Category Archives: Recommend PC Apps

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. šŸ˜‰

Win FREE Dota 2 Beta Keys!

Defense of the Ancients or Dota all started as a modification (mod) for Warcraft 3 and it has now become one of the most played and anticipated stand-alone games in the world of computer gaming. Though I canā€™t count myself as an expert, Iā€™ve had countless days of playing Dota and I completely understand why itā€™s addictive and fun, especially when played with friends in a local area network.

Win FREE Dota 2 beta keys here!

Thankfully, Valve Corporation developed this mod into a stand-alone game known as Dota 2Ā as it’s been a very successful game for quite a long time now. Gamers who play at home don’t have to go through Garena anymore to play Dota 2. Oh, and did I mention the amazing graphics in Dota 2? I LOVE IT! šŸ™‚

Having an internet cafĆ© / computer shop business here in the Philippines, I knew players here will demand that I install and give them access to play. After checking ways to gain beta keys, I was surprised to learn that Dota 2 Philippines was generous enough to give me Dota 2 beta keys for my computer shop AND 20 more to give away. Thank you! šŸ™‚

Do you own a computer shop? You want to know how you can get your FREE Dota 2 beta keys for your business? Click here.


Dota 2 by Valve Corporation

 

Free Dota 2 Beta Key Giveaway

Without further ado, hereā€™s your chance to win FREE DOTA 2 BETA KEYS! The mechanics are pretty easy, so just follow the steps below and good luck!

NOTE: Please wait for the Rafflecopter widget to load.

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How to Disable the F1 or Any Key in Windows

Iā€™ve had my laptop, an HP Compaq CQ40-340TU, for almost 3 years now and, to be quite honest, itā€™s been mostly problematic using this after the first 8-10 months. Itā€™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 didnā€™t bring it in for repair.. plus this was purchased in Cebu šŸ˜€ ). 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!

Iā€™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 ā€“ the F1 key got stuck.

Yeah, itā€™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 donā€™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, itā€™s not that thereā€™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 didnā€™t work. What sucks is it will slow down the whole bootup because itā€™ll continuously give the command to open my computerā€™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 ā€“ Key Tweak.

Key Tweak actually works by editing the registry so you can map the keys or to reassign them. Iā€™ve tried to do the registry editing manually to no avail. I tried 2 other applications before this, and they didnā€™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 itā€™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. šŸ˜€
  • You want to play a prank on someone else. šŸ˜€

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 Setup Windows Live Writer

I hope my previous post about Windows Live Writer has convinced you to switch to this offline blog post editor. Itā€™s my MOST important tool in blogging and has been truly helpful in making me want to write more.

Windows Live Writer

Since Iā€™ve been vocal about how much I love WLW, people have asked me to write a guide on how to set it up. Iā€™ve put that off long enough so hereā€™s a tutorial on how to setup Windows Live Writer for your blogging needs. This is part 2 of my series of posts on WLW, by the way. Stay tuned for the rest. šŸ™‚

Requirements:

  • WLW, obviously, only works for Windows operating systems (XP, 7 and Vista).
  • A WordPress or Blogger blog. At least this tutorial is a guide for both platforms.
  • An internet connection is needed for the initial setup. After which, you can start writing offline. šŸ™‚
  • Since WLW isnā€™t really a memory-hogging program, you donā€™t need a kick-ass computer to install and use it. šŸ™‚
  • If you are a WordPress user, make sure you have enabled XML-RPC publishing in your settings. Once logged in on your WordPress blog, go to Settings ā€“> Writing ā€“> Scroll down to Remote Publishing and then check ā€œEnable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.ā€ as shown below:

Settings on WordPress blogs

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Below are the download links again for Windows Live Writer.

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Windows Live Writer : Why You Should Switch

Blogger's post editor - too limited

I started my personal blog Just Another Pixel in 2008. Back then, I was only using Bloggerā€™s post editor. Though Iā€™ve gotten used to the whole interface, it was just too limited and small for me to compose my blog posts in. Thank goodness I found a better solution ā€“ Windows Live Writer (WLW). I never looked back.

Windows Live Writer

If you havenā€™t heard of Windows Live Writer yet, it is an offline / desktop blog post editor developed by Microsoft Corp.. Itā€™s user-friendly and can handle almost everything a blogger can throw at it. If youā€™re not yet using this, Iā€™m hoping my series of posts about this amazing blog post editor will convince you. šŸ™‚

 

KEY FEATURES

Windows Live Writer can be used to compose and edit blog posts for Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, LiveJournal, Telligent Community, PBlogs.gr, JournalHome, the MetaWeblog API, the Movable Type API, Blogengine, Squarespace and those that support RSD (Really Simple Discoverability)*.

I use it for all my WordPress and Blogger blogs. And, to be quite honest, Windows Live Writer has made me want to blog more because of all its features that makes it quick and easy to compose a post and publish it to your blog/s.

Here are the key features of Windows Live Writer:

Blog Theme Integration

When you add your blog account, it will import the theme youā€™re currently using. This makes it look like youā€™re writing your post live directly on your blog so youā€™d already have a preview of pretty much how itā€™ll look like when published. Hereā€™s a screenshot of a blog post I was writing for Certified Foodies.

A sample blog post composed in Windows Live Writer

Though the header is not positioned properly, you can see that the colors of our post background, the font, and almost all the elements of our blog theme are already there.

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