So running the calibration tool is pretty easy, just follow the included directions but note, on a dual monitor setup run it on your primary monitor first. The one marked “1” in the display settings. After the tool completes its going to install an application that runs on startup and makes sure the correct profile is loaded. This profile will be put in the directory I stated above. Now after this is done, go into that directory and rename the profile. I renamed mine from Spyder2Express.icm to Spyder2Express_right.icm and when I do the left monitor I will rename that one ‘_left’.

After this you’ll want to take your monitors and switch the primary monitor to your secondary. This way you can run the software on the other monitor now. Restart the machine and once the new primary monitor is set run the Spyder2Express again. This profile will be in that same directory with the default name again. Rename this one to something, i.e. “_left”. And you’re done with the calibration tool.

Now after this I go into our color control software, be it Vista’s built in software or our downloaded applet for XP, and I select one of the monitors listed (if you have different makes and models this will be easy, if they are the same it’s a bit of guesswork) and associate it with one of the profiles made, either the _right or the _left profile. Now select the other monitor and associate with the other profile. After applying these changes restart your machine. When the Spyder2Express Software loads up you *should* see a message on each screen where it is loading up the color profile. Now in the silly case where you have two of the same monitor and the color profiles have switched ( you see the _left profile loading on the right) go back into the applet and switch the profiles.

TADA…your done ....email me or post comments on any problems/questions

After buying a second 22”Samsung LCD 226BW. I bought the first one around a year ago, right in the middle of the big panel debate (if you don’t know what I’m talking about search for that model monitor and “S panel”.) Basically Samsung outsourced its panels to a few other manufacturers and while they weren’t “bad” monitors, the Samsung made panels were far better. I got lucky and my original monitor turned out to be a S panel and I have been insanely happy with it.

Flash forward to now, I order a second monitor and receive an “A panel”. While the monitor is very good quality, no stuck pixels, etc there is one problem. The monitor has a SEVERE blue tint to it under normal setup. Using the built in color adjustment I robbed the monitor of almost all blue color, from a setting of “50” to a setting of “5” and there was still a pronounced blue tint. Doing what any normal person would do I decided to spend more money and get a monitor color calibrator.

I wasn’t aware they had dropped so greatly in price, and after searching Amazon.com I ordered this Spyder2Express.

Now after ordering I noticed a serious problem, this product only works on a single monitor. You need the $160 device to support dual monitors. So after a little searching and a little playing I figured out there are ways around it. So here I’m going to outline how to use this with dual monitors on Windows Vista and XP.

PreReq’s :

Windows Vista comes with a built in utility to manage color profiles where as Windows XP does not. Usually color profiles end with a *.icm file extension. These are stored in x:\WINDOWS\System32\Spool\drivers\Color on both a Vista machine and an XP machine.

So if you have windows XP grab the “Microsoft Color Control Applet”, it can be found here Microsoft Color Control Applet and its provided straight from Microsoft. With this applet you get the same control that they now built into Vista. This applet gets installed into the Control Panel. So before you go and run a Spyder2Express there are some things you should know. First uninstall Adobe Gamma, or any type of color profile management software. Including the monitors software i.e. Samsung. After this you’re ready to run the color calibrator.

Isn't it annoying that apple doesn't set a mouse back button in os x, or even give you the option?! Well there is a cure for those of us that cannot live without a back and forward button when browsing with safari and firefox.

Unfortunately DCE hasn't discovered a way to script this yet without relying on software, but we are working on it. Though we have figured out how to remap on Windows XP here, figures. Right now we are using a program called Steer mouse. You have the options to configure each mouse button to whatever you like, including a combination of shortcut keys. In this case we want to bind our back button (button 4) to cmd + [ open safari and your backing with ease. You can set the forward button assigning cmd + ] for mouse button 5. My forward button is set to expose shortcut keys (as seen in the image). To do this you must set temporailty unbind your expose setting to have the key register in steermouse.

Download the steermouse installer here

A guy named W3bbo discovered a beautiful xp theme that has been hidden in Windows. You need winrar to open the file and extract into “%systemroot%\resources\themes\royale noir” To run the theme, double click on “luna.msstyles” inside the new folder (%systemroot%\resources\themes\royale noir) and select “Noir” from color scheme in the apperences dialog box. You do not need any third party hack or software to run this, Code-signed by Microsoft. Download Royal Noir Theme

I've become very accustomed to my mac's apple command location for copy paste operations etc. I'm back and forth between windows and os x and a few times an hour. Windows has something called Scancode keys built in (but not really); this will let you switch the positioning of your alt and ctrl key to act like an apple layout.

Warning!! This is not for novices. DCE is not responsible for you screwing up your registry. Modify your setting at your own risk.

That being sad, it't not that difficult, just protecting my ass. From the start menu open run and type regedit and hit enter. When you're inside regedit goto

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

When your in Keyboard Layout make sure your not in Keyboard Layouts (notice the s for plural). Right click within keyboard layout and create a new Binary Value. (see the image for example) Name your REG_BINARY value to Scancode Map and right click to modify binary data.

For value data you need to input each code individually, no copying and pasting. Enter 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 1D 00 38 00 38 00 1D 00 00 00 00 This will swap the alt with the ctrl key. See the image for an example. Click OK and restart windows.

If done correctly you will be ctrl tabbing through your programs or alt tabbing .... Some good advice is to stop looking at your keyboard or the Key Labeled CTRL functioning as ALT will mess with your brain.

If you hate the way this works just go back into regedit and remove that Scancode Map key, restart, and back to normal.

Here are the resources DCE used if your interested in modding your keyboard more or want to know why this works:

• Scan Code Mapper
• Key Support (download scan code translation table)

Why Microsoft doesn't automatically have cleartype installed and running on their operating system blows my mind. OS X has been cleaning up type for years and Microsoft only offers it to genuine customers if they dare to look at the power toys Microsoft offers. Get cleartype now Get Clear type here

When a web developing problem is solved based around HTML, Javascript,CSS , Ajax, PHP, and MySQL the information is posted for others to learn and not struggle with the same problem.