You've probably come across this message before.

We’ll be using the above Assassin’s Creed 2 trailer as an example of flagged content. Take a look at the location/address bar, and you’ll have something that looks like this:

You’ll want to change it to this, by removing everything after “youtube.com/” up to and including the bold “%2f” and replacing it with a “v/”

Hit enter, and you’ll view the video. The drawback is that you’ll see it the size of your browser window, and you won’t be able to see anything else related to the video:

It takes up the whole space.

It’s a quick hack that doesn’t require anything other than a URL change and takes advantage of the fact that YouTube doesn’t do an age check for embedded videos.

Pidgin stores the buddy list, pounces, preferences, and other data as XML files in a “hidden” directory in Windows. This data can be useful for transferring data between Pidgin clients without reentering your data each time.

To copy/backup your data, head over to C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\.purple\ and copy the XML files.

To transfer them to a Pidgin Portable installation, paste the files in \PidginPortable\Data\settings\.purple\ overwriting any existing files.

Pidgin also stores cached buddy icons in the icons folder of the same directory and HTML logs (if enabled) in the logs folder (which can also be viewed through the main window with Buddies → View User Log.

Scroll to the bottom, make sure Windows Pidgin Options is checked, then click it and Configure Plugin.

Next to Keep Buddy List window on top, click the menu and select Always. Hit Close to both windows and Pidgin should now remain on top of your other windows.

Open Control Panel, enter Accessibility Options, and check the box that says Use ToggleKeys. Hit OK and you now have auditory notification when you hit a “toggle key.”

Head over to about:config in the location bar, then type the following in Filter:

browser.search.openintab

Double click it so that the value becomes true, then restart Firefox.

Type about:config into the URL bar and in the Filter, type the following:

accessibility.typeaheadfind.enablesound

One entry should show up, and the value should by default be true. Double click it to change the value to false. Restart your browser, and changes have been applied.

Head over to the Control Panel, hit Power Options, and click on the Advanced Tab. Under When I press the sleep button on my computer, select from a number of choices. I picked “ask me what to do.”

Head over to Control Panel, head over to Sounds and Audio Devices, and hit the Sounds tab. Scroll down to either Start Windows or Exit Windows and select [None] from the option menu. That’s it!

It allows you to easily take a picture of the current window, the selected window/object, a rectangular region, a freehand region, full screen, and scrolling regions (like a webpage in a web browser). It’ll allow you to save or annotate the image in the same dialog, eliminating the need for pasting into Paint. Other features include a magnifier and a screen color picker.

Download it here.

Disabling the Extras Manager

I don’t need or want to play games or other activities on Skype. By default, the Extras Manager is set to autostart. Head into Tools → Options, then hit Advanced → Advanced Settings. Uncheck the box where it says “Automatically start Extras Manager.”

Hide Unneeded Tabs

I use Skype exclusively for PC to PC calls. I don’t need any of the extra tabs they have, so go into View → Tabs and Panels and uncheck what you don’t need. I personally uncheck all the settings. Enjoy your cleaner Skype!