RSS + uTorrent: automatically download torrents

Autodownloading torrents using RSS is dead simple.

Select Feeds on the left bar

Click Add RSS Feed button. 

Paste the URL in, give it a name, and make sure "Do not automatically download all items" is selected.

I use the following as feeds:

http://www.dailytvtorrents.org/rss/allshows

http://www.ezrss.it/feed/

http://showrss.karmorra.info/feeds/all.rss

When the feeds have loaded, right click and add your favourites

(more details: http://www.utorrent.com/help/guides/rss)

100% disk usage in Windows 8

Using a clean install of Windows 8 x64, I've been noticing an unusual behaviour recently: 100% disk usage at random times for varying periods.

This meant that everything would become completely unresponsive!

The culprit turned out to be the Windows Update background service. While installing updates in the background the disk usage would spike up to 100%.

The only way around is to change the option in Windows Update to download the updates, notify you, and then let you install the updates when you want to. 

I tell windows to install the updates when I'm not going to be using the laptop for a while or at night before shutting it down. No more random disk usage spikes while I'm trying to work!


Update:
The issue can also arise from a failed process in a Hyper-V machine running in the background. Rather than showing it as it's own process, Windows simply encapsulates it under System (which can cause confusion).

A Better Offline Mapping Application for Nexus 7

I used to use OsmAnd, but it really sucks for a number of key reasons:

• offline address search barely works
• you need to specify the municipality instead of the general city

I came across a much better app: CoPilot Live

There's a 14 day free trial, and then you can purchase the app for $10.
After the free trial, the voice guidance and turn-by-turn navigation get disabled. The rest of the app continues to function. I purchased it because I want those features, and it's really inexpensive for what you're getting!

I've probably wasted more in gas in the last few days trying to use OsmAnd for offline routing.

Having used CoPilot Live for 5 days in 4 different cities in Canada, I'm VERY happy with it.

There are some things I've noticed:

• Odd routing at times (but that may just be due to tricky intersections or one way roads)
• When a street name changes from one to the other over the course, it won't always tell me the name I see on the street. (but then when I miss the turn, it recalculates the route!)

Some minor annoyances:

• When looking at the map, it doesn't easily show me green patches for parks (like on Google Maps)
• I wanted to stop and enjoy the day at a small park and couldn't find something nearby easily on there, so I switched over to Google Maps offline cache to find it
• I can't rotate maps to any direction using two fingers like on Google Maps

UPDATE:

When you purchase a license, it is associated to the device. 

I purchased the license while on my tablet, and when I loaded the application on the phone, it wouldn't recognize the license. So either purchase a separate license or continue use the free features on the secondary device.

Automatically close crashed "not responding" applications

My HT-PC is pretty much a stand alone windows box with no input other than my remote control. On occasion  XBMC or some other application will crash, leaving me without a way to End Task. I have to jump on the Remote Desktop Application to kill the application.

This is less than ideal.

I found a free solution that works brilliantly: Restart on Crash
http://w-shadow.com/blog/2009/03/04/restart-on-crash/

Restart on Crash is tiny app sits in the system tray, monitoring specific applications. It will then either close or restart any application that has crashed or is not responding for a certain period of time.

MAME from XBMC (via RomCollectionBrowser or AdvancedLauncher)

To get MAME 0.148u3 to launch from commandline, you need the following syntax

D:\mame0148b_64bit\mame64.exe -inipath D:\mame0148b_64bit\ "%rom%"

In the mame.ini file, you HAVE to specify the exact path for all the directories!
e.g.

rompath                   D:\mame0148b_64bit\ROMS
hashpath                  D:\mame0148b_64bit\hash
samplepath                D:\mame0148b_64bit\samples
...


In order to use it with the XBox 360 Controller, you would need to map the keys in the cfg\default.cfg

<mameconfig version="10">
    <system name="default">
        <input>
            <port type="P1_BUTTON7">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    KEYCODE_C
                </newseq>
            </port>
            <port type="P1_BUTTON8">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    KEYCODE_V
                </newseq>
            </port>
            <port type="P1_START">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    JOYCODE_1_BUTTON8
                </newseq>
            </port>
            <port type="P1_SELECT">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    JOYCODE_1_BUTTON7
                </newseq>
            </port>
            <port type="START1">
  <newseq type="standard">
                    JOYCODE_1_BUTTON8
                </newseq>
     </port>
     <port type="COIN1">
  <newseq type="standard">

                    JOYCODE_1_BUTTON7

                </newseq>
            </port>
        </input>
    </system>
</mameconfig>

Project 64 1.6 - Escape key does not close emulator

PilotWings 64 does not work correctly on Project 64 2.0, but works well enough 1.6

While version 2.0 allows you to remap shortcut keys (like escape to close), 1.6 does not offer this.

I launch Project 64 from XBMC, and I need to be able to hit the escape button on my remote to close the app. The simplest way to accomplish this is to do the following:

1. Create an AutoIT file that will remap Escape to ALT + F4 (to close the emulator)
2. Launch this AutoIT file when you launch Project 64

My AutoIT file to close looks like this:

HotKeySet("{ESCAPE}","replace")

Func replace()
   If WinActive("[CLASS:Project64 Version 1.6]") Then
   Send("!{F4}")
   Exit
   Else
   HotKeySet("{ESCAPE}")
   Send("{ESCAPE}")
   HotKeySet("{ESCAPE}","replace")
   EndIf   
EndFunc
while 1
 Sleep(10)
WEnd

I converted this from an au3 -> exe.
Then I created a batch file that launches the project64Closer.exe and Project 64

@echo off
start D:\project64Closer.exe
"D:\Games\Project64 1.6\Project64.exe" %1

and finally, the RomCollectionBrowser file looks like this

<RomCollection id="1" name="Nintendo 64">
      <emulatorCmd>D:\AutoIT_scripts\project64launcher.bat</emulatorCmd>
      <emulatorParams>%ROM%</emulatorParams>
...

Note: Only downside I have experienced with this is that I have to rename the ROM files so that they do not contain any spaces (I replace them with underscores)

Project 64 command line - launch from front end

When using Project 64 with a front end like RomCollectionBrowser or Advanced Launcher for XBMC (or another front end like Hyperspin), you need to specify the command line format

There is a slight difference depending on the version you use

For 1.6, it's project64.exe %ROM%

For 2.0, it's project64.exe "%ROM%"

the difference is in the quotes!

otherwise you get an Attempt to open file failed error

Remote Desktop Full Screen without Break key

To toggle Fullscreen on Remote Desktop, you need to use CTRL + ALT + BREAK

My laptop keyboard doesn't have a break key;
and turns out neither does the onscreen keyboard in Windows 7

Here's the solution:

-Start "Remote Desktop Connection".
-Click on "Options".
-Click on the "Display" tab.
-On "Display configuation" settings, you can change the "Remote Desktop Connection" display by moving the slider from "Small to Large".
-By moving the "Slider" all the way to large, the display settings will automatically set to "Full Screen".