Another fine piece of comedy from the folks at Jib Jab.

If you ever decide that it's good to roll out new passwords across the board, and you are creating a new account for remote-access to your web server, or some other machine that you can't (easily) gain physical access to... It's smart to not delete a known working account without first testing the new account. I didn't follow this rule and now I am locked out of administrating my web server. Doh!

This guy deserves a StinkFactor.com honorable mention for not only eating a 20x20 cheeseburger from In 'n' Out... but documenting it well with photos.
[ via kottke ]

So here is my beef. I have a sweet Sony Vaio GR notebook. It's a bit dated today, but what isn't dated the day after you buy it? But the worst thing about the notebook from day one is the touchpad.

The touchpad has a setting to disable when mouse is attached, but apparently that is only for PS/2 mice. And the GR series doesn't even have a PS/2 port, so of course any mice I attach is going to be USB.

I hated the touchpad getting in my way so much (even with the settings adjusted), I just disabled the mouse completely via a registry hack. But now since I bought my new Dell XPS desktop, my notebook is secondary, and I have moved my coveted Logitech mouse over to my desktop. So I have enabled touchpad again and have started using it again.

My main problem with the touchpad is that I can never find the correct setting that allows me to move my pointer around freely without it measuring that I am also clicking along the way. To me, the touchpad is only for moving the pointer. The two buttons below the touchpad are how you click. Imaging if your mouse thought that you wanted to click because the pressure in which you were resting your hand on it changed? Some might like that idea, but I don't.

I will be blunt, none of the setting with the default Synaptics touchpad software allows you to make your touchpad non-clickable. You must update your driver. You can going to the Synaptics website and download the appropriate driver yourself (near the bottom of the page). You must reboot.

When accessing the new touchpad software you may think as I did that you have even LESS controls before. I about flipped my lid when I first saw the new menu. But you have to to the "Device Settings" tab, and click on the "Settings..." button. Here is where most of the settings are editable at. Go to the "Tapping" node, and then uncheck the "Enable Tapping" feature. Done.

BTW... the updated Synaptics software does a much betting job at tell you exactly what each feature does. The default software does not give you any description of what the settings are doing.

Hope it helps.

I have spent the past week on a ranch in Utah. Time to get back to life.