Alternative Search Engines That Find What Google Can’t

Kabir Chauhan has made a nice post mentioning 13 alternative Search Engines that can find information more efficiently than Google. Google  has become the standard search engine of virtually every web user today. In fact “to Google” is pretty much synonymous with “to search”. But that certainly doesn’t mean that other search engines can’t do a decent, if not better, job and this list has been compiled for just this reason.

The three genres or categories are:

• Music & Video
• Files & Others
• Recipes & Cooking

Read the full post here

Download Windows 7 IT Pro Guides

Windows 7 IT Pro Guides is now available for download. These documents include:

1) A What’s New in Windows 7 Guide, covering many new and changed Windows 7 features of interest to IT professionals, including DirectAccess, BranchCache and other networking technologies, VHD boot and other deployment technologies, and AppLocker, Biometrics, and other security technologies


2) A Windows 7 Manageability Overview Guide, covering the manageability improvements that can reduce total cost of ownership by helping to increase automation, improve user productivity, and provide flexible administrative control to meet compliance requirements.management technologies.

Download Windows 7 IT Pro Guides [<1 MB]

Download all Vodafone Zoozoo Ads

Zoozoo ads have become really popular here in India. Such is the craze with Zoozoo that Vodafone ads are among the most watched videos on YouTube  and there are over 50,000 Zoozoo fans on Facebook.

Vodafone has an IPL microsite for quizzes and contests where one can know the kind of Zoozoo he or she is as each Zoozoo character has a unique set of characteristics and traits allotted to it. Fans may also download wallpapers and screensavers from the Zoozoo microsite.

Here is a link to download 24 Vodafone Zoozoo ads

Download all Vodafone Zoozoo Ads

Enable Equalizer in Windows Media Player 12

Windows 7 Beta or RC release come preloaded with Windows Media Player 12. Windows Media Player 12 has an enhanced graphical user interface and comes with some more built-in codecs. If you try it out in detail, you will notice that the equalizer and other enhancements settings have been repositioned.

1. Open Windows Media Player 12 in Library View (Default View).
2. Press Alt to get the menu, and navigate to View > Skin Chooser.
3. Select ‘Revert’ skin from the skins list (left side) and press the “Apply Button” button.
4. You can now see the “Graphic Equalizer” button at the bottom right of the skinned WMP12.
5. Set the default equalizer options to whatever you like.
6. In the Skin mode, just go to View-> Enhancements to get the enhancements.

Download Windows 7 RC

Windows 7 RC is finally available for download from official Microsoft website for free. Though you can freely use Windows 7 RC (Release candidate) till March 1 2010. This gives users enough time to test drive Windows 7, which is surely looked forward to as a good Vista Replacement.

Minimum system requirements

• 1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 16GB of disk space (or 20GB for 64-bit users)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

If you want to run the Window XP mode in Windows 7, Microsoft recommends a PC with a minimum of 2GB of memory and 15 GB of additional disk space.

Download Windows 7 RC

Track H1N1 Swine Flu global spread

Swine Flu refers to influenza caused by those strains of influenza virus that usually infect pigs and are called swine influenza virus (SIV). Swine influenza is common in pigs in the midwestern United States, Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe (including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy), Kenya. Swine Flu outbreak is still not epidemic but its on high alert. Here are some ways to track H1N1 Swine Flu:

Google Maps

Google Maps is one of the best methods to track Swine Flu. It gets updated quite frequently. Purple marker is confirmed or probable, Pink marker is suspect, Yellow marker is negative, Fatal cases have no dot.

Google Earth

You can save the above Google maps of Swine flu as KML and then watch it on Google Earth. Visit this forum for the instructions.

Health Map

Health Map is quite similar to Google Maps but gives you latest alerts, health index level etc.  Visit the map for Swine Flu on Health Map.

Lock Windows Applications with Applocker

There are already many programs like TrueCrypt, Folder Lock etc. that allows you to lock a particular folder / volume but Applockwe is s a free Windows Locking software using which you can lock your Applications quickly to prevent access to it. If your system is being used by many people and there are a few software which you don’t want them or your kids to use, you can easily lock them using this utility. Once a program is locked, it cannot be executed and an error message is displayed.

The interface includes a few basic windows applications which you can lock like Paint, notepad, Calculator etc. To add more application, click on the ‘Configure’ button and add the Caption and the executable name. The program will then be added to the list. You can also edit and delete applications from the list or unlock and lock all applications.

Download AppLocker 1.1

Windows 7 release date leaked October 2009

Windows 7 Beta was released in February 2009, and the next step in the testing programme will be the launch of the Windows 7 Release Candidate on May 5th 2009.

The Acer Aspire Z5600 PC will come loaded with Windows 7. Acer Aspire Z5600 PC is an all-in-one entertainment PC with a 24" touch-screen display, built-in TV tuner card, Blu-ray recorder and a 2 TB hard drive. An Acer UK executive has confirmed the official release date of Windows 7 saying that the Z5600 PC pre-loaded with Windows 7 will become available on October 23, 2009.

Also, if you buy a Windows Vista machine in the 30 days prior to the launch of Windows 7, you’ll be eligible for a free upgrade from Vista to Windows 7.