Hi folks, for those who tried to sign up with Google checkout and got this error:

Postal code contains invalid formatting

Here’s the work around. Sign-up as usual but leave the postal code blank, then click submit. Edit your profile later (this will lead you to another interface without the erring javascript check) and put in the correct postal code. Fixed! Hope this helps ^_^

MS did a good job of integrating the finger print reader (software) for ASUS F8SG, well I guess it was too good because after it was installed on my laptop, I had no idea initially how to use it (or enable it). I didn’t realize some of you would bump on to the same problem so here’s how to enable the finger print reader to login to Windows 7:

1. Click on the Windows Start Icon (which is now a rounded button) and type in “windows login” without the quotes.

2. Choose Use your fingerprint with Windows.

3. You’ll be prompted for a password to enroll your finger prints on the Authentec TruSuite software.

4. Click on a finger and swipe it 3 times. This will register your chosen finger for the finger print reader.

5. When you are done, you should see a green mark on the registered fingers.

You can opt to register all your fingers or just a few, I chose two fingers on my right hand since I’m right handed.

Now close the authentec software and press the switch user shortcut (Window Key + L). If you don’t see the prompt for the finger print reader click on the Other Credentials button just underneath the password field.

Once you see a big icon with a finger print on it, swipe your registered finger and it should log you in. Hope this helps ^_^

For some of you guys who are wondering where the Java .jar files are kept in your Windows Mobile 6.0 smart phone, its at:

\\windows\appdb

My phone’s a daxian x999+ with esmertec java preinstalled. Take note, the java files are renamed after its installed in the device.

Notice that I’m using Total Commander as Windows Explorer won’t show the extensions by default. I’m not sure if this would help out anyone, but it took me almost an hour to figure out where the java files were. Hope this helps ^_^

Took a bit of time looking for java games that works with touch screen only SmartPhones (no keypads).  Here’s a couple that I keep on my daxian x999+.

Abracadaball
Chessmaster
Megacity Empire New York
Might and Magic II
Millionaire 4th Edition
Petz
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party
SimCity Metropolis

You may need the latest version of Java on your windows mobile to make sure all these games run with no issues. I currently have Esmertec Jbed version 20080428.2.1. Hope this helps ^_^

If you are looking for a Java update to your windows mobile smart phone, you are in for a treat, gc14 of xda-developers.com just released Esmertec Jbed version 20080428.2.1.

You can download Esmertec Jbed version 20080428.2.1 from here.

With the new java update, I’m now able to play some of my touch screen only java games with audio on without crashing. For details about this file. Please visit this thread at xda-developers.com. Hope this helps ^_^

There are just days when your computer comes to a crawl and you have no idea what’s going on. Actually, you can take a peek and see which of your application is eating up a lot of memory and CPU usage.

To do this press CTRL + ALT + DELETE in sequence make sure you don’t release any of the key until you see this window pop out:

You’ll see the Windows Task Manager, from this application you can actually do a lot:

1. Kill applications that hang-up or is just eating too much CPU cycle.
2. See how much CPU cycle is your system eating, if it reaches 100% expect your system to be rather hot.
3. See how much memory an application is using.
4. View a graphical representation of your CPU and network activity.
5. See users that are logged on (only true when you have a couple of profiles in your computer).
6. Shutdown, reboot or log-off from your computer.
7. View all the running applications on your profile and other profiles (if its currently logged on and you have switched to the current profile).

Its pretty handy actually and its something I use on a daily basis. To view how much CPU cycle is an application using click on the Process tab and then click on the CPU column twice until you see the high numbers of the CPU column at the top.

For this demonstration what you see on my system is that 98% of the CPU is idle and 2% is being used by firefox. exe (which is actually the Firefox browser). There’s a catch to this though, you need to know the exact Image Name of the application that you are looking for (the actual executable).

Actual image names don’t always match to the application’s title, like the World of Warcraft game, the actual image name that shows up on Windows Task Manager is wow.exe. ^_^

If you share your computer at your house and sometimes just sometimes, your brother barges in and begs to log-in to his profile to check his mail for just 5 minutes and you are in the middle of your work with about 27 programs open.

What do you do? Easy you just click on the Start button hit Log Off, then click on the Switch User button.

Now that is if you have fast switching enabled (which is by the way enabled by default). Now what if when you click the Log Off button and instead of seeing the option above you see this.

Click Log Off and you lose all your work, not a very good idea. This also means one thing. Fast user switching has been disabled. A program can disable it or somebody with administrative rights has disabled it, but regardless of reason  you need to enable it so that you don’t have to close all your applications just to open another profile.

To enable fast user switching:

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.

2. Look for an icon named User Accounts and open the application.

3. On the User Accounts window click on the Change the way users log on or off link.

4. On the next window make sure both of these options are checked. Use the Welcome screen and Use Fast User Switching.

5. Click apply and you are done. When you click on the Log Off button again you should see the Switch User button.

Oh and a tip, by using shortcut keys you can instantaneously switch to the Welcome screen. To do this press the Window key and the letter L simultaneously (make sure that you press the window key first).

Almost immediately you will be switched to the Welcome screen. One last note, if you are a bit short on memory (say your system only has 512 MB which kinda sucks), switching back and forth between profiles may take a long time. Even if it were me though, I’d rather switch slow than have to start all over again after I log off my profile. ^_^

Need to share your computer? Make sure you only have access to your own account. For everyone else, let them use the Guest user account.

What’s a guest account if you may ask. Its an existing (dormant) account on Windows XP that only has very limited user privileges. Anyone using the Guest account can do everything else except install/uninstall programs, delete files (not unless it was created from the Guest account) and change system settings.

Basically anything that administrators can do are disabled in the Guest user account. This however is disabled by default. To enable the Guest user account.

1. Go to the Windows XP Control Panel.

2. Look for the User Accounts icon and open it.

3. You should see the User Accounts window. Click on the Guest icon.

4. You’ll be asked if you want to turn on the guest user account. Click on the Turn On the Guest Account button and you are done.

5. Once it has been enabled, you can click the same icon again to either change the picture (icon) of the guest account or disable it.

Take note though that you can’t set a password for the guest account so practically anyone can use the account once its enabled. Oh, I almost forgot even though guest users can’t do anything to your system, they may still be able to view some of your personal documents if you haven’t set it to private. ^_^

This is a guide to show how you can change your Mouse Pointer Speed in Windows XP. Some people want their mouse pointer fast (specially gamers) others like it slow (most of the oldies).

To adjust your mouse pointer speed, do the following:

1. Click on the Start button and click on Control Panel.

2. Once the Control Panel window is open search for the Mouse icon and open the application.

3. This should open the Mouse Properties window. Click on the Pointer Options tab. Under this tab, you should see Motion options at the top. This is where you can change your mouse pointer speed.

4. Drag the indicator to the left if you want the pointer to be slower and to the right for the pointer to be faster. Make sure to test the result by dragging the pointer around the screen every time you change mouse speed to ensure its comfortable for you.

5. In any case though, always check the Enhance pointer precision option. This makes the pointer motion a bit more accurate. After you are satisfied with the mouse pointer’s feel, click OK and you are done.

Just a note, not all mice have the same sensitivity and resolution. Mouse resolutions today can vary from 800 DPI to as much as 2600 DPI. Which means, you may need to make adjustments every time you change your mouse. ^_^

Here’s a recommended hardware monitor for your laptop or desktop. CPUID Hardware Monitor. I use this when I need to monitor my laptop’s temperature when I’m playing games or just look it up when I’m running CPU intensive applications.

This software reads PC systems main health sensors for voltage, temperature and fan speed. The program handles the most common sensor chips, like ITE (r) IT87 series, most Winbond (r) ICs, and others.

In addition, it can read modern CPUs on-die core thermal sensors, as well as hard drives temperature via S.M.A.R.T, and video card GPU temperature. You can download CPUID Hardware Monitor here. More info on the software at the CPUID website.