Deleting Gmail messages from Trash when there is no Delete Forever button

If you want to delete a message from GMail Trash to make space in your inbox then you can select the message and press the Delete Forever button. But what if there is no such button, only regular Delete which does nothing in this case, because it just moves the message to the Trash?

It can happen when you want to purge message selectively from Trash, that is you use a search first. (I needed this, because for some reason Gmail did not delete messages older than 30 days, therefore my inbox was almost fulI, so I had to find a way to purge some messages manually from Trash.) If you use search there will be no Delete Forever button. So what can you do?

The solution is searching for the opposite of you want, then label those messages with a new label, move them to the inbox, so only messages you want to delete stay in the Trash. This way you can select them all there and there will be a Delete Forever button, because you do not have to search first to find these messages. Finally, go to the label you chose and delete those messages again, so they go back to the Trash.

Here's an example: say, you want to delete messages from Trash which have an attachment, but you want to leave other messages in the trash, because you might need them later.

You can search for them like this:

in:trash has:attachment

But according to the above you want the opposite, those messages which do not have an attachment (note the - character):

 in:trash  -has:attachment

Run this search and mark all of these messages with a new label (say "trashtemp"). Then after labelling them, move them into the Inbox. Then go back to Trash, select all of the remaining messages and delete them forever. Finally, go to the trashtemp label, select all messages under it and delete them to make them go back to the Trash.

Find files by name quickly on Windows

Don't remember in which directory you put some file? Just use this search tool which is small and lets you find really quickly any file on your computer.

Selecting link text with Firefox

Isn't it annoying when you try to copy text from a link and Firefox starts dragging the link instead? This annoying default behavior can be overcome if you press Alt when selecting the link text. Why it is not the default behavior is beyond me.

How to filter sites from Google search results

Those spammy or uninteresting sites are really boring in the search results, aren't they. Luckily, some guy created a script to filter out any site from Google search results which you don't want. Here's the script which does that, scroll down for instructions. I tested it with Firefox (needs Greasemonkey installed), but it should work with any browser which supports user scripts.

Fixing bad audio with VLC 2.0

If you experience distorted audio with VLC 2.0 then check your volume settting in VLC. If it is set above 100% then due to some VLC bug the audio quality is bad. Below or at 100% there is no problem.

How to copy files easily from PC to Samsung Galaxy

I tested it with Galaxy Ace which is not recognized as a regular USB device when plugged in. I installed Kies which is recommended by Samsung and saw that it was an ugly piece of software. Luckily I discovered that when Kies is running then the phone is accessible from my regular file manager as a storage device, so you can simply copy files on the phone with your favorite file manager without using Kies.

Kindle can't be used if connected via USB even if ejected - Windows 7

On Windows 7 I plugged in the Kindle into the USB slot and it said I had to eject it if I want to use it during charging. I did it by choosing "safely remove device" from the menu of the usual USB icon in the bottom right corner, but the Kindle kept saying I have to eject it.

Turns out there is an Eject option if you click on Computer in the Start Menu and then right click on the attached Kindle device. When that Eject is selected then the Kindle can be used during charging.