Category Archives: Computer Software

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Adobe Photoshop is probably my most used software program on my computer. I use it for work, for editing photos for my blogs, and for images I design for my social media posts. Since I spend a lot of my time using it, like in any other computer programs I use, I want to make sure I’m as efficient as possible, especially when I’m working on my laptop. This is why it’s important for me to know the keyboard shortcuts to various functions and features of Adobe Photoshop CS6 (version I’m using), as shown below.

Photoshop CS6 Shortcut CheatSheet - Tags

I hope you find this list useful. These shortcuts have saved me a ton of time! In fact, I no longer navigate through Adobe Photoshop CS6 with a mouse and I feel so efficient. 😉

Why Backups are Important for Businesses

Backing up your files is important if you have any critical data on your computer or on a server. Failing to back up your files can leave your vulnerable to a hacker, a corrupted server or a computer that becomes infected with a virus. Anyone who runs a business or has big projects saved on their computer should invest in disk to disk backup services.

Backups can be done using flash drives, dvd, external hard drives, etc

Having multiple copies of your data allows you to keep working on a secondary copy if your original is ever compromised. Instead of telling a customer that you don’t have their order information, you can call up your backup file to confirm any order that your customer has made.

Your boss isn’t going to be impressed if you aren’t ready for the big client meeting because you accidentally deleted the file that you were working on. It is likely that the client is going to be left with a lot of questions while you are left without a job after the meeting is over.

It is never a good idea to leave your files open to attack. It is easy and affordable to purchase additional copies of your data that can be stored and retrieved from almost anywhere in the world.

How to Disable the F1 or Any Key in Windows

I’ve had my laptop, an HP Compaq CQ40-340TU, for almost 3 years now and, to be quite honest, it’s been mostly problematic using this after the first 8-10 months. It’s supposed to run on Windows Vista, but it was running too slowly so I had to downgrade the operating system to XP SP 3 (which is why I didn’t bring it in for repair.. plus this was purchased in Cebu 😀 ). I even wrote a tutorial on how to slipstream the SATA drivers and how to complete the whole downgrade process on my other blog. Since I was only using compatible drivers, eventually, everything else started failing.

Key Tweak - Keyboard Remapper - my savior!

I’ve long wanted to throw this one out or sell this. However, when I decided to restore this back into shape a couple of weeks ago, it actually cooperated and worked almost seamlessly. ALMOST. I had ONE tiny little problem – the F1 key got stuck.

Yeah, it’ll open up tens to hundreds windows of the Help Center. Since I disabled most of the Startup applications here, including Help Center because I don’t think anyone actually still uses it, it only opened up multiple instances of dialogue windows. It pissed me off bad enough that I had to finally resort to disabling it for good.

No, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with thehingesof the F1 key. I had to remove it completely and tried all sorts of things to disable it physically from being pressed, but it didn’t work. What sucks is it will slow down the whole bootup because it’ll continuously give the command to open my computer’s system information window. So, I searched for a way to tweak the registry to disable the F1 key completely and found a solution to my problem – Key Tweak.

Key Tweak actually works by editing the registry so you can map the keys or to reassign them. I’ve tried to do the registry editing manually to no avail. I tried 2 other applications before this, and they didn’t work as effectively.

So, how do you use this to disable any key on your keyboard? Read on.

Disclaimer: Please make sure you backup your registry before doing this. I cannot be blamed for any damage this software may cause on your computer. It worked for me and I sure hope it’ll work for you too.

 

Who Should Use Key Tweak?

Why would anyone use this program to disable keys? It can be for some various reasons:

  • You got one or more keys that are stuck.
  • Some of your keys are no longer functioning properly.
  • You hate accidentally pressing function keys when playing games, etc.
  • You want to assign / remap different tasks on the function keys or your any other key.
  • You have a persistently problematic laptop like mine. 😀
  • You want to play a prank on someone else. 😀

Key Tweak will edit this registry entry for you:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

Again, I suggest you backup your registry first before continuing to the step-by-step procedures.

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How to Fix Error 501 on Windows Live Writer

I have already blogged about why you should switch to Windows Live Writer for your offline and even online blogging editing needs. I also posted a guide on how to setup Windows Live Writer. Now, let me share with you a couple of the errors you might encounter while using this awesome blog post editor.

I have been using WLW for over a year now and I’ve encountered a couple of errors that I managed to fix myself and with a little help of Google. One of the worst problems I experienced was getting this Error 501 whenever I edit the font style.

Error 501 on Windows Live Writer when changing the font style

This error came as a surprise since I didn’t change anything with my internet options. I can’t really remember if I installed something that should mess with the settings, but for some reason, I started getting this error.

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A Gift Idea for your Music Geek Friends

I used to be in a band back in college (can you believe that I’m one of the lead vocals? :D) and there was this one time that we had a gig we’re playing for a close friend of ours. The place was a bit small so we couldn’t bring any of our instruments. Our drummer thought of recording and mixing our music on his laptop computer and we’ll just use it in our performance. We all thought it was a cool idea and so we went for it.

I can’t remember exactly what program he used, but it’s some kind of software where you can recreate the sounds produced by different musical instruments, particularly the drums set. We were pretty satisfied with the result and our performance was a hit. It was actually a birthday celebration and everyone enjoyed our mix. So, we did that for a couple more of our gigs before I had to leave the band ‘cause of some personal reasons. But, we still communicate through Facebook and chat.

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