This week we take a look at how
to incorporate Dropbox into your Windows Start Menu, understanding and using symbolic links, and how
to rip your TV series DVDs right
to unique and high-quality episode files.
Once a week we dip into our reader mailbag and help readers solve their problems, sharing
the useful solutions with you in
the process. Read on
to see our fixes for this week’s reader dilemmas.
Add Drobox
to Your Start Menu
Dear How-To Geek,
I use Dropbox all
the time and would like
to add it right onto my start menu along side
the other major shortcuts like Documents, Pictures, etc. It seems like adding Dropbox into
the menu should be part of
the Dropbox installation package!
Sincerely,
Dropboxing in Des Moines
Dear Dropboxing,
We agree, it would be a nice installation option. As it stands you’re going
to have
to do a little simple hacking
to get Dropbox nestled neatly into your start menu.
The hack isn’t super elegant but when you’re done you’ll have
the link you want and it’ll look like it was there all along. Check out this step-by-step
guide here in order
to take an existing Library shortcut and rework it
to be a Dropbox link.
Understanding and Using Symbolic Links
Dear How-To Geek,
I was talking
to a coworker
the other day about an issue I’d been having with a media center application I’m running. He suggested using symbolic links
to better organize my media and make it easier for
the application
to access my collection. I had no idea what he was talking about and never got a chance
to bug him about it later. Can you clear up this whole symbolic links business for me? I’ve been using computers for years and I’ve never even heard of it!
Sincerely,
Symbolic Who?
Dear Symbolic,
Symbolic links aren’t commonly used by many Windows users which is why you likely haven’t run into
the concept. Symbolic links are essentially supercharged shortcuts—the newly introduced Windows library system is really just a type of symbolic link system. You can use symbolic links
to do all sorts of neat stuff like link folders
to your Dropbox folder, organize media, and more.
The concept of symbolic links is pretty simple but
the execution can be really tricky. We’d suggest reading over our
guide to creating symbolic links in Windows 7, Windows XP, and Ubunutu
to get a clearer idea what you’re getting into.
Rip Your TV DVDs into Handy Episode Files
Dear How-To Geek,
My wife got me an iPod for Christmas and I still haven’t got around
to filling it up. I have tons of entire TV show seasons on DVD and would like
to get them on
the iPod but I have absolutely no idea where
to start. How do I get
the shows off
the discs? I thought it would be as easy
to import
the TV shows into iTunes as it is
to import tracks off a CD but I was totally wrong. I tried downloading some applications
to rip them but those didn’t work at all. Very frustrating! Surely there is an easy and/or automated way
to do this, right?
Sincerely,
Free My DVDs
Dear DVDs,
Oh man is this a frustration we can relate
to. It’s inordinately difficult
to get movies and TV shows off physical media and into digital (and portable media player-friendly) formats. There are a multitude of ways
to rip DVDs and quite a few applications out there (some good, some mediocre, and some outright malware). We’d recommend a two-part punch
to solve your ripping woes. You’ll need a copy of DVDFab
to strip away
the protections on
the discs and rip
the disc and Handbrake
to load
the disc image and convert
the files. It’s not quite as smooth as
the CD-to-iTunes workflow but it’s still pretty easy. Check out all
the steps and settings you’ll want
to toggle here.
Have a question you want
to put before
the How-To Geek staff? Shoot us an email at
[email protected] and then keep an eye out for a solution in
the Ask How-To Geek column.
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