Quoted from http://talentshowdown.com/?p=188:
Feel Like a Hacker 3: Hack Netflix and Download Movies! · Common Sense
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*UPDATE*: From what some folks have been saying, it looks like Netflix updated the version of IBX (Individualized Blackbox component) used for their WM-DRM wrapping of the movies. This is no big deal. If you get the error “”IBX Version 11.0.6000.6324 isn’t supported yet”, there is only one extra step one would have to do. The only thing that has changed is that one can now use the mirakagi add-on (see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=127943) for FU4WM to sniff out the keys, and then launch FU4WM to clean the files. In other words, here are the revised steps 12 and 14 (all the other steps remain the same):
12. Immediately after you click Yes and are presented with a ‘media usage rights acquisition’ dialogue, launch mirakagi and click ‘Start’ as soon as you see the ‘Play’ button become active in the rights acquisition dialogue in WMP. Mirakagi should then tell you that it has found a couple keys and that it’s done processing.
14. Now open up FU4WM and hit Next to get to the file selection dialogue, and click on ‘Add File’ to select the data.wmv file so that it appears in the list of files in the FU4WM window. Highlight the data.wmv file and click Next.
HOW TO RIP NETFLIX ‘WATCH NOW’ MOVIES
BY: DIzzIE [antikopyright 2007]
Disclaimer
The following is presented for informational purposes only. I do not take any responsibility for the actions you may take after reading the contents of this document. Circumventing DRM restrictions may (or may not) be in violation of various laws. Check to make sure the process is legal in your jurisdiction and does not go against Netflix’s own TOS. I most certainly do not advocate the breaking of any laws (save for public urination, which I hold to be an inalienable, worldwide right. In other words: it’s not my fault if your Netflix account gets terminated, you get a fine, go to jail, do not pass Go, do no collect $200, or your son gets run over by an unmarked black sedan (though he swears he saw a Netflix/M$ logo flicker in the windshield…).
Prelude
At the start of 2007 Netflix started offering a ‘Watch Now’ (netflix.com/watchnow) service that lets subscribers watch flicks and tv shows online at no extra cost. The limit is one hour per dollar, so if you pay $18 for your subscription, you get 18 hours of credits to watch shit online. All well and good, but the trouble is that Netflix doesn’t easily allow you to save the flicks and watch them at your leisure because the films are entrapped in some shittastic Windows Media DRM wrapper. Let’s see if we can fix that. This guide will thus show you how to save and decrypt the movies from Netflix so that you can convert them to other mediums and watch them at your leisure.
Tools of the Trade
In order to run the Watch Now service you’ll need a subscription to Netflix (duh), as well as be running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher (though there is a way to use the IEtab add-on in Firefox: hackingnetflix.com/2007/01/firefox_instant.html), and Windows Media Player 11. To decrypt the media files, you’ll also need a handy little program called FairUse4WM. (Oh, and we’ll use Notepad a little bit as well 
). The output media files will be unprotected WMV files, suitable for conversion to XviD or whatever format you prefer, using one of the hundreds of converter programs out there, such as the free Super ©, available at erightsoft.com/SUPER.html.
The Step-by-Step
1. Log in to your Netflix account and browse on over to netflix.com/watchnow to pick a flick to watch (you can usually watch the trailer within Netflix prior to picking a movie as well).
2. Click the blue Play button next to the movie of your choice. If this is your first time trying out the Watch Now feature, the Netflix Movie Installer (Netflix_Movie_Viewer_Installer.msi) dialogue will pop-up. Click yes to go through the installation process.
3. You should now see a Windows Media Player (WMP) dialogue pop up, saying ‘you do not have the rights to view this file…would you like to connect to the website…’. Hit NO.
4. In your browser window you should now see an error message from WMP bitching about not having the license to play the file. Ignore that shit, and open the source code of the website (right-click in the browser window and select View Source, or go to Tools and then View Source).
5. Hit Ctrl-F in Notepad (assuming that’s what the website source code opened in) and put in ‘WNPlaylistMovies’ (type that without the quotation marks and hit enter). The bit of code you’re looking for will look something like this:
Code:
ar WNPlaylistMovies = {”movies”:[{”id”:”4937292″,”title”:”Scat Girls From Space”,”streams”:[{”url”:”http://index.ehub.netflix.com/item/?x=sdjkdsjHDEFJKHE38DFAWKDJdjieEWIUiDWJIDWI.”,”bitrate”:500,”dlid”:473289292,”requiredBandwidth”:700},…
You’ll see a few more URLs listed, each with a different bitrate. You can pick the last URL which should have the highest bitrate and will also have the highest filesize (upwards of a gigabyte for full-length movies). Despite the bitrate listed in the source code, GSpot always seems to show that the bitrate is 6154 kb/s for the flicks downloaded for the highest listed bitrate.
6. Copy the ehub URL that you picked (including the quotation marks), and open up a new Notepad window.
7. Here’s the template you can paste into Notepad to make a link to the file:
Code:
<html><a href=”http://index.ehub.netflix.com/item/?x=sdjkdsjHDEFJKHE38DFAWKDJdjieEWIUiDWJIDWI.”>scat girls</a> </html>
8. Still in Notepad, go to File and Save As. Type in something along the lines of netflixrip.htm and under ‘Save as type’ select All Files. Save the htm file you just made wherever you want.
9. Open the netflixrip.htm file and right-click on the link you made. Select ‘Save Target As…’. You should now see the usual save dialogue pop-up in Internet Explorer, asking you to pick a location where you want to save a file called data.wmv.
10. The file will be around a gig or two, so pass the time as it downloads by going to the park and masturbating to some dead pigeons (or what have you…).
11. Back already? Well OK, assuming the file has finished downloading, time to exorcise the Micro$oft DRM demon. This part is a wee bit tricky and might take you a couple tries to get it down pat. Open the data.wmv file in Windows Media Player, and you should see the same alert you saw back in step 3. This time click YES to connect to the Netflix site and acquire the license. (In Internet Explorer 7, you might get a security warning about an ActiveX control, click on the security bar and select ‘allow ActiveX controls…’).
12. Immediately after you click Yes and are presented with a ‘media usage rights acquisition’ dialogue, launch FairUse4WM and click ‘Recover Keys’ and then ‘Start’ as soon as you see the ‘Play’ button become active in the rights acquisition dialogue. FU4WM should then tell you that a couple keys were found, and after you hit OK, it will then ask you something about a DLL file (to which you click Yes as well).
*UPDATE*:12. Immediately after you click Yes and are presented with a ‘media usage rights acquisition’ dialogue, launch mirakagi and click ‘Start’ as soon as you see the ‘Play’ button become active in the rights acquisition dialogue in WMP. Mirakagi should then tell you that it has found a couple keys and that it’s done processing.
13. At this point, swap back to the WMP player, which should now be playing the movie, and go ahead and close down WMP.
14. Now going back to the FU4WM window launch FU4WM, click Next and click on ‘Add File’ to select the data.wmv file so that it appears in the list of files in the FU4WM window. Highlight the data.wmv file and click Next.
15. If you screwed up, you’ll now see an error in FU4M telling you that the file “does not appear to be licensed to you”. Go back and click Recover Keys in FU4WM right after the license window pops up in WMP. When the ‘play’ button becomes active in the license acquisition window in WMP, click on Recover Keys in FU4M and try again. The timing can be a bit iffy, so keep trying and you’ll get it. If, on the other hand, everything went smoothly, you should now see a conversion status bar in FU4WM, telling you to “please wait while your files are converted” 
.
16. The conversion doesn’t take nearly as long as the download did, so I’m afraid there’ll be no time for pigeon masturbation at this stage 
(well, unless you’re quick…), though don’t do anything else for the few minutes that FU4WM is doing its thing, or you might get a rather glitchy video file.
17. Once the conversion is done, you should have a duplicate copy of the data.wmv file (sans the encryption, that is ), in the default save folder of FU4WM (…\My Documents\My Videos\, or wherever you specified). Feel free to open the file in Media Player Classic, VLC, or whatever, or convert the file to another format. Close down FU4M, and delete the yucky encrypted data.wmv file.
18. Rinse and repeat.
What about the Time Limit Thingy?
You might remember that in the first version of this textfile I boasted that there was a way to get around the time limit and get unlimited movies. No such luck. For, while the flicks you download don’t immediately show up in your Watch Now Viewing History (netflix.com/WatchNowViewingActivity), they do show up after 24 hours, no matter how much of the movie you view (that is, even if you watch only ten seconds of a flick, its full length will be recorded in your account after 24 hours). Other alleged ways of beating the time limit, like unplugging your modem, and flushing your cache/temporary files after downloading the flick also don’t appear to work as the time still gets deducted after 24 hours. As such, if you do manage to find a way to beat the time limit, do let us all know .
Now Don’t Get Cocky…
And lest you’re all too ready to start making torrents of the flicks, keep in mind that there have been some rumours about Netflix putting in uniquely identifying watermarks into the video files. Though I haven’t spotted any (while viewing my films legally within Netflix’s Watch Now viewer ), keep your eyes open.
And remember that it may be possible to track uploaders of files to torrent trackers (or other mediums) based on their viewing history (much like these dudes Arvind Narayanan and Vitaly Shmatikov recently demonstrated that users could be identified based on their ‘anonymous’ film ratings. See “How To Break Anonymity of the Netflix Prize Dataset” arxiv.org/PS_cache/cs/pdf/0610/0610105v1.pdf).
***
And there you have it, an easy way to rip and decrypt Netflix’s Watch Now media, enjoy!
Quoted from http://www.pspmod.com/forums/firmware/18495-new-psp-custom-firmware-v3-51-m33.html:
New PSP Custom Firmware v3.51 M33 !!! – PSPMod.com – Sony PSP Mod & Hacks Forums
A group of russian hackers have released a new PSP custom firmware which have got a lot of people rather excited. A few users seem to confirm it working but as per usual, only try such releases at your own risk. Help spread the word and DIGG THIS STORY
Summary of features offered by CFW v3.51 M33
- All functions of v3.51 firmware retained – PS1 support, high video resolution, MP3 visualizer, internet navigation, PS3 connection etc
- Launch official UMDS which require v3.51 firmware
- Direct launching of ISOs/CSOs
- Direct launching of homebrews and demonstrations
- Direct launching of PS1 images
- Ability to alter the CPU speed of the PSP
- Recovery mode
- Multi-region
- Bugfixes
- Customize all your icons etc
source: maxconsole/pspgen
more info:Translated version of http://www.pspgen.com/
The video:Video 3.51 M33 Install – m33, install, 3.51 – Dailymotion Share Your Videos
Download:zSHARE – custom firmware v3.51 m33.rar
INSTRUCTIONS:
NOTE: If your PSP is in firmware 1.50, copy the folders kxploitpatcher and kxploitpatcher% which are in the “1.50only” folder to ms0:/PSP/GAME/ and run the patcher first.
if you already have firmware SE/OE, just copy the folder M33CREATOR to ms0:/PSP/GAME150 if you have 1.50 copy to ms0:/PSP/GAME
1 – Download the firmware update 3.51 and rename to 351.PBP and copy into the ms0:/PSP/GAME/M33CREATOR/ or for 1.50 users to ms0:/PSP/GAME150/M33CREATOR/
2- Download the firmware update 1.50 and rename to 150.PBP and copy into the “ms0:/PSP/GAME/M33CREATOR/” or “ms0:/PSP/GAME150/M33CREATOR/”
3- on your PSP, run the “3.51 M33 CREATOR”. Once finished, the PSP will return to the XMB, and a new program, the “3.51 M33UPDATE” appears!
4 -now run “3.51 M33UPDATE”.
5 – Once finishes, press on X to shutt off. Restart manually.
download custom firmware v3.51 m33: zSHARE – custom firmware v3.51 m33.rar
the easy updater ! just copy the folder 3.51 M33UPDATE to game150 for oe users !!!! zSHARE – m33update_351.rar
Quoted from http://nanocr.eu/2007/07/03/iphone-without-att/:
So sue me » Blog Archive » iPhone Independence Day
I’ve found a way to activate a brand new unactivated iPhone without giving any of your money or personal information to AT&T NSA. The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work. Stay tuned!
Update:
Magic iTunes 7.3.0.54 numbers:
Offset 2048912: 33C0C3
Offset 257074: 28
Offset 257013: 33C9B1
Add “127.0.0.1 albert.apple.com” to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Download Phone Activation Server v1.0 to activate your iPhone for iPod+WiFi use. Note that this application will not do anything unless you understand the magic numbers as well as add the hosts entry. Phone Activation Server (PAS) requires that you have the MS .NET Framework 2.0 installed.
Download PAS v1.0 Source Code.
Quoted from http://www.bspcn.com/2007/05/06/23-ways-to-download-youtube-videos/:
23 Ways to Download YouTube Videos | The Best Article Every day
Google has a solid amount of cash in its pockets, but with all the recent lawsuits against YouTube one has to wonder if it’s time to salvage whatever videos you like from the service and save them somewhere where evil attorneys won’t look – your hard drive.
Luckily, there are literally dozens of tools for downloading videos from YouTube and/or converting those YouTube videos to some format other than .flv. It’s hard to pick the best one, as they all have pluses and minuses. Thus, we’ve chosen 23 YouTube downloader tools we’ve found to be actually working. Here they are, categorized according to the platform they work on:
Web based
1. YouTubeX doesn’t have a lot of options, but it’s simple, and it works. It also enables you to share the YouTube video with your friends via e-mail. Unfortunately, all the files are called get_video, and you have to add the .flv extension manually.
www.youtubex.com
2. KeepVid is another simple site. No hassle, works not only for YouTube movies but for a number of other sites, including Google Video, MySpace Video, DailyMotion and others. Again, you have to add the .flv extension by hand.
keepvid.com
3. VideoDownloader is very similar to KeepVid, but supports even more video sharing sites, and it’s also available as a Firefox extension. Just like with KeepVid, all downloads are in .flv format. We recommend MediaCoder for free conversion.
javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
4. YouTube Downloads takes the cake in the longest domain name contest. It also separates itself by using a proxy for downloading videos, which means that you might be able to get videos even if YouTube access is blocked at your workplace or in the country you live. Just search Google for YouTube videos, and copy/paste the URL into YouTube Downloads.
www.downloadandsaveyoutubevideos.info
5. Zamzar is an online file format conversion site which can do a lot more than just converting YouTube videos to another format and downloading them to your hard drive, but it’s doing a great job so we had to include it here. Thoroughly tested by us and highly recommended. See the video of it in action here.
www.zamzar.com
6. YouTubia separates itself from the crowd by enabling you to search as well as download YouTube files. Options are scarce, but it works.
www.youtubia.com
7. VidGrab is another simple site that works with YouTube, Google Video, MySpace and Break.com. Besides the download function, the site also sports a top list of most viewed videos.
www.vidgrab.com
8. Vixy offers both downloading videos and converting them into DivX avi, mov, mp4, 3gp, or mp3 (for audio only) formats. The conversion works well enough, but sometimes results in slightly choppy playback.
vixy.net
9. Hey! Watch is an ambitious video encoding service with a large number of options, especially when it comes to converting videos to portable media player formats (it even supports my trusty iRiver H340.) Most online video converters often produce crappy results, with video and audio being out of sync, and this problem is also present on Hey! Watch, but it happens rarely.
heywatch.com
10. Media Converter can be a little slow, but the results of the video conversion are quite good. We’ve converted some YouTube videos to avi (mpeg4 + mp3) format and it worked well. The tool is not limited to video conversion; it also supports several audio and document formats.
www.mediaconverter.org
11. KcoolOnline is a web-based converter which supports 98 video sharing web sites, including YouTube. It has literally zero options, so it’s recommended for those who like to keep it simple.
www.kcoolonline.com
Windows Applications
12. VDownloader is a desktop application that catches YouTube, Google Video, and Grinvi video links from your clipboard. Start it up, copy the video URL and click download. It automatically converts the videos to mpeg or avi formats.
www.softpedia.com/progDownload/VDownloader-Download-51327.html
13. YouTube Grabber downloads files from Youtube in .flv format. Copy and paste the URL of a video from YouTube into the program, press «grab», and the file will be downloaded into the same directory as the program.
www.download.com/Youtube-Grabber/3000-2071_4-10574801.html
14. Orbit Downloader is a desktop application which can download videos from a wide variety of sites. The download process is very simple, just hover your mouse over the video and you’ll get a button that says «Get It». The developers of the program claim that it’s very fast (up to 500% faster, they say) due to its P2P download technology.
www.orbitdownloader.com
15. My Video Downloader. With all these free tools, it’s actually funny to see a commercial one. It’s called My Video Downloader, and while it does look solid and offers a lot of conversion options (a free trial which enables you to download 10 videos is available), we’re not sure it offers enough to warrant a price tag.
myvideodownloader.com
16. KeepV is a desktop downloader as well as a converter, which can convert the downloaded videos from flv to avi, mov, mp4, or 3gp formats.
keepv.com
17. VideoGet boasts being able to download video clips from more than 100 video sharing websites. We haven’t tested all of them, so we’re just going to take their word for it. It’s a deskop application with a nice, simple interface, and a solid number of options.
nuclear-coffee.com/php/products.php
18. TubeSucker is a desktop YouTube video downloader with some interesting options, including batch downloading large amounts of videos from a certain user. See the video tour on the site.
www.newrad.com/software/tubesucker/
OS X
19. Get Tube is an OS X application which lets you download video or audio files from YouTube, DailyMotion and Kewego.
web.mac.com/simonvrel/iWeb/software/v.1.0.html
Linux
20. Youtube-dl. Here’s some love for Linux users. Youtube-dl is a program that lets you download YouTube clips in flv format, which both mplayer and VLC can easily chew up.
www.nuxified.org/blog/download_youtube_video_files_with_youtube_dl
21. YouTube Ripper is not actually an application; it’s a simple script that rips all videos that match a keyword, uploaded by a specific YouTube user. We don’t really have ideas on what to use this for, but maybe you do! PHP port is also available.
nlindblad.org/2007/04/08/youtube-ripper-collectors-edition/
Plugins
22. Vidtaker is a Firefox-only plugin that can download videos from most streaming websites: Google Video, YouTube, MySpace, as well as a number of nasty adult SomethingTube spinoffs (Pornotube, YouPorn etc). It automatically converts the video to a DivX avi.
www.vidtaker.com
23. Ook? Video Ook! Yes, that’s the full name of this Firefox plugin, which enables you to download videos from YouTube and several other video sharing web sites. It features one click downloading and integration with the popular DownThemAll Firefox plugin.
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2584
Written by Stan Schroeder
Quoted from http://www.bspcn.com/2007/06/07/20-tips-for-more-efficient-google-searches/:
20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches | The Best Article Every day
Written by Leo Babauta
For millions of people, Google is an indispensable search tool that they use every day, in all facets of their lives. From work or school, research, to looking up movies and celebrities to news and gossip, Google is the go-to search engine.
But instead of just typing in a phrase and wading through page after page of results, there are a number of ways to make your searches more efficient.
Some of these are obvious ones, that you probably know about. But others are lesser-known, and others are known but not often used. Use this guide to learn more about, or be reminded of, some of the best ways to get exactly what you’re looking for, and quickly.
- Either/or. Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator — or use the “|” symbol (pipe symbol) to save you a keystroke. [dumb | little | man]
- Quotes. If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. [”dumb little man”] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb “little man”] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase “little man”.
- Not. If you don’t want a term or phrase, use the “-” symbol. [-dumb little man] will return pages that contain “little” and “man” but that don’t contain “dumb”.
- Similar terms. Use the “~” symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain “funny little man” and “stupid little man” but not “dumb little man”.
- Wildcard. The “*” symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you’re trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can’t remember the exact lyrics. [can’t * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song you’re looking for. It’s also useful for finding stuff only in certain domains, such as
educational information: [”dumb little man” research *.edu].
- Advanced search. If you can’t remember any of these operators, you can always use Google’s advanced search.
- Definitions. Use the “define:” operator to get a quick definition. [define:dumb] will give you a whole host of definitions from different sources, with links.
- Calculator. One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It’s faster than calling up your computer’s calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.
- Numrange. This little-known feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, [”best books 2002..2007] will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2002 to 2007 (note the two periods between the two numbers).
- Site-specific. Use the “site:” operator to search only within a certain website. [site:dumblittleman.com leo] will search for the term “leo” only within this blog.
- Backlinks. The “link:” operator will find pages that link to a specific URL. You can use this not only for a main URL but even to a specific page. Not all links to an URL are listed, however.
- Vertical search. Instead of searching for a term across all pages on the web, search within a specialized field. Google has a number of specific searches, allowing you to search within blogs, news, books, and much more:
- Movies. Use the “movie:” operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.
- Music. The “music:” operator returns content related to music only.
- Unit converter. Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]
- Types of numbers: Google algorithms can recognize patterns in numbers you enter, so you can search for:
-
- Telephone area codes
- Vehicle ID number (US only)
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment numbers (US only)
- UPC codes
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane registration number (US only)
- Patent numbers (US only)
- Even stock quotes (using the stock symbol) or a weather forecast regarding the next five days
- File types. If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use the “filetype:” operator.
- Location of term. By default, Google searches for your term throughout a web page. But if you just want it to search certain locations, you can use operators such as “inurl:”, “intitle:”, “intext:”, and “inanchor:”. Those search for a term only within the URL, the title,
the body text, and the anchor text (the text used to describe a link).
- Cached pages. Looking for a version of a page the Google stores on its own servers? This can help with outdated or update pages. Use the “cached:” operator.
- Answer to life, the universe, and everything. Search for that phrase, in lower case, and Google will give you the answer.
More info:
For more on Google’s search syntax, see this guide, and this one.
Quoted from http://www.jscreenfix.com/:
JScreenFix – Fix stuck pixels and screen burn-in
JScreenFix
JScreenFix is a software solution that can fix stuck pixels, reduce screen burn-in and improve the quality of images displayed on a screen.
What is a stuck pixel?
A stuck pixel is a bright dot of colour most noticeable when the rest of the screen is black. Stuck pixels are fairly common on high resolution LCD screens. Stuck pixels sometimes start working again with time unless they appear black on a white background, these are known as dead pixels.
JScreenFix repairs stuck pixels through rapid, repetitive operation and resonance. Most stuck pixels are repaired within 20 minutes. How do I check for stuck pixels?
What is screen burn-in?
Dark patches on a plasma screen are the result of screen burn-in. Burn-in occurs on plasma screens if an area of the screen does not change for a long period of time. For TV input, channel logos often burn into the screen. This can also occur on LCD screens and is more correctly referred to as image persistence.
JScreenFix can eliminate image persistence on LCD screens and reduce burn-in on plasma screens. How do I check for screen burn-in?
JScreenFix deluxe can prevent noticeable damage by monitoring how a screen is used and equalising burn-in patterns.
How do I fix a screen?
This depends on the type of screen and the device it is connected to. For LCD screens connected to a computer, the JScreenFix applet is the best solution. The JScreenFix applet can also be used to reduce screen burn-in on plasma screens when run in fullscreen mode.
JScreenFix deluxe is the recommended solution for computers connected to plasma screens. This utility monitors how the display is used and can equalise future damage automatically. It also includes support for defining templates to repair previous burn-in and reoccurring stuck pixels.
For PDAs, mobile phones and other portable devices supporting Java, the Java Midlet should be used.
For screens connected to a standalone DVD player, PixelProtector is the best solution.
Quoted from http://www.pthree.org/the-ultimate-firefox-extension-list-for-junkies/:
Aaron Toponce » The Ultimate Firefox Extension List For Junkies
December 5th, 2005 by Aaron
This is an ever-growing and ever-changing list. These extensions are by far the Ultimate of Ultimate Must-Have Extensions for Firefox. Every extension works with the latest version of Firefox, and is platform independent. I don’t provide links to the installs, but rather just the pages. The reason for this, is the versions change so frequently. Anyhow, here’s the list, in alphabetic order. If you see a star (
) next to the extension, it means that I think it should be built in to the browser by default, or I would like to see it in the next release. Enjoy.
Extensions:
- Adblock Plus- This extension is necessary for the Filterset.G Updater, and is crucial to blocking the ads on the pages. Not only are images blocked, but flash, iframes, javascript and plenty more. Of course, you can explicitly define what is blocked, or you can use wild cards to block whole directories or domains. Whenever I install Firefox for someone new, this is the first extension I download and install.
- All-in-one Sidebar- Now, rather than opening up a new window to manage your downloads, extensions and themes, you can open them in a sidebar similar to that of Opera. Really, one of the most handy extensions that I use.
- Calculator- Sweet! A solid calculator that will replace the default calculator on any operating system! It keeps a history of everything you type plus it has trig functions, constants, conversions and algebraic functions. It can run as a separate window, in a tab, or in the sidebar. Even though this isn’t fully fledged like many calculators out there, this is a very solid replacement for the OS built in. Personally, I still prefer to use my HP and TI emulators, but this extension is just solid and fast. Get it!
- ChatZilla- If you are using Linux, which you should be, then this app isn’t all that hot. However, if you aren’t, then this maybe just the IRC client you were looking for. It is still lacking in many features that most IRC clients give, however, it is free, and you don’t have to feel guilty searching for an mIRC crack. It still holds its own, and opens in a separate window. This is a great client when you are spending hours searching through Google looking for that technical answer.
- ColorZilla- One of those web dev apps that just makes sense. Here, I have the ability to pick any color within the Firefox program, and get the RGB, HTML and gamma values of the color. Not only can I pick a color from the page, but I have a color picker pallet that I can pick from as well. Options include panning, zooming and copying the results to the clipboard. The only issue with Linux is making sure Firefox was compiled using the same GCC version as the extension (the Ubuntu Firefox package was not). When it works, it works well.
- Download Manager Tweak- This extension is one of those must-haves. Personally, it is quite annoying to me for a separate window to pop up when downloading files from the web. And even though you can configure the behavior in the settings, sometimes the window just won’t close. With this extension, rather, I can have the download manager open in a new tab or a sidebar. Also I can configure if it loads in the background or foreground, which buttons I want visible and much more. A rock-solid extension!
- FireFTP- This should be included by default into the next major Firefox release. This is a fully-featured and completely customizable FTP client. This rivals all free FTP clients currently available. The only thing that it lacks is SSH/SCP implementation. Other than that, this extension just plain rocks, and is in every installation of Firefox that I currently oversee.
- Forecastfox- There are no doubt several weather applications available, and many of them heavily customizable. However, when my Firefox browser is open, most weather applications are covered by the window. Here, I can have the weather updates in the status bar showing 3 days ahead. Forecastfox connects to Accuweather.com for it’s updates and shows graphics of what the weather will be like. When your mouse hovers, you get temperature, wind speed and direction and a brief forecast for the day. Clicking on the image will take you to the Accuweather site for more detailed info.
- GMail Manger- While there are a number of options to view the status of your inbox, nothing beats pure simplicity. Sure, I can see my inbox through the personalized Google homepage, an email client or a number of other options. But I do not always have my email client up and I am not always looking at the Google homepage. While browsing, it is nice to know when I receive a new message. The Manger does just that, plus allows me to view drafts, labels, unread messages and more. I can also manage multiple GMail accounts.
- Google Browser Sync- Why is it that Google has the most useful software? In this case, I have the ability to sync browser sessions across multiple computers. It will sync bookmarks, history, cookies, tabs, windows and saved passwords. Of course, you don’t have to sync all of them. You can choose what you want as you please through the preferences. All of this through your Google Account. Naturally, you don’t want to install this extension on computers that is accessed by others. Pretty awesome, though! A definite must-have.
- Google Send to Phone- Here’s a useful extension that has its place. Send text messages to any cell phone with any cellular carrier in the United States. This is very helpful to remind your spouse to pick up certain grocery items, meet a friend at a location, or whatever. Very handy to use rather than typing the message in your own phone, not to mention saving you the $.10 if you don’t subscribe to text messaging in your plan
- HTML Validator- Being a web developer, this extension, along with the next one in the list, are quite handy to use. This extension will validate your page against the W3C. No more need to visit the page separately to see if your code validates. This handy little extension will sit in your status bar letting you know if the page validates, has warnings or if it has errors. It will show you with an icon that changes colors: green, yellow and red respectively. If that isn’t enough, it will also tell you precisely what those errors are and how to fix them when viewing the source of the page in Firefox. It was because of this extension that I was able to work out the warnings in Wordpress and make this site validate perfectly. Handy extension.
- Measureit- Being a web developer and wannabe graphics artist, I am constantly curious about the width of images and elements. This is another simple extension. It sits quietly in the lower-left of the status bar, and when clicked, creates cross-hairs of your mouse pointer. The only bug I have noticed, is when zooming in on pages, the pointer doesn’t take that into account. Other than that, it is a valuable tool for a web dev.
- PDF Download- Now I have the ability to either view the PDF in the window, a new tab, view it as HTML or download it directly. It just doesn’t get plainer than that.
- Performancing- Post to your blog directly from this 3rd party blogging tool. All of the major blogs are supported including Blogger, Wordpress, Movable Type, Typepad and others. A small icon sits in your task bar for launching the application, and when launched, a WYSIWYG editor shows with all of the categories, posts and history of your blog. This is one solid extension. The only feature I would have for it is the ability to edit pages not included in the feed of your blog. Then again, that would be a blog setting and not something this extension could handle.
- SmoothWheel- I’m going to be frank. This is my least favorite of extensions that I have installed. I do like it however, it is just, well, okay. Nothing about it really stands out. I downloaded it to see how it affected scrolling pages, and I was impressed at first, but since, have toned it down a bit, as it has become somewhat of an annoyance. There are a number of options for scrolling the page faster or slower and a couple other useful tidbits. Overall, I like it, but it’s just okay. I don’t know what else to say. I do find that when I uninstall it, I miss it.
- Tab Mix Plus- Tab Mix Plus is one solid extension. It takes tabbed browsing to a whole new level. Tabs can be opened in the foreground, background, open your homepage, show the page load status and much more. Definitely a must for any installation. This is probably the first, if not second extension I install on any Firefox install.
- Tab Preview- A friend brought this extension to my attention, and I have since been converted. Normally, when I am browsing the web, I have a ton of tabs open. Ten or more at least. With that many open, it makes it difficult to see what tabs hold what web page. With Tab Preview, I can hover my mouse over the background tap, and get an image preview of what it contains. The image can be customized to show immediately or delayed, and how large it should be. This extension should be implemented into the next major Firefox release, as it has just become too crucial of an extension IMHO to leave out.
- User Agent Switcher- For some reason, this is one of the extensions that I didn’t think about until after installing most of the ones on this list. You now have the ability to spoof your user agent string to your liking. You can even create your own customized string, if you desire. What are the benefits you ask? Spoofing. Telling a web page that your browser is something other than it is. I don’t know. It’s just fun.
- Viamatic foXpose- If you have a Mac, then you are most likely familiar with Expose, a feature with Mac OS X that allows you to view all over your open windows with the press of the key on the keyboard. Well, with Viamatic foXpose, you can view all of your open tabs in a single window just by pressing a little button in the bottom left of the status bar. Select the tab you want, and you’re taken there. There aren’t any preferences to configure, so you just install it and use it. If you have a number of extensions installed also, it seems to run a tad slow. But this extension is killer, and it only works with version 1.5 and later.
Themes:
These 4 themes are all part of the Tango Desktop Project. The project exists to create a consistent look and feel to the Linux desktop and Open Source Software. While the project is still immature, these themes for Firefox show how well it works. At any event, if your are a Gnome user, these themes will integrate with 90% of Gnome themes fairly well. You really won’t need any other themes installed.
All 4 themes work with Firefox 2 and above. I have not tested them with earlier releases. If you are running an earlier release, I strongly recommend that you upgrade. There are a number of security and bug fixes. If you’re a KDE user, I don’t know of any themes from that project as of yet, but I’m sure they are in the works.
These themes are on the Mozilla update system, so Firefox will appropriately ask you to update when new versions are released.
- Tango- The theme is tight, and makes Firefox integrate tightly with Gnome. It is the core standard from which the rest of the 3 themes are based on.
- Tangerine- This theme is a child of the Tango theme above, except rather, it works well with the Ubuntu Human theme. Firefox now actually looks like it belongs with the Ubuntu operating system.
- Gnome- Another child of the Tango theme above, this theme however, works well with the Clearlooks and Industrial Tango themes for Gnome. Styled to give a modern edge, it is really cool, and again, tightly integrated.
- Industrial- The last of the 4 built from the Tango icon set, this theme really only works well if you are using the Industrial look from Novell. This theme is the least favorite of the 4 for me because of the ‘older’ feel that it has. However, the design is just as good and tight as the previous three.
Search Engines:
The search engines listed below are the only search engines that I have installed. Using the SearchPluginHacks extension listed above, I deleted all the rest that came bundled with Firefox.
- Amazon- I spend a great deal of time looking for deals on line when shopping. Amazon just works for me, they have speedy delivery and a great inventory.
- Bittorrent- At first thought, you may think bittorrents are used for nothing but piracy, but later you realize that piracy isn’t really all that great, and there is a great deal of open source software and tools that are torrents.
- Flickr Tags- It’s always fun to browse different photo albums, view screen shots and more. Flickr is just cool.
- Google- Built into the browser by default, this search engine is the creme of the crop, and appears first on the list, regardless of how many you have installed.
- IMDB- Being a movie buff, I spend more time here than I should. Get info on actors, movies, directors and much more.
- Technorati- If you syndicate a feed, any feed, then Technorati is your friend. Get stats on blogs, search results, feeds and anything else related to blogging.
- Weather.com- Even though I have Forecastfox installed, I still use Weather.com for my detailed weather reports rather than Accuweather.
- WebMD- An absolute must if you have kids. Search anything medical related including symptoms, allergies, bacteria, viruses, medicine and much more.
- Webster- I use Webster when I don’t know the definition of a word or need a thesaurus. Who uses printed dictionaries these days?
- Wikipedia (EN)- Even with all the flack that Wikipedia has been through lately, it still is a credible resource for a large majority of information. Besides, it’s just too cool having the ability to edit any page.
That’s it for my list of The Ultimate Firefox Extension List for Junkies. Like I said, I have found these extensions, themes and search engines to be the most useful for me. Yes, I have every one of them installed. If I uninstall the extension, then I take it down from this list. They may not do much for you, so try them out, and see what you think. I personally believe that many of these could be implemented by default into the browser itself. Of course, I am always on the lookout for more extensions. If you have one that you just can’t live without, feel free to post them in the comments below.
Pinnacle HD Stick USB 2.0 Vista Guide
Sticking it to the man, one device driver at a time.
Introduction
This is for all of you who, like me are absolutely and completely fed up with Pinnacle Systems for their horrible customer support and rude employees. If you found this page, you’re tired of waiting for the so-called beta drivers for vista, let alone, ANYTHING 64 bit.
This guide is a simple implementation of generic drivers created solely around the chipset contained within the Pinnacle HD Stick. It will work on the following operating systems:
Windows 2000
Windows XP 32 bit
Windows XP x64 Edition
Windows Vista 32bit
Windows Vista 64bit
Functional in both Windows Media Center 2005 and Vista Media Center.
Oh yeah, they’re WHQL certified and signed.
Does it get any better? Sure, let’s get some TV on your Vista box!
Legal Crap
Dev-Toast.Com, Dev-Hack.Com or their respective administrators take no responsibility for any damage that may occur to hardware or software while you follow this guide. We cannot be held responsible if you do not/cannot follow instructions. You do this at your own risk and benefit.
Pre-requisites
We must first assume the following about your computer.
- You have a decent video card installed
- You have a properly functioning audio driver(XP x64 AC97 hack is ok! J)
- You have a free USB port(duh!)
- You have a machine capable of playing back/recording HDTV content
We also have to consider that the driver package you downloaded from Dev-Hack.Com doesn’t include any software to watch your TV on. You really can use almost anything. WinTV2000 from Hauppage, Pinnacle Media Center, Beyond TV 4 and of course Windows Media Center 2005 or Vista Media Center are among some of the viewers to choose from.
Let’s Begin
-
- Don’t forget to download a copy of this guide as well
- Unzip the package in a nice neat place.
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Go ahead and plug in your Pinnacle HD Stick in a free USB port
- Don’t worry about letting windows search for drivers let it install whatever it feels it wants. Windows update on vista ultimate will download a hybrid 64bit package of empia and Microsoft files but they do NOT work with this device.
-
Open Device Manager in windows.
- In XP, right click My Computer, select Properties. Click the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
- In Vista, right click My Computer, select Properties. Click the Device Manager link on the left side of the window.
-
Update Your Driver
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Right Click the “PCTV 800e” device or similar under Audio, Video devices
- This may vary from machine to machine and OS to OS so use some common sense when deciding which one to choose.
- Select “Update Driver Software”
- Click “Browse my computer for driver software”
- Then select “Let me pick from a list of drivers”
- Highlight, “Show all Devices” and click Next.
-
Click “Have Disk”, then Browse
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Browse to where you unzipped the downloaded archive onto your computer.
- Be DAMN sure to navigate into your respective folder either 32bit or 64bit!!!
- If 64bit Windows select “EMBDA64.INF” and click ok.
- If 32bit Windows select “EMBDA.INF” and click ok.
-
Click ok to load the INF file.
- Choose “USB ATSC Hybrid Device” from the list of devices. If you choose something else, you’ll probably bluescreen yourself into oblivion.
- Click ok and accept the warning you get saying that Windows can’t verify that ti’s for your hardware.
- Let the driver install.
- Restart you computer with the USB tuner still attached.
- Setup in your favorite viewer, grab a cold one, and enjoy some tele on your puter.
Dood!!
Yeah, I know, it’s pretty damn simple yet pretty damn complicated. I’m tired of these companies who shit on customers when the solution is really this simple. I’m just one guy.
Hey… if you feel like donating to my cause, shoot me some cash via PayPal: sgtjoeusmc79@yahoo.com. It’s much appreciated.
W3RD!1!1!
Increasing NTFS Free Space Efficiency
A simple hard drive tweak for NTFS file systems.
Ok, this one is sort of old but not well known because many don’t understand what it does. Most folks should understand the difference between this tweak and what most would recognize as cluster size they see when formatting their hard drive in Windows XP/Vista.
Let’s go over something real quick.
When you format NTFS, you’re asked to input the allocation size. The default of which is 4096 bytes per cluster. This is known to be the most efficient for NTFS file systems which are expected to harbor both very small files and very large files alike. This is also the maximum cluster size that you can use that will support compression. As a side note, you’re able to format NTFS file systems with cluster sizes as large as 64 KB. The cluster size denotes how large of a swath of hard disk space a file will take up. If your cluster size is 64KB then any file under 64KB in size will take up 64KB on disk. For example, if you save a file that’s 11KB in size it will take up 64 KB on the disk. Most see this as a grotesque waste of space, however, this extreme cluster size is very useful on extremely large volumes that are designed to house very large files such as video files or databases. This also allows the Master File Table to be very small, helping you recover much of the space lost, also called MFT overhead, noticed by most users who format at the standard 4KB cluster size.
The tweak of which I speak refers nothing to this allocation size, but rather how the system handles free space.
WARNING: This involves editing the registry.. If you botch something up don’t blame me.
Who does this tweak apply to?
- Anyone using large hard drives or more specifically large volumes(100GB or bigger after MFT overhead, i.e. 120GB physical drive)
- Anyone who regularly stores, reads, moves, modifies or deletes large files. For a lot of you, this might include video files, uncompressed audio(for you studio heads out there.) and file archives including zips, rars, and any drive image backups you might store.
- Anyone with a lot of problems with fragmentation on their volumes due to lack of free space(more on that in a moment).
Who shouldn’t apply this tweak?
- Anyone with less than 100GB in a volume after MFT overhead.
- Anyone on Fat32 filesystem(there is a tweak LIKE this, but it’s buggy)
- Anyone looking to try this tweak on a Virtual hard disk such as those utilized by VMWare and MS Virtual PC. This can break the file that contains the virtual volume.
- Anyone who’s even slightly skittish about editing the registry.
The Tweak
What we’re going to is change the contiguous file allocation size. The default is something ridiculous like 16kB or something, meaning that when the system looks at the hard drive for free space to write a new file it comes across a gap of free space larger than 16kB it begins the new file there up to the end and then fragments to the next free 16kB. This can cause larger files to become insanely fragmented if stored on the same drive as many small files that are written and deleted often. What we want to do is set this value higher, a lot higher…
Depending upon what you do with the volumes, I’d initially recommend setting the value to 512kB. This means that now, the system will look for a contiguous length of at least 512kB of free space before beginning a file write operation. What does this do? A couple of things. Firstly, it speeds up the write process because the system will skip over the 16KB space and any other space less than 512KB. This also helps to avoid fragmentation because larger files will only fragment into spaces larger than 512KB.
On MY workstation, since I do a lot of video editing, but I also do a lot of writing and operations with small files, it behooves me to raise this value to 4096KB. This means that my system looks for a space of longer than 4 megabytes before writing a new file. This reduces fragmentation GREATLY and insanely speeds up the defragmentation process.
There are draw backs to this however. If your system can’t find the contiguous space long enough, then you may get a false “Drive is full” error. So this is risk of sorts. However, if you start this process while the drive has at least 50% free space and you keep up on defragging then you will have no problems.
Overall, this will increase the speed at which your system performs file operations on large files with very little, if any speed detriment to your small file operations.
Navigate your registry to the following key:
HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/Memory Management
Create a DWORD key named ContigFileAllocSize and give it the DECIMAL value of 512, 1024, 2048, or 4096 depending upon how large of a space you want to use for this process.
I do NOT recommend going above 4096. If you know what you’re doing, be my guest, but if you set this too high, you’re system may fail to boot.
After you create and value this key reboot your machine and defrag immediately with whatever tool you have handy. Preferably something that will defragment free space. You’ll notice the defragmentation process being super fast and efficient.
Contrary to popular believe, this isn’t not like setting up your cluster size to be bigger than what’s necessary. You do not LOSE free space with this tweak, but you may have the situation in which you will lose ACCESS to said free space due to heavy fragmentation.
Now… for you kids with super heavy defragementable volumes, this is because you no longer have contiguous space big enough to handle the movement of your files…
To remedy this set your contigfileallocsize to something absurdly low like 4 or 8. Reboot into safe mode and defrag… go read the Iliad, it’s going to take forever, but it will eventually finish. Once you’re all defragged, go back and set your key back up to 512 and defrag once more after rebooting. Also, don’t do anything, and I mean ANYTHING no web browsing, no email checking while you’re defragging at such a low contiguous allocation size. You’ll just seriously jack it up and cause MEGA fragments.
Remember, you have to reboot after changing this key value in order for it to take effect.
Good luck and God Speed.
***Update – 02-23-08: You can find the support forum on Dev-Hack.Com forums by clicking HERE
UnCrippling Bluetooth in Vista RTM
Introduction
If you’ve found this page, that means that you’re one of the many legitimate Vista RTM users who have a plethora of Bluetooth devices that you were hoping to join up to your new shiny Vista machine and enjoy because as with all Microsoft products, they’re just supposed to work, right? Wrong.
The Microsoft Bluetooth stack has been stripped of all profiles except OBEX file transfers and Mouse and Keyboard HID profiles. No stereo audio, no hands-free, no pda syncing, nothing. Why? No idea, there is no official word on the issue though there has been speculation in the community that perhaps Microsoft is trying to hold tight to increasing stability by decreasing functionality, like how some new phones from mobile phone uk are made with lesser applications but are more user-friendly. This is ok for most folks. Just not the rest of us who are constantly wireless and in need of information, syncing, audio, phone calls, what have you.
This guide is an in-depth tutorial on getting complete and enhanced Bluetooth functionality in all version of Windows Vista RTM both 32bit and 64bit editions.
First a little bit of legal.
Disclaimer
Dev-Hack.com or its administrators provide this information for educational uses only and while great effort has gone into ensuring the accuracy and value of the information included herein, it cannot be guaranteed to work for everyone and thusly, we accept no responsibility if you fuck up. J
Method
We have broken this installation into a number of steps listed below.
- Download installation packages
- Determine which Bluetooth device you have
- Preparing the new installation
- Removing old drivers completely
- Disabling Microsoft Bluetooth stack completely
- Installing WIDCOMM drivers
- Patching your WIDCOMM installation
- Installing your device
- Enjoying unrestricted Bluetooth functionality
UPDATE(06/21/07): It has been determined that through this method, A2DP(stereo bluetooth audio) does NOT function properly. A workaround/fix is currently being researched so sit tight.
Step 1 -=- Download Installation Packages
First thing to do is get all of the tools you’re going to need to be able to do this. This includes the WIDCOMM drivers appropriate to your system, the patcher program, and optionally, you can download this guide in PDF format for offline viewing.
You may download the WIDCOMM 5.1.0.1100 drivers along with the patcher from Dev-Hack.Com’s downloads section. The packages will be clearly marked to avoid any confusion.
NOTE: If you know of WIDCOMM already you may be asking, “Well why aren’t we going to use the latest version of the driver?” That’s a good question and with it comes a good answer. After version 5.1.0.1100 the driver stops supporting 3rd party chipsets, that means that you all with your CSR chipsets would be very frustrated after having completed this guide. In addition, the patcher utility isn’t of the latest version however is much easier to use and has been extensively tested and confirmed to function properly with this version of WIDCOMM drivers.
Step 2 -=- Determining Which Bluetooth Device You Have
Once you have downloaded and extracted the drivers, it’s time to minimize your folder and head into your device manager to determine exactly what hardware you have installed. Make sure you have your Bluetooth adapter inserted in your computer(working or not).
- Right click “Computer” on your desktop, and then select Properties
- On the top left click Device Manager.
- Expand your Bluetooth tree to see your Bluetooth radio(if installed) or look at Other Devices to see if it appears there(if not installed).
- Double click your Bluetooth radio device(The name may vary depending upon manufacturer and model). Then click the Details tab.
- Click the drop down box and select Device ID
Now with that window open go back into the extracted drivers folder. We need to check and see if the installer already supports your device.
- In the root folder go into the appropriate folder for your system. i.e. If you’re in 32 bit Vista, enter Win32. For 64 bit, enter Win64.
- Open up btwusb.inf in notepad (should already be the default viewer so you can just double click it.)
-
Now look at your hardware ID in the device manager it should be formatted like this:
USB\VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX where “XXXX” is a 4 digit hexadecimal number(There may be revision information after the basic Hardware ID’s such as: USB\VID_413C&PID_8126&REV_0100).
- Quickly copy or memorize the 4 digit number after VID.
- In notepad hit Ctrl+F to open the find dialog. Enter your VID as VID_XXXX where the XXXX is your four digit number specific to your device. Hit Enter.
- If your device is found, then look again and confirm that your VID and PID numbers match exactly then and only then may you skip to Step 4 -=- Removing Old Drivers Completely
- If you did not find your VID and PID then please continue on to Step 3 -=- Preparing the New Installation.
Step 3 -=- Preparing the New Installation
Since your device wasn’t specifically included in the installer script that doesn’t necessarily mean that the drivers aren’t compatible. There’s a very good chance that they are and should work fine (since most Bluetooth devices are created alike and their functionality is determined by the profiles they support). In this step we need to modify the installer script to include your specific device. You should already have btwusb.inf opened up for your specific platform. Add the following lines
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Under [ControlFlags] section add
- ExcludeFromSelect=USB\VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX (change the XXXX with the numbers from your device)
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This varies for different versions of windows.
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32bit windows:
-
Under [WIDCOMM.NTx86.5.1] add
- %****.DeviceDesc%=BTWUSB, USB\VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX ; My BT USB Dongle Where “****” is a string or single word that’s all caps and would be the name of your hardware vendor. EXAMPLE: %DellFangorn.DeviceDesc%=BRSMARTUSB, USB\VID_413C&PID_8126
-
64bit Windows:
-
Under [WIDCOMM.NTamd64] add
- %****.DeviceDesc%=BTWUSB, USB\VID_XXXX&PID_XXXX ; My BT USB Dongle Where “****” is a string or single word that’s all caps and would be the name of your hardware vendor. EXAMPLE: %DellFangorn.DeviceDesc%=BRSMARTUSB, USB\VID_413C&PID_8126
- Save and Close the file.
Step 4 -=- Removing Old Drivers Completely
What we’re going to do here here is effectively remove the installer script files from Windows’ view. So now when the device is found it won’t be able to find a driver. And you should select “Don’t ask Again” when prompted to search for new drivers for your device after you uninstall it.
Now, if you still have your device manager window open and you already have the Windows or manufacturer driver installed, please uninstall ANYTHING Bluetooth related. (HINT: If you remove the Bluetooth Radio device first, it will take everything else with it.) You can uninstall devices simply by Right clicking them and selecting Uninstall.
Step 5 -=- Disabling Microsoft Bluetooth Stack Completely
Now that the installation is prepared we have to make sure that Microsoft’s automatic and crippled Bluetooth driver doesn’t just jump in the way and automatically install itself when you’re trying to install the new driver. We have to disable Microsoft’s installer script for Bluetooth devices.
- Navigate to C:\Windows\inf\
- Rename bth.inf to bth.inf.old;
-
Rename bth.pnf to bth.pnf.old
Once everything is uninstalled, close all files and dialogs and restart your machine.
NOTE: This is important! If you are running Windows Vista x64, you absolutely HAVE to press F8 on boot. Right after your BIOS post, pound F8 until you’re presented with a menu. You MUST select “Disable Driver Signing Enforcment” or you will not be able to install this driver. As of yet, there is no other way to disable this other than attaching a debugger to the kernel which isn’t practical.
Step 6 -=- Installing WIDCOMM Drivers
And now is the time you’ve all been waiting for. Time to run the installer for the WIDCOMM Drivers.(Please see the bright red note above if you’re running Windows Vista RTM x64). Make sure your Bluetooth Device is unplugged from your machine.
- Browse to where you have the drivers unpacked.
- Browse directly into your platform folder(i.e. Win32 or Win64)
- Do not run Setup.exe
instead run Inst.exe.
- Go through the installer, when it comes up and says that no Bluetooth device detected, click CANCEL to continue the installation without installing a device first. It will always say this even if your device is internal or still connected.
- Windows will bitch at you for not installing signed drivers about 11 times so go ahead and make sure you’re clicking away at “Install Anyway“
-
The WIDCOMM drivers will install the following virtual devices and profiles:
- Bluetooth Communications ports(COM 4 and 5)
- Bluetooth LAN Access Server Driver
- Bluetooth Virtual HID Mouse
- Bluetooth Virtual HID Keyboard
- Hands-Free Audio
- Stereo Audio(also known in xp as High Quality Bluetooth Audio or A2DP)
- Once Vista is done installing the various devices then click Finish in the installer to close it.
You’ll now notice You’ll have the Bluetooth icon down in the task bar which should be red and a My Bluetooth Places icon on your desktop. Do not click either of them yet. We’re almost done.
Step 7 -=- Patching Your WIDCOMM Installation
Before we restart, you should make sure you have available the WIDCOMM patcher that you downloaded and optionally this guide in PDF form that you can download from Dev-Hack.Com.
The next portion is very simple.
- Restart your machine in safe-mode by mashing F8 right after the bios post and selecting Safe Mode with Networking.
- Once in safe mode, browse to where you have downloaded and extracted the patcher.
- Run the patcher by double clicking the executable.
- This is where it gets slightly tricky. In the drop down box, you have to find your Bluetooth device. If you added your device to the installer script for the drivers, then you should already be able to recognize it. Look for the beginning of the device description. Once you’re sure you’ve found your device, select it and click save.
- Restart your machine.(x64 users, remember you have to disable Driver Signing Enforcement at EVERY boot, sorry)
Step 8 -=- Installing Your Device
Once you’re back into windows, do the following.
- Plug your Bluetooth adapter in(if it is external)
- If your adapter is internal, then open up the Device Manager and click Action>Scan for Hardware Changes to initiate the installation process.
- When it asks you to search for drivers, select to Browse for the location yourself.
- Browse to the following: C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\bin
- Then click ok and the installer will find the drivers assuming you correctly edited the installer script.
- Once the device is installed(if successful) You’re ready to rock.
Step 9 -=- Enjoying Your Bluetooth Experience
Once everything is installed and patched you should be able to right click the Bluetooth icon down in the task bar, select Begin Using Bluetooth. With any luck, you’ll start the Bluetooth Wizard and be able to choose which profiles your computer will provide to devices. If you get a license error, then something went wrong with the patching or you didn’t choose the right device in the patcher. If you get a device not found, then I recommend completely uninstalling the device and starting from Step 6.
Should you need to Uninstall and return to your default driver(no idea why you’d want to.) then you need to open up Device Manager then, through the control panel, remove the WIDCOMM Drivers(Add/Remove Programs). The drivers will prompt you to remove your device. You can do that or just right click your Bluetooth radio in the Device Manager and click Uninstall, the driver uninstallation will resume automatically.
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