Problem opening an image with alpha transparent channel

There might be situations that you might be opening up a png file that was created by someone else and you have to edit it. So here's the question, how can you workaround the problem?

You have a png like the above.

Outcome when you open it using Photoshop. There's a strange black border around the image.

So here's a workaround for it. First click here to open up 'Photo editor online - Pixlr.com'. Reopen and save the image as a new file.

This would be the new file that I have created using "Pixlr.com".

Now, when you open it using Photoshop, you won't be getting anymore unnecessary black color border. :D Case closed. Happy Days...

* Click here for the official website of 'Pixlr.com'.

Devices in the same network...

Well, though you might not be doing this frequently, but there might be instance where you might need to scan through the whole network looking for the IP Address of a particular device.

I have tried entering the command 'arp -a' in command prompt, but the results ain't as good as the following...

(Logo taken from 'SoftPerfect Research' website.) 'SoftPerfect Network Scanner' As compared to the command 'arp -a', this produces a much more detail results and though there's the troublesome step that requires you to enter the range of ip that you are scanning, but the results are far more cleaner and better than the 'arp -a' command. :)

Screengrabs of the software 'SoftPerfect Network Scanner'

* Click here to download the software 'SoftPerfect Network Scanner'.
^ Click here to find out more about 'SoftPerfect'.

Managing plugin detection on IE11

If you have been creating and managing various type of contents online, you might want to take note of the change on IE11. It seems that in order to make the life of the developers much more easier, IE11 now supports the javascript code "navigator.plugins". However, it seems that this doesn't really return the desired outcome. I have run the script on IE11 and it only returns 'Microsoft Silverlight', whereby my Chrome and Firefox has much more results. (Ex: Flash, Quicktime, etc...) Therefore if you are detecting browser plugins, you should still check for ActiveXObject first followed by "navigator.plugins". But looking on the bright side, seems that Microsoft is trying to make everyone's life much more easier which is a (+). However, it looks like they have to spend a bit more time improving it.

* Click here to check the results of "navigator.plugins" on your browser.
^ Click here for the changes that Internet Explorer 11 has.

Renaming your recursive files and folder using a batch file.

Initially I was using a 3rd party software to do all the renaming work. But as I proceed, I ended up searching high and low for a method using a batch file (*.bat) to do all the tedious work. Therefore, after playing and modifying the code, I have ended up with this.

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
REM for renaming of recursive folders, sub folders
for /d /r %%f in (*.*) do (
set fn=%%~nxf

REM replace all the . with __ in the folder names (excludes extensions)
if not [!fn!]==[] ( 
if not ["%%~nxf"]==["!fn:.=__!"] ( 
echo ren "%%~f" "!fn:.=__!" 
ren "%%~f" "!fn:.=__!" 
)
)
REM replace all the -interface with nothing in the folder names
REM (excludes extensions) add a I in front of the folder name
if not [!fn!]==[] ( 
if not ["%%~nxf"]==["!fn:-interface=!"] ( 
echo ren "%%~f" "I!fn:-interface=!" 
ren "%%~f" "I!fn:-interface=!" 
)
)
)

REM for renaming of recursive files
for /r %%f in (*.*) do (
set fn=%%~nf

REM replace all the - with __ in the file names (excludes extensions)
if not [!fn!]==[] ( 
if not ["%%~nxf"]==["!fn:-=__!%%~xf"] ( 
echo ren "%%~f" "!fn:-=__!%%~xf" 
ren "%%~f" "!fn:-=__!%%~xf" 
)
)
REM replace all the -interface with nothing in the file names
REM (excludes extensions) add a I in front of the file name
if not [!fn!]==[] ( 
if not ["%%~nxf"]==["!fn:-interface=!%%~xf"] ( 
echo ren "%%~f" "I!fn:-interface=!%%~xf" 
ren "%%~f" "I!fn:-interface=!%%~xf" 
)
)
)
pause

* Click here to download the batch file that I have listed in this posted.
^ Click here to find out more about batch files in Windows.
~ Click here to find out the difference between %% and !! in a batch file.

Windows: Create a automated action...

Not all software out there allows you to save a series of commands/actions and allows you to run them again without the need of opening the software. Even if it can allow you to do that using command prompt, not all the functionalities will not be provided to you. Luckily there are software like...

'AutoHotkey' You can script the actions that you would like to perform in a particular software. On top of that, you can generate the script into a normal windows executable(.exe) file that allows you to share it with normal Windows User. However, I knew that there are numerous software out there that can provide you with a GUI interface and record all the necessary steps that you would like to perform over and over again. Ex: winautomation, Do It Again, RoboTask, etc... But most of them requires a license, and since I'm performing a easy task, therefore I would rather spend a bit of time scripting the actions rather than paying for a license.

* Click here to find out more about 'AutoHotkey'.

Kaomoji

Have you used the Japanese Kaomoji(face characters) before? Do you like it? However, if you are going to copy and paste each and every one of them, that's going to be pretty troublesome. But, if you have a Windows PC, you can actually configure it and it is definitely much more faster than the usual Copy and Pasting method. (You can also apply it to a Mac PC, but I don't own one now.)

1) First of all, you will have to download the file over here.

2) You will have to change to the 「Microsoft Japanese IME」 keyboard.

3) Click on the triangular button, follow by the step of clicking on the 「Show the Language bar」 button.

4) After that, click on the 「Tools」 button, follow by the step of clicking on the「Dictionary Tool」 button.

5) This will open up the 「Microsoft IME Dictionary Tool」 software.

6) Click on the 「Tool」 button, follow by the step of clicking on the 「Import from Text File...」 button.

7) Select the file,「kaomoji.txt」, that you have downloaded earlier.

8) Click on the 「Exit」 button, after all the data have been imported successfully.

Congratulations!!! You have imported all the data successfully. From today onwards, while typing the Japanese characters 「いい」(Good) using the 「Microsoft Japanese IME」 keyboard, all sorts of Japanese Kaomoji(face characters) options will be given to you too. Isn't that great? :D

Beyond Notepad

Since I have been doing a lot of multitasking at my workplace every now and then, therefore opening 10 different notepad applications isn't going to help much. Luckily, there are several options out there that allow us to open multiple text files at 1 go. (I, myself have tried 'TextMate'(Mac), 'e-TextEditor'(Windows), 'Notepad++'(Windows), etc...)

Image taken from 'Notepad++'. As for now, I think 'Notepad++' itself is strong enough to replace your default 'Notepad' application in Windows. Not only the performance of the application is very good, it also allows you to open/edit/search through multiple files at one go. On top of that, it's free and it also supports formatting for some of the much more common programming languages(HTML, XML, Javascript, etc...). (However, it would be great if I can also perform a Alt-Tab between the documents opened using 'Notepad++'. :P)

* Click here to find out more about 'Notepad++'.

One of Windows OS missing component - Rename Multiple Filenames

Sometimes renaming a list of files can be pretty annoying and it gets more and more frustrating when there are a lot of files. And this can be pretty disturbing to the type of people that prefer to rename their filename with something meaningful. Therefore you can consider the following softwares.

• A.F.5
  
  • I'm using this in the office. Basically, the interface of this software is pretty simple and although it doesn't come with a lot of features, but it is already more than enough.
• Bulk Rename Utility
  
  • As I was browsing through blogs, discussion boards, etc, this seems to be one of the hottest alternative. It can even support filename replacement using Regular Expressions. However, the interface looks kinda squeezy to me. =.=

Creating a custom Service

Well, basically if you are using a Windows server or you are doing a lot of development work, you might be running a lot of services locally. (Ex: Apache, WAMP, etc...) Imagine how much time you can save by creating a Service that will start these programs automatically.

Steps for creating a new Windows Service Before moving on any further, you will need to grab hold of these 2 files first. They are instsrv.exe and srvany.exe. Click here to download the files now. Click here to download the original package from Microsoft. (If you are using the package from Microsoft, you will need to extract the files from the package.)

Step 1 - Open up the Windows Start menu, enter cmd into the Search programs and files field, Right-Click on the program cmd.exe and select Run as Administrator.

Step 2 - Enter the following into the Command Prompt window. "{yourPath}\instsrv.exe" {name} "{yourPath}\srvany.exe" Replace {yourPath} with the directory that has the files instsrv.exe and srvany.exe. Replace {name} with the Name of the new Service that you are going to create. And there you go, you have successfully created a new Empty Service.

Step 3 - Open up the Windows Start menu, enter regedit into the Search programs and files field and run the program regedit.exe.

Step 4 - Look for the new Service under the following directory. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\{name} Replace {name} with the Name of the new Service that you have created.

Step 5 - After selecting the new Service that you have created, Right-Click and create a new Key. Rename the new Key as Parameters

Step 6 - Under Parameters add a few new String Value.

Step 7 - Entering some values
Name	Type	Data
Application	REG_SZ	{the full path of your application} Ex: G:\service\run_notepad.bat
AppDirectory	REG_SZ	{the path to your application} Ex: G:\service\

Step 8 - Open up the Windows Start menu, enter services into the Search programs and files field and run the program Services.

Step 9 - Locate and open up the new Service that you have created.

Step 10 - You can set the Startup Type to either Automatic or Automatic (Delayed start). (Automatic will start the Service when Windows boots up. Automatic (Delayed start) will start 2 minutes after the last Automatic Service has been executed.) On top of that, some programs will only run smoothly with a particular user account. That's where the Log On tab comes in. You can specify the User Account Credentials that you are going to use when you run this Service.

Step Remove - To remove a Service, type the following command in Command Prompt window. "{yourPath}\instsrv.exe" {name} REMOVE Replace {yourPath} with the directory that has the file instsrv.exe. Replace {name} with the Name of the Service that you are going to delete. And there you go, you have successfully removed a Service.

Keeping track of all the...

serial numbers of all the applications / softwares that are installed on your PC can be a complete mess. Therefore what if there is a way to grab all the serial numbers of all your applications / softwares at one go, will that make your life easier? Introducing...

'Belarc Advisor'
By installing and running this software, it will create a html web page
in your PC, showing a table of installed softwares and the corresponding
serial numbers. Just imagine how much time you can save by using this...

* Click here to find out more about the software 'Belarc Advisor'.

Saving Private Data

Have you encountered the following situation before? Hard Disk just crashed and you need to retrieve important data from the Hard Disk... Let's face it. No one is prefect and it is impossible for you to make a backup of all your data all the time.

Probably I'm a clumsy user or probably it's my luck. Seems that my Hard Disk drive are getting spoilt pretty easily. Ex: drop my external hard disk once... Game Over..., CPU suddenly... Game Over... etc.
And Hard Disk data retrieval services are super expensive and time consuming.
On top of that... Unreliable... I don't think anyone want to ended up like Hong Kong artiste E*****. Sending a hard disk to unknown personal may caused important data to be leaked.
Ex: you bank info, accounts like Facebook, Gmail, etc.

Hence after experiencing a few instance of facing the issue of Hard Disk Failure, I can conclude that there are some softwares that turn out to be pretty handy in data retrieval.

Image taken from Quetek Consulting Corporation,
which is the company behind File Scavenger

File Scavenger
Simple UI and probably one of the fastest data retrieval software.
If File Scavenger can't detect your Hard Disk, the problem might be
caused by components of the Hard Disk itself.

Image taken from Recover My Files

Recover My Files
Provides a lot of options to the type of Data that you want retrieve
and the data source. The drawback would be ... recommended for
professional users only. I find the UI quite confusing sometimes.

Oh and on top of the softwares listed in the above, you should try the following
steps before moving on to the step of data retrieval.

Try checking the following first:

• Power have been transmitted to the Hard Disk
• Hard Disk doesn't give out a loud 'Tick' sound after a few minutes of seconds

If you have encountered any one of the above, probably one of the components of your Hard Disk is spoilt. (You can try sending it to the respective Hard Disk Manufactures but...)

* Click here for the website of Quetek.
^ Click here for the website of Recover My Files.

Nightmare on File Comparison...

Being a developer, have you ever encountered the problem of making a major change in your files and suddenly the whole program or website was not working at all? If you have been making consistently making backups using a SVN or you have been consistently creating you own build for backups, you can always use the following software to do a file or folder comparison to easily identify or rollback your changes.

Image taken from the website of WinMerge

Although the above application only works on a Windows, it doesn't mean that there isn't similar softwares in a Mac or a Linux. For a Mac, there's always FileMerge and on a Linux, you can always try softwares like Meld.

Biggest similarity between the softwares mentioned in the above - all of them are FREE tools to install and try.
Yes, I am a Cheapo/Cheapskate...... :P

* Click here for the website of WinMerge.
* Click here for the website of Apple Developer Tools, that contains FileMerge as part of
  the toolkit.
* Click here for the website of Meld.

Creating your own Screen Saver is as easy as ABC

Are you getting bored with the default screen savers that comes with your personal computers? Have you heard of an interactive screen saver before? Or a screen saver that works is a game like snake, pac-man, etc? Or ever had a dream of creating or customizing a screen saver yourself? This seems to be a dream but you can now have your dreams fulfilled by using...

The above logo was taken from the website of Screentime Media.
Screentime Media.

So why do are my reasons for recommending Screentime Media?

• Supports OS like Windows and Mac
• Gives you an option of creating a screensaver that can only be closed either by a mouse movement or a keyboard input
• Allows the screensaver to detects for the existence of an internet connection
• Customizable installation settings like preview window, installer window, settings window, etc
• and much much more...

* Click here for the website of Screentime Media.

One of Windows OS missing component - Partitioning Your Hard Disk

Being a Windows user for more than 10 years, I have encounter numerous situations where I have bought a PC or Laptop from a Vendor and there was only one partition in the System. As I have been using Windows XP since a few years ago, I would use 'Partition Magic' to solve all these partition issues. Especially when the default Windows Disk Management Utility was pretty slow and step intensive. (Especially, when a user was required to sit in front of the monitor to wait for the completion of one step before he can move on and select the next step...) As for Partition Magic, an user can create a series of task and let them run at one go. Isn't it useful?

But with the discontinuation of supplying the number of updates to 'Partition Magic' and the uprising of Windows Vista and Windows 7, an user cannot use 'Partition Magic' any more, which is kinda sad. :(

Although, its pretty sad that we cannot use 'Partition Magic' any more, there seems to be some other potential alternatives to 'Partition Magic'.
For Example:

Image taken from Arconis Website
Click the above image or here to access the website of Acronis Disk Manager.

Image taken from Aomei Website
Click the above image or here to access the website of Aomei Partition Assistant.

* Click here to find out more about 'Partition Magic'

One of Windows OS missing component

Being a Windows User for more than 10 years, I always felt that the OS could improve further. Rather than making all the cosmetic changes to the Environment, I would prefer them to add useful utility and components to help the users to increase their productivity.

'TeraCopy' was definitely one of the best components that I would strongly encourage all the Windows User to install. This is because the original Windows Copy and Paste could only provide basic information like how much percentage of the total files had been copied and how long does it take to finish copying all the files. Although these were useful information to a user, but if you are copying files from different folders and an error occurred suddenly, you will need to copy all the files again as the default Windows File Copying System does not provide enough information to tell you what are the files that had been copied. This is a tedious job especially when you are copying a large volume of files.

With the help of 'TeraCopy', one will be provided with all the important information that the default Windows File copying system were lacking. Trust me, try installing the software for a few days and you were never ever want to use the default Windows File copying system again.

Click here to find out more about 'TeraCopy'.