fact that they got RID of the 160 GB option! I think Apple took a step in the wrong direction with this one. While I’m sure most people don’t have a huge movie/video collection, I’m sure some people in the world do. Although Apple probably wasn’t getting as many orders for it as the 120 GB model, I don’t think that means it needs to be canceled all together. Just make less. By having a 160 GB iPod, I think this looks more appealing to consumers with large video collections. This was nice for Apple since they really didn’t have any competition in that memory market. Now that the 120 GB version is directly competing with the Zune (which now offers a 120 GB flavor), the consumer has to make the choice between Apple and Microsoft. Sometimes, it might not always be Apple (gasp!).

Not a huge deal (though I make it sound like one), but something worth noting. I rule this a NOTHING REALLY CHANGED LOSER! (not as a bad as a straight up loser. Like a 3 out of 5 star thing)

Oh, the shuffle got some new colors. (exciting, huh?)

iTunes 8

If there’s one thing I was severely disappointed by from this announcement, it has to be iTunes 8. For one thing, it should not have been iTunes 8. To me, this looks more like a needed upgrade to iTunes 7. Sure it’s got the Genius feature, a new visualizer, and a new album art viewing option, nothing else is really new. No new UI changes, no new icon, no memory management fixes (we all know how much freakin’ memory iTunes hogs), and no new (whatever else you can think of). I mean c’mon, you could’ve added a new icon color! I was expecting some UI tweeks, but Apple gave us almost nothing with none. I think the Genius feature is nice on your iPod, but I’ll leave Pandora to choosing the songs I like while I’m at home (well, that is if it holds up). I was also hoping for a new music management feature: the ability for iTunes to detect new music files that has been added to your music folder. I also would’ve liked to see some better memory management which should have been on the top of Apple’s To-do list for iTunes. Overall, not too happy.

Except for one thing: NBC. FINALLY IT’S BACK! Ughhh! How much I missed my Monk, the Office, Psych, and more… Comes in both SD ($1.99) and HD ($2.99) flavors (yum!)

Remember, that’s MY opinion, I’m sure many of you thought that the new features were fine and that’s cool to.

What Apple Needs to Do Next

When the iPod was announced 6-7 years ago, the scroll wheel had to be one of the newest and greatest features of the time. Since then, it has evolved into the click wheel. While at first it was innovating and easy to use, as Gizmodo shows us, it’s not that fun anymore. Take a look at the menu comparisons:

(property of Gizmodo/Gawker Media)

Yeah, your thumbs hurt in no time. Though they have the iPod touch, which has no quick wheel and an extremely easy and fun to use interface, what about the rest of the line? Sure, the new center button thing is an improvement, but I think it’s time to reinvent the iPod, for the iPod’s sake. While this is no small task, I am hoping that the new iPods have many new and intuitive features for input. I think the accelerometer in the new iPod nano is a definite sign that something is going to come in the future. I can’t even dream of what Apple might come up with, maybe the iPod brain? A new iPod which sticks into your ear and analyzes your moods to find you the perfect song. Probably not, but still, Apple needs to give people another reason to use their PMP devices.

Apple needs to reinvent the iPod.

Nah, actually we’re just gonna show you how to speed up Windows Explorer. On a PC, especially in Vista, you might notice a slight HUGE lag when you open up Windows Explorer. You know it’s not your computer since you put in a bunch of memory, upgraded the hard drive, put in a new graphics card, etc. But Explorer is still freakin’ slow! Here are a couple of tricks to help ya out:

Set the priority:

1. Open up your Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Escape or Ctrl+Alt+Delete)
2. Click “Processes” and find “explorer.exe”
3. Right click “explorer.exe” and scroll down to “Set Priority”
4. You’re going to be presented with many options. I would not choose “Real Time” since it will make other processes slow. For example, if I was listening to a rockin’ song on iTunes and then opened my Music folder, the song would start to lag (although, just for the amount of time it took the window to load). So, as you can see, your PC will push other processes out of the way in order to speed up Explorer.
   

Disable Network Folders and Printers search (Windows XP and lower):

1. Every time you open Windows Explorer, it will automatically search for shared printers and folders. Chances are, most of the folders you open are probably not going to be on your network so go ahead and open up an Explorer window.
2. Click “Tools” then “Folder Options”
3. Click on the “View” tab and find “Automatically search for network folders and printers”. Uncheck the box.
4. Reboot.

Disable the “Thumbnails” View:

1. This little “trick” is very useful for your Pictures folder.
2. In Vista, open a folder and click the “View” tab. Now, scroll down to the “Small Icons” or “List” options. Details will also work, but Vista has to search through each file to find out the information for each tab.
3. In XP, click “View” and choose the “Small Icons” or “List” options.
4. Another tip: Click your “File Options” button. Now, click “View” and find the option that says “Display File Icon as Thumbnail”. Uncheck it. I’m not sure if this is an option in XP, but why not give it a try.
5. You are going to have to repeat this to multiple folders as this setting will only be applied to the one folder you’re in.

I’m sure there are a plethora of ways to speed up Windows Explorer, but these seem to work very well for me. If you have heard of any other tricks, why not tell me in the comments?

The only thing more annoying than having to march with a huge base drum for two weeks straight has to be lookin’ at those user folders (Music, Videos, Documents, etc) when they are missing their icons. You know, they’re replaced with an ugly, regular folder icon (eww). When you look at all of your user folders, it looks pretty ugly with only one icon being beige while the rest have cool green folders with pictures in ‘em. Chances are, you probably erased the “desktop.ini” file in the folder (it’s hidden). You probably didn’t do it yourself, but I bet you have a program that did.  I’ve seen many ways which highlight different ways to fix this problem. I find this way the easiest. Here’s how it’s done:

There are two options (I recommend option 2):

Option 1: No Downloading Required

1. The easiest way to replace your icon without installing anything would have to be by turning on the Guest user account . You can do that by going to the Control Panel, then click the User Accounts button (assuming you have it in classic view) and then going to manage another account. I’m going to do this because it has a nice ‘n’ fresh desktop.ini waiting in all of it’s user folders. I’m not talking about picking gum off from under a desk fresh. I’m talking about a fresh bottle of Coke coming out of the fridge after a nice long day fresh.
2. After turning it on, switch to the Guest account. You can either log out of your account or “switch user”. It doesn’t really matter.
3. It will take a long time to set up the account. Just be patient, it only takes 3 minutes.
4. After doing that, you need to log back out of the account.
5. Go back into your account.
6. Go to Computer then Local Disk (C:) (or wherever your root files are) then Users then Guest.

Option 2: Download the User Folders

1. I’ve uploaded the user files onto our server. Here’s the download.

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1. Now, copy the folder you need to replace (in my case, it was the Music folder).
2. Paste it in your own user account folder.
3. Click “Yes” after it asks you to merge the folders.
   
4. Then, when it says would you like to rewrite desktop.ini, click “Yes”.
5. Your finished!