Tip: Fix Gmail IMAP Inbox

For the past couple weeks, I have had an error appear anytime I go to the inbox. It would just prevent me from downloading any new e-mails in the inbox. I didn’t know why it was happening, just figured Gmail was having some problems. After I heard from people that Gmail was working fine for them, I thought it was probably my profile in Thunderbird.

I didn’t get around to cleaning up my profile and just today thought I would look at my Inbox properties. In the General Information tab, there is a button that says Rebuild Index. I’ve never known what this button does, but thought I would just click on it and see what happens.

Do you know what happened? All of my e-mails in my inbox were downloaded from Gmail!

So, if you ever have problems with your inbox (or other folders), try rebuilding the index to repair whatever is broken.

Good Deals at Super Warehouse

I had purchased a new laptop just recently. I had to do a lot of research and looking around to find that perfect laptop for a good price. It’s great that the costs of laptops are going down, but it seems like you spend less for the cheaper quality ones.

My only regret is that I didn’t find Super Warehouse sooner. It was so hard finding a laptop that could handle the work I do on my desktop at a cheap price (in case my desktop was to ever fail). I pretty much had to search for laptops that were on sale, but there weren’t many that I liked.

If I could afford Apple laptops, I would have actually considered purchasing one. But, for a lot less, I can get something faster and with a larger screen.

Super Warehouse has a very large selection of laptops. I was surprised to see some Sony VAIOs available for cheaper prices than I have seen at other online stores. See for yourself – take a look at the Sony laptop page. There is even one Sony laptop that I had looked at that has a battery life of up to 5 hours! That’s quite a long time.

Even though I was unable to use Super Warehouse to purchase a laptop, I still have a chance to take a look at their digital cameras! I like my digital camera, but it’s very old now. It’s a Canon PowerShot A20, which only features 2.1 mega pixels. The pictures don’t seem to come out as well as they did in the beginning, of course I may just be so used to seeing higher quality ones that the ones I take on my camera look horrible. I wouldn’t mind having a Nikon Coolpix.

I like that Super Warehouse provides a lot of accessories for the products they sell. I hate buying something at a store and then finding out they don’t even sell accessories for it and I have to spend time looking elsewhere.

They sell so many different products, including photo printers, Lexmark printers, printer toner, scanners and PDAs.

Besides some of the affordable prices, they also offer free shipping on many of the products. Check out some of their deals.

Tumblr and Themes

After having seen the Notepad Chaos WordPress theme by Evan Eckard on Smashing Magazine, I wished I had a blog to use it on. Then I realized I had a Tumblr blog that I was using a plain looking Tumblr theme on and have been wanting to make it look better.

I had never touched the code in Tumblr themes, so I didn’t know if I could port a theme over to Tumblr. Fortunately, it was very easy because the theme author had created a single file that had all of the theme code in it, minus the CSS of course.

The Tumblr code is pretty easy to understand and they provide a useful help page that explains each variable and even includes some page examples.

I did eventually learn that I couldn’t upload images on Tumblr, so I had to upload the images elsewhere and point them to the right location in the code.

Once the theme was ready on Tumblr, others started noticing it. In less than 24 hours, my blog was on the Sweet Themes Tumblr page.

So, if you are tired of the Tumblr themes provided, seek out a theme that wasn’t made for Tumblr and customize it for Tumblr! I’m glad mine doesn’t look like everyone else’s (except for the WordPress blogs using the theme). Here are a few sites that offer Tumblr themes:

• Tumblr Themes
• Free Tumblr Themes
• Custom Tumblr Themes

Interested in a custom Tumblr theme? Check out tumblize.

Convert Documents with Universal Document Converter

With some of the work I do, I sometimes have to look at long Word and PDF documents and then have to pull out images. It can sometimes take a while to find the images I need if I don’t know what pages in the document they are located on. If I could view thumbnails of each page, then I could easily find out which pages they are on without opening up Word! I hate looking through PowerPoint slides just to find images, too. If I could just save them as image files, my job could go faster!

There are other reasons for converting documents into other file formats. For example, when exchanging documents, sometimes you may run into people unable to open a file because they don’t have the right software. Solution? Convert to a PDF. Most usually already have Adobe Reader on their computers and if not, it can be downloaded for free.

Another example could be if you wanted to share documents, but don’t want someone to easily copy/paste the text somewhere else.

I tried out Universal Document Converter and it worked very well. It’s very easy to use. It’s not like using new software and then having to learn how to use it. If you know how to print, you already know how to use Universal Document Converter. Read the steps below and/or watch the video tutorial.

Just five easy steps:

1. Open a document.
2. Select File > Print. (depending on the application being used)
3. Select Universal Document Converter in the printer drop-down list.
4. Select Properties to select what file format you want to convert to. Then press OK.
5. Press Print.

This will allow you to save to the file format you had selected in the Properties. It will not print to a printer. It works just like the Microsoft XPS Document Writer does, just saves to a file. (Please note, the Microsoft XPS Document Writer is not a converter!)

After it is done converting, just open up the folder on your desktop labeled UDC Output Files to view your file(s). I was a little worried at first, but it lets you change the default output folder to another location if you choose. There is a readme file in that folder that explains more.

Universal Document Converter can export to eight file formats: TIFF, JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, DCX, PCX and PDF. It also exports in high resolution.

Universal Document Converter is one of those must-have tools!

How to Create a Wish List on iTunes

I use iTunes to find new movies or music, but I have found that I have to add them to the Shopping Cart if I want to go back to them later. That’s probably not actually a good idea, but it worked.

After not hearing from anyone on Twitter about creating a wish list on iTunes, I ended up doing some research and found the solution on the Apple website. It doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t create a built-in wish list though, but this workaround is better than nothing!

First, create a new Playlist in the sidebar of iTunes. If you don’t know how to do this, follow these steps:

1. File > New Playlist (or CTRL + N)
2. Enter in a name for your wish list (example: Wish List)

Now you have a Wish List using the Playlist feature which allows you to play previews of songs or movies from the iTunes Store.

Go into the iTunes Store and search for that awesome movie or song in the iTunes Store that you want to purchase at a later date. As far as I know, the only way this works is if you have a list appear below the Store. If you find a movie or song you like, just enter it in the search box and a list will appear with all the results. Find the one you are looking for.

After you’ve selected the one you want, just drag it over to your Wish List Playlist in the sidebar and then let go. Then if you click on your Wish List Playlist, you should see what you’ve added to it.

This is not the best solution and I think Apple should add a Wish List feature. But until that day comes, this works.

If you have a better way for adding movies or songs to a Wish List for iTunes, please leave a comment!

UPDATE: I forgot to add one other step. When you’re ready to purchase a song or movie in your Wish List, drag it from your Wish List to your Shopping Cart and it will be ready for you to purchase.