Computer and Net

Firefox celebrates its 5th birthday :)

2009-11-09T17:04:00.003+05:30

Today,November 9th 2009, marked the 5th birthday of Firefox.It has been 5 years,since Firefox 1.0 was launched on Nov 9th,2004.It has been a huge success - from 1 million downloads in the first 4 days of release, to 330 million users till now.Firefox revolutionized the internet with its customizable,community created add-ons.At present it has 7,000 add-ons which makes our browsing a lot more easier.

To mark its 5th birthday,Mozilla communities are hosting parties all over the world in a special campaign called "Light the world with Firefox".To join the fun,all you have to do is,be creative,and post a photo/video of it in Flickr with tag 'Firefox5'.For more info,go to Spread Firefox.

There is also a design contest going on,to celebrate this special occasion.Create a celebratory poster design that is about Firefox,and its 5th birthday,and the winning design will be highlighted on Creative Collective Home page and Mozilla blog.

Good luck!

Rapidshare Auto Download with Skipscreen

2009-10-29T20:29:00.003+05:30

There are many instances when we need to download files from free file sharing networks like Rapidshare,DepositFiles and other file sharing networks.Most people don't use a premium account,and one of the main problems with free downloading is the waiting time.

Most of the times the time will be 1-2 minutes,and so we start browsing during that time,and we completely forget about the download.By the time we remember about the download,the download ticket would have expired.Sounds familiar?Now, we need to wait for another 2 minutes to download the file.

How cool will it be if all this process are all fully automated?It will be a great boon for all downloaders! And it is completely free.

This is actually a Firefox add-on that completely automates this process .i.e. the moment you click a download link it will take care of everything.It will automatically choose "Free User",and wait for the required time.When the waiting time gets over,it will automatically click the download button,and the download window will appear.

So,no need to wait cautiously for 2 minutes to download a file,and we can concentrate in our own work.No need to be always thinking about how much waiting time has been over.

Sometimes,Rapidshare users will get a message that the free slots is currently full,and that they need to wait for 2 minutes to try again.In such a case,SkipScreen will automatically wait for 2 minutes before trying again.

Using this completely free utility,no more pain of watching over the waiting time,as SkipScreen does all the clicking for you!

SkipScreen currently supports Rapidshare,Mediafire,DepositFiles,HotFiles,SendSpace,link bucks,link protector,Uploaded.to and other such sites.Currently,Megaupload is not available and it is being worked on.

Download SkipScreen Add-on for Firefox

bX-59cppw or bX-9d2teg error on blogger

2009-10-23T13:18:00.002+05:30

Today(23.10.09) when I tried to access my site,there was an error message:

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:

* Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
* Provide the following error code and additional information.

bX-59cppw (or bX-9d2teg)

I have seen this kind of warning messages only when there was an error in the blogger template.Quite puzzled,I tried to access my other site,which was also hosted on blogger,only to receive the same error message.Initially I thought this was something to do with my registrar,NameCheap,since they had sent me a mail stating that there will be a scheduled maintenance on 23rd and 24th.But,it looks like this error was due to some bug in blogger,and no blogs hosted on blogger was accessible to anyone.Even Blogger dashboard wasn't accessible(bX-9d2teg error)

The Blogger team on twitter notified that they were currently working on it:

"We're investigating an outage on blogger.com. Thanks for your patience as we work to resolve this."

We'll try to correct this as soon as possible. Thanks,

Gatsby
The Blogger Team

This outage on blogger was from 11:45 IST (or 11:15 PDT) to 1:15 IST.
Although almost all the blogs on blogger were affected,there were also a few blogs which worked without a problem during the outage.

What Firefox add-ons do you use?

2009-10-22T19:16:00.007+05:30

Hi guys,its been a long time since I last posted here.My humble apologies.I will be making some slight changes to this website this week.If you have some suggestion,then please do tell us.My next post will be about Top ten must have add-ons for Firefox.

If you are using Mozilla,what add-ons are you using?

Many people recommend Mozilla Firefox because of its useful add-ons.
I think many of you know about Firefox add-ons(You can install/enable/disable/uninstall the add-ons by going to Tools -> Add-ons).These add-ons which are quite small in size,provide powerful functionality.Till date,about 170,948,725 add-ons are in use.These add ons are mostly created by the users and although many of the add-ons provide similar or same functionality,some add-ons are really helpful and makes our job lot easier.But,be careful when using very new add-ons as it may even compromise your system.

Share the Firefox add-ons which you are using that really impressed you.

Software Review:WinX Free Video Converter

2009-08-03T21:28:00.010+05:30

Application Name: WinX Free Video Converter

Type: Freeware

Price:

Lite version : 0$
Platinum version : 14.95$

Website:WinX DVD

Version: 4.0.5 (Latest,as on 4.08.2009)

Size: 6.40 MB

Compatibility:

Microsoft Windows 98, NT, 2000,2003, XP, Vista, Windows 7

Description and Advantages:

WinX Free Video Converter is useful for converting videos between different formats like AVI,WMV,FLV,MOV,MP4,MPEG without any limitations.This software comes in two versions,one is the basic lite version,which is a freeware and the other is the platinum version with a bit more options available.

It's features includes

Ability to increase/decrease the sound.This might be very helpful in case of those videos having very less volume.
Ability to resize.
You can adjust the audio quality and video frame rate according to your requirements.
Ability to turn off your computer when done.
No limitations on number of usages/length of the video.
Extract audio in the form of mp3.
It has the provision to convert the entire video or only a portion of the video based on time.
Nearly maintains the quality of the video.
Supports batch conversion.

Disadvantages:

The size of the video increases during each conversion.
I would have liked to have a simpler user interface which is more easier.

Apart from the above functions,the Platinum version also supports iPhone,iPod,PSP,3gp,Apple TV.

Screen shots:

Download:

WinX Free Video Converter can be downloaded from here.

Author's Rating: 9.3/10

Software Review: VisualCron(Advanced Task Scheduler)

2009-07-26T18:23:00.007+05:30

Application Name: VisualCron

Type: Shareware

Trial version has full functionality for 45 days.

Price:

Business license: 197 $ (For single server,includes maintenance and support for 1 year)
Private license: 117 $ (Includes maintenance and support for 1 year)

Free minor updates,have to buy maintenance packs(1 year-47 $ per server or 297 $ per site) for major upgrades(version 4 to 5,etc)

Website:VisualCron

Version: 5.1.6 (Latest,as on 26.07.2009)

Size: 27.4 MB

Compatibility:

Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/2008/Vista/7
Supports 32 bit and 64 bit processors

Description and Advantages:

VisualCron is an advanced task scheduler/automation tool designed specially for Windows.It can be used to automate tasks with the help of a trigger,which may be based on time or system events.These system events may be change in service status/when a process starts or ends/when a registry changes and so on.VisualCron will mainly find its use in business and they are also willing to develop any custom Task,functionality/feature,console application based on request for a price.

VisualCron has lots of features like

Unlimited number of clients can connect to one server.
Ability to view current status and next run.
Supports many languages.
Ability to control anything in the Server programmatically.
Perform uploads/downloads against common protocols as FTP/FTPS/SFTP/SSH/HTTP.
Print documents and encrypt/decrypt files.
Drag and drop tasks between servers.
Dynamic variables can be used to report result to a file/log or even by email.
User manager - control access and permissions of the internal VisualCron users
Ability to execute commands locally and remotely.
Ability to exclude certain days like holidays.

Other features can be found here.

Disadvantages:

Private users may find the price high.

Screen shot:

Download:

VisualCron can be downloaded from here.

Author's Rating:9/10

Support:

Forums/email/skype/screen sharing.They operate from Sweden and can also be contacted through phone depending on mutual convenience.

Free support is available through forums.It's worth a look for all who are looking for a task scheduler with multiple features.

Software Review : Color Picker 1.0

2009-07-21T22:54:00.003+05:30

Application Name: Color Picker 1.0

Type: Freeware

Price: 0 $

Version: 1.0 (Latest,as on 21.07.2009)

Size: 56 KB

Compatibility:Microsoft Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 ;minimum 32 MB RAM

Description and Advantages:

This is a freeware useful for both beginners and advanced users alike.Many times we come across variations of colors that we would like to have in our own work.It's just too difficult to get that colour just by trial and error,and that is where Color Picker comes to the rescue.There are various commercial sharewares available,but this one is very small and absolutely free.

Color Picker helps to pick 'any' color that may be available on any part of the PC screen.All you have to do is to run the application and click a point where the desired color is located.Once you click a spot, the value of the color in long,HTML and RGB values are displayed.You can also choose from a variety of skins available.

Disadvantages:

Not much helpful when dealing with varying shades of color.

Screen shot:

Author's Rating: 8.5/10

Download link: Download (16KB Zip File)

Free remote computer access - Log Me In

2009-07-05T21:18:00.004+05:30

This is one of the best sites that I have come across via google ads.LogMeIn helps you to access multiple remote computers just by installing a free software.Using this you can access the remote computer's desktop and the files in the system.Once installed,this software will auto start once the remote computer is switched on.

It can be used to provide tutorials or help with the technical stuffs.As it is visual display,it is easier to explain and understand.You can also use it to access your home computer from office.There will be a small box at the right hand top corner displaying that the remote computer is remotely accessed.

My friend has been successfully using LogMeIn without any problems to connect and able to video chat with people,for whom even these simple steps can be quite tedious.Also,it is 100% free and Mac compatible.So,basically you can operate two computers which has internet connection.

Although the free edition has remote access,the pro edition has more benefits like

Hear music and to get alerts,
Share/Transfer files
Print files from remote computer via local printer.

Depending on the need of usage,there are different types of pro editions available.

Free software licenses daily : Giveaway of the day

2009-06-07T16:31:00.005+05:30

Giveaway Of the day(GAOTD) is perhaps the most useful website I have ever come across.If I was told about the working of this site before,I would never have thought that this was feasible.This is in fact a project,which is mutually beneficial for both the users and the software developers.There has been a long standing discussion whether one should pay for the software licenses or if they should be available for free.

Many software developers create their softwares and like to earn for their hard work.The users on the other hand are not willing to pay,for many reasons like too much costly/lack of satisfaction with the demo etc.

Thanks to Giveaway of the day,users are able to use full functionality of the 'paid' softwares for unlimited amount of time without paying a penny.It is not piracy,and is completely legal.The giveaway softwares are also virus/spyware/adware free.They also do not allow crippleware/demo/trial versions in their giveaway.

How does it work?

Every day,a paid software is given for the users to test,and they have 24 hours to download and install it.Once installed within the 24 hour period,the user is allowed to use the software for free with full functionalities for unlimited amount of time.

Terms and conditions:

There is no catch in this project,and there is no membership fee or whatsoever.You can think this project as something between a freeware and a paid software.

The giveaway software comes with three limitations/conditions:

No free technical support
No free upgrades to future versions
Strictly personal usage

How does the software developer gets benefited?

Giveaway Of the day project team pays for the giveaway license,and makes it free for that particular day alone.The software developer also gets valuable feedback from the users.The software developer also has the option of providing discounts for his other softwares.Many users also have said that they had bought softwares after trying the giveaway software,for professional use.

Personal verdict:

I think this project is pretty cool,and you also get variety of different kinds of softwares,and many giveaways are also repeated.These softwares normally cost from 9.95 $ to even 400 $,and is definitely a very useful mutually beneficial project.

Posting to blogger via email

2009-05-22T01:32:00.004+05:30

It's been a long time since I last posted.The reason for my absence is my nagging internet problem.For some weird reason I wasn't able to access blogger.com and the blogs on blogger.I don't know the reason,but I think that my ISP could be blocking them.This has also happened in the past.Sometimes I would be able to access blogger.com,but sometimes I can't.You can access blogger.com via proxy,but that is not safe.

Blogger has the option of posting new posts to blogs via email which is extremely useful for me in this situation.

Posting new posts via email:

Go to Settings -> Email and mobile

Under posting options,you can enable email posting to blogger.The subject of the email will be the title of the post,and the entire message body will be the post contents.

An example format is

youraddress.YourSecretWord.blogger.com

The main thing is that it is not necessary for you to be logged on youraddress.gmail.com.This would also be extremely useful if you have to update your blog and you do not have a reliable(spyware free,keylogger free) system.All you have to do is to create a fake email address,and send the new post to blogger via the above said email address.

You also have the option of

Posting the new posts immediately.
Saving them as drafts.

The 'Secret Word' should be kept extremely confidential.If a person knows your secret word,he would be able to publish anything to your blog.The secret word can also be changed by going to Settings -> Email and mobile.

You can create these type of email address for all the blogs hosted on blogger.com.If you have more than one blog,you can create a unique,separate secret word for each.

youraddress.YourSecretWord1.blogger.com
youraddress.YourSecretWord2.blogger.com

Is your blog hosted on blogger.com?If so,have you used this email posting before?

Most Deadly Computer Viruses of All Times

2009-04-22T05:19:00.004+05:30

Every Computer user has faced a computer virus attack in his/her lifetime. That’s why the first thing we do after installing an operating system is to install an Antivirus Program on our computer. Don’t we? So in this article we are not going to discuss about all antivirus programs and which one should you use. Instead of that,I am going to write of the most deadly computer virus of all times in the history of Computer Viruses.

Now Let’s Start our Journey of Viruses:-

Melissa:- The Virus created in 1999 by David L. Smith based on Microsoft Word macro. This Virus tempts its recipients to open a document with an e-mail message like "Here is that document you asked for" Once activated, the virus replicates itself and sends itself out to the top 50 people in the recipient's e-mail address book.

ILOVEYOU:- The virus with a sweet name but of nasty nature created by Onel de Guzman of the Philippines . This virus spread in the same way like Melissa .It copied itself several times and hid the copies in several folders, added new files to the registry keys, replaced several different kinds of files with copies of itself, sent itself through Internet Relay Chat clients as well as e-mail,it downloaded a file called WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE from the Internet and executed it. Rather than fix bugs, this program was a password-stealing application that e-mailed secret information to the hacker's e-mail address. According to studies , It is assumed that this virus had caused damage of $10 billion.

The Klez Virus:- This Virus established new standards in the virus technology due to its advanced features . The virus infect a computer through an e-mail message and replicates itself and then sent itself to people in victim address book .Moreover it can also use a contact name from the victim address book in From field to send itself .so as to tempt recipient to open that email. This is called email spoofing.

Code Red:- This virus emerged in 2001 exploits the vulnerabilities of operating system mainly found in Windows 2000 and Windows NT . The vulnerability was a buffer overflow problem, which means when a machine running on these operating systems receives more information than its buffers can handle, it starts to overwrite adjacent memory. This virus creates a backdoor in computer so that a remote user can access the infected computer and also can use it to commit crimes.

Nimda:- Nimda virus when spelled backwards become admin emerged in 2001 spread rapidly over the internet at that time . This virus create a backdoor and give the attacker same level of functions of the account which is currently logged in . If the victim is logged in account with limited functions, the attacker would also have limited access to the computer's functions. On the other hand, if the victim was the administrator for the machine, the attacker would have full control.

Slammer Virus:- Slammer Virus also Known as Sapphire Virus emerged in 2003 was created to attack mainly web servers . It used a SQL program to attack several important systems like The Bank of America's ATM service crashed, the city of Seattle suffered outages in 911 service and Continental Airlines had to cancel several flights due to electronic ticketing and check-in errors. The estimated damage caused by this virus was of $1 billion. It mainly effected South Korea By cutting it off internet

MyDoom Virus:- MyDoom Virus like another worm searched victim computers for e-mail addresses as part of its replication process. It also use search engine to found emails and used the email addresses found in the search results. Search engines like Google began to receive millions of search requests from corrupted computers. These attacks slowed down search engine services and even caused some to crash.

Leap-A/Oompa-A Virus:- This Virus is special because it’s the Mac Virus instead of being a PC Virus and show that even a Mac computer could be infected with a virus . It uses the iChat instant messaging program to propagate across vulnerable Mac computers. After the virus infects a Mac, it searches through the iChat contacts and sends a message to each person on the list. The message contains a corrupted file that appears to be an innocent JPEG image.

This is a guest post by Gagandeep Singh who is working for a Desktop and Laptop Computer Repair Company in Clermont, Florida. South Lake Computers has the most personalized computer repair & service experience, while avoiding the confusing ‘techno-babble’ you may hear elsewhere.

Software Review: EASEUS Partition Master v 3.5

2009-04-14T10:32:00.014+05:30

Application Name: EASEUS Partition Master

Type: Free for personal use

Editions: Home/Professional/Server/Unlimited

Price:
Home edition: Free
Professional: 31.96 $
Server: 149 $
Unlimited: 399.20 $ (Unlimited licenses)

Website: Partition tool

Version: 3.5 (Latest,as on 14.04.2009)

Size:
Home edition: 8.80 MB
Professional edition: 39.60 MB
Server edition: 39.60 MB

Compatibility:

Home edition: Windows 2000/XP/Vista (32 bit only)
Professional edition: Windows 2000/XP/Vista (32 bit and 64 bit)

To find whether your computer is 32 bit or 64 bit,go to Run --> dxdiag

If the Operating System has 'x64',then its 64 bit.If nothing is mentioned,it is 32 bit.Another alternative way is by right clicking 'My Computer' and going to 'Properties'.

Description and Advantages:

This is a great software which is free for personal use and is one of the best partition tools.

Create/delete/format partitions
Resize/move partitions(without losing data*)
Convert FAT to NTFS
Check any partition for errors
Label partitions
Copy partitions/copy disk
Explore partitions(only for FAT and NTFS)
Change drive letter
Works with hardware RAID
Supported up to 1.5TB
Preview before applying
Hide/Unhide partitions

This software does everything neatly as it says.

*But,it is highly recommended to have a back up.

Disadvantages:

No big disadvantages.It's compatible only with Windows and be careful while partitioning systems which has two OS.Once you have deleted a partition,you can't undelete it,so use this feature with caution.

Screen shots:

In the first screen shot,I am trying to convert a FAT32 to NTFS.

The 'preview' of the above operation can be seen below.This operation is implemented only when I click 'Apply' on the bottom left corner.

Author's rating: 9/10

Download link:

Download

The home edition is completely free for personal use without any other limitations.The professional edition supports 64 bit,and also has the ability to create bootable disks.A comparison of all the editions can be found here.

You can avail for a 20% discount using the coupon code CHEN-K0QO-SOFT

Overall,a recommended software.

Efficient Back Link checker

2009-04-04T11:02:00.003+05:30

The next PR update hit two days back on April 2nd.Some of my friends have got better PRs this time,while some have maintained it.I got my PR 3 back,which I had lost during my shift to my own domain name last January.So,I can say the transition from 'dot blogspot' to 'dot com' was smooth and the time period was about 2 months.Some also complained that the number of back links was less than they had earlier.

For those who aren't aware,you can basically check your back links by google searching link:www.yoursite.com

The back links that are displayed above are not the exact and only back links that your website has.Not all back links are displayed,and only some of them are displayed and there is no need to panic.The reason some of the back links aren't displayed may also be due do their low PR juice contribution.

Also,the google search engine position doesn't depend on your 'static' PR alone.Google keeps updating your PR almost daily and stores it,but the updated PR is not shown in google toolbar/PR checking websites.Google uses a lot of other complex datas to determine your Google SERP(Search Engine Ranking Position).The important thing which will never change is 'Content is King'

Another useful website to check back links for your site is Check Back links.It displays both the back links from google and yahoo.Added to it,it also displays the PR,anchor text,and whether its 'do follow' or 'no follow',and its completely FREE.

So,what other blog/SEO tools you use?What is your PR after the update?

My suggestions to Entrecard change

2009-03-25T20:00:00.004+05:30

In the second part of my last post,I had told you the reasons why most people are resisting the change.There has been more than enough resistance to the change.Here are some reasons why the recent change is in fact a good news for your blog.

1.Private ads in EC Widget.
EC makes money and will buy your ECs back from you-Another good money making opportunity for bloggers.Most bloggers are for here for making money.For the others,consider running private ads as 'service charge' for entrecard.

2.Less clicks and less exposure
One of the important clicks received is by bloggers who drop by clicking the ad and continue dropping(A small percentage use this method,alternate to EC toolbar)A good tip to overcome this short coming is by adding the text"EC"(similar to the small buy/free/ badges)I am at present working on my EC widget to do this.

3.Banning of entrecard on Today.com
Sadly, this has happened.Today.com has asked to remove the EC widget within 2 weeks.

4.The fee to reject ads has been dropped.No need to pay anything to reject paid ads.

5.'Above the fold' rule changed to 'One Page down rule'.

My Suggestion:

Entrecard is really a great site/tool for bloggers.The following are my sole personal suggestions.They do not represent Entrecard's action in anyway.My suggestion regarding this change of Entrecard is

1.Reducing the maximum limit of 50% impressions for paid ads to 20%

2.No paid ads in Today.com and Today.com blogs won't receive credits for the droppings they receive.However,the dropper will receive 1 EC per drop.

3.Users can opt out of the paid ads by becoming a 'Special Member' which can be like yearly subscriptions for a small amount.

4.No fee(ECs) for rejecting paid ads if proper reason is given for declining.

The above is just my *suggestion*,and does not represent the views of Entrecard.

As for the future posts,I am thinking of introducing useful websites/free softwares from the web.I must thank Liane of Better Blogging for Bloggers for the beautiful 'I Comment Back' images,which I would be updating soon in that post.

Feel free to air your views in comments.What do you think of the change in Entrecard?What is your suggestion?

Two major updates

2009-03-15T22:39:00.006+05:30

I have two important updates to share with you all.One is the google adsense requirement of having a privacy policy for blogs.This has become a requirement as adsense has decided to give more importance to the type of sites that the users have visited earlier,thus providing a more appealing and relevant advertising.Users can of course opt out of this if they don't like it.

All bloggers can easily create their own privacy policy using this free online tool,and its better to add the following lines beneath it,thanks to Michael :)

We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

Another major update which I would like to share is that Entrecard is going to buy all your Entrecard credits for money in a week.For this and also to account for the server costs,Entrecard has decided to implement the usage of 3rd party advertising on EC widget 50% of the time.Of the money got from this,75% will be used to buy ECs from users,and the rest 25% for server costs.

This sharp change in Entrecard has come with some strong criticisms from bloggers,due to reasons like

Entrecard is using your adspace to make money,and you probably won't get any money for the 3rd part advertisements.
Less exposure to blogs who advertise,as their ads are shown only 50% of the time.
Some are afraid that this may result in banning of entrecard on Today.com as they don't allow other 3rd party advertisements to be shown.
Entrecarders will have to spend credits(exact amount not known) if they wish not to show any 3rd party advertisements.Update:This has been removed as requested by most people :)
EC widget above the fold rule was initially implemented,but was subsequently withdrawn(nearly) after some requests.

I can understand why bloggers won't like this change.Many bloggers felt Entrecard as their personal site friend and not as any other monetizing for blogs,and they don't want it to become one.Many bloggers are already thinking of dropping out of Entrecard.I think its really not justifiable to reject the change outright.I think monetizing on 15%,instead of a drastic change of 50% would have been a more feasible and smooth change.What do you think?

Beware of dropped domains with fake PR

2009-03-10T21:00:00.009+05:30

Domaining,in simple words,is buying and reselling of domain names,and its lot like a real estate market,you can't guess all the frauds that can happen and some domain names would go for high xxx $,and a better one(according to you) will not find any takers.

The price of a domain is just relative.You can't put a fixed price on any domain.The price basically depends on the potential and competitors.Coming back to the point,I was thinking of having a go at domaining by buying a couple of 'good' domains.Needless to say,all potentially worth domains were registered.Domaining has a lot of potential and there are tons of people who spend a lot of time on it.For example,Business.com went for a staggering US $ 345 million.

I was quite shocked when I saw that some of the dropped domains(the ones which weren't renewed) had PRs of 2 and 3.This was quite surprising as there are thousands of domainers checking the dropped domains,and it was even more surprising when I found that those domains had very less number of backlinks.So,beware of such fake pr dropped domains.

Not all page rank checkers detect fake page ranks.Check page ranking not only detects the fake page rank but also provides results for both www and non-www.

Some domains may be banned by google and/or adsense.The simplest way to check is by google searching the site link(www.yoursite.com).If search results appear for the site,then the site is not banned.If search results doesn't appear,its either new or may be banned.However,you can file a reconsideration request to unban it from google.

If you thinking of registering a domain,I would strongly recommend to go for a dot com.If you are thinking of registering a domain name for your blog,feel free to ask my suggestion on it.

Why do blogs die?

2009-03-01T13:22:00.003+05:30

I have seen a lot of dead blogs-blogs that are not updated for more than 6 months,and its highly unlikely that the blog will be updated ever again.As time moves on,even the blog owner forgets the URL of the dead blog.Most of the dead blogs I have seen are between 1-5 months active.

So,what made the blog owner to forget his blog?Here are some main reasons why blogs die.

Over expectation - Most bloggers set themselves highly unrealistic goals,and when the results are not encouraging,they feel depressed and leave the blog.
Monetizing the blog - Although its not bad to earn some pocket money from your blog,many turn to blogging expecting to earn lots of money.Come on,not every body can become John Chow!
Over enthusiastic - Many new bloggers are over enthusiastic in the beginning and gradually lose interest in blogging.
Over analyzing - Trying to analyze and know about all blogging tips and tricks,and some blogs die even before they are started.(I escaped from being an example to this narrowly :D )
Topics to post - Some start a blog about something they know little,mainly due to the reason that it has a wider market and someone had done better in that.Obviously,they run out of topics,and finally they give up.
Sudden Shocks - Many leave blogging due to the shocks they receive like deindexed by google,losing Page Rank,adsense account suspended and so on.
Lack of time - Many start 3 or 4 blogs in a single go, and they find it difficult to update the blogs due to time constraint.
No Readers - Some bloggers feel that no one is reading their posts and feel depressed when they see that their hard written post(s) have 0 comments.

Some good tips for blogging are

Don't be elated when you get a higher page rank,and deflated when you have lesser page rank.Yes,page rank is imporant for blogs.Just don't give them over importance.
Start a single blog initially and try to post consistently.
Start a blog on a topic which you know about and that should also interest you.
Do blogging as a hobby,and not as a chore.
Don't start a blog with the sole aim of making money from it.
As to the getting readers for your blog,join in social groups,actively participate in forums,and join Entrecard.Post replies as soon as possible to the questions asked by readers in the comments.Increase interactiveness.

I will try to update this list as and when I get new points.Finally to conclude,blogging can be very much enjoyable if you do it as a hobby,and not as a chore with over expectation. Blogging should be a pleasure,not a strain for you.

So,what else do you think causes the blog to die?What other tips would you like to give for effective blogging?Do you have a blog which you no longer attend?

Why have I lost my blog followers?

2009-02-24T20:27:00.005+05:30

Today,I had lost a few blog followers,and I was not the only one.Almost all my blog friends have lost quite a few followers.There is no reason to panic,and in fact,you have not lost your blog followers.They are just invisible,and are still following you.This would be mostly experienced by those using both blogger and Friend connect,as google is in the process of integrating them.

According to Known Issues of Blogger Team,

This is because we have set these users to "anonymous" to avoid linking the profiles of Blogger and Friend Connect users without their permission. They are still following privately and will able to make themselves public again.

I have also removed the word verification for comments.Thanks to my friend Nitesh Kothari who quickly informed me about the word verification problem in my blog(For newbies-blog authors don't get word verification while posting comments in their blog).Most likely,I won't enable the word verification again.So,if you are on blogger,disable word verification for time being as its experiencing issues.

Google adsense account approved

2009-02-22T21:30:00.009+05:30

This blog was at last accepted for google adsense.I couldn't get this blog approved previously because this blog wasn't 6 months old,the minimum age for a site to be qualified for adsense.Adsense has a limit of maximum of 3 ad spots per page,and that is confusing me.A total of 5 posts will be shown on the home page,and if I insert an ad in each post,that would become 5 ad spots,two over the limit.

I could try placing it between the posts,but I don't think ads will then be shown on individual pages.So,what's your strategy for placing the google ads?

The 125x125 monthly advertising will still be in place.The present ones are going to get over soon,and if you are interested you can book an ad spot(above the fold) for 1800 ecs per month.

Besides adsense,what other ads you run on your blog?

EditPad - A cool text editor

2009-02-16T20:02:00.006+05:30

Application Name: EditPad Lite/Pro

Type:Free for non commercial use(Pro version also available)

Website: EditPad

Version: 6.4.3 (Latest,as on 16.2.2009)

Size: 3.1 MB

Compatible with:Windows NT4, 98, 2000, ME, XP and Vista

Description and Advantages:

This free software is one of my best favorites and the one which I use most frequently.This is intermediate between Notepad and MS Word,with all the most needed functions.EditPad Pro has more functions than Editpad Lite,but I am fully satisfied with EditPad Lite features,and is the best free text editor.

It has tab facility like a browser.Easier to switch between different files while editing.
Gets minimized to system tray when closed
Doesn't use too many computer resources
Better than notepad while working with HTML/XML codes as you can see in the snap shots below.
Case sensitive find and replace option,including replace all option.
When you type a link,it will change to blue,like a browser and you can visit the link by double clicking it in the document.
You can reopen the last 16 files opened easily using File->Reopen
The changed,unsaved files are shown in red.
Auto spell check
Can easily convert selected text to uppercase,lowercase,initial caps and invert case.

Disadvantages:

No disadvantages for this one.

Screen shots:

1.When a XML file is opened in NotePad:

2.When a XML file is opened in EditPad Lite:

Author's Rating: 10/10

Download Link(s):

Download EditPad Lite(Unlimited Free Use)

Download EditPad Pro (Pro demo)

Entrecard Market and EC Tips

2009-02-11T11:59:00.006+05:30

Undeniably,Entrecard is one of the best ways to get traffic for your blog.It is even more reliable than paid advertising.Entrecard is a good creative method of advertising where you advertise your site with the help of a 125x125 image.

Here are some useful tips to get the best out of Entrecard:

Always drop back to those who drop on you
Make a good 125x125 image.You can get a free one at 125freecards.com,or you can get a custom one made for 150 ECs here.
Do an advertising campaign and note the blogs which have brought you more clicks.
Try to have the widget in the upper side bar.
If you feel that your adverts are not clicked,then buy advertising per week or month in the market place.
You can also get comments to your posts by giving ECs.
You can sponsor ECs in contests,and your blog will gain popularity and many back links.
There are many sites which give links to their top droppers per month.
Have a recent posts or featured posts list near the Entrecard widget-People will notice more.
The adspots near the Entrecard widget will sell like hot cakes!

Its recommended to use Mozilla Firefox,although they sometimes crash.Install Entrecard toolbar in your Firefox,it has a lot of useful features,and you can open 10 blogs at the same time.

Download Entrecard Toolbar

The Market is now Open !

You can now buy/sell products using Enrecard credits,anything ranging from advertising deals to books to anything and everything!Moreover,the listings are free.

The first 100 listings will receive 1000 ECs.Here are some you can list:

Adspots per week/month
Blog Reviews
Blog Consultation
Banner Design
Blog Template Customization
Blogroll Link and the list goes on.

So,have you listed/bought anything in the Entrecard Market?

How I got my domain name

2009-02-05T16:37:00.006+05:30

When I first started blogging,I had practically nothing,with no professional blogger to guide me.Like most of the bloggers,I too started the blog to earn some pocket money.But,that was not so easy....It takes a lot of hard work to earn from a blog-you have to write a lot of unique contents,and you also have to take a lot of effort to promote your blog.

Luckily,I got to know about Mylot(Opens in new tab) where you are paid for your answers,which were just like yahoo answers,and the payout was also low and you are paid through paypal.It also had almost all categories like all types of sports,books,films,blogging,make money online and what ever you think of.The earnings were quite ok.I earned about 30-70 cents per day,although I had seen people earning 3-4 $ per day.Slowly,and steadily,with an extra bit of hard work,I qualified for the pay out,and received it in 8 days in my paypal account.That was the my first earnings-a paltry 10 $-which I had now used to buy my domain name :)

I used namecheap to buy the domain names,as they accepted unverified paypal accounts.If you have a verified paypal account,I would suggest you to go with godaddy,as it has a lot of coupon codes,and you could get a domain name for just 7.49 $

In case if you are thinking of buying a domain name or not,I would suggest you to have a look at - why you need a domain name for your blog,and also gives some useful tips in choosing a domain name.

So,which registrar are you using?Which one do you think is the best?

Tips in choosing a domain name

2009-02-01T20:00:00.010+05:30

Advantages of having a custom domain name:

I had just now bought the domain name ComputerandNet.com,and I am pretty much happy with it.If you are using blogger ( .blogspot.com),I would strongly recommend you to buy a custom domain name now,as almost all 4 letter domain names are taken,all 5,6 letter word domain names are also almost over.

Some advantages of custom domains are

You get to keep all link backs you have got.
No hosting charges-You can still host your blog at blogger.com
Extremely cheap-You can get a domain name for under 10 $ /month.
More Professional look-It shows that you are very much serious about blogging.
You can earn more and is more easier sell off your banner ad spaces for 5$ per month
You can sell the site along with the domain name if you wish.
Stands out of all those dot blogspot.com's.You may have seen a number of very good blogs with dot blogspot.com.How much of those can you remember now?
User friendly,easier than to type .blogspot.com

Which extension to choose?

A dot com,without a doubt,or else you will regret later.If you don't buy a dot com domain name now,then you would have to go with a pretty ordinary domain name in other extensions like .net, .co.uk, .info which accounts for a large amount of traffic leakage.

Traffic Leakage:

One of the most famous blog of all times-Darren Rowse's Problogger.net made a large amount of traffic leakage(3,000+/month) to Problogger.com,and Darren had to buy the domain name Problogger.com for a whopping 4000+$,all because of "ProBlogger" word that he had built for 2 years.I have to admit that when I first heard about Problogger,I too typed Problogger.com instead of dot net.Banking on the "Problogger" popularity,Problog.com is on auction at around 800 $(that's the latest offer,and it has not yet met the reserve limit).

If you own a dot net,you would end up losing 30%-45% of traffic to dot com.

Dot net is also very much popular,but its not a match for more professional and common-dot com.So,I would definitely suggest you to go for a dot com,even if the domain name is a bit lengthy.

Numbers and typing errors in domain names?

A strict 'no' to spelling mistakes,if you are serious about your blog.It also depends on the length and attractiveness of the domain name.I am not that much in favor of numbers in domain names.But,some times,the domain names with numbers are catchy.If a very good domain name of your choice is already registered,try adding a relevant number to it.

For example,let us consider that you are having a blog about Environmental awareness,and a good domain name for it would be SavetheEarth.com.But,you can't even hope that to be available now, as at least a hundred of the thousands of sites on environmental awareness would have thought of that name.You need to think outside the box, and try to be inventive as well as witty.Hmm...so,how about, 911SavetheEarth.com,as if calling 911 to save the earth?That name would really put a smile on the visitor's face.

That's what I could come up with 2 minutes of thinking,and I am sure you can do better than that for your passionate blogs.

Hyphens in domain names?

Hyphens in domain names are not that much user friendly,but,it id definitely SEO friendly.Try not to have more than one hyphen in the domain name.

Free Domain Names:

If you don't wish to pay money,you can get 'blogname.co.cc' for free in a minute.But,still I would prefer a dot com domain name,and 'blogname.co.cc' isn't actually a domain,and is actually a sub-domain(host).Before I got ComputerandNet.com,I had used 'YourPCInfo.co.cc'.So,you may try it out and is definitely better than dot blogspot.com.

If you want to have any help in domain name selection,feel free to ask in the comments.

If you are a teenager,and don't have credit cards,I can show you how to earn 10 $ in a month for your domain name registration,and that would be my next post.You can also receive that post in your mail box by subscribing here.

So,do you use custom domain names?Did you have any good domain names which you regretted selling?Have you tried your hand in domain name selling?

Top EC drops for Jan '09

2009-01-31T21:04:00.001+05:30

Here is the top EC droppers for the month of January :)

Theme lib dot com	31
OnMyComp.com	27
master and student	21
ThemeLib contest	20
All blogspot templates	20
All contests	20
Celebrity Body Gossip	19
Things About Computer	19
All Blog Contest	18
Ignite The Mind	17

Contact forms for blogger blogs

2009-01-29T23:32:00.003+05:30

Even though blogger blogs are free,many people opt for wordpress because its more customizable and has more added functions in the form of plug ins.Recently,blogger introduced an option for displaying the embedded comment box below the posts i.e. the readers don't need to navigate to another page to post a comment.Wordpress also has options for having embedded contact forms,but there is no such direct options for blogger blogs.

Fortunately,there are a few free services which will let you have embedded contact forms for your blogger blogs.Here is a screen shot of the contact form I am using.

1)Wufoo.com
An excellent contact form that I am currently using and have not encountered any problems.Its very much easily customizable.You can have 3 forms for free in wufoo.com.I would strongly recommend you to use this contact form,and don't forget to change the notification settings so that you can receive an e mail when a form is filled and submitted.You can also make the form as a time sensitive one and entries will be accepted only at the given time.

2)EmailMeForm.com
This is also similar to wufoo,Email Me form also has captcha verification for auto detection and removal of spams.No need to link back,but link back to the site is appreciated.

3)kontactr.com
Another tool for making personal contact forms.You can deactivate and activate the link any time you want.

I had earlier used zoho contact form creator,but,for some reason I didn't receive the entries posted to the contact form.So,its better to check the contact form with a random entry to know whether you are receiving email notifications or not.