On Monday I wrote a quick article discussing how you could use SyncToy, a free application from Microsoft, as a simple hard drive back up utility. While I think the application is fantastic, it does lack one critical feature: scheduled execution. Fortunately, both Windows XP and Vista have a built in scheduling application that you can use to add this missing functionality to SyncToy. In this article I’ll review the steps required for installing SyncToy, how to configure a sync, and how to schedule it with the built in application for automated execution.

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Not too long ago the hard drive in my primary computer died. Fortunately, the death was progressive so I was able to make a quick backup before the inevitable complete failure occurred. My approach to the backup was a basic drag-n-drop of files and folders to an external hard drive. The process took longer than necessary and I wasted a lot of time trying to determine what was and was not critical. In the end, while drag-n-drop did the job, I wished there was a way to automate the process and convert this basic computer task into a reasonable backup solution. I started to look around, and here is what I found.

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It’s no secret that an iPod can do much more than play music. Movies, pictures, and audio books can also be loaded onto your iPod making it more than just an digital music player. In a previous post I described how to rip and load a DVD movie onto your iPod with free software. Now, I want further extend the functionality of an iPod by outlining the process for ripping and loading a CD audio book.

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Now that I finally gave in and signed up for Twitter, I want to add my Twitter feed to my blog. And as one might suspect, Twitter offers a few options to help you get their product on your site. Here’s how I put my Twitter updates in the TechTraction sidebar.

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My nephew had his first encounter with the infamous Blue Screen of Death which left his desktop computer utterly useless. Having been appointed the family “computer guy” many years ago, I received the casual, yet mildly panicked, inquiry, “Hey, can you fix Thomas’ computer? It says something about an unmountable boot thingy.”

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I’ve been doing a lot of work over the past year with PHP, and have been loving this language for dynamic web page development. I program in a couple of other languages so I have a few personal preferences for how I write code regardless of the language. Therefore, I often write standard if statements in PHP the same way I do in other languages; however, there are at least two other ways to write a PHP if statement that I often forget (old habits die hard) and am writing today’s post a quick “cheat sheet” type of reference for myself, and anyone else that needs a quick reminder of the available PHP if statement styles.

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On Monday I answered the question (at least in from perspective) why Microsoft Office continues to dominant the realm of word processing, spreadsheets and presentation graphics — it’s the proprietary document formats for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Basically, once you’ve started amassing a pile of documents saved in .doc, .xls, or .ppt format, you’re stuck with an application that can read and edit those formats. Obviously, many find it easy to just stick with Microsoft Office; however, for those that prefer a non-traditional route, alternatives do exist.

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Last week I wrote a 3 part series explaining how to copy (a.k.a. rip) a DVD movie to your iPod:

The first article listed the two pieces of necessary software (DVD43 and Handbrake)
The second article described how to install and use those two applications together to decrypt and then copy a DVD movie into a format [...]

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In the first article in this series I identified the basic free software you need to rip a DVD for your iPod (DVD43 and HandBrake). In the second article I gave instructions how to install and use these two pieces of software. If you’ve been following the series since the beginning, you should have successfully ripped a movie from a DVD. Also, if you got that far in the process, you’ve probably already imported that movie into your iTunes library and synced it with your iPod; however, just in case you haven’t done that last step, this article will walk you through the final piece of the puzzle.

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This is the second article in my three part series on how to rip a DVD for your iPod. The first article in the series outlined 3 available options for putting movies on your iPod. Then it focused on the third option and listed the 2 pieces of software needed. In this article, it’s time to install those two applications and learn how to use them together to rip a DVD movie for iPod viewing.

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