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-UE
The computer/OS/interface/webpage annoyances thread
Filed under Webspace because kinda relevant, though not all web-related.
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http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-thumbnail-previews-in-windows-vista-explorer/
THANK YOU! Now I can finally deal with far less Thumbs.db in my life!
That said, y'know how Windows Media Player likes to create AlbumArt and Folder image files for your music?
They say you can turn this off in the WMP settings. By disabling "retrieve additional information from the internet".
I have it disabled. Problem is WMP is STILL creating them. That's partly because the MP3s in question have album art embedded within them. I'm okay with that; what I'm not okay with is WMP creating two more copies of that album art and clogging up all my folders with it.
That's one big reason I don't use WMP. (Among others.)
Comments
While Nvidia Optimus is nice, it can be a pain in the ass sometimes to get things working right.
So Skype recently auto-updated itself.
I realized this because it started automatically with Windoze. I remember specifically telling programs like Skype NOT to do that.
Turns out it also enabled random strangers to call me, and turned emoticons pictures back on.
Steam appears to have had me try out a beta client recently.
I never agreed to try out any Steam client beta. But Steam oddly downloaded a hundred megs of something a few days ago, when starting, and then there was odd stuff like strangely large text in parts of my chat convos.
Then I closed Steam once and it thanked me for participating in the beta.
Just now Steam started up with another unique installation dialog box first.
I'm fairly certain that was a bug. Everyone got it when it updated.
It seems to be back to normal now.
So my dad's e-mail just got compromised.
Someone got in without changing the password, apparently. This is according to GMail's saying when the password was last changed if you type in the wrong password.
But this is why the full basic e-mail header should be displayed. And all e-mail addresses, displayed by address, NOT NICKNAME.
Because if I saw johnsmith@gmail.com as sender, and saw a reply-to called johnsmith@ymail.com, I would know immediately that it's a scammer. (Well apart from the "I'm stuck in another country please send money immediately".)
But simply saying that mail is from "John Smith" makes it less obvious.
Also, displaying full e-mail addresses instead of nicknames would prevent my mom from confusing my multiple e-mail addresses.
ajax.googleapis.com was taking forever to load and slowed down a few websites, so I just adblocked it. Will I be okay? (using Firefox on Ubuntu, btw)
^^ You've got me thinking now.
Showing all the email addresses by default doesn't seem like the best idea, because it would be the kind of thing that people quickly deem superfluous and glance past without reading. But maybe it could be hidden behind a "more" button, with the pulldown opened by default if something seems out of whack (like the reply-to address being different.)
I agree they should at least show the email address alongside the nickname, though. In the past I've sent emails to the account my boyfriend never uses because it comes alphabetically before the one he does use, without realizing it because it just says his first name once I click "send".
So last night I had yet another non-user-initiated (is there a better word for this?) instance of Internet Explorer starting up, all by itself. Happened at 22:15 local time I think.
And just now, I opened my Firefox browser. Was at my homepage (my school's class websites page), and then went here to IJBM. For some reason, a site called www.superfish.com tried to set cookies a couple times, as I left. Couldn't get that to happen again by either going back to my school's website or IJBM.
A quick web search suggests it's something that's messing with my browser. HijackThis turns up nothing, though, and I just did a Malwarebytes scan a few days ago.
Edit: Closing and reopening Firefox, and trying it again, does not repeat that instance. Let's see if it happens the next time I restart the computer, or the next day.
Edit: Just happened again when I opened a new tab.
I found the culprit that was causing superfish.
It's a Firefox add-on I have called IE View. I presume that it auto-updated and the newest version includes a feature called "WizeShoppy", which you can opt out of in the IE View settings (you are opted-in by default). WizeShoppy seems to be some sort of price comparison scripting from the website SuperFish.com.
There appears to be an alternative to IE View, called IE View Lite, which claims to have the same features but do it more efficiently. I might try this now.
I feel a little bad about doing this because the developer might have signed Superfish on in order to make a bit more money out off of the add-on, though that does not negate my distaste for software that installs itself without my permission onto my computer.
Sounds like the problem here was a little...superfishal.
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I didn't realize it at the time but that pun goes perfectly with my avatar, too
OH MY GOSH
I UNZIPPED A FOLDER OF MP3S FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES
AND NOW WINDOWS INSISTS ON ADDING LIKE FOURTEEN FILES OF ALBUM ART TO THE FOLDER
I DELETE IT AND IT REGENERATES
time to kill some desktop.ini i hope that works
it's still not working
IT'S NOT DYING
I may have to abandon my entire Libraries system. It was stupid anyway. This wasn't the only problem; it also had this weird issue where it tries to include multiple folders but...
...wait lemme try telling it to optimize for general items...no, fail.
I used to think that I could avoid having those files generated by simply not using Windows Media Player, but the problem is that Windows Explorer makes them just for the thumbnail previews. Which, I guess, means I'm stuck with them for all eternity unless I find reason enough to actually start using a third-party file manager on my Windows machines.
I usually can get away with deleting them and it won't re-generate them.
But this time it's different for some reason.
How do I change start menu Documents, Music, and Pictures to point to single folders rather than libraries
and how do I scrap the whole Libraries section in the navigation pane in Windows Explorer/file manager windows and insert my own replacement for it
Okay so I copied the files to a subfolder of a different folder. It's not downloading art.
I just copied all the non-folder files in my music folder over to that new folder as well. Still not downloading art. Still good.
Next up to try is what happens when I put that new folder into my music library category.
See the other issue with the Music category in the libraries is that there's actually a Music category in the Libraries folder, and then you put your Music folder in the Music category.
I remember it took a while for me to get it to stop showing the "Music" (folder name) in the Music category view. That thing itself took up a bunch of space, which is annoying since I actually use file manager as my music organizer (because tags are unreliable as hell and I use my own tagging rules anyway).
I'd love to junk the Libraries system if only I could find out an easy way to get to my Documents, Music, and Pictures folder in the absence of it.
SERIOUSLY, OPERATING SYSTEM
CAN YOU PLEASE NOT TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF THE FILES AND OPTIMIZE FOR ANYTHING
JUST
DON'T FUCKING TOUCH THE FILES
LEAVE THEM ALONE
ASSUME THEY'RE ALL NAMED FILE1234567.UNKNOWNEXTENSION
If you don't want to use the libraries, browse to your root user directory and drag the actual folders into the Favorites category in the sidebar. I don't know how safe it is to delete the built-in libraries from the system, but at least you don't have to use them this way...
Can I replace the "Documents", "Music", and "Pictures" in my Start Menu with these actual folders as well?
(checks his own Start Menu) ...doesn't look like it.
However, if you right-click on the taskbar and select Properties > Start Menu > Customize, then set the personal folder to 'Display as a menu' and Documents, etc to 'Don't display this item'...
http://superuser.com/questions/89030/in-windows-7-how-do-i-make-the-start-menu-documents-pictures-music-videos-go <-- this might be a way to do it...though I haven't tested it yet
I win. Finally.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/92587-start-menu-user-folder-buttons-open-users-instead-libraries.html
Turned the libraries into folder links.
The only way Windows 7 doesn't automatically load the album art is if you DON'T add your music folder to the music library. The method above circumvents having to use the library, but retains functional utility to the space on the right pane of the Start Menu.
Bonus find: Wanna customize the Places bar (the one that has clickable stuff when you need to open or save files)? Use the Local Group Policy Editor.
http://mscerts.programming4.us/windows/windows 7 customizing the places bar.aspx
Run Windows 7 Home Premium? There is no gpedit.msc. You're boned. Try this instead:
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-enable-group-policy-editor-gpedit-msc-in-windows-7-home-premium-home-basic-and-starter-editions/
NOTE: I have not yet tried this. I cannot verify whether it works.
I'd like to make a dishonorable mention for any program (on a desktop, not a mobile device) that doesn't have a "File -> Exit" menu option, a "Quit" toolbar icon, or something to that effect. Basically, anything where the only way to quit is to close the window.
It plays into this annoying idea of equating "closing a window" with "exiting a program".
I recently realized that X-Chat/Hexchat kinda plays into this assumption, but more subtly.
If you close the last tab associated with a connection to a particular IRC network, you quit from that network. However, there is no specific tab closing which will quit you.
IE started by itself again, at 18:31 local time (EDT) today.
Unfortunately it happens very rarely and that makes it hard to track.
I know how to add additional libraries (or at least I used to. I have both a "Games" library, with a custom icon and everything, and an "Apps" library, which was installed when I got BlueStacks) but I'm not sure about removing them.
I can't check right now because I'm on the Mac, but IIRC you can just right-click > Delete a library and you won't lose any files.
Sometimes Opera crashes when I try to upload a file to Soundcloud.
it's really strange and annoying. Especially since I have Opera set to clear my cookies on a logout, meaning I have to log back in to all my sites when it closes.
edit: I also still keep having this extra space problem when I post here. Happens on tumblr too.