TodayISearched started with the idea of logging solutions that we had to search the internet for and recording their resolution. There have been many times when we have found a solution and needed it again 6 months – 1 year down the road and can’t remember for the life of us where we found it. This blog gives us the opportunity to catalog useful solutions that we can go back to. We thought it would be beneficial to share this with the rest of the world. We would like to invite you to participate in our blog. If you have a nagging problem that you cannot find a solution for (technical problem preferably) or want to share a solution you found while scouring the net, please shoot us an email todayisearched[at]gmail[dot]com. Your suggestion just might make its way onto our blog. Happy Searching!

The TodayISearched.com Team

Today I searched how to migrate ODBC data sources from Windows XP to Windows 7. I have built up quiet the list of data sources over the years and was dreading having to key in each one after setting up Windows 7. I found a free ODBC tool called DTM ODBC Manager. It allows for backup of ODBC data sources. This backup can then be imported back into another windows installation via their software.

DTM ODBC Manager Interface

Follow these simple steps to backup your ODBC data sources:

1. Download and install the DTM ODBC Manager
2. Open up the DTM ODBC Manager and select the System and User DSN’s to backup.  They are all checked by default.
3. Click the arrow next to the export button at the top and select “export selected”.
4. Give your backup file a name when prompted.

Follow these simple steps to restore your ODBC data sources:

1. Copy the backup file created above to the machine it is going to be restored to.
2. Install the DTM ODBC Manager on the machine the data sources are being restored to.
3. Open up the DTM ODBC Manager
4. Click the import button and browse to the backup file.

All your data sources should now be imported on the new computer or clean Windows install depending on what you are doing.  You will still have to install the odbc data source drivers that you will be using.  Your data sources will not work correctly until the database driver is installed on the new system.  Hats off to the DTM people for making this easy to use product available for free.

Today I Searched joomla template different header on pages for a good solution to display a different header image for a couple of pages for a joomla website. I found this page http://www.alledia.com/blog/design/different-header-images-on-different-pages/ that referred to a module that could be installed, Header Image, that would do exactly what i wanted.

Header Image is a flexible module able to display context related images, media or other files. Based on the context of the current displayed Joomla Content, that is the ID’s of section, category, item and content, the module selects a corresponding image or media file to display.

Header Image was removed from free joomla repository and is only available from their website. The non-commercial version is free and the commercial version is 39 euros.

It was super easy to get up and running. Just download Header Image from there website and install it using the extension manager. Then add the extension to the position you want your images to display at in your template. Set up your default folder with the images you want to display and then name with according to your rules. For example I wanted my images to display according to there article ID so i named my images CI55.gif where 55 is the article id. I also set a default image that will display if no matches are found.

This module is a lot more powerful than just displaying a single image on a single page. It can also do slide shows and you can get more advanced in your image naming for a more dynamic headers based on section, category and content.

Today I searched how to open and use multiple Gmail accounts simultaneously in Firefox.  By default Google will log you out of the current account you are logged into even if it is opened in a new tab.  As I goggled, it seemed like there was not going to be any good options.  I will list out a couple of the suggestions that I found before I came to the solution:

• Use the IE tab plugin to open one account in IE and one in Firefox yet all contained in the one browser.  This did not seem like a horrible idea, but I wanted to have it all run through the Firefox browser if possible and not have to use IE.
• Create a master Gmail account.  Have all other Gmail accounts forward to the master.  I did not really care for this solution.  Unless there is a Gmail setting I don’t know about yet, you would have to still log back into the other accounts to reply if you did not want to expose the address of your master account.
• Gmail Manager – This does not allow you to be logged into more than 1 account at the same time, but does allow you to monitor more than 1 account from the plugin.  There is also a short cut to allow you to quickly log into any of your gmail accounts.
• Cookiepie – This was the perfect solution to the problem.  It allows you to specify tabs to open up in their own cookie space.  The Cookiepie website has a nice demo.  All you need to do is right click on the tab and select “toggle on/off cookiepie “.  There will be a cookie symbol on the tab so that you know which tabs it is turned on for.  One quick note, you need to make sure you have the Cookiepie turned on for all Gmail tabs.  The first time I tried to use it I only had it turned on for 1 of the 2 accounts that I was logged into.  This seemed to cause a conflict between the 2.

Please comment on any other solutions you might have.

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