Category Archives: Other Software

Disable the insert key

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I just got my new Lenovo notebook (T430s). Compared with the previous version of this laptop, one important change is the keyboard. Lenovo now favors the chiclet or island style “Precision” keyboard. No page up and down in the upper right corner and the delete key in the upper most right corner next to the insert key.
I never use the insert key and often hit it accidentally.
 
I looked for ways to disable the insert-key (I can’t remember I have ever used it in the past years). I found the following (taken from http://superuser.com/questions/31794/windows-insert-key-anti-functionality-accidentally-triggers-how-to-stop-it-perm ):
 
Almost anyone
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Microsoft Office language packs for free

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I have a German version of Office 2010 professional, but often, I wish I had the English version. If I am reading a book on Excel Pivot Tables in English it is not difficult, but a nuisance, to find the correct commands in the German version. Sometimes, I teach in English somewhere abroad, and then it also would be nice to have English commands in Excel, Word, etc. Or if I show something to a collegue, who has the English version installed, it is nice to use the same version.
 
Microsoft sells language packs (they are not expensive), but
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Todo’s from Everywhere

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I use Emacs for taking notes and project management using Remember-Mode and Org-Mode (see my blog entries Capturing and More. However, if I am working in Excel or reading a pdf , More and I want to make a note or I suddenly have a thought about a feature that I want to add to my model, I have to jump to Emacs,hit some keys, enter the note or the task and navigate back to the program I was working in.
Not much of a hassle, but inefficient as it really interrupts my work flow too much.
No problem,
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Killing an open instance of pdf viewer when compiling latex

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If there is one thing that is annoying when you us pdflatex in Emacs, it is the behavior of Adobe or another commercial product. If you haven’t closed the pdf-file, Emacs or better LaTeX will complain that the pdf-file is still open. I found some tricks in the internet, but I did not manage to implement them properly (you can for example use sumatrapdf, but I wanted to keep my original pdfreader on my computer).
Finally, I decided to use my macro/script program winautomation (www.winautomation.com). I bought this program a few months ago after getting tired of the open
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