PCterritory: source for Windows tools, gadgets and wallpapers

Temporary Windows 7 notebook battery issue fix

2010-02-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 was supposed to be improving battery life but when it first hit beta phase and than RC, beta users started to report major issues with their laptop batteries, suddenly loosing a great deal of capacity. This occurred with several hundreds users at the time so Microsoft promised to go underway the problem and see to it. Until they find solution, this is what you can do to avoid the problem.

It is not clear so far what Microsoft is going to do with all damaged batteries and complaints because Windows 7 actually is damaging batteries. Even I noticed a sudden drop in battery capacity a few days ago so by all means if you suspect your battery should last longer go and submit warranty at your retailer.

But if you are planning to buy Windows 7 for your laptop, you can avoid this issue by charging your laptop battery only when computer is powered off. By doing so, you are going to prevent Windows 7 from interfering with your battery capacity and your laptop should work without these problems.

Of course this is only a temporary solution until Microsoft addresses this issue by releasing some sort of Windows update but for now, this is the only solution which actually works.

Where are Windows 7 temporary files stored and how to delete them

2010-02-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

Windows temporary files are usually leftovers from previous installations of various applications or documents once needed by Windows to run certain task. These files can in a time grow large and take up to 1 GB of hard drive space if not deleted once in a while.

For example temp files already take up 50 MB on my 2 days old fresh installation of Windows 7. It might not sound a lot but in time this can grow larger, fragment hard drive and lower overall computer performance. Also if you have Solid state drive like myself on the laptop I am writing this tutorial, space is still limited to some extent.

Bear in mind that Windows temporary files are not the same as Internet temporary files which specifically belong to Internet Explorer and internet traffic. By deleting Windows temp files those belonging to IE will remain intact.

To view temp files press simultaneously win logo+r key to open run box. Type in %temp% and you are going to see the list of your files that can be delete.d Simply select them all and press delete key.

Sometimes you are not going to be able to delete a file or two which may be locked due to being in use by Windows Explorer. Do not bother about it just skip that one.

Disable 5% of remaining battery warning while using laptop under Windows 7

2010-02-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

Windows has a smart predefined policy when it senses low level of battery in notebooks. In that case Windows is going to warn you when battery level on your laptop reaches 7% and automatically enters sleep mode while only 5% of battery capacity remains. The idea behind it is to prevent loss of data but while on some laptops 5% of remaining battery can hold for even 15 minutes, you may want to change or disable this settings.

Low level of battery capacity warning can be changed by going to advanced power settings and change setting there. Since Windows 7 features 3 different power saving modes such as high performance, balanced and power plan you are going to have to first know what power plan you are using to change specific settings in that mode. For example if you are using high performance mode and you want to disable low level battery capacity warning, you are going to have to change settings in that specific mode.

1. Find out in what power saving mode your laptop is working.
Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options

2. Click Change plan settings in the power plan you want to tweak and than Change advanced power settings

3. Change settings for low level battery capacity warning
A new window will pop-up where you are going to see expandable menu and this is where you can change settings for different parts of operating system and hardware when on specific power plan.

To prevent Windows from automatically entering sleep mode while on 5% of battery power choose Battery > Critical battery level. Here you can change settings for your laptop while running on low battery power. To disable action of going into sleep mode while reaching 5% of battery power choose 0%. In case you want to tell Windows to enter sleep mode e.g. while it remains only 10% of battery power, choose than 10%

4. Repeat this procedure for all power saving modes in case you are using all of them. Restart computer for changes to take effect.

Download Online Armor + Antivirus with Genuine serial License Key

2010-01-29T02:17:00.000-08:00

Online Armor always ranks among the best firewalls in the worlds and today you have an opportunity to get it absolutely free of charge via giveawayoftheday. Not only Online Armor gives one of the best firewalls possible but research also showed it has a significant self-termination protection built-in its host intrusion protection system which ranks highest as well.

We have covered Online Armor a few months ago an you can as well see its effectiveness in this section conducted by matousec but. But just before reading this tests go and get yourself free serial license key for Online Armor before it falls due. It lasts only 24 hours.

Get your Online Armor with Antivirus

Returnil Virtual System 2010 Home Lux Genuine Free License Key

2010-01-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Returnil Virtual System is antimalware application which uses in contrast to traditional antivirus software also virtualization technique. Virtualization is a process where Returnil Virtual system clones entire Windows system partition (usually C:/) and actually boots Windows with cloned operating system. This means that user afterwards works in cloned operating system and whatever user does not happen in real operating system.

So basically user can save any amount of files or change numerous settings but after PC restart everything is going to be restored to a previous state. All files and settings will be gone.

At first sight using such cloned operating system seems quite unlogical but when you take into account that viruses and worms are actually files as well meaning they will be erased on first reboot too, using Returnil Virtual System does not pose such a misfortune any longer. In fact using virtualization means that any malware you may get infected with will be installed in virtual environment/system and all the damage is never going to be made on a real operating system. Further on while using Returnil Virtual System all files, worms and trojans are stored in special folder with severe restrictions and so they have no access to system resources. This means malware is trapped and can not infect and change real operating system and registry.

Of course in theory this actually works pretty well but as every other security application Returnil Virtual System is vulnerable to certain trojans as well. Simply because there may be malware outside which has abilities to escape from virtual system and install itself in a real Windows operating system. Such scenario has happened before with similar free application Sandboxie, keep that in mind. But still the chances that your real operating system gets infected are drastically lower than if you would be using just a traditional antivirus.

Anyway, user still has a chance to permanently store files on native operating system while working in virtual environment by choosing so in control panel of RVS.
Now the sweetest point. To get your genuine serial key for Returnil Virtual System 2010 visit ~~this page~~, provide you details and follow simple instruction.

Requirements: Windows XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/Windows

Offer has expired.

SpaceTime 3D Browser introduces Web Search Engine

2009-12-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

In 2007 I came across SpaceTime 3D browser a very interesting browser and very different from any browser built by than. What differed SpaceTime from other browsers was its unique feature which fetched browsing results in form of pictures - website thumbnails actually rather than in a text form we are used to. You guys might have heard of it before, or perhaps even tried so you probably realized it consumed a lot of system resources, starting with graphics card with at least 128MB of RAM, which at that time not every PC had. Good news now is that you do not need to install resource-consuming SpaceTime 3D browser to use that feature, as the company introduced just a SpaceTime 3D search engine.

SpaceTime 3D search engine can now be used on any web browser the same as all other similar search engines such as Yahoo, Bing and AltaVista. All you need to do is to visit SpaceTime and use it for browsing the web in moving previewed thumbnails.

Opera 10.5 pre-alpha review: the fastest browser yet

2009-12-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Opera introduced us with their future Opera browser concept 10.5. Despite being in early alpha stage Opera Desktop Team decided to let us grab hands on this one because they say to be so excited about Opera 10.5 they really wanted to share it with us.

And they are absolutely right about it. New Opera concept based on Presto 2.5 rendering engine is a complete redesign in and out of what we know from the previous version 10.10. There is a huge number of visual and under-the-hood improvements such as new java script handling engine Caracan and improved engine Vega for handling vector graphics both targeting for performance and new web standard support.

Look and feel has been altered severely and for the first time Opera browser supports/features Windows Aero theme which actually reminds of Chrome theme but looks even better. Tabs are absolutely astonishing gray-colored with awesome hover effect and there is a new start menu for handling all settings and preferences.

Private browsing has been added as well making Opera forget about your browsing habits and visited websites so that no-one will ever know what you do on the web in case of shared computer.

And best of all at least for me. Opera added new improved address field which features many improvements one of them happen to be much anticipated real-time auto suggesting web address such as that in Safari browser.

At the time of my writing I have to say Opera 10.50 is also quite unstable browser so far which is no wonder due to being in a very early stage so expect numerous crashes and non-working features. One of those problems I have just discovered is an inability to set a picture opened in Opera as desktop background.
But fear not this is definitely going to change and I encourage you to try this splendid pre-alpha browser. You might even want to consider switching from Firefox to Opera.

For a complete change log and new features list visit and download Opera 10.5 pre-alpha from official site.

Download Opera 10.5 pre-alpha (7,8 MB)

Download Microsoft Public Beta Office 2010

2009-11-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has just announced availability of their first public beta version for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010. New concept of future Office pack is available for free testing purposes and can be downloaded by anyone right now. To get your free copy of Office 2010 visit Microsoft Office public 2010 Beta dedicated website and follow the procedure.

The package itself weights 684 MB and if you are going to opt to install all features, it is going to take you around 3 minutes. When in use Office 2010 is quite modest regarding the system resource usage as WinWord for example takes only slightly over 10 MB of RAM. Not bad for such rich full featured Office document.

There is also no worries for genuine users of previous Office users as you do have an option to keep both version on your machine, although you can expect a bit of interference. In case you decide to go for both make sure you tick the right options in the beginning of installation process, because by default there is confirmed action for deletion of all previous Microsoft Office versions.

User interface doesn't differ that much from what we know from Office 2007, although there are changes of course. But those are not that drastic like we saw when transiting from Office 2003 to 2007 so you shouldn't find it too complicated to use.

Here are some images of new Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta concept.

Change Windows 7 logon screen with Free Windows 7 Logon Changer

2009-11-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

Tweak's.com Windows 7 logon changer is a tiny free application which enables you to quickly customize Windows 7 logon screen and replace login background image with the picture of your choice. To replace logon screen run Tweak's logon changer and press change logon screen button upon which you just have to point out to the place where your preferred background image is stored.

The program will do the rest for you automatically, even though you provide an image which measures over 245KB in size which is Microsoft's limitation for every login background image. That image will be resized for you automatically to correct size.

Tweak's.com logon changer works only for Windows 7. If you want to change Vista logon screen, you might want to try Vista Visual Master.

Download Windows 7 Logon Changer

Learn about PC security on Comodo TV

2009-11-06T05:36:00.000-08:00

COMODO TV is relatively new website established by famous Comodo group where you can find lots of useful videos about computer security and Comodo products. There are even few basic videos about what malware is and how it is classified and there you shall even find a few speeches from president Obama addressing public about cyber security etc. For those who are looking for more information and an insight into free Comodo applications and how they work, Comodo TV is the right place as well.

The CEO of Comodo is one of those good guys who actually care about online safety of worldwide users so I should tell you that although Comodo TV is to some extent of commercial nature, do not be tricked into thinking that all this is just about selling more of their applications. It is also an attempt to inform as many people as possible about cyber threats and how to avoid them successfully.

Best Windows 7 System Sidebar Gadgets

2009-10-30T02:28:00.000-07:00

Now that Windows 7 has arrived it is time to start thinking about customizing its look and feel, do not you think so! In the beginning, we might simply start with Windows 7 sidebar gadgets, in particular with utility gadgets. I like having these gadgets about CPU and network utilization always in my site, so I know exactly what is going on with my PC. Here they are.

TOP PROCESSES gives you an option of showing chosen number of Windows processes which are using either the most RAM or most CPU power. You choose what data you prefer on display.

IPHONE BATTERY is particularly useful gadget for notebook users who want
to know exactly how much of their laptop battery is still left. You can choose among 6 different themes and 3 sizes.

CPU SLIM is another Windows 7 CPU sidebar gadget with dark theme
showing processor type and clock, utilization, RAM usage, PC name and more.

CPU sidebar METER III G5 is circular analog Windows 7 sidebar gadget showing CPU and RAM utilization with modern black interface and red pointers.

QUICK MONITOR is full featured sidebar monitor capable of displaying CPU, RAM, network and hard disk drive data in 4 different panels with option for customizing displayed information.

mCPU METER is another single-paneled Windows 7 CPU sidebar gadgets with dual core support. Additionally can display system uptime and RAM usage.

System usage meter used to be my favorite due to displaying data really transparently. This simple but powerful sidebar gadget features support for quad-core processors, different refresh rates and comes in with different built-in themes.

System Monitor is another worthwhile sidebar gadget transparently displaying information. It can display CPU, RAM, time, IP address, battery status, wireless network information with SSDP and signal strength support. It even features search engines WHOIS, IP lookup, DNS lookup, trace root etc. Certainly powerful Windows 7 sidebar gadgets worth recommending.

CPU-V MONITOR TEST is a funny CPU sidebar gadgets with sonar-like display like those in submarines or air traffic control towers, capable of showing CPU frequency, dual core utilization, graphical display and information of free RAM left.

Beaker CPU meter is a really simple attractive-looking Windows seven sidebar gadget with CPU and RAM usage bar, featuring Aero theme.

RR CPU METER: simple and attractive circular analog CPU sidebar gadget

Find more of Windows sidebar gadgets.

Download free software via rapidshare and megaupload

2009-10-28T01:49:00.000-07:00

Software, movies and music can be found literally on hundreds of illegal torrent servers and from millions of peer-to-peer users, we all know this, and many of you are probably happily taking advantage of such networks. While you are so easily downloading shareware software, your activity is equally easily discovered by RIAA and MPAA who are chasing large-scale pirates to take them to court so if you really have to download such software and no-one will ever drive you away from doing it, than you might find this news useful when I tell you there are much safer ways of downloading software. Forget about torrents and peer-to-peer.

Solution for you hears by the name rapidshare and megaupload. Rapidshare is file hosting service with free and premium account which enables users to upload their files for public viewing and downloading. And majority of such files are actually shareware software and movies, exactly like those found on peer-to-peer networks.

So rapidshare can actually bring great relief to you as we know RIAA and similar organizations are putting most of their effort to monitoring peer-to-peer networks and not rapidshare, which is by its nature legally established company for uploading and hosting files. Of course rapidshare staff is also striving to erase all files and links on their network to latest movies and software but they are not doing that good!

Personally I encourage you to leave all this alone and rather download free alternative software as there is plenty of it, but if you really are addicted to downloading shareware software without paying, than I suggest you to use rapidshare and megaupload and leave peer-to-peer aside.

Most popular file and software hosting search engines.
rapidshare-search-engine.com
rapidshareindex.com
megadownload.net
gappon.com

Windows 7 Officially Released to Public

2009-10-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

As of today Windows Vista is no longer the latest operating system from Redmond, because today Windows 7 has been released to public, which means you can buy it on Amazon, Ebay or any other tech store worldwide. Although Windows 7 is built on the same core as the unpopular Windows Vista it seems Microsoft fixed everything users complained about Vista. I absolutely agree with this statement as when I got Windows 7 on my computer it felt like something Microsoft should have done long ago.

Responsiveness, moderate hardware requirements, security and probably one of the most important issue for today's users - graphical interface.
Hack, users reported they tried to run Windows 7 on 512 MB of RAM and it seemed to work just fine. Not bad for operating system from Microsoft!
Most obvious at first look are changes concerning completely new and redesigned user interface, differing from new superbar, detachable sidebar gadgets, visual themes, Windows explorer interface, Aero Peak, Aero Shake, Jump list and to full touch screen support. Well there are more of the new interface but let's take a look under the hood.

Windows 7 is the first operating system which has been designed with Solid State Drive technology in mind. I/O operations for example have been sharply reduced for longer SSD lifetime and better performance. Moreover Windows 7 automatically recognizes the presence of Solid State Drive and therefore shuts down unnecessary services such as Superfetch, ReadyBoost and Windows Defragmenter, the services which would obviously hurt solid state drive or add no value.

Other features in Windows 7 are DirextX11 library support, Internet Explorer 8, improved HomeGroup, security, wireless set-up process simplicity, startup repair tool and much more.

The only setback I personally find with Windows 7 is its price and as being Windows Vista user, I can not pretend and stop not asking myself whether it is fair from Microsoft to charge Windows Vista users for what we were supposed to get in the first place. After all, Windows 7 is in a way still Vista, so why charge us once again! I can only hope we shall get a fair price in case of upgrading.

But beside my doubts about the price and whether selling Windows 7 at full price to Windows Vista users is ethical, Windows 7 I must say is a worthy successor to Windows XP, and personally I feel the time for Windows XP to finally retire has arrived.

Free Mozilla Sunbird & Lightning calendar application

2009-10-20T01:54:00.000-07:00

Sunbird is free calendar application for managing and writing down your tasks, todo's and remarks instead of trying to learn them all by heart. It has been developed and maintained by Mozilla community, works on all major systems and can be installed in two different forms; as a full standalone calendar application or integration with existing Mozilla Thunderbird in form of add-on called Lightning.

Graphical interface is pleasant-looking with different view options and actually reminds a little of Thunderbird, naturally. All standard features are present such as alarm reminders, different view options, import/export, category markers and date/time setup. If this was all Sunbird offered, it would not make a difference using a standard Windows calendar, so naturally Sunbird does not stop there. Therefore you shall find in Sunbird a few cool advanced features as well such as creating private encrypted tasks/events which can be viewed by proper password only, converting tasks and events to e-mail messages, master password option and even proxy settings.

Lightning add-on for Thunderbird owners Download Here

FREE ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall 2010 serial key valid 1 year

2009-10-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

Guys, this offer is a must to check out. Right now CheckPoint is like previous year giving away ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall 2010 absolutely for free from their special promotional offer and if you have always wanted to get yourself genuine ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall license key, the day has arrived. Only one catch though. Offer is going to last for only 24 hours from the time of writing this post, so hurry up.

To get ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall 2010 serial key visit http://www.zonealarm.com/security/addToCartFromLink.htm?product=ZAP-1year-3user&coupon=FREE24&cid=E200059. There you shall find your shopping cart already filled with ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall and with 2 other products. Get rid of the later two and your balance of total will display $0 US. Continue to the next step by providing your personal information, than choosing payment method which is a bit ridiculous, but after filling in the form you will be able to install and get genuine ZoneAlarm Pro 2010 free license key. No catch, just free offer. Additionally your ZoneAlarm Pro license key is going to allow you to install install this program on 3 different PC-s.

In case you do not know how effective ZoneAlarm Pro is than check out Matousec firewall results we recently covered.

Install 2.5 inch notebook SSD in 3.5 inch desktop computer

2009-10-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

Solid State Drives are becoming increasingly popular among power users due to significant performance gain over traditional hard drives and decreasing prices per gigabyte. Today you can easily find 64 GB flash drive with Indilinx Barebone controller under $150 which is really a good deal. However all Solid State Drives are designed specifically for notebooks and come in 2.5 inch chasis which seems a bad news for desktop computer owners who would like to have one of those fast SSDs as well.

The good news is there is actually an easy way of installing 2.5 inch SSD into desktop computer. There is no need for any special accessories or HDD kits. All you need is SATA capable desktop computer.

At first sight it seems you would need some sort of special cables and 3.5 chassis but because Solid-State Drives do not have rotational mechanical parts they do not need to be firmly attached to computer case. That's why you do not need 3.5 chassis to make them compatible with desktop computers. Even better laptop Solid-State drives are equipped with exactly the same SATA 2 and power interface like those found in desktop computers.

All this make notebook SSDs dead-easy to install in desktop computers with 3.5 inch hard drive chassis. All you need to do is to open desktop computer box, unplug your 3.5 inch hard drive from power cable and SATA interface connector and replace HDD with your new 2.5 inch Solid State flash drive using the same cables. Than lay gently new drive somewhere inside the computer box, where it will not interfere with other hardware. Now start up computer and install operating system in the usual way with formatting your new drive first.

Note that SSD is going perform best with SATA II cable although it can work on previous version as well.

Firewall Test your PC with free Port Scanner

2009-09-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

Until now I fully relied on Gibson Research's online port scanning tool to check all of the firewalls's inbound abilities, which have at some point been installed on my computers ranging from checkpoint and to less known firewalls such as GhostWall. It might sound unnecessary to check firewall's inbound protection as we all assume it is basically powerful enough in most cases, but since my ISP supplied me with hardware firewall Vigor 2700 series with fully and (ir)reversibly opened port 80 and 8080, port scanning tool has become indispensable.

Using free Port Scanner from Auditmypc is not a difficult-to-use, fully automated online tool with basic and advanced scanning option with excellent reporting details, much better that the one found in Gibson's. This tool works fast and checks all of your computer's 65000 gates, each representing an online inbound and outbound communication path for every possible program ever designed.

Firewalls were built to close and mask these gates so non-allowed programs would never be able to use it and compromise computers. In reality most firewalls do the job very well but there are many least-known firewalls you should stay away from. So port scanning tools come here very handy to actually test if the firewall protects the way it should.

For my testing purpose I used Vigor 2700G hardware firewall from DrayTek, and after initial scan the results were worrying. Fully opened port 80 without ability to be closed and masked. I assumed it was defected router so I contacted my ISP which provided me with a brand new router of the same kind. Once again I ran Vigor 2700G through Auditmypc Port Scanner and results were the same. Port 80 and 8080 fully opened and exposed.

This neat free online tool gave a valuable insight into insecurity of my computer so I can take necessary steps and appropriately protect myself from online threats.

ANSWER FROM DRAYTEK:

Port 80 and port 8080 are in certain scenarios used for remote purposes and firmware upgrade

PCTERRITORY REPLY:

Draytek provided us with additional information about this issue and explained that port 80 and 8080 actually does not pose a security risk but enables some ISPs to remotely upgrade firmware. Entire process is otherwise protected only certain IPs are allowed of such procedures so according to this explanation I can conclude that there should be no more worries about vulnerabilities for end-users who are using mentioned router Vigor 2700 series from DrayTek.

Visit Firewall Test homepage

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Beta 4 ready for download

2009-09-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Mozilla has just released the fourth beta version of Thunderbird 3 based on new Gecko 1.9.1.3 platform. New beta is bringing over 200 changes prior to previous beta version making Thunderbird faster, more stable and feature-reach. Some of the most notable features include advanced filtering tool, tabbed email messages, smart folder and even activity manager so you can always monitor what is Thunderbird doing in the background.
But there is a trick as well!

Probably the most important feature beta 4 is bringing is a deep integration with Gmail which shines in two important areas. One of the first things you are going to notice while setting up new account wizard is the immediate support for Gmail in case you want to use it within Thunderbird. Setting up Gmail account manually is now a matter of the past as new beta already knows all the necessary protocols, encryption and ports which are necessary for properly using Gmail inside Thunderbird. You only provide username and password and rest is filled in automatically.

Second new improvement/feature I unfortunately found in a hard way is even stronger Gmail integration with Thunderbird I initially expected. In beta 4 Thunderbird acts as a fully entitled Gmail replacement email client which means whatever you do with the messages inside Thunderbird is going to directly reflect in your original Gmail online box. In plain words it means that each and every email you delete from Thunderbird is going to be simultaneously deleted from online Gmail account. This is pretty scary and way too powerful for ordinary user so in my opinion Mozilla should immediately disable this feature or warn beta testers about it. I was unfortunate to find this out in hard way though.

After installing Thunderbird 3 beta 4 and associating it with my account Thunderbird started to download all of my several thousands emails, putting them in appropriate folders and indexing their positions. As usually after Thunderbird finished its work I went to inbox and erased all of the old messages so they would not clutter my new disk. After all I knew these messages still remained intact with my online Gmail account. At least so I thought - used to from previous versions until I logged in Gmail online and with a terror realized my all inbox messages were gone online as well thanks to the strong integration. At least I would appreciate developers would warn me about this new connection between G and Thunderbird but as being beta they obviously did not bother about it. After all it seems they do not really care about importancy of the messages beta testers send and receive. So doing Mozilla a favor by testing its product turned out a nightmare for me due to their ignorancy of the new powerful integration with Gmail new Thunderbird is bringing.

Free StarWind iSCSI Service Review

2009-09-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever used Windows home group function! You know, all these fancy printer and document sharing functions built into Windows operating system. It is an awesome opportunity to extend the practical use of computers and connect several machines into a net where each can get files from others connected to such network. But have you ever imagined what it would be like to use not just shared files and printers among all these computers but rather entire hard drive with all installed applications. It can be done and the solution hears for the name StarWind.

StarWind is actually a very complicated software, using iSCSI technology which enables computers to form a network where primary computer allows others over TCP/IP network protocol to use all its storage resources, be that physical memory, DVD-rom, iso mounted devices or even entire drive, much like you were using remote control. In simple words it goes like this conversation:

SCSC Server: "I have a huge 1 TB hard drive of awesome applications. Wanna use it?

iSCSC client "sure how?"

iSCSC Server: "well, all you have to do is to install StarWind like I did.

iSCSC client: "ok, I am done"

iSCSC Server: "great. Now here is the username and password. Punch them in and use my entire hard drive the same way it was installed in your box.

iSCSC client: " so this means I can use all your applications like image resizing tool for example?"

iSCSC Server: "absolutely"

Another valuable aspect of StarWind represents online storage ability as StarWind based Server does not just serve clients with its applications but also forms a great way of storing valuable data from all StarWind-connected computers.

So is it worth it! The nature of StarWind iSCSI service is specific and most widely used with companies for backing up purpose although a casual user can find StarWind useful. In case all you need is remote control you would probably be better off with CrossLoop or if perhaps if you seek for a decent network storage space you might rather take a look at SpiderOak but if you need all this and more combined in one powerful application it might not be a bad idea to give StarWind a try. After all the basic edition is free.

Advanced System Optimizer with Free Activation key

2009-09-23T02:20:00.000-07:00

Today giveawayoftheday managed to make a good deal with Systweak Inc. as they bargained us Advanced System Optimizer, you probably have heard of before. It is basically quite a deal as instead of paying just below $40 US you get it free for 12 months. Anyway I shall not gaze deep into Advanced System Optimizer as I do not really have much time today, but my initial thoughts about ASO are positive and recommending. Powerful users usually do not need such tools anyway but novice and moderate users shall most probably find it very helpful.

Advanced System Optimizer is much like free RegToy all-in-one optimizing, cleaning and tweaking Windows XP and Vista utility in full swing and details you may find in other similar top-notch applications with a difference that Advanced System Optimizer offers slightly more tools you would expect.

User interface is unfortunately familiar XP-like, which suggest Advanced System Optimizer still works in full swing only with Windows XP rather than with Vista or upcoming Windows 7 but most features should work for you nevertheless.

You are going to find 27 different tools, ranging from registry cleaner, duplicate finder deleter, wallpaper and icon changer, encrypting tool, system and file backup and even spyware detective. Certainly a powerful tool for taking control over Windows.

There are majority of tools I approve of and do not hold back such as easy icon changer, encrypting tool, backup tool and powerful Windows Optimizer ... However I would not recommend to overuse registry cleaning and defragmenter, and neither duplicate file finder as I easily find these tools way too aggressive for subtle Windows registry in which case you may achieve the opposite effect of desired - corrupted registry, system slowdown, missing built-in wallpapers etc.
But so this apply for majority of other registry cleaning tools.

The procedure of getting your free Advanced System Optimizer activation key is a bit funny so you will have to take a look at "read me" file provided in downloaded folder. But nothing overly complicated, bother not.

DOWNLOAD LINK:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/advanced-system-optimizer-v2/

Requirements: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 (unofficially)

How to Change Mouse Cursor in Windows 7

2009-09-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 by default offers a simple way of changing mouse cursor via control panel as its predecessor Vista, but as you may have noticed the variety of available cursors is pretty monotonic and limited to only simple objects such as hand, sand watch and various arrows. Personally I am kind a tired of looking at the same mouse pointer in Windows from the very beginning and if you feel the same here is a good way to start.

CursorFX is a free application enabling you to easily change Windows mouse cursor with free animated, anti-aliased, alpha-blended, glowing and trail-leaving cursors, which actually freshens up Windows 7 by their effects, spinning, glowing etc. By default there are 13 free available cursors with different sound schemes, effects and trails, but if for some reason you can not find them attractive, you might want to visit CursorFX community download center and get hundreds of free Windows cursors right away.

credit: CursorFX

Unfortunately not every mouse pointer works in full potential with all effects under Windows 7 as this utility is only certified for Windows Vista and below, but in most cases you should get desired effect anyway.

HostedHere.net refuses its service to Kevin Mitnick

2009-08-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous hackers from 90-s, sentenced for 5 years for breaking into security systems and today's self-employed security chief consultant got an unpleasant surprise a few days ago when his website hosting service and mobile operator declared to refuse offering their service to him. The reason! Constant (un)successful attempts from hackers worldwide to break into his mobile phone and website, sometimes even resulting in complete system breakdown of hostedhere.net.

Kevin Mitnick's website has been constantly under cyber attacks and many times hackers actually broke into his website and left some friendly messages like saying hello. Unfortunately not just good guys hacked his website and sometimes they smashed entire computer infrastructure of his website hosting provider to get access to Kevin's website. Hostedhere.net got tired of being exposed to such inconvenience causing them not just gray hair and a lot of computer maintenance on their servers but also additional unnecessary expanses.

Unfortunate Kevin seems to be once more a victim of his "dark" history of a famous hacker, although today his work involves securing computer systems from network attacks he once performed.

Add Transparent Glass Effect to Firefox 3.5

2009-08-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

One of the great things Firefox web browser offers is wide support for add-ons, including those for customizing its appearance, skins, buttons and more. Many people actually miss glass border effect in Firefox such as that in Internet Explorer.

In the past one of the easiest ways to implement transparency into Firefox was to take advantage of Glasser add-on but because recently Firefox has gone 3.5 Glasser works no longer. Instead I found new experimental Glasser add-on by SzymekPl which seems to be working without problems and adds nice glossy glass border to Firefox. Before installing you will have to tick option to agree you are installing experimental piece of code and after that installation is pretty much straight-forward as with all other add-ons.

That's it lads. Now you should be having your favorite browser dressed up in pure transparent glass dress, ready to candidate for the most beautiful browser around.

How to Enable Windows 7 Firewall Outbound Protection

2009-08-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 as its predecessor Vista and even XP comes so far secured with only partially working firewall. The reason for this lies in overall unawareness of majority Windows users who do not exactly know what firewall is. Therefore Windows firewall needs to be by default configured according to this predisposition so it does not bother unaware people with scary warnings. However we can adjust a few settings here and double the effectiveness of Windows 7 firewall by enabling its outbound protection.

Before I continue explaining how to enable Windows 7 firewall outbound protection I will have to tell you that this firewall is a bit stubborn not like other third-party firewalls. This means when outbound protection is enabled firewall is going to by default block any installed program from connecting to the internet including Internet Explorer which means you will have to manually create rules to specifically allow individual programs to access internet. A bit unusual and time-consuming though.

Go to control panel or type in search field Windows Firewall With Advanced Security. Choose Windows Firewall Properties and set outbound protection to block in drop-down menu. Do this for all three domain, public and private profile. Apply new settings. Now if you launch any web browser you will notice it can not access internet. You will have to manually tell Windows that certain program is safe by creating new rule for this application.

On the left-hand side of the panel choose Outbound Rules. Here you are going to see all Windows processes and programs that already match the rule of connecting to the internet and here is where you can add programs of your own. Click New Rule and follow simple instructions. Repeat procedure for all other programs you wish to grand access to internet.

Best Free Partition software Paragon Partition Manager

2009-08-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

Today giveawayoftheday is hosting an interesting application Paragon Partition Manager 9.5 Professional. While this program is actually shareware this offer represents a unique chance for everyone to get it free of charge in a time-limit offer of 24 hours. In the past I wrote about a similar free partition software which is still available.

Partition Manager is partitioning software and gives you full power over splitting hard drive according to your preferences. You can shrink you primary partition (usually C) and produce as many more as you like. One for work, the other for entertainment etc.

While partitioning hard drive in practice reduces hard drive performance by around 10% with each added partition, it holds your documents separated from operating system and thus intact every time you re-install operating system, be Windows, Mac or Ubuntu. Therefore it is up to you to trade performance for safety/permanency of your files. The more partitions the slower hard drive is. But more secure as well.