Computer Tips n Tricks

How To Speed Up Your iPhone and Increase Battery Life

2012-04-27T01:20:00.000-07:00

i have an iphone 4s. the battery life is awful. I have found a way (that works for me) to increase the battery life by at least double. it has to do with location services. go to settings > location services > system turn them all off. this will prevent the location services from being constantly on. also, while you are there look for any apps that are using location services (that shouldnt be, like foursquare) and turn them off. by specifically turning off location services for these apps it means that they arent allowed to use the location services, so some things might not work properly, but at least you will have power in your phone. i think that apple should limit the location services to apps that are currently running and arent backgrounded. there is no need for foursquare (or anything else) to know where i am, unless i am specifically checking in, or looking up a map etc. you should also disable any geofences (like location reminders in the reminders app) if you arent actually using them

Change Logon Wallpaper In Windows XP

2009-11-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

Change Logon Wallpaper In Windows XP

Logon wallpaper is the wallpaper or image that windows xp shows on screen when windows logs on (before it asks for username & password) . It’s usually set to the image-logo of the brand(manufacturer) of our computer (e.g. in compaq laptops). Now we can set it to our own image or any other image(any bmp file) by following trick.

Open Startmenu->Run type regedit and press ok to open registry editor.(shows a tree like structure of directories at left)

In that hierarchical structure in left, navigate to registry entry
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

In right side pane see a number of values placed in a table format. choose the value named Wallpaper from there and double click it. Now you see a box with value name as Wallpaper and value data as Path to the image file .There give the full path of the image(bmp file) which you want to set as logon wallpaper by deleting previous path and writing path to your bmp file e.g. C:\WINDOWS\lon.BMP (to set image lon.BMP file as log on wall paper).

Also double click on WallpaperStyle and change it’s value to 2 to get a stretched wallpaper at logon.

Put that bmp file in windows directory for better results.
If that is a jpeg file, convert to bmp file by opening in Windows Image Viewer and save as bmp.

How To Improve Page Rank

2009-07-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

How To Improve Page Rank

Hai Friends,Very Happy to announce that my blog started 3 months back got the Google Page Rank 2.Its all in the maintaining.So,I wanted to explain what i did to get page rank.

What’s PageRank?

PageRank is Google’s system for ranking web pages. A page with a higher PageRank is deemed more important and is more likely to be listed above a page with a lower PageRank.

1]Include useful high-quality information on your site.

2]Submit your site to several web directories and reference sites.

Post your site’s URL (web address) to popular web directories including Open Directory Project (ODP), Yahoo!, and LookSmart. Also post your URL to online reference, e.g., Wikipedia, industry-specific expert sites, blogs, etc.

Examples : digg,blogexplosion,technorati,ezinearticles etc..

3]Publicize your site to everyone with whom you communicate.

Add your site’s URL to every piece of communication you initiate. We recommend that “your Web address should be listed everywhere that your phone/fax number and mailing address,” e.g.,

* Business cards
* Letterhead
* Newsletters
* Brochures
* Press Releases
* Fax cover sheets
* Email signatures

4]Provide a Rich Site Summary (RSS).

RSS is also known as Really Simple Syndication. JISC describes RSS as “a lightweight XML format for distributing news headlines and other content on the Web.”

In addition to making it easy for other sites to distribute your headlines and content, your RSS feed will be indexed by popular Blog search engines, including Technorati, BlogSearch, and Ask.com Bloglines.

Ask other high-quality websites to link to your website.

Getting other “good” websites to link to yours usually helps your website’s PageRank and ranking on Google.

Note: If your site links to delisted websites, your website might also be removed from Google’s index.

5]Finally,Maintain your blog regularly.Don't Post more articles at a time.Make the robot feel happy coming to your site.Don't give more strain to it.My ecommendation from my experience is 5-1o post's/day.

Hope You too get the pagerank as early as possible.

Free talk 6-18 Minute more then 40 countries

2009-07-21T02:01:00.000-07:00

Free talk 6-18 Minute more then 40 countries

By using this software you can be talk 6-18 minute more then 40 countries. By this way you can be talk 3 times daily. maximum 18 minute. This facility is give below site. For that what you have to do, that is at first register that site and then download this software. You can use this software PC and windows mobile.

Using is so easy just put user name and password then login. Then press your calling number then dial. Before dial please see this country code chart . After dial a advertisement will be see then will be your dialing number. This is nice website. For download and details click here

Source:http://www.tuitalk.com/

Hard Drive not Recognized/ Found/ Detected/ Accessible

2009-07-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hard Drive not Recognized/ Found/ Detected/ Accessible

If you install a new hard drive and install an Operating System on it and it suddenly acts like it is not there, it may be a loose connection.

If a bootable CD, such a s Knoppix, is not able to read your hard drive, it can have several causes. The list of possibilities below can also be used for troubleshooting hard drives, floppy drives, and CD/DVD drives.

CAUTION: Make sure the power is off and that the PC is disconnected from power. Also be sure to avoid static electricity, or you will need a new PC. Do not force any thing. All parts should easily fit together if they are properly aligned. Sometimes you may have to push or pull harder than you think. Just be careful to make sure any levers or buttons that hold it in place are not overlooked.

* Least likely is that a new hard drive has failed. Try the other options before assuming it is the new hard drive. If all of the below do not work, and it is a new hard drive, contact the manufacturer. New hard drives should include very good instructions for installation and troubleshooting. When in doubt read the instructions.

* Open the case and make sure that all the connections are correct.

* Unplug the power supply connection, make sure there are no bent pins, and plug it in securely.

* Repeat the procedure with the connection to the motherboard, make sure no pins are bent.

* If you have multiple drives, try hooking up just one drive to make sure you can read it.

* Make sure that the power supply, and other components are working correctly. It is possible that another component of the PC has failed.

* If you have another PC available, try connecting it to the other PC. This could point to failure of the power and/or motherboard cables in the original PC.

* If none of the above works, call in professional help. You can also beg a friend or family member to help. If you cannot pay a friend or family member, a good meal, is a nice way to get them to rescue you again.

How to recover MOST of scratched CD/DVD data discs

2009-07-14T04:06:00.000-07:00

How to recover MOST of scratched CD/DVD data discs

for dvd do the same thing as that in cd

I learn an old thecnique to how to recover damaged or scratched disks
with some lost of data. In this case i have one borrowed game - MAX PAYNE 2
with a chunck of 4 mb lost with a scratch in CD1 Install. Here we cover some
special thecniques of how to create a full working CD from the scratched one.

First some tools will be needed:

1. Alcohol 120%
2. UltraISO
3. Windows XP/2000
3. Small piece of cotton
4. Dry cleaner paper
5. Finally, oil for cooking.

First step - preparing the CD

Get the cotton and drop some water, start cleaning vertically the surface of CD.
Do it 3 times and dry the water with a piece of dry cleaner paper. With a new piece
of cotton, drop some oil for cooking and start to wet the surface like you are
washing the CD with the oil. Dry carefully now. Some particles of oil will stay on the
microsurface of the scrath. It's okay. Seems the oil helps the laser of the CD/DVD driver
to read the surface again. Sure this will work with small unreadable scratchs - some hard
scratchs loose parts of the surface of the CD where we have data and it's lost forever.
But if it is loosed try anyway. Whith this tip 80% of the small scratched CD's coud be
recovered.

Second Step - testing the CD

With Alcohol 120% make an ISO - image making wizard - and lets see if the app can
read the loosed surface. In my case Alcohol 120% had recovered 60% of the data.
This is not enough. Have tryed other appz, they do not recover all the data. But the
CD/DVD driver laser CAN recover all data in this case. the data is still there, what we do?

third step - making the new CD

With the main copy system of windows explorer you can do it. Just create one folder
with the same name of the CD label for future burn reference, and copy the CD content
to the folder. When the CD copy process find the scratch, in majority of the cases, it's
slow down the reading and will recover ALL loosed data.If not, it just tell you there's
an unreadable sector. In this case your CD is lost. But it's not my case, finally
windows explorer got all the data from the scratch and made a copy in the folder.
with the ultraISO, wrote the original CD label, drop the content of the folder and
save as Iso. You can Test the new CD just mounting the iso in the Alcohol 120%. In my
case i did ISO of the two discs from MAX PAYNE 2 and tested installing from the mounted
ISO. Works like a charm. I got the 4 mb lost again. So, I have burned the CD and now i
have a working copy from the scratched one.

Sounds too bizzarre, but works. Course you can jump the cleaning process and try to copy
the content with Windows explorer. But in my case did not work without oil...

Change Your Ip In Less Then 1 Minute

2009-07-14T03:08:00.000-07:00

Change Your Ip In Less Then 1 Minute

1. Click on "Start" in the bottom left hand corner of screen
2. Click on "Run"
3. Type in "command" and hit ok

You should now be at an MSDOS prompt screen.

4. Type "ipconfig /release" just like that, and hit "enter"
5. Type "exit" and leave the prompt
6. Right-click on "Network Places" or "My Network Places" on your desktop
.
7. Click on "properties"

You should now be on a screen with something titled "Local Area Connection", or something close to that, and, if you have a network hooked up, all of your other networks.

8. Right click on "Local Area Connection" and click "properties"
9. Double-click on the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the list under the "General" tab
10. Click on "Use the following IP address" under the "General" tab
11. Create an IP address (It doesn't matter what it is. I just type 1 and 2 until i fill the area up).
12. Press "Tab" and it should automatically fill in the "Subnet Mask" section with default numbers.
13. Hit the "Ok" button here
14. Hit the "Ok" button again

You should now be back to the "Local Area Connection" screen.

15. Right-click back on "Local Area Connection" and go to properties again.
16. Go back to the "TCP/IP" settings
17. This time, select "Obtain an IP address automatically"
tongue.gif 18. Hit "Ok"
19. Hit "Ok" again
20. You now have a new IP address

With a little practice, you can easily get this process down to 15 seconds.

P.S:
This only changes your dynamic IP address, not your ISP/IP address. If you plan on hacking a website with this trick be extremely careful, because if they try a little, they can trace it back

Change Logon Wallpaper In Windows XP

2009-07-11T03:33:00.000-07:00

Disable The Booting Logo in Windows XP

2009-07-11T03:19:00.000-07:00

Disable The Booting Logo in Windows XP

One can remove the boot logo that appears when you start Windows XP. This little
tweak saves a few seconds of your boot time, but seconds count if you are serious about trying to get Windows XP up and running as quickly as possible. The only negative is that if you remove the boot logo, you will also not see any boot messages, such as check disk.

To remove the boot logo, follow these steps:
1. Select Start-->Run, type msconfig, and click OK.
2. In the System Configuration Utility, click the BOOT.INI tab.
3. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the NOGUIBOOT check box option. Click OK.
4. Restart your computer to check the results.

NTFS vs FAT

2009-07-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

NTFS vs FAT

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.

FAT16
The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

Command Prompt Codes

2009-07-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

Command Prompt Codes

Some BASIC Commands:

1. Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
2. Accessibility Wizard - accwiz
3. Add Hardware Wizard - hdwwiz.cpl
4. Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
5. Administrative Tools - control admintools
6. Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl
7. Bluetooth Transfer Wizard - fsquirt
8. Calculator - calc
9. Certificate Manager - certmgr.msc
10. Character Map - charmap
11. Check Disk Utility - chkdsk
12. Clipboard Viewer - clipbrd
13. Command Prompt - cmd
14. Component Services - dcomcnfg
15. Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
16. Control Panel - control
17. Date and Time Properties - timedate.cpl
18. DDE Shares - ddeshare
19. Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
20. Direct X Troubleshooter - dxdiag
21. Disk Cleanup Utility - cleanmgr
22. Disk Defragment - dfrg.msc
23. Disk Management - diskmgmt.msc
24. Disk Partition Manager - diskpart
25. Display Properties - control desktop
26. Display Properties - desk.cpl
27. Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility - drwtsn32
28. Driver Verifier Utility - verifier
29. Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
30. Files and Settings Transfer Tool - migwiz
31. File Signature Verification Tool - sigverif
32. Findfast - findfast.cpl
33. Firefox - firefox
34. Folders Properties - control folders
35. Fonts - control fonts
36. Fonts Folder - fonts
37. Free Cell Card Game - freecell
38. Game Controllers - joy.cpl
39. Group Policy Editor (for xp professional) - gpedit.msc
40. Hearts Card Game - mshearts
41. Help and Support - helpctr
42. HyperTerminal - hypertrm
43. Iexpress Wizard - iexpress
44. Indexing Service - ciadv.msc
45. Internet Connection Wizard - icwconn1
46. Internet Explorer - iexplore
47. Internet Properties - inetcpl.cpl
48. Keyboard Properties - control keyboard
49. Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
50. Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
51. Logs You Out Of Windows - logoff
52. Malicious Software Removal Tool - mrt
53. Microsoft Chat - winchat
54. Microsoft Movie Maker - moviemk
55. Microsoft Paint - mspaint
56. Microsoft Syncronization Tool - mobsync
57. Minesweeper Game - winmine
58. Mouse Properties - control mouse
59. Mouse Properties - main.cpl
60. Netmeeting - conf
61. Network Connections - control netconnections
62. Network Connections - ncpa.cpl
63. Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl
64. Notepad - notepad
65. Object Packager - packager
66. ODBC Data Source Administrator - odbccp32.cpl
67. On Screen Keyboard - osk
68. Outlook Express - msimn
69. Paint - pbrush
70. Password Properties - password.cpl
71. Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
72. Performance Monitor - perfmon
73. Phone and Modem Options - telephon.cpl
74. Phone Dialer - dialer
75. Pinball Game - pinball
76. Power Configuration - powercfg.cpl
77. Printers and Faxes - control printers
78. Printers Folder - printers
79. Regional Settings - intl.cpl
80. Registry Editor - regedit
81. Registry Editor - regedit32
82. Remote Access Phonebook - rasphone
83. Remote Desktop - mstsc
84. Removable Storage - ntmsmgr.msc
85. Removable Storage Operator Requests - ntmsoprq.msc
86. Resultant Set of Policy (for xp professional) - rsop.msc
87. Scanners and Cameras - sticpl.cpl
88. Scheduled Tasks - control schedtasks
89. Security Center - wscui.cpl
90. Services - services.msc
91. Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
92. Shuts Down Windows - shutdown
93. Sounds and Audio - mmsys.cpl
94. Spider Solitare Card Game - spider
95. SQL Client Configuration - cliconfg
96. System Configuration Editor - sysedit
97. System Configuration Utility - msconfig
98. System Information - msinfo32
99. System Properties - sysdm.cpl
100. Task Manager - taskmgr
101. TCP Tester - tcptest
102. Telnet Client - telnet
103. User Account Management - nusrmgr.cpl
104. Utility Manager - utilman
105. Windows Address Book - wab
106. Windows Address Book Import Utility - wabmig
107. Windows Explorer - explorer

50 Tips

2009-06-30T00:54:00.000-07:00

50 Tips

1. You can rename several files at one time within Explorer. A long overdue feature, in my opinion. (See before and after screen shots.)
2. The tiles view is there for getting quick picture dimensions -- a wonderful thing for those of us who work with the Web. When you select an image, its dimensions will also be displayed in the Status bar (if it's turned on). (See a screen shot.)
3. Check out the Details view if you have a ton of similar files in the folder. In one glance, you can view the number of pages, bitrate, details, and so on. Of course, it depends on what it is you're trying to view. ). (See a screen shot.)
4. ClearType is a great reason to upgrade to XP. While it does have a noticeable impact on 2D performance, the view is spectacular. It's not just for LCD screens, contrary to popular belief. Font smoothing is so 20th century. (See before ClearType and after ClearType screen shots.)
5. Your removable drives are automatically added to the SendTo menu. I can't figure out how to get them out of there, as I never really use my floppy or Zip drives. (See a screen shot.)

6. EXIF support is built into the Explorer shell. This allows you to see embedded information from untouched digital photos. This is another awesome feature for shutterbugs.
7. Details view in MP3 folders is a must. It's very much like WiMP in the sense that you can view all sorts of song details from within the Explorer window. (See a screen shot.)
8. Being a neat freak, I appreciated the new Align to Grid feature for the Windows desktop. Now I don't have to right-click and Arrange every time I move a stupid icon. Try as you might, you can't drag desktop icons off of the screen with this option turned on. (See a screen shot.)
9. Man, you've got to play with the Show in Groups Arrange option. It's neat, and depending on how you have the folder set up, it will provide different sorting options (alphabetically by file type, general file type, and so on). Very, very cool. (See a screen shot.)
10. When you see the shutdown dialog pop up, hold onto the Shift key if you want to flip energy saving modes (from Stand By to Hibernate).
11. WiMP will now grab cover shots and detailed information for your DVDs.
12. When you put in a CD with MP3s on it, XP asks you what you want to do with it. It does the same basic thing when you insert a picture CD or plug in a digital camera. Very friendly. (See a screen shot.)
13. Icons in the System Tray are now displayed in high color. It's about time! Oddly enough, when you configure the System Tray (by right-clicking on the Taskbar and selecting Properties), in the Notification area, someone forgot to update the old icons for Paint, Network, Calculator, and so on. I get paid to notice these things, you know.
14. Zip file support is finally built into the OS. Yes, I know Me had it, too, but I hate that OS.
15. No powertoys ship with the Windows XP CD, although they will be available from Microsoft's site after October 25. They are a must for any user, experienced or not. Super Fast User Switcher, PowerToy Calculator, Alt-Tab replacement, Virtual Desktop Manager, Photo Toys, TweakUI, Command Window Here, Slideshow generator, Magnifier, HTML Generator, and TimerShot.
16. ID3v2 is supported throughout the OS (in WiMP 8.0 as well as in the Explorer shell). To edit an MP3's information, pull up its properties and flip to the Summary tab. (See a screen shot.)
17. You can store/save your current Theme to the My Documents folder. On the surface, this feature appears to be backwards compatible with classic Desktop Themes.
18. I think I've rebooted this computer less than 10 times, yet XP's boot process (from BIOS to desktop) is faster than it's ever been. Let me time the sucker. Hold on -- this should only take a minute. I take that back! It took me 45 seconds to get back up and running again.
19. MSConfig is back, baby. Windows 2000 users will appreciate its return. Of course, X-Setup works just fine on XP, too. (See a screen shot.)
20. In folders designated for pictures, the Tasks pane will give you an option to print them. Choose your images, layout, printer, and so on. If you have a photo printer, this is a spectacular feature. If you choose not to work with the Tasks pane, you can simply open an image in the Windows Viewer and print from there to get to the same wizard. (See a screen shot.)
21. You'd be surprised at how much alpha blending of icons improves the experience. No matter what wallpaper or background color you're using, they will always look smooth. (See a screen shot.)
22. SNTP/NTP time synchronization is now built into the Date and Time applet. With it, you can connect to any Internet time-server. Never miss a meeting again! (See a screen shot.)
23. When Explorer crashes, the icons are restored in the System Tray. Finally. I verified this the other day when I ran into that weird gray screen problem.
24. XP comes with a basic slideshow screen saver -- perfect for showing off your recent vacation photos. (See a screen shot.)
25. The Task Manager now has Networking performance indicators. Right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager for more. (See a screen shot.)

1. You can now turn off thumbnail caching to save disk space (via Folder Options). With TweakUI, you can change the default dimensions of the thumbnail images.

2. Internet Explorer now has built-in support for Google (as long as you're using the search assistant).

3. They finally updated the card backs in Solitaire. Considering how many people play it on a regular basis, it's a notable improvement.

4. Go directly to the Start Menu properties by right-clicking on the Start Button. Switch to the "classic" Start Menu if the new one annoys you. The "Highlight newly installed programs" feature is nice for download maniacs.

5. XP's movie maker truly sucks; you can't do ANYTHING with it. No transitions beyond a simple fade, no export options other than Windows Media, and so on. Save your money and get a true video editor. Better yet -- use iMovie on the Mac.

Just don't think you're gonna film a businessman flying around your neighborhood and wind up producing an award-winning film using Windows XP. It ain't gonna happen with this crapplet.

6. Microsoft's marketing campaign is a bit misleading; you can't play DVD movies without purchasing a third-party decoder first. While MP3s can be played out of the box, ripping music into this audio format is possible only through (again) third-party software.

7. Even with XP's built-in Internet Connection Firewall features, I still recommend Tiny Personal Firewall (freeware).

8. Most of you have heard about the automatic grouping of open applications in the Taskbar (when you have several instances running, Windows will put them under the same Taskbar button). Here's something else I discovered: open Internet Explorer, then Notepad, then Internet Explorer again. Look at that. It puts the same apps next to each other, no matter the order in which they were opened.

9. Someone at Microsoft forgot to update the individual Administrative Tools and Offline webpages folder icons. They're still ugly. Under the "Customize" tab of the folder properties dialog, you can assign a different icon for each and every folder. Sweet!

10. The Windows help system has a wealth of new features. In one swoop, you can perform queries against the local database as well as the Microsoft Knowledge Base. However, I don't think the MSKB integration is working yet. For one, it doesn't return any results on basic terms. Plus, it defaults to searching for Windows 2000 specific issues. Anyway, click the last icon in the toolbar (the document with a red checkmark in it). Tweak away!

11. The OS only comes with three Visual Styles -- which are lame to begin with. The Plus! site may have more available in time, but who really knows?

12. I thought it was rather shortsighted that XP doesn't allow you to associate WMA sounds to your events. I mean, they're shoving the format down your throat in every other application. Why not here, too? Anyway, system (default) sounds have received a much-needed upgrade

13. In Windows 2000, you really couldn't make a boot disk. Sure, you could create a set of setup disks, but nothing like a simple boot floppy. Right-click on the Floppy drive icon, select format, then place a checkmark in the "Create an MS-DOS startup disk." The MSDOS.SYS file contains W98EBD -- which leads me to believe that the files were taken from Windows 98. This won't do you much good if you have an NTFS drive.

14. When was the last time you forgot your password? Uh, don't forget it for Windows XP until you create a password recovery disk. Under Related Tasks in the User Accounts Control Panel applet, click Prevent a forgotten password.

15. The Kodak Imaging Application that came with other versions of Windows has been replaced by the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. It has a few built-in options, but you can't easily view the image at its full size. While this replacement is good enough, I miss the Kodak app already.

16. People think XP doesn't support plug-ins. That's not true -- it stopped supporting Netscape-style plug-ins, but Apple updated its QuickTime control within days of IE6's release.

17. Yes, you can hide inactive System Tray icons, but why on Earth didn't they line up the double-arrow indicators with those in the main Taskbar area? Another oversight by the design team, I'm certain.

18. Window transparency works much better in XP than it ever did in 2000. Again, this speed difference could be attributed to the video driver being used.

19. Microsoft should have licensed Quicktime and RealMedia decoders. Every one of these companies wants to install its jukebox on my system. Bah humbug! At least they included the classic 6.4 player (accessible by entering MPLAYER2 on the Run command line).

20. Passport is all over the place in Windows XP. However, you don't have to sign up for a new email account if you don't want to. Just use your current email address, and make a Passport password for it. Since I'm not sure what Microsoft plans on doing with Passport, I just used my secret Hotmail account. You can change this any time via the User Accounts applet in the Control Panel.

21. Managing file associations is a dream. Right-click on a file, locate the updated Open With cascading menu (which now uses a program's default icon), then click Choose Program if you want to change how the file is opened. Plus, if you don't know what program to associate a file with, there's a nice hyperlink included in the dialog to take you to a helpful Microsoft webpage.

22. The desktop properties dialog is extensive, but scattered. For instance, the Themes tab is the first one you see, yet you have to flip to the Appearance tab in order to change how your interface works.

23. The volume mixer looks weird. Call me a stickler for details, but the Main play control is not the same width as the other controls. Not to mention, they didn't replace the yellow speaker icons for the other controls. And as if that wasn't enough, you can no longer tap ESC to quickly close the window. They should have left well enough alone.

24. Are you the type of person who notices speed increases (and decreases)? Well, as far as file operations are concerned, this is the snappiest version of Windows I've ever used. In Windows 2000, I'd select a few files on the desktop, delete them, and then two seconds later, their icons would disappear. When I do the same thing in XP, the removal is immediate. Likewise, it takes far less time for me to open the Recycle Bin when it's filled with items now.

25. The default search "doggie" is annoying for power users; thank goodness the new TweakUI will allow you to easily switch back to the "classic" Windows 2000 search feature. I don't know if this is a bug I uncovered; when I browse for a folder when I'm doing a Search, it shows me two My Documents folders. They each have the same folder structure inside of them

Delete An "undeletable" File

2009-06-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Delete An "undeletable" File

Delete An "undeletable" File

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete.
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.

Or you can try this

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose 'All files' from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

put a " at the start and end of the filename
(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

click save,

It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal

Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

5 Ways to Retrieve Data Off a Crashed Hard Drive

2009-06-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

5 Ways to Retrieve Data Off a Crashed Hard Drive

The hard drive has the shortest life expectancy of all components, but when it inevitably fails it’s always when you least expect it. It’s an inevitability, and it always happens when you’re least prepared - the hard drive crash. Sure, you might notice it’s taking a bit longer to boot, or there’s an occasional click that just doesn’t sound right, but it’s still a surprise the day your computer fails to boot. How do you get your data off that hard drive once it’s no longer able to boot? Is it still possible? This depends on what exactly went wrong with your drive. It is safe to assume, however, that will the proper method, you will be able to retrieve at least part of your lost data.

Source: Laptop Logic

Below are five different methods for getting documents, pictures, and other important files off a crashed hard drive.

1. Use an External Case
This method is the most simple available, and for many people it is also the solution they need. Simply purchase an external hard drive case that allows you to plug your hard drive into a computer with a standard USB cable. Remove the crashed hard drive from your computer and carefully insert it into the external case (make sure you ground yourself before touching it), then plug it into a different system and try to open the drive. There’s a good chance you’ll be able to navigate into your documents and other folders and copy them onto a different hard drive.
2. Use a LiveCD
Don’t have access to a second computer for doing as you please? This method will be ideal, then. You’ll need to get temporary access to a computer with Internet and a DVD burner. Download a Linux LiveCD - Damn Small Linux is the smallest, but also has issues mounting hard drives. The most simple for an average computer user would be Puppy Linux. It has a larger file size, but should recognize your drive.
Burn the Live CD ISO to a CD and insert it into your computer (the one with the crashed hard drive). Restart the computer and when it the computer logo appears, press F2 (or whatever key for your system) to enter BIOS. Change the boot sequence to CD first, Save and then Exit.
The Live CD will start, simply follow the directions on the screen–don’t worry, nothing is being done to your hard drive. The OS will start, and you should see your hard drive mounted on the desktop–something like “60GB”, etc. Plug in a second drive and copy and paste the folders over.
3. Data Recovery Software
Do the above solutions have your head spinning? If you want something a little less complicated, you may want to give recovery software a go. There are a number of different free recovery tools available, and you may be one of the lucky users who have success with the programs.
There are a large number of programs available, but the quality of each varies. A good place to start would be Data Disc Recovery–it’s free, easy to use, and works on crashed drives (it can also retrieve deleted files and others). If one doesn’t work, try a different one.
4. Freeze It
This method surprises many, but it actually does work (depending on what happened to the drive). The idea is that freezing it will constrict loose parts long enough for the drive to work properly. Make sure you have a computer ready to plug the drive into and an external case. Place the hard drive into a baggy, seal it tightly, and put it in the freezer overnight. The next day, remove it from the baggy and put it in the external drive case. Transfer the data from the drive before it warms too much and crashes again.
5. Get a Pro
If all else fails, you either have to accept that the data is gone or, if the data is really important, take the hard drive to a professional. It will be expensive, but there’s a good chance a pro will be able to retrieve some of the data for you.

List of useful Run Commands for Windows XP

2009-06-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

List of useful Run Commands for Windows XP

Here is a list of useful commands that you can run from the Run Command prompt in windows XP. The Run Command prompt itself can be found on the start menu or with the key combination ‘WINDOWS+R’.

An A-Z Index of the Windows XP command line

ADDUSERS Add or list users to/from a CSV file
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
ASSOC Change file extension associations•
ASSOCIAT One step file association
AT Schedule a command to run at a later time
ATTRIB Change file attributes
B
BOOTCFG Edit Windows boot settings
BROWSTAT Get domain, browser and PDC info
C
CACLS Change file permissions
CALL Call one batch program from another•
CD Change Directory - move to a specific Folder•
CHANGE Change Terminal Server Session properties
CHKDSK Check Disk - check and repair disk problems
CHKNTFS Check the NTFS file system
CHOICE Accept keyboard input to a batch file
CIPHER Encrypt or Decrypt files/folders
CleanMgr Automated cleanup of Temp files, recycle bin
CLEARMEM Clear memory leaks
CLIP Copy STDIN to the Windows clipboard.
CLS Clear the screen•
CLUSTER Windows Clustering
CMD Start a new CMD shell
COLOR Change colors of the CMD window•
COMP Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
COMPACT Compress files or folders on an NTFS partition
COMPRESS Compress individual files on an NTFS partition
CON2PRT Connect or disconnect a Printer
CONVERT Convert a FAT drive to NTFS.
COPY Copy one or more files to another location•
CSCcmd Client-side caching (Offline Files)
CSVDE Import or Export Active Directory data
D
DATE Display or set the date•
Dcomcnfg DCOM Configuration Utility
DEFRAG Defragment hard drive
DEL Delete one or more files•
DELPROF Delete NT user profiles
DELTREE Delete a folder and all subfolders
DevCon Device Manager Command Line Utility
DIR Display a list of files and folders•
DIRUSE Display disk usage
DISKCOMP Compare the contents of two floppy disks
DISKCOPY Copy the contents of one floppy disk to another
DISKPART Disk Administration
DNSSTAT DNS Statistics
DOSKEY Edit command line, recall commands, and create macros
DSADD Add user (computer, group..) to active directory DSQUERY List items in active directory
DSMOD Modify user (computer, group..) in active directory
E
ECHO Display message on screen•
ENDLOCAL End localisation of environment changes in a batch file•
ERASE Delete one or more files•
EXIT Quit the current script/routine and set an errorlevel•
EXPAND Uncompress files
EXTRACT Uncompress CAB files
F
FC Compare two files
FIND Search for a text string in a file
FINDSTR Search for strings in files
FOR /F Loop command: against a set of files•
FOR /F Loop command: against the results of another command•
FOR Loop command: all options Files, Directory, List•
FORFILES Batch process multiple files
FORMAT Format a disk
FREEDISK Check free disk space (in bytes)
FSUTIL File and Volume utilities
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FTYPE Display or modify file types used in file extension associations•
G
GLOBAL Display membership of global groups
GOTO Direct a batch program to jump to a labelled line•
H
HELP Online Help
I
iCACLS Change file and folder permissions
IF Conditionally perform a command•
IFMEMBER Is the current user in an NT Workgroup
IPCONFIG Configure IP
K
KILL Remove a program from memory
L
LABEL Edit a disk label
LOCAL Display membership of local groups
LOGEVENT Write text to the NT event viewer.
LOGOFF Log a user off
LOGTIME Log the date and time in a file
M
MAPISEND Send email from the command line
MBSAcli Baseline Security Analyzer.
MEM Display memory usage
MD Create new folders•
MKLINK Create a symbolic link (linkd)
MODE Configure a system device
MORE Display output, one screen at a time
MOUNTVOL Manage a volume mount point
MOVE Move files from one folder to another•
MOVEUSER Move a user from one domain to another
MSG Send a message
MSIEXEC Microsoft Windows Installer
MSINFO Windows NT diagnostics
MSTSC Terminal Server Connection (Remote Desktop Protocol)
MUNGE Find and Replace text within file(s)
MV Copy in-use files
N
NET Manage network resources
NETDOM Domain Manager
NETSH Configure network protocols
NETSVC Command-line Service Controller
NBTSTAT Display networking statistics (NetBIOS over TCP/IP)
NETSTAT Display networking statistics (TCP/IP)
NOW Display the current Date and Time
NSLOOKUP Name server lookup
NTBACKUP Backup folders to tape
NTRIGHTS Edit user account rights
P
PATH Display or set a search path for executable files•
PATHPING Trace route plus network latency and packet loss
PAUSE Suspend processing of a batch file and display a message•
PERMS Show permissions for a user
PERFMON Performance Monitor
PING Test a network connection
POPD Restore the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD•
PORTQRY Display the status of ports and services
PRINT Print a text file
PRNCNFG Display, configure or rename a printer
PRNMNGR Add, delete, list printers set the default printer
PROMPT Change the command prompt•
PsExec Execute process remotely
PsFile Show files opened remotely
PsGetSid Display the SID of a computer or a user
PsInfo List information about a system
PsKill Kill processes by name or process ID
PsList List detailed information about processes
PsLoggedOn Who's logged on (locally or via resource sharing)
PsLogList Event log records
PsPasswd Change account password
PsService View and control services
PsShutdown Shutdown or reboot a computer
PsSuspend Suspend processes
PUSHD Save and then change the current directory•
Q
QGREP Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern.
R
RASDIAL Manage RAS connections
RASPHONE Manage RAS connections
RECOVER Recover a damaged file from a defective disk.
REG Registry: Read, Set, Export, Delete keys and values
REGEDIT Import or export registry settings
REGSVR32 Register or unregister a DLL
REGINI Change Registry Permissions
REM Record comments (remarks) in a batch file•
REN Rename a file or files•
REPLACE Replace or update one file with another
RD Delete folder(s)•
RMTSHARE Share a folder or a printer
ROBOCOPY Robust File and Folder Copy
ROUTE Manipulate network routing tables
RUNAS Execute a program under a different user account
RUNDLL32 Run a DLL command (add/remove print connections)
S
SC Service Control
SCHTASKS Create or Edit Scheduled Tasks
SCLIST Display NT Services
SET Display, set, or remove environment variables•
SETLOCAL Control the visibility of environment variables•
SETX Set environment variables permanently
SHARE List or edit a file share or print share
SHIFT Shift the position of replaceable parameters in a batch file•
SHORTCUT Create a windows shortcut (.LNK file)
SHOWGRPS List the NT Workgroups a user has joined
SHOWMBRS List the Users who are members of a Workgroup
SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer
SLEEP Wait for x seconds
SOON Schedule a command to run in the near future
SORT Sort input
START Start a program or command in a separate window•
SU Switch User
SUBINACL Edit file and folder Permissions, Ownership and Domain
SUBST Associate a path with a drive letter
SYSTEMINFO List system configuration
T
TASKLIST List running applications and services
TASKKILL Remove a running process from memory
TIME Display or set the system time•
TIMEOUT Delay processing of a batch file
TITLE Set the window title for a CMD.EXE session•
TLIST Task list with full path
TOUCH Change file timestamps
TRACERT Trace route to a remote host
TREE Graphical display of folder structure
TYPE Display the contents of a text file•
U
USRSTAT List domain usernames and last login
V
VER Display version information•
VERIFY Verify that files have been saved•
VOL Display a disk label•
W
WHERE Locate and display files in a directory tree
WHOAMI Output the current UserName and domain
WINDIFF Compare the contents of two files or sets of files
WINMSD Windows system diagnostics
WINMSDP Windows system diagnostics II
WMIC WMI Commands
X
XCACLS Change file and folder permissions
XCOPY Copy files and folders

Top 5 Important Security Tests For Your Computer

2009-06-26T03:01:00.000-07:00

Top 5 Important Security Tests For Your Computer

Until and unless you are not attacked by any virus or spyware you think that your computer security is very high but when your PC gets infected it is too late. It is highly essential to check your Pc Security Status Frequently to stay uptodate.This Tests Prevents Hackers Attacks & Security Vulnerabilities.

1.Browser Security Check : This test will check your Browser Security. If you have good browser like Mozilla Firefox you will surely pass this test.

2.Firewall Leak Tester : This website, on one hand, enables you to test your software personal firewall thanks to different test programs ('leaktests'), and on the other hand, shows a global vulnerabilities view of the most common personal firewalls in a summary page.
Firewall Leak Tester provides also documentation and advices to improve your security dramatically.

What Firewall Leak Tester is testing ?

Nowadays, threats from the Internet are growing, both from the inside and the outside.
To answer to a security need from Internet users (us), security software firms have created "personal firewalls", softwares acting like real hardware firewalls, but on user's computers.
These personal firewalls have network level filtering, that we will name "network filtering", and an outbound application filtering that we will name "software filtering".

Due to the fact that most of these Personal Firewall offer reasonable protection against inbound attacks coming from the Internet, we will only study here their software filtering, outbound filtering that can be stressed by Trojans which try to initiate themselves by connecting to the outside to transmit data out.

To test this software filtering feature, many leaktests (""leak"" test) exist, they are programs created by different authors, each trying to bypass the personal firewalls with his own trick.

3.Firewall Test : This test will check your computer for ports that are commonly left open. Open ports could allow your computer to be compromised. This firewall test will also check for Open ports known to be used by Viruses and Trojans.

4.Online Port Scan : This test will make a scan of all your Open Ports.

5.PopUp Blocker Test : This popup test is is an automated way to check your popup blocker's ability to allow good ads.Your popup blocker will be given a series of tests that range from your standard popup to very complex popups that will slip by most popular ad blockers.

That's it if you know other useful Security Test Share it here.

How to enable/disable access to USB Pen drive

2009-06-26T02:49:00.000-07:00

How to enable/disable access to USB Pen drive

You may want to block USB mass storage device to disallow the unauthorized use of pendrives or you may want to unblock USB mass storage device to get access (most of the case in college’s net lab). Well, this can be done by a simple registry tweak. Before doing so, I recommend taking a backup of the regustry because playing with registry can be harmful for your OS

The advantage of this is, you restrict users from copying and transferring sensitive data to and from the computer. This is mostly a necessity in: offices to protect intellectual property and cybercafe / public browsing centers to prevent users from knowingly or unknowingly infecting the system with viruses.

Here’s how you can disable USB storage device drive access in windows :

1> Click on “Start –> Run –> Type regedit and hit Enter.”

2> Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor”

3> Select the key UsbStor and double click on the Start value, which can be found in the right pane.

4> In Value data part, put 4 (numeric value four), if you want to disable USB storage and put in 3 (numeric value 3), if you want to enable USB storage on your computer.

The change will be effective immediately, however sometimes a reboot may be required. This hack will ensure that all the USB storage devices are disabled / blocked or enabled according to your choice.

15 Awesome Tips for a Long Lasting Laptop

2009-06-25T03:23:00.000-07:00

15 Awesome Tips for a Long Lasting Laptop

Times are tough, and even with falling prices, the purchase of a laptop computer constitutes a serious investment for the average consumer. Give your laptop a couple more years with these simple tips. There are a lot of ways to extend the life of your notebook, most of which are very simple and which just about anyone can do. If you take care of your laptop from year one, you’ll be thanking yourself heartily during years four, five, six and beyond. And even if you’re already in the latter years, it’s never too late to start.

Source: Laptop Logic

This guideline is divided up into three categories, each with five easy to apply tips. General Maintenance applies to computers in general and not just laptops, Battery Maintenance will help you get the longest life out of your laptop’s battery, and Laptop Common Sense will have you kicking yourself for not already following the tips when all along you knew you should.Oh, and almost nothing on this list will cost you anything.

General Maintenance

1) Use Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware SoftwareMost laptops ship with at least some sort of anti-virus software like Norton or McAfee, but these frequently expire after a short time. Viruses and spyware can be crippling to a computer, and have a tendency to build up over time and get worse. Running weekly scans can nip these problems in the bud. If you don’t feel like ponying up for a paid subscription service, there are plenty of free ones, such as AVG.

2) Keep Your Laptop Up To DateYour computer was up to date when you bought it, but unless you’ve set up regular updates that was the last time. Beyond your anti-virus software, which should be kept up strictly, both Microsoft and Apple offer regular updates for their operating systems to correct bugs and plug up vulnerabilities. Updating your software regularly will help keep your laptop in working order and stop many problems before they can threaten the usability or potentially the life of your computer.

3) Defragment Your Hard DriveWhen you save something on your computer, it gets physically written on a portion of your hard drive. As time goes on and your hard drive fills, this storage becomes somewhat disorganized, and your hardware must work harder and spend longer to find data. Defragmenting your hard drive rearranges the data into an organized structure. Defragmenting regularly will extend the life of your hard drive as well as make everything on your computer run just that much smoother.

4) Keep 5-10% of Your Hard Drive EmptyBy the time you’ve had your laptop for a few years, your hard drive will seem impossibly small. It’s important, however, to keep at least a small percentage of your hard drive empty at all times. Operating systems use a portion of your hard drive space for Virtual Memory, and if you don’t leave them any room your computer will slow down tremendously, potentially overheating or crashing under the stress. Key life-extending features like System Restore require empty space to function as well.

5) Use a Surge Protector When ChargingThis probably belongs in the common sense section below, and the reason for it should be obvious. Surge protectors help protect your computer from an electrical surge in your socket, such as might come from a bolt of lightning or a large appliance turning on. Without this, your laptop is vulnerable to being short-circuited and could fry after any surge. Surge protectors are extremely cheap and can be useful too, as most have multiple outlets.Bonus- personal preference 5+) Use Older SoftwareOften software will come out with a new version that is just the same thing with more graphics, which can be a drain on an older computer. For non-essential items like chat programs and the like, sometimes using an older version can help your computer run smoothly and error free. If you want to try this, check out http://www.oldversion.com, a great free resource for this.

Battery Maintenance

1) Charge Fully, Your First Time And Every TimeWhen you open your new laptop for the first time, it’s always a temptation to turn it on and begin playing with it. Resist this temptation! Proper conditioning of your battery by charging it fully before its first use and then discharging it completely and repeating once or twice ensures that your battery’s capacity starts at its highest. Your battery also has a preset number of charges/discharges, so it’s important to charge/discharge fully to extend the life of your battery too.

2) Avoid Battery Memory EffectBattery memory is what causes your laptop to stop charging before the battery reaches 100%, or to turn off before it reaches 0%. This is caused by not charging your battery fully or not discharging it fully – the battery “remembers” where it stopped charging/discharging and doesn’t go any further. Modern Li-Ion batteries are thankfully not subject to this, but if you’ve got an older battery avoid this effect at all costs. It can render a battery frustratingly useless.

3) Store the Battery Partially ChargedIf you’re not going to be using your laptop for an extended period of time, it’s a good idea to remove the battery and store it. Batteries discharge slowly over time, but storing a battery fully charged/discharged can permanently damage the battery by causing it to lose capacity or worse, go entirely dead. Charging the battery to 40% minimizes the negative long term effects of storing.

4) Use the Battery At Least MonthlyIt’s important to keep your battery in good condition through occasional use. If you typically use your laptop plugged in, you are not using your battery, and this can cause the capacity to shrink. At least once a month, your battery will benefit from a full charge/discharge cycle. This keeps the battery stronger, the capacity fuller, and helps its overall longevity.

5) Avoid Extreme TemperaturesYour battery was designed to work at a certain temperature, and it’s completely normal for it to heat up a little during use. Subjecting your battery to extreme temperatures it’s not prepared for can damage its life. Cold temperatures are not good for it, but excessive heat is the real battery killer. Simply making sure not to leave your laptop in your car during the summer could save you from buying a new battery the next day.Bonus tip 5+) Daily Use TipsThe above tips will help keep your battery in good shape, but there are tons of things you can do to cause your computer to consume less energy. Dim the LCD, mute the speakers, turn off features like WiFi if you’re not using them, make use of the power settings and be sure to use both hibernate and standby where appropriate. This is only a start, but using as little power as possible while operating on batteries can help you squeeze some extra time out of your battery’s capacity.

Laptop Common Sense

1) Take Care of the LCDLCDs on laptops are designed to outlast the usefulness of the laptop they’re connected to, but can be easily damaged by a simple careless mistake. Don’t lift the laptop up by the display (it will bend) and be easy on the hinges. Only clean the display with something soft and never store anything under the LCD when its closed. These precautions seem obvious but you basically need only treat the LCD with care and it will last for as long as you need it to.

2) Take Care of the KeyboardLike the displays, with proper care a keyboard should easily outlast the life of the laptop, but a silly accident can render it useless. Many laptops today are “spill resistant”, but I wouldn’t recommend testing it – don’t drink around your laptop. Don’t eat around it either, as crumbs or grease can fall between the keys and cause malfunctions. Hit the keys gently and dust them once in a while and your keyboard should last year after year.

3) Be Aware of TemperatureExtremes in temperature can be extremely dangerous for a laptop. I mentioned that heat is a battery killer, but the display can be damaged by extreme conditions as well. Using the laptop when the environment is too hot can cause failures from overheating, and using it in an environment that is too wet and humid can cause similar malfunctions. Modern rugged laptops excluded, your laptop is meant to be used on a desk in your home or office. Keep it somewhere temperature controlled and this will never be a problem.

4) Watch Your FanYour fan is responsible for cooling your CPU so that it doesn’t overheat in normal conditions. A large number of problems related to overheating are solved simply by moving the laptop to a new position where the fan’s exhaust is not blocked. Even if there is nothing large obstructing it, it’s important to make sure dust doesn’t build up in the fan as that can cause overheating too. Make sure your fan is clear to fan away excess heat and your laptop will live longer, guaranteed.

5) Protect Your Laptop From Jolts With a CaseLaptops are sensitive instruments, and they are never more vulnerable than when they are traveling. Constant bumping and shaking can cause parts to shift and can permanently damage the laptop. Using a cushioned laptop bag will preserve it from the shocks of travel, and storing it in a laptop bag when not in use can help prevent any number of accidents. This is virtually the only item in the list that isn’t free, but it’s a small price to protect your computer and the bag can last for a lifetime of laptops.Bonus – personal preference 5+) Use External PartsUsing external hardware, such as a monitor, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc., can help extend the life of your internal hardware by preventing wear and tear. At the same time, it can provide a more comfortable experience at home. While this can be expensive, if you regularly use your laptop you may find the investment worth your while.

(Of course, if we’re spending money, buying new RAM and occasionally replacing the battery can also do wonders for your performance and overall enjoyment of the laptop as well. But that’s another article.) Follow these simple tips and you easily will extend the life of your laptop.

How to select all Unread Mails In Gmail ?

2009-06-24T02:14:00.000-07:00

How to select all Unread Mails In Gmail ?

As you all know in yahoo mail, there is a simpler way to view all unread mails with just a single click. But in case of Gmail there is no such option to select all unread mails once. What if there are lot of e-mails in your Gmail Inbox and nearly a hundred more arriving every day, and you don’t end up reading them..lol. This simple tutorial will tell you how to Select all unread mails.

Follow the simple steps :
Step 1 : Log in to your Gmail Account !

Step 2: Now enter is:unread in the search box and select the Search Mail button.

or

type just type in the search box, label:unread.

Step 3 : Thats it, Now it will display the list of all unread mails

I hope this trick will reduce a lot of work as many of us recieve many emails a day. Just give it a try and let me know about your response. Drop your valuable comments here. thanks!

How to Create A Shutdown Timer for Windows

2009-06-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

How to Create A Shutdown Timer for Windows

Do you know that you can make your PC shutdown at a time u wish to?
Here is the trick!!
How To Make A Shutdown Timer!

METHOD # 1

* Right click on your desktop and choose "New=>shortcuts".
* In the box that says "Type the location of the shortcut",
type in "shutdown -s -t 3600" without the quotation marks and click next.

Note: 3600 are the amount of seconds before your computer shuts down. So , 60secs*60mins=3600secs.

* Make up a name for the shortcut and you're done.
* You can change the icon by right clicking=>properities=>change icon=>browse

TO ABORT:
To make an abort key to stop the shutdown timer just create another shortcut and make
the "location of the shortcut" to "shutdown -a" without the quotes.

METHOD # 2

{EASIER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE}

Here is another trick to shutdown at a specific time, for example you wish to shutdown at 11:35am.

Type this in
start=>Run

Type Code: at 11:35 shutdown -s

TO ABORT:

Type this in
start=>Run

Code: shutdown -a

Understanding Google

2009-06-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Understanding Google

Meet Google, the "coolest kid" on the cyberblock!

Google is popular, and popularity means it may be tough to get in initially. Even if you do everything right, it could take months to see results, at least if you use their URL submission page. However, there is hope! There's a method to get indexed in 24 hours, so don't even bother submitting through the URL page.

But before you get to that, you should know about the guidelines you must follow to ensure that your site not only gets listed, but also doesn't get banned. Plus, you should learn about elements of your website that Google won't look at.

How to Get Google to Read Your Keywords First

Google's bots read web pages from the topmost left corner of your site to the bottom right. However, most sites are designed with all of the links on the left side, and the content on the right. Yet the problem with this design is instead of seeing your content first, Google sees the links first. Your links may not be seen to be as optimized as your content.

One solution is to use three panes rather than two. Keep the normal left and right panes, but add an extra pane at the top left of the layout. Don't put keywords in this extra pane. With this area "blank" when the Google bots read the site, rather than going for the links as they normally would, the bots see that a portion of where the links are is "blank." This then forces it to read the content first, which is more keyword-rich than the links.

Note that not all search engines read sites this way, which is why this guideline was dedicated to optimizing for Google. You could be on the safe side and use the layout anyway, especially if you do plan to submit to Google, which you should. It doesn't take away from the look of the site, and by using it you ensure that your content gets read first. If you don't use it, you aren't giving yourself the best opportunity to rank highly in Google search engine listings. Making tables isn't very hard to do. Most word processors and even WYSIWYG HTML editors provide them, so take advantage of it.

Things That Google Ignores

There are some HTML attributes that Google pays no attention to when it goes through its crawling process. While you won't get penalized if you use these attributes, why waste your time with them if they're not going to count anyway?

Of course, there are exceptions to these rules, as noted in the numbered list below. There are also some elements listed that you will choose not to include.

1. The keywords and description attributes of the meta tag. The keywords and description attributes are read by other search engines. However, the boost you get from having them isn't as much as if you follow the other techniques, such as proper link building. If you submit to Google only, you may not want to include the keywords attribute, but focus on a smart "upsell" or "positioning," "branding" of your message in the description attribute. Other search engines use them, so you should go on and include them.

2. The comments tag. The comments tag is an optional tag designed more for the website designer than for search engines or browsers. You use it to make personal notes related to what the upcoming coding does. It's especially useful if other webmasters are working on web pages that have been started by someone else. Still, it isn't a necessary tag, so you can omit it if you want.

3. The style tag. This tag has attributes that specify what your site will look like. This deals with styling of your page (CSS). If you're using extensive CSS, include the file as an external reference.

4. The script tag. This tag lets the browser know that a block of JavaScript code is about to be initiated. While Google ignores the information in this tag, it's still useful if you want to take advantage of JavaScript. You would use JavaScript when you want to run applets, special programs that run in a separate browser window. Use of this tag may or may not be optional, depending on what your site is for.

5. Duplicate links. If you have duplicate links to the same page, Google only counts the first one.

6. Interlinking to points on the same page. Interlinking involves picking a point on your web page called an anchor that you want another anchor to link to. This practice is commonly used when websites present very long copy on the same page. Readers can click on links throughout the document to jump to other parts of the document. It's very effective for increasing readability, but it's another optional device. Worst case, you could break up the copy and make more subtopic links.

7. Graphics, animation and video. Google pays no attention to these types of content, but it may notice the descriptive attributes surrounding them and certainly their URLs.

8. Boolean words. They are words like a, an, the, is, etc. If you're optimizing for Google only, don't bother including these keywords.

How Not to Link to Sites That Are in a Bad Neighborhood

Basically, sites that are in a bad neighborhood are those that post on link farms, splogs, or other sites using black hat SEO techniques. Stay away from these types of sites. Do you know that if a person you're linking to posts on these types of sites, you could get in trouble with Google as well? It's unfair, but true. And don't think that because a site has a good page rank today that tomorrow it won't use black hat techniques that would mess up your site. This is why you need to keep your eye on the sites to which you link.

One way you can do this is to read the page rank bar on the Google toolbar. This is better than using linkvendor.com, because it tells you if a site has been banned, whereas linkvendor.com may not. If the page rank bar is gray, that indicates a ban. However, don't confuse being banned with having a page rank of 0. Just because a site has a 0 page rank, that doesn't mean it's linking to sites in a bad neighborhood. It could just mean that not enough time has passed for the webmaster to get the site to rank high enough in search engines to receive a higher page rank. Recently, for example, there was a proxy problem (now fixed) that erroneously returned sites with a page rank of 0 which in fact were ranked higher.

How to Get Your Site Listed in Google in 24 Hours or Less

Wouldn't it be nice to start seeing your site in Google's search engine results in 24 hours or less? It should be first noted that if a site is crawled but not yet indexed, the results aren't visible to search users. For example, if you enter the full domain of your site with the "http://www." and your site hasn't been listed yet, it won't show up in Google's results. When your site does get indexed, if you enter the full URL, you'll see your site listed. This listing contains the URL, the title of your website, and a description.

To get your site indexed quickly, you won't use Google's submission form (google.com/addurl.html). Using this method may take 2-6 weeks to get your site indexed.

So, what do you need to do to get your website indexed in 24 hours or less? The first step is to visit Google and enter a broad, generic keyword that's relevant to your site. This is the rare time that the broader the keyword, the better. Don't worry about trying to go for niche markets with this step, because you're going to want to have access to sites with the highest level of traffic. Once you enter the keyword, you see the Google listings. Use the "Page Rank" indicator on the Google toolbar to see what the page rank is (or you could use SEO Elite or LinkVendor, but doing it right from the browser is faster).

To refresh your memory, the higher your page rank, the more websites that are linking to you. Keep an eye out for sites that have a page rank of 5 or higher (with the higher ranking being the better one). Visit each of these sites to see if they offer a link exchange. Remember, if they do they'll advertise it in the same way you did yours, through a "Link to Us" web page or something similar. Look for the contact information if it's listed. If it's not listed, use the Whois utility found through domain name services or SEO Elite to find their e-mail address. Use the same methods of e-mail etiquette you learned about before and send them an e-mail asking if they're interested in a link exchange. Remember to post their links on your site first before you send out the e-mail.

Just make sure the site you choose has a page rank of over 5. If you advertise your site on a site with a page rank of 5, your site will get indexed in three days or less. If you advertise your site on a site with a page rank of 6, you can get your site indexed in less than 24 hours.

INCREASE UR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

2009-06-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

INCREASE UR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

If you have 512 megs or more of memory,
u can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory

steps are

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Reboot the computer

iPhone 3G Battery Saving Tips

2009-06-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

iPhone 3G Battery Saving Tips

Following its previous hit (read iPod) that has revolutionized the portable music player now Apple has also decided to join the mobile-phones market.
Here comes the impressive iPhone 3G with its Multi-Touch capability. With elegant design and massive built-in features, Apple has once again successfully become the trendsetter. But it also come with some flaws mainly for the battery issues. For some users, the capacity of iPhone 3G battery is still not sufficient to cope with all of its power-hungry features. As a 'on-the-go' gadget that combines communication, Internet, and entertainment functions, battery here holds critical role to enjoy this gadget to the max. The battery duration which can last for only 1.5 day is a bit annoying for most users.

Heard from its name, you should've known that this latest version comes with 3G support as its new feature. As 3G excels in Internet speed, browsing becomes faster and more enjoyable. But, its battery capacity really lets you down here, you can't browse or download for too long before the battery finally runs out of power. So, in this post I'll give some tips and tricks to prolong your iPhone 3G battery:

1. Lower the brightness level

iPhone 3G has brighter screen compared to its elder brother. That's a nice upgrade, but it consumes more power as well. So, try to lower the brightness level if you are inside a brightly-lit room.

Go to Settings>Brightness

Turn off auto brightness, then slowly slide down the level till everything still visible on screen. I think 10% brightness is still possible.

2.Turn off WiFi and 3G if not used

One of the advantages of iPhone 3G is its 3G and WiFi capability to browse in a hotspot area.
But, that does not mean you should activate it all the time. Though it is idle, battery energy will still be used to stabilize the phone network. This become worse in poor 3G signal area.

Go to Settings>General>Network

3. Turn off vibration on games

Though it gives you more realistic and thrilled experience, vibration will further consumes more energy. Try to turn off that feature when playing games.

Apple has introduced its new iPhone
Now with 3G capability

4. Download and purchase applications through iTunes on PC

Though it is viable to do it directly on phone, try to search and download the applications on your PC. Since it will consume much energy to browse and download the data.
Hence, it's better to download via PC and then manually synchronize from iTunes to your iPhone 3G.

5. Set auto-lock function in minimum time

This is used as precaution only. So, it's not possible to activate some features accidentally when you forgot to lock the screen.

Go to Settings>General>Auto-Lock

6. Turn off Push Data

Turn off to reduce energy consumption. Don't worry! You can still fetch the data per time interval.

Go to Settings>Fetch New Data

7. Charge iPhone via PC

You can charge iPhone by connecting to USB port without synchronizing it. Or if you have a car charger, charge it when you are driving.

As you should know, the battery on iPhone is difficult to be replaced by own effort. So hopefully above tips and tricks can help you to maximize your iPhone 3G.

Disable copy paste function

2009-06-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Disable copy paste function

Sometimes we have important files that we don't want to share with others.
But, how if people accidentally find those files and duplicate or sent them to their portable storage.
To avoid above condition, simply applying this simple tip and the copy paste function will be unavailable.
Here are the steps:
1. Click Start>Run>type regedit then ok
2. Click HKEY_LOCALMACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control
3. Right click on Control choose New>Key then name it StorageDevicePolicies
4. Right click on StorageDevicePolicies then choose New>DWordValue then name it WriteProtect
5. Double click on WriteProtect, then change its value to 1
6. Then restart your computer
If succeeds, Error Copying File or Folder warning will now appear when trying to copy paste files
To return to default condition, simply change the value become 0 again.

New Feature In Windows 7 : Virtual WiFi Technology

2009-06-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

New Feature In Windows 7 : Virtual WiFi Technology

After the research of almost a decade the researchers from the Microsoft support has released a new technology in the Windows 7 called as V WiFi (Virtual Wi-Fi). It is a technology which virtualizes wireless adapter into as many wireless adapter depending upon the requirement, and make the machine to think that it has many wireless adapter in it thus provides the ability to connect to multiple hotshots simultaneously i.e. it allows a single wireless adapter to act like two, two NIc in one machine.

This Virtual Wi-Fi feature will make it easier to set up a mesh network where every system in the network act as a repeater i.e. one adapter grabs a signal and another passes it another.

The Virtual Wi-Fi (VWIFI) feature has been included in Windows 7 for the first time which is in its RC1 Phase of evolution. Although no drivers are reportedly available to take advantage of the feature so this feature is still waiting to come out and play.

Some users wonder why more than one wireless card would be needed inside your computer. There are a very few circumstances where multiple wireless adapters would be needed. For instance, users could connect to one wireless network and use the virtual adapter to turn their machine into a hot spot that other computers could connect to and share the internet access.
After the research of almost a decade the researchers from the Microsoft support has released a new technology in the Windows 7 called as V WiFi (Virtual Wi-Fi). It is a technology which virtualizes wireless adapter into as many wireless adapter depending upon the requirement, and make the machine to think that it has many wireless adapter in it thus provides the ability to connect to multiple hotshots simultaneously i.e. it allows a single wireless adapter to act like two, two NIc in one machine.

This Virtual Wi-Fi feature will make it easier to set up a mesh network where every system in the network act as a repeater i.e. one adapter grabs a signal and another passes it another.

The Virtual Wi-Fi (VWIFI) feature has been included in Windows 7 for the first time which is in its RC1 Phase of evolution. Although no drivers are reportedly available to take advantage of the feature so this feature is still waiting to come out and play.

Some users wonder why more than one wireless card would be needed inside your computer. There are a very few circumstances where multiple wireless adapters would be needed. For instance, users could connect to one wireless network and use the virtual adapter to turn their machine into a hot spot that other computers could connect to and share the internet access.
Another good usage scenario for the technology would be connecting to a wireless network while also connecting to a wireless ad hoc network at the same time. Istartedsomething reports that supporting Virtual Wi-Fi is going to be a requirement for WLAN drivers sporting the Windows support Certification Logo. The drivers will be coming to add support for the feature.

The feature is described as, “On Windows 7 and later, the operating system installs a virtual device if a Hosted Network capable wireless adapter is present on the machine. This virtual device normally shows up in the “Network Connections Folder” as ‘Wireless Network Connection 2’ with a Device Name of ‘Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter’ if the computer has a single wireless network adapter. This virtual device would be used exclusively for performing software access point (SoftAP) connections. The lifetime of this virtual device is tied to the physical wireless adapter. If the physical wireless adapter is disabled, this virtual device will be removed as well.”

The caveat to the technology is that only one virtual adapter can be created.