Windows: cd/dvd drive doesn't work (error code 19)

Your CD/DVD drive isn't working (not showing up in My Computer)? You got the following error:

"Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)"

? If you right click My Computer, click manage, and click device manager, your CD/DVD entry should have a yield sign over it

There's a good chance you can fix it by deleting the UpperFilters and LowerFilters registries in regedit.

1) Run regedit.exe: open Run (Windows Key+R), type regedit, hit enter.
PS, "Windows Key" is also known as "Meta"

2) In regedit's tree (the left panel), navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class. Do this by highlighting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and pressing right to expand the tree, etc.

3) Once you get to Class, find this specific Key: {4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}. It should say "CDROM" in the right panel

4) Delete the LowerFilters and UpperFilters registry values (highlight them and press delete)

5) Restart your computer

source: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/code-19-error.htm

searches:
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Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

End of the world photoshoot

I'll start out with something I'm proud of:

I took this photo and was immediately proud of it. I knew it was going to look good on a bigger screen like photos typically don't. It's a self-portrait. I had 10 seconds to freerun through the seacliff

As for this, why did I even do this:

This came out nothing like I thought it would. I took the photo and thought it had potential. In photoshop I spent maybe half an hour tweaking HDR settings. At one point I stopped and audibly said "whoa, that looks good." That's what I ended up with.

It's not terrible, it's just not HDR-quality. The point of HDR is to make the photo look really close to how you saw it (because cameras can only see a fraction of the light we see). The sky wasn't so yellow, the rock should have more dynamic detail. It's bright and flat.

It's not like these three photos. These three photos are my pride and joy of HDR:

To me, all three capture how I felt when I took them. The first captures the harsh sun lighting the landscape. The second captures the warmth of the fireplace on Thanksgiving. The third captures the grandeur of the land and the texture of the bench.

This new photo is bland; there's a film over the photo I haven't scraped through. I guess I assumed that photoshop's HDR tool would take care of that for me, but I obviously need to work on it until it gets closer to how I remember it. I usually use Dynamic-HDR but I need to reinstall it.

HDR is difficult, I don't understand its plethora of functions yet. I just need to clean up and try again. I can do that because the world didn't end today

Photoshop: straighten tool

Photoshop Elements 8 had a tool to draw a line and straighten your image

Photoshop CS6 misplaced that tool (it was me, I'm like 7 versions behind)

1) Turns out the straighten tool has become the Ruler Tool. Right click on the eyedropper  and click the ruler  from the menu. Or just keep pressing (SHIFT+I) until the picture matches a ruler 

2) Draw your line (using the ruler tool) across crooked line you want to be straight, then click "Straighten"

Interestingly, if you draw the line and switch to another tool, but then switch back to the ruler, it remembers your line. What a sweet lad

searches:
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Cogsworks -- blog editor added

My baby~!

It has an editor now! For its blog!

Check out that elegant UI! I designed it myself! :'D

Cogsworks.com is powered by WolfCMS. I wrote the theme (designed by the members in the site's members section) in HTML/CSS. This newly added blog editor was written in PHP/mySQL. WolfCMS' database is so clean, and its content and snippet mechanics are so beautiful. It made writing this super easy

Its login system is awesome too (you can only access the editor if you're a logged-in member).

So what is this for? This site represents Cogswell Polytechnical College's animation club (Cogsworks). Soon enough there'll be content and everything

Netbeans 7: change author

I made a new project in Netbeans 7.x.x but my name is lame

I want to change what @author reads by default

1) Go to Tools > Templates

2) Completely ignore the template folders, much unlike what you'd do with previous version of Netbeans. Click Settings instead

3) This bring up User.properties. Uncomment the "user=Your Name" line and write your actual name and email instead. Also don't be a chum: put your email in angle brackets. And then save

Screenshot comments are hard without a tablet pen

searches:
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Visual Studio: using namespace System error

Visual Studio doesn't automatically set itself up to use forms.

If you make a new project and add a form, follow these additional steps.

1) Open your solution explorer panel (Ctrl+Alt+L). Right click your project and click properties

2) In the dialog that opens, navigate to Configuration Properties > General. Find the field that says "Common Language Runtime Support". Answer with "yes, I'd love some 'Common Language Runtime Support (/clr)' ".

And then smack it because it should've known that already

searches:
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Shimeji-c -- beta testing round one

So it worked fine on my computer but broke on everyone else's. Because I exported in debug mode.
-_-

So maybe now that I've exported in Visual Studio's Release Mode, we'll get down to the real beta testing. What a silly mistake, lawl.

Also turns out it's still pretty inefficient. 16% memory usage. That's absurd. Maybe I should try OpenGL instead of forms

Download revision 2: DOWNLOAD

EDIT: apparently you need Visual Studio 2012. This is getting further and further away from open source

Shimeji-c -- character that walks around your desktop

Based on the ragingly popular Shimeji-ee (written in Java), Shimeji-c is written in C++.

Shimeji's are cute little characters that walk around your desktop. DeviantArtists like reskinning the program to look like charmanders, Girs, or whatever. So I took Death the Kid by AnimeGirl-Luna and used her sprites for this demo.

Anyway, I rewrote the program in C so it wouldn't make the processor work as hard (Java's really good at that). It behaves essentially the same (except it can only walk, stop, climb walls, fall, and be picked up). Also you have to right-click it to kill it.

The code itself is horrendous. I found out C++ is nothing pretty and Microsoft has terrible documentation and should be ashamed of itself.

Try Shimeji-c for Windows: DOWNLOAD

Eventually I wanna make it so multiple Shimeji's can interact with each other. Maybe let them pick up your desktop icons and throw them.

C++: change application icon

You'd think it'd be more obvious how to give your executable a unique icon. Every application has one. Why should yours be stuck with this:

Visual Studio has a built-in way to set your application's icon. It's just not immediately obvious.

1) In Visual Studio, open the Resource View panel (View > Other Windows > Resource View) or (Ctrl+Shift+E).

2) Right click your project (e.g. Project1), click Add > Resource. If it gives you an error for whatever reason, just try again.

3) In the dialog that pops up, click "Icon" and click "Import..."

4) Choose the icon you want. Make sure you make icons visible because ico's are the only filetype that'll work.

5) Visual Studio automatically takes that icon and tells your executable that's the way it's gonna look. So go ahead and build your project (Build > Build Solution) or (Ctrl+Shift+B). If you go to your project's debug folder (or release folder, depending on which mode you're in) (My Documents/Visual Studio {version}/Projects/{project name}/Debug/) you'll notice your application has a more acceptable appearance.

searches:
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Photoshop: how to export icon

Photoshop doesn't natively export *.ico files.

This plugin makes it so Photoshop (up to CS6) can save icon files.

1) Go to the plugin's download site and download the right plugin. If you have Windows 32-bit, click the second one.

2) Go to Photoshop's file-format plugin directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop {version}/Plug-ins/File Formats/). Copy the 8bi file from the zip you downloaded to the File Formats folder.

3) Restart Photoshop (if you haven't already). Open some image. NOTE: the image's dimensions must BOTH be less than or equal to 256px, otherwise the *.ico option won't appear. SAVE AS *ICO

*) If it asks you how you want to save your icon, choose the ICO option.

searches:
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C++: hide icon from taskbar

C++ has some convoluted way.

Visual Studio has a straightforward way, if you're using a form.

1) Look at your Solution Explorer and open your form's header file

2) Click your form's design space, just to make sure it's in focus

3) In the properties panel, scroll down to "ShowInTaskbar." Set that to "False"

searches:
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