Personal Tech

Mostly to do with PC fixes, though it may also include other personal technology such as iPod, Wii, etc.

Simplifying the Off-Facebook Settings

Scott S NelsonLeave a comment

Given that the media outlets reporting the steps to opt out of Facebook tracking also use Facebook tracking, the articles make it really complicated to get rid of all of it. So here is the simplified version:

  1. Go to https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/activity_list (you may be prompted for you password even if logged in)
  2. Click Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity
  3. Click Manage Future Activity link
  4. Click Manage Future Activity button
  5. Toggle off Future Off-Facebook Activity (if you like some of the tracked ads, you can manage them individually, but you will also have to do that regularly)
  6. Go to https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/activity_list (yes, again, and you may again be prompted for you password even if logged in)
  7. Click Clear History link
  8. Click Clear History button

Cheers!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
© Scott S. Nelson

All Work and No Play…Mass Update Your MP3s with Cover Art

Scott S NelsonLeave a comment

Rather than buy a new car to get a dashboard computer, I just bought a tablet and mounted it on my ashtray. For the music, it is easier to see what is playing from cover art, but not all of my MP3s have it. So I went on a search..

I will save you the trials and errors of a half-dozen programs that will run on the latest patch of Windows but require adding the images one-by-one (I have 11,000 songs on the tablet). The only program I found that adds the images automagiclly is MP3 CoverTag. Well, it is supposed to because I read a dozen articles that said it did. Problem is, Microsoft has patched it to death and I could not run it.

I got around the patch issue by doing the following (extra steps added for those that didn’t already have the VMs handy):

  1. Download VirtualBox
  2. Download an old Microsoft-provided VM.
  3. Import the VM into VirtualBox. During the import or before starting it:
    1. Bump the RAM up to at least 2GB
    2. Add a shared folder that auto mounts where you will put your MP3s to update
  4. Start the VM and make sure Windows Update is set to Never Update
  5. Download MP3 CoverTag
  6. Log out and create a snapshot so you can always go back to it the state of an unpatched machine with MP3 CoverTag installed

Now you can run the unpatched VM and MP3 CoverTag will work.

Enjoy!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
© Scott S. Nelson

Retirement Notice: My Work Chair

Scott S NelsonLeave a comment

thechair

The base of my home office chair bent beyond repair last week and I finally had to replace it today. It has supported my rear through the following:

Employers – netNumina (who gave it to me when they bought new furniture), FYW, Jupiter Media, Keane, Quin Street Publishing, BEA, Oracle, Primitive Logic

Locations – Charlestown, Cambridge, Manchest-by-the-Sea, Fort Mill, and Oceanside

Customers – CholesterolCare.com, Fidelity, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Jonesco, Sullivan Real Estate, O’Neil Machinery, Dunkin’ Donuts,  Iron Mountain, US Government, Bank of America, VMWare, Northern Trust, GNMA, Sempra

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
© Scott S. Nelson

What LinkedIn Percent are You?

Scott S NelsonLeave a comment

I received a notice that I was in the top 5% of viewed profiles. I just saw a post from someone in the top 1%. In my case, I don’t do anything more than keep my profile up to date, and been a member since 2002.

Feel free to post your comment here about your LinkedIn percent.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
© Scott S. Nelson

Links Be Gone

Scott S NelsonLeave a comment

I often save web pages as Word documents for different reasons, and sometimes need to disable the links. Finding no help in Help, I did the usual search and found the trick elsewhere.

Here’s what I found:
If you just want to remove the hyperlink property of the entry, select the document—[Ctrl]A—and unlink the field—[Ctrl][Shift][F9].

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
© Scott S. Nelson