How to cook the perfect baked potato...

...and boiled potato. and microwaved potato.

How to Cook a Perfect Baked Potato:

I don't really know what qualifies a baked potato as perfect or why you'd need a baked potato to be perfect, but if that's what you're looking for, your best bet is to cook your potato from 350 to 425 degrees for anywhere from 40-90 minutes.

The truth is, the perfect baked potato only exists in your mind. Experimenting with temperatures and cook times in your own home is the only way to find out how to make your perfect baked potato. As the old saying goes: One man's perfect baked potato is another man's....

While that may not be all that helpful, from my searches across the web, there are a few certainties I've discovered when it comes to baking potatoes... these certainties are:

• Bake your potato at 350 degrees or more.
• Bake your potato for at least 35 minutes.
• If you are cooking other things with your potatoes, your potatoes will take longer to bake.
• Tinfoil is optional.
• Poke your potato to find out when it is done.

That's pretty much it. Experiment and you will find your perfect potato, it may take months, but it will be worth it in the end.

How to Cook the Perfect Boiled Potato:

Here are the most basic instructions for boiling a potato...

1. Clean your potatoes with a brush and some water.
2. Cut off any hardened or dark spots.
3. Peel your potatoes (unless you are planning to bake them after boiling, in which case leaving the skins on is a good idea) and clean them again.
4. Place potatoes in pot.
5. Cover potatoes with one inch of water.
6. Add salt (1 teaspoon per quart of water in pot)
7. Boil

Now that you know how to boil potatoes, it's time to figure out how much time it takes to get a perfect boiled potato every time.

• Small potatoes take 10-15 minutes.
• Medium potatoes take 20-25 minutes.
• Large whole potatoes can take 35-45 minutes.

The times above are based on whole potatoes of that size. If you cut the potatoes into pieces before boiling, the times will correspond with how large the pieces are.

Watch your potatoes while boiling so they don't boil over and check every 5 minutes or so to make sure they aren't turning to soup.


How to Make the Perfect Microwaved Potato:

1. Clean potato.
2. Poke holes in potato to prevent explosions.
3. Put potato in microwave.
4. Cook for 5 minutes on high.
5. Eat.

It's very important to poke holes or the potato will go boom.

You can also experiment with the time as well, since we all don't own the same microwave. Your microwave might be able to do in 3 minutes what my microwave can accomplish in 5. Who knows right? Only you.

Happy Potatoes.

How to create a Wikipedia Random Page loading bookmark

1. Go to Wikipedia.org and bookmark it.
2. Open your Bookmark Menu and right click the Wikipedia bookmark and choose Properties.
3. Change the location (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page or something) to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage (I've only tired the English version but I'm guessing it works for all languages)
   
4. Click bookmark
5. Enjoy

how to remove empty folders from your computer

go here:
http://www.jonasjohn.de/lab/red.htm

download the tool.

run it.

it's that easy.

it says it's not compatible with vista, but i have vista and it worked for me.

i ran it through a folder than had over 3000 folders inside and it picked out all of the empty folders with ease.

pretty much the most amazing tool ever.

How to remove Windows Media Player items from the context menu

I hate when programs add stuff to the context menu (right-click menu) that I don't want to be there.

I always spend more time figuring out how to remove the context menu items than I do using the program (an exaggeration, but not much of one).

The Windows Media Player context menu items can include the following:

"Add to Now Playing List"
"Add to Playlist..."
"Add to Sync List"
"Add to Burn List"
"Add to I'm sure there are others"

This is how you remove that stuff for good:

1. Click on the Start Menu
2. Click Run (or use the search area)
3. Type in regsvr32 /u wmpshell.dll
4. Click Enter

Step 1-4:



The aftermath:

*Notice* - it should be noted that doing the following will also cause your files to not open immediately when you double-click them. You'll be taken to the default program screen. And that's a whole new pain in the behind. The "play all" option on Vista folders won't work either.

So if you later want to restore, follow the same instructions but enter regsvr32 wmpshell.dll instead.

how to uninstall lightscribe

how to uninstall lightscribe

Open the Lightscribe folder and look for an installer package labeled LS_HSI. Double-click/run the LS_HSI file. That should get the job done.

You can also use a program like CCleaner to remove it.

1. Open CCleaner.
2. Click Tools.
3. Click Uninstall.
4. Search for Lightscribe.
5. Select it.
6. Click Run Installer.

how to download youtube videos

how to download youtube videos

2010 is coming to an end and people still don't know how to rip videos from youtube. I've seen tutorials that make no sense and tutorials that force the user to install pirated software to get the job done. There are many ways to rip videos from youtube... here's how I do it.

1. Install firefox.

2. Go here and install the videodownloadhelper add-on.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006/

3. Restart your browser.

4. Go to the youtube video you want to download.

5. Download it using the newly installed videodownloadhelper add-on.

• When you open the youtube video page, you'll see the icon light up and animate.
• Click the down arrow beside the icon and choose the what quality you want to download the video in. Sometimes there's 1 option, sometimes there's 5 or 6.
• Once you've selected the video quality, a dialog screen will open and you can select where you want to save the video.
• Click save and you're wait.
• When the video is done, use VLC or something and watch that video like there's no tomorrow.

How to upload more than 5 images at a time to blogger

How to upload more than 5 images at a time to blogger

Blogger only allows you to upload 5 images at a time. This is a big time hassle if you're trying to upload a ton of pics. To get around it, just add the Drag Drop Uploader add-on to Firefox.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2190/

Once added you just:

• open the folder with the images you want to upload
• highlight the images
• drag the images into the upload images box
• click the upload image button

With pictures:

1. Open folder and highlight images.



2. Drag and drop into blogger image uploader.



3. Click the upload image button.



*Note*

The Drag Drop Uploader tool works with all sites, but I've only seen it go over the max number of photos in Blogger.

how to get your recycle bin back on your desktop after you have deleted it in windows vista

how to get your recycle bin back on your desktop in windows vista

It seems pretty stupid, but I recycle my recycle bin right off my desktop at least once every two months, and I always forget how to bring it back. So I go on a Google search and waste at least three precious minutes of my valuable time figuring out how to get it back. That time wasting ends today.

Here's how you get your recycle bin back after you've deleted it:

1. Right-click on your desktop and select personalize from the menu.
2. Click the change desktop icons menu option in the upper-left corner.
3. Check the recycle bin box.
4. Done.

And now with pictures:

1. Right-click on your desktop and select personalize from the menu.



2. Click the change desktop icons menu option in the upper-left corner.



3. Check the recycle bin box.



4. Done.

How to cancel a friend request on Facebook

You can't do this by simply pressing a cancel button, but you can clear a Facebook friend request if you so choose.

It's really simple, to clear a Facebook friend request, just go to your Facebook privacy settings and edit your Block List.

Enter the person's name and block them, then unblock them.

When you go back to their profile, the friend request will be cleared.

Note:

You can also do this in groups where people haven't responded to join requests, but only if you're an Admin. I'm not sure if it works for Officers, I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

How to Remove Windows Media Player from your Right-Click Properties box

How to Remove Windows Media Player from your Right-Click Properties box

I don't know how many people this will help, but it sure helped me.

First I'll show you what I'm talking about:



That's not my pic, I lost my original one and didn't think to take a screenshot before trying yet another fix.

The problem (if you view it as one) is Windows Media Player being integrated into your properties box. Any time right-click properties on a media file, the above appears. This might not seem like a huge problem, and it wouldn't be... if it didn't autoplay.

Yes, it autoplays the file. If you wear headphones, have roommates, family, or simply don't enjoy having the life scared out of you, this is a huge problem.

Another problem, is the autoplay doesn't turn off if you press cancel, only if you press OK. So, if you cancel it, you have to restart your computer to shut it up. Or you have to restart explorer.

Anyways, here is how I removed the Windows Media Player Properties integration:

You simply remove Windows Media Player Context Menu Integration.

You do this by:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in regsvr32 /u wmpshell.dll
4. Click Enter

There's a problem though, it removes WMP as your default player and latches programs onto other stuff. My movies opened with VLC, I was fine with that, but my MP3 files opened with Depositfiles Uploader. Weird.

I was afraid to bring the WMP Context Menu Integration back, but I had to or I'd be stuck with an even bigger hassle with my MP3's.

Here's how you enable WMP context menus :

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in regsvr32 wmpshell.dll
4. Click Enter

Lucky for me, the properties menu integration disappeared. I have no reason to believe this won't work for all systems.

So, step by step:

Disable WMP Menu Integration by following these steps:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in regsvr32 /u wmpshell.dll
4. Click Enter

Then re-enable WMP Menu Integration by following these steps:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in regsvr32 wmpshell.dll
4. Click Enter

and your problem should be gone.