Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets are Pretty Pointless

…and yet I wrote one anyway, just to try it out: App Killer

How To: Cancel an Outlook Meeting w/o Notifying the Attendees

One of the things I like about my job (besides the free Methadone) is that every day my clients ask me for instructions on how to perform the oddest tasks…ways to use software that said software’s authors perhaps never imagined. So today’s question was:

How do I cancel an Outlook calendar meeting without notifying the attendees?

Honestly, I never thought anyone would want to do this! Unless you want people to show up for a canceled meeting. Anyway, it’s easy:

1. Open your Outlook calendar and select the meeting item.
2. Delete or cancel the meeting anyway you like.
3. The meeting dialog will open and ask you if you want to send the notification. The attendees’ names are conveniently already entered in the To: field.
4. Delete all the attendees’ email addresses and enter your own (or any other) email address.
5. Mouse-click the Send Cancellation button.

And that’s it. I mean, if you really want to do this. For real.

Removing Desktop Search from the Windows Taskbar

Because you know you want to…if you have that stupid search tool (red arrow, below) taking up precious taskbar space, here’s how to remove it:

1. In the picture above, do you see the small picture of a magnifying glass in the light blue section to the right of the taskbar? (blue arrow) Right-mouse-click it.
2. In the pop-up menu that appears, place your mouse-pointer over the option Help
3. Another small pop-up will appear, offering you three options. Left-mouse-click the last one, Hide Windows Deskbar.

 

Your Taskbar search tool will now have vanished.

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To return to using the old Windows XP search engine,

1. From the desktop Start button, open the …Settings…Control Panel
2. Open the Desktop Search Settings control panel (by double-left-mouse clicking)
3. In the opened control panel, check the Use Search Companion insteqd of Desktop Search checkbox.
4. Left-mouse-click the OK button.

Now searches will be performed using the older search application.

I Am Legend

I can’t get over the thought that the newest movie of the classic SF novel I Am Legend is just another excuse for Will Smith to run around without a shirt.

The Turning of the Seasons

It was so dark on the way to work this morning, I kept checking the dashboard clock to make sure I hadn’t broken the alarm clock and come in an hour early.

This actually happened to me once in college, and I still haven’t fully recovered my sang-froid.

On a more up note, the Delonghi espresso machine I ordered from Amazon is being delivered today, one day after it shipped! Since Amazon now has a warehouse in Cincinnati, deliveries are super-fast.