So, as you probably know, Windows Vista HAS REMOTE DESKTOP, it's just hidden away and disabled to make you need to buy an upgraded version like Business or Ultimate.  Isn't that just dandy?  Well screw that!

To enable Remote Desktop in Windows Vista there are only really 3 things you need to do on the Vista computer(s).

1) Run a batch (right click and run as administrator) program that will hack your windows registry and terminal services (termsrv) to enable Windows Remote Desktop... Get one and run the one that matches the name of your OS (ie: premium.bat):

http://fransmayra.fi/2007/08/30/enable-remote-desktop-connection-on-vista-home-premium/ <-- This one worked for me for Vista SP1 and SP2!

http://andrewblock.net/?p=411  <-- This one did not work for me for SP2, using the 1st batch again did (same author, older version... see explanation below).

2) Open Remote Settings from your Right Click on Computer > Properties  window and enable remote access checkbox(es) on the Remote tab

3) Open Windows Firewall advanced settings and add port 3389 (name it "opens remote desktop" or something so you can remember which setting blocks this port if you want to turn it off in the future)

Wa-la!

Connect to your computer now from any other computer on the network by computer name and use it as if you were sitting in front of it.

 WARNING:  Opening ports on your computer all willy-nilly is a security risk.  If you do this, make sure you're using an updated virus scanner!  And, if you're not going to be using Remote Desktop at all, close it / remove the port just to be safe :)

COMMON ISSUE TO LOOK OUT FOR:

If yours does not work, it may be related to Windows Updates in Service Pack 2 (SP2) undoing / overwriting the hacked Terminal Services DLL (termsrv).  After updating windows my RDP would seemingly connect to my other PC, but once I entered the correct user name and password the buttons would go disabled and then just fade back in a couple seconds later - no error message, no warning, no nothing!  I have not found the reason for this but I can say that when I upgraded Windows to SP2 with Windows Update, this is when RDP started doing this and not working.  So, after a MILLION settings changes and troubleshootings, and re-installing Andrew Block's SP2 RDP Hack for Windows Vista, the one thing that finally got it to work was to run this original SP1 terminal services hack (linked above).  So, either running the original terminal services hack works for both SP1 and SP2, or running Andrews SP2 hack followed by the original gets it to work... I'm not 100% sure why or how, but it's definitely working for me now!

PS: If you download the ZIP from Andrew Block's site, it may come with x86 and x64 folders... x86 is 32-bit Windowsm and x64 is 64-bit Windows (if you don't know and you don't have a real beefy power PC, you probably have 32 bit)

Update:  After upgrading my MacBook Pro running Windows Vista Home Premium to SP2, the RDP service stopped working.  I re-ran the original termsrv_sp1.zip premium.bat hack and it's working again just fine.  :)   Thanks to Andrew Block for this god-send of a fix-it file.

Here are common fonts that are considered "web-safe" - meaning they are commonly found on almost all Windows and Mac systems and will be displayed in most web browsers for these operating systems. Sorry Ubuntu, you're still just the random guy in the internet corner.  ;)

Of course, if text is created as an image, font support is not an issue as the font is only needed on the computer that creates the image. Also, in Flash content any font can be "embedded" in the movie so to be supported wherever it is viewed. 

Arial ~ Arial ~ Arial
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Verdana ~ Verdana - Verdana
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Tahoma ~ Tahoma - Tahoma
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Times New Roman ~ Times New Roman - Times New Roman
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Georgia ~ Georgia - Georgia
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Century Gothic ~ Century Gothic - Century Gothic
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Trebuchet MS ~ Trebuchet MS - Trebuchet MS
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Lucida Sans Unicode ~ Lucida Sans Unicode - Lucida Sans Unicode
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Arial Narrow ~ Arial Narrow - Arial Narrow
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Copperplate Gothic Light ~ Copperplate Gothic Light - Copperplate Gothic Light
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Lucida Console ~ Lucida Console - Lucida Console
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Courier New ~ Courier New - Courier New
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Impact ~ impact - impact
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Arial Black ~ Arial Black - Arial Black
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas volutpat velit ut magna porttitor eget suscipit tellus pellentesque. Fusce ac augue sem. Quisque consectetur sagittis quam vel suscipit. Duis ut enim leo. Suspendisse potenti. Etiam dolor justo, lobortis nec imperdiet facilisis, hendrerit vitae eros. Duis vitae suscipit ipsum.

Ah Apple, you jerks!  With all of your smug commercials about how much better your products are than Microsoft, you would think iTunes would be less annoying!  Nope!  Just when you thought you had a workable solution to an annoying problem, Apple goes and makes it even more annoying, all over again.  Doht!  Don't worry, thanks to the rockstar nerds of the world, there will always be new workable solutions.

*This is  a follow up to the previous article  addressing the same problem (1st gen iphone or ipod devices):
(http://www.onegiantmedia.com/how-to-get-music-off-an-ipod-or-iphone)

Problem:

How to get your music off your iPhone or iPod so that you may take the music to another computer- this may be necessary if you have an existing iPhone/iPod that was synced with one computer, and then:

• You get a new computer and want your music from your iPod / iPhone
• You have to reformat your hard drive and your only copy of your music is on the iPhone/iPod
• You want to bring your music to another computer via iPhone/iPod
• You want to merge your iTunes library from home with your iTunes library at work (new computer)
• You want to back up your entire device

The problem is, on the 2nd or new computer (not the original synced computer) iTunes will want to erase the device to sync up.  Lame!

Solution 1:  Copy all music off iPhone / iPod manually, reimport wherever you want

1)  Use alternate software (options listed below) to copy all of your music from your iPhone down onto your computer safely (see links below)
2) Let iTunes do it's annoying business (connect your device, activate your acct, sync/erase all of your music off the device)
3) Import all of your music that you manually saved to your computer back into itunes
4) Re-sync now that your entire library is in iTunes, getting it all back onto the device

Software Options:

There are many new software packages for purchase around $20, but there are still some free options too.

Wikipedia's list of Software - most can copy music off your iPod / iPhone:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers

Free software recommended (in wiki list):

• http://www.getsharepod.com/

Free software recommended (not in wiki list):

• http://i-funbox.com/

Pay software recommended (in wiki):

• http://www.copytrans.net/ (PC)
• http://www.podtopc.com/ (PC)
• http://www.podtomac.com/ (MAC)

Solution 2:  Hack itunes so that it will sync with both computers

You will need the original sync'd computer with itunes still on it to pull your registration key, then insert it manually into the new computer's itunes via hex editor.  It's easier than it sounds, just follow the instructions carefully.

Great article / instructions here:  

http://www.andrewgrant.org/2008/03/30/how-to-sync-an-iphone-with-two-or-more-computers.html

Note:  This is only if you want to use the same account on multiple computers, don't do this to a friend's computer or their itunes will be permanently on your account.  If you want to just share your whole library use steps 1 and 2 from Solution 1.

Make Windows way, way less annoying.

http://humanized.com/enso/

Enso is a free application for windows that allows you to use your computer with instant short-cut commands that you can type in plain English while in any (or no) application to do things that usually entire reaching for the mouse, shaking it around to find it, going to the start menu, scanning the list, maybe go to submenus, etc... etc... etc...  FORGET THAT

For all my MacBoy friends, let me start by saying mac already has this basically built in with CTRL+SPACE or whatever... CONGRATULATIONS - I like Enso better :-P

If you're a daily Windows Vista user, you may know you can press the "window" key and then type into the search area to find things quickly.  This is OK, but kind of slow and you can't make custom commands or type out Enlgish like "open Firefox".

If you are comfortable typing on a keyboard, and you don't have this application, you're missing out!  (and probably wasting tons of time a couple seconds at a time, hundreds of times a day, every day).

Without touching your mouse, you can set easy commands to do things like:

• open a program
• google something
• google-map
• spellcheck something
• find on wikipedia, ask.com, yahoo, youtube..
• get the definition of a word
• close a window
• switch to a window
• minimize
• maximize
• count words highlighted
• count characters highlighted
• calculate math equations (eg: 23423432 * 713.4 - 20938123) on the spot in any text in any window
• skip to the next track in itunes, winamp, pandora's box, others...
• play an artist by name in compatible players (like itunes)
• play song by name
• mute/unmute
• set new commands
• remove old commands
• + a lot more...

Many of these commands will use any currently highlighted text in any program.

Use case example: 

Your scanning a Microsoft Word document and you don't know the definition - highlight it, hold CAPSLOCK, and type "define" or "google" and release.  You won't even have to type the whole word before it guesses which command you were intending.  Your browser opens right to the page you needed, you read it, hold CAPSLOCK and type "cl" and let go- it guesses "close" your browser closes and your back.  Then as a bonus you hold CAPSLOCK and type "Next Tr" and let go, it guesses "Next Track" and your music changes to the next song. 

AWESOME.

I've probably typed "open My Doc" for My Documents about 500 times in the past couple months, and never had to find the icon in my start menu or on my desktop. 

Do I even have a start menu? :)

It takes some getting used to but not much (a day or two of using it). You'll be amazed you ever used a windows computer without it!

This really, really annoying bug started popping up for me not too long ago when a co-worker created some reoccurring  event in outlook that I accepted as attending, and at some point she must have removed it incorrectly or something, because it would always come up as "Canceled:" but when I would try to dismiss or OK it... I would always get this error message prompt (every freakin' day!):

"Cannot turn off the reminder.  You may be reminded again.  Cannot locate recurrence information for this appointment"

Solutions:

1)  /cleanreminders

First, try launching Outlook.exe with the “/cleanreminders” command line argument:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE /cleanreminders

2) Use Microsoft utility MFCMAPI manually remove the entry (not hard at all)

If solution 1 does not work
Download MFCMAPI tool from http://support.microsoft.com/?ID=291794

1. Run MFCMAPI on the desktop

2. Go to Session->Logon and Display Store Table

3. Select your profile by name

4. Right click Mailbox and choose “Open Store”

5. Expand “Root Container”

6. Find & Right click “Reminders” and select “Open Contents Table”

7. New Window Launches with list of Reminders

8. Select only the reminder items that you want to remove, Right click and select “Delete Message”

9. Close MFCMAPI

Restart outlook- you should not have those annoying reminders any more.