Tech Recipe

dear,friend! oxttgkne!

2011-08-31T22:46:00.001+01:00

Dear friend:
It's a pleasure for me to share a good news with you.
a top online store:  {{{{{{   wu-lilic.com   }}}}}}
   has a promotion action now. the products are very cheap,all the products are original and new.
you can choose some things for you family or friends as a gift.
they would be very happy.This is the only chance we will get ,
don't miss the boat.
                                        yours sincerely

siddhartha_dutta
1/9/2011 5:46:33

xspmsosq
★ □ ○ ◆ ◆

Re: Good news,

2011-08-31T21:36:00.001+01:00

"Hi,bro! What's up? You know what. Recently I find a really nice website, zol-gyyg.com

You can find some electronic products, high quality and low price. It's well worth
for you to have a try. Don't miss the chance."

Regards!

click here or zol-gyyg.com

RE: Apple-iPad Wi-Fi-3G-32GB,

2011-08-03T06:38:00.001+01:00

"Hi,bro! What's up? You know what. Recently I find a really nice website, gyzhfa.com

You can find some electronic products, high quality and low price. It's well worth
for you to have a try. Don't miss the chance."

Regards!

click here or gyzhfa.com

rxkppi ils9duf

2011-07-19T21:57:00.001+01:00

http://arzamastceva.com/images/img/xjea.html
baz04nkdm, ec35goky9we. z9i83jyz q9untqndw8a nj1am0.

adityababiblueExcellent store

2011-06-28T11:49:00.001+01:00

Hi! Do you know the shopping online? I found that many products abroad are much cheaper than domestic and with free shipping costs. I was introduced a foreign online store 【 www.meoero.com 】 by my friends. The quality of the products here is very good, also the price is very cheap. If you feel good after use its products, please tell your friends.

Wishing you and yours a happy happy new year. Wishing you and yours a happy happy new year.

2011-05-26T13:42:00.001+01:00

http://y4g6l5.sproybant.com/?cid=thirteen

Hello A gift! ★★★ adityababiblue

2011-05-26T08:28:00.001+01:00

What are you doing now? Hello
I have found a very nice shopping website---www.3g-ipad2.com---, and would like to share it with you. The prices of the products on this website is very preferable and this website can provide free delivery charges.
Wish you won't miss this good chance if you like here!
All the best for you!
Best wishes for you!siddhartha_dutta@live.com

2011-05-25T06:26:00.001+01:00

http://h8o0e2.vrglb.ru/?cid=thirteen

♀FW:Hey friend

2011-04-25T12:00:00.001+01:00

"darling:
do you want to buy some new advanced products with low price? Recently, i have find one the goowelc.com it will not let you down! Have a try!
Regards!"

click here or goowelc.com

hello

2011-04-18T15:06:00.001+01:00

New shopping,New life
I'd like to introduce you a good website: www.benefits88.com
MY friend Elisa introduce me this website, it is a large wholesaler who mainly trade all kinds of electronic products. To my surprise , their products are very low in price and high in quality .I bought an ThinkPad T61 from this website last month, and the ThinkPad T61 works very well! I think it is a shopping paradise which can bring you much benefit, so I want to share it with you!

Best regards!!!!

E-mail: tesco198@188.com

92lX

How's everything?

2011-04-10T05:07:00.001+01:00

How's everything? What's up?
i heard a good website----- www.zoilmo86.info
they sell many well-known brands of electronics .design of the products are popular and

fashionable.t
hey are in sales promotions,go to log on this website
you will find you the products you like.

RE:Hello, my friends:

2011-04-07T23:57:00.001+01:00

"dear:
I have just received my Apple iPhone 3G 16GB ordered from an online store gyfazh.com today. So exciting, its origin and as good as he promised, but much cheaper than in our country. happy to share this news with you. Cheers! May everything goes well for you.
Cordially
kittens "

Regards!

click here or gyfazh.com

RE:

2011-03-26T21:34:00.001Z

Hello friend
I have good news for you. Last week, I order one Apple Laptop from
this website:" www.yuooahoo3.com "
I've received the item today
It's amazing! The item is original, brand new and has high quality,
but it's much cheaper. I'm pleased to share this good news with you!
I believe you will find what you want there and have an good experience
on shopping from them.
Regards!

♂5

Hi, adityababiblue

2011-03-23T12:53:00.001Z

Hello,friend!
I have bought several products on www.apple-33g.com a month ago. I felt they are pretty good after being used for a while, the most important is they provide products at lower price and free delivery charges. So I strongly recommend you to visit this website. Maybe you will find something you really need.

Wish all the best wishes for you!

hi,Good day!yalg ffqec!

2011-03-21T23:16:00.001Z

dear,
I think this is a nice site,I like it very much.If you have time please browse it.Maybe you can find some Electronics products that are suitable for you.
Their product is :100% original and brand new,100% satisfied! competitive price!
Their site is: wu-lilia.com
Have a good time!

xkpzxi

22/3/2011 7:16:48

hello, dear!if!

2011-03-21T22:19:00.001Z

hey,how are you?
I find a nice site recently, maybe you like it.
one-stop trade services & High-quality,
competitive price & Lowest shipping cost & Fast door to door shipping
I bought some from them, good qualities with good price.
interested? visit: wu-lilia.com
I am sure you will love it.
Yours !

pfhmgo

22/3/2011 6:18:52

Referring toHELLO..U!!!

2011-02-01T01:30:00.001Z

Regarding
I have good news for you. Last week, I order one HTC Mobile Phone from this website: http://www.gonpi668.com I've received the item today. It's amazing! The item is original, brand new and has high quality, but it's much cheaper. I'm pleased to share this good news with you! I believe you will find what you want there and have an good experience on shopping from them.

Friendship can people help each other, friendship can live full, colorful. If you lose the friendship, like ship lost at sea in the direction of loss of green leaves can not survive like safflower.  

★★★A gift! ★★★ adityababiblue

2010-12-17T16:32:00.001Z

Enjoy yourself!Wishing you a beautiful holiday season.
I'm a long-term members of a company. Every holiday, I will order a beautiful gift for my friends, Christmas is coming, if you intend to purchase it, it will be your good choice. You can visit its official website www.phone-g3.org.
Wishinbg you health and happiness in the year to come.

5▉▉Excellent shopping site▉▉adityababiblue

2010-12-13T20:56:00.001Z

How are you?

Christmas is coming! I bought a digital camera on this site, ＜ www.nooun5.com ＞, and I find the prices are much lower than domestic prices. It mainly sells electronic items and motorcycles. Very good opportunity, so don't miss it.

From majestic mountains and valleys of green to crystal clear waters so blue, this wish is coming to you.5

0■□■□Give you the good news■□■□adityababiblue

2010-11-22T22:57:00.001Z

How are you?

Christmas is coming! I bought a digital camera on this site, ＜ www.ruodo1.com ＞, and I find the prices are much lower than domestic prices. It mainly sells electronic items and motorcycles. Very good opportunity, so don't miss it.

May faith give you hope for every tomorrow.0

What’s AT-HDFC, AX-Airtel, TA-IITians…?

2009-06-30T09:51:00.001+01:00

Recently, from almost a month SMSs from Banks, Service Providers, Companies have started prefixing something like ID, AT, VK…etc. What’s all this after all!!? Here I am to explain you what it is! Normally these SMSs originates from a Bulk SMS provider where you can use 11 digit Alpha-Numeric characters as "Sender". But there were some security risks in this method. I was able to give a phone number as "Sender" & it appears as that person at the recipient end. Basically there was a chance to send SMSs as a different person! I was actually using this to fool my friends.

But the new TRAI regulation insisted bulk SMS providers to restrict the "Sender ID" to 8 characters. Other three characters should be used to specify who is the service provider & where it’s originated from. Say for example: HDFCBANK sends an SMS to you using bulk SMS provider located at Tamil Nadu which uses Airtel. You will receive it as AT-HDFCBANK. First character specifies which service provider the message is being originated & the second character specifies from which location it’s originated. Here is the table which has details of these SMS codes:

Service Provider Codes:

Service Provider
Code

Aircel, Dishnet Wireless
D

Bharti Airtel
A

BSNL
B

BPL Mobile/Loop Telecom
L

Datacom Solutions
C

HFCL Infotel
H

Idea Cellular
I

MTNL
M

Reliance Communications
R

Reliance Telecom
E

S tel
S

Shyam Telecom
Y

Spice Telecom
P

Swan Telecom
W

Tata Teleservices
T

Unitech Group
U

Vodafone Group
V

Service Area
Code

Andhra Pradesh
A

Assam
S

Bihar
B

Delhi
D

Gujarat
G

Haryana
H

Himachal Pradesh
I

Jammu & Kashmir
J

Karnataka
X

Kerala
L

Kolkata
K

Madhya Pradesh
Y

Maharashtra
Z

Mumbai
M

North East
N

Orissa
O

Punjab
P

Rajasthan
R

Tamil Nadu
T

UP-East
E

UP-West
W

West Bengal
V

So, combination of these two constitutes the first two digit of ?Sender? followed by an hyphen (-) & actual sender name.

Gmail: Use Reply By Chat to Converse About an Email in Real Time

2009-06-29T08:19:00.001+01:00

The Reply by Chat feature allows you (and your contacts) to converse about an email message that you have sent or received, in real time. An added bonus is that if you have Gmail saving your chat history, the chat will be nested in with the rest of the conversation generated by the message.

1. Go to Gmail and log into your account.

2. Open the desired message.

3. Check to see if the contact is online and available.

4. Click the Reply by chat link at the bottom of the message (next to the Reply and Forward links).

5. A chat window will open. You will see the email message’s subject displayed. Begin chatting.

6. When the conversation is finished, close the chat window.

7. After a few seconds, go back to the email message and you will see the chat session included in the conversation. You can reply to it by email or start a new chat session.

How to Make a Trojan Horse

2009-05-29T15:02:00.001+01:00

Most of you may be curious to know about how to make a Trojan or Virus on your own. Here is an answer for your curiosity. In this post I’ll show you how to make a Trojan on your own using C programming language. This Trojan when executed will eat up the hard disk space on the root drive (The drive on which Windows is installed, usually C: Drive) of the computer on which it is run. Also this Trojan works pretty quickly and is capable of eating up approximately 1 GB of hard disk space for every minute it is run. So, I’ll call this as Space Eater Trojan. Since this Trojan is written using a high level programming language it is often undetected by antivirus. The Trojan is available for download along with the source code at the end of this post. Let’s see how this Trojan works…

Before I move to explain the features of this Trojan you need to know what exactly is a Trojan horse and how it works. As most of us think a Trojan or a Trojan horse is not a virus. In simple words a Trojan horse is a program that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions that allow unauthorized access to the host machine or create a damage to the computer.

Now lets move to the working of our Trojan

The Trojan horse which I have made appears itself as an antivirus program that scans the computer and removes the threats. But in reality it does nothing but occupy the hard disk space on the root drive by just filling it up with a huge junk file. The rate at which it fills up the hard disk space it too high. As a result the the disk gets filled up to 100% with in minutes of running this Trojan. Once the disk space is full, the Trojan reports that the scan is complete. The victim will not be able to clean up the hard disk space using any cleanup program. This is because the Trojan intelligently creates a huge file in theWindowsSystem32 folder with the .dll extension. Since the junk file has the .dllextention it is often ignored by disk cleanup softwares. So for the victim, there is now way to recover the hard disk space unless reformatting his drive.

The algorithm of the Trojan is as follows

1. Search for the root drive

2. Navigate to WindowsSystem32 on the root drive

3. Create the file named “spceshot.dll”

4. Start dumping the junk data onto the above file and keep increasing it’s size until the drive is full

5. Once the drive is full, stop the process.

You can download the Trojan along with it’s source code HERE.

How to compile, test and remove the damage?

Compilation:

You can use Borland C++ compiler (or equivalent) to compile the Trojan.

Testing:

To test the Trojan, just run the SpaceEater.exe file on your computer. It’ll generate a warning message at the beginning. Once you accept it, the Trojan runs and eats up hard disk space.

NOTE: To remove the warning message you’ve to edit the source code and then re-compile it.

How to remove the Damage and free up the space?

To remove the damage and free up the space, just type the following in the “run” dialog box.

%systemroot%system32

Now search for the file “spceshot.dll“. Just delete it and you’re done. No need to re-format the hard disk.

NOTE: You can also change the ICON of the virus to make it look like a legitimate program. This method is described in the post: How to Change the ICON of an EXE file ?

Changing the ICON of an EXE file?

2009-05-29T14:46:00.001+01:00

Some times it becomes necessary to change the ICON of an executable(.exe) file so that the exe file get’s a new appearence.Many of the Tools such as TuneUP Winstyler does this job by adjusting the Windows to display a custom icon to the user.But in reality when the file is carried to a different computer, then it shows it’s original ICON itself.This means that inorder to permanantly change the ICON, it is necessary to modify the executable file and embed the ICON inside the file itself.Now when this is done the exe file’s ICON is changed permanantly so that even if you take file to a different computer it show’s a new icon.

For this purpose I have found a nice tool which modifies the exe file and will embed the ICON of your choice into the file itself. ie:The tool changes the exe ICON permanantly.

I’ll give you a step-by-step instruction on how to use this tool to change the icon.

1. Goto www.shelllabs.com and download the trial version of Icon Changer and install it (Works on both XP and Vista).

2. Right-click on the exe file whose ICON is to be changed.

3. Now you will see the option Change Icon…Click on that option.

4. Now the Icon Changer program will open up.

5. Icon changer will search for all the ICONS on your system so that you can select any one of those.

6. Now select the ICON of your choice and click on SET.

7. Now a popup window will appear and ask you to select from either of these two options.

Change embeded icon.
Adjust Windows to display custom icon.

Select the first option (Change embeded icon).

8. You are done.The ICON get’s changed.

Custom Excerpts Plugin for WordPress

2009-05-28T14:16:00.001+01:00

Author: Sean Bluestone

Custom Excerpts allows you to implement custom excerpt text, length, and to choose HTML tags to allow and whether to make the link nofollow or dofollow. Previously the only way to achieve this was to edit the WordPress core file formatting.php which meant changes would be lost after each update.

Download

Facebook Now in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi

2009-05-27T14:17:00.001+01:00

Good news for Indians...Facebook has recently launched itself in 5 Indian regional languages.

With more than 1100 million people, a large number of whom are young, India can be a big market for Facebook and similar other social networking sites.

Just a few weeks ago Gmail also introduced Indian languages for composing email on this popular email service provider.

After Orkut, Facebook is the second most widely liked networking site in India.

Users can change language settings through the ‘settings’ tab or through the language option on their Facebook homepage.

Facebook users can only browse through the site in the five regional languages and not message each other or update their status yet. Rival Google’s social networking site Orkut has Indian language transliteration in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Introduction of regional languages was incorporated by Google in its networking site Orkut, however when the facility was tried by users there were some technical drawbacks which did not allow transliteration through Google’s own browser Chrome. Online war to defeat and rise is always on by websites in competition, and the new change seems to be Facebook’s trial to fit in visitor’s convenient requirement.

Windows 7: My System Won’t Stop Restarting (Looping on System Failure)

2009-05-27T12:54:00.001+01:00

If you a bad driver installed on your system and have Windows 7 set to automatically restart upon system failure, your computer can become stuck in a loop of restarting. You can easily get out of this loop and work on fixing your system’s error.

1. Once the computer begns it’s next restart, press F8 on your keyboard repeatedly until the Advanced Boot Options screen appears. If the Windows startup logo shows up, then you will need to start over because you missed the opportunity.

2. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Disable automatic restart on system failure and press Enter on your keyboard.

Wndows 7 will start up and not automatically restart, allowing you to troubleshoot the error and hopefully fix your system’s problem.

Windows 7: Check Your System’s Power Efficiency

2009-05-26T14:31:00.001+01:00

By running a Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report, you can view an analysis of your system and check common energy efficiency and battery life problems as well as check for errors and warnings for your power setup and hardware.

First you will need to access an elevated command prompt, to do this:

1. Click the Orb (Start button).

2. Click All Programs.

3. Go into Accessories.

4. Right-click on Command Prompt.

5. Select Run as administrator.

6. When the UAC prompt appears, select Yes.

Once you have your elevated command prompt, follow these steps:

1. At the command prompt, input the following:
powercfg -energy -output %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\PowerCFG_Analysis.html

2. A 60 second analysis of your computer system will then be executed.

3. When completed, a summary will be displayed.

4. Go to your Desktop and find the PowerCFG_Analysis.html file and open it to view the report.

How to Enable, Adjust or Disable Transparency in Windows 7

2009-05-17T08:12:00.002+01:00

You must have noticed that the borders of windows in Windows 7 are transparent or translucent so that you can see what’s behind the window. You can enable or disable or adjust transparency according to your convenience.

WARNING

You will not have the Transparency option if you have a Basic and High Contrast Theme instead of a Aero Theme.

Aero Requirements to be Enabled in Windows 7:
NOTE: If Aero is not enabled, then Transparency will not work even when enabled.

1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1 GB of system memory
A graphics card with support for DirectX 9 graphics with at least 128 MB of memory.
The graphics card must support Pixel Shader 2.0 and the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM).
You must be have True Color (32 bit) set instead of High Color (16 bit).
The desktop composition and Animate controls and elements inside windows options enabled in Visual Effects.
Refresh or update your WEI score.

To enable or disable Transparency in Windows 7 follow these simple steps:

1) Right click on an empty area of the Desktop and choose Personalize option

2) In the Personalization window click the Window Color link at the bottom of the window

3) Now check the Enable transparency option to enable transparency
You can then slide the slider forward or backward to adjust the degree of transparency.
OR
Uncheck the Enable transparency option to disable transparency.

4) Click on Save Changes button

How to Adjust Window Transparency in Windows XP / 2000

2009-05-17T07:38:00.001+01:00

Today's tip is on how to adjust the transparency of an application window in Windows XP... By adjusting the transparency of a window, you'll be able to see the contents of any windows beneath, as well as the desktop...

Windows 2000 and XP have the built-in ability to display variable transparency, but do not provide a method to adjust transparency levels for standard applications... We'll be using a free and extremely lightweight utility called Vitrite... Vitrite uses very little resources, and allows you to adjust the transparency for any Windows application...

Vitrite can be downloaded from here...

After you have downloaded and installed Vitrite, you can adjust individual window transparency by pressing Control+Shift+(number from top row of keyboard), for example Control-Shift-1 = 10% visible, etc... Control-Shift-0 returns the windows back to 100%...

Another cool feature of this utility is that you can make a window always stay on top by pressing Control-Shift-+... Pressing this combination again causes the windows to revert back from its "Always on Top" state...

Click on the image below to see an example of Vitrite in use:

Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

The Bare Minimum Processes Needed to Run Windows XP

2009-05-16T14:09:00.001+01:00

When repairing a PC by either trying to shutdown a virus, trying to remove adware/spyware/malware, or just trying to get a speed increase, you need to shut down processes that run in the background.

It is necessary to know the bare minimum processes which Windows needs to operate, and it is sometimes difficult to tell.

Here is a list of the essential processes that Windows needs to run correctly.

System Idle Process

explorer.exe

taskmgr.exe

spoolsv.exe

lsass.exe

csrss.exe

smss.exe

winlogon.exe

svchost.exe – You will notice more than one running.

services.exe

By shutting down anything other than these processes, stand alone Windows should operate fine, however, if any of these processes are shutdown, Windows will start to become unstable, or unusable.

On most computers there will be multiple instances of svchost.exe, these control various connections on your computer whether it is to the Internet, or within a LAN. It is usually safe to switch off some of these, however, it’s not easy to determine which ones, so its better to leave these alone.

To shutdown a Windows process, Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete which will take you to Windows Task Manager, click on the Processes Tab, select a process and click End Process.

If you are not sure what a particular process does, then I recommend checking out Uniblue Process Library, a library that lists what each task does, its threat level,and makes it easy to determine what is running on your computer.

Disable Avira Notifier

2009-05-16T13:43:00.001+01:00

I recently downloaded Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus as my primary antivirus program. I had been using version 8.2.

Avira has one drawback - A nagging notifier to upgrade to the premium version pops up every time you update the Avira database.

To disable this pesky notifier, simply follow these directions:

For XP and Vista Users:

1. Start-> Control Panel

2. Administrative tools-> Local security policy

3. Click on Software Restriction Policy-> Action (at the top)-> create new restriction policies

4. Right-click additional rules (on the right side)-> new path rule

5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\(Avira)\AntiVir Desktop\ and double-click avnotify.exe

6. Set the security level to Disallowed-> apply-> ok

If you had Avira previously installed and have already disallowed this, you need to change the thread to match (which for me meant changing AntiVir Personal Classic to AntiVir Desktop).

It’s a beautiful thing my friends!

You can download Avira AntiVir Personal at <a href=”http://download.cnet.com/Avira-AntiVir-Personal-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.html?part=dl-10322935&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11012914”>Download.com</a>.

Using the New Google Search Options

2009-05-13T15:11:00.004+01:00

Everyone’s favorite search engine has made it easier to get the search results you desire. You can filter your result set to show forums, reviews, videos, etc. and place a time constraint on the result set as well.

1. Go to Google as you normally would.

2. Input the search criteria and click the Google Search button.

3. You will see your result set (as you normally would).

4. Go to the very top of the result set and click the Show options link.

5. You will see a set of search options appear on the left side of the screen. Your options are Videos, Forums, and Reviews. Time constraints are Recent results, Past 24 hours, Past week and Past year. You can enhance the standard result set with either images from the page or with more text. Finally, you can look at related searches, the Wonder Wheel or a Timeline.

Here are some examples:

Selecting Video will narrow your result set to show only those pages with an associated video.

Selecting Forums will narrow your result set to show only those pages that Google has associated with Forums.

Selecting Reviews will narrow your result set to show only those pages that Google has associated with Reviews.

By using Google’s new Search Options, you can narrow your result set and find what you are looking for in far less time than before.

Microsoft sites not opening with BSNL modems

2009-05-12T08:06:00.002+01:00

I recently switched to the BSNL UL 750 connection and was surprised to see that with a slow speed the connection didn't even allow me to open any Microsoft sites. I tried changing the DNS settings to but didn't succeed. The trick instead was very simple. You just have to use a proxy server. Try using http://www.freeproxy.ca/ or IP 67.69.254.251; Port 80. These settings worked for me. If they don't work in your case try other servers mentioned in http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html.

Note: This problem does not occur with all BSNL modems. The modem that I was given was ZTE ZXDSL 531B.

Windows 7: Customize How the Date is Displayed in the System Tray

2009-05-11T14:20:00.005+01:00

By default the Windows 7 taskbar uses large icons, which makes for a bigger taskbar. This easily allows not only the time to show in the system tray, but the date as well. You can customize how the date is displayed and what information it will show.

1. Go to the Control Panel.

2. Select Clock, Language, and Region.

3. Select Region and Language.

4. Click the Additional settings button.

5. Select the Date tab.

6. Go to the Date formats section. Use the Short date dropdown to select the desired display. Click the Apply button to view the results.

If you don’t see what you want, you can add your own by placing your cursor on the dropdown and typing.

You will need to keep these notations in mind:

d, dd are for displaying the date

ddd, dddd are for displaying the day of the week

M, MM, MMM, MMMM are for displaying the month

yy, yyyy are for displaying the year.

By using these notations and seperators such as hyphens, commas, periods, etc. you can customize your date to display in a number of ways.

For example:

ddd MM/dd/yy

will make your date look like this:

Using xp-AntiSpy

2009-05-11T14:02:00.001+01:00

xp-AntiSpy is a neat little utility to automatically apply different settings to the operating system, which could also be done by hand, but at a higher expense of time.

It’s latest version 3.95 can be downloaded from here

xp-AntiSpy runs on the following operating systems:

Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

It displays various settings most of which are hidden in Windows.

Now, select Profiles>Suggested and the program will highlight all the important settings, then click ‘Apply Settings’ and restart Windows for the settings to take effect.

Well that part is over.

The next option is ‘Connection Limit’. This option can be used to increase the default connection limit in Windows which is 10.

The following was extracted from the xp-AntiSpy help file:

The connection limit was introduced by Microsoft with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP and Service Pack 1a for Windows 2003. It limits the connection requests at a time to 10. This should prevent malware from goin’ bezerk on your system and spreading its seed rapidly all around the network.

Some programs, for example filesharing software, sometimes reach the limit and therefore cannot perform as required without the limit.

Performance is not meant as bandwidth in this context.

You can check for yourself if your system reaches the limit. Take a look in the event viewer (hit start->run and enter Eventvwr.msc). When you click the System entry, take a look at the row named Event ID. If you see the number 4226 being displayed, then your system has reached the limit at that time.

To increase connection limit go to Special>Connection Limit which will bring up a dialog box with a message. Click ‘Yes,I got it’.

A second dialog box shows up displaying your current Connection Limit.

If the limit set on your computer is 10 then change it to 50 and click ‘Patch’.

Applying this tweak is very useful for filesharing softwares.

That’s it. I hope you found this tutorial useful. Please let me know by commenting here.

How to increase download speeds of uTorrent

2009-05-11T13:50:00.003+01:00

uTorrent was very slow for me until recently I applied a few tweaks. Here’s what I did.

Note: Some of the settings mentioned below are optimized for 256k connection. If you want to calculate the optimal settings for your connection, check at the end of this tutorial. But I suggest you to read the entire tutorial for guidance on other settings.

First go to Options>Preferences>Network

Under ‘Port used for incomming connections’, enter any port number. It is best to use a port number above 10000. I use 45682.
Randomize port each time utorrent starts: UNCHECKED. I leave this unchecked because I have a router. If you do not have a router or a firewall, and want extra security,check this option.
Enable UPnP port mapping (Windows Xp or later only): UNCHECKED. I leave this unchecked because I have experienced it slowing down speeds. It is not needed if you manually port forward.
Add utorrent to Windows Firewall exceptions (Windows XP SP2 or later only): UNCHECKED (do this only if you have windows firewall disabled)
Global Maximum upload rate (kb/s): [0: unlimited]: 22 (for 256k connection)
Protocol Encryption: ENABLED. I would recommend everyone to enable this. This can help increase speeds with many ISPs.
Allow incoming Legacy Connections: CHECKED

Options>Preferences>Torrents

Global Maximum Number of Connections: 130 (for 256k connection)This number should not be set too low or the number of connections made to your torrents will be limited. Setting it too high may cause too much bandwidth to be used and can cause slowdowns.
Maximum Number of connected peers per torrent: 70 (for 256k connection)If you see that the peers connected to a specific torrent are exactly this number, or very close, increase this number to improve speeds.
Number of upload slots per torrent: 3 (for 256k connection)This depends on how much you want to upload to other users. Do not set too low or it may affect download speeds.
Use additional upload slots if upload speed <90%: CHECKED
Maximum number of active torrents: 2 (for 256k connection)
Maximum number of active downloads: 1 (for 256k connection)
Enable DHT Network: CHECKEDThis is recommended to be checked to improve speeds. More people will be available for sharing if this is checked.
Enable DHT for new torrents: CHECKED
Enable Peer Exchange: CHECKED
Enable scrapping: CHECKED
Pre-allocate all files: CHECKED
Append .!ut to incomplete files: UNCHECKED

Options>Preferences>Advanced

net.max_halfopen: 50

If you use Windows XP SP2, patch tcpip.sys with LvlLord’s Event ID 4226 Patcher to get better performance.

DO NOT CHANGE THIS OPTION unless you have Windows XP SP2 and have patched tcpip.sys.

You can also patch tcpip.sys with xp-Antispy.

If you have a firewall

Open up the options/preferences/settings for the firewall - usually your firewall will have an icon to click in the taskbar
Look for the keywords “allow list” or “programs”
Add the application you want to give access to the internet
Make sure to save your settings when you are done

If you have a router

Go to start>run>type cmd, press enter>type ipconfig, press enter
Remember both your ip address and your default gateway
Type in your default gateway into your default browser, a password prompt may come up. The default username and password are admin for my router
Under ‘Applications’ fill out one line for each p2p client you use
You need to use your ip address, the correct port range and set either tcp or udp
You can find and change the ports in the actual p2p client’s settings, just make sure they are the same in the router
Most p2p apps need both tcp and udp checked, if you are not sure check your p2p client’s FAQ
Save your settings

Check PortForward.com to forward ports for uTorrent.

Some of the settings I mentioned above are relative to my bandwidth.

How to calculate optimal settings for your connection

In order to apply the following tips you need to know your maximum upload and download speeds. You can test your bandwidth over here.

Maximum upload speed

If you use your Maximum upload speed, there won’t be not enough space left for the files you are downloading. So you have to cap your upload speed.

This is how I calculate my optimal upload speed…

upload speed * 80%

Maximum download speed

Setting your maximum download speed to unlimited will hurt your connection. So use this to calculate your optimal setting.

download speed * 90%

Maximum connected peers per torrent

upload speed * 1.3

Maximum upload slots

1 + (upload speed / 6)

Disable Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall hates P2P and so disable it and get yourself a decent firewall like Zone Alarm.

And last optimize your Internet connection with TCP Optimizer.

Know any other tricks to increase uTorrent’s download speed? Please share them here.

How To Protect Your Personal Information When Making Charitable Donations

2009-05-10T12:46:00.003+01:00

What Happens to Personal Information When Making a Charitable Donation? New Grants Benefit Both Charities and Donors During Spike in Identity Theft. Data security issues have garnered a great deal of press lately. And of course it is not a huge stretch to imagine why charities are often attractive to hackers. They simply don't have the budgets or the staff to maintain tight data security--and they handle money… sometimes a lot of money. Typically, supplying the charity with a great deal of information that may even include an address, social security number and banking information.

This can be a nightmare for some. Normally this information becomes hard data utilized in part to solicit for further funding somewhere on down the road. Personal data, even an identity can be sold, stolen, misused or even used in such a way to harass an individual with constant solicitations.

Works of Life Ministries may be able to help with new grant offerings available to Charitable programs.

So far in 2009, over 100 million records containing Social Security numbers, bank accounts, age, gender and other information on individuals have been lost. Imagine what can be lost from the lack of security at a non-profit school, or a non-profit hospital, both collecting a varied array of their client's personal information.

The reasoning for this has to do with the nature of the relationship the organizations have with the individuals they serve. Rarely do for profit business-to-business companies have personal relationships with customers.

However, the relationship between most nonprofit organizations and their donors is different. Charitable business transactions aren't about buying, they're about giving. Donors are making a personal investment into a charity's mission. Therefore, to ensure revenue streams remain intact, nonprofits must go the extra mile to make sure their donor's information is protected.

In some cases, such as with many faith based charitable organizations, personal information may never be exposed to such as risk. As in the United States, many faith based organizations are not required to disclose their financials in any way unless requested by their Donors.

"This extra layer of protection receives a great deal of criticism from many who do not subscribe to the idea that the Church and State should be separate but we all know that the Government has never been good at running a religious entity. Those who disagree should probably move to a country where fewer people have given their lives to afford us such rights," comments Director D.O. Smith of Works of Life and the Computers with cause's charitable program.

"I have never heard of a church or faith based charity that has a problem disclosing to any individual Donor where their donation is going or who has benefited from their gift," states Rev. Everett of Works of Life. "Non-disclosure really is not an issue for those who actually are Donors to these types of Charities," adds Everett.

The risk is the same no matter what kind of donation is made. A financial or car donation, even a real estate donation, Donors still give up a great deal of sensitive data. "We only store the data needed for the reason it was collected. If the data is no longer needed, we get rid of it," adds Everett.

"We limit the storage of Donor data only to systems that are not connected to the Internet. Stand alone systems only to eliminate the possibility of a security breach. This allows us to secure the Donor's sensitive data both physically and technically," states Dir. Smith of Works of Life.

"Our previous CEO insisted on making the Donor the focus and with good cause. Creating policies and procedures that the Ministry then implemented when dealing with sensitive data. Having these policies not only protects your donors, but protects your organization as well," says Dir. Smith.

When it comes to responsibility and ethics, always make sure that the Organization has a stated privacy policy and will not share any information with outside parties.

Always ask to be informed as to who will benefit from the donation. Keep in mind that there is a right to place certain stipulations on a gift (within reason) and should make sure to have this noted on a federal tax form IRS 8283. Follow the donation and the data!

So the IT focus for charities definitely needs to change from acquiring hardware and software to having the resources to protect charity networks and servers from outside attack. It is making an already tough job even tougher.

Verify the choice of charities and remember that a charity need not be listed with the IRS to be "legit." However, it is fairly easy today to find if an Organization is providing services with the funds they collect. Churches and most religious organizations do not need to be listed with the IRS to be tax exempt, neither do some hospitals or schools. (See IRS form i1023)

"We run many of our offices out of Volunteers homes," states Everett, "Our former CEO was disabled and started the Organization out of a residential based office to make the Ministry possible. On the upside it also eliminated a great deal of overhead. That allowed us to spend more providing an actual benefit to those in need," Everett stated.

A very recent donation in excess of $100,000.00 is allowing Charities such as Works of Life to also provide assistance to other like-minded Non-profit Organizations to create and implement their own data security programs as well. The same Donor has pledged to provide a quarterly grant to help other Charities and to assist in the creation of these secure programs.

So what should nonprofit leaders do?

Ask for Help! "We welcome any Responsible, like-minded Charitable Organization to contact us if they need advice or funding," states Director Smith Of Works of Life, "A great part of our mission is to provide works of this nature."

Works of Life International Ministries
1081 S. Cimmaron
Las Vegas, Nevada 89145
http://www.worksoflife.org

About Works of Life International Ministries:

Operating since 2002 Works of Life International Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational faith-based charitable organization that provides charitable works for other like-minded organizations in the form of endowments, grants and much, much more.For a secure data program grant please apply online at www.worksoflife.org

NEW Panda Cloud Antivirus: The First Free Cloud-Based Antivirus

2009-05-10T12:30:00.003+01:00

Panda Security, a leading provider of ITsecurity solutions , announced the global beta release of Panda Cloud Antivirus , the industry’s first and only free cloud-based antivirus thin-client with 50 percent less impact on PC performance compared to the industry average.

With Panda Cloud Antivirus, Panda Security is introducing a new protection model that utilizes a thin-client agent and server architecture which processes and blocks malware more efficiently than locally installed signature-based products.

By moving the entire malware scanning and determination process to the cloud and applying non-intrusive interception techniques on the client architecture, Panda Cloud Antivirus is able to provide advanced protection against new and unknown viruses with a lightweight thin-client agent that barely consumes any PC resources.

Traditional antivirus products for PCs rely on multiple locally installed technologies which intercept each file at different layers (entry vector, file system and execution) and scan them using various techniques (antivirus, heuristics, intrusion prevention, behavioral analysis, etc.).

This process results in heavy usage of local PC memory and CPU resources, negatively impacting performance. The Panda Cloud Antivirus thin-client agent introduces a new philosophy for on-access asynchronous cloud-scanning. It combines local detection technologies with real-time cloud-scanning to maximize results while minimizing resource consumption. This optimized model blocks malicious programs as they attempt to execute, while managing less dangerous operations via non-intrusive background scans.

Panda Cloud Antivirus includes local and remote antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, heuristics and goodware cache, while only consuming an average of 17 MB of RAM and 50 percent of the PC performance impact as compared to the industry average.

Utilizing Panda’s proprietary cloud computing technology called Collective Intelligence, Panda Cloud Antivirus harnesses the knowledge of Panda’s global community of millions of users to automatically identify and classify new malware strains in almost real-time. Each new file received by Collective Intelligence is automatically classified in under six minutes.

Collective Intelligence servers automatically receive and classify over 50,000 new samples every day. In addition, Panda’s Collective Intelligence system correlates malware information data collected from each PC to continually improve protection for the community of users.

“We truly believe that Panda Cloud Antivirus represents a quantum leap in protection over the traditional approach to antivirus architecture,” said Juan Santana, CEO for Panda Security. “Panda Cloud Antivirus offers consumers a truly install-and-forget solution that delivers the industry’s fastest protection against the newest malware with literally half the performance impact. We’re excited to make it available today for free, which is Panda’s way of paying back to the community and growing our Collective Intelligence network so that we can deliver even greater protection to all customers.”

For more information or to download the free product, please visit: http://www.cloudantivirus.com

About Panda Security
Since 1990, its mission has been to analyze new threats as rapidly as possible to keep our clients safe. Several teams, each specialized in a specific type of malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam, etc), work 24/7 to provide global coverage.

To achieve this, they also have the support of TruPrevent® Technologies, which act as a global early-warning system made up of strategically distributed sensors to neutralize new threats and send them to PandaLabs for in-depth analysis. According to Av.Test.org, PandaLabs is currently the fastest laboratory in the industry in providing complete updates to users. More information is available in the PandaLabs blog.

Dual boot Windows 7 with Windows XP and Vista

2009-05-10T12:27:00.001+01:00

If you’re dying to try out Windows 7 but aren’t ready to give up your installation of XP or Vista, let’s take a look at how to dual boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista.

Step 0: Download the Windows 7 Beta and Burn It to a DVD

Assuming you’ve already downloaded a fresh copy of Windows 7, you’ll need to burn it to a DVD in order to do a fresh installation. To handle this task, grab a copy of the most popular CD and DVD burning tool ImgBurn, burn the ISO to a DVD, and move right along to step 1.
Step 1: Partition Your Hard Drive

Before you go installing Windows 7, the first thing you need to do is create a new partition on your hard drive to hold the new installation of Windows. Partitioning your hard drive will vary depending on whether you’re running XP or Vista—namely because Vista has a partition tool baked in, XP does not.

Partition Your Hard Drive in XP

To partition your hard drive in Windows XP, you’ll need to download some sort of third-party partitioning software. There are a lot of options available, but I prefer to stick with the previously mentioned GParted live CD, a free, open source boot CD that can handle all kinds of partitioning duties.

To use it, just download the GParted Live CD, burn it to a CD, then reboot your computer (booting from the disc). You’ll boot right into the partitioning tool. HowtoForge’s previous guide to modifying partitions with GParted is a great place to start, but it’s a fairly basic procedure:

1. Resize your current OS drive to free up enough space for a Windows 7 partition (the minimum system requirements ask for 16GB).
2. Create a new partition from the newly freed space.
3. Apply your changes.

Partition Your Hard Drive in Vista

The folks at Redmond were kind enough to include a disk partitioning tool in Vista if you know where to look. So go to Control Panel -> System and Maintainence (skip this one if you’re in Classic view) -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Once you launch the Computer Management tool, click on Disk Management under the Storage heading in the sidebar. It’s partitioning time.

Luckily we’ve already gone down this road before in step-by-step detail, complete with pictures, so check out our previous guide to creating a new partition in Vista. In a nutshell, you’ll need to shrink your current OS partition to free up at least 16GB of disk space (per the Windows 7 minimum system requirements), then create a “New Simple Volume” from the free space.

Step 2: Install Windows 7

Now that you’ve done all the heavy lifting, it’s time for the easy part: Installing Windows 7 on your new partition. So insert your Windows 7 disc and reboot your computer (you’ll need to have enabled booting from your DVD drive in your system BIOS, but most PCs will have this enabled by default).

Once the DVD boots up it’s a simple matter of following along with the fairly simple installation wizard. When you’re choosing installation type, be sure to select Custom (advanced) and choose the partition you set up above. (Be careful here. Choosing the wrong partition could mean wiping your other Windows installation altogether, so make sure you pick the new partition you just created.)

After you select the partition, go grab yourself a drink and let the installer do its work. Windows will run through some installation bits, restart a few times in the process. Eventually you’ll be prompted to set up your account, enter your license key, and set up Windows. Keep your eyes open for fun new Windows 7 features, like your new homegroup (and the accompanying password). When it’s finished, you’re up and rolling with your new Windows 7 installation.

Congratulations! You should now have a new entry for Windows 7 on your boot screen when you first start up your computer. You’ve now got all the tools necessary to dual-boot Windows 7 and XP or Vista—or even to triple-boot Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

This isn’t the only way to set up a multi-boot system by any means, but it’s how I pulled it off. If you’ve got a method of your own that you prefer, let’s hear it in the comments.

Trick to get Windows 7 Release Candidate direct download links

2009-05-09T15:59:00.002+01:00

After weeks of anticipation, Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) is available for download.

Unlike the trick to download Windows 7 beta installer and license, you do not have to download the Release Candidate immediately - it will be available until July 2009. There are also unlimited access keys for the Windows 7 Release Candidate.

Download Windows 7 Release Candidate

Windows 7 RC is available on the Windows 7 page on Microsoft website, but we figured you shouldn’t have to waste your time by logging in to that website and then downloading it - here are the direct, working links (tested by hand) to Windows 7 Release Candidate.

Choose the correct version below - most likely your computer will be capable of 64-bit, if so choose that. Since Microsoft redirects the links to homepage, we will follow a couple of steps to ensure the download - follow along and you will have no problem downloading it.

Open the appropriate link below (32 or 64 bit) in a new tab or window in your browser. You will notice that it redirects to the Windows 7 page instead of starting a download.

Immediately after you are redirected to the Windows 7 page, copy the link (right-click and Copy Link location in Firefox, Copy shortcut in IE) and paste it into the addressbar of the window in which you opened the Windows 7 page. Your download will start immediately.

Download Windows 7 Release Candidate 32-bit

Download Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit

The above steps work because Microsoft checks referrers to see if the visitor is downloading after following the usual steps to download - by copy-pasting the link again, it seems to be tricked. These direct links have been tested and are guaranteed to work at the time of writing - Microsoft may detect it and redirect you to home page (if that happens, please leave a comment here about it, and any working direct links you may know).

Install Windows 7 RC

If you have not installed a pre-release Windows version before or otherwise require instructions for installing, read the Windows 7 RC installation instructions.

How to upgrade Windows 7 beta to RC

Windows 7 RC installer detects software other than Windows Vista and prevent the upgrade. This is a major disappointment for enthusiasts who are looking to upgrade their Windows 7 beta installs.

However, there is a hack to upgrade Windows 7 beta versions to RC - backup your data and read the instructions carefully before attempting the hack.

Duration of use of Windows 7 RC

WIndows 7 RC can be used without any restrictions until 1 March 2010. After that date, it will enter a restricted usage mode and restart every 2 hours.

It will expire on June 1. That should be plenty of time to use and evaluate the RC - rumours point to a late 2009 or early 2010 release date for Windows 7, so you will likely be able to install a proper copy of Windows 7 before the RC approaches its date of expiry.

Upgrade Windows 7 from beta to RC (bulid 7000 to 7100)

2009-05-09T15:51:00.001+01:00

Microsoft has bulit a detection method into Windows 7 RC install files so that it detects OS other than Windows Vista and prevents the upgrade. This will likely be a major problem for enthusiasts who had installed Windows 7 beta and want to upgrade to the release candidate.

The official explanation is that upgrading from beta software builds to RC is blocked to avoid problems during such an upgrade. Microsoft recommends a fresh install of Windows 7 RC for the same reason. For example, Windows 7 beta builds like 7077 are blocked from being upgraded to Windows 7 (build 7100) RC.

However, there is a known hack to skip the version detection and upgrade from beta to RC. This method of hacking involves modifying a .ini file within the ISO file before starting the installer. Follow the instructions below for the hack.

Hack to upgrade Windows 7 beta to RC directly

If you do not have it already, download the Windows 7 setup file.

Extract the content of the ISO file to a folder using IZArc.

Inside that folder, open the sources directory.

Open cversion.ini in Notepad or similar text editor.

Change the 4-digit number after the word MinClient build number to a lower value. For our purposes, change it from 7100 to 7000.

Save the file (make sure to save, NOT save as).

Start up the Windows 7 installation.

Extract zip, ISO, DAA files with IZArc[freeware]

2009-05-09T15:47:00.001+01:00

Archiving and extracting files can be done in Windows XP and upwards with the help of built-in tools. However, as with many other things, built-in utilities tend to have very little tweakable options and power features. For anyone that desires better features, the built-in archival utility is not the right option.

IZArc is a freeware archival application for Windows. It has all the normal features expected from an archival application: zip and unzip archives, create self-extracting archives, create normal archives from self-extracting archives, encrypt/decrypt archives.

However, it also has other ‘extra’ features, like extracting individual files from a ISO file (CD image), repair archives, create multi-part archives and merge multi-part archives into one. What this means is that IZArc is a very powerful archival program, with many features not found on similar programs (even paid ones).

In fact, it was such extra features that helped me extract DAA file without using the expensive PowerISO [see tutorial to extract DAA files]

As you can see from the screenshot below, the window is simple and uncomplicated. Once you install IZArc, you can configure it to associate with archive files. Then, double-clicking archives will bring up IZArc with options to extract files. You can also choose the location easily.

Tip: Instead of double-clicking files, right-click archive file, hover over ‘IZArc’, and choose Extract to .<filename>, where <filename> is the actual name of the file. When you do this, the files will be extracted to a new folder within the same folder that the archive file is located in.

Download IZArc

How to extract and open .daa files for free

2009-05-09T15:25:00.000+01:00

.daa extension (Direct Access Archives) is a proprietary format by PowerISO, used commonly to archive large ISO files (ISO is a disk image format that you can burn to a disk using Nero or any other burner). DAA files format has features like compression, password protection, and splitting to multiple volumes.

DAA files can be opened by PowerISO, but unfortunately, it is free to use only for small files. Many file .daa that you get over the internet, especially those from Linux users, or file-sharing services (like BitTorrent) will be in DAA format.

This tutorial will show you how open .daa files for free on Windows. Extracting .daa extension files require two steps - converting the DAA file to an ISO file, and then burning the ISO file to a disc or extracting the ISO to get the required files.

Opening / extracting .daa files

Below are the methods to open .daa files - currently, I have only a tutorial for WIndows. Tutorial for Linux and Mac OS X will be added soon.

For Windows

To get .daa files open in Windows, you should download the following programs: DAA2ISO (no install required, just open it) and IZArc. DAA2ISO converts the .daa file to an ISO file, which you can then burn to a disc or extract (using IZArc). Alternatively, you can mount the .ISO file with MagicISO.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed them, follow these easy steps:

Open DAA2ISO, and in the first box, point to the DAA file. In the second box, select the place where you want to extract the ISO, and also the filename for it.

Open IZArc, and point to the ISO file and fill in the details like where you want it to be extracted to.

You would now have the original files that were converted to DAA. If you need to make a disc of the files, follow the first step from above. Then download and install ImgBurn (freeware). Open ImgBurn and burn the ISO file to a disc to get a disc with all the contents of the original DAA file.

Review: ImgBurn, to write discs for free

2009-05-09T14:55:00.000+01:00

Nero might be omni-present ((when was the last time you saw someone using non-Nero software for burning discs?)) and etched onto the minds of every computer user as the best disc writing tool. However, it costs a premium, and is not really necessary for most day-to-day disc burning needs.

While Nero goes on adding more utilities to its package, I (and you should, too) choose to go the opposite way of using free, lightweight tools for such tasks. ImgBurn is one such tool, that allows you to burn discs without the hype, hassles or problems. All for the price of $0.00.

It has a neat interface (though not very beautiful).

The interface is, admittedly, sparse. However, it is not confusing, and does its job decently . Most people do not realize that the main reason for attraction to popular software like Nero is its interface and not functionality. The most important part is that it is lightweight and perfectly suitable for old and new computers alike.

The worst part of ImgBurn is its design. So, if you can get over it, then you have your hands on a decent application that does what it is intended to do, nothing more, nothing less. ‘Nothing more’ is significant, when you consider that many popular applications are losing fans because of additional functionalities (and consequent resource hogging) that many do not desire. Think Nero, Firefox, Adobe Reader etc.

Functionality is where it shines. ImgBurn burns discs without any problems, and is quick, lightweight and focussed. And most importantly, it is free. What more could you ask for?

ImgBurn download | ImgBurn site

Wikipedia Founder Slams Wikipedia Art

2009-05-09T13:32:00.000+01:00

Some controversy stirred up earlier this week after the Electronic Frontier Foundation stepped in on behalf of the creators of Wikipediaart.org, a site dedicated to a Wikipedia-related art project. The EFF was responding to demands by a lawyer for the Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of Wikipedia, that the artists turn over control of the domain.

Continue Reading

Password Protect Folders in Windows XP

2009-05-07T08:19:00.004+01:00

Do you share a computer with other users and want some extra security on your folders? There are two ways to password protect a folder built into Windows XP (for other Windows flavors, there are some freeware/shareware programs out there).

#1 If you have a log in password for your account, this can be used to protect folders from other users. Your hard drive must be formatted using NTFS (which it probably is unless you're dual booting with another operating system). Here's what to do...

Right-click the folder that you want to make private and choose "Properties" (or Alt+Double-click). Go to the "Sharing" tab and check the "Make this folder private" box.

Click Apply . If you do not have a password on your account, a box will pop up asking if you want to assign a password. This must be done if you want to make the folder private, so click Yes . You will need to use your password to log on to your computer from then on.

Type in a password then confirm it. Click the "Create Password" button then close the Password window.

Click OK in the Properties dialog box.

Now anyone else logged on to your computer can't access that file without knowing your password.

#2 If the Folder is Zipped you can give it a unique password.

Just double-click the zipped folder. In the top menu select File then click "Add a Password".

Type a password into the Password box. Then again in the "Confirm Password" box.

Now, you are the only person who can access files in this folder. The folder can be opened allowing the files to be seen, but you are the only one who can access them.

Don't you feel more secure now?

Top 7 Firefox add-on’s

2009-05-06T11:55:00.005+01:00

Foxmarks

If you use more than one computer then Foxmarks might become handy as it keeps your bookmarks and passwords (optionally) synchronized.

Adblock Plus

This is a must-have add-on for Firefox. Many sites have annoying flash ads in them. Not anymore - Adblock plus blocks them all!

Sxipper

Tired of filling in various web forms and all the spam you get on your e-mail? This add-on automatically fills in registration forms and creates fake e-mails which forward to your e-mail. If you get too much spam from one of the fake e-mail you just cancel forwarding. Simple as that!

Greasemonkey

If you want to make your browsing more comfortable then this comes handy as you can use all the user made scripts. The largest script database is at Userscripts.

FireFTP

Don’t want to install an extra program for FTP? Download this add-on and you gain FTP access to servers from your browser.

ChatZilla

Another useful add-on with which you can chat on IRC networks and you don’t have to install a separate program!

URL Fixer

Ever mistyped the end of a address? This fixes all of your mistakes - if you type techrecipe.co.cd it automatically corrects it to techrecipe.co.cc!

How To Bypass The Recycle Bin When Deleting Files

2009-05-06T11:46:00.001+01:00

If you are absolutely sure you want to delete a file, why send it to the Recycle Bin? Windows lets you bypass it really easily:

To delete a file or a group of files, select them with and when they are highlighted, press Shift+Delete. Press “Yes” in the confirmation box that opens and you’re done!

Configure (connect) BSNL Type II (Type 2) Modem - ZTE ZXDSL 531B

2009-05-06T10:35:00.007+01:00

(Click on a picture to view it clearly)
Here’s a sure shot tutorial on how to configure new Type-II modem being distributed by BSNL, that is ZTE’s ZXDSL 531B.

I’m not sure about the earlier ones but this is the one they’re distributing right now.

Continue Reading on http://techrecipeblog.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/configure-connect-bsnl-type-ii-type-2-modem-zte-zxdsl-531b/

Windows 7: Can My Computer Run XP Mode?

2009-05-04T14:09:00.002+01:00

XP Mode is a Virtual PC based environment that can be installed and run on a compatible Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate machine. The feature provides users with a safety net for compatibility to run there applications, just in case the apps do not run on Windows 7. In order for XP Mode to run on a computer, the PC must meet a set of requirements.

Here are the requirements for XP Mode:
Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, or Ultimate2GB of RAM (the more, the better)Intel Virtualization technology (Intel VT) or AMD virtualization (AMD-V)

While the first two criteria are relatively simple to check, you may be wondering if your processor meets the virtualization requirement. There are two tools available for download that will easily answer that question:

If you have an Intel processor, you will need to download and run the Intel Processor Identification Utility.

If you have an AMD processor, you will need to download and run the AMD-V Technology and Microsoft Hyper-V Compatibility Check.

You will need to run the utilities with elevated privilege, so right-click the executable and select Run as administrator.

How to Copy and Select Text from Snopes.com

2009-04-30T14:13:00.001+01:00

I really like Snopes. I really do. However, they use a stupid javascript command to prevent people from selecting and copying the text on their web pages. Here is how to defeat their defenses.

Now, I really despise people that steal tech-recipes material by copying and pasting into their websites. This confuses google and steals traffic away from us. However, to break a basic part of the web to stop this is inexcusable. Shame on Snopes. Shame.

Snopes uses a little bit of javascript to prevent people from selecting text on their website. If you can not select it, you cannot copy it. Snopes does this so people will have to send the URL to the page instead of just copying and pasting the text. Breaking part of the web browsing experience just to make a buck is poor form.

To override the evil of snopes, just past the following into the address bar of your browser and press ENTER:

javascript:void(document.onselectstart=null)

After doing this, you can select text and copy until your heart is content.

Wouldn’t it be funny if somebody started an email about the evilness of snopes breaking the rules of friendly web browsing? Then snopes would have to respond to their own “urban legend.” I say it is TRUE! :)

Windows XP: Hide 'User Accounts' from users

2009-04-28T12:13:00.001+01:00

Go to Start/Run, and type: GPEDIT.MSC

Open the path: User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel

double click "Hide specified Control Panel applets"

put a dot in 'enabled', then click 'Show"

click Add button,

type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box

Windows XP: How to Rename the Recycle Bin

2009-04-28T10:43:00.001+01:00

To change the name of the Recycle Bin desktop icon, open Regedit and go to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/CLSID/{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

and change the name "Recycle Bin" to whatever you want (don't type any quotes).

Windows 7 Tricks: 4 Amazing Keyboard Shortcuts Navigation

2009-04-25T14:49:00.000+01:00

As soon as Windows 7 is launched, we are at it to make things convenient as much as possible. The other day we wrote an article on 20 Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts which you must have found fruitful. Now here is a chance to equip yourself with more resources. Without further ado, let me storm the keystrokes and present to you something worthwhile.

1. Minimize Multiple Inactive Background Window in a Single Click

Suppose you are working on an important document but the other inactive but open windows are sneaking in from behind. It may be very distracting however silly may you find. So, what do you? Do you minimize all with Windows+D and then resurface the current one? No. There is a shorter way in Windows 7.

Simply hit Win+Home to minimize all the non-active background windows, keeping the window you’re using in its current position. When you’re ready, press Win+Home again to restore the background windows to their original locations.

2. Use Hot Keys for Applications

Did you know that you can rearrange the icons in the taskbar of Windows 7. What’s particularly nice is that once they’re reordered, you can start a new instance of any of the first five icons by pressing Win+1, Win+2, Win+3 etc I press Win + 5 and there comes my GOM player! Very cool.

3. Launch Administrative Privilege for any Application through Shortcuts

Suppose you are working on some program and suddenly you see that you don't have administrative privileges to do that particular operation. What do you do then? Switch account? No.

Just press CTRL+Shift and then click the icon you want to have admin privilege of. It will come up with full administrative privilege assuming you have the permission or the security rights.

4. Specialized Window Switching

Tim Sneath from blogs.msdn has a very detailed look at this. Lemme quote his findings here.

Another feature that power users will love is the ability to do a kind of Alt+Tab switching across windows that belong to just one application. For example, if you’ve got five Outlook message windows open along with ten other windows, you can quickly tab through just the Outlook windows by holding down the Ctrl key while you repeatedly click on the single Outlook icon. This will toggle through each of the five Outlook windows in order, and is way faster than opening Alt+Tab and trying to figure out which of the tiny thumbnail images relates to the specific message you’re trying to find.

So did you like these tips? Why don't you read our other articles on Windows 7.

20 Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Know

2009-04-25T14:40:00.005+01:00

I have seen many people prefer using keyboard only when working with Windows. Windows 7 developers have kept that in mind and brought in quite a lot of good features accessible from keyboard. Let me put them down as a list.

From Desktop
1.Windows Key + Tab = Aero [press Tab to cycle between Windows]
2.Windows Key + E = Windows Explorer is launched.
3.Windows Key + R = Run Command is launched.
4.Windows Key + F = Search (which is there in previous Windows versions too)
5.Windows Key + X = Mobility Center
6.Windows Key + L = Lock Computer (It is there from the earlier versions as well)
7.Windows Key + U = Ease of Access
8.Windows Key + P = Projector
9.Windows Key + T = Cycle Super Taskbar Items
10.Windows Key + S = OneNote Screen Clipping Tool [requires OneNote]
11.Windows Key + M = Minimize All Windows
12.Windows Key + D = Show/Hide Desktop
13.Windows Key + Up = Maximize Current Window
14.Windows Key + Down = Restore Down / Minimize Current Windows
15.Windows Key + Left = Tile Current Window to the Left
16.Windows Key + Right = Tile Current Windows to the Right[Continue pressing the Left and Right keys to rotate the window as well]
17.Windows Key + # = Quicklaunch
18.Windows Key + = = Magnifier
From Windows Explorer
19. Alt + Up = Go up one level20. Alt + Left/ Right = Back/ Forward

Though some of them are there in previous versions of Windows, Windows 7 has incorporated many of them and have started many afresh.

Rediff.com launches India Votes 2009

2009-04-25T13:21:00.002+01:00

For forthcoming elections where social networking sites and blogs are becoming platform for discussions, at the same time online portals are gearing up with the new section for the latest news on elections.

Following the league, Rediff.com has started India Votes 2009 (http://www.rediff.com/election/loksabha-election-2009.html) a website with 3 core principles of the Net - Read, View & Participate. The election is a visual exercise as much as auditory, keeping this in mind Rediff is providing a complete set of information through the articles, videos and photographic slide show along with the opportunity to participate in election process:

o By shooting and sending videos and photographs of Election 2009
o By becoming a campus reporter and cover the elections
o By taking part in the virtual vote
o By taking the poll challenge and testing one’s knowledge of elections
o Through blogs.

How to Remove the Conficker C Worm

2009-04-23T14:46:00.001+01:00

If you neglected to patch your Windows operating system with Microsoft’s security update that plugged a hole in the Server service, you might find yourself infected with the Conficker C worm. This threat is triggered on April 1st of 2009 and attempts to download files from a list of addresses, redirects DNS requests to certain sites (it doesn’t want you finding a fix for it!) and stops some Windows services and processes. Here’s how to remove the Conficker C Worm.

I work alot with Symantec products, so I will outline the use of their removal tool. If you prefer a different antivirus software, see the links at the bottom of this tutorial.

1. Download the FixDwndp.exe file from Symantec.

2. Save the file to your desktop.

3. Burn the file to a CD (using a flashdrive may result in getting your USB drive infected).

4. Close all open folders and applications. Disconnect the infected computer from your network.

5. Turn off System Restore.

6. Execute FixDwndp.exe (the one from the CD you just burned).

7. Click the I Accept button to accept the EULA.

8. Click the Start button to begin scanning your computer.

9. Once finished, the tool will display the number of deleted and repaired files and the number of fixed registry entries.

10. Reboot your computrer.

11. Run the tool again to make sure that the threat has been removed from your computer.

12. Once you have completed all the above steps, you may turn System Restore back on.

If you prefer to use a different tool, here are some other options:

BitDefender

Kapersky

TrendMicro

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

McAffee

How To Change the Default View Source Editor for Internet Explorer

2009-04-23T14:41:00.001+01:00

If you hate using Notepad as the source editor for IE, you can change the default View Source Editor for Internet Explorer by following one of these methods.

You have three choices:

(A) Download software

View Source Editor
http://www.iconico.com/viewSourceEditor/

“Are you frustrated at Internet Explorer’s insistence on using Notepad when you click View Source? This little application let’s you use any text editor instead of Notepad. All you need to do it choose the program and you’re set.”

(B) Manual Registry Edit

Change default View Source editor in IE
http://dotnet.org.za/thea/archive/2004/11/25/7933.aspx

(C) Create a Registry File

1. Copy below and paste into Notepad.

———-copy inside only———-
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View Source Editor]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View Source Editor\Editor Name]
@=”\”C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe\”"

———-copy inside only———-

2. Modify the line @= to suite your choice.
(Match the syntax or it won’t work!)

3. Save-as IE_View_Source_Editor.reg (or any name + .reg)

4. Double-click or right-click and merge into the Registry.

IE8: Make the Favorites Bar Display as Icons Only

2009-04-23T14:32:00.000+01:00

By reducing your Favorites Bar to show only the icons, you can access more of them from Internet Explorer’s Favorites Bar. This works great for sites with recognizable favicons like Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Right-click on one of the icons on the Favorites Bar. Mouseover Customize Title Widths and select Icons Only.

Your Favorites Bar goes from something like this:

to this:

Web2.0 and it traffic benefits by Burke Ferguson

2009-04-22T14:05:00.002+01:00

Web 2.0 is the latest buzzword in Internet marketing. Not surprising at all, considering what a goldmine it is in terms of all the benefits an Internet marketer can draw from it.
Basically, web 2.0 is a platform that allows people to connect, interact with the website and with each other and share information online.

Therefore, web 2.0 encompasses all those online communities like blogs and social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, video sharing websites like YouTube, social book marking sites like Del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon etc. You get the general idea. Now the question is, how do you get the web 2.0 to give you steady rush of highly targeted traffic?

Every Internet marketer loves free-traffic. This has become a huge possibility, thanks to web 2.0 sites where users have a high level of interaction, passing around information to each other.

As a result of this, there are hundreds of niche topics and markets people tend to be a part of. And just because of this, the web 2.0 social networking sites have become a goldmine for internet marketers.

You have a huge market to which you can market your products and services, and not spend a dime towards this effort. Your first task is to find the most popular web 2.0 community-based websites here you are allowed to insert your URL. This will help people who want to share your information, making your URL more visible as it gets passed around and this, in turn, brings back highly targeted traffic to your website.

You will be amazed at the number of marketers who are still not using the power of the web 2.0 to get a lot more traffic than even the search engines can turn up.

So create your free account right away with the following top ranked sites, and start building your community, with links that point to your main website.

YouTube Squidoo LinkedIn Facebook MySpace

There are several more, and we'll talk about them through this training series. Creating a profile on these sites is quite easy and all you need to do is spend around fifteen to twenty minutes in these sites every day.

Savvy marketers also increase their page rank with the search engines by creating multiple user profiles for related topics. Once this is done, they link these profiles to each other.

On most of these sites you will find a Forum or a discussion board that allows its members to discuss any topic. These are highly influential locations where members share stuff. Social networking sites allow you to belong to different groups or networks withing the site.

Web 2.0 sites are great places to share viral videos, which are a very effective marketing medium online. Millions of viewers see and share videos that appeal to them, thus spreading the marketing message and driving traffic to your website.

Social networking sites let you feature links to your website and blog. For any Internet marketer, one-way links and traffic along with high search engine page rankings are crucial to their success. Web 2.0 helps achieve all these, free of cost.

To find out more ways to leverage web 2.0, go to our website at the bottom of this page. Alternately, you can also go grab your copy of the Web 2.0 Stampede guide that shows you how you can keep highly traffic coming to your website. Do it now. Click here for more information: http://www.web20highlytargetedtraffic.com/

About the Author
Burke Ferguson writes to many niches online and can be found at this web2.0 traffic website http://www.web20highlytargetedtraffic.com/

Gmail: How to Insert Images into an Email Message Body

2009-04-21T14:35:00.000+01:00

Gmail allows you to insert images into the body of an email message instead of just attaching the image. This makes for a better looking email and prevents the reader from having to open an attachment after opening the email.

1. Go to Gmail and login to your account.
2. Click the Labs icon at the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Scroll down the list to the Inserting Images Lab and select its Enable radio button.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save Changes button.
5. Click the Compose Mail link on the left side of the screen. Address the message and input an appropriate Subject.
6. Compose your email as usual. When you come to a place in the message where you wish to insert an image, go to the Rich Formatting toolbar and select the Insert Image icon.
7. Select the My Computer radio button if you wish to insert an image that resides on your computer. Browse to the desired image and then click the Open button to select it. Click the Add Image button to insert it into the message body.
Select the Web address (URL) radio button if you wish to insert an image that resides on the web. Input the Image URL. Click the Add Image button to insert it into the message body.
8. The image will appear in the message body. Use the included menu to select the desired size of the image (Small, Medium, Large, or Original Size). If you change your mind, select Remove from the menu.

Continue composing your email as usual.

Publish to Your Self-Hosted WordPress Blog through MS Word 2007

2009-04-20T13:44:00.007+01:00

Earlier I had talked on how you could use Microsoft Office Word 2007 to publish posts to WordPress.com, Blogger, TypePad etc. But when I started my new blog http://www.themacblog.co.cc/blog, I could not find a trick anywhere in the web to publish posts to a self hosted WordPress.org Blog. So this is when I decided to write this post.

First of all select Other in New Blog Account Window and click Next.

Go to the Settings - Writing Section of your WP blog and enable XML-RPC under Remote Publishing.

Now go back to Word and select API as MetaWebLog. Then enter your Blog Post Url in the form sitename.com/xmlrpc.php or sitename.com/dirname/xmlrpc.php if your blog is in a subdirectory.(Note: When you type this URL on the address bar of your browser you should get a message like 'XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only.' and not Page Not Found.)
Now enter the username and password of your WP blog.

You're done. Click OK and Enjoy!

Windows Vista: How to Enable Disk Quota Management

2009-04-19T14:41:00.001+01:00

Disk Quotas allow administrators to limit how much disk space users can use on an NTFS formatted volume. This can be helpful in limiting the amount of personal data (music files, photos, etc.) and also to help make them use better file management practices.

1. Open Computer.

2. Right-click the volume you want to enable disk quotas on and select Properties.

3. Select the Quota tab.

4. Click the Show Quota Settings button.

5. Continue through the UAC prompt.

6. Click the Enable Quota Management checkbox.

7. Check the Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit checkbox so that users will receive an insufficient disk space error when they exceed quota limits.

8. Select the Limit disk space radio button and input the desired amount of space using the textbox and dropdown.

9. Input the desired amount of space that you wish the user to receive a warning at.

10. Click the OK button.

Safari 4: How to Add a Site to Top Sites (Windows Only)

2009-04-18T14:46:00.002+01:00

Safari’s Top Sites keeps track of the sites that you visit the most and displays preview thumbnails for these sites. You can manually add and pin sites to Top Sites as well. This trick works only on Windows machines.

1. Open Safari.

2. Go to the desired web site.

3. Once the site comes up, drag and drop the site’s favicon from the address bar onto your desktop.

4. Go to Top Sites.

5. Go to the bottom left corner and select Edit.

6. Drag the newly created shortcut to the position on the grid that you want the site’s thumbnail to appear.

7. The site’s thumbnail will be placed (and pinned) in the desired position.

8. Click the Done button. While the thumbnail will not initially show the Delete and Pin icons on its upper left corner, they will be there the next time you enter Top Sites’ Edit mode.

Outlook 2007: The Easy Way to Insert Attachments or Copied Text into a New Message

2009-04-18T14:40:00.000+01:00

Everyone who uses email has found themselves attaching files to email, or needing to send a copied blurb of text to friends or colleagues. Outlook makes this ultra simple to send these in no time flat.

To attach files:

1. Copy the file(s) from your Desktop, Documents folder, etc. (select the files and press CTRL+C).

2. Go to Outlook, make sure it is showing your Inbox.

3. Press CTRL+V.

4. A New Message will appear, with the file(s) attached to it.

A single attachment will have the file’s name as the Subject

Multiple attachments will leave the Subject line blank.

5. Address the message and add any necessary text.

6. Send the message.

To insert copied text:

1. Copy the desired text from a document, webpage, etc. (select the text and press CTRL+C).

2. Go to Outlook, make sure it is showing your Inbox.

3. Press CTRL+V.

4. A New Message will appear, with the copied text inserted into the body of the message.

5. Address the message, input a Subject and add any necessary text.

6. Send the message.

Stop replacing hyphen with a horizontal line in Word

2009-04-17T13:04:00.000+01:00

One of the most-read tips on this blog is still "Get rid of that annoying horizontal line in Word", which means that problem is still bugging people out there.

It's a "feature" of Microsoft Word, whereby annoying horizontal lines appear in your document and you can't get rid of them. The post above describes how to remove those lines, but there is also a way of stopping (some of) them from appearing.

AutoCorrect creating The Line
Sometimes they are created by Word's often useful, sometimes infuriating AutoCorrect feature. If you type a line of 3 or more equals signs, underscores, minus signs, and probably a number of other chracters, Word automatically converts this to a line running across the screen, which isn't actually a line but a border, which is why we have trouble getting rid of it. You can just about see why someone might want to use this shortcut, but it seems to have caused more confusion among Word users than anything, all things considered.

The way to stop this is simple - go to Tools -> AutoCorrect Options and select the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Uncheck the option Apply as you type -> Border lines and never see that feature again! (until you reinstall Office at a later date and forget what you changed!)

Word 2007 Users:

Click the Microsoft Office Button and then click on Word Options. Select Proofing on sidebar and click on AutoCorrect Options. Select the AutoFormat as you type Tab and uncheck Hyphens(--) with dash.

Windows 7: Pin Recycle Bin on the Taskbar

2009-04-16T13:36:00.003+01:00

The new taskbar in Windows 7 does not allow you to pin anything directly on the taskbar by default. If you tried to pin Recycle Bin already you would have noticed that it is pinned under the Windows Explorer program instead of a separate icon. In order to pin it directly on the taskbar you have to know a few tricks. In the end, your will have a dedicated Recycle Bin shortcut pinned directly on the taskbar as shown below.

The secret is creating a special shortcut that you can pin to the taskbar that points to the recycle bin:

Right click anywhere on your desktop and select New and then shortcut.
In the location of the item box type in:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder
Click Next.
For the name type in Recycle Bin.
Then click Finish.
Now your shortcut will be created but it will not have the right icon. Right click on the shortcut, select Properties. Then, click Change Icon.
Change the icon file to:
%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll
Hit Enter and select the Recycle Bin Icon and click OK.
Finally, drag the new shortcut onto the taskbar and it will be pinned directly. Once the shortcut is pinned, you can delete the original on the desktop.

How-to Remove Internet Explorer from Windows 7

2009-04-16T13:27:00.004+01:00

For the first time since 1997 it is possible to uninstall Internet Explorer from Windows. Now full time Firefox, Chrome and Opera users can remove Internet Explorer for good. Best of all, removing IE will not break any of the thousands of applications that depend on the Internet Explorer rendering engine. Over the years many applications including AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player, Google Talk, LimeWire, MS Office and more use components of the IE rendering engine. When Internet Explorer is removed the shared rendering engine components will remain to make sure the thousands of applications that depend on the IE rendering engine continue to run.

While the rendering engine will remain for compatibility reasons the IE executables, shortcuts and settings will be removed. To uninstall IE on your computer, follow these steps:

Click on the Start Button and type in Turn Windows features on or off and hit Enter.

Then, scroll through the list and remove the check from Internet Explorer 8.

Click OK and IE will be removed.

Note: Build 7000 (public beta) doesn't have this feature - it comes with later builds.

Green P2P for Windows 7

2009-04-16T13:18:00.003+01:00

Windows Vista already includes a P2P-enabling technology known as Teredo. But for the forthcoming Windows 7, Microsoft is contemplating adding such features as metered connections, distributed hash tables, and something called 'green P2P.'

For the Xbox 360 game Halo 3, P2P technology is "key to the whole experience," said See-Mong Tan, Microsoft's director for P2P networking. Now, Tan tells us, the company is pursuing more options that could bring new legitimacy to a technology that is still berated today for its heritage in anonymous file-sharing.

P2P technologies now being considered for the next edition of Windows include "Green P2P," metered connections, and distributed hash tables, Tan said, in a talk at DCIA's P2P Market Conference on Friday.

Windows Live Hotmail Free POP3 Worldwide

2009-04-16T13:11:00.003+01:00

Earlier this year the Windows Live Hotmail team began to roll out free POP3 and SMTP support to the world and then in March they announced the rollout is completed and is now available worldwide. Users can configure just about any mail client to retrive and send Windows Live Hotmail messages with the free POP3 and SMTP servers. Including many mobile phones. Here is the configuration information again:

POP server: pop3.live.com
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

How to install ‘digg this’ WordPress plugin

2009-04-13T14:33:00.001+01:00

It baffles me why someone would go to the trouble of writing a WordPress plugin but not take the time to write some decent step-by-step documentation for how to install it and make it work. A prime example is a very handy Wordpress plugin for adding a digg button to your post.

The plugin is written by Aviran Mordo and can be found here. Take a brief look of the comments and you will see that there are more than a few people having trouble implementing this plugin. I was in the same boat and it took me hours to figure out how this plugin was suppose to be implemented. Since no documentation exist, I am writing this to help these who are having problems installing it. Please note that I can only impart on you my experience and I am in no position to answer any technical questions. Those questions should still be directed to the original author of the plugin. Before I begin, I would like to say thanks to Aviran Mordo for writing this plugin. Let’s hope he implements better directions for those who are not php programmers.

Download the plugin.
Upload the plugin to your WordPress plugin folder which is located under wp-content/plugins off your blog’s home folder. I like to put the plugin in a folder called ‘digg’ to keep my plugins organized but you can just put it in the plugin folder.
Go to the WordPress admin page and activate the plugin under the Plugins tab.
At this point, I suggest you submit a post to digg for testing. Having the article already dugg makes it easier to confirm if your installation is working.
I won’t go into how to digg works since you should already know this if you are reading this.
Find the appropriate single.php file in your blog folder. If you are using themes, you will have multiple single.php files. Each will be located under the theme’s folder which is located under /wp-content/themes. If you have not installed any themes, the file will be located under /wp-content/themes/default. Make sure you edit the correct single.php file. The author refers to this action as putting the code in the Loop. Some themes will make a call from the single.php file to another file (ie: theloop.php). If this is the case, you will see something like include (TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/theloop.php’); in the single.php file. If you are using such a theme, you will have to edit theloop.php file instead. The exact location of where to put the code will vary from theme to theme so you’ll have to experiment but it has to be put inside the loop which is often indicated by comments in the file. There will often be clues to where you can put it. Usually below lines that read ‘title’ and above lines that read ‘footer’. Remember to re-input the changes if you change themes.
If you want to include the digg this button in WordPress pages files (like this one) in addition to post files, you will need to add the same line of code to the page.php file located in the same folder.
To edit the single.php or page.php file, use the editor under Design-Theme Editor. Be sure to make a backup first.
Your first part of your single.php file should look like this:
The bold text is the additions. Red text are my comments and should not appear in the file. In short, if you want the digg button to appear at the end of the article, enter the code after this section Read more »
The code you enter will vary depending on what you want to appear. Refer back to the author’s site for examples. I used < ?php digg_this_button(); ?> to create the digg button.
Time for testing. You cannot test this just by refreshing your blog. You must first go to the article in digg.com and click on the link to your article. Doing this will update your link and the button should now appear in your blog as dugg. If it does not appear, wait a few hours. For some reason, the digg button may not appear right away.

If you did everything right, you should see a digg button at the end of your post like the one you see here. If this article was helpful, feel free to digg it!

How to Create a Forum on a custom domain

2009-04-13T14:04:00.005+01:00

Steps

Go to http://www.phpbb.com/ or http://www.simplemachines.org/ and download their PHP forum software. Another great one to download is Integramod. This is a standard copy of phpBB, but it comes with many mods. You can get it at http://www.integramod.com/

Download an FTP Client and use it to upload all your PHP content to your host.

Create a MySQL database on your host through the control panel.

Go to yoursite.yourhost.com/forumdirectory/install.php to install and configure your forums.

In your FTP client, go to config.php > Properties and set the CHMOD settings to 666 (if you are using phpBB 2).

Follow the instructions on install.php.

After finishing installation, go to the CHMOD settings of config.php again and set them to 644 (if you are using phpBB 2).

Delete the install and contrib directories.

Go to yoursite.yourhost.com/index.php.

Tips

If you are not very technical, register at site that automatically set up forums for you. A good example would be: 'www.youforum.cc'.
If you want to run the forum on your own computer for development reasons, testing, customizing..etc then see how to Install Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin on a Windows PC
if you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser then go to http://fireftp.mozdev.org/ for your ftp add-on.

Show only Post Titles on a WordPress Blog in Arcvhives Page

2009-04-12T14:35:00.004+01:00

If you're running Wordpress, how do you like your archive page? Do you like having complete post after complete post for page after page? Do you like just showing excerpts for each page?
I wanted to try something different.

I wanted to show just the titles of the posts on each archive page because it looks cleaner and because it takes away another possible source of duplicate content on the blog. I also decided to add the number of comments for each post so readers can see which ones got the most response, the date published, and the author. Finally, I wanted all the posts to show up on one page.

I know there are plugins to do similar tasks, like Clean Archives and Clean Archives Reloaded, but neither of these did exactly what I wanted.

So, I got to learn a little more about Wordpress. First up was a little function called query_posts(). While this function can do a lot of things, the part I was interested in was it's ability to change the page structure from one that was paged to including all the posts on one page. So, my first step was to call query_posts() before entering the loop on the archive page of my theme with the original query string (held in $query_string) and the parameter posts_per_page set to -1 (which tells wordpress to put everything on one page):

<?php query_posts($query_string . "&posts_per_page=-1"); ?><?php if (have_posts()) : ?>

The next step happens within the loop. This was mostly a matter of removing calls from the loop to show the content of the post. I also took the post titles out of headers and added the call to comments_number() to get the number of comments for the post.

<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?><div style="padding-bottom: 10px;"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a><?php echo ' - ' ?><?php comments_number('0 comments', '1 comment', '% comments'); ?><br /><small><?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?> by <?php the_author() ?></small></div><?php endwhile; ?>

I don't know if this will work on Wordpress 2.3 or higher. It shows you don't have to be a Wordpress expert to make some nice customizations to your blog.

12 Editors for your WordPress Blog

2009-04-11T14:35:00.002+01:00

Are you among the majority that are frustrated with the default editor that comes along with Wordpress? Although Wordpress is the best blogging platform invented by man yet, it leaves much to be desired when it comes to the default WYSIWYG editor. Luckily for us, there are a handful of third party editors available.

BlogDesk, a free stand-alone application, lets you comfortably write and effortlessly publish new entries to your blog. It features an ImageWizard that lets you crop, resize and rotate images. It also has a Technorati Tags Generator that lets you easily define and insert tags instead of retyping them over and over again.
Qumana is a free, easy-to-use stand-alone desktop blog editor, enabling you to write, edit and post to one or more blogs. You can use Qumana even when you are offline. Save your blog posts to your hard drive and upload whenever you like. Great for bloggers on the move.
TinyMCE Advanced adds 16 plugins to TinyMCE: Advanced hr, Advanced Image, Advanced Link, Context Menu, Emotions (Smilies), Full Screen, IESpell, Layer, Media, Nonbreaking, Print, Search and Replace, Style, Table, Visual Characters and XHTML Extras. Its free and packs quite a punch when it comes to adding extra functions to the editor.
WP Super Edit is a free WordPress plugin designed to give some control over the visual / WYSIWYG editor and add some functionality without modifying the WordPress source code.
Monsters Editor for WP Super Edit brings the magic of Fckeditor back to TinyMCE. So if you prefer TinyMCE as its concision, but used to Fckeditor’s powerful functions, then MsE is your good choice. Please do note that this is a free addon plugin to WP Super Edit described above.
Windows Live Writer is a free desktop application that makes it easier to compose compelling blog posts. It includes a lot of features such as WYSIWYG Authoring, Photo Publishing, Map Publishing and a Writer SDK. The Writer is a great client for Windows Live Spaces but also works with other weblogs including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress (and many others).
FCKEditor is a free, full featured web based WYSIWYG html editor, it’s lightweight and is compatible with most internet browsers which include: IE 5.5+ (Windows), Firefox 1.0+, Mozilla 1.3+ and Netscape 7+. Its strong points are the excellent interface and built-in File and Upload Managers.
Mudbomb’s free WYSIWYG Plugin for Wordpress gives you a lot of control over your images, letting you choose the thumbnail size, the compression quality, et al. It also supports emoticons and features dictionary support.
BlogJet is a Windows blog client for managing multiple blogs that supports file attachments among other regular features such as an Image Manager, Youtube and Flickr support. There are both free and paid versions of BlogJet available.
ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured free blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog. You can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.
RocketPost is a paid WYSIWYG editor that lets you edit and upload multiple posts at the same time. It features built-in photo editing, instant photo albums, automatic linking to related posts, quote tracking, quick linking, drop caps, pull quotes and a running word count.
Advanced TinyMCE Editor is a free plugin that turns your existing WordPress editor into a WYSIWYG powerhouse.

If none of the above editors are to your liking, there’s one software that you are sure to be familiar with - Microsoft Word. Yes, unknown to many, Microsoft Word 2007 has native support for publishing posts to blogs running on WordPress, TypePad, Blogger and Live Spaces. Learn how to setup your blog in Microsoft Word 2007 here

Post to Your Blog from Microsoft Office Word 2007

2009-04-11T14:20:00.007+01:00

Update: If you want to Publish Posts to Your Self-Hosted WordPress Blog through MS Word 2007, see this post.

While browsing around the menus in Office Word 2007, I stumbled upon the ‘Publish’ option, and I was thrilled! Well, it’s actually possible to publish to your WordPress blog from Microsoft Word 2007 itself. That is so cool! And it’s not just WordPress, supported platforms include Blogger, SharePoint, Windows Live Spaces, TypePad, etc.

Here’s a quick guide on how you can set up Microsoft Word 07 to publish posts to your blog:
•Start MS Word 2007, click on the Office Logo on the top left of the screen and select ‘New‘.
•Click ‘New Blog Post‘ and click ‘Create’.
•Click ‘Register Now‘ in the dialog that appears to get started.
•Choose your provider. I chose WordPress.
•Click ‘Next’ and type in your blog URL, username and password
•Click the button ‘Picture Options’ which is present in the bottom left of the dialog
•If you want to upload photos to your own FTP server, choose the option ‘My own Server‘
•In Upload URL, type in the FTP address of the location where the images should be uploaded
•In Source URL, type in the HTTP address of the location where the images are stored
•Press OK and when all’s well you’ll get a confirmation message telling the process was successful.
•You can now write blog posts in Word 2007 itself, specify categories and publish them using the button on the top left.

This post was actually written using Word 2007, and I had absolutely no problems using it. I could add categories and images. Try it and let me know your views in the comments.

How to add a comment form beneath your blog posts

2009-04-10T15:01:00.000+01:00

To enable inline comments for your Blogger powered blog, you need to log into your dashboard. Then go to Settings>Comments and scroll down the page to see the new "Comment form placement" setting:

Check the radio setting for "Embedded below post" which will enable the display of the comment form below your blog posts.

If you have customized your template, you will need to make a small change to your template code for this comment form to display. But don't worry, it's a very simple customization to make!

Simply go to Layout>Edit HTML in your blog's dashboard and check the "Expand widget templates" box. Then search for this section of code:

Replace this entire section of code with the following instead:

Then save your template. Now when you view a post page in your blog, you should see the new comment form in place!

Update: As many of you have pointed out in the comments, not all templates feature the code I've described above.

Luckily, there is another method which is much easier to use, and has worked for every template I've tried so far. So if my original method isn't working for you, try this instead:

Search for this line in your template code:

<b:include data='post' name='comments' />

Immediately after this line, add the following line of code:

<b:include data='post' name='comment-form'/>

Then save your template. This method adds the required code for the comment form without having to alter the whole comment area, and is very useful if you have experienced problems using the original method.

If you don't see your comment form, make sure you have changed this setting and have added your code in the correct place in your template.

You can see this comment form in action beneath this post. Using this comment form allows readers to comment using their Google account, OpenID, Name/URL and all of the settings previously available when using a pop-up or full page comment form (depending on the settings you have chosen).

Please let me know what you think of this new feature by leaving your comments below.

SwirlyMMS brings MMS to Jailbroken iPhone [iPhone App Review]

2009-04-10T14:56:00.003+01:00

SwirlyMMS is a native iPhone application that brings the missing MMS feature to the jailbroken iPhone (at least until this summer as Apple has finally included the MMS feature in iPhone OS 3.0).

It's easy to use and allows you to send photos, text messages, audio and video files to your friends from your iPhone.

SwirlyMMS is developed by SwirlSpace. They claim that SwirlyMMS was downloaded more than a million times.

When you launch SwirlyMMS for the first time, the settings wizard guides you through the process of installing the demo license and configuring the MMS gateway depending on your carrier.

The user interface of the iPhone app is similar to an email client which makes it quite intuitive and easy to use.

You have folders to store incoming, outgoing, sent and trash (deleted) messages. You can view all incoming multimedia messages by tapping on the Inbox. After you open a message, SwirlyMMS will first display the text message, and you can tap the right-arrow to view the attachments in the multimedia message such as photos, audio, video etc.

SwirlyMMS allows you to save text or other media contents from the MMS messages you have received to your iPhone. You can also have the option to forward the multimedia message.

To send an MMS message, simply tap on the "write" button on the bottom right corner of the screen. You can use any of the 4 options (left to right) to send an MMS message:

Add photos from photo album or camera roll.
Take a new picture using iPhone's built-in camera.

Write a text message.
Launch a file browser and select any file from your iPhone's file system.

SwirlyMMS allows you to do some customizations such as:

Configure the image size, which is set to medium by default.
Select other image size which will result in the application applying different compression ratio.
The user agent option even lets you emulate other cellphones which is quite cool (e.g. Nokia, Sony Ericsson or Motorola) to send multimedia messages.

SwirlyMMS is available for the jailbroken iPhone via Cydia. You get a 14-day free trial version after which you need to pay $8.

Apple had mentioned that the MMS feature won't be available for 1st generation iPhone users. They had explained that it was due to a hardware limitation. Many people have been speculating that it is a marketing ploy by Apple to force 1st gen iPhone users to upgrade as it was possible to send MMS messages using a 1st generation iPhone using SwirlyMMS.

SwirlyMMS uses your iPhone's data connection or Wi-Fi as a workaround to send MMS messages and doesn't seem to be use the carrier network which is used by mobile phones that support MMS.

I tried using it by turning off 3G and Edge using SBSettings and I got the following error message when I launched the app:

"Your GPRS/EDGE/3G is disabled which means SwirlMMS will not function properly!"

Another important thing to note is that if you are using AT&T then it's not straight forward, SwirlySpace advices users to checkout this and this forum threads for more details and if you are O2 user in UK and having problems receiving messages then you should checkout this forum thread.

Verdict:

So overall, SwirlyMMS is a pretty good application as it brings the missing MMS feature to the iPhone.

If you are a heavy MMS user and own the 1st generation iPhone then you should check it out as it's seems to be the only option to send MMS (even post release of iPhone OS 3.0). Please let us know how it goes in the comments.

If you are an iPhone 3G user who can manage without the MMS feature until this summer then you should wait for iPhone OS 3.0 which will have the official MMS feature.

SwirlyMMS has been around for quite sometime, so if you have used it before, please don't forget to drop us a line in the comments section below to give us your feedback.

5 Related Posts Techniques for Blogger Blogs

2009-04-09T14:32:00.001+01:00

A relatively easy method of increasing page views on your blog is to add a list of related posts below each article. This offers readers a ready-made reading list of other articles on your blog, which are of a similar theme or subject matter.

For those using Blogger to publish their blogs, there are a few different methods available to display a list of related posts. These “related posts hacks” return a list of recent articles from the label(s) assigned to the particular article.

In this post, I’ll offer an overview of five different related posts hacks for Blogger blogs, which will offer your readers a taste of other related articles from your site.

70 Fantastic Windows 7 Tips & Tricks For Better Functionality

2009-04-08T14:47:00.001+01:00

Windows 7 is currently only a beta version, but it’s much better than the latest version of Windows Vista and it comes with a lot of new features. Unfortunately, some of them aren’t so easy to figure out, so I created a list of the most important tips and tricks and a step-by-step guide that will help you apply all of these great tips and tricks.

Read More

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Windows 7 Build 6801 Tips and Tricks Guide

2009-04-08T14:09:00.002+01:00

Well it’s that time again. PDC has come and gone, and with it comes a build of the much anticipated Windows 7. Windows 7 delivers many new and interesting features, and in our opinion comes much closer to delivering on that wonderful “Longhorn vision” we saw at PDC 2003. The purpose of this guide is to offer insight into some of the cool new features in Windows 7 build 6801 and also to provide workarounds for some of the minor issues we encountered while using this build. Let’s get to it then shall we?

Open a folder in a new process:

By default, Windows Explorer opens all folders within one process. You can change this through the Folder Options dialog, however this will cause all folders to open within new processes. With Windows Explorer in Windows 7, you can selectively open folders in a new process by using the context menu.

1. Right click on the folder you wish to open while holding down the Shift key on your keyboard.

2. Select “Open in New Process”.

Run as another user

In Windows Vista, while you were given the ability to run a program as an Administrator, you had to use the command line to run programs as another user (or otherwise specify that you wished to do so using the properties dialog for that shortcut/program). In Windows 7, you can now perform both actions: Run as an Administrator, or Run as another user.

1. Right click on the shortcut or executable you wish to run while holding down the Shift key on your keyboard.

2. Select “Run as another user”.

Use Virtual Hard Disks (or “VHD”) files as real hard disks using the Windows 7 Shell:

Windows 7 allows you to create and manipulate virtual hard disk files (or “VHD”s) as if they were real disks. This is great as it allows Virtual PC users to mount their virtual disks within a live Windows installation without the need of booting the virtual PC environment.

To create virtual hard disks:

1. Click on Start, right click on Computer, and then click on Manage. Provide consent to the User Account Control dialog if required.

2. In the left hand pane, click on Disk Management, and wait for it to load.

3. In the menu bar, click on Action, and then click on Create VHD.

Here you will be able to specfify the size and the location of the virtual hard disk file.

To attach a virtual hard disk file:

1. Click on Start, right click on Computer, and then click on Manage. Provide consent to the User Account Control dialog if required.

2. In the left hand pane, click on Disk Management, and wait for it to load.

3. In the menu bar, click on Action, and then click on Attach VHD.

In the dialog that appears, you can specify the location of the VHD file as well as mark it as read-only.

Initializing virtual hard disks:

1. Click on Start, right click on Computer, and then click on Manage.Provide consent to the User Account Control dialog if required.

2. In the left hand pane, click on Disk Management, and wait for it to load.

3. In the menu bar, click on Action, and then click on Attach VHD.

4. Specify the location of the VHD file and click on OK, the Disk Management Service will go ahead and mount the VHD file.

5. Once it is mounted, right click on the virtual disk (which will show up as a blue hard drive) and click on Initialize Disk.

6. In the dialog that appears, select the partition style you wish to use and click on OK. The Disk Management Service will now initialize the disk for use.

7. Right-click on the unallocated space in the virtual hard disk and click on “New Simple Volume”, and follow through the instructions in the wizard to create a new partition within the VHD.

Now, if you go to Windows Explorer, you’ll see another hard drive here, which is the virtual hard disk – you can interact with it as if it were a real hard drive.

Some new Desktop Window Manager (DWM) registry keys to play with:

While hunting through the registry in this build, we noticed some new registry entries that control the overall appearance of Windows Aero. To edit these keys, open the Registry Editor and point it to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM.

The new registry keys are all DWORD (32-bit) values, and are named:

· ColorizationAfterglow

· ColorizationAfterglowBalance

· ColorizationBlurBalance

· ColorizationColorBalance

· ColorizationGlassReflectionIntensity

Jerky DWM animations (perhaps driver related?)

One thing we’ve noticed in Windows 7 when using NVIDIA graphics cards is that the animations for the Desktop Window Manager are not smooth. One reason for this could be that DWM now turns off transparency and blurring when rendering effects (as well as for Flip3D). To work around this so that you experience is a bit smoother, turn off the animations:

1. Click on the Start button, right click on Computer, and click on Properties.

2. Click on Advanced System Settings in the task pane and accept any UAC prompts that may appear.

3. Under Performance, click on Settings.

4. Uncheck “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing”.

5. Click on OK.

Use the “Snap to Side” features for quick maximization.

Windows 7 includes a nice new feature that maximizes any window that you drag to the side. To do this, simply click, hold, and drag any window to the side of your screen and an Aero border should be displayed, let go of the mouse button and it will resize the window. Drag the window away from the side of the screen to restore it to its previous state. You can also double click on the top or bottom borders to maximize the window vertically.

X64 Users: Use 64-bit Windows Media Player by Default

We seriously have no idea why Microsoft still makes use of the 32 bit Windows Media Player in x64 builds of Windows, but thankfully there is a way to change that. The advantage of changing to the 64-bit WMP is that you only have to install one set of codecs (64 bit ones) and it keeps the system that much cleaner and easier to manage. If you’d like to do this, then follow the directions below.

1. Open a command prompt (as administrator).

2. Type “unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:64″ without the quotes and preserve the caps (command is case sensitive)

3. Now open up the registry editor.

4. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\wmplayer.exe\

5. Double click the “Path” Value

6. Change “%ProgramFiles(x86)” to “%ProgramFiles%”

7. Close the registry editor and enjoy 64 bit Windows Media Player.

Fix for Audio on Dell Laptops with 1500n Wireless Cards

We are highlighting dell laptops with this fix because that’s what Chris is running this build on, but we would imagine that this issue affects anyone who has a Wireless N card in the system, regardless of the sound card. The basic scope of this issue is that, when the wireless antenna is activated, the audio will deteriorate at random, and the deterioration of audio quality happens very quickly in most cases. The following is a workaround that I devised, based on the Dell 1500N Wireless card (other cards should have these options as well). To work around the issue, do the following:

1. Click start and type “devmgmt.msc” in the search box and hit enter (Give consent to any UAC screens)

2. Expand “Network Adapters”

3. Right click the wireless card and go to properties

4. Click the Advanced Tab

5. Click the following settings and make the prescribed adjustments:

a. IBSS Allowed – DISABLED

b. Band Preference – B/G

c. Disable Bands – DISABLE 802.11a

Unknown Device Showing in Device Manager

On some machines we have noticed the presence of an unknown device in the device manager that doesn’t seem to be tied to any piece of hardware in the specific machines.

The Compatible ID’s for the device are as follows:

DETECTEDInternal\blbdrive

DETECTED\blbdrive

Now, it seems that this points to a file in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers called blbdrive.sys. Our best guess is that it has something to do with the Block Level Backup Engine (which is responsible for image-based backups in Windows Vista and higher, through a feature called CompletePC Backup and Restore), but we’re not 100% sure. If anyone has any information on this please let us know.

Force Internet Explorer 8 into compatibility mode (if your websites do not render correctly)

Internet Explorer 8 has an updated rendering engine which can fail to render certain websites correctly (let’s see… most online banking websites… YouTube… Gmail….) however we can fall back to compatibility rendering which resolves 98% of these issues.

To enable compatibility view for all websites:

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click on Tools and then click on Compatibility View Settings.

3. In the dialog that appears, check “Display all websites in compatibility view”.

4. Click on OK.

Libraries

Windows 7 includes a feature that was stripped from Windows Vista (due to confusion amongst some dimwitted beta testers who couldn’t take five minutes to figure out the system) and hopefully it’s here to stay. It’s called Libraries, and basically what it allows you to do is aggregate all of your files into “libraries”, so even if you have all of your pictures thrown amongst your hard drives and multiple folders, Windows will bring them all together in a collection – you can do this for just about any type of file imaginable.

Windows 7 includes several libraries by default – Communications, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos – the types of data that people are looking for constantly in their day to day lives. We think this will really increase productivity, and it’s great to see that it’s coming back.

Windows Sidebar… or lack thereof…

The sidebar has been integrated with Windows Explorer in the sense that there is no actual “sidebar” for the gadgets to attach to. Rather, they float around on the desktop and can be snapped to the sides or the top or bottom of the screen, which is great. But, in case your wondering, at this point the gadgets are still hosted by the Windows Sidebar process, which can be located at %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar and %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Sidebar (32-bit version of the sidebar when using 64-bit Windows).

There’s also one gadget missing that was included with Windows Vista, which is the notes gadget. You can however, port this gadget over from Vista. Just make sure to either put it in C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Shared Gadgets or your user specific gadgets folder. Putting gadgets in C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets will NOT work.

No purchase necessary, Windows Mail not included.

One move that we don’t quite agree with is the lack of a proper e-mail client in Windows 7. Instead, Microsoft wants you to download Windows Live Mail from their website when you connect to the internet to get started with sending and receving email… which is great, don’t get us wrong, but it’s going to confuse the hell out of a lot of people who are used to getting a brand new computer and wanting to have their email set up without downloading and installing another program to do it.

High DPI scaling to prevent blindness

Windows 7 has vastly improved DPI scaling over what was found in Windows Vista. Previously, you would change your DPI setting and then have to restart the computer, whereas in Windows 7 all you have to do is log off and log back in. It’s a lot nicer.

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What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

2009-04-07T14:23:00.001+01:00

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can't kill them, and you don't remember starting them… so what are they?

So What Is It?

According to Microsoft: "svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries". Could we have that in english please?

Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can't launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.

Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?

If you've ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.

Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.

So What Can I Do About It?

You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don't absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.

The biggest problem is identifying what services are being run on a particular svchost.exe instance… we'll cover that below.

If you are curious what we're talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the "Show processes from all users" box:

Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)

If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.

tasklist /SVC

The problem with using the command line method is that you don't necessarily know what these cryptic names refer to.

Checking in Task Manager in Vista

You can right-click on a particular svchost.exe process, and then choose the "Go to Service" option.

This will flip over to the Services tab, where the services running under that svchost.exe process will be selected:

The great thing about doing it this way is that you can see the real name under the Description column, so you can choose to disable the service if you don't want it running.

Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP

You can use the excellent Process Explorer utility from Microsoft/Sysinternals to see what services are running as a part of a svchost.exe process.

Hovering your mouse over one of the processes will show you a popup list of all the services:

Or you can double-click on a svchost.exe instance and select the Services tab, where you can choose to stop one of the services if you choose.

Disabling Services

Open up Services from the administrative tools section of Control Panel, or type services.msc into the start menu search or run box.

Find the service in the list that you'd like to disable, and either double-click on it or right-click and choose Properties.

Change the Startup Type to Disabled, and then click the Stop button to immediately stop it.

You could also use the command prompt to disable the service if you choose. In this command "trkwks" is the Service name from the above dialog, but if you go back to the tasklist command at the beginning of this article you'll notice you can find it there as well.

sc config trkwks start= disabled

Hopefully this helps somebody!

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Windows 7 Hack: Get Rid of Expiry Date, Disable ‘Send Feedback’ Button and Remove Watermark - 3 in 1 Patch

2009-04-06T14:40:00.001+01:00

The first big patch for Windows 7 is out. Those who are using The Windows 7 Beta version, must be aware of the expiration date of 1st July. Here is this patch which not only will get rid of that 6 months of expiration warning to give you a better and unlimited use of Windows 7, but also will help you to disable send feedback button and also watermark from Windows 7 desktop! Isn't it wow.

Features

Remove Watermark from Windows 7 beta 1 Desktop
Remove Send Feedback link
Uninstall TimerNuke (Remove Time based Windows 7 Expiry)
Install TimerNuke .

Follow the same order and you will get all problems sorted out within seconds. Rock with your Windows 7.

Download

Remember:

You have to be logged in as administrator to do this.
This is for Windows 7 beta 1 build 7000 Edition and for 32 bit Windows version only.

[P.S. -> We do not take any responsibility or credit to offer you this service. This is purely for experimental basis]

Windows XP, WIndows 2003 registry hacks for better performance

2009-04-06T14:33:00.002+01:00

Here are some of my favorite registry hacks for getting better performance from your Windows XP / Windows 2003 box.

1. Faster application loading : For faster application loading you can change the prefetch parameters value. Windows perfetcher loads application faster by prefetching the applications and storing it in prefetch cache.

KEY : HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

Value Name : EnablePrefetcher
Value Type : DWORD
Preferred Value : 5

2. Boot files optimization : This hack will enable the defragmentation of boot files, which may result in reducing the boot time.

KEY : HLM\Software\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
Value Name : Enable
Value Type : string
Preferred Value : Y

3. Unload unused DLLs : This hack will enable the automatic unloading of program associated DLLs from memory when a program ends. This will free the memory and other resources for other running programs.

KEY : HLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AlwaysUnloadDLL
Value Name : (Default)
Preferred Value : 1

4. Disable user tracking : Yes, you read it right. Windows XP tracks each and every action you take, each and every move you make. It tracks program run by user, the paths followed, the documents used and M$ knows what else. Disable this “feature” will free up system resources and other side effects you may yourself think of.

KEY : HCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Value Name : NoInstrumentation
Value Type : DWORD

Preferred Value : 1

5. Configure system cache : If you are using your system as a server then file caching is good. If you are using your system as a desktop then file caching is not so good.

KEY : HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Value Name : LargeSystemCache
Value Type : DWORD

Preferred Value : 1 (for servers)
Preferred Value : 0 (for desktops)

6. Faster shutdown : This hack will enable the shutdown without waiting for running applications to shutdown safely.

KEY : HCU\Control Panel\Desktop
KEY : HU\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Value Name : AutoEndTasks

Value Type : string

Preferred Value : 1

6. CPU time slice allocation priority : This hack will allow you to configure your CPU time priority for foreground processes. This hack is only useful if you are using your machine as a desktop system.

KEY : HLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl

Value Name : Win32PrioritySeparation

Value Type : DWORD

Preferred Value : 2 (foreground task have higher priority than background ones)
Preferred Value : 1 (foreground task have maximum priority)

And don’t forget to reboot after applying all these registry hacks.

OK, folks that’s all from me for now. Will keep you updated with my adventures in my technological life.

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Ubuntu: add start icons to Wine programs

2009-04-06T14:30:00.000+01:00

I have several Windows programs I use from Ubuntu and some of these I run directly from the Windows partition without installing into the Wine system.

I created launcher links on the Desktop and top panel but unfortunately I don’t have their correct icon.

I set about extracting the icons from the exe files for this purpose.

The easiest method I have found is to use a free Windows program called IcoFX that runs with Wine.

Open the .exe in the editor and extract a 32×32 or a 48×48 to an .ico file.

Convert to a .png file with GIMP. Remember to merge layers. (Image->Merge Visible Layers before “Save as”)

The file can be copied into the shared icon area /usr/share/icons/. e.g. /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48×48/apps

Adjust the program launcher properties by opening the launcher properties window and clicking on the icon tab.

Then set the new icon from the directory it was saved to. Voila the new icon appears in the launcher.

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Portable Ubuntu For Windows

2009-04-06T14:11:00.000+01:00

Story : http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/02/portable-ubuntu/

There are quite a few possibilities to take the Linux distribution Ubuntu for a test drive. It can be run from Live CDs, run in a virtual machine or installed on a free partition on the computer system even from within Windows (using Wubi). Portable Ubuntu adds another possibility to these choices by offering to run Ubuntu directly in Windows without installation or configuration at all.

The Linux distribution can be downloaded directly from its Sourceforge page. It comes as a 438 Megabyte self extracting executable that requires 1.86 Gigabytes on the computer’s hard drive after extraction. Users can then immediately start Ubuntu in Windows by clicking on the run_portable_ubuntu.bat file that is located in the root directory of the software program. Starting portable Ubuntu in Windows will open a command line window which will remain open all the time. This command line window contains information about background processes and the state of the Ubuntu system.

The Ubuntu dock at the top center of the screen will be opened and displayed giving users access to Applications, Places, System and applications like Firefox. Talking about applications. The usual add / remove applications menu can be accessed in portable Ubuntu to install additional applications on the computer system.

One could think that running an operating system inside another operating system would surely demand lots of system resources. This is surprisingly not the case. Running Ubuntu portable requires less than 50 Megabytes of computer memory that are occupied by its processes.

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Allow Pings (ICMP Echo Request) Through Your Windows Vista Firewall

2009-04-05T14:51:00.001+01:00

Have you ever noticed that with the Windows Vista Firewall enabled, you can't use ping from another computer to see if your Vista computer is alive? Sure, you could take the drastic step of disabling the firewall for testing purposes, but the simple solution is to just allow ICMP requests through the firewall.

Note: Opening extra ports opens up security risksâ€¦ allowing ping isn't a big deal, but it's usually best to block anything you don't need.

Allow ICMP Echo Request (ping) From the Command Line

Open up an administrator mode command prompt by right-clicking and choosing Run as Administrator, or type cmd into the start menu search box and then use Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

netsh firewall set icmpsetting 8 enable

To disable it again, simply enter this command:

netsh firewall set icmpsetting 8 disable

The change should be immediateâ€¦ no need to restart anything.

Allow ICMP Echo Request (ping) With the GUI

Type in firewall into the start menu search box, and you want to choose "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security".

Then click on Inbound Rules on the left-hand pane:

And find the following rule in the list:

Networking â€“ Echo Request (ICMPv4-In)

Right-click on the rule, and choose "Enable Rule" from the menu, which should immediately enable ping.

If you want more control over the rule, you can choose Properties from the menu, and choose which interfaces or profiles this rule applies to.

You could specify that the rule only applies to your wired network interface, and not to the wireless, for example.

Note that I'm not advocating allowing this rule, I'm just illustrating how you can do it if you need it. If you don't need it, then don't enable it.

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Create a Shortcut Icon or Hotkey to Turn Windows Vista Firewall On or Off

2009-04-05T14:47:00.001+01:00

When you are troubleshooting network problems, one of the first things to do is disable the built-in Windows Firewall… but there are just way too many steps required to the firewall on and off. Can't we make a simple shortcut icon instead?

Naturally we can, using the built-in netsh utility that is usually used on the command line to perform advanced networking functions. We'll simply create a shortcut to it with the appropriate parameters.

Note: Always remember to turn the Firewall back on after you are done troubleshooting, especially if you use public wireless networks.

Create Shortcut Icons for Enable/Disable

Right-click on the desktop or elsewhere, and choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

Then in the shortcut location box, you'll add one of two commands listed below.

Disable Firewall

netsh firewall set opmode disable

Enable Firewall

netsh firewall set opmode enable

Once you've added the correct command, go to the next screen and give the shortcut a helpful name like "Disable Firewall"

At this point you should have a shortcut icon, but it won't work yet without choosing to run as administrator.

Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties, and then choose the shortcut tab.

In this screen you can assign a shortcut key for this shortcut by adding it into the Shortcut key box. The most important step is to click the Advanced button, so we can choose "Run as administrator" to always run the shortcut in administrator mode.

You can also change the icon by using the Change Icon button. If you want the shortcuts to really match, you can change the "Look for icons in this file" to the following:

%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

In that file you can find the red shield icon as well as the green one…

So now I have two shortcuts that not only look good, but are functional.

If you want to verify that the shortcuts are working, use one of them and then open Windows Firewall through the start menu, and click on the link for "Turn Windows Firewall on or off"

Then you should be able to see that the firewall is either on or off.

The same shortcuts should also work on Windows XP, even though the screenshots are all for Windows Vista. You don't need to run as administrator in XP, of course.

Note: Using these shortcuts will very briefly flash the command prompt window on the screen.

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Disable All Notification Balloons in Windows Vista

2009-04-05T14:45:00.000+01:00

If you find the popup notification balloons in the Windows Vista system tray to be too annoying, you might be interested to know that you can completely disable them. This would be an extreme option, of course… typically you can just turn them off in any offending applications, but if you want to disable them across the board, this is the solution.

Note: I'm not necessarily recommending that everybody do this… you should only bother with it if you need to solve this particular problem.

Manual Registry Hack

Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Right-click on the right-hand pane, and create a new 32-bit DWORD with the following values:

Name: EnableBalloonTips
Value: 0

You'll have to logoff and back on in order to see the change… or to be more correct, you won't see any popup balloons anymore.

Downloadable Registry Hack

Simply download, extract, and double-click on the DisableNotificationBalloons.reg file to enter the information into the registry. There's also an included EnableNotificationBalloons file that will reverse the change.

Download DisableNotificationBalloons Registry Hack

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Show Only Post Title at Label and Archive Pages in Blogger

2009-04-05T13:23:00.003+01:00

First go to your blog's Edit HTML Tab and Expand your Template. Then follow these steps:

Step1

Search for the following code in your Template.

<b:include data='post' name='post'/>

Step 2

Replace the above code from step 1 with the follow lines of code.

<b:if cond='data:blog.homepageUrl!= data:blog.url'><b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'><h3 class='post-title'><a expr:href='data:post.url'><data:post.title/></a></h3><b:else/><b:include data='post' name='post'/></b:if><b:else/><b:include data='post' name='post'/></b:if>

Step 3

Save you Template.

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Microsoft has Windows 7 surprises up its sleeve

2009-04-04T14:09:00.000+01:00

Microsoft is planning a couple of major new announcements around Windows 7 with the forthcoming release of the Release Candidate.

At a briefing at Microsoft's London headquarters today, the company's Windows OEM manager, Laurence Painell told PC Pro that there will be a "couple of additional, quite major announcements" in the coming weeks.

Painell wouldn't reveal when the Release Candidate was due to arrive, but leaked reports have previously suggested that it could come as early as next week, on 10 April.

Painell said the company is currently working hard to avoid the software and hardware compatibility issues that blighted the launch of Windows

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Windows 7 Release Candidate coming 10 April?

2009-04-04T14:08:00.000+01:00

Reports are suggesting that Microsoft is aiming to unveil the Release Candidate of Windows 7 on 10 April.

The rumour comes courtesy of Neowin which claims to have heard from sources within the company.

If true, it stands in stark contradiction to earlier reports that flagged a Windows 7 Release Candidate as likely by the end of February.

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Download Windows 7 Build 7072 Wallpapers

2009-04-04T13:51:00.002+01:00

Another Windows 7 build (7072) is leaked and it contains 6 new wallpapers.

You can download both Russia region and all region (full pack) wallpapers from the following links:-

Download Windows 7 Build 7072 Russia Wallpapers [3 MB]
Download Windows 7 Build 7072 Wallpapers [60 MB]

Thanks to Winfuture & GeekSmack for sharing them.

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Get 19,530 new twitter followers in 30 days?

2009-04-04T13:50:00.001+01:00

Hey check this out...

I just found this site that shows you a way of getting 1000's of new followers on twitter, I just started using it myself and its starting to work already.

http://tweetergetter.com/techrecipe

Thought it might interest you.

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Take the Naked Browser Challenge

2009-04-04T13:24:00.003+01:00

Microsoft India brings to you the Naked Browser Challenge, a contest for all internet users in India.

What's the challenge?

Pit Firefox, Opera and the spanking new Internet Explorer 8 against each other to see which one races to the finish line first.

How do I participate?

You should register at http://merawindows.com and then navigate to http://www.merawindows.com/SpreadIE8/NakedBrowserChallenge/tabid/471/Default.aspx

What do I get?

The prizes include Jackets, USB Kits, T-Shirts and MP4 players.

Take the “Naked Browser” challenge now and tell the community what you find out!

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Macgamestore.com Releases County Fair and Flower Shop Mac Games

2009-04-04T13:07:00.003+01:00

Macgamestore.com today announced the availability of two new games, County Fair and Flower Shop: Big
City Break for the Mac through its web site and digital download service, Mac Games Arcade. The game were developed by TikGames. County Fair combines resource Management for setting prices, hiring staff and selecting the hottest new rides and attractions and more. With Flower Shop, help Meg turn a small flower shop into a blooming success.

Calgary, Canada - Macgamestore.com today announced the availability of two new games, County Fair and Flower Shop: Big City Break for the Mac through its web site and digital download service, Mac Games Arcade. The game were developed by TikGames.

County Fair
You are in charge of running your local county fair. What will you do first? Install the biggest, most fabulous rides? Set up tasty food concessions to sell deep fried soda and other delicacies? Fire the staff and assemble your dream team of carnies? Now is your chance to give it whirl. County Fair combines the best of two hot game genres: Resource Management for setting prices, hiring staff and selecting the hottest new rides and attractions and Time Management which lets you keep your customers safe, healthy and coming back for more.

Features
* Choose from dozens of spectacular rides, game stands, and attractions
* Operate fairs in different locales throughout the US
* Set up tasty food concessions to sell local favorites
* Allocate your resources across advertising, hiring employees, maintaining your attractions and more

Flower Shop - Big City Break
Can you help Meg turn a small flower shop into a "blooming" success? You'll need to keep the customers happy, the flowers blossoming and the money rolling in. Sound easy? Then see how many demanding customers you can help her serve at once!

Features
* Over sixty exciting levels
* Help Meg expand her business to four stunning locations
* Enjoy watching flowers bloom before your eyes
* See if you can keep the most demanding customers happy
* Use friendly butterflies to help score more cash, but don't let the bugs eat your profits
* Earn money for useful extras like a peaceful fountain or a bug zapper

Pricing and Availability
County Fair and Flower Shop require an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.4 or later. A free 60 minute trial version of each game is available for download from either Macgamestore.com or the digital download application, Mac Games Arcade. The full version costs $19.95 (USD) to register.

Macgamestore: http://www.macgamestore.com/
Mac Games Arcade: http://www.macgamesarcade.com/
County Fair: http://www.macgamestore.com/detail.php?ProductID=1132
Flower Shop: http://www.macgamestore.com/detail.php?ProductID=1133
County Fair Screenshot: http://www.macgamestore.com/images_screenshots/product_1132_5638_715831628.jpg
Flower Shop Screenshot: http://www.macgamestore.com/images_screenshots/product_1133_5642_464228570.jpg

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