LED Keyboards: Jun 11, 2013

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Have any tips for parents dealing with temper tantrums?

Great discussions are par for the course here on Lifehacker. Each day, we highlight a discussion that is particularly helpful or insightful, along with other great discussions and reader questions you may have missed. Check out these discussions and add your own thoughts to make them even more wonderful!

For great discussions any time, be sure check out our user-run blog, Hackerspace. And today being Friday, don't forget to check out this week's Open Thread.

If you've got a cool project, inspiration, or just something fun to share, send us a message at tips@lifehacker.com.

Happy Lifehacking, everybody!

Stop Windows from Restarting Your Computer After Updates

Sometimes, Windows downloads important updates and decides it's going to restart your computer whether you like it or not. Here's how to disable that behavior.

This has been part of Windows for a long time, and while Microsoft tried to fix it in Windows 8, the annoyance still remains. When you see that screen that says your computer's going to restart in 15 minutes, you just grit your teeth and accept it.

But, there's actually an easy way to fix this—and it works in Windows 7, too. You just need to make a small tweak to the registry:

Head to the Start menu or screen and type "regedit" (no quotes). Start the Registry Editor that pops up.Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AUOn many computers, you won't see the "WindowsUpdate" key. To create it, right-click on the "Windows" key in the sidebar and go to New > Key. Name the key WindowsUpdate, then right-click on that key and create a new one called AU.Click on the AU key and, in the right pane, right-click on the empty space and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.Name the new DWORD: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsersDouble-click on the new DWORD and give it a value of 1.Reboot your machine and from now on, Windows will not force you to reboot after installing updates. Of course, when you install updates, you should still reboot your computer—and that responsibility is now on you—but this makes sure Windows doesn't catch you by surprise.Again, this registry key has been around for a long time, and should work in Windows 7 as well (but we thought it was worth revisiting for Windows 8). You can also perform the same task with the Group Policy Editor if you're on Windows 8 Pro. Hit the link below to see how.

Prevent Windows From Restarting Your PC After Windows Updates | How-To Geek

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Ditch Your Plans to Find Out How You Work

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More Headphone Mods, Tablet Stands, and the Google Now Menu

Readers offer their best tips for putting your laptop to sleep, keeping your gadgets in one place, and making your keyboard's number pad better.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it over at our user-run blog, Hackerspace.

We recently shared a tip for making your headphones more comfortable, but jupitreas shares an alternative:

The velour pad mod almost always changes the sound of the headphones, particularly if another brand's pads are used. I know for a fact that swapping pads on the Audio Technica ATH-M50 (pictured in the article) changes their sound dramatically for the worse, both with the Beyerdynamic DT250 and the Shure SRH940 pads that are typically used for this mod.
A far better (and cheaper) solution is the 'sock mod'. Simply cover the leatherette pads with soft cotton or another similarly pleasant material and sew it together at the base of the pad. The resulting pads might not look as spiffy as factory-made velour pads but they are just as comfortable, while not affecting the sound of the headphones.

I haven't tried this one myself, so I can't speak to how much it affects the sound, but it's a good alternative to the velour pad mod.

Stephen Blake discovers a great trick for his Nook. Just stick a pen through the hole and it stands up on its own.

MsCassLopez discovers some extra shortcuts in Google Now:

You may not be aware that if you're using Google Now on a cell phone, the menu at the bottom of the results page that reads "Web Images Places" is swipeable and offers a bunch more choices when swiped.

Mark has some trouble with a recent app update:

Today, Google+ updated on Android but it wasn't showing up on my phone. Droid Life posted a good tip: you can just update it from the web. However, one of their commenters had an even better tip, and that is to just go to Menu > Accounts and re-select your account to "refresh" Google Play. There are a bunch of ways to do it, supposedly, but this worked for me.

Deep Fried Mac & Cheese

While it's not something you'd want to do all the time, if you have a hankerin' for deep frying or are attending a party where insanely rich foods are admired or worshipped, deep-fried mac and cheese may be for you. It's an extremely inexpensive dish, and one that is probably easier to make than you think.

You could use an organic wheat elbow pasta and make the mac and cheese from scratch, but that's not you, is it? Besides, it's a waste of good ingredients. For this recipe, you'll want to go low culture for most of the ingredients:

1 package of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese elbow macaroni
Panko bread crumbs
3-4 eggs
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Dry spices (optional)
1/2 cup flour
1 muffin tin
Vegetable oil (preferably peanut oil)

I don't recommend the classic tube-shaped original Kraft mac and cheese. Get the creamier elbow-shaped version in the similar-looking box, or even better spring for the "deluxe" version with the pourable cheese sauce.

You've undoubtedly done the first part of this process before, so get to it and cook the mac and cheese according to the box directions. Let it cool and allow the sauce to thicken. Add 1 teaspoons of nutmeg and any other spices you prefer (e.g., dijon mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, herbe de provence, all-purpose spice mix). Don't be shy with the spices as the act of deep frying will cover up subtle flavors.

Get out your muffing tin and scoop the mac and cheese into each muffin compartment, tamping it down tightly. You don't need to butter the tin. Then, toss this in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to get the mac and cheese to hold together into a hockey-puck shape.

You could try other containers or compartments to shape the mac and cheese "balls" but I found this to be the easiest way, and the hockey pucks look nice on a plate. Round balls are wonderful, but they are harder to achieve.

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The Windowside Workspace

You'll rarely end up with a poor workspace if you include an organized desk, a good chair, only the tools you need for work, and an abundance of natural light. Designers Ryan Meis and Sarah Labieniec created an excellent space on those simple principles.

For those of you wondering where to grab the flip clock screensaver on their computer, you can find it here.

If you have a workspace of your own to show off, share them with us by posting it to your personal Kinja blog using the tag featured workspace or adding it to our Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Flickr pool. Photos must be at least at least 640x360 and please include information about what you used, how you came up with the design, and any other relevant details. If your awesome workspace catches our eye, you might get featured!

Playlist: Sarah Labieniec and Ryan Meis of Lab Partners | Herman Miller Lifework.

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