How to Turn Off Thumbs.db From Appearing?

The auto creation of Thumbs.db files in folders with images can get annoying. Before burning photo albums into DVD-R, I often have to go around searching and deleting such files. This can also get annoying for web developers using version control software e.g. TortoiseGit and TortoiseSVN.

Eh .. Sometimes, deleting these files can get the "file is in use and cannot be deleted" prompt. Very annoying.

So what exactly is Thumbs.db? As quoted from Wikipedia,

On Microsoft Windows operating systems, starting with the IE4 Desktop Update for Win95/98, a thumbnail cache is used to store thumbnail images for Windows Explorer's thumbnail view. This speeds up the display of images as these smaller images do not need to be recalculated every time the user views the folder.

Yes we know the purpose of Thumbs.db but what if we still wish to turn off Thumbs.db from appearing? There is a way to do it by tweaking a setting on the Local Group Policy Editor.

1. From the Start Menu, click Run option. Or, you can use Win+R keyboard shortcut.
   
   
2. Type gpedit.msc and hit ENTER key. This will launch the Local Group Policy Editor.
   
   
3. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > then either Windows Explorer (Windows Vista/7) or File Explorer (Windows 8).
   
   
4. Look for "Turn off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files" key and double click on it.
   
   

   

   Local Group Policy Editor

5. Select Enabled and click OK.
   
   
   

» How to Switch Off the Thumbs.db Image Cache File in Windows | Sitepoint

MSSQL: Generate Random String Using SQL

The following will generate a random fixed-length string using SQL. Simply pass in a string of accepted characters and the length of the random string to be generated.

IF ISNULL(object_id('cspRandomString'),0)<>0 DROP PROC cspRandomString
IF ISNULL(object_id('fnGenRandomInteger'),0)<>0 DROP FUNCTION fnGenRandomInteger
GO
CREATE function fnGenRandomInteger(@MinValue int, @MaxValue int, @Seed float)
returns int
as
begin
-- =============================================
-- Author:        Loh Hon Chun
-- =============================================
 return ((@MaxValue + 1) - @MinValue) * @Seed + @MinValue
end
go
CREATE procedure cspRandomString (
 @Result varchar(255) output,
 @AcceptedChars varchar(255),
 @Length int
)
as
begin
-- =============================================
-- Author:        Loh Hon Chun
-- =============================================
 set nocount on

 declare @ret char(255)
 declare @i int, @pos int
 
 set @Result = ''
 set @i = 0

 if LEN(@AcceptedChars) > 0
 begin
  while @i < @Length
  begin
   set @pos = dbo.fnGenRandomInteger(1, LEN(@AcceptedChars), RAND(CONVERT(VARBINARY, NEWID())))
   set @Result = @Result + CAST(SUBSTRING(@AcceptedChars, @pos, 1) AS VARCHAR(1))
   set @i = @i + 1
  end
 end
end
go

declare @result varchar(255)
declare @acceptedChars varchar(255)
declare @length int

set @acceptedChars = '0123456789'
set @length = 7
exec cspRandomString @Result=@result output, @AcceptedChars=@acceptedChars, @Length=@length
print @result
go

11 tips for developing a mobile app that users will love

An article on The Next Web lists out 11 tips for developing a mobile app that users will love.

1. Testing is key
2. Go Deep With Your Users
3. Plan for the Offline Experience
4. Design With Ease of Use
5. Make It Stupid Simple
6. Tailor Your Design
7. Use Grids
8. Cover as Many Platforms as Possible
9. Don't Forget the Importance of Convenience
10. Emulate the Real World
11. Pick One Thing and Nail It

Stop Windows from Restarting Your Computer After Windows Update

Almost always, Windows will always show the "your computer is going to restart in 15 minutes ..." prompt every time Windows Updates is performed. This can get annoying especially when the update setting is set to auto download and update. So I can we make the annoying prompt not to show?

The following fix should apply to both Windows 8 and 7.

1. Open your registry editor by typing regedit from your Start Menu → Run box.
2. Navigate to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. Many may see up to \Windows level. In that case, you will need to create new keys for \WindowsUpdate and \WindowsUpdate\AU.
3. Now, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers under the AU key. Give it a value of 1.
4. Reboot your machine and you are done.

NOTE: It is still your responsibility and is definitely recommended to reboot whenever you are ready to so the updates can be applied completely.

» Stop Windows from Restarting Your Computer After Updates | LifeHacker

What to look out for for responsive adaptable web design?

An article on the Smashing Magazine website - How Much Has The Web Really Changed? discusses what has changed for the past one decade or so in web development. A lengthy but easy-to-read article.

Up until not so long ago, we used to base our designs on some rather general assumptions about screen size and input type. With the rise of devices with various screen sizes and alternative ways to interact, these assumptions have turned out to be unreliable. We need to upgrade the defaults that we use when we start designing our websites.

Google Doodle for Malaysia On Polling Day 2013

Google doodle for Malaysia as the Malaysians go to the poll today.

GS1 Prefix List - How to Determine Origin of Food From Barcodes?

Do you know that it may be possible to determine the country where a food product is manufactured bought from a supermarket by reading the barcodes on the package itself? However, do note that the barcodes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product though hopefully the manufacturer can put our mind at ease if certain countries are in our blacklist.

How to read the barcodes?

1. Turn over the food product and look for the barcode.
   
   
   
   
   
2. The first 3 digits of the barcode will reveal the GS1 Prefix.
   
   
3. Tally with the list below to find out the country where the food product could have been manufactured at.
   
   

   GS1 Prefixes do not provide identification of country of origin for a given product. They simply provide number capacity to different countries for assignment from that location to companies who apply. Those companies in turn may manufacture products anywhere in the world.

   
   

   ASSIGNED GS1 PREFIXES
   000 - 019	GS1 US
   020 - 029	Restricted distribution (MO defined)
   030 - 039	GS1 US
   040 - 049	Restricted distribution (MO defined)
   050 - 059	Coupons
   060 - 139	GS1 US
   200 - 299	Restricted distribution (MO defined)
   300 - 379	GS1 France
   380	GS1 Bulgaria
   383	GS1 Slovenija
   385	GS1 Croatia
   387	GS1 BIH (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
   389	GS1 Montenegro
   400 - 440	GS1 Germany
   450 - 459 & 490 - 499	GS1 Japan
   460 - 469	GS1 Russia
   470	GS1 Kyrgyzstan
   471	GS1 Taiwan
   474	GS1 Estonia
   475	GS1 Latvia
   476	GS1 Azerbaijan
   477	GS1 Lithuania
   478	GS1 Uzbekistan
   479	GS1 Sri Lanka
   480	GS1 Philippines
   481	GS1 Belarus
   482	GS1 Ukraine
   484	GS1 Moldova
   485	GS1 Armenia
   486	GS1 Georgia
   487	GS1 Kazakstan
   488	GS1 Tajikistan
   489	GS1 Hong Kong
   500 - 509	GS1 UK
   520 - 521	GS1 Association Greece
   528	GS1 Lebanon
   529	GS1 Cyprus
   530	GS1 Albania
   531	GS1 MAC (FYR Macedonia)
   535	GS1 Malta
   539	GS1 Ireland
   540 - 549	GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg
   560	GS1 Portugal
   569	GS1 Iceland
   570 - 579	GS1 Denmark
   590	GS1 Poland
   594	GS1 Romania
   599	GS1 Hungary
   600 - 601	GS1 South Africa
   603	GS1 Ghana
   604	GS1 Senegal
   608	GS1 Bahrain
   609	GS1 Mauritius
   611	GS1 Morocco
   613	GS1 Algeria
   615	GS1 Nigeria
   616	GS1 Kenya
   618	GS1 Ivory Coast
   619	GS1 Tunisia
   620	GS1 Tanzania
   621	GS1 Syria
   622	GS1 Egypt
   623	GS1 Brunei
   624	GS1 Libya
   625	GS1 Jordan
   626	GS1 Iran
   627	GS1 Kuwait
   628	GS1 Saudi Arabia
   629	GS1 Emirates
   640 - 649	GS1 Finland
   690 - 699	GS1 China
   700 - 709	GS1 Norway
   729	GS1 Israel
   730 - 739	GS1 Sweden
   740	GS1 Guatemala
   741	GS1 El Salvador
   742	GS1 Honduras
   743	GS1 Nicaragua
   744	GS1 Costa Rica
   745	GS1 Panama
   746	GS1 Republica Dominicana
   750	GS1 Mexico
   754 - 755	GS1 Canada
   759	GS1 Venezuela
   760 - 769	GS1 Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera
   770 - 771	GS1 Colombia
   773	GS1 Uruguay
   775	GS1 Peru
   777	GS1 Bolivia
   778 - 779	GS1 Argentina
   780	GS1 Chile
   784	GS1 Paraguay
   786	GS1 Ecuador
   789 - 790	GS1 Brasil
   800 - 839	GS1 Italy
   840 - 849	GS1 Spain
   850	GS1 Cuba
   858	GS1 Slovakia
   859	GS1 Czech
   860	GS1 Serbia
   865	GS1 Mongolia
   867	GS1 North Korea
   868 - 869	GS1 Turkey
   870 - 879	GS1 Netherlands
   880	GS1 South Korea
   884	GS1 Cambodia
   885	GS1 Thailand
   888	GS1 Singapore
   890	GS1 India
   893	GS1 Vietnam
   896	GS1 Pakistan
   899	GS1 Indonesia
   900 - 919	GS1 Austria
   930 - 939	GS1 Australia
   940 - 949	GS1 New Zealand
   950	GS1 Global Office
   951	GS1 Global Office (EPCglobal)
   955	GS1 Malaysia
   958	GS1 Macau
   960-969	Global Office (GTIN-8s)
   977	Serial publications (ISSN)
   978 - 979	Bookland (ISBN)
   980	Refund receipts
   981 - 983	Common Currency Coupons
   990 - 999	Coupons

Samsung Galaxy S4 Commercial Video - Going Wireless

Official Chrome Extension for Google Keep

Google has released an official Chrome Extension for Google Keep - a task keeping minimalistic app. The Chrome extension can only be installed from the link above i.e. you won't find the app from doing a search.

As quoted from the Google Drive blog post,

The Google Keep Chrome app launches in its own window, so you can create notes, cross out your to-do lists, and attach photos to tasks while you work on other things. And if you don’t have an internet connection, don't fret: the Chrome app works offline because we all know that ideas (big and small) can be sparked at any time.