ctrl.altered.mind

If you have ever exchanged zipped up folders containing images or accessed directories over a shared connection, chances are you have come across numerous Thumbs.db files scattered all over. A Thumbs.db file is a system file generated and maintained by Windows, and is generally hidden from view on local directories. The file is used as a cache for image thumbnails, making it faster to preview image files in folders before opening them. They can however, quickly start polluting directories across networks and are of no real value, especially less so for users of other operating systems (Mac OS X has its own variant, in the form of the .DS_Store file).

It is fairly easy to prevent Windows from generating the Thumbs.db file - choose Folder Options from the Control Panel (or access this via the Tools menu in any open folder window). In the View tab, check the box next to ‘Do not cache thumbnails’. This should get rid of the pesky files from popping up everywhere. The only downside to this option is that folders with large amounts of image files will take slightly longer to load if the folder is set to Thumbnail view. This can be resolved by viewing folders in the more useful List or Detailed views (a matter of preference, after all).

On OS X, creation of hidden .DS_Store files can be curbed by a command line operation (via the Terminal):

com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

You can clean up remnant Thumbs.db and .DS_Store files from network shares by performing a simple search - deleting these from network shares have no adverse effects on the system or your computing experience.

Especially motivated by the recent firmware update rolled out by Sony, I spent most of my available time this past week trying to get a robust media server running on my home network, and it was not quite the simple task as I had hoped it would be. Hence, I felt the need to document some of my learnings and findings here (so someone else trying this setup can hopefully save a few minutes).

All of my photo, audio and video media files live on an external hard drive connected to a Macintosh, which is not in the same room as the TV and PS3 - hence the primary need for a wireless media server. The Mac has yet to be graced with a single full-function UPnP server utility that is easy to setup and configure - this is just a matter of time, however, as I hear that Nullriver is working on developing a PS3 version of their very popular Connect360 program (which plays excellently with the XBox 360).

I have tried pretty much every available Mac/PS3 interconnect solution out there, at least the ones I could try first before buying (which ruled out EyeConnect). I did find reasonable success with Twonky Media Server (30-day demo, $40 license), although this (rather detailed) post is all about MediaTomb - a free, open-source UPnP server application that meets most (if not all) of my needs as far as a wireless media server are concerned.

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Due to primarily using a Macintosh at home, which is also the machine of choice to design and maintain my website, I have been taking the aesthetic advantages of using OS X for granted. Apart from testing for general structural integrity of my website in Windows-based browsers, I rarely examine the look and feel that Windows portrays for my site.

OS X uses a font rendering and screen smoothing mechanism that is unparalleled. My choice of images and fonts for the website was not accurately displayed across all platforms, as I recently found out. Certain images with lower resolutions seemed to have jagged edges (notably, the RSS feed button in the sidebar). A side-by-side comparison of ssaidoor.com, with Safari on Mac OS X and Internet Explorer (and Firefox) on Windows XP, evinced glaring differences in the font and image rendering, with the illustration being of generally inferior quality on Windows.

I’ve made some changes to mitigate these differences, such as adding a new higher-resolution image for the RSS feed button. I need to experiment with some new fonts for the website.

Dashalytics is a free Dashboard widget for the Mac that offers quick access to your Google Analytics account statistics. With their revamped interface, Google Analytics is probably the best free solution available today to monitor your website visitor statistics. While my site isn’t exactly one to attract high traffic, it does add a sense of responsibility when you get quantified results - this Dashboard widget just makes keeping a tab on things a bit easier, if you’re using a Mac. For Yahoo! Widgets users on Windows, there’s Vivalytics.

As you probably already know from my previous post, I’ve been on a mission for the past couple of days to try and recover as much disk space as I possibly can, so I do not have an strong excuse to immediately run out and buy a higher capacity Seagate Freeagent Pro drive (although that is going to happen sooner or later, right?).

I’ve been using the Disk Inventory X utility to get a better ahem, picture of the stuff stored on my drives. In doing so, I discovered that Apple actually maintains a copy of deleted data in not-so-plain sight on every HFS+ volume on the computer - this means every Apple partition and external drive connected to the system. While this might be a good feature to have for most people, I am usually sure of the stuff that I want deleted - especially from my backup drive volumes. You can recover a lot of drive space by cleaning out these hidden folders, depending of course, on what kind of files have been stored in them in the first place.

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Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X (10.3 and later). I stumbled upon this application while looking for something to profile the directory structure on my external drive (which is currently running ridiculously low on space). Disk Inventory X has a universal binary beta version, and is absolutely free (released under the GPL). Advanced Windows users might find this application quite similar to WinDirStat, and naturally so because this program was inspired by it.

This utility shows the sizes of files and folders as a ‘treemap‘.

Open Source Mac is a simple list of free, open-source software for Mac OS X. It is not a comprehensive list, but a good point for OS X newbies to start looking for a popular and easy-to-use open source program.

FreeSmug.org, on the other hand, is a comprehensive resource. Alternatively, IUseThis.com adds a social aspect to program listings by letting you see how popular (or not) a program is.

For Windows, check out Open Source Windows. Don’t forget to get the PC Decrapifier if you just got yourself a branded computer that’s been treated more like a billboard than a personal computing device.

Of all the pretty apps that come bundled with Mac OS X, Automator is probably one of the most underrated. The application does a marvellous job of setting up a drag-and-drop front-end to let users create as simple or complex a workflow as desired.

The more you play around with Automator, the more you will see the potential of the application, and the amazing set of scripts that comes with it - scores of workflow elements tied to applications and file types.

The first practical workflow that I created, is one that picks up a bunch of pdf files and merges them into one file. Automator also lets you save your workflow as either a script or an application. Mike pointed me to Mac applications like PDFPen and PDFLab (free) that let you do much more with your bunch of PDF files, but for my simple application I guess I’ll stick with Automator for now
Download my custom PDF Combinator app for Mac OS X