YouTube Channel name "null" - How to fix it!

Your YouTube channel name is suddenly displayed with the name "null"? Here's how to fix it!

Last month a friend of mine created a new YouTube channel and in the last few days I noticed that instead of his real channel name, "null" is displayed. But why?

As Internet search couldn't give me a proper answer, I figured that the issue only occurs when I use YouTube in English. For example on one of my Japanese devices the name was displayed as usual, and switching to German also shows no problem.

So I thought it there might be an issue with the translation settings. 
And that was THE problem: The settings for the channel name in English were wrong, the channel name was written as "null".
It happens automatically if you try to add a new language but leave the channel name blank. However, this issue seemingly only appears when you make the first translation that you are allowed to leave the channel name blank. When you try later on to change "null" to blank, YouTube won't let you continue.

I could easily reproduce the issue with my English channel by adding a German translation to it.

So here's how to fix it:
1) Click on the upper right drop-down list to switch to the language your YouTube channel was originally created in
2) Select "Customize Channel"
3) Click on the settings wheel on the right
4) Look for "Translate Info" and click on the link "translating channel info"

5) Select "translate into". 
To fix the issue just copy-paste the channel title from the original channel or name it as you wish
6) Select "Save" and the issue should be fixed.

Thanks for reading and let me know in the comments if it could help you or if you got something to add on this!

Why is the PlayStation confirmation button O in Japan?

If you have ever played a PlayStation game in Japanese you may have noticed that the O and X buttons are used the other way around. But what is the reason behind it?

Back in the day when I installed tools like the file manager ULaunchELF on my PS2 and while testing the Japanese versions of 'Dragon Ball' games (which has another music score and that made me interested in changing it myself...) I was for the first time confronted with the difference in the function of the controller buttons. 

For some time I didn't question the reason behind it, but there's more to it which is quite interesting.

It's generally a cultural thing: As in western countries we are used to have an X to confirm something like marking the right answer in a quiz for example.

'X' means 'wrong' - not just at the Japanese PlayStation

In Japan they have a different association: The X is used for an incorrect answer in a test. It's meaning is ばつ (batsu) and has a general meaning for something negative like giving up and 'wrong'. So for in Japan it would be wrong to use it as a confirmation button.

The circle on the other hand the circle with the meaning まる (maru) has the meaning of 'correct' since the correct answer in a test is marked in a circle.

These can even be shown in gestures with arms or hands. Or in right-or-wrong games like 'batsumaru'.

This difference in terms of school tests corrections is actually a topic in the Detective Conan episodes 779 & 880 where a Japanese teacher who lived in America got it wrong after returning to Japan...

Looking at it from this perspective the different usage of the buttons makes totally sense.

Chinese Tencent Software Removal

Suddenly you see a Chinese software popped up in your taskbar. But what is it and how do you get rid of it?

The user who contacted me previously tried to install a certain software by using a crack which seemingly failed and installed this 'tool' instead.

It caused lots of unnecessary pop ups in the browser and slows down the system in general. 

But the good news is that you can get rid of it. The bad news is, it's all in Chinese and if you don't know that language it could be difficult.

For me, knowing a bit of Japanese, helped to figure out a few characters. Like 出 means something like 'leave', 'go out' helped to close the software in the taskbar.

Once it's closed, you can proceed with uninstalling the software.

Once it's closed you need to go to the folder as seen in the screenshot above and scroll down to find a file called uninst.exe.
In the next step you need to be cautious in what you select:

• Seeing the next window, select the left option (not the green one!)
• At the next orange window you see three checkboxes - select the last one and proceed with clicking on the red button
• A last checkbox appears and there you should select the left button to complete the uninstall process

After a reboot it should all be fine again, but better check in the control panel under 'Programs & Features' if there's anything left (mostly at the bottom of the list written in Chinese). Try to uninstall other possible software like this as well.

Moreover, I also would suggest to scan the device for some possible malware remnants - my recommendation is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

So, try to stay free of certain software in the future!

5 Reasons you shouldn't go back to Windows 7

Windows 7 is still enjoying a market share of almost 50 percent despite there was the opportunity to do a free upgrade to Windows 10. Here are a few features I miss when I'm using a Windows 7 computer again...

You get so used to the new Windows 10 features and when you start working elsewhere your operating system may still Windows 7. So you can't use certain features you were used to - not to mention that some were already introduced in Windows 8...

1: Screenshots by one key combination

In Windows 10 you can now make screenshots very easily just by using an easy key combination. You press Windows + Print and your screenshot will be saved in your user directory in the folder 'Pictures/Screenshots'. It's quite useful making several screenshots after another.

2: Virtual Drives included!

Remember software like Daemon Tools or Virtual Clone Drive? These were quite useful tools if you wanted to avoid burning an ISO image in order to use it on Windows 7 or earlier versions. In Windows 10 you don't need to install any extra tools. You just need to select on ISO file, right-click and select 'Mount'. That's it. A virtual drive will be added with your CD/DVD image. Way easier, all included. You'll noticed if you get back using Windows 7.


3: Control+V in CMD!
After so many years it's finally possible to use Ctrl+V in the command line. Pasting lines into the black box is now way easier. Going back to Windows 7 or other older Windows version you had to right-click, selecting 'Paste' to paste your clipboard. Now that's just better and faster.

4: Lots of language packs!
Changing the languages of your operating system had never been easier. You can change your Windows 10 easier to any language - even to small ones like Luxembourgish. Just go to Control Panel, 'Language', select the 'idiomas' you want, download them. After that you can easily switch to one of your downloaded languages. You only need to log off and log on again. Back in Windows 7 it was more difficult or even limited to certain version like Enterprise or Ultimate. And the amounts of possible languages are increasing. I remember working in certain companies a language change back in Windows 7 was applied by reinstalling the whole computer... But nowadays with Windows 10, no issue. Just switching to Japanese. As easy as with Android.

5: File Explorer Ribbon Bar

The Ribbon bar was first introduced as a the new view of Office 2007 applications. Some other applications within Windows 7 followed and since Windows 8 it´s also in the Windows Explorer - so jumping from 7 to 10, you will notice and you don´t wanna go back! Also having a graphical view on how fast a file transfer goes makes the new included file manager even better. Not only looks all better.


Anyway...
There are of course many more features in Windows 10 in comparison to Windows 7, but that´s just to name a few which I found were ones people would notice quite quickly. Also easy to get used to that. These examples show that you should not go back to Windows 7, although it´s still a great operating system.

Feel free to comment on if you agree or would have named other examples for reasons not to go back the OS from 2009.

Ethernet Adapter times 79! Way too many!

This computer had an incredible amount of Ethernet Adapters listed! Something I've never seen before.. 

As being confronted with IT issues almost daily there are sometimes cases you haven´t seen in years or you aren´t sure if you have seen them at all! Recently I was asked to check a Danish Windows 10 laptop because despite having WiFi connection the Internet browser couldn´t open any more sites and video streams stopped working.

I checked the network adapters and was quite surprised! There were Ethernet Adapter numbered until 79! And sometimes even numbers were missing and the user had no idea about that! Then I went to the Device Manager to check and "TAP-Win32 Adapter Adapter OAS #22" was one of the many examples I found there. And the list almost did not stop flashing all the time...

Anyway, I had to delete them all manually. All at once didn´t work. Once that was done the Internet connection worked fine again. Wonder why^^. 

I suggest a proper virus and malware scan afterwards just to be sure there`s nothing going on anything. A bit online checks mentioned it could might be through some VPN software or even an Office KMS activation...

Top 5 Japanese Language Learning Apps for Android

As you may noticed through the topics of my articles about certain anime games or language-related stuff - I am a fan of Japan and their language and this article shows you my Top 5 apps to learn that language.

Some of these apps I'm using for a longer time, some not even a year. But altogether they're quite helpful while being on the run or waiting for someone/something to repeat vocabulary, gain new knowledge or remaining connected with the Japanese language.

1. AnkiDroid

I'm using AnkiDroid for a longer time already, even for other languages. It's an app with large vocabulary lists which you can either download or create yourself. After seeing a new word you can decide if it's easy to memorize or not and thus you decide when you get to see it again - in a few minutes or even in a few months or years (just if you saw it quite often already).

In terms of Japanese you should start to learn hiragana and katakana at the beginning. I can say for me AnkiDroid played a big part in learning these first around 100 characters. And you should also create your own deck with Japanese words you collect through going through books, watching anime or hearing in video games.

2. Jsho
'Jsho' is an app named after the Japanese name for 'dictionary' (じしょ), because IT IS an dictionary. The app is an offline version of the famous Japanese dictionary website 'jisho.org'. 

This application is already quite helpful at the beginning because you can search for words by using our characters as well as Hiragana or Katakana. And this app has also a connection to AnkiDroid: Once you've found a certain word you can send it to your Anki deck.


3. IQQI Japanese

After being able to memorize the first characters it would also be helpful to actually write them. That's why you need IQQI Japanese! It's an alternate keyboard with included Japanese characters. You can easily switch from our Latin letters to both Hiragana and Katakana - even Kanjis can be chosen after putting the right characters together. 

With that you can type new words into your Anki decks by yourself and write messages to someone in Japanese.



4. Memrise

Another great learning app, but even more developed in many ways. There are several decks in any language available, so also in Japanese. The apps even has a points scoring system included where repetition brings you more points than new words. 

You see the word in English and you have several hiragana/katakana/Kanji characters and you have to put them together in the correct way - or the other way around. Or you listen to three Japanese words in order to find the correct meaning. Or putting sentences together in the right order. And everything brings points - as well as knowledge and experience of course.

If you have friends using the same app you can compare who of you did the most points during the last week/month or even in total.


5. LINE

With WhatsApp nowadays being the the messenger with the most users in the world, there are still other similar apps. Like LINE which is really big in Japan and a few other Asian countries. So if you want to communicate with Japanese people in order to improve your language skills it's quite important to have that messenger. 

Like in WhatsApp you can also do calls and video calls - which were introduced way earlier than in WhatsApp. 

And like in Facebook you can post pictures on your timeline and others can comment. And the PC application is way more secure and better than the WhatsApp version. 

Summary
So these were the five free apps which were and still are quite helpful for me improving my Japanese. Of course there are also apps teaching you the grammar better and so on, but this overview is great if you are 'on the run'.

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

Linux Mangaka Mou - An interesting distribution for Anime & Manga fans

Despite only having a share between one and two percent in the desktop and laptop OS market there are Linux distributions to chose from. This huge variety includes also versions customized for special topics like the 'Mangaka' Linux - especially for fans of Japans famous anime and manga.

The 2,2 GB DVD iso image was released this September 2015 and the distribution itself named 'Mou' is based on Ubuntu. It includes an interesting amount of software especially for graphics, audio, video and Japanese learning software.

After a flawless installation process you'll face an inviting desktop background with the picture of a rice field before you have to get through the already included software.

It delivers a great package of software including LibreOffice, Python programming or HandBrake (to convert DVDs to video files). 

Basic browsers are Firefox and Chrome and messenger like Pidgin and Thunderbird as a mail client are also part of the package. 

Definitely check that one out!