Vista - Start of Task manager CTRL-SHIFT-ESC

It used to be CTRL-ALT-DEL but in Vista it brings up first a new screen from which you have to choose task manager. Luckily there is a faster way: CTRL-SHIFT-ESC.

24bit wav audio player

Only WMP12 delivered with Win7 is capable of playing 24 bit audio files.
A good alternative is xmplay which you can download from http://www.un4seen.com/

Epson V33 scanner change language

Even after choosing the English language during installation of the Epson software
(See: C:\Program Files\epson\escndv\setup\setup.ini file:  DefaultLocale=0809)
it came back with Dutch.
It turned out it was the twain software playing up so I checked the folder:
C:\Windows\twain_32\escndv\es00ad\local

from there I removed  the following folders containing the languages I would never use:
0C0A, 040C, 0401, 0410, 0413 (=dutch), 0419, 0422, 0816
(Checking which folder is which language was easy: just open the .chm file belonging to the above mentioned folders)

Now if I start "Epson Scan" it is in English!

see what causes ASIO spikes

Found 2 articles on how to check which is causing these ASIO spikes within your DAW:
Xperf:
1. http://www.windowsitpro.com/print/performance/examining-xperf.aspx
2. http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2008/06/27/an-intro-to-xperf.aspx

LatencyMon:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

Firefox Remove plug-in manually

If you can't use an uninstaller program to remove a plugin, you can remove it manually:

   1. In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter.
   2. Search for the preference: plugin.expose_full_path.
   3. Double-click on the plugin.expose_full_path preference in the list to change the value to true.
   4. Enter about:plugins into the Location bar to display the About Plugins page.
   5. Each entry in this page will have "File name:" followed by a path.
Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder shown for the plug-in you want to remove.
   6. Rename file to something other than its normal name - e.g. npswf32 becomes Xnpswf32

The plug-in will be removed.

Install flash player without DLM

(source: http://texhex.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-or-install-flash-player-without.html)

As Adobe has released a new version of Flash Player today, I thought I should share how you can update or install Flash Player without using Adobe Download Manager (DLM).

Simply use the link for the browser you want to update below. You can also bookmark them as they will always return the current version.

For Internet Explorer
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe

For any other browser (Firefox etc.)
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

To test if the installation was successful and if you have the updated version, go to this page:
http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

Total Commander does not sort directories

Solution:
Goto Configuration/Options/Display Sorting directories 
Choose Like files