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2012-04-10T09:02:00.002-07:00

We're redesigning everything...
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AVZ Antiviral Toolkit

2009-09-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

AVZ AntiViral Toolkit is a Portable security solution created by a Oleg Zaytsev to remove virus, adware, spyware, network worms, trojan horses (Trojan, TrojanDownloader, TrojanSpy) and Dialers. The utility implements specialized algorithms for detecting keyloggers, finding and blocking rootkits etc. AVZ was made as a stand alone antiviral toolkit but after Oleg Zaytsev started working for Kaspersky, AVZ is now said to now be a part of Kaspersky 2009.

Parts of AVZ are reused in other Kaspersky products such as AVPTool, but as for manual diagnostics it still has edge over rest.

Features:
* Comes packed with a lot of sub-tools for taking control of your system in the event of an infection.
* AVZPM is an optional driver for extensive process checks.
* AVZGuard restricts process and registry activity, except from trusted executables to guard them against aggressive malware.
* Last but not the least, it definitely saves the day.

Homepage (Russian)
Direct Download Link
Latest version information and download link (Russian)

Widgets for Online As It Happens

2009-08-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Online As It Happens is a website dedicated for creating Widgets for whatever that is happening online. You can easily create a widget in just three steps. The steps are as follows:

Decide what you want your widget to do
Select an online source
Choose what to search for
Visualise and personalise it

I have created some widgets too while playing around on the website.

If I make new widgets, I will add them to the above list! :)
Nokia is also running a competition, where the chosen widget will get featured in the Ovi store and the creator of the widget will receive the cool Nokia N97. If you like my widgets please rate them and if you are having your own website you can also embed them. Thanks!

Get Free Radiotracker Standard Edition 4.0 Full Version With Genuine Valid License Key

2009-08-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

We have talked about Radiotracker before here, so if you missed you may be interested in visiting this link and if you want to read the extensive review of Radiotracker's latest version, i.e., Radiotracker 5 Platinum edition, then click here.

Radiotracker is a streaming audio software application that music lovers would like to have. Radiotracker enlightens music lovers with free online MP3 music files downloadable from more than 20,000 radio stations based on artist selection. The audio program has a huge artist database where users can choose from. Once users have selected their favorite artist, Radiotracker will detect and deliver the selected artist's songs which are playing on web radio stations. Users can then make their choices and Radiotracker will record the MP3 songs from various web radio stations for users. Users can listen and enjoy the music from their PC; alternately they can transfer to their portable MP3 player. Music enthusiasts also can make use of this streaming audio software to look for song lyrics and album artwork.

Radiotracker has lately released its latest version Radiotracker 5 which costs around $26.90 to buy. If you do not mind using an older version with less features or may bear with some annoying ad requesting you to upgrade the software to the latest, then you should grab this promotion package of Radiotracker 4 Standard Edition offered by Avanquest UK. Users can freely download Radiotracker 4 (download size 44MB) with a valid license key after registering with Avanquest for free with their email address.

* To get a free copy of Radiotracker 4, visit the promotional page.
* You may need to register an account with Avanquest if you haven’t yet.
* If you have already registered, you just need to put in the registered email address under “For Avanquest Registered Users:” box.
* You will then be given the download link together with a valid password/key for activation.
* An email with the valid password/key will also been sent.

Snow Leopard Number One on Amazon.com Pre-order Sales

2009-08-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

Apple has recently released its next operating system for pre-order in the United States. This move by Apple came up just a couple of weeks after Microsoft did the same for its forthcoming OS. Apple's Snow Leopard OS X 10.6 and Microsoft's Windows 7 will go almost head-to-head with September and October releases respectively.

On Amazon.com, Snow Leopard is currently at number one and is now best seller in the software category. The first slot is taken by the $29 single upgrade version of Snow Leopard and the second slot is taken by the $49 five-user "family pack" version. Microsoft Windows 7 does not feature in the top ten list.

Amazon.com though states "Please note: Official release date has not been announced by Apple, though they have indicated this product will be released sometime in September" for the preorder process. There is no such pre-order in place on Amazon in the UK, where pricing for Snow Leopard is yet to be set, and Apple's official site only offers email notification when the OS is closer to availability.

Google jumps on the short link bandwagon, sort of...

2009-07-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Google is finally figuring out that using short links are just smarter way to deal with long links, especially on a mobile phone where screen space is scarce. Don't get confused though as Google is not rolling out its own URL shortening service just yet. But today Google introduced what it calls “Smart Links” to the mobile version of Gmail. Whenever you are using Gmail on your mobile and it recognizes a super-long link like the one for Google Maps shown below, it will shorten it to the underlying name thing being linked to.

Basically, it translates the URL into English. Gmail’s smart links also work for direction destinations on Google Maps, and the names of YouTube videos and Google Sites pages. Though Google is starting this service with its own properties, where it knows the underlying names. But it doesn’t need to be limited to those.

It seems like a good idea and one which could be expanded to other links across the Web, including news headlines, image titles, Tweets, and countless other things. It would be great if Google enables this feature in regular Gmail as well.

[ Source: Official Google Mobile Blog: The Iterative Web App: Links Got Shorter and Smarter ]

Microsoft Mac Office 2008 SP2 Released

2009-07-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

Microsoft today announced the release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 2 (SP2) billed as a mid cycle free update designed to improve the user experience with speed, stability and compatibility enhancement while adding a few new features.

New and improved features include:

PowerPoint 2008, including fonts, colour scheme and slide layouts. Increased speed in Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac — launch and scroll times — as well as Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac with fea tures such as calculation performance.
Custom Path Animation adds the ability to author motion-path animations in Microsoft Power Point 2008. Users previously could only play back motion paths. Default Theme lets users define their default theme in Microsoft.
PowerPoint — Default Theme lets users define their default theme, including fonts, color scheme and slide layouts.

For a complete lists of changes and fixes, visit this page. You may download the update from Mactopia web site or you can also update using the AutoUpdate tool in Office 2008. The download size is approximately 300MB. A free 30-day trial is also available for new users.

How To Remove Internet Explorer From Windows 7 Easily

2009-07-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

For the first time since 1997 it is possible to uninstall Internet Explorer from Windows. Now full time Firefox, Chrome and Opera users can remove Internet Explorer easily and removing Internet Explorer will not break any applications that depend on the IE rendering engine. When Internet Explorer is removed from Windows, the shared rendering engine components will remain, so that the applications that depend on the IE rendering engine continue to run but the shortcuts and settings will be removed. To uninstall Internet Explorer from your computer follow these steps:

Click on the Start Button
Type Turn Windows features on or off and press Enter.

Then in the Windows Features dialog box, remove the check from Internet Explorer 8.

Click OK, Internet Explorer will be removed

Map an FTP Drive in Windows Vista

2009-07-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

Mapping an FTP drive can be achieved using Internet Explorer or an FTP program, however, you can map an FTP drive in Windows Vista explorer. Below are the steps to achieve this:

Click on the Start Menu.
Click on Computer.
Click on “Map Network Drive” (see picture below)

Select the Drive you wan the FTP to map into.
From there type the FTP Folder in the text box (see picture below)

You should now see the mapped FTP drive

SoftPerfect Network Scanner

2009-06-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, exams are over and I am back now! I am working on a number of other projects which I will tell you all as they are completed.. Ok, now back to the topic.

Today, I was searching for a Network Scanner and found a free one named SoftPerfect Network Scanner. This one is having a lot of features. Important is that it is a multi-threaded IP, NetBIOS and SNMP scanner. The interface is good and will suite for administrators and regular uses. What I mean with regular users is users who are not having administrative privileges but are interested in securing his/her computer. This program pings computers, scans for listening TCP ports and displays which types of resources are shared on the network (including system and hidden). In addition, it allows you to mount shared folders as network drives, browse them using Windows Explorer, filter the results list and more. SoftPerfect Network Scanner can also check for a user-defined port and report back if one is open. It can also resolve host names and auto-detect your local and external IP range. It supports remote shutdown and Wake-On-LAN.

Key features includes detecting hardware (MAC) addresses even across routers, detecting your internal and external IP addresses, retrieves currently logged-on users, exporting results to HTML, XML, CSV and TXT, etc. Overall its a good network scanner at 731KB download size and it just got updated. You can read the Changelog here and the online manual is available here, if you find yourself lost :-)

[ Download SoftPerfect Network Scanner ]

10 Extremely Useful Firefox Addons

2009-05-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

Firefox is one of the best browser. It becomes more useful and is more customizable than other browsers because of the number of addons available for different tasks. I'm sure you must have heard of some of these before or may be using already, you know good Firefox addons tend to spread like wildfire. OK, no more talking, the ten extremely useful addons are listed below, not in any order as such.

FEBE - As with anything else on your computer, it's never a bad idea to back up your Firefox install. FEBE will back up everything - extensions, themes, bookmarks - or just what you choose, and you can set up an automated schedule. It's also got integrated Box.net support, which is actually a fairly nice way to roll-you-rown manual Firefox syncing.
LastPass - LastPass did a great job of importing (and then removing) my Firefox stored passwords, and its secure password creation tool makes using different passwords on new sites a snap. The web interface is a great way to manage my logins and groups.
Web Of Trust - WOT is a great way to keep yourself out of malware trouble. WOT gives you a heads up about the trustworthiness of a link (based on community input) before you visit it.
OpenItOnline - OpenItOnline lets you send DOC, XLS, and all the other supported file types to ZohoViewer for perusal instead of downloading them. It supports all Zoho and Google Docs apps to open files.
Screengrab! - To quickly capture an entire web page, Screengrab is a great tool. It can save or copy an entire page, the visible portion, or a rectangular selection. If you don't actually need to print a page, Screengrab is an easy, environmentally friendly way for me to keep a copy of it.
Panic - Panic allows you to instantly close all the open tabs and replace it with another tab of your choice. So next time while you are on facebook and your boss drops to check in just hit Alt + ` and you would be taken to predefined page in no time.
HP Smart Web Printing - When you do need to print, HP's addon gives you the option to combine multiple web pages on one sheet of paper, eliminate elements you don't need to print, and it even allows saving to PDF.
DownThemAll - If you start using DTA, Believe me you won't use Firefox's built-in manager. It's simply one of the best download managers out there.
Shareaholic - Anyone that enjoys sharing links would do well to install this one: it supports a ton of services, including Digg, Delicious, Twitter, Pownce, Reddit, Facebook, MySpace, and Google. It's also a quick way to see how many Diggs or Delicious bookmarks a page has received. Bzzster support gives quick access to sharing items via email.
Tab Kit - It's got a whole slew of options for tab management: grouping, coloring, sorting, protection, mouse rocker and scroll wheel support, and many, many others. Visit the devloper's page for a full list of features.

Did I miss your favorite? Share it in the comments so that the other readers don't miss out!

Edison Helps You Control Your PC Energy To Conserve Energy And Save Money

2009-05-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

The very most simplest way to conserve on the amount of energy that your computer uses is to shut it down when you are not using it. Even simple steps like turning off the display, hard disk drive, and other hardwares when not in use helps too. You can do all of this manually, but with the help of Edison all this steps are automated. Edison is a free utility for Windows XP and Vista, developed by Verdiem, a company that has helped enterprises the world over reduce energy waste from IT devices.

Edison puts you in control of your PC energy usage by letting you:

Set a schedule: Tell Edison when you use your computer most.
Save a little or a lot: Use the Edison efficiency slider to choose the level of energy savings you want to achieve.
See your savings: Edison will calculate your estimated savings based on the setting you choose.

Edison System Requirements

Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista
256MB RAM
Microsoft Internet Explorer® 5.01 or later
7MB free hard disk space
If .NET 2.0 is not already installed, 280MB of additional disk space required

Here's how this software works. You can slide a slider to adjust your energy saving preferences. Edison will then automatically adjust Windows Power Scheme settings to turn off your display, hard drive, and computer after a certain period of inactivity. You can also set different profiles according to the day and time or your work requirements. This allows you to change your power schemes automatically. Edison also lets you decide when your work day begins and ends. The program also estimates how much money, energy, and CO2 you'll save at various settings. Visit this support page to find more tips and tricks of using Edison. Lets together make this Earth more greener, by our small contributions like this one. Lets conserve more and more energy. By the way did I mention that this conservation also helps you save money? ;)

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 Available Now

2009-04-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

Microsoft today released the much waited Service Pack for Office 2007. This second service pack promises to improve the overall functionality, performance and stability of Microsoft Office 2007. Notable changes include support for the Open Document format which means the ability to open, save and edit files of the types Open Document Text (odt), Open Document Spreadsheet (ods) and Open Document Presentations (odp). Options to change to Open Document formats as the default formats in Microsoft Office 2007 are offered as well.

A complete list of the service packs released is available at the official announcement.

How to obtain SP2

Recommended Method: Microsoft Update

Microsoft recommends using the Microsoft Update to apply SP2.

Optional Method: The Download Center

If you choose not to use Microsoft Update, the SP2 packages are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. Please click here to find links to the downloads.

Speeding up Internet Explorer

2009-04-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has made sure that Internet Explorer follows Internet standards by allowing you and your browser to download only two files at a time from any server. If you visit a web page with a lot of images and required files, such as CSS styles and JavaScript, you can easily end up with a scenario where your web browser has to make more than 40 requests to the web server to download all the files and then assemble the web page. Requesting only two of these 40 files at a time is going to be a lot slower than downloading, say, 10 of them at a time.
By tweaking hidden registry values, you can direct Internet Explorer to break Internet standards and download more than just two files at a time. Modifying this setting is simple to do, but be careful; the standards police will be after you. Follow these steps to speed up IE:

Click the Start button, type regedit in the Search box, and then press Enter.
After Registry Editor loads, navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings.
Right-click in an open space and create a new DWORD key.
Type MaxConnectionsPerServer as the name of the new DWORD key.
Right-click this key and select Modify.
Set the base to Decimal and enter a value greater than 2. I like to use 15 as my value here. Press OK when you are done.
Create a new DWORD key and type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server as the name.
Right-click this key and select Modify.
Set the base to Decimal and enter the new value. Use the same value as used in step.
Click OK when you are finished.
Exit Registry Editor and restart your computer.

After your computer has rebooted, your new Internet Explorer settings are active. If you ever feel like undoing this tweak, just go back into the Registry and delete the MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server keys that you created and reboot. Congratulations, you are now speeding on the information superhighway.

Google Chrome keyboard Shortcuts

2009-04-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Be more productive and surf the internet faster by using the keyboard instead of fiddling with the mouse. Here is the list of keyboard shortcuts for Google Chrome that you will find handy and which will give you a whole new experience to the way you surf the internet. Read on to find out the secrets. You also find some secret commands at the end of this post which you will definitely like playing with!
To open Google Chrome Task Manager press [Shift] + [Esc].
To open a New Incognito Window press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [N].
To reopen the Last Closed Tab press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [T].
Switch Tab (From Left to Right) [Ctrl] + [1] to [Ctrl] + [8]. You can also switch Tab by pressing [Ctrl] + [Tab]. You can also switch directly to the last tab by pressing [Ctrl] + [9] or by pressing [Ctrl] + [Page Down]. If you want to go to the previous Tab press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [Tab].
If you want to open the Home Page, press [Alt] + [Home].
To open a link in a new Tab, press [Ctrl] and then clicking on the link.
If you press [Shift] and then click on a link, the link will open in a new window.
Pressing the [Spacebar] will scroll down the web page.
If you want to Bookmark this page or any other page, just press [Ctrl] + [D].
To access the Bookmarks, press [Ctrl] + [B].
To access the Downloads Tab press [Ctrl] + [J].
To access History press [Ctrl] + [H].
To view the Page Source, press [Ctrl] + [U]. You can also view any webpage’s source without visiting the webpage first by typing view-source:http://www.web-page-address.com at the address bar and press [Enter]. For example, if you want to view Google’s homepage source without visiting Google first, type, view-source:http://www.google.com and press [Enter].
To Print a page press [Ctrl] + [P].
To Refresh Page press [F5].
To Refresh both Page & Cache press [Ctrl] + [F5].
To go Back press [Alt] + [Left Arrow].
To go Down by one line press [Down Arrow].
To go Down by one page press [Page Down].
To go Up by one line press [Up Arrow].
To go Up by one page press [Page Up].
To open a File press [Ctrl] + [O].
To Find something in a page press [Ctrl] + [F].
To go Forward a page press [Alt] + [Right Arrow].
To go to the Address Bar press [Ctrl] + [L].
To go to the Search Bar press [Ctrl] + [K].
To go to the Bottom of the webpage press [End].
To go to the Top of the webpage press [Home].
To Stop loading a page press [Esc].
To close the current Tab press [Ctrl] + [W].
To open a new Tab press [Ctrl] + [T].
To close Google Chrome window press [Alt] + [F4]. Though this shortcut will close any open window in Windows ;)
To open a new Google Chrome window press [Ctrl] + [N].
To decrease the text size press [Ctrl] + [-] and to increase the text size press [Ctrl] + [+]. To get back to the default size, press [Ctrl] + [0]
You know these already! Press [Ctrl] + [C] to copy, [Ctrl] + [X] to cut, [Del] to delete, [Ctrl] + [Z] to undo.

Type them in the address bar and press [Enter] to see some hidden features. Find what they do yourself and have fun! Use some of them in a new Google Chrome window if you don’t want to loose your work… Have fun experimenting ;)

about:network
about:internets
about:histograms
about:memory
about:dns
about:stats
about:cache
about:stats
about:plugins
about:histograms
about:ipc
about:histograms/Loop
about:version
about:crash
about:objects
about:%
about:hang

Do you know any other shortcuts that I might have missed out, comment below. Also do not forget to share with us what you found by using the above address bar commands tricks! :)

Antivirus Software Removal Tools

2009-04-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes uninstalling antivirus suites or programs from a computer may not be successful. This usually leads to a computer system that may show errors later when you try to install another antivirus or if you try to install the antivirus program again. This leads to the need of antivirus software removal tools.
These removal tools are created to effectively remove traces of the antivirus software from the computer. They delete almost all the files, registry settings and other parameters or options that were installed by the antivirus software during installation.
Below you will find a collection of some of these antivirus removal tools:

If an antivirus removal software is not in the list? Please, let us know by the help of the comments.
[ via Ghacks ]

How To Protect Yourself From The Mikeyy Worm On Twitter

2009-04-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

Twitter is more than just a way to keep up with what’s going on in the world or among your friends. It’s also now a very effective way to infect computers with malware. So, its now time that you fight back and be safe.

Over the weekend, lots of Twitter users discovered that their accounts were sending out tweets on their own, generally containing the name “Mikeyy”. The worm, appearing as “Mikeyy” or “StalkDaily”, was created by 17-year-old Mike Mooney and is now generating thousands of spam messages containing the word “Mikeyy”. This is the fourth attack of the worm in the last four days, which sends Twitter messages from infected accounts, without the owners' knowledge. Fortunately, so far, it appears to be more of a nuisance than a genuine threat. Twitter should quickly fix the site vulnerabilities that made the “Mikeyy” attack possible as security analysts fear that further mutations of the worm will continue to wreak havoc on the network over the week.

Security Measures to keep “Mikeyy” at bay

Twitter users should not click on any links from messages containing the words "Mikeyy" or "Stalkdaily”. It is also recommended that you use third-party Twitter desktop clients like TweetDeck or Twhirl (both are available for PC and Mac). At this moment, do not use the Web-version of Twitter, especially for viewing user profiles (as this is where the attack seems to originate from). As an additional security measure, disable JavaScript in your browser, if you are using the Web-version of Twitter to access it. Firefox users can use the no-script add-on.

You must have noticed that lots of tweets include links and because of the 140-character limits, these are generally converted into tiny addresses by using services like TinyURL.com. If an address is converted to a short address by using TinyURL.com service and you click on that link, you are actually taken first to TinyURL.com, which then redirected you to the underlying link. The problem is that when you click on one of these links, you have absolutely no idea of where you will be redirected to; unlike a regular link, you can't look at the real address and decide whether it's a genuine address or a malicious one. Fortunately, TinyURL offers a solution. If you visit the TinyURL website, you can select an option that will preview the real URL before taking you there. It do adds a step and is cumbersome, but it makes sense to check those links out and be on the safe side.

Remove “Mikeyy” infection

If you've noticed suspicious activity in your profile and your profile is sending automatic tweets using the words above, then most certainly you're infected. The first step is not to retweet (RT) any fake messages. Then, clear your browser cache and turn off JavaScript. Log into your Twitter profile and delete any or all messages that your profile automatically posted which contains the word "Mikeyy" or "Stalkdaily". You may turn JavaScript back on, so you can change your Twitter URL, also reset your color scheme. You may also change your password to be on the safe side. After all the above steps were completed, log out of your Twitter profile and use Twitter via a desktop client as mentioned above.

You should also practice safe surfing when visiting Twitter of any other website. Make sure your operating system and browser are fully secure with the latest patches and always run antivirus or Internet security software.

How To Boot Windows Computer In Safe Mode

2009-04-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

In many occasions, users are sometimes directed to or asked to run Windows in Safe Mode. For new users, this might be confusing. So today I will tell you all the simple steps to boot your computer into safe mode. When you run Windows in Safe Mode, Windows boots with the minimal set of drivers. It helps in troubleshooting computers and also helps fixing problems related to malwares, virus, Trojans, spywares, etc. You can also run Windows in Safe Mode to modify the registry, remove files, load or remove drivers, generally which are locked by other programs in the “Normal mode”. Use the following instructions to reboot your Windows computer into Safe Mode:

First, restart your computer, if it is already running.
After hearing beep once during startup, continuously press the [F8] key on your keyboard.
If your computer is configured for booting into multiple operating systems, you can press the [F8] key when the Boot Menu appears.
Instead of Windows loading as normal, Windows Advanced Options menu will appear as shown in the picture.

Here, select Safe Mode and then press Enter.
Windows will start booting into Safe Mode. When Windows has finished booting, It will display a warning message that it is running in Safe Mode, just click Yes here to continue your work.

Direct Download Links To Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 ,3.5 SP1 Offline Installers

2009-04-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Microsoft .Net Framework is a very crucial component to run or develop applications these days. But when you try to download any version of .Net Framework, you will get a web-installer. When you run this web-installer, it will download then download the setup files from Micorsoft's download server. If you want to keep the setup as a backup for using it later, you will not be able to.
So below this post you will find the links to the full Setup file of the Microsoft .Net Redistributable Standalone Offline Installers for all the .Net Framework for both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 Setup: [ Download ]
Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 Setup SP 1: [ Download ]
Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0 Setup: [ 32 bit / 64 bit ]
Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Setup: [ 32 bit / 64 bit ]
Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 Setup [ Download ]

If any of them are not working, please let me know through the comments.

HandBrake – Convert Any Video or Audio

2009-04-01T13:04:00.001-07:00

Do you want to convert your DVD into any friendly format for backup or play it on a mobile device? Then, you’ll need a free software like HandBrake. HandBrake is a video transcoder that converts your movies to a format that’s useful on your computers, media centers, and portable electronic devices.

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

It can convert your video to any format including a DVD, and a DVD image and can also grab audio from sources including MPEG audio tracks. You’ll then be able to output a digital file in a variety of formats, including MPEG-4, AVI, OGM for video, or AAC, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis for audio.

There are some very nice extras in here, such as being able to select individual DVD chapters, grabbing subtitles, and more. You get plenty of control over your recording, including selecting the bit rate, maximum file size for video, and bit rate and sample rate for audio.

Specification and Features list from HandBrake’s site:

Supported sources:

Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (unencrypted--protection methods including CSS are not supported internally and must be handled externally with third-party software and libraries), and some .VOB and .TS files
Most any multimedia file it can get libavformat to read and libavcodec to decode.

Outputs:

File format: MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM
Video: MPEG-4, H.264, or Theora (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer/rate encoding)
Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks)

Misc features:

Chapter selection
Basic subtitle support (burned into the picture)
Integrated bitrate calculator
Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
Grayscale encoding

[ Download HandBrake ]

2009-04-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Do you use Firefox browser with Greasemonkey: TinyURLs and kin are great for packing links into small spaces, but not so great at revealing where the link will take you. Remove the mystery with TinyURL Decoder.

We've covered several methods for peeking into TinyURLs before. LongURL is a website and Firefox extension that expands compacted URLs with a mouseover, Tin Foil Hat is a Greasemonkey script that provides the same mouse over transparency, and Embiggen is a bookmarklet that expands all the links on the page to their true length. While they all get the job done, they all require some sort of user input whether by using a mouse over to read the real URL or activating a bookmarklet every time you want to see the source URLs.

Tiny Decoder is a Greasemonkey script with seamless integration. When the script is active, compacted URLs from 13 URL shrinking services are automatically converted to their source URLs. No resource hogging extensions or bookmarklets you have to interact with, just automatic and seamless replacement. TinyURL Decoder is a free Greasemonkey user script and works wherever Firefox does.

TinyURL Decoder [via Waxy.org]

Some Useful Windows Key Keyboard Shortcuts

2009-03-30T13:12:00.001-07:00

Many of us seldom use the Windows key present in our keyboard. Some of us even disable it altogether but after reading this article, I am sure you will find this key very useful!

The shortcuts that you can use combining Windows key with the following keys are as follows:

[Windows Key] Displays the Start Menu
[Windows Key] + [E] Opens the Windows Explorer
[Windows Key] + [D] Shows the desktop by minimizing all open windows
[Windows Key] + [D] Press again to open up all of your windows back
[Windows Key] + [L] Lock your computer
[Windows Key] + [R] Opens the Run window
[Windows Key] + [F1] Opens Windows help
[Windows Key] + [Pause] Opens System Properties window
[Windows Key] + [Tab] Cycles through the Task Bar buttons

I use the above combinations and it helps me a lot! Which one do you use the most?

Backup Firefox “about:config” Settings

2009-03-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

In Mozilla Firefox, about:config is where you can configure or tweak some of the advanced settings. But fiddling with about:config, without knowing what you are doing could adversely affect Firefox.

If you want to take a backup of your about:config before customizing or experimenting with any settings to be on the safe side, so that if anything bad happens you can restore everything back or if you have customized your Firefox to suit your needs using the about:config, then it would be a very good idea to back it up, so that you can easily have your customized settings back when Windows crashes and you are installing all your programs back.

Here is how you can back up the about:config settings:

If Mozilla Firefox is running, exit it.
Then click on the Start button select Run.
Type %appdata%\mozilla\firefox\profiles and click on OK or press Enter.
An Explorer window will open, here you will see your Firefox profile folder viz. <some random characters>.default, e.g. l4aknmw.default.
Open that folder. Now, in this folder search for a file called prefs.js. This is the file which is contains the about:config settings. Back up this file to a safe location.
Now you can safely try modifying your about:config settings and if you mess up something, simply close Firefox and copy the backup of prefs.js back to its original location.
Happy Modifying about:config! ;-)

Tutorial: How To Use VLC For Media Streaming?

2009-03-11T12:15:00.001-07:00

VLC (Video LAN Client) is a very popular media player. It can play almost any audio or video format that you throw at it and its also very light on system resources. One more thing which is a plus for VLC is that it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Enough of introduction, lets get back to work! Visit this page for a complete list of VideoLAN or VLC streaming features.

The first step, obviously is you have to get VLC for your particular operating system. Download it from www.videolan.org. After downloading it, install it and follow the next steps carefully.
Now start VLC media player, then click on Media then select Streaming. Here you have to define the streaming options.
Select the videos that you want to stream, select Stream to proceed.
In Stream Output dialog box, select the options Play locally and RTP. For RTP select Prefer UDP over RTP.Add the IP addresses of the computers you want to stream to, leave the port default to 1234.
If you want everyone in your network to receive your streaming videos, then select HTTP instead of RTP. Leave the port default to 8080.
In the same dialog box, under Profile, in the Encapsulation tab, select MPEG-TS.
Finished! Now just click on Stream to start streaming.
You will now see that the video is playing, indicating that it is being streamed.

If you want to receive someone else’s stream signals then follow these steps:

Open VLC, then go to Media and select Open Network.
In the Network Protocol options, select HTTP from the Protocol drop down list. Leave the address part empty.
Check the Show More Options at the bottom. Type the IP address of the computer that is streaming the media with the port 8080.
Now click on Play to start playing.
If the streaming is on UDP protocol, then after the first step above, select UDP instead of HTTP and click on Play.

Enjoy your streaming media!

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Want To Create Your Own Dream Game Easily?

2009-03-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

Many of us like playing online games and some of us have the secret desire to create our own game, but we refrain due to the amount of coding/developing skills it needs.

You don’t have to resist your dream of making your own game anymore as Sploder is here to help you. This site fulfills your dream by providing you a platform to create and publish your own games. Simply create an account at www.sploder.com and create your game just by dragging and dropping accessories necessary for your game! After you are done adding everything, you can test the game for playability and make any required changes. The best thing is you don’t have to be a programmer or write any sort of code or any do any complex tasks involved in making a game. Just drag and drop into the playfield and you are done!

After creating your own game, you can publish it on the site and also invite your friends to play the game. You can also enjoy playing games created by other Sploder members and become a part of the large Sploder community!

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