Download VLC Media Player 0.9.0

VLC is one of the most well-known media players out there, and it’s been almost 4 years since they’ve released a major new version. VLC 0.9.0 is on the horizon, and it packs in 2 years of development. So you can expect some great things. But Windows 98/ME and Mac OS X 10.3.9 are no longer supported operating systems.



One of the biggest things would have to be the revamped interface seen in the screenshot. Other improvements include:

• Improved playlist support: Shoutcast TV listings, Audioscrobbler/Last.FM support (in supported countries), album art, and more


• Better tag support


• Supports most types of subtitles


• New and enhanced filters


• Improved mouse gestures


• Full support for meta data editing (ID3v2, Ogg/Vorbis, AAC, APEv1/2) 


• and much more

You can grab a download of the pre release VLC Media Player 0.9.0, or you can wait for it to reach final form.

Become a Firefox extension Editor

Mozilla is looking for editors for the extensions to its popular browser Firefox. The release of Firefox 3 caused an onslaught of new/updated extensions to get submitted to the site, and they just can’t keep up with the vast quantity of submissions. As of yesterday there were 215 extension updates waiting to get published, and another 461 extensions that are waiting to make their way out of the sandbox.

You can also become a Firefox extension Editor, if you have spare time and want to help others.

How do I become an editor?

These are the necessary steps involved:

1. Read the Editors' Guide completely.
2. Begin testing sandbox extensions and writing reviews of them. Do not skip this step! Mozilla will look over the reviews you have done in the sandbox.
3. When you feel you have enough experience with how the site works, send an email to amo-editors at mozilla.org with the subject "AMO Editor Application" and the below information.
4. Please be patient for a response. They will request that at least 2 existing editors or admins look over your reviews and vouch for you.

 Visit this website for more details.

Gold plated computer keyboard from Japan

Japanese company Wazakura Koubou is releasing a gold plated computer keyboard KAGAYAKI to appeal to all those who love gold. The keys are plated with 99.99% pure gold and you can find the Kagayaki golden keyboard retailing at the vendor’s online store and Sofmap PC shops in Japan.



The keyboard comes with a two-port USB hub and is priced at 28,875 yen.



Check out the pictures and let us know what you think of this gold plated keyboard.

World's best selling phone handset

You might be thinking that world's best selling phone handset would be a mid-range Nokia or Sony Ericcson or Samsung or any other model. But you would be surprised to know that World's best selling phone handset is  Nokia 1100.





From Wikipedia:

The Nokia 1100 is a durable ultrabasic GSM mobile phone produced by Nokia with a 96 x 65 monochrome screen. It is targeted towards developing countries and users who do not require advanced features beyond making calls and SMS text messages, alarm clock, reminders, etc.



Over 200 million Nokia 1100 cellphones have been sold since its launch in late 2003, making it the world's best selling phone handset, as well as the best selling consumer electronics device in the world, beating Sony's Playstation 2 (125 million), Apple's iPod (170 million), Motorola's RAZR (100 million), and LG's Chocolate (10 million).

Source: Wikipedia

Download VLC media player 0.8.6i

VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player that supports various audio and video formats (MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, DivX, mp3, ogg, etc.) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. It doesn't need any external codec or program to work.



From Developer's site:

We are pleased to announce the release of VLC media player 0.8.6i. This is a bugfix release. VLC media player 0.8.6h and earlier versions suffer from security vulnerabilities in the WAV demuxer.

This release also includes improved audio visualizations on FreeBSD and miscellaneous bug fixes in multiple modules. We strongly recommend all users to update to this new version.

What's new , Download VLC media player 0.8.6i (Windows)

Microsoft cuts Xbox 360 price, releases new model

Microsoft has cut the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model game console with a 20 gigabyte hard drive to $299 from $349.

The company also introduced a new Xbox 360 model with a 60 gigabyte hard drive, which will go on sale in stores in the U.S. and Canada for $349 in early August.

Microsoft announced the price cut and a new model before the start of this week's E3 video game industry trade show in Los Angeles. The price cut was widely reported in game industry blogs since last week. The company last cut the price of the Xbox Pro in August, from $399 to $349, prior to the release of blockbuster title, Halo 3, the following month.

So are you planning to buy XBox 360 after this price cut? Let us know by your valuable comments!

Tracks Missing or Stolen Laptops for Free

Lose your laptop these days and you lose part of your life. But now, researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, have found a way to give you a shot at getting your life back. On Monday, they plan to launch a new laptop tracking service, called Adeona that is free and private.



Adeona is designed to use the Open Source OpenDHT distributed storage service to store location updates sent by a small software client installed on an owner's laptop. The client continually monitors the current location of the laptop, gathering information (such as IP addresses and local network topology) that can be used to identify its current location. At the same time, it is easy for an owner to retrieve location information.



Adeona has three main properties:

• Private: Adeona uses state-of-the-art cryptographic mechanisms to ensure that the owner is the only party that can use the system to reveal the locations visited by a device.


• Reliable: Adeona uses a community-based remote storage facility, ensuring retrievability of recent location updates.


• Open source and free: Adeona's software is licensed under GPLv2. While your locations are secret, the tracking system's design is not.

The Mac OS X version also has an option to capture pictures of the laptop user or thief using the built-in iSight camera and the freeware tool isightcapture.



So go ahead and protect your laptop before its too late. And let us know your opinion on this service too.



Download Adeona for Windows and Mac



Technorati Tags: Laptop, locate stolen laptop

Speed up adobe reader or switch to Foxit Reader

As a follow up to my previous post, that tells how to speed up Adobe Reader I have decided to write about its better alternative Foxit Reader and compare it with Adobe Reader.





Firstly, the latest version of Adobe Reader is about 33.5 Mb while Foxit Reader setup is only about 3.0 MB. Clearly, Foxit Reader has no frills attached and also does not provide all those redundant plugins that are provided by default in Adobe Reader. Also, the startup time varies considerably which is about 10 seconds for Adobe Reader while only 1-2 seconds for Foxt Reader. A primary reason is that adobe loads all the plug-ins which greatly increases its loading time.



Adobe, aside from the waiting time, crashes about 50% of the time I use it; however, Foxit hasn't crashed on me once.



Another great feature of Foxit is that you can highlight text in a PDF as well as leave notes (like post-its) on text - all within the free version of the software. The current version of Foxit Reader is a significant improvement over Adobe Reader, adds useful features, has a small foot print and is easy to use.



Foxit Reader also works brillantly when paired with PDF Download extension of Firefox. Here are the steps needed to integrate Foxit with Firefox’s PDF Download Extension:



    * Once PDF Download has been installed a new selection, “PDF Download - Options” will appear in your  Tools menu. Select this option.

    * On the ‘General Tab’, for Default Action, select ‘Open PDF‘

    * On the ‘PDF opening’ Tab, for the PDF File Opening, select ‘Use this viewer‘

    * Click ‘Browse’ in Windows Explorer locate the Foxit Reader (FoxitReader.exe) and click ‘OK’

    * Click ‘OK’ again to exit out of the PDF Download - Options.



Now whenever you come across a PDF File, Firefox will automatically load in the Foxit Reader, a process which depending on your system speed with be nearly instant to a couple seconds. Note: Firefox downloads the PDF File in order to open it.



All in all, Foxit reader wins the battle being a less stressful PDF reader. Have your say on this topic, if you liked Foxit Reader or Adobe Reader, by commenting.



Download Foxit Reader 2.3



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Gmail to No Longer Auto Add Contacts

Google has finally realized that it's a bad idea to automatically add to the list of Gmail contacts all the people you've sent an email. An updated version of Gmail's contact manager has a separate section for the people you've emailed. It is called as "suggested contacts".

"My Contacts is a place to import, store and view all of the contact information that's important to you. You can also create your own groups of contacts to easily email many people at once. We add people you've emailed to Suggested Contacts. You can move contacts from Suggested Contacts into My Contacts at any time."

There's an option to automatically move suggested contacts into My Contacts if you frequently email them, but the previous behavior doesn't seem to be an option.

I think this feature should have been encorporated much before, prefarably in the Beta stage. But still better late then never!

You can access the updated Gmail contacts here.

Prevent sending email from outlook without subject

If you are a Microsoft Outlook 2003 user and you often tend to forget putting in the subject while writing an e-mail, this trick will definately help you a lot.



Steps to prevent sending an e-mail in Ms-Outlook without keeping subject field empty:



1. Open your Microsoft outlook

2. Press Alt+F11. This opens the Visual Basic editor and then Press Ctrl+R which in turn opens Project-Project 1 (left side).

3. On the Left Pane, one can see “Microsoft Outlook Objects” or “Project1″, expand this. Now one can see the “ThisOutLookSession”.

4. Double click on “ThisOutLookSession”. It will open up a code pane.

5. Copy and Paste the following code in the right pane. (Code Pane)  and save it.

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)

Dim strSubject As String

strSubject = Item.Subject

If Len(Trim(strSubject)) = 0 Then

Prompt$ = “Subject is Empty. Are you sure you want to send the Mail?”

If MsgBox(Prompt$, vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, “Check for Subject”) = vbNo Then

Cancel = True

End If

End If

End Sub

Keep in mind, to be able to run this script everyday, please enable your outlook macros. For this, go to Tools > Macro > Security and Set the Security Level to medium.

View Windows Vista Reliability Index

Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor is a useful utility inside Windows Vista that helps you analyze the performance of your Vista machine over time. Using this utility, you can easily get to know about hardware devices and software programs that are creating problems on your system or causing the machine to shut down unexpectedly.



Vista’s Reliability Monitor makes it easy to track your system’s stability over time. This can  be a big help in troubleshooting problems because it allows you to determine what the problem was and when it occurred.



To view your Vista Reliability Index, type perfmon in the Windows Run dialog. Next switch to the Reliability Monitor under Monitory Tools and note the score and share with us via comments.

Links

Here are some of the links of websites of different niches which are worth checking:

Ephoto Bay Free Image Hosting
Ephoto bay is a free photo hosting and sharing service that allows you to easily upload, hotlink and share your images on facebook, myspace, ebay, blogs and message boards. No account required, upload your photos today!

Trip Vietnam
Vietnam trip, vietnam trip planner, trip vietnam, travel vietnam, tours vietnam, vietnam tour, vietnam travel, vietnam hotels, hotel vietnam .


More To be added

Block XP SP 3 and Vista SP1 From Windows Automatic Updates

If you are happy and content with Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista and you don't want that automatic updates should install XP SP3 or Vista SP1 on your computer then you can use this tool from Intelliadmin.

Just select “Prevent Vista SP1, or Windows XP 3 from installing” and click Apply. You can also use this tool to revert back to the original setting to allow Vista SP1, or Windows XP 3 to install.

Download IntelliAdmin Service Pack Blocker

how to speed up OpenOffice

OpenOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office. Here is a breif tutorial to speed up OpenOffice and decrease its loading time:

1. Start OpenOffice (it doesn't matter which application you load, Calc, Impress, or Writer will all work)


2. Click Tools>Options


3. Select Java menu and uncheck "Use a Java runtime environment"


4. Select the Memory Tab and change the following options:

• Number of steps: 30


• Use for Open Office: 128


• Memory per Object: 20


• Number of Objects: 20

Next time you start an OpenOffice.org application it should open much more quickly. But it will also eat up more memory. If you have enough memore (more than 1 GB) then this trick will definately reduce the loading time of OpenOffice from 10 sec to about 2 to 3 seconds.

Internet to be 100 times faster with scratch

Scientists in Australia have developed what they claim is a small scratch on a piece of glass, which could make the internet nearly 100 times faster and give users unlimited, error-free access anywhere in the world.

After some four years of development, which was spawned by the idea of a small scratch on a piece of glass, a team working out of the University of Sydney claims to have created a near-instantaneous and error-free method of providing online users with unlimited Net access anywhere in the world.

"The scratched glass we have developed is actually a Photonic Integrated Circuit. This circuit uses the 'scratch' as a guide or a switching path for information - kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another - except this switch takes only one picoseconds to change tracks.


The lightning-fast replacement will be capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds. It will have speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies "could revolutionize society".

"With this kind of computing power, future generations can collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine," he said.

Yahoo Opens Its Search Technology to Third Parties

Yahoo will allow other Web sites to use its technology to build their own search services in a new revenue-sharing scheme announced on Thursday.

Yahoo said it would release the beta version of an API (application programming interface) on Thursday that Web sites can use to build services based on its search infrastructure and algorithms, including the ability to re-rank results and control how they are presented.

A publisher could use the API to build a search service that specializes in a particular topic, such as sports, for example. Or it could use the API to give users a better way to search the content on its Web site -- or potentially even to build a rival to Yahoo.

The API will be available to any Web developer, along with tools for combining data from Yahoo's search indexes with data from other sources on the Web.

Download iTunes 7.7 with App Store Support

Apple has released iTunes 7.7 which is a requirement for anyone planning to buy a iPhone 3G. The iTunes Music Store offers Windows users the same online music store as Mac users, with the same music catalog, the same personal-use rights, and the same 99-cents-per-song pricing. With music from all five major music companies and more than 600 independent labels, the iTunes Music Store catalog now offers more than 1,000,000 songs.



Purchasing and playing videos is almost identical to performing the same actions with music, so seasoned users will have no trouble. The workflow is equally similar for purchasing and installing iPhone applications from the App Store. Old popular features remain intact including seamless iPod integration, smart playlists, CD burning, label printing, the ability to rip files in multiple formats (except WMA), network sharing, and, of course, the enormously successful iTunes Store.



Download size is around 60 MB but a must have utility for iPhone users.



Related :

Download iPhone Firmware 2.0

iPhone 3G: Launch Time and Plans

Download iPhone Firmware 2.0

MacRumors has grabbed a direct download link for the new iPhone 2.0 firmware on Apple’s servers so that you can make use of the new App Store. The first thing you’ll need to do is download the iphone firmware 2.0, and then perform a little trick:

In order to install the firmware, you will have to do it manually by pressing the Option key when pressing the “Check for Update” button in iTunes. Then select the .ipsw file manually. If for some reason your download is a “.zip” file, rename it to “.ipsw” before proceeding.

Warning: This update apparently erases all of the data on your iPhone. Unfortunately this does not work on the iPod Touch.



Related: iPhone 3G: Launch Time and Plans

Download ZoneAlarm Security Suite 8.0.003.000 Beta

ZoneAlarm Security Suite is the easy-to-use, comprehensive security solution that is based on the world's best firewall to keep out hackers, viruses, worms, and other threats. It combines the most popular firewall with antivirus, Web site filtering, privacy protection, instant messaging security and more to provide the best overall protection of any PC security suite.



ZoneAlarm Security Suite is comprehensive, all-in-one suite is a tightly integrated set of advanced security layers that, together, create the most secure protection in the industry. Uniquely engineered to prevent threats from getting on a PC in the first place, it has won more major awards than any other security software on the market. The suite combines the robust security features computer experts demand with automatic functions that make it simple enough for novices to use.

Download : ZoneAlarm Security Suite 8.0.003.000

Download Winamp v5.54 Build 2145

Winamp has just released it new version. In case you don't know what Winaamp is. Winamp is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity media player for Windows. Winamp supports playback of many audio (MP3, OGG, AAC, WAV, MOD, XM, S3M, IT, MIDI, etc) and video types (AVI, ASF, MPEG, NSV), audio visualization and audio effect plug-ins, an advanced media library, Internet radio and TV support, CD ripping, and CD burning.



Changes in Winamp 5.54:

* New: [in_swf] Adobe Shockwave Flash (SWF, RTMP) playback support

* New: [gen_dropbox] Winamp DropBox alpha (use: Ctrl-Shift-D)

* New: [Online Services] AOL Radio featuring CBS Radio (requires in_flv)

* Updated: Bento skin v1.2

* Updated: freetype 2.3.7

* Updated: libpng 1.2.28

* Updated: [enc_lame] LAME 3.98

and many other improvements!



Download Winamp v5.54 Build 2145

Firefox 3 Boosts Browser's Market Share Over 19%

Firefox 3 has experienced rapid market share gains since its release in mid-June, helping to push the Mozilla browser's overall share to more than 19%, a Web metrics firm said Wednesday.

Since its release June 17, Firefox 3's worldwide usage share has soared to more than 4%, Net Applications reported. In the first hour of its release, the latest version of the open source browser grabbed 1% of the global market.

Firefox 3's gains came mostly from users upgrading from Firefox 2, the firm said. However, a small portion of the gains, 0.4%, came at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

IE's market share fell to 73.01% in May to 73.75% at the end of June, Net Applications' numbers showed. Firefox overall increased its share during the same timeframe to 19.03% from 18.41%.

Related:

Mozilla Sets World Record with Firefox 3 Downloads

Google Launches Virtual World Called Lively

Google is launching a new service today called Lively, a browser based virtual world add-on that lets users create and customize avatars and worlds, interact with other users, and generally have a richer social interaction than is offered by GTalk today.



Worlds can be embedded into web pages, although only Windows users on IE or Firefox can view them, after an add-on download and installation. Google has created a number of sample rooms that can be copied and altered, or users can start from scratch and build their own world. Furniture and other items can be added and moved around. Avatars can talk to each other, do things like dance and shake hands, and manipulate objects.



So go ahead and checkout Google Lively

Download SpyBot - Search & Destroy 1.6.0.30 Final

Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies.



Spybot-S&D can also clean usage tracks, an interesting function if you share your computer with other users and don't want them to see what you worked on. And for professional users, it allows to fix some registry inconsistencies and extended reports.



Spybot-S&D can start in two modes: Easy mode for new users who want just the basic features, and Advanced mode for professional users and those who want more control. Both modes are available in the free version.



Download SpyBot - Search & Destroy 1.6.0.30 Final

Unplug Computer During A Thuderstorm

By the time a power surge reaches your house, its already too late. Lightning strikes can be devastating and unforgiving when it comes to electronic devices. Power surges, voltage drops, intermittent service - these scenarios can wreak havok on computers. Did you know that even the slightest bit of static electricity can damage a computer’s motherboard?


Shutting down the computer during a storm will not save its life - It is susceptible to damage as long as its’ plugged into the wall.


So whats the best solution when there is a thunderstorm ? Simply unplug the entire power bar from the wall. This will protect all of your devices with one quick action and is also quite effective. Unplugging other expensive electronics in the house during a thuderstorm is also recommended. Always remember that A Stich in Time Saves Nine!

Upload Photos from Web Pages to Flickr Directly

If you come across an interesting photograph on the web that you would like to save in your Flickr account. How would you do this? Well, if you want to do this easily then a Firefox addon has been released which is called Uploadr For Flickr.



It lets you send web pictures directly to your Flickr account without you having to download that image to the hard-drive. Image attribution can be a issue here but it’s also useful if you like to backup photos from places like Picasa, PhotoBucket, Facebook, etc to Flickr.



This will adds a "Send to Flickr" command to the contextual menu and lets you upload desktop pictures to the web with a simple right click.



Install Firefox addon Uploadr For Flickr

Microsoft Still Much Interested In buying Yahoo!

Microsoft just issued a press release saying they are still interested in acquiring Yahoo:

"Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the Search function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company."

As Mr. Icahn notes in his statement today, it would be premature to discuss at this time important details such as the price or other terms of a possible transaction. We respect the right of Yahoo!’s shareholders to determine the destiny of their company, and we do not intend to engage in ongoing commentary on these issues in advance of Yahoo!’s shareholder meeting.

Make travelling simpler with checklist and reminders

Are you planning to go for a businees trip or on a vacation? But are you fully prepared for it? Have a remembered to carry your mobile phone charger, cancel the newspapers and all other small details?

Well if you tend to forget these things, ‘Don’t Forget your Toothbrush’ offers a service where you can prepare a detailed holiday checklist of stuff to pack and things to do before you leave.

And you don’t have to type anything for preparing this checklist – the service includes built-in checklists for all kinds of business and holiday travel so chances are that what you have in mind is already there – you just need to tick that box. When you are done creating a checklist, take a print out – that’s the only document you’ll need to refer while stepping out of your home. Remiders are also sent to you via E-Mail, so you can have complete Holiday Peace of Mind.

This service does remind me of the Airtel advertisement that is currently being telecasted on various Indian TV channel!

iPhone 3G: Launch Time and Plans

You must be knowing that iPhone 3G is set to release July 11th and pricing for new AT&T subscribers and those eligible for upgrades is $199 for an 8GB phone and $299 for a 16GB phone. But here is all other infomation you will need if you interested in buying this phone:

1. Launch Time for the iPhone 3G is 8 AM local time


2. The $199 and $299 pricing requires a two-year contract


3. Those not eligible for upgrade pricing will pay $399 for the 8GB model and $499 for the 16GB model


4. All customers upgrading will be required to pay an $18 upgrade fee while new customers will pay a $36 activation fee


5. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) and $699 (16GB)

Plans have also been announced and start at $69.99 per month:

• $69.99 per month: 450 anytime minutes and 5,000 night and weekend minutes


• $89.99 per month: 900 anytime minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes


• $109.99 per month: 1350 anytime minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes


• $129.99 per month: unlimited anytime minutes

Family Plans are available as well and start at $129.99 per month for two iPhone 3G lines and include 700 shared anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. You can add additional lines at $39.99 per month (up to 3 lines) and you can get plans of up to 6000 anytime minutes for $359.99. For individuals wanting text messages, they will be charged $5 per month for 200 messages, $15 per month for 1500 messages, or $20 per month for unlimited. There’s also an unlimited FamilyTalk text messaging option for $30 per month.



If you’re a current AT&T subscriber and you’re wondering if you’re eligible for an upgrade, just log-in to your AT&T Wireless account online and in the right sidebar you’ll see a link that says “Upgrade Phones.” Click on it and then it will list out your phones and tell you if you’re upgrade eligible.

Win $75 at MoneyBites easily

MoneyBites is holding a contest through which you can earn $75 easily. Money Bites is a blog that talks about how to earn online from blogs and other sources.

The contest will end on July 15. There will be three winners. First place will get a whopping $50 through paypal. Second will get $20 and third only a little $5. Winners will be chosen using a randomizer.

One thing is for sure that MoneyBites will definately get a large amount of backlinks from various blogs through this contest!

Convert any web page into an RSS feed quickly

Feed43 is a useful service that converts any web page to RSS feed. If your favorite web site is not providing you RSS feed to keep up to date with the news, feed43 will do that for you.

Feed43 engine converts free-form HTML or XML documents to valid RSS feeds by extracting snippets of text or HTML by means of applying search patterns, and then joining these snippets together using output templates to form user-friendly content of feed's items. The principle of extracting specific data from source documents is also known as “HTML scraping”. From the website :

The procedure of setting up a feed is the following:

1. Find a web page with the content that interests you.
2. Create a new feed on our site, which points to that web page.
3. In feed parameters, define search patterns and output templates for this feed, and get the link to your feed.
4. Subscribe to this feed using your favorite feed reader (aggregator).
5. Optionally, protect your feed with password so no one could alter it.

Once the feed is set up, the service works as follows:

1. Your feed reader sends request to our server to download the feed.
2. Feed43, in it's turn, downloads the original source URL, processes it, converts to valid RSS feed on the fly, and returns it to feed reader application.
3. Feed reader displays the contents of this feed to you.

Well you don't need above service if you want to subscribe to our feed. Simply use the button provided on left pane for subscribing to Techack Blog feed.

Windows XP 23 Hidden Apps

You might be knowing about some of these hidden applications in Windows XP but definately not all of them.



To run any of these apps go to Start > Run and type the executable name :



1) Character Map = charmap.exe (very useful for finding unusual characters)



2) Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe



3) Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe (views contents of Windows clipboard)



4) Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe (Troubleshooting tool)



5) DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe (Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards)



6) Private character editor = eudcedit.exe (allows creation or modification of characters)



7) IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe (Create self-extracting / self-installing package)



8 Microsoft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe (appears to allow synchronization of files on the network for when working offline. Apparently undocumented).



9) Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe (Retro version of Media Player, very basic).



10) ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe (something to do with databases)



11) Object Packager = packager.exe (to do with packaging objects for insertion in files, appears to have comprehensive help files).



12) System Monitor = perfmon.exe (very useful, highly configurable tool, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about any aspect of PC performance, for uber-geeks only )



13) Program Manager = progman.exe (Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell).



14) Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe (documentation is virtually non-existant).



15) Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] (for hacking the Windows Registry).



16) Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe (creates shared folders on network).



17) File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe



18 Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe (I've included this for those people that lose it from the System Notification area).



19) System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe (modify System.ini & Win.ini just like in Win98! ).



20) Syskey = syskey.exe (Secures XP Account database - use with care, it's virtually undocumented but it appears to encrypt all passwords, I'm not sure of the full implications).



21) Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet.exe



22) Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe (seems to be a utility for monitoring the actions of drivers, might be useful for people having driver problems. Undocumented).



23) Windows for Workgroups Chat = winchat.exe (appears to be an old NT utility to allow chat sessions over a LAN, help files available).

Mozilla Sets World Record with Firefox 3 Downloads

 

About two weeks ago Mozilla made an attempt at a Guinness World Record shooting for the most number of downloads for an application in a 24-hour period. They managed to do it with Firefox 3, and the official number was 8,002,530 downloads! That’s about three million more than what Mozilla was hoping for. Mozilla is surely delighted over their success.





The Spread Firefox site currently says that there have been more than 28 million downloads of the open source browser, and there are 160 million active users:

Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. On June 18, 2008 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web.

Had you also participated in this world record attempt? Let us know via comments!

Tutorial: Setup an FTP Server in less than 30 Seconds

Quick ‘n Easy FTP Server Lite is an excellent small-weight utility that enables you to setup your own FTP Server within minutes.

Key features:

- Simple, intuitive and cool looking user interface, with several pages for managing the users, configuration and security.

- Easy to setup using the build-in FTP Server Setup Wizard.

- Add new user accounts with the User Account Wizard.

- Support for systems that are a part of a network with a router and/or firewall.

- Configuration is saved in XML format.

- Realtime server trace, which displays every command and it’s reply on the screen.

- Everything can also be logged to a file.



Once you get it running you’ll be greeted with a wizard to walk you through the necessary steps to complete the setup. The only thing it really asks for is a username, password, a starting directory, and permissions for your server.  After the setup is complete just press the green “Start” button located on the toolbar. This will initiate your FTP server so that you can connect to it using Windows Explorer or by using any other FTP client.



Due to its small size, you can easily carry it on a USB Drive.



Download zipped executable of Quick ‘n Easy FTP Server Lite 3.1

How to Check Email Attachment Clean or Infected with some Virus

Here are the steps to check suspicious e-mail attachments quickly:





1. Forward that email message with the file attachment intact to scan@virustotal.com (limit is 10 MB)



2. Write SCAN in the Subject field of the forwarded message and delete the full body of the message. Send the e-mail.



3. You should receive a virus report in the next few minutes.



If you have a file on the hard drive, upload that to Virustotal via web browser and wait as this free service analyzes your file using different antivirus services.



VirusTotal has been awarded by the American edition of PC World Magazine, one of the 100 best products of year 2007 in the Security Web Site category.

No more CAPTCHA in rapidshare

Rapidshare.com, the 12th most popular site [via Alexa], and the most most popular file hosting site on the planet has finally,for the goodness of the eyes of common being, bid farewell to its notorious CAPTCHA.



This news is big owing to the status of rapidshare. They say rapidshare is a goldmine if you learn to use it wisely and efficiently. Many people prefer it over torrents and p2p apps like Limewire.



Personally, I too had a tough time cracking their CAPTCHA.



Free users can now upload or download files upto 200 Mb in size. Though, they have limited the download speed for free users to 500 kilo bits/sec to compensate for the automated downloading that will result from removal of CAPTCHA. But again, they have eliminated waiting period between two downloads for free users.Though you will still have to see a 25 sec refractory period prior to every download if you are a free user.



Premium users can now download upto 10 GB/day[w.e.f. 26 June,2008]. If they are unable to use their allowed usage, their remaining usage is carried forward to the next day, the maximum accumulation limit being 50 Gbs.

RapidShare Happy Hours – No Waiting Time, No CAPTCHAs

Recently, Rapidshare has introduced its Happy Hours. If you find it tough to solve the complex Cat CAPTCHA images in RapidShare or need to download multiple files in one session, try postponing your downloads until the happy hour is active.



RapidShare activates their ‘happy hour’ for 18 consecutive hours on weekdays and for 14 hours on weekends starting at midnight British Summer time (UTC+1) or 5:30 AM if you’re in India.



You can use few firefox extension that will check whether Rapidshare Happy Hours are currently active or not. One of them is called Happychecker



Firefox users Download Happychecker

Last day for Bill Gates at microsoft today

Today is the day that Bill Gates walks away from his roll at Microsoft to move on to his philanthropic work. After 30 years, his final day at the company he founded is here.

Once his day is over, he’ll be spending the evening with all of his pals from Microsoft who will be celebrating his work and time at the company at a gala dinner. The three men that have already taken over his various roles include Steve Ballmer (CEO), Ray Ozzie (Chief Software Architect), and Craig Mundie (chief research and strategy officer).

How will be Microsoft without this idol?