Category Archives: Software Tips

Access MySQL server over SSH tunnel using Navicat

Today was my first time to access a MySQL server over a SSH tunnel in Navicat. After a bit of trial and error I was finally able to achieve success 🙂 Here are the main things I learned: #1 On the client machine running Navicat, use the same credentials that you would use if you were at the console of the remote server. In this case localhost and port 3306 #2 On the SSH tab, use the remote server’s IP

Acer Aspire M5 583P wifi driver fix

Q. Here us a wifi driver question from a reader comment: hello, coming to u again for some help, this time im upgrading athe hdd to an ssd on an Acer Aspire M5 583p-9688. here is a rundown on what ive attempted. cloned original hdd to ssd using paragon software ( was successful when i cloned the hdd for the asus laptop). physically swapped the drives. f12 settings changed UFEI boot settings to Legacy, placed SSD on top of the

BCM20702A0 Dell drivers for Windows 8.1 [SOLVED!]

Q. Hello, I have a Dell laptop running a clean install of Windows 8.1 but I have an Unknown Device ‘BCM20702A0’… do you know what driver I can download to to fix it? A. Here is the download link for the driver that should solve your BCM20702A0 Unknown Device issue: mirror (to be added), Dell dl link     Supported Laptop/Notebook models: Systems Latitude E5420 Latitude E5430 Latitude E5520 Latitude E5530 Latitude E6220 Latitude E6230 Latitude E6320 Latitude E6330 Latitude E6420

Safely install ImgBurn without OpenCandy malware

Without a doubt ImgBurn is an awesome ISO creation too. However, at some point in the past they started bundling OpenCandy with ImgBurn. OpenCandy is an adware application that many people feel falls within the definition of malware or spyware.  This is obviously quite a bummer! From some of the licensing text and the way the options are presented during installation it seems like OpenCandy installation is inevitable. 🙁 However, if you are willing to check some options and uncheck some

Combine SSD or HDD boot and data partitions on Windows 8

*NOTE: I highly recommend backing up your data and creating restore media before trying ANY of these methods, just in case something goes awry! Today Antony asked the following question: Now that the ssd is successfully installed, my drive is divided into two, in My Computer ihave the Local disk that has the OS inside of it, and i have another drive that has the rest of my free space from the SSD, is there a way to combine the

Google Gmail Auto Responder date selection

Yesterday I was setting up my Gmail vacation responder (Gmail -> Settings -> General -> Vacation Responder) and the date started at July 20th, 2011! Apparently it had been 3 years since I last used the feature 🙂 At first glance I thought I was going to have to click the >> Month button about 30 times. :-(Thankfully after a while I eventually discovered the ‘Today’ link at the bottom of the calendar. Of course clicking THAT link will jump

Adjust XBMC OpenELEC volume via keyboard? [+/-]

It took me a bit of key pressing to finally figure out how to control the volume on my fresh OpenELEC XBMC installation via keyboard. Eventually, I found that a default OpenELEC XBMC installation uses the + and – keys (plus and minus keys) to adjust the volume UP and volume DOWN. Hopefully this tip will save you some time and allow you to enjoy the perfect volume for your movies and TV shows 🙂 PS after my trial and error

Data truncated for column ‘status’ at row 1 [SOLVED]

Recently I encountered the following error: Data truncated for column ‘status’ at row 1 This was specifically in a PHP based web hotel/reservations app that uses MySQL for the database backend. When trying to add a new dropdown option value of ‘departed’, the form submission would always fail with the aforementioned error. Thankfully, the solution was easy once I checked the table/field definitions. The column ‘status’ was of type enum and thus needed to have the ‘departed’ value specifically enumerated in