Jonathan Burrows

Federated Search

I love this! Windows 7 (Ultimate or Enterprise) has a feature called Federated Search (wikipedia link).  It’s awesome, read on for more!

What does it do?

You know the Windows 7 search tool within a Windows explorer window? (see screenshot below).  Well, Federated Search allows you to search for pretty much anything, anywhere (on the Internet that is).  So, that simple search box which you may have used to search for files on your computer can now be used to find Youtube videos, Microsoft Technet articles, Torrent files and much much more.  The results are displayed in the window just like any other search result on your computer.  You can double click them to open, copy and save any of the results (actually shortcuts to the original location) to locations on your computer for later use and so on!  (How about saving them to your Dropbox folder so they are there when you get to one of your other PC’s?

Screenshot

Notice on the left I have a few extra folders on the left? Youtube and Microsoft TechNet for instance?  Top right shows I have search for the word ‘runes of magic’ (it’s game ok?) and the results from the Youtube site are displayed below all from my Windows desktop!

If you’d like to know how it works – message me!

Jonathan out

I thought I’d create my own page for these codes as I’m always having to search for the right page.  These little ALT codes are often used inside text forms on websites such as Facebook and Twitter (where people set their status’).  The most used ones seem to be emoticons (or smileys) such the heart ♥ and the smiley face ☺ and useful to perhaps web designers like using the copyright symbol ©

How to do it!

You need a full sized keyboard where you have the numeric keypad area (the part with numbers). These codes do not work with the numbers above the main QWERTY keys.

Now to make it work! Simply press and hold the ALT key on your keyboard (the ALT key at the left of the space bar (does not work with the ALT GR key to the right of the space bar) and then type the code of the key you want, then release the ALT key.

The full list is below but here are what I think are the most used ones ☺

Most used ALT key emoticons/smileys and ASCII codes

ALT+1 ☺
ALT+2 ☻
ALT+3 ♥
ALT+4 ♦
ALT+5 ♣
ALT+6 �
ALT+14 ♫
ALT+15 ☼
ALT+174 «
ALT+175 »
ALT+251 √
ALT+0169 ©
ALT+0174 ®

The full list

It’s about time I reminded visitors to this site what it is I can do to help get them and their business online in an effective way.

WHERE I AM COMING FROM
I have a job.  It’s a job that’s busy and I often work long hours. But…this has actually helped me think how I can help get people and businesses a website that they can somehow manage themselves without too much intervention from me!  Creating websites this way means that there is less need to call upon a web designer/manager who might not be able to react quickly or indeed my cost too much!

HOW IT WORKS
This site is using something called WordPress.  WordPress is essentially blogging software that has evolved into a fully fledged CMS (Content Management System).  In it’s simplest form, sites like this one have website pages that visitors see when they arrive at your website and also a ‘behind the scenes’ website which is used to manage the pages and so on (see screenshot of this admin page below).

SCREENSHOT

DESCRIPTION OF THE DASHBOARD
So what you see above is the dashboard of a typical installation of WordPress.  On the left are the links to the various  sections of the dashboard such as creating pages and posts; appearance so you can adjust the look of the site; plugins so you can add functionality such as eCommerce etc.

In the middle is where you edit whatever section you are currently viewing.  In the case of the screenshot above, I am editing this post.  As you may be able to see, you can format your text and there are various buttons used for uploading photos and videos (for instance).

WHAT DO YOU NEED
To get a WordPress site online, you first of all need a hosting company and space that supports MySQL (the database) and PHP scripting (the pages and files that run the site).

There are other WordPress requirements but for now this is all you need to know.

You will also need some technical savvy to install WordPress.  For instance, you need to be able to download WordPress, extract the files and then upload them (via FTP) to your web space.  Once you’ve done that, you go to your website using your Internet browser and following the instructions.  If this part is daunting, then simply ask someone who has experience installing WordPress (like me!) who will do it for you (at a cost of course).

FINALLY
I know this has been a short post and I will definitely write more on this subject in the future, but for now I think this should be enough to get your thoughts going in the right direction.

Regards,

Jonathan

Latest project

I’ve been working at Chris Shorey Lettings (who do student accommodation in Plymouth) for nearly three years now and I’ve been working on their website.  It’s a work in progress as most websites probably are.   If you like what you see and would like something like this yourself, then why not message me?  You can do that on the contact page or visit my Facebook page for more information.

If you are a student looking for a house in Plymouth, here is a link direct to the search results showing all available student houses.

I’ve been teaching myself more and more CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and wherever possible use CSS for design and formatting.  I’m now learning more and more ASP (Active Server Pages) scripting and SQL (Structured Query Language) database queries.  What you see on the Shorey’s website is roughly where I’m at in that process :-)

Anyway, message me for more information and don’t forget I offer inexpensive website hosting packages too!

Do you, like me, get annoyed with the adverts that come up on Live Messenger?  I mean come on! All I did was move the mouse over that area accidentally and suddenly I have a bigger version of the advert getting in the way of what I wanted to do!

SOLUTION
There are several solutions to remove or stop the ads from Live Messenger, some of which include downloading and installing new software (add ons for Messenger) but I’m just going to mention one.  It involves editing a file called hosts and adding one line into the file, saving and restarting the PC.

FILE LOCATION
First of all here is the location of the file you need to edit:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\

(Your PC might be slightly different but I doubt it)

The name of the file is called ‘hosts’ and it doesn’t have a file extension (such as .txt for text files)

FILE PERMISSIONS
On Windows 7 and I think Windows Vista, you will first of all need to give the user you are logged on as the permission to have Full Control of that file (ask me how).  Alternatively, you should log on to Windows using the Administrator account.

THEN SIMPLY
Open the file using Windows Notepad and add the following line to the file after all the other stuff in there (don’t delete anything else).

127.0.0.1        rad.msn.com

Save the file and Exit.  If at this point you get a Save as box come up, then you haven’t dealt with the permissions thing I mentioned above.

FINALLY
Restart the PC and sign in to Messenger and hey presto! No more annoying adverts!

EXPLANATION
If you need to know: What is happening is that we are telling Messenger to look for the adverts at the IP address of 127.0.0.1 which happens to be your PC!  Of course, it won’t be able to find the adverts at that IP address and therefore won’t display them! Simple!

DISCLAIMER
Don’t come running to me if you break something! It’s a simple change to an important file. If you delete, rename or do something else stupid – then that’s your fault ;-) Of course, just ask me and I will help you do this tweak :-)

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