My Quick Fix

Problem
I need to send a mate a link to an item on eBay after breaking his strimmer. The nice people at eBay have reworked their URL structure recently to improve SEO, so a link to a single item now looks something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Medium-duty-bump-head-for-Kawasaki-brushcutter-strimmer_W0QQitemZ190302614007QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA?hash=item2c4eeb71f7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1686|293:1|294:50
..which is not exactly Twitter, Live Messenger or email friendly. Long URLs break often in email and instant messengers when they ‘wrap’ at the end of a line (like the above is doing).
Solution
Here’s the old style linking system that still works: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190302614007
So you can use that structure for a …

Problem
A colleague was having trouble getting a DVD imported to Adobe Premier for some overlay edits etc and asked me to take a look.
Solution
VOB files are MPEG-2 files with a different coat on. Rename the .vob file to .mpg and it should work. This also works in Sony Vegas and probably other software. No idea how copy-protection on some disks might effect this?
That really WAS a quickfix and probably not worth posting. If you have any questions, thoughts or corrections please post a comment below.

Problem
While doing web development, I frequently need to insert lorem ipsum into a text field or textarea. To do this – bearing in mind that I don’t really like or use bookmarks, too messy – I tend to google “lorem ipsum”, hit lipsum.com, select/copy the block of text, and then return to my form field and paste it.
I wanted a quicker solution, and as I find myself using IE more and more to develop in now (thanks to the excellent ‘Developer Tools’ extension – never thought I’d say that!) my lorem …

Problem
Yesterday I found out how to run Chrome in ‘Incognito Mode’ from a shortcut. However, now I have two identical ‘Chrome’ Icons in my Quicklaunch bar, and need a way to distinguish them.
Which ones the incognito link? New icon needed!
Problem
Solution
Make a modified Chrome icon! Here’s the one I made:
If you want THIS cheesy icon, click on the image to download it.
Using the Icon: Once you have another icon to use [or you have downloaded my one by clicking on the image above], here’s how to use it:

Save the .ico file …

Problem
I use Google Chrome’s Incognito window mode regularly to view multiple Google Analytics accounts at the same time on one PC. It’s very useful – it means I don’t have to keep signing in and out of my primary google account – but what annoyed me each time was having to open chrome, then open a new ‘incognito’ window from there, which leaves the old ‘normal’ window open in the background.
Solution
Since Chrome came out of beta, the ‘??incognito’ command line switch has been available.
So, to get this switch working with …

Problem
You can’t subscribe to any Podcasts in iTunes music store because the the buttons are greyed out. An example is shown below:
Greyed subscribe button
Solution
This happens when the ‘Podcasts’ item is not enabled in the iTunes library. To enable it, follow these steps:

Open the iTunes Preferences. To do this, either press ‘Ctrl+,’ (that’s the control key, and the comma key at the same time); or Go to ‘Edit’ in the top menu, and then ‘Preferences’.
Select the ‘General’ tab, usually on the left most.
Tick the ‘Podcasts’ item in the ‘Show:’ options list …

Problem
For a long time, MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger have been able to display what is currently being played on Windows Media Player. It gets displayed next to your ‘Display Name’. If you use iTunes, what you’re playing can also be displayed in the same way.
Solution
Firstly, open iTunes and go to the Preferences window. You can do this 2 ways:

Press ‘Ctrl+,’ (that’s the control key, and the comma key at the same time).
Go to ‘Edit’ in the top menu, and then ‘Preferences’.

…then click on the ‘Advanced’ tab, usually on …

Problem
Recently I bought an Apex single from iTunes. Excellent though the tracks are (They really rock, honestly, if you like D&B, have a listen!), they both have about 5 seconds of blank ‘emptiness’ at the beginning. This is quite annoying when cueing them for an impromptu mix, or when they are part of a playlist.
Solution
I found this by accident, while looking for a solution. If you right click on the track in iTunes, then select the ‘Options’ track, you should see an option labelled ‘Start Time’. This is the time …

Problem
Moving to IMAP from POP can be a pain, and my biggest ‘gripe’ with it is the way that items need to be’Deleted’ AND’Purged’ when you’re trying to get rid of them. When an email is highlighted and the delete icon, context menu item, or keyboard key is pressed, all that happens is the message is flagged for deletion, and appears struck-through. To get rid of it fully, you need to go to the ‘Edit’ menu, and select the ‘Purge Deleted Messages’ item.
Solution
Well this isn’t a fix really, managing IMAP …

Problem
This one crops up every-so-often, and a colleague just asked me again, so it’s probably worth posting. When an FLV is loaded into a Flash app, the FLV file is ‘played’ when the SWF or Projector is run. When this is done locally – i.e. you run an SWF from your hard drive, or file server – it’ll work fine. The problem comes when you upload it to your IIS web server. The server probably won’t recognise the ‘.flv’ filetype, so it’ll display nothing.
Solution
To make your IIS 6 web server …