Label a Flash Drive with Your Name and Number

Readers are submitting their best life hack for a chance to win an autographed copy of our new book, Upgrade Your Life. Here's our latest winner.
Reader Jill carries her life on a thumb drive and if she loses it, she wants to make it as easy on the person who finds it as possible to return the drive. Jill writes in:

I've been messing around with a way to mark my thumb drive so it will (maybe) be returned if I lose it. Chances are, I won't actually "lose" it; I will leave it at the house of a friend or at work. But I want to get it back—ASAP—without having to call all over the universe to find it. Of course, the drive is encrypted so i don't need to worry about data falling into the wrong hands. I only worry about having to rebuild EVERYTHING because I carry my life on my thumb drive.

After trying out a splash screen and a launch.bat file, Jill decided she wanted something simpler and more obvious. She says:

I decided to just label my drive something other than "Removable Disk" and add an eye-catching custom icon to it.

So I created a next text file in Notepad, typed the word:

[autorun]

And saved it to the root directory—the "main" area of your drive, not in a folder—as autorun.inf.

I chose a big yellow smiley face for my icon but any brightly colored, unusual icon will be easily noticed. I copied the icon to the root directory of my thumb drive and renamed it myicon.ico.

Then I opened my autorun.inf file and added this text:

icon = .\myicon.ico
label=My Name (mobile xxx-xxx-xxxx)

(Of course, you will substitute your name and your mobile number for the above text.) I saved the file and marked it "read only" and hid it (just as an added sense of security—a lot of people have not learned how to tweak their "Show hidden folders" settings and, thus, will not be tempted to delete or
edit the file.)

Once I unplugged and re-inserted my thumb drive, it looked like this:

Nice! Congratulations, Jill! Your smiling USB drive label just earned you an autographed copy of Upgrade Your Life. Ok, tomorrow is the absolute final day of the contest, with just one copy of the book left. Submit your best life hack to win it now!

Convert Word Documents to Cruft-free HTML

Anyone who's tried saving a Word document as a web page knows you get way more than you bargained for in the HTML and CSS department in the result. The Productivity Portfolio blog offers two alternatives when you want to zip a .DOC to a .HTML file in a jiffy without all the cruft: Using the online Word HTML Cleaner at Textism (files up to 20K only), or sending yourself the document via Gmail and hitting the "View as HTML" link. Handy.

Word HTML File Conversion Tips and Resources [Productivity Portfolio]

20 Things You Can Use Twice Before Tossing

1. Dry Cleaning Bags: Use to pack suits, dresses and fine clothing when travelling, this will help protect it from wrinkles when packing. When storing the bags make sure to keep them safely out of reach of children, they really are that dangerous.
2. Butter Wrappers: Once you’ve removed a block of butter from its wrapping, place the wrapping in a plastic container or bag and refrigerate. Use it to grease baking pans.
3. Business Cards: Use the other side to label storage boxes and tubs and tape to the outside of the lid or side so you can see at a glance what the container is holding.
4. Used Envelopes: These make excellent lists for groceries, To Do lists, bookmarks and labels.
5. Cardboard Egg Cartons: You can use these to make homemade firestarters.
6. Tissue Boxes: Once they’re empty you can use these as a plastic bag dispenser, just fill with grocery bags and you’ll be able to neatly pull out one at a time.
7. Plastic Grocery Bags: Use as garbage pail liners, paint tray covers, packing material.
8. Plastic Bread Clips: Save a few of the square plastic clips that keep bread bags closed to use as tiny scrapers. They come in handy to remove labels, price tags, and even do a good job scratching lottery tickets.
9. Newspaper: Line kitty litter boxes for easy cleanup (top with kitty litter), protect work surfaces from crafts & interior paint jobs, giftwrap, use as packing material when moving or shipping.
10. Plastic Strawberry Baskets: Use as a homemade bubble machine, hold small packets in the pantry.
11. Cleaner Spray Bottles: Clean thoroughly and use to hold your homemade cleaners, use to spray plants…very important to clean thoroughly first.
12. Mesh From Veggie Bags: If you buy veggies that are bagged in nylon mesh, you can use that mesh for various cleaning jobs around the house and yard. Just wad up the bag and use it as a scrubber.
13. Styrofoam Food Trays: Clean thoroughly, wrap in foil then use as trays for giving gifts of baking.
14. Pantyhose: Use in the garden to tie plants to stakes, make shower spa bags plus there are 20 ideas found here.
15. Paper Towel Cardboard Rolls: Use to wrap extension cords, Christmas lights (keep untangled).
16. Citrus Peels: Use to make your own homemade citrus cleaners, candy peels to use in baking or freeze the peels to use for zest in recipes as needed, Save your peels from citrus fruits like lemons and oranges. You can toss them in the fire place when you have a fire going to give the room a nice, fresh smell.
17. Packing Foam Peanuts: Save them and reuse when packing breakables, storing Christmas decorations or sending gifts in the mail
18. Brown Paper Bags: Once used, twist into small rolls and use as fire starters.
19. Laundry Bottle Caps & Scoops: Wash thoroughly and use as sandbox, pool, bathtub toys or pet food scoopers (for dried food).
20. Cereal Liner Bags: Clean and use for stacking meat patties before freezing, store bread crusts, cover food in the microwave.

Creative Ways to Reuse "Disposable" Items

We asked earlier this week what disposable items you had found clever re-uses for, and the answers are in. Not surprisingly, some of you have some pretty crafty uses for household goods that usually end up at the curb. From CD-R spindles to corks, twist-ties to tissue boxes, lots of supposedly one-use items can save you money, free up space, and be seriously handy when the need arises. After the jump, a roundup of our readers' waste-reducing reuses. Yogurt photo by Dan4th, all others by How can I recycle this.

CDs/DVDs and their cases

Along with organizing cables and toting bagels, both borked and discarded CD- and DVD-Rs and the spindles they came in can find second lives:

• "The (spindle) covers can be turned upside-down and used as small tabletop bins as well (especially the 50 and 100-packs)."—kureshii
• "An outer plastic container from a 50-spindle of CDs or DVDs makes a great desk pen or craft tool holder if you tuck toilet-paper tubes into it."—kevinw1.
• Commenter mrs_helm said she's heard that used CDs/DVDs hung outside will repel flies, while kevinw1 ties them to tree branches to keep birds away from his seedlings and plants.
• mrs_helm's other CD/DVD re-use: "Cover one side with felt and place under breakable figurines so they don't scratch the furniture." They might also work under furniture on hardwood floors, provided you can cover them with the right material.

Photo by How can I recycle this.

Dryer sheets

We've long been fans of the pan-cleaning, shoe de-stink-ifying, anti-static dusting squares, and our readers have even more novel uses for them:

• "Used dryer sheets will clean your iron - just run the iron over it on medium heat."—kuisine
• "Stick used dryer sheets into drawers to keep clothing smelling nice."—ac042186.

Photo by Fuzzy Gerdes.

Plastic containers

There's no clear consensus, at least among commenters, as to whether it's safe and prudent to re-use plastic bottled water containers (urban legend buster Snopes.com has a somewhat mixed answer to the standard claims), but, along with re-using plastic grocery bags, cutlery and storage containers, they keep their plastics out of the landfill with some crafty uses:

• "Plastic yogurt containers make great starter pots for seedlings."—elsifer.
• "... The Stonyfield quart-sized yogurt containers are marked as dishwasher safe. We make our own chicken stock, and freeze it in those yogurt containers."—skyesong.
• "The plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in make for a great umbrella bag (when you have to carry your wet closed umbrella into your office, etc."—Thunderpants.
• "Plastic Chinese food containers: store miscellaneous parts in my garage."—gargouille.
• "I sell and trade a lot of used books, so I cut up the heavy plastic wrap from the cases of bottled water and use it as a waterproof liner for shipping. I use brown paper cut from grocery bags for the outer wrapper."—gwynn1101.
• Photo by MiRo740.

  Odds and ends

  Objects that seemingly have only one specific purpose—keeping your wine fresh, dispensing tissues, and the like—are no match for our space-minding, clutter-savvy readers:

  • "2 wine corks can make a quick and easy laptop stand."—Brad N. (and previously explained in detail by reader George).
  • "I save those pop-up tissue boxes for the car. They make great trash receptacles and it is easy to tell when they are full."—RubberduckGrrl.
  • "I have saved every twist-tie I've come into contact with, and I end up re-using every one. Keep your pens together in your bag. Ear bud cables organized at the gym. Chip clips. Shower curtain rings. Any tech cable that's snaking around the room. Half of that single-serve bag of coffee."—Transuranic.
  • "Nylon mesh from fruits and veggies can be used to protect glassware (mostly bottles)."—ac042186.

Why You Should Clean Your Keyboard--Right This Minute

A new UK study shows that keyboards swabbed from an ordinary London office had more harmful bacteria than—you know what's coming—a toilet seat. Yeeks!

The accompanying survey showed that most users clean their keyboard infrequently (if at all), and clean their mouse even less often. Here's what you do: shut down your PC, unplug your keyboard and mouse, shake out any dust, lint and other crap, and wipe 'em down with disinfectant alcohol wipes. Right this very minute. For a more thorough cleaning which involves disassembly and compressed air, see this step by step guide. Or if there's just one or two rogue crumbs you'd like to fish out from between the G and H keys, use a piece of Scotch tape.

Run Commands for Windows XP

Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
Accessibility Wizard - accwiz
Add Hardware Wizard - hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools - control admintools
Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard - fsquirt
Calculator - calc
Certificate Manager - certmgr.msc
Character Map - charmap
Check Disk Utility - chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer - clipbrd
Command Prompt - cmd
Component Services - dcomcnfg
Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
Control Panel - control
Date and Time Properties - timedate.cpl
DDE Shares - ddeshare
Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
Direct X Troubleshooter - dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility - cleanmgr
Disk Defragment - dfrg.msc
Disk Management - diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager - diskpart
Display Properties - control desktop
Display Properties - desk.cpl
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility - drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility - verifier
Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
Files and Settings Transfer Tool - migwiz
File Signature Verification Tool - sigverif
Findfast - findfast.cpl
Firefox - firefox
Folders Properties - control folders
Fonts - control fonts
Fonts Folder - fonts
Free Cell Card Game - freecell
Game Controllers - joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (for xp professional) - gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game - mshearts
Help and Support - helpctr
HyperTerminal - hypertrm
Iexpress Wizard - iexpress
Indexing Service - ciadv.msc
Internet Connection Wizard - icwconn1
Internet Explorer - iexplore
Internet Properties - inetcpl.cpl
Keyboard Properties - control keyboard
Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows - logoff
Malicious Software Removal Tool - mrt
Microsoft Chat - winchat
Microsoft Movie Maker - moviemk
Microsoft Paint - mspaint
Microsoft Syncronization Tool - mobsync
Minesweeper Game - winmine
Mouse Properties - control mouse
Mouse Properties - main.cpl
Netmeeting - conf
Network Connections - control netconnections
Network Connections - ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl
Notepad notepad
Object Packager - packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator - odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard - osk
Outlook Express - msimn
Paint - pbrush
Password Properties - password.cpl
Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor - perfmon
Phone and Modem Options - telephon.cpl
Phone Dialer - dialer
Pinball Game - pinball
Power Configuration - powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes - control printers
Printers Folder - printers
Regional Settings - intl.cpl
Registry Editor - regedit
Registry Editor - regedit32
Remote Access Phonebook - rasphone
Remote Desktop - mstsc
Removable Storage - ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests - ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (for xp professional) - rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras - sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks - control schedtasks
Security Center - wscui.cpl
Services - services.msc
Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows - shutdown
Sounds and Audio - mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game - spider
SQL Client Configuration - cliconfg
System Configuration Editor - sysedit
System Configuration Utility - msconfig
System Information - msinfo32
System Properties - sysdm.cpl
Task Manager - taskmgr
TCP Tester - tcptest
Telnet Client - telnet
User Account Management - nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager - utilman
Windows Address Book - wab
Windows Address Book Import Utility - wabmig
Windows Explorer - explorer
Windows Firewall - firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier - magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure - wmimgmt.msc
Windows Media Player - wmplayer
Windows Messenger - msmsgs
Windows System Security Tool - syskey
Windows Update Launches - wupdmgr
Windows Version - winver
Windows XP Tour Wizard - tourstart

Are you Smart ??

Even if u answer **five** questions its great...Feel proud...

1. What programming language is GOOGLE developed in?
2. What is the expansion of YAHOO?
3. What is the expansion of ADIDAS?
4. Expansion of Star as in Star TV Network?
5. What is expansion of "ICICI?"
6. What does "baker's dozen" signify?
7. The 1984-85 season. 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot - India 210/3 with Vengsarkar 94*. Match abandoned. Why?
8. Who is the only man to have written the National Anthems for two different countries?
9. From what four word expression does the word `goodbye` derive?
10. How was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu better known?
11. Name the only other country to have got independence on Aug 15th?
12. Why was James Bond Associated with the Number 007?
13. Who faced the first ball in the first ever One day match?
14. Which cricketer played for South Africa before it was banned from international cricket and later represented Zimbabwe ?
15. The faces of which four Presidents are carved at Mt.Rushmore?
16. Which is the only country that is surrounded from all sides by only one country (other than Vatican )?
17. Which is the only sport which is not allowed to play left handed?



HERE ARE THE ANSWERS
1. Google is written in Asynchronous java-script and XML, or its acronym Ajax ..
2. Yet Another Hierarchy of Officious Oracle
3. ADIDAS- All Day I Dream About Sports
4. Satellite Television Asian Region
5. Industrial credit and Investments Corporation of India
6. A baker's dozen consists of 13 items - 1 more than the items in a normal dozen
7. That match was abandoned after people heard the news of Indira Gandhi being killed.
8. Rabindranath Tagore who wrote national anthem for two different countries one is Indian's National anthem and another one is for Bangladesh- (Amar Sonar* *Bangla)
9. Goodbye comes from the ex-pression: 'god be with you'.
10. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is none other Mother Teresa.
11. South Korea ..
12. Because 007 is the ISD code for Russia (or the USSR , as it was known during the cold war)
13. Geoffrey Boycott
14. John Traicos
15. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
16. Lesotho surrounded from all sides by South Africa ..
17. Polo

History behind the Branded Names

History behind the Branded Names:-

1. Akai — named for its founder, Masukichi Akai.

2. Adidas — from the name of the founder Adolf (Adi) Dassler.

3. Accenture — from "Accent on the future".

4. BenQ — Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life.

5. Bridgestone — named after founder Shojiro Ishibashi. The surname Ishibashi means "stone bridge", or "bridge of stone".

6. Canon — Originally (1933) Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory the new name (1935) derived from the name of the company's first camera, the Kwanon, in turn named after the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy.

7. Casio — from the name of its founder, Kashio Tadao, who had set up the company Kashio Seisakujo as a subcontractor factory.

8. Chevrolet — named after company co-founder Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss-born auto racer. The company was merged into General Motors in 1917 and survives only as a brand name.

9. Cisco — short for San Francisco. It has also been suggested that it was "CIS-co": Computer Information Services was the department at Stanford University where the founders worked.

10. Colgate-Palmolive — formed from a merger of soap manufacturers Colgate & Company and Palmolive-Peet. Peet was dropped in 1953. Colgate was named after William Colgate, an English immigrant, who set up a starch, soap and candle business in New York City in 1806. Palmolive was named for the two oils (Palm and Olive) used in its manufacture.

11. Comcast — from communications and broadcast.

12. Compaq — from computer and "pack" to denote a small integral object; or: Compatibility And Quality; or: from the company's first product, the very compact Compaq Portable.

13. Daewoo — company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means "Great House" or "Great Universe" in Korean.

14. Dell — named after its founder, Michael Dell. The company changed its name from Dell Computer in 2003.

15. DHL — named after its founders, Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn.
16. FedEx — abbreviation of Federal Express Corporation, the company's original name.

17. Ferrari — from the name of its founder, Enzo Ferrari.

18. Fiat — acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin).

19. Fuji — named after Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan.

20. Hitachi — old place name, literally "sunrise".

21. Honda — from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda.

22. Intel — Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore initially incorporated their company as N M Electronics. Someone suggested Moore Noyce Electronics but it sounded too close to "more noise" — not a good choice for an electronics company! Later, Integrated Electronics was proposed but it had already been taken, so they used the initial syllables (INTegrated ELectronics). To avoid potential conflicts with other companies with similar names, Intel purchased the name rights for $15,000 from a company called Intelco. (Source: Intel 15 Years Corporate Anniversary Brochure).

23. Konica — it was earlier known as Konishiroku Kogaku. Konishiroku in turn is the short for Konishiya Rokubeiten which was the first name of the company established by Rokusaburo Sugiura in the 1850s.

24. Motorola — Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company (at the time, Galvin Manufacturing Company) started manufacturing radios for cars. Many audio equipment makers of the era used the "ola" ending for their products, most famously the "Victrola" phonograph made by the Victor Talking Machine Company. The name was meant to convey the idea of "sound" and "motion". It became so widely recognized that the company later adopted it as the company name.

25. MRF — from Madras Rubber Factory, founded by K M Mammen Mappillai in 1946. He started with a toy-balloon manufacturing unit at Tiruvottiyur, Chennai (then called Madras). In 1952 he began manufacturing tread-rubber and, in 1961, tyres.

26. Nestle — named after its founder, Henri Nestlé, who was born in Germany under the name "Nestle", which is German (actually, Swabian diminutive) for "bird's nest".
27. Nike — named for the Greek goddess of victory.

28. Nissan — the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means "Japanese industry".

29. Nokia — started as a wood-pulp mill, the company expanded into producing rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia. The company later adopted the city's name.

30. Nortel Networks — named from Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bay Networks. The company was originally spun off from the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd in 1895 as Northern Electric and Manufacturing, and traded as Northern Electric from 1914 to 1976.

31. Philips — Royal Philips Electronics was founded in 1891 by brothers Gerard (the engineer) and Anton (the entrepreneur) Philips.

32. Reebok — alternate spelling of rhebok (Pelea capreolus), an African antelope.
33. Samsung — meaning three stars in Korean.

34. Sony — from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang word used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster, "since we were sonny boys working in sound and vision", said Akio Morita. The company was founded as Tokyo Tsoshiu Kogyo KK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) in 1946, and changed its name to Sony in 1958. Sony was chosen as it could be pronounced easily in many languages.

35. Sprint — from its parent company, Southern Pacific Railroad INTernal Communications. At the time, pipelines and railroad tracks were the cheapest place to lay communications lines, as the right-of-way was already leased or owned.

36. Toshiba — named from the merger of consumer goods company Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co) and electrical firm Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura Engineering Works).

37. Toyota — from the name of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name. The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan.

38. Wal-Mart — named after founder Sam Walton.

39. Wipro — from Western India Vegetable Products Limited. The company started as a modest Vanaspati and laundry soap producer and is now also an IT services giant.

Intresting Ads... again :-)

World’s biggest ad space?

This one is the biggest ad in Russia. It’s square size is more than one and a half acres! (6000 m2). It is situated in the center of Moscow city and has a few full size cars sticked to it, with back lights and headlights on in the evening.

Rain Forecasting Umbrella relays info via lights

Turning a drab dull in to vivid lights is this cool rain gear from Materious. This concept umbrella features a LCD handle that that indicates the weather status by displaying different colored lights. White lighting indicates a sunny day and blue light indicates light rains. A dark blue hue indicates heavy showers. While it doesn't do all the predictions via magic, the hub that the umbrella rests on takes info via the net using WiFi.

Some of the good ads!!!

Undoubtedly the best name ever