Category Archives: Software

Allow or disallow Flash for certain websites in Firefox

In order to allow or disallow third party plugins for certain websites in Firefox you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the desired website and right-click on the window, this should display the following promptFirefox - View Page Info
  2. Select ‘View Page Info’ then click the Permissions tab, this will display the window below, here you can toggle a plugin for each website, for instance disable Flash browser wide but enable it to be used in Spotify.Firefox - Page Permissions

Nokia 5230 codes

There are a number of “secret” codes that can be entered on Symbian phones in particular the Nokia 5230, if your phone asks for the unlock code at any point the default value is 12345.

*#0000#Software/Firmware Version
Shows your software and firmware version, including information such as Software version, Software version date, Custom version, Custom version date, Language set, Model, Type and Latest update
*#06#IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) Number
Shows your IMEI number, each mobile phones number is unique
*#7780#Soft Reset Code
Restores the default factory settings without affecting your contacts, messages, files, etc
*#7370#Hard Reset Code
Will erase all data, including contacts, messages, files, etc. on the phone returning it back to its default factory settings. It is best practice to backup your settings and removing your memory card before using this option
*#2820#Bluetooth Device Address
Shows the devices Bluetooth device address for manually connecting to a Bluetooth device (Note that Bluetooth must be turned on before entering this code)
*#92702689#Life Timer
Shows the total outgoing call minutes since the last hard reset.

How to load the web page instead of the RSS feed summary in Thunderbird 3

Mozilla has released Thunderbird 3.0, their email and news client, but after upgrading from Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 I found that my RSS feeds were no longer displaying the linked web page when viewing them, instead they were displaying the article summary.

There are two different settings controlling this functionality, the first can be found by entering ‘Manage Subscriptions’ and editing the individual feed. There is a tick box called ‘Show the article summary instead of loading the web page’, to load the web page, make sure this is unticked.

The second setting can be found by viewing the feed and then on the main menu navigate to ‘View > Feed Message Body As’ and selecting ‘Default Format’.

Xfire shortcut keys

Xfire, the popular instant messaging service targeted at gamers, has various shortcut keys, for reference I’ve listed the default values below:

Scroll Lock + XXfire In-Game
Scroll Lock + EEdit Mode
Scroll Lock + CChat Window
Scroll Lock + WWeb Browser
Scroll Lock + SScreenshot
Scroll Lock + TVoice Chat

You can modify the default shortcut keys by opening the Options window under Tools on the main Xfire window and then selecting the Chat tab.

Xfire Shortcut Keys

Default Microsoft Outlook PST location

When email is downloaded by Microsoft Outlook (external link) it is stored locally in a special file format with the extension PST, the default location of your PST file varies by which version of Microsoft Windows you have installed.

For Windows 2000/XP (external link) the default location is:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user_id>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

For Windows Vista (external link) the default location is:

C:\Users\<user_id>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

This is because Microsoft changed the LOCALAPPDATA location when they created Vista, yours can be found by opening a Command Prompt window (Run > cmd.exe) and then running set.exe, this will display a list of special strings that have been setup for your current login. If you search through them you should find the LOCALAPPDATA string, this is then used to build the default location by adding MicrosoftOutlook onto the end.

Chromifying Firefox

Or how I learned to stop worrying and make Firefox look like Chrome.

When Google Chrome was released it suddenly dawned on me that Firefox did not blend very well with Windows Vista. The main problem is the complete lack of transparency which when comparing Firefox with the standard Vista dialogs was an obvious difference. As with most things Firefox this problem has been solved by an add-on called Glasser (external link). This is currently an experimental add-on so you will need to create a Mozilla login before you can download it, but I have been using it successfully for weeks now with no stability problems. It does cause some issues with the menubar but these can be solved by installing another add-on called Personal Menu (external link), this hides the menubar and moves it elsewhere onto the browser window.