How to Bypass That 156MB Company of Heroes (CoH) patch problem

After not being able to play CoH for two weeks because I wanted to recover from my sickness more thoroughly this time, I tried logging in and couldn't because the stupid game wouldn't let me install the patch (either via the p2p or not). So this is what I did:

(1) Go to the Relic page to download the latest patch (http://cohpatch.relic.com/). The pain in the ass happens to be the Tales of Valor patch, Company of Heroes 2.601 - 2.602.torrent. 

(2) Since it is a torrent file, this means p2p, and you got to have a bittorrent software to actually download the 156MB patch. Good news, they are free, and a good one would be µTorrent. 
(3) Install µTorrent if you haven't a bittorrent software. Else, double click on the patch torrent you downloaded, and it will open the bittorrent software to start downloading the patch.
(4) Patch finished downloading? You can skip this step if you are not as paranoid as me. I recommend scanning the bastard for viruses and other virulent nonsense, legal website notwithstanding. You can never be sure.
(5) Double click on the patch to start the patch installation. If it runs properly, congrats, you can then start your CoH game. It will do its usual login nonsense and you will be able to start playing again.

If the patch installation doesn't run properly, do the following:
(1) Go to Start -> choose "Run..." Type "msconfig" and press "Ok"
(2) It will open the System Configuration Utility. Go to "General" tab and choose "Selective Startup". Unclick  "Process System.INI file, Process WIN.INI file, Load System Services, Load Startup Items" options (if you are using Windows XP OS)

 (3) Go to "Services" tab, choose "Hide All Microsoft Services". You don't need to disable all (for whatever services that remain.

 (4) Restart your pc
(5) Install the patch
(6) Then go to msconfig again and press "Normal Startup" again to restore your settings.

 

I am also of the opinion that we can actually skip all that nonsense and just restart in safe mode and install the patch.

20 things I learned about Browsers and the Web

This is an online book that Google came up with to teach people about the Internet and other fun geeky facts when they were showcasing Chrome, with illustrations from Christoph Niemann.

Excel(lent) Programming Haha

Last Updated on 21 Oct 2010

Excel Color Palettes


How do you get a macro to run automatically?

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Excel.Range)
Run "[type here object name].[type here procedure name]"
End Sub

Picross 3D Solutions - Easy Level 1

Picross 3D Solutions - Beginner Level 3

Picross 3D Solutions - Beginner Level 2

Coropata for Dummies - Level 44 Solution

Not sure if anyone would be interested. Another no brainer after those crazy levels 39 and 40.

Coropata for Dummies - Level 43 Solution

No brainer. It's a matter of precision. Was thinking of not posting it.

Coropata for Dummies - Level 42 Solution

Always remember for Coropata: use physics not logic.

Coropata for Dummies - Level 41 Solution

Coropata for Dummies - Level 40 Solution

Picross 3D Solutions - Beginner Level 1

Don't laugh at my timings. Haha.

Learning to Drive Privately

Having passed his final theory test last week, the teletubby in my office is getting hyped up in excitement over his upcoming first practical.

It was during a lazy afternoon discussion that I learn belatedly that now the Singapore Police Force is showing the passing rates of Class 3 candidates under private instructors.

TGIF Specials 13: Japanese 四十八手 Shijūhatte

[source:SankakuComplex]

TBBT 1 - Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

First learnt Sam Kass' new variant of the old "Rock Paper Scissors"on my new favourite show, "The Big Bang Theory".

Apparently if you know the other party well, it is likely you will end up in a draw 75 - 80% of the time. But even if people use RPSSL, I think they will still tie a lot, cos everyone wants to be Spock.

Think your Firebox is BORING? Get it a Persona!

Literally.

Personas allow you to choose (note: Mozilla will release an api to create them in web content later) a lightweight theme for your Firefox browser.

So how do you get started?
1) Starting from an ordinary browser...


2) Download from Mozilla Labs' project site for Personas by clicking on "Get Personas for Firefox - Free". Note: It works for Linux, Windows, and Mac (well, duh). You can review the available designs in greater detail there by clicking "More Information -> Available Designs".

3) Remember to restart Firefox upon finishing the download (you will be prompted anyway). You can always check whether your download was successful by going to your Firefox browser's "Tools Menu -> Adds-on". You can see the pretty little firefox icon for Personas under the "Extensions" tab.

4) Or you can see the tiny fox icon at the bottom left of your browser (circled red). Click on it and you can see all offered themes.

5) Choose your favourite, and voila. A pretty new browser. I like the Foxkeh series. For the purpose of the tutorial, I chose Foxkeh Hanabi. If you ever change your mind (or decide to become grey and boring again), click on the tiny little fox icon on the bottom left and choose "Use Default").

Support me by downloading my skin MenchiDreams メンチの 夢幻.

How to Post a YouTube Vidz on Blogger?

Procedure
1. Go to the YouTube link of your desired file
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWn0lxRNqos&feature=user]
2. Copy the contents of the "Embed" Field as shown.

3. Create a new post in Blogger.com and go to "Edit HTML".
4. Type whatever nonsensical crap you want to talk about.
5. Paste the entire crap you copied from the "Embed" field into the Blogger post field, and remove all the crap
before and after the "<\Embed\>" (remember to ignore the \) tag, leaving
6. Recommended: Change the width to 400 and height to 300 for best view in Blogger.
7. Click "Publish Post".

PS: Will not teach how to force autoplay of the video. Got enough complaints already. Anyway check out this guy, he is teaching Photoshop with a really sarcastic commentary. Yet another competitive sufferer. Don't you just love it? Check out his series, You Suck at Photoshop!!!