You are currently viewing archive for November 2007

20 2007-11-30 01:39 speedy boot
tips

I don't like to sit and wait for my computer. So I put this "Lock Console Session" (step 1) shortcut in the Startup folder of my Start Menu, and I set my computer to automatically log me in upon starting up (step 2).

This way I still have the security of my computer being password protected, but it's more convenient for me when booting up. I can turn on the power, go grab something from the kitchen or whatever, and when I come back, all I have to do is enter my password and it's ready to go. Without this workaround, when I got back from the kitchen and put in my password, I'd have to wait for the whole login sequence.

In other words, having my computer ready to use after a full "Shut Down" requires the same simple procedure as after Hibernating it (since I have my computer require a password upon waking out of hibernation).

A minor tradeoff is that I sometimes will not want that user account to get logged on when I bootup. But if I foresee those occurences, it's easy to go recheck the "Users must enter a user name and password..." checkbox in advance. Also, if I ever do a full logoff (usually I just use "Fast User Switching", i.e. "Lock the Console Session" without shutting down Windows, and then want to log back on, I'll have to enter my password twice. But that's a rare situation.

Step 1:  
 - right-click the Start button, choose "Open",  
 - double-click the Programs folder,  
 - double-click the Startup folder,  
 - right-click in the window and choose New -> Shortcut 
 - type in (or paste from here) the following line: 
rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation 
 - click Next 
 - type a name for the shortcut.  Perhaps "Lock My Account" 
 - click Finish 
 
Step 2: 
 - click Start 
 - click Run... 
 - enter the following line and click OK 
control userpasswords2 
 - uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password..." checkbox 
 - click OK 
 - enter the username and password of the preferred user account 
 - click OK

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19 2007-11-20 18:03 sonograms
newsletter

yesterday we had a 4-D ultrasound.

a couple months ago we had a regular one.

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18 2007-11-15 12:48 baby
newsletter

Well, I haven't been blogging much. Really, I never felt that I had all THAT much to blog. A few philosophical and/or practical ramblings, and some "Tips from Trevor". And when I started the blog, I had been doing some simple php programming and thought that coding my own blogging software would be good learning practice. But I haven't gotten around to that yet, so I'm still just manually coding the html. It's really doesn't take all that much more time than clicking a "submit" button, not such that it can be blamed for the recent dearth of posts.

Anyway, I decided to get back in the game for a while. I have not only a list of topics and tips I wanted to write on (old list, I wonder if I'll even be able to decypher it) but some of them already written up, just not posted (and perhaps not editted. I'm an edit-er.)

Also, maybe, in addition (not edition) to the functions listed above, this blog can serve as a "Trevor's Newsletter" of sorts too. In that category, I'd like to announce that my first child, an as-yet un-named daughter, is due to exit Laura's womb circa the first week of February 2008. Oh, by the way, Laura and I got engaged 27.5 months ago, and we wed(ded?) 3 months later. A lot can happen when you don't blog for a few years.

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