I just found a bit of an oddity within Windows concerning the Windows Live Call feature of Windows Live Messenger (that’s an awful lot of Windows) and wonder if anyone can shed some light on it.

Basically, Windows Live Call seems to have embedded itself within the ‘New’ menu in the OS for no apparent reason – screenshot below.

Why would someone need to create a call in a folder? Even weirder, when clicked, I get a message box telling me that “Some features may not be available in this conversation”, regardless of whether I’m running messenger or not.

Now, I don’t use Windows Live Call – Skype is far superior – but I’m baffled by the failed attempt at tighter Windows integration. C’mon Microsoft, get with it.

Windows command line is weak – it lacks a lot of advanced functions and is generally bloated.
The solution to this is Unix.

However, a lot of people are reluctant to give up their Windows environment for a full blown Unix install.
Fair enough, there’s Cygwin.

However, there’s a way that lets you keep your existing files, user area, and command line, while adding Unix functions. You don’t need to set up Unix to use GNU tools on Windows.

The UnxUtils project is focused on porting useful GNU programs to Windows.
Thinks like wget, chmod, env, sync and many others.

How do we get it?
Just download it from UnxUtils website and unzip it to a folder. Then open a command prompt, navigate to /usr/local/wbin folder, and run the commands by typing them, just as if you were in Unix.

TIP: Extract UnxUtils to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME so you can run them straight away from a default command window.

[http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/]

I’m a fan of shell scripts, and this guide fulfils my fandom.

It shows how to create a shortcut to the Windows Eject Device dialogue, and how to map it to a hotkey.

Similar to the OS X Ejection key, I’ve found this really useful.

[http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/create-a-shortcut-or-hotkey-for-the-safely-remove-hardware-dialog/]

A while ago I switched to FireFox for two reasons; Google Browser Sync, and the (now obsolete) YouTube HD plugin. I’ve not looked back since, and used FireFox every day.

However, I also love Windows Live Messenger, and I’ve noticed something not quite right.

If I navigate to a web-based part of Messenger – whether it be Hotmail, Spaces, Support etc – It opens in Internet Explorer, regardless of the fact that FireFox is my default browser.

This isn’t on, Microsoft! Let us use whichever browser we want!

I can’t seem to let go of Outlook Express, I’ve always used it, and it’s always worked fine.
As technology progressed, so did my needs, and Outlook Express wasn’t fulfilling them.
Being the persistent guy I am, I found ways.

Grabbing my Mail Anywhere: iMap for Gmail
This one made my day, my week, my month, and even my year.
Having iMap in Outlook Express with Gmail really helped.
[http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=75725]

I don’t need a newsreader: NNTP://RSS
I’ve blogged about this one before, how to set up a News Server specifically for RSS feeds and read them in Outlook Express.
[http://clibra.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/howto-read-rss-feeds-in-outlook-express/]

The classic forum: USENET
USENET is an amazing repository of message groups and information.
What’s better, it doubles as a File Sharing medium.
[http://howto.wired.com/wiredhowtos/index.cgi?page_name=share_files_on_usenet;action=display;category=Play]

Not an Exchange Server: Plaxo
Plaxo, the bridge between Outlook Express and an Exchange server. What cool stuff does it do?
Sync your contacts between all the places you need them, online or offline.
Use an online calendar? Sync that too, put a calendar in Outlook Express.
Update all your contact details easily, receive updates from your contacts.
Hook up feeds from other social sites with “Pulse”, send infamous E-Cards.
Store your to-do list and notes securely online.
[http://www.plaxo.com]

Teh leetness: Securing Mail
You might need to send an encrypted email sometime, or digitally sign it to prove your identity.
Nexodyne has a free service which gives you a secure Digital Certificate to do just that.
[http://iridium.is-a-geek.com/DigitalID/]

Want a speedy shutdown?

Simply hit the Windows key, then U then U again.

Simple, 3 key shutdown.

Via Lifehacker [http://lifehacker.com/software/contest/contest-vote+off--best-reader+submitted-windows-tip-185616.php]

This is something that I got from a friend a few years back, and I shunned the idea at first, but after I while I found out that it’s truly useful.

Like many other peoples desktops, mine was littered with files, downloads, programs and folders. It looked a mess, and you could hardly see the background.

The picture above is (with my background removed) what I did.
I created an overflow folder, with several category folders inside.
Now I just drag my desktop rubbish into these.

Time Machine. The feature of Leopard that made us go “oooh!”. Constant, graphical, invisible and intelligent backup.

And just to think, you can do a similar thing with Unix tool rsync.
But what if there was a GUI for it?
Oh but Windows users aren’t left in the dark.
But Time Machine isn’t for everyone – I love Mozy.

Think I’ve made my point Time Machine’s effect is reproducable, you just gotta know how to go about it. I think Apple’s aproach to it was very clever, Time Machine is an individual concept, and probably the killer selling point of Leopard.

This one’s a cool trick. I’ve used it to launch MSN with several accounts. It has a lot of other uses as well. For XP Home/Pro.

Basically, it involves making several user accounts, and running programs as each one in your user. You don’t have to log out or change user to do it.

This tutorial isn’t mine, go to MakeUseOf.com to get it.

[http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-run-multiple-versions-of-the-same-program-on-your-pc/]

As I proposed in my post here, MSN Messenger is gonna be linking with Bebo! Thank God for that! Maybe Microsoft is reading my Blog? Wishful thinking…

Basically, your MSN contact list will be able to show updates from Bebo, adding friends via MSN will become more streamlined, and you’ll be able to chat to people through MSN that you meet on Bebo.

Stellar! Maybe I should moan that I don’t have any money? Oh Bill…

[http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=allBreakingNews&storyID=2007-08-20T223015Z_01_N20298481_RTRIDST_0_MICROSOFT-BEBO.XML&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1]