Life Hacks

Feb 7 2012

Windows 7 Upgrade Hack (Save 60%)

Windows 7 versions have different prices. But what do you actually get from upgrading from one version to another?

Here are the prices for OEM Windows 7 in Malaysia :-

RM 108 - STARTER (OEM)
RM 225 - HOME BASIC (OEM)
RM 275 - HOME PREMIUM (OEM)
RM 349 - HOME PREMIUM (RETAIL)
RM 365 - PROFESSIONAL (OEM)
RM 549 - PROFESSIONAL (RETAIL)
RM 599 - ULTIMATE (RETAIL)

See the difference in prices?

Well, if you’re like me, then the whole point of the upgrade to Windows 7 is for Themes and Aero Tabs. Yeah, the fancy effect you get when changing programs. If you already have Windows 7, you can test it by pressing Win + Tab. All the other stuff in Professional And Ultimate are mostly for corporate-type people. It’s stuff like encryption and connecting to business networks/VPNs and switching to 35 different languages (I just need English).

The problem though is that you don’t have both these awesome things (Themes and Aero Tabs) in the 2 cheapest versions of Win 7 (Starter and Home Basic).  So you have to splurge for at least Win 7 Home Premium. And that can set you back quite a bit.

But wait!! It turns out that in the software world, it actually takes a lot of time to remove something from the program code while still making sure that it works properly. It’s therefore cheaper to just hide the functionality rather than remove it if you want to sell a cheaper version. And lucky for us, it turns out that in Win 7, Microsoft did the same thing. Instead of removing the ability for Starter and Home Basic to have Themes and Aero Tabs, they simply hid it.

Now, it turns out that when you legally buy Windows, then you own that software and can mess around with it however you want (as long as you don’t try to copy and sell/pirate it on to others). So it’s perfectly legal to unlock hidden features in your legal copy of Win 7.

So what do you do then? You buy Win 7 Starter or Home Basic, then use the following hack.

The Hack

Well, of course you could dig through the registry (What? What’s that?) or code something using vbscript (Uhm… I’m lost here) or perhaps change some .dll files (Ok, you’re still speaking nonsense) and unlock those hidden features. But this particular hack is so easy that anybody can do it. Somebody (not me) already made a program that you can just run once.

Panel Personalization 1.2

Download that, run the .exe file inside, and you’re done! Restart your computer and you can now download themepacks for Windows 7 and run them.

Save about RM100 or RM200 and get only the features you need. You can easily save 60% if you buy Starter instead of Home Premium and you can save more if you were thinking of buying the useless Ultimate version.

Of course, I wouldn’t recommend this if I hadn’t used it myself. I used it on my sister’s laptop to upgrade her Home Basic. It worked great and I didn’t have to spend any extra money. (The Home Basic came installed in her laptop). Yes Areej, I hacked your computer. *grin* I hacked it in a good way!!!

Please feel free to share this with your friends. It might save somebody some money.

By Lutfi Torla • Life Hacks • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Nov 7 2011

What does “Working Smart” mean?

Don’t work hard, work smart.

It’s an axiom that’s repeated everywhere. But most people don’t really believe it. Everybody hears it, yes. Everybody repeats it, yes. But most people still don’t truly believe it. When work isn’t finished, the instinctive reaction is to…

…work more hours.

What would you say if someone told you that to finish your work, you should work less hours? Ridiculous! But there you go, sometimes, going against “common” sense is the best thing to do.

Is it really common sense?

They say that Einstein used this quote:

The definition of insane is to do the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

- Albert Einstein? Rita Mae Brown?

So let’s look at that in the context of work. Boss gives you work. You don’t manage to finish it in time. It extends to the next day. Boss gives you more work. You’re late for the first deadline and now have to juggle 2 projects at once.

Obviously this slows down your work on your 2nd project. This makes you even slower and ensures that you don’t finish your 2nd project on time. By that time, the boss has given you 2 more projects. The cycle continues.

So what’s the solution? Well, if you can’t finish it on time, then obviously you need more time right? So you keep working later hours, and even weekends, in the hope of “catching up” and “getting back on track”.

But as you repeat this again and again, you should notice at some point that doing it isn’t giving you results. So, are you fulfilling the definition of insanity? Doing it over and over and somehow expecting it to be different this time?

Oddly enough, most of us never notice it until it’s pointed out to us. Even now, I’m sure you’re reading this and going, “That can’t be right. So working harder isn’t helping me finish my work?”.

After all, you’re using common sense, right?

Uncommon sense & Parkinson’s Law

Let me tell you Parkinson’s law, in the hope that you haven’t heard it before and now think I’m an absolute genius for saying this:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

-  Cyril Northcote Parkinson

As you give yourself more and more time to complete a job, the job becomes harder and harder to complete! Of course, this isn’t true about the complexity of the job in and of itself. It’s just that as you allow it more time, it psychologically becomes more complex to complete.

It might be that you waste more time in stressing and worrying about it. It might be that you spend an unusual amount of time in the planning stage in order to “make sure that everything runs smoothly later on”.

It might just be that since you know at the back of your mind that you have plenty of time, you allow yourself to relax more and goof off more in checking emails and facebook or following silly youtube links. The amount of work that you do will expand to fill the time you set aside for it.

It’s not just goofing off though. You actually spend more time doing the job itself. You spend time doing things that are job-related that don’t actually help you to finish it. Instead of just finishing it, you start spending time choosing the best font, or formatting the paperwork, or other trivial things. Now, imagine if the deadline was 3 hours ago, would you still spend time on that stuff? No! Because it has nothing to do with getting the job done.

So… what to do! What to do if working longer hours DOESN’T help you finish your job? Here’s an idea… work less.

Working less hours = Finish your job faster?

I know, I know. It sounds like a contradiction. How can working less help you finish your job?

1. Your job doesn’t ever finish

Here’s the first answer. But to understand it, you’ll need a huge shift in thinking. Your job doesn’t “finish“. That’s a concept that floated in from nowhere. Your current project might finish, but your job should be one that you’re going to continue for quite some time. Your job is “finished” when you’re fired or retired. Your job doesn’t “finish“.

In that case, what’s the point of working more hours? I don’t mean there’s no point in working at all, or that there’s no point in making sure a job is done well, or even that working more hours won’t do something to lessen your workload.

But you have to notice that at some point, you’re just working too hard. Your life is imbalanced. You’re spending waaaayyyyy too much time on your job and you’re not spending enough time time taking care of the other details in your life. When this happens, everything else just gets screwed up and goes down the drain. At that point, working more hours won’t help you “finish“ your job. Perhaps working less won’t help you ”finish“ it either. But it will have minimal effect on your workload and will do wonders for the rest of your life and your general well-being.

So the first answer is: It’s not about finishing your job. It’s about what’s best for you.

2. Get enough sleep

The second answer… the second answer is interesting, because it’s based on what I said just now in the first answer. If your job requires even a small amount of thought and creativity (like I’m sure it does), then it the results of your job aren’t tied so much to the quantity of time you put in, but rather the quality of time you put in.

When your life is imbalanced, there’s a good chance that you’re not getting enough rest and that your mind is worrying over a hundred tiny details that you haven’t had time to resolve yet. This definitely affects the rest that you get. Less work equals to quality rest.

By working less and getting better rest, you can then think straight and finish your work properly. You get to do quality work. As in, work that you do right the first time around and that you don’t have to go back and fix later on. I’ve found that if you do it rushed the first time around, you’ll only have to go back later and spend even more time to fix it.

So sleep is important. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of super achievers like Benjamin Franklin who supposedly only slept 2 hours a day. I don’t believe those stories. Sleep is important. But these people worked smart. They knew the right thing to do.

Go to work with a sharp mind.

80/20 : The Pareto Rule

Here’s another fancy rule from those people who make observations about life. 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

It’s a simple rule. It’s based on the idea that when you start from 0%, it’s very easy to improve. It needs just a little bit of effort to go to 40%. And going from 40% to 60% needs double the effort. Going from 60% to 70% requires double the effort again. In economics you call it the theory of diminishing returns.

So the question is, how much time should you spend on your work?

Based on the Pareto rule, it follows that if you spend only 20% of your time and effort on your job, you can still get 80% of it done.

HOW???!!!!! I can hear you shouting it from across the room. The idea is that most of what we do isn’t central to our work. We waste time researching when we have enough info, checking emails (yes, checking emails too much is a waste of time), formatting our work to “make it look nice for the boss”, and so on.

Cut away that wasted effort. Focus only on the core part of your job. Ever heard your boss talk about the “core business” of your company? Focus on the core business of your job.

Be the best in your field

Now, all this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t put any effort into work. In fact, you need to put a lot of effort into it. You need to learn everything about your field of work. You need to study it so well that you know every little shortcut and loophole. You need to learn how to use the software at work so that you can use it effortlessly, whether it be Word & Excel or something as complicated as MATLAB.

You need to put so much effort into your job, that when actual work comes around, you don’t have to put in any effort at all.

This is how you put in 20% effort and still get 80% of your results. It’s the people who have no idea how to do their job who work hard instead of work smart.

Most of us, after doing our work, learn to get by with “just enough” skills. If your work deals with Excel everyday, do you go out of your way to learn excel tips and tricks online including new ways to program systems? Do you challenge your skills so that you can solve ever more complicated problems?

But of course, you’ll never have the time to do this unless you work less hours.

Learn how to do your job better. There’s always new things to learn.

It’s all about doing the right thing

Working hard is just doing more. It could be doing more of the wrong thing. In fact, it usually is.

Working smart is when you do the right thing. Because so few do it, it’s enough to do just a little bit. The most successful people know the right thing to do. Then… They worked hard. They did more and more of the right thing. Who can compete with that?

We usually use the terms talent (knowing the right thing to do) and hard work (doing more of it). Hard work can best talent sometimes. But a talent who also works hard?

That’s who you need to be.

By Lutfi Torla • Life Hacks • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Oct 3 2011

Should you hide your flaws?

Face the fact. We aren’t perfect. Humans can’t be perfect and we realize that. However, sometimes we don’t seem to accept the consequences of not being perfect.  It means we will make mistakes. There’s no if about it. It’s a certainty.

But should we publish them? Should we let others know of our mistakes? After all, it would be dishonest of us to hide all our flaws and show people our good side. And nowadays, it’s cool to rebel and tell people of what you did… right?

Don’t be proud of your mistakes! Hide them and be ashamed.

Hiding your own flaws

You don’t need to show your true self. In fact, you should hide your bad parts. Be ashamed. Don’t be proud. The day you’re proud of your flaws is the day you aren’t even trying to get back on the right path anymore.

In fact, go further! Preach against your own mistakes. Tell other people who are doing it that they shouldn’t. It matters not that you’ve done the same. It doesn’t make you a hypocrite, it makes you a person who cares enough to make sure others don’t repeat the same mistake.

There’s an interesting effect of preaching against your own mistakes. Rather than make you sound like a person who’s holier-than-thou (showing off how good you are), the message actually comes out stronger because you can relate better to that person. You can understand his motivations and his thought process much better. It means you can actually tackle his problems at the right place to solve his problem in a better way.

Hiding the flaws of others

You should also hide the flaws of your fellow Muslims. I’m sure you’ve heard it before:

He who covers a Muslim (his mistakes and shortcomings), Allah will cover him in the Dunya and
the Hereafter.

- [Sahih Bukhari]

Projecting a good image

The flip-side of hiding your flaws is that now you’re forced to show only your good side. People generally have a problem with this because they don’t like living a lie. You start having this feeling that what others think of you is false, that you’re not that good and don’t deserve that image. I feel that this is good on 2 counts, both on how it affects you and how it affects others.

First of all, behaviour affects your mindset. It’s not just your thoughts that affect your actions, but also your actions that affect your thoughts. They did a study where they put 2 groups of people to watch the same person. Group A watched him while sitting in a relaxed position while group B watched him while having their arms crossed in front of them (classic disagreeing position). At the end of the test, they surveyed the 2 groups and found those who had crossed their arms had a much higher percentage of disagreeing with the speaker. After doing this a couple of times with multiple groups, they concluded that our posture and our actions affect our thoughts too, not just the other way around.

It makes sense. Now that you’re forced to “act” good all the time around people, at one point you’ll be “acting” good most of the time. Once you’re in the habit, you’ll “act” good all the time. If someone is “acting” good 24/7 for the rest of their life, can you really count that as an “act”? And little by little, it does affect your thought process.

Second, it’s also a good influence on others. No matter how hypocritical you feel, people will only know the image you project. If enough people in society project the same good behaviour, it will be considered the normal behaviour for everyone. The environment that you are in will then be a culture of being kind and just and trustworthy, simply because everyone is that way.

When you’re online

It’s even more important nowadays with our speed of communication and how we interact online. Assuming that everyone has an online presence (no matter how small), how would you like that presence to represent you? Have you ever googled yourself?

When communication is this fast, there’s a tendency to press “Send” before thinking things through. Look at all the comments we have on forums and on youtube.

The lines also get blurred between private and public communication. I’m sure you’ve seen people sending what seems to a private message and posting on another person’s facebook wall? It happens all the time on Twitter too.

Keeping these things in mind, it’s probably best to start worrying about your image online as well. Nowadays, you have potential employers googling you, current employers facebooking you and colleagues or clients checking online to see who you are and what you’re worth. It’s high time to start worrying about how you look online as well as offline.

Your reputation

I think that in the end, your reputation is something that is important and that you need to maintain. It isn’t evil or even bad to want to protect your image. Rather it is a natural reflex and a good reflex. It shows that you are still ashamed and understand that your mistake is not something to be proud of and flaunted to the world.

My entire nation is safe, except al-Mujahirin (those who boast of their sins). Among the Mujaharah is that a man commits an (evil) act, and wakes up in the morning while Allah has kept his (sin) a secret, he says: “O Fulan! Last night I did this and that.” He goes to sleep while Allah has kept his (sin) a secret but he wakes up in the morning and uncovers what Allah has kept a secret!

- [Sahih Bukhari]

That feeling you have of wanting to hide your flaws and make yourself look good in front of others? It’s not wrong to feel that way. That is, as long as you stick to the truth…

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P.S. I couldn’t find words for this. It’s been on the back burner for quite a while. The date on my drafts here says July 2011!

By Lutfi Torla • Life Hacks • 0 • Tags: , , ,

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