[Solved] WordPress Shortcode Manager Plugin UTF-8 Issues

I love using ShortCode Manager in the Wordpress to handle extra content that is unique to my situation. It allows me to code PHP and dynamic content in the shotcode and use it on WordPress page or post.

However, the Chinese characters in the ShortCode just become garbage and bunch ? mark.

Common Linux Commands Cheat Sheet By Example

Here are the list of Linux commands that I  use often on my VPS / SSH Server. I am no daily Linux admin, so only use SSH Linux command when I need to. 

So when I learned new command that is useful to me, I will add them here. And here is the cheat sheet.



Here are few additional commands by examples. 

Stop Auto Play Audio Flash Ad on Chrome Browser

Don't you just hate to hear audio Ad on a website you visit? Especially, the strong India accent that drive you nut? You can't even understand what the voice said.

It's called Flash AudioAds that will automatically play when you load the page. For example, I often find news on Google News and land on website like TechTimes dot com. It automatically play the annoying audio which I can't turn off. It's very annoying.

As you can see in the screenshot, you see a speaker icon in the tab. It's a Flash component.

In the latest FireFox browser, it automatically disables Flash plugin. However, Chrome browser by default has Flash Plugin enabled. To disable the Flash plugin and auto play audioAd, you simply type the following command in the Chrome Browser address bar.

Run System File Scan on Windows 10

My new Windows10 Dell laptop start having some trouble calculating the battery life when it's on battery mode while I was working in Starbucks. It clearly shows my laptop will only last for 1 minute while it still has 43% battery power left.

I tweeted about it and got a reply from Microsoft Support Team asking me to run system check.

Dell Inspiron 5547 CUP Fan Noise - System Cooling Policy

I thought my computer starting having CPU fan problem recently. I do remember change some power option settings to use high performance option, but I can't remember exactly what has changed.

My Dell Inspiron 5547 Laptop CPU fan starts going crazy and make huge noise, when I plug-in with the power adapter. What's funny is that the fan is always quiet when I unplug the power. So that got me thinking there is something going on with the "System Cooling Policy" when I plug in the power adapter.

Sync Files Between OneDrive Folder And Android Emulator For Instagram

Well. If you know me enough, you know I like to automate things to save time and to smooth tedious tasks.

I post lots photos on Instagram, but typing lots text and hashtags are pain in the neck on mobile phone's 5" screen. So I end up doing so on my newly upgraded Windows10 laptop running Andy Android Emulator. This allows me to run Instagram on my PC, so I can easily type any text faster than on mobile device.

Allow FireFox Browser To Run Localhost Web Sever

This isn't an issue with Google Chrome browser, but Firefox will not allow you  to run local website  localhost.

If you try to run a local webserver on http://localhost.com, Firefox will automatically convert the URL into http://www.localhost.com. This is really annoying.

Lucky, there is a setting in Firefox to turn the feature off.

To disable this ‘feature’ do the following:

• Type about:config in the Firefox browser bar
• Type browser.fixup.alternate.enabled in the search box that appears
• Double click on the browser.fixup.alternate.enabled will turn it to false

Boost Linksys Wireless Router WRT54G Speed

Damn. I have no patient with slow Internet speed. It's killing me when the website is buffering. Too bad that CentryLink in my area can only offer up to 20MB download and 800K Upload. I also have the old Linksys WRT54G 2.4GHz wireless router.

Recently, I notice my evening Internet speed wend down from normal 16MB download to only 1MB or slower. It's killing me and I can't watch YouTube on my SmartTV. So troubleshooting begins. After many test and configuration changes, I think my 2.4GHz cordless phone isn't the main cause of the slow Internet.

If I wired my laptop with the router, I can truly get 16MB connection, while my wireless connection is still only 1-4MB. After searching on Google and made the following configuration. I can now getting 9MB-16MB wireless connection in most of the time. That's much better than before.

I also think my cellphone Nexus5 with wireless connection is interfere with my Laptop wireless connection.

Here is the screenshot of my wireless configuration on Linksys WRT54G router.

Weebly Non-English Language Search Engine Friendly URL Work Around

As much as I love Weebly and actively promoting Weebly to small businesses, there are few annoying issues with Weebly's capability. Obviously, their developers haven't had chance to even look into solving those issues. So I have to find work around to get my job done right the client and get them done properly for search engine as well.

For non-English language website, there are many issues that I want to resolve.

1. HTML Encoded title and description in meta tag. 
2. HTML encoded non-search engine friendly URL

[Solved] Nexus5 StraightTalk APN On AT&T Network

It's been 6 months since I switch back to StraightTalk from H2OWireless with AT&T Network.  My Nexus5 hasn't had way to successfully send MMS.  I was able to send MMS before switching over to H2OWireless.

The problem is that the original StraightTalk APK setting on my Nexus5 no long works. So I Google it a lot. Try many thing and nothing really works. BTW, I am using Google's Hangout App as my default SMS app.  I also use Google Voice on Hangout as well.  My temporary solution was to use Google voice on Hangout to send and receive MMS.

Now after so many tries, I finally get MMS working on Nexus5 with StraightTalk on AT&T network.

[Solved] Canon 7D Error 30 - Shutter Lock

Well. This is the first time I ever had any trouble with my 4.5 years old Canon 7D DSLR.

I was on my cruise trip to Puerto Rico. I don't have backup camera with me. My 7D went into error 30 shutter lock mode after shooting few 3 bracketed HDR photos.

After searching on Google, I see many people have the same problem. The error 30 basically means the shutter got stuck in the open position. Or it's getting sticky due to the environment.

Now I've found two solutions in summary. 

Remove batter and compact flash card off the camera. Wait for few seconds before putting the battery and card back into the camera body.

Stylesheet For Better Listing Using li:before And Word-Wrap

Sometimes using default list-style-type just can't make the layout looks much better. It looks like this on one of my client's WordPress website.

The second line is wrapped below the > symbol. Using the default list-style-position: outside; won't solve the problem. The only solution is to use table display style to make it looks like a table cell and row. So using the following stylesheet and display attribute will solve the problem.

Massively Delete Folders & Files on Windows 7 Without Prompt

I was having so much troubles to delete a folder that contains huge amount of files. Recently, I started playing with Node.JS and MEAN.js. The mean stack installed lots files (over 120MB, 17000 files) on my computer running Windows 7.

Delete lots file on Windows takes a long time and sometimes break the process and hung my computer. It, by default, removes files and it's subfolder from the folder I want to delete to recycle bin. You then have to right click on the recycle bin to clean the files.

There gotta be a simpler ways to clean files without cleaning the recycle bin.

So here are the ways to make that happen.

Add Google AdSense Banner On Weebly Blog Section

If you are reading this post, you already know about Weebly. A free web builder to create beautiful website and blog. I posted some useful tips not too long ago about Weebly. You can read them here.

Now you may already know that Weebly allows you to post Google AdSense code and share 50/50 profit with Weebly. I would say, it's still a good deal. However, adding Google AdSenee on Weebly's blog section isn't straight forward. You can add an Ad banner in individual blog post or on the side bar, but you can't add them in the blog loop. You can't even change the layout or color easily.

So the only way to add Google AdSense banner in Weebly blog section is to hack the CSS and HTML DOM object.


So it will look like this on one of the website I build for generating passive income.

As you can see, I have one tall banner on the side bar and one wide 728x90 banner below the first post in the post loop. I actually have an other wide banner below the 3rd post. 

So here is how it works. There is an DIV element in the loop that seperate the blog post. It looks like this. 

<div class="blog-post-separator"></div>

So I want to insert my Google AdSense code within the <div>  section.

Here is how the code looks like.

Host Images With SSL On Google Drive

If you are looking for a way to host images on SSL and HTTPS://, you don't have to buy SSL certification any more. You can simply use Google Drive to accomplish that easily.

Check out the following article "Use Google Drive To Host Images With SSL Certification" by Terence Chang

Replace 2009 Highlander Windshield Wiper Blades

The Easiest Way To Replace 2009 Toyoa Highlander Windshield Wiper Blades

Well. It took me a while to find this video on how to replace the windshield wiper blades on my 2009 Toyota Highlander. It took me half hour finding this video and 5 minutes to replace the windshield blades. YouTube is wonderful, but they should do better job on search function.

Watts Premier RO-Pure 4-Stage Reverse Osmosis System Problem Solved

Do you have Watts Premier RO-Pure 4-Stage Reverse Osmosis System in your house? If you have purchased the Watts Premier RO-Pure 4-Stage Reverse Osmosis System from Amazon or at local Costco, you probably already found out the system has some problems.

They are big problems, but they are annoying problems. Now I have the perfect solutions for the system and it has been running just fine in my house.

1. The faucet keeps dripping as fast as 1 drop per second rate. 
2. The system non-stop running for hours after just use half cup of water. 
3. water came out behind the faucet base

Do you have any of this problem? Well. You will have the problem eventually. 

So here are my solutions for those problems. 

Fixed: MailChimp Success Message Missing With Conflict jQuery Issue

There is a problem with Mailchimp, when you use embed HTML code to show mailchimp subscription form on your website. The error message does show, but the successful or require email confirmation (double opt-in) message is missing.

This happens due to that jQuery library is loaded more than once in the page. For example, if you are running a WordPress blog (version 3.9.1 or later), the jQuery is loaded by the theme in most cases. The jQuery library may load more than twice, if you also install third-party plugin that is using jQuery or jQuery UI.

You can see the error in the browser debugger. "$ is not a function" at following line.

function mce_success_cb(resp){

    $('#mce-success-response').hide();

It means $ isn't an object or function after the jQuery was loaded.

The easy solution is to add the following code after "function mce_success_cb(resp){". 

jQuery(document).ready( function($) {

Remember to close the function call at the end of "function mce_success_cb(resp){" bracket.

});

Mount Missing USB Drive On Windows 7

This is very useful info to mount missing USB Drive you just reformated or repartitioned.

Simply do the followings:

• Right click on your Computer icon under the Start menu and select Manage
• Select Disk Management
• Find the missing Disk
• Right click and choose "Change Driver Letter and Path"

Source: Find Your Missing USB Drive in Windows 7 & Vista

Reformat and repartition USB Flash Drive From Windows OS

You can do this in DISKPART in Windows:

1. Open an command prompt using Administrator rights.
2. Run DISKPART
3. list disk
4. Note the disk number that corresponds to your USB drive (it should be obvious going by size)
5. select disk X where X is the number from step 4
6. list partition - There should be two, numbered 0 and 1, each about 7 GB
7. select partition 0
8. delete partition
9. select partition 1
10. delete partition
11. create partition primary
12. exit
13. exit
14. In Windows, go to Computer and try to open the disk. It will ask you to format it.
15. Format it with the default settings and give it a name if you want.

It should now a single, unified partitioned drive.

Source: How to delete a partition on a USB drive?