Chill Out.

AT & T Pre Results

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:40:00 +0000

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today that, at the 25^th annual meeting of stockholders, 15 current board members were re-elected to the company’s board of directors for one-year terms. The board members are:

Randall L. Stephenson	August A. Busch III	John B. McCoy
William F. Aldinger III	Jaime Chico Pardo	Mary S. Metz
Gilbert F. Amelio	James P. Kelly	Joyce M. Roché
Reuben V. Anderson	Jon C. Madonna	Laura D'Andrea Tyson
James H. Blanchard	Lynn M. Martin	Patricia P. Upton

Each board member won at least 79.5 percent of the shares voted.

Based on preliminary results, AT&T stockholders voted to approve the following items proposed by the board of directors:

The ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company’s independent auditor, with 98.3 percent of shares cast in favor and 1.7 percent cast against.

An amendment to the company’s certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 7 billion to 14 billion, with 82.3 percent of shares cast in favor and 17.7 percent against. The vote in favor of this proposal represents 63.7 percent of outstanding shares. A majority of the outstanding shares was required to pass this proposal.

The following proposals from stockholders were also put to a vote at the meeting:

A proposal recommending additional reporting of political contributions made by AT&T, which was defeated by a vote of 68.2 percent of shares cast against to 31.8 percent in favor.

A proposal calling for an amendment to the AT&T bylaws to allow holders of 10 percent of outstanding common shares to call a special stockholder meeting, which was defeated by a vote of 50.1 percent against to 49.9 percent in favor.

A proposal asking AT&T to adopt cumulative voting for directors, which was defeated by a vote of 61.9 percent against to 38.1 percent in favor.

A proposal recommending an amendment to the AT&T bylaws to require an independent lead director, which was defeated by a vote of 65.0 percent against to 35.0 percent in favor.

A proposal calling for an advisory vote by stockholders to approve compensation for named executive officers, which was defeated by a vote of 53.0 percent against to 47.0 percent in favor.

A proposal asking AT&T to exclude return on pension plan assets in determining performance-based compensation, which was defeated by a vote of 54.5 percent against to 45.5 percent in favor.

When they are available, final results of voting will be posted on AT&T’s Web site at www.att.com/investor.relations.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services, the nation’s fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and the nation's leading high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies are expanding their TV entertainment offerings. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE^® magazine’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.

Adsence

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Google uses its Internet search technology to serve advertisements based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted advertisement system may enroll through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.

Currently, AdSense uses JavaScript code to incorporate the advertisements into a participating website. If the advertisements are included on a website that has not yet been crawled by the Mediabot, AdSense will temporarily display advertisements for charitable causes, also known as public service announcements (PSAs). (The Mediabot is different from the Googlebot, which maintains Google's search index.)

Many websites use AdSense to monetize their content. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and sales people. To fill a website with advertisements that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters implement a brief script on the websites' pages. Websites that are content-rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense website.

Some webmasters invest significant effort into maximizing their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:^{[citation needed]}

They use a wide range of traffic-generating techniques, including but not limited to online advertising.

They build valuable content on their websites that attracts AdSense advertisements, which pay out the most when they are clicked.

They use text content on their websites that encourages visitors to click on advertisements. Note that Google prohibits webmasters from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. The phrases accepted are "Sponsored Links" and "Advertisements".

The source of all AdSense income is the AdWords program, which in turn has a complex pricing model based on a Vickrey second price auction. AdSense commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (i.e., a bid not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid.

[edit] History

The underlying technology behind AdSense was derived originally from WordNet, Simpli (a company started by the founder of Wordnet, George A. Miller), and a number of professors and graduate students from Brown University, including James A. Anderson, Jeff Stibel, and Steve Reiss.^[2] A variation of this technology utilizing WordNet was developed by Oingo, a small search engine company based in Santa Monica founded in 1998 by Gilad Elbaz and Adam Weissman.^[3]^[4] Oingo changed its name to Applied Semantics in 2001,^[5] which was later acquired by Google in April 2003 for US$102 million.^[6]

[edit] Types

[edit] AdSense for Feeds

In May 2005, Google announced a limited-participation beta version of AdSense for Feeds, a version of AdSense that runs on RSS and Atom feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official Google Blog, "advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid for their original content; readers see relevant advertising—and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from."^[7]

AdSense for Feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by a RSS reader or Web browser, Google writes the advertising content into the image that it returns. The advertisement content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's website in the same way as regular AdSense advertisements.

AdSense for Feeds remained in its beta state until August 15, 2008, when it became available to all AdSense users.

[edit] AdSense for search

A companion to the regular AdSense program, AdSense for search, allows website owners to place Google search boxes on their websites. When a user searches the Internet or the website with the search box, Google shares any advertising revenue it makes from those searches with the website owner. However the publisher is paid only if the advertisements on the page are clicked: AdSense does not pay publishers for mere searches.

[edit] AdSense for mobile content

AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile websites using targeted Google advertisements. Just like AdSense for content, Google matches advertisements to the content of a website — in this case, a mobile website.

[edit] AdSense for domains

Adsense for domains allows advertisements to be placed on domain names that have not been developed. This offers domain name owners a way to monetize domain names that are otherwise dormant. Adsense for domains is currently being offered to some users, with plans to make it available to all in stages.

On December 12, 2008, TechCrunch reported that AdSense for Domains is available for all US publishers.^[8]

[edit] XHTML compatibility

As of September 2007, the HTML code for the AdSense search box does not validate as XHTML, and does not follow modern principles of website design because of its use of

non-standard end tags, such as </img> and </input>,

the attribute checked rather than checked="checked",

presentational attributes other than id, class, or style — for example, bgcolor and align,

a table structure for purely presentational (i.e., non-tabular) purposes,¹ and

the font tag.²

1: using a table structure for unintended purposes is strongly recommended against by the W3C^{[citation needed]}, but nevertheless does not cause a document to fail validation — there is currently no algorithmic method of determining whether a table is used "correctly" (for displaying tabular data or for displaying elements, that get proportionally wider or narrower when browser window resizes in width without active client side scripting).

2: the font tag is deprecated but does not fail validation in any XHTML standard.

Additionally, the AdSense advertisement units use the JavaScript method document.write(), which does not work correctly when rendered with the application/xhtml+xml MIME type. The units also use the iframe HTML tag, which is not validated correctly with the XHTML 1.0 Strict or XHTML 1.0 Transitional DOCTYPEs.

The terms of the AdSense program forbid its affiliates from modifying the code, thus preventing these participants from having valid XHTML websites.

However, a workaround has been found by creating a separate HTML webpage containing only the AdSense advertisement units, and then importing this page into an XHTML webpage with an object tag.^[9] This workaround appears to be accepted by Google.^[10]

[edit] How AdSense works

The webmaster inserts the AdSense JavaScript code into a webpage.

Each time this page is visited, the JavaScript code creates an IFrame with a src attribute set to the page's URL.

For contextual advertisements, Google's servers use a cache of the page to determine a set of high-value keywords. If keywords have been cached already, advertisements are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system. (More details are described in the AdSense patent.)

For site-targeted advertisements, the advertiser chooses the page(s) on which to display advertisements, and pays based on cost per mille (CPM), or the price advertisers choose to pay for every thousand advertisements displayed.^[11] ^[12]

For referrals, Google adds money to the advertiser's account when visitors either download the referred software or subscribe to the referred service.^[13] The referral program was retired in August 2008.^[14]

Search advertisements are added to the list of results after the visitor performs a search.

Because the JavaScript is sent to the Web browser when the page is requested, it is possible for other website owners to copy the JavaScript code into their own webpages. To protect against this type of fraud, AdSense customers can specify the pages on which advertisements should be shown. AdSense then ignores clicks from pages other than those specified

BMW Z4

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:40:00 +0000

The ultimate driving machine is usually thought of as a BMW sedan. The BMW Z4 lineup applies this mantra to what is by modern standards a true sports car, complete with rear-wheel drive and room for just two people. Freed from passenger-carrying requirements, the BMW Z4 focuses even more tightly on high-performance driving with cutting-edge style than do the BMW sedans.

First and foremost, the BMW Z4 is a blast to drive, with sharp handling that is the match for anything on the road. Yet the ride is compliant in base models. The Sport Package option sharpens handling further, though at the expense of ride quality.

The Z4 comes as either a traditional roadster with a convertible cloth top or as a hardtop coupe with a graceful fastback body and a larger cargo area. The Z4 Roadsters offer manual and power soft tops, and both are easy to operate. Inside the Z4 it's comfortable and everything is well-assembled though there is not a lot of places for belongings.

The Z4 is powered by a 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engines provide smooth, ample power. It comes in two states of tune, the 3.0i and the more powerful 3.0si.

The high-performance M Coupe and M Roadster versions of the Z4 boast even more power and sharper handling. They are exciting to drive, though they can become harsh on rough roads.

The daring styling introduced with the 2003 Z4 was mildly updated for 2006, when BMW introduced new engine choices, the hatchback coupe, and a high-performance M model. Changes since have been minimal. For 2008, 18-inch wheels come on all Sport Package models.

Format Factory v1.80

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:33:00 +0000

Format Factory is a multifunctional media converter.

Provides functions below:

All to MP4/3GP/MPG/AVI/WMV/FLV/SWF.

All to MP3/WMA/AMR/OGG/AAC/WAV.

All to JPG/BMP/PNG/TIF/ICO/GIF/TGA.

Rip DVD to video file , Rip Music CD to audio file.

MP4 files support iPod/iPhone/PSP/BlackBerry format.

Source files support RMVB.

Format Factory’s Feature:

1 support converting all popular video,audio,picture formats to others.

2 Repair damaged video and audio file.

3 Reducing Multimedia file size.

4 Support iphone,ipod multimedia file formats.

5 Picture converting supports Zoom,Rotate/Flip,tags.

6 DVD Ripper.

7 Supports 45 languages

OS requirements: All 32 windows OS

DOWNLOAD Format Factory v1.80

http://rapidshare.com/files/224027131/FoRmTfcTy.rar

Share and Enjoy:
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DOWNLOAD Keygen

Keygen Format Factory v1.80

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Serial Format Factory v1.80

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Crack Format Factory v1.80

Enable Registry editor

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:52:00 +0000

You don't need to enable registry as it is enable by default.
To open registry follow following procedure:
Start
Run
regedit

If it is disabled by anyone then follow following procedure:

Type the following text in registry and save it as enable.reg.
[.reg is extension for regfiles]

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"DisableRegistryTools"=dword:00000000

Ristriction Free Windows Xp

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:06:00 +0000

p>Following is a list of some interesting restrictions, which can be made in Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 and 7. Like you can restrict Display properties, taskbar properties, folder options, etc. All tricks are based on Registry editing. So I'll tell the key name and the value, that you have to create for the restriction. If the key is not present, then simply create it.

NOTE: If you want to remove the restriction, then simply delete the DWORD value or set its value to 0

So here we start:

1.) Restrict Display Properties:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System

create DWORD value NoDispCPL and set its value to 1

2.) Restrict Taskbar Properties:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoSetTaskbar and set its value to 1

3.) Restrict Folder Options:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoFolderOptions and set its value to 1

4.) Restrict Locking/Unlocking the taskbar:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value LockTaskbar and set its value to 1

5.) Restrict Active Desktop:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoActiveDesktop and set its value to 1

6.) Restrict adding/deleting items from Toolbars:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoToolbarCustomize and set its value to 1

7.) Restrict adding/deleting toolbars:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoBandCustomize and set its value to 1

8.) Restrict right-click in Start Menu:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoChangeStartMenu and set its value to 1

9.) Restrict Desktop Cleanup Wizard:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoDesktopCleanupWizard and set its value to 1

10.) Restrict notification at low disk space:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoLowDiskSpaceChecks and set its value to 1

11.) Restrict Taskbar Context Menu:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

create DWORD value NoTrayContextMenu and set its value to 1

12.) Restrict Programs to run:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer\DisallowRun

create String value with any name, like 1 and set its value to the program's EXE file.

e.g., If you want to restrict msconfig, then create a String value 1 and set its value to msconfig.exe. If you want to restrict more programs, then simply create more String values with names 2, 3 and so on and set their values to the program's exe.

13.) Restrict Registry Editor:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System

create DWORD value DisableRegistryTools and set its value to 1

14.) Restrict Task Manager:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System

create DWORD value DisableTaskMgr and set its value to 1

15.) Restrict Writing to USB Drives:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current Control Set\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Create DWORD value WriteProtect and set its value to 1

16.) Restrict New option in context menu:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenu Handlers\New

And delete the value of Default, e.g., empty it.

17.) Restrict Send To in context menu:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenu Handlers\Send To

And delete the value of Default, e.g., empty it.

18.) Restrict Balloon Tips:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Advanced

Create DWORD value EnableBalloonTips and set its value to 0

19.) Restrict Users to enable New XP StartMenu:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

Create DWORD value NoSimpleStartMenu and set its value to 1

20.) Restrict Command Prompt:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System

Create DWORD value DisableCMD and set its value to 2

21.) Restrict Drives in My Computer:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

In right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoViewOnDrive and change its value as following:

3 : To Restrict A and B drives only.

4 : To Restrict C drive only.

7 : To Restrict A, B, and C drives only.

8 : To Restrict D drive only.

F : To Restrict A, B, C, and D drives only.

03FFFFFF : To Restrict all drives.

And if you want more specific restrictions, like you want to restrict a combination of other drives, then you can use decimal no. instead of hexadecimal no. Following is a list for all drives decimal no.:

A: 1

B: 2

C: 4

D: 8

E: 16

F: 32

G: 64

H: 128

I: 256

J: 512

K: 1024

L: 2048

M: 4096

N: 8192

O: 16384

P: 32768

Q: 65536

R: 131072

S: 262144

T: 524288

U: 1048576

V: 2097152

W: 4194304

X: 8388608

Y: 16777216

Z: 33554432

ALL: 67108863

So if you want to disable a combination of drives, just sum their numbers and give the same value to NoViewOnDrive. e.g., for restricting C, D, E and F drives, give the value: 4+8+16+32 = 60

NOTE: You can also hide the drives using NoDrives DWORD value. The location and its value remain same as the above trick.

22.) Restrict RUN in New XP StartMenu:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

Create DWORD value NoRun and set its value to 1

23.) Restrict Control Panel:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

Create DWORD value NoControlPanel and set its value to 1

Above all are some common restrictions, if you want to know any specific restriction, then please post it. I'll try my best to give the registry code.

F

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:47:00 +0000

How to access blocked sites

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Lemme start this post with a note to system / network administrators who blocks internet access only because they can and they themselves surf the sites unblocked : Information is free and you cannot block it .. People will find out ways to bypass in time .. Now another note to people who wants to access blocked sites : If your school has blocked Orkut, then they have done it for your own good .. Orkut is addictive and you should find better ways to utilize your energy .. And if you want to access blocked sites from office .. Try completing whatever your boss asked you to before reading on ..

And now that the sermon is over, lemme write some tricks to bypass evil administrator’s evil policies to access what they think is bad for you .. :

1: The domain that you want to access is blocked ..? No problem .. most administrators block the domains by their domain names and they forget there is something called IP Address … .. Find out the IP address of the site that you want to visit and put it in the address bar and viola .. You can access it .. How to find out IP address of a website ..?? Just Whois it .. . .. You can use services like DomainTools or NetworkSolutions , Robtex… This works for websites which are on a dedicated server .. So sites like ICICIDirect can be accessed like this ..

2: First trick not working for you ..?? Try WorkFriendly .. It will let you surf the website you want in a Microsoft Word like interface to save you from your boss’s peering eyes .. Or try these language tools :

BabelFish

Google Language Tools

FreeTranslation

One more site that I may recommend is Google Mobile Search .. This one is useful when you are dying to find out the score and all cricket sites are blocked ..
Second tip is useful for static pages but if you want to dynamic websites like Orkut, you need to use a proxy site… : These are proxy sites that I’ve used and liked :

KProxy : This is the most famous and most used proxy website .. :D.. Goto KProxy and type in the address that you want to surf and click on Surf .. ..

It wont be long before KProxy will be blocked .. So afterwards try their secure connection.. Most cocky administrators do not block secure sites as they do not know how to block them.. ..

Y11: Y11 is another secure proxy which isnt blocked by many filters .. Use it while it lasts ..

Fumo2 : Fumo2 is a nice and fast proxy .. And as its url doesnt contain word “proxy” it has less chance of getting blocked .. Fumo2 has some more aliases like BakaAdmin and IpSite.net which you can find on their home page itself ..

IceKeeper : IceKeeper is another great proxy that used to help me surfing Blogspot when it was blocked in my office .. Very fast too ..

LuckyCRM : Found this one searching for proxies online .. Turned out to be a nice one ….

Melap : Recommended by one of my friend .. Nice and fast too ..

CountryCodes : Another proxy that has a deceptive name so less prone to be blocked ..

There are many more .. Believe me, I’ll tell you how to find a new proxy .. .. First check the next tip :

4: Most of these proxy sites have aliases so you can use the alias in case the main domain is blocked.Here are the aliases to KProxy .. So if KProxy is blocked, try any of their aliases such as wpc1964.amenworld.com … To find alias of proxy sites, goto Robtex , type in the web site that you want to search alias for, click on Go .. In the results page, the address that are listed as ‘a’ are aliases to this domain .. So use these aliases ..

5: Actually this is combination of first and third trick .. Find out the IP address of the proxy website and then use it for surfing .. Simple ..

Now the last one .. How did I get all these proxy websites ..?? .. I used a simple query on Google which does not include any keywords that will make your system administrator think that you are searching for proxy sites .. .. But you will get a list of proxy sites that are using PHProxy which is the most common proxy software used on web servers .. and do not worry .. this list is huge .. and will keep on increasing .. ..

.. .. . . ..

Now that I’ve found a way to vent my anger on evil system administrators I feel relaxed .. I dont see logic behind blocking Hotmail or Gmail or Yahoo which are default email address for most people .. To my readers, I’ll like to request .. : If you are benefited by this write up and / or you know some more proxies or tricks that you use, please leave your comment so that others can benefit .. And book mark this page so that you can find out more updated content .. .. And if you are one of those evil administrators whose job I just made a bit more difficult, how about sharing some tips on how you are going to stop users from accessing blocked sites ..? This will improve both of us .. …

Over and all ..

Transform Xp to windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:38:00 +0000

=======================================================

NOTE: If you are facing problems while saving a file after editing in resource hacker, then make sure you have disabled WFP (Windows File Protection) service using WFP Patcher, it can be found in our "Download" section.

Also if you are getting error "Can't create file...", that means you have edited and saved the same file in past and there is a backup file which need to be deleted before saving this file again. Go to the folder containing this file and you'll see a similar file having "_original" in its name. Delete it and try to save the file in resource hacker.

=======================================================

As you all know Windows 7 Beta build has been released and is available everywhere on the net. We posted a small review of Windows 7 at following link:

What’s New in Windows 7: A Small Review with Screenshots

Windows 7 provides lots of new features along with a newly designed interface. It looks very similar to Windows Vista but there are many GUI changes like redesigned taskbar, Explorer, new boot screen and login screen, etc.

If you are still using Windows XP but want to enjoy the new Windows 7 look, then this tutorial will definitely help you.

After following this tutorial, you'll get the same Windows 7 look in your Windows XP. Following is a list of things which are going to change after following this tutorial:

Windows Theme or Visual Style

Icons

Boot Screen

Login Screen or Welcome Screen

Cursors

Taskbar

Wallpapers and Sounds

Progress Dialog Box

Shutdown / Log off Dialog Box

About Windows Box

System Properties Dialog Box

Volume Control Window

Extras like "Aero Shake", "Aero Snap", "Aero Peek" and "Calculator"

A Few Other Mods...

So here we start our transformation tour:

PS: Please create a Restore point using "System Restore" before applying anything mentioned in this tutorial so that you can restore your system back to a working state if anything goes wrong.

1. Windows Theme or Visual Style:

Windows 7 provides a new refreshing look which includes redesigned taskbar and start menu, Windows Explorer and a few other small changes.

You can get the same look in Windows XP by using following theme:

Download SevenVG Theme for Windows XP

If you want a Black version, then you can get it using following link:

Download SevenVG Black Theme for Windows XP

If you don't like the new Windows 7 Superbar, then you can download Normal Taskbar versions of these themes as well:

Download SevenVG Theme with Normal Taskbar for Windows XP

Download SevenVG Black Theme with Normal Taskbar for Windows XP

You can also use an excellent WindowBlinds skin created by "fediaFedia". It requires Stardock WindowBlinds to be installed in your system.

Download Windows 7 WindowBlinds Skin for Windows XP

2. Icons:

Windows 7 icons are almost same as Vista icons atm. You can use following icon pack to install them in XP:

Download Windows 7 Icon Pack for XP

3. Boot Screen:

Windows 7 contains a new animated boot screen which shows animated items/balls that come together to form Windows logo.

You can get a similar boot screen in Windows XP:

Download New Windows 7 Beta Boot Screen for Windows XP

4. Login Screen or Welcome Screen:

Windows 7 login screen looks similar to Vista login screen except the new background image and the text displayed at bottom.

Download Windows 7 Login Screen for Windows XP

5. Cursors:

Windows 7 cursors are also similar to Vista which you can download using following link:

Download Windows 7 Cursors

6. Taskbar:

Windows 7 taskbar has been highly redesigned. It doesn't show opened program's name in their taskbar buttons, instead it only shows their icons. Also the taskbar buttons are a bit large in their size.

You can get the same behavior in XP by using following tutorial:

Get Windows 7 Iconized (Icon Only) Taskbar Feature in Windows XP

Or you can use following small utility which can do the task automatically:

Taskbar Iconizer: Utility to Iconize Taskbar in Windows XP

Windows 7 taskbar also allows you to move taskbar buttons to change their positions, you can get the same feature in Windows XP by using "Taskbar Shuffle" utility:

Taskbar Shuffle: Move Taskbar and System Tray Buttons in Windows

7. Wallpaper and Sounds:

You can get Windows 7 wallpapers and sounds using following links:

Download Windows 7 Official Wallpaper Shown at PDC 2008

Download Windows 7 Beta Build 6936 Default Desktop Wallpaper

Download Windows 7 RC Build 7048 Sound Schemes, Wallpapers, Icons & Lots More

Download Windows 7 Build 7057 Wallpapers and User Pics

8. Progress Dialog Box:

Windows 7 progress dialog box is similar to Windows Vista. We can make our XP dialog box look like it by using Resource Hacker.

Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker and go to:

Dialog -> 1020 -> 1033

Now replace the existing code in right-side pane with the code present in following file:

progress_dialog_box_code.txt

Click on Compile Script button.

You'll also have to replace existing AVIs in the file with new ones. Download following Zip file and extract it:

Download AVIs

After extracting the Zip file you'll get 3 AVI files. Replace existing AVIs in shell32.dll file with these new ones in following manner:

AVI -> 160 ->1033 with 160.avi

AVI -> 161 ->1033 with 161.avi

AVI -> 162 ->1033 with 162.avi

AVI -> 163 ->1033 with 162.avi

AVI -> 164 ->1033 with 162.avi

And also download a BMP file from here:

Download BMP

After extracting the BMP file from it, add it at 404 location in file. Just click on Action -> Add a new resource and then click on Open file with new resource button. Select the downloaded BMP file and click on Open. Now in Resource Name enter 404 and in Resource Language enter 1033 and click on Add Resource button. That's it.

9. Shutdown / Log off Dialog Box:

Windows 7, similar to Vista, doesn't have any shutdown / log off dialog box but we can redesign Windows XP default shutdown box to make it more refreshing like following screenshot:

Download required BMP files from here:

Download Shutdown BMPs

Mirror

Extract the file and you'll get 4 BMPs with the name:

1.bmp

2.bmp

3.bmp

4.bmp

Now open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the mentioned BMP files:

Bitmap -> 14351 -> 1033 with 1.bmp

Bitmap -> 14353 -> 1033 with 2.bmp

Bitmap -> 14354 -> 1033 with 1.bmp

Bitmap -> 14355 -> 1033 with 2.bmp

Bitmap -> 14356 -> 1033 with 3.bmp

now save the file and open %windir%\System32\msgina.dll file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the mentioned BMP files:

Bitmap -> 20140 -> 1033 with 1.bmp

Bitmap -> 20141 -> 1033 with 2.bmp

Bitmap -> 20142 -> 1033 with 1.bmp

Bitmap -> 20143 -> 1033 with 2.bmp

Bitmap -> 20150 -> 1033 with 4.bmp

Now save the file.

10. About Windows Box:

To change the About Windows box you'll need to change 2 things: The top logo and the text part.

Download the required BITMAP file from here:

Download About BMP

Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the downloaded BMP file:

Bitmap -> 131 -> 1033 (For XP Professional)

Bitmap -> 147 -> 1033 (For XP Home)

Now open %windir%\System32\msgina.dll file in Resource Hacker and then replace following BITMAPs with the downloaded BMP file:

Bitmap -> 101 -> 1033 (For XP Professional)

Bitmap -> 107 -> 1033 (For XP Professional)

Bitmap -> 128 -> 1033 (For XP Home)

Bitmap -> 129 -> 1033 (For XP Home)

Now to change the text of dialog box, open "%windir%\System32\xpsp1res.dll" file in Resource Hacker and then goto:

Dialog -> 14352 -> 1033

Now replace the existing code in right-side pane with the code in following file:

About Dialog Box Code

Click on Compile Script button and save the file.

11. System Properties Dialog Box:

To make System Properties dialog box look like Windows 7 one, visit following tutorial:

Get Windows 7 System Properties Dialog Box in Windows XP

12. Volume Control Window:

Windows 7 contains a redesigned Volume Control window which shows better details and graphics for device volumes. Now you can get a similar window in your XP.

Get Windows 7 Volume Control Box in Windows XP

13. A Few Extras:

Windows 7 provides 3 new features which are called "Aero Shake", "Aero Snap" and "Aero Peek".

"Aero Shake" is quite useful. Suppose you have more than one windows opened and you want to minimize all other windows except the window which you are working on, then you have to simply shake the current window with your mouse and all other windows will be minimized automatically. Shake it again and all minimized windows will be maximized again.

Using "Aero Snap", you can minimize, maximize, resize windows by just dragging-dropping them to the screen corners.

"Aero Peek" has replaced the old "Show Desktop" feature in Windows 7. It can be found as a small rectangle present at last in Windows 7 taskbar. When you hover the mouse cursor over it, it allows you to peek behind all open windows by hiding all windows and showing only outlines of all windows.

You can get all these features working in XP using following tutorials:

Get Windows 7 “Aero Shake” Feature in Windows XP

Get Windows 7 “Aero Snap” Feature in Windows XP

Get Windows 7 “Aero Peek” Feature in Windows XP

Windows 7 also contains a new redesigned Calculator which has new GUI and new options.

You can get the same calculator in Windows XP using following link:

Get Windows 7 Like Calculator in Windows XP

14. A Few Other Mods:

1. Windows 7 Desktop context menu is much different than XP one.

Following are a few things which are new in Windows 7 menu:

"View" menu visible in Desktop context menu

"Arrange Icons By" renamed to "Sort by"

"Properties" renamed to "Personalize"

"Auto arrange icons" and "Align icons to grid" options moved from "Sort by" menu to "View" menu

2 new options "Screen resolution" and "Gadgets" added to the menu

So above are a few changes which are new in Windows 7 but we can get them in XP using following tutorial:

Get Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu in Windows XP

2. Windows 7's Programs menu is similar to Vista but very different from XP, you can use following tutorial to make your XP Programs menu similar to Windows 7:

Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu

3. Windows 7, similar to Vista, shows the same ORB just before the Login screen. You can also get a similar thing in XP. Just download following BMP:

Download ORB BMP

Mirror

Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

In right-side pane change the value of Wallpaper String value to the Path of downloaded BMP file. e.g., if you saved the BMP file at "D:\Startup.bmp", then set the value of Wallpaper to D:\Startup.bmp. Now you'll get a similar ORB before the Login screen in XP.

4. Windows 7 explorer is quite similar to Vista and shows the same small horizontal progress bar under each drive icon for the drive space.

You can also get the same in XP by using a 3rd party utility, which is uploaded here:

Download Windows 7 Drive Status Utility

Mirror

Just run the file and it'll add the progress bar under each drive.

5. To get the Breadcrumbs in addressbar you can use "QT Addressbar":

QT Addressbar: Windows 7 Addressbar Clone for Windows XP

That's all for now. After following all the above mentioned steps, you'll get Windows 7 look-n-feel in Windows XP.

We'll keep updating this tutorial whenever we get something new to add or Microsoft makes some new changes to Windows 7...

Free Essential Tools for Blogger Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:58:00 +0000

and fine interface that takes care of many things for you. This is my suggestion to you for your first free essential must haves for your blog.

1. Feedburner - It generates an smart feed compatible with all feed readers for free like my feed. It allows you to put easy subscribe buttons for XML, Add to yahoo, Add to Newsgator, Add to MSN etc. Read about how their single feed policy can benefit you.

It can give you a cool feed count chicklet button to show how many readers are using your feed to read your blog. It also gives you a headline animator which you can attach to your blog to display the recent 5 posts in a nice animated fashion. You can get an authentic Creative Common license, get a browser friendly RSS feed, Splice photos and links and more…

2. Haloscan - Trackback is an essential component of blogging these days. Unfortunately Blogger does not have trackback. Haloscan provides you with a seamless way to integrate free trackback in your blog by adding a small code. You can also integrate their comments component if you like to replace the Blogger comments. Read about Haloscan or Blogger comments.

Ten Tips for writing a blog post

noreply@blogger.com (Sani) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:48:00 +0000

Here are ten tips that help me with my blog writing.
Make your opinion known
Link like crazy
Write less
250 Words is enough
Make Headlines snappy
Write with passion
Include Bullet point lists
Edit your post
Make your posts easy to scan
Be consistent with your style
Litter the post with keywords

1. Make your opinion known
People like blogs, they like blogs because they are written by people and not corporations. People want to know what people think, crazy as it sounds they want to know what you think. Tell them exactly what you think using the least amount of words possible.

2. Link like crazy.
Support your post with links to other web pages that are contextual to your post.

3. Write Less
Give the maximum amount of information with the least amount of words. Time is finite and people are infinitely busy. Blast your knowledge into the reader at the speed of sound.

4. 250 is enough
A long post is easier to forget and harder to get into. A short post is the opposite.

5. Make Headlines snappy
Contain your whole argument in your headline. Check out National newspapers to see how they do it.

6. Include bullet point lists
We all love lists, it structures the info in an easily digestible format.

7. Make your posts easy to scan
Every few paragraphs insert a sub heading. Make sentences and headlines short and to the point.

8. Be consistent with your style
People like to know what to expect, once you have settled on a style for your audience stick to it.

9. Litter the post with Keywords.
Think about what keywords people would use to search for your post and include them in the body text and headers. make sure the keyword placement is natural and does not seem out of place.

10. Edit your post
Good writing is in the editing. Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and cut out the stuff that you don’t need.

I hope you enjoyed my tips for writing a blog post - feel free to share your own blog writing tips below.