Category Archives: Quick fixes and tips

Any quick fixes and tips that GEEK! write about will be placed in this category.

Force Nokia Ovi Suite to run maximized on netbook

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Nokia Ovi Suite has never been my favourite piece of software, but unfortunately I have to use it for my trusty mobile (Nokia 5230) which I still love after nearly 18 months of owning it.

If you’re running Ovi Suite on a netbook running a resolution of 1024×600, you may notice that Ovi Suite never opens properly. You have to manually tell it to maximize by doing ALT+SPACE and clicking maximize – otherwise you don’t see all options.

You can easily force Ovi Suite to maximize on launch if you’d prefer it to do so.

Simply find your Nokia Ovi Suite shortcut (probably on the Desktop or in the Start Menu), right-click it and click Properties. On the Shortcut tab, change the ‘Run:’ setting to Maximized (as shown above) and click OK. From now on, whenever you run Ovi Suite from that shortcut, it will automatically start maximized.

Control RailWorks with an Xbox 360 controller (Windows)

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If you own the popular rail simulator RailWorks, you might be interested in this guide which shows you how to run the controls from an Xbox 360 controller.

By default, you play RailWorks with a keyboard and mouse. Whilst this is relatively playable, it does seem to get boring and tiresome after a while – so I investigated using other methods to control the game. I happen to own an Xbox 360 controller for Windows (as I use it for Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV) and thought it would be good to get it going with RailWorks.

To do this, I got hold of a handy piece of software called Xpadder. Newer versions seem to require a small purchase to pay for the product (bizarrely older versions are free and there are plenty of downloads for those on the internet – but you may need to run the program in compatibility mode as Windows XP if you’re using Windows 7). Nevertheless, it’s a small price to pay!

When you’ve downloaded and installed Xmapper, you can download the profile that I’ve created for RailWorks (see below). If you haven’t previously set up an Xbox 360 controller with Xpadder, you may want to import the controller files too (see below). Simply import the profile into Xpadder and you’re done.

Once it’s up and running, start up RailWorks. You should be able control the game using the controls below:

CONTROLS BUILD 1.0 – RAILWORKS (XPADDER)

  • Left analogue stick and D pad both control acceleration of train (up for increase acceleration, down for decrease acceleration). Tap the left analogue stick to raise/lower pantograph (electric trains only).
  • Right analogue stick controls brakes.
  • A – train door release
  • B – windscreen wiper switch
  • X – horn
  • Y – emergency brakes
  • LT – Increase reverser (for forward)
  • RT – Decrease reverser (for backward)
  • START button – pause game
  • SELECT/BACK button – start/stop engine
  • LB – Alerter reset
  • RB – Request permission to pass signal at danger

Known issues:

  • If you request permission to pass red signal, you are forced to close a dialog box with the mouse (not much can be done about this).

> Download the Xbox 360 controller configuration for Xpadder

> Download the RailWorks profile

Obviously, this is a work in progress. In future, I’ll update the profile to provide new functions.

Important: When you’ve finished playing RailWorks, you’ll need to disable Xpadder from the notification area – otherwise your controller will conflict with other programs and games and you’ll start getting unwanted keystrokes!

Enjoy – leave a comment and let me know how you get on!

Stop Windows trying to dial a connection

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Not many of us use dial-up internet connections any more – gone are the days where we had to rely on internet connections that had a typical download speed of 4-8KB/s. Now we have speedy broadband with it’s always-on convenience and wireless capabilities.

However, some of us do rely on mobile broadband “dongles” or mobile phone internet connections to get online when we’re out and about. These can be fantastic, but if it’s set up as a dial up connection in Windows it can prove a nightmare.

If a connection isn’t currently available, Windows is (by default) set to repeatedly ask to dial the best available connection. This has been an issue since very early versions of Windows and Microsoft have never really solved it since.

dialup

If a box similar to this one frequently appears whenever an application tries to access the internet, here’s how to solve it.

Open up Internet Explorer (the dreaded) and find Internet Options. You’ll find this under the settings button of the latest version of Internet Explorer. When you’ve got Internet Options up, click the Connections tab.

internetoptions

Under the Connections tab, look at the selection buttons above “Local Area Network (LAN) settings”. Internet Explorer probably has selected on your computer “Dial whenever a network connection is not present”. Change that to “Never dial a connection” and click OK. Close any existing connection requests (you may well get a few more before they stop) and eventually you’ll stop getting asked to connect.

From now on, you won’t be pestered and will only connect to a dial-up connection at your request.

Fix iTunes automatically reopening itself in Windows

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This is an issue that seriously irritated me for some time. I could run iTunes absolutely fine on both my Desktop PC and my netbook, but on both, as soon as I closed iTunes it would automatically reopen itself again.

It might repeat this process three or four times before it actually stopped reopening. I was beginning to think it was Apple ignoring a bug in the software, but I think I’ve found the problem.

If you regularly use Windows Live Messenger on your desktop machine, try this solution.

Go to Windows Live Messenger, click your profile name (below your display picture), and then click “More options”. Then untick the checkbox “Show information about the song I’m listening to”.

This will, of course, stop WLM from showing any song you are playing as your personal message. However, I’m not hugely fussed as I just use last.fm to note all the music I listen to.

That fix seemed to work for me. iTunes doesn’t seem to automatically reopen any more. Let me know if this fix works for you.

PS – sorry I haven’t posted in ages. I took a bit of a break in April!

Fix USB devices not charging on laptops/netbooks (Windows 7)

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Last night, I came across a minor issue on my netbook. I want to be able to charge some of my many USB devices (such as my phone, iPod, mifi) while on the go, but I couldn’t get them to charge properly.

For example, I tried to plug in my mifi to charge it up on my long trip home – the computer recognised it fine and it charged for a few seconds – but after a little while the device reported it wasn’t charging.

I’ve discovered the problem is caused by a little power saving feature in Windows 7. It has a feature built-in that automatically reduces the power supplied to a USB device if it is not in use. Whilst this is a handy idea, it’s pretty annoying when I want to charge gadgets.

If you’re having the same issue, here’s the fix.

Go to Control Panel (make sure you’re viewing all options – by selecting Large/Small Icons in the “View by” menu), click Power Options and then choose the power plan that you’re using most (in time you might want to go through all of them). For the power plan you’ve selected click “Change Plan Settings” and then “Change advanced power settings”.

Now you’ll need to navigate to the “USB settings” plus button. Click it, then the plus button of “USB selective suspend setting” and you should see the following.

image

They’re probably set to Enabled. If they are, here’s your problem. Set it to Disabled for both On Battery and Plugged In, click Apply, and that should solve your problem.

If you can’t modify the settings because the options are all greyed out, it’s because your computer’s manufacturer is using some form of power management software that doesn’t want you to change the settings. In the case of my Samsung netbook, it was “Fast Start”. Disable whatever crud it is that’s greying out the options and you’ll be able to modify the settings.