Transform your XP into Leopard!

Sooo what's that? A screenshot of my Mac? Nope! It's a screenshot of my XP  which is using the Leopard theme!
I have a few friends who just cannot switch to operating systems. "It's so beautiful and elegant" they say. That's true. And I do have some friends who still stick with the good old XP for many reasons. This post is for all the XP users who are bored with the XP themes. And I also dedicate this post to one
special friend of mine who wants to use Mac (for its interface) but doesn't have one.
Well, there are ways to install a Mac OS X on PC but it's illegal and the steps are a bit complicated and I don't think it makes any sense because as
an operating system, Windows is a little ahead.
Now let us come back to the topic. There's a free tool pack called LeopardXP BricoPack that can be used to give your XP a Mac OSX Leopard look. 
It offers a complete visual transformation. Not just the wallpaper and the icons will be changed. It looks exactly like Leopard. It's so complete that it looks exactly like Leopard. Even the Window controls are moved to the left! The Dock is also there.I have added a slideshow of screenshots. Watch it and decide whether you need it or not. It's absolutely wonderful.

If you think you need it, all you have to do is download it from here and just install it. It's very easy.
Enjoy!

Play games without a disk using Daemon tools lite

Many of the games that we use today need the game cd/dvd to be inserted during gameplay. It is very annoying especially if you play the game frequently. And there's a good chance of your disk getting damaged due to frequent use. There's another technical non compatibility here. The game is installed into your hard disk and it uses the cd/dvd for getting additional data during gameplay.The hard drive is much faster than your optical drive. So the game might run slowly.

There are ways to get around this problem. If we create a false/virtual optical drive and mount the game cd/dvd 's image onto that, then the system would think that it's a real optical drive with the game cd/dvd in it! So how do we emulate a drive? You need software to create a virtual drive and image file. Most of them are expensive. But there's an inexpensive option :Daemon tools lite. The lite version is free for personal and non commercial use.

Step by step instructions

1.Download Daemon tools lite from here

Daemon tools tray icon

2.Install it (don't forget to choose the free license option while installing) and reboot the machine.

After the reboot, the software will launch itself and create a new virtual drive which you can see in 'My Computer'. A tray icon will also be there.

3.Now insert the game cd/dvd, then right click on the daemon tools tray icon and click on 'Disk Imaging'.

4.The 'Disk Imaging' window will appear. Select the drive into which the disk is inserted and choose a reading speed. Reading at low speeds is better and safer.

5.You can change the destination of the saved image file if you want by clicking the button next to the file path. There's no need to change the image format. Many users are not familiar with the MDX format. But actually it is a very good one.

6.Leave the checkboxes the way they are (1,2 and 3 selected). But if you want to prevent somebody from using the image file (kind of parental control), you can add a password by selecting the 4th box.

7.Click start and close the window after the image creation.

8.Now to mount the image right click on the tray icon->go to image catalog->choose your image file.

Now the image will be loaded to the virtual drive and you are all set to go. Start the game and enjoy.

9.To unmount the drive, right click on tray icon->Virtual Devices->select your virtual drive->unmount image.

It is better to prevent daemon tools from starting with windows as it may slow down your system. To do that, r.click on the tray icon->preferences->uncheck 'Autostart'->Apply->Close.

Virtual drives can be used for many purposes other than gaming. And image file creation can be used as a method to backup your old disks.
If you enable compression, you can save disk space too. It compressed my 679 MB CD into a 413 MB MDX image file.
Have fun!

How to find the best motherboard that suits you..... A guide on motherboard and its various parts.

I promised to write a post on motherboards in one of my previous posts. So here it is… After reading this post, you will get a fair idea about the motherboard and its various components.
Before you buy a motherboard, you should decide which cpu you’re going to buy.

The Socket
The socket on the motherboard supports the cpu. Intel and AMD use different types of sockets. Intel uses Land Grid Array (LGA) and AMD uses Pin Grid Array (PGA).
Socket 775 and socket 1156 are the most common sockets for Intel processors (as of now). Socket 1156 is the latest one which offers support to the Core series (i3,i5,i7) processors.
Socket AM2+ and AM3 are the common AMD sockets. AM3 is the latest model that offers support to CPUs like Phenom II.

Bus Speed
The Front Side Bus (FSB) is a system that connects the cpu to the northbridge. The northbridge contacts the memory (RAM) and other components and passes the data to the cpu. The speed of the FSB plays a very important role in the overall performance of a computer. So choose a motherboard with a high speed FSB. This will enable you to install a faster cpu in the future, if needed. Overclocking is another advantage which I’m not going to cover here.

The Chipset
The north-bridge and the south-bridge together constitute the chipset. The

north-bridge is the more important component as it is more involved with the cpu. The chipset plays a major role in the graphics performance of machines without graphics cards, as it accommodates the IGP (integrated/onboard graphics processor). Other functions include memory controller (regulates communication between the CPU and RAM), graphics controller (handles communication between graphics card and CPU), onboard audio etc. So try to buy a motherboard that has a good chipset. Go to a manufacturer’s website and you will be able to find the chipset that suits your needs.
Most part of the above paragraph doesn’t hold true for the high end models of core series CPUs from Intel (i series). The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), memory controller and the graphics controller are integrated the to CPU’s die itself!
AMD had moved the memory controller to the cpu die a long time ago. But nothing much has happened since.

Memory Slots
It is into the memory slot that you insert the RAM. DDR, DDR2 and DDR 3 are the three types of RAM that are in use today and DDR3 is the fastest of them all. The type of RAM which the motherboard uses will be specified in the manual itself. A slot can accept only one type of RAM. Always go for the motherboard that supports the latest RAM module. No. of slots and max. memory support are the two other factors. That is not very relevant for a desktop user as most of the boards these days have at least 4 slots and can support a minimum of 4 GB which is more than enough. If you’re a pro. gamer or somebody who frequently uses memory intensive programs, you may consider these 2 factors also.

Peripheral Interfaces
As you know, all the peripherals of a computer are connected to

the motherboard. There are ports inside and outside the motherboard to which we connect the peripherals. Different types of ports are described below:

IDE port    : predecessor of SATA port. Used for connecting optical drives,HDD.

SATA port: a lot quicker than PATA. Used in all modern systems.

FDD port  : Floppy disk drives are not used anymore (normally) but many motherboards still come with an FDD port. Maybe for advanced users. But even bios flashing is too easy these days so you need not worry about it.

USB port    : Generally used for connecting external devices viz. pen drives, external hdd, printers to the pc. USB 3.0 is the latest . Make sure that you buy a board that supports USB 3.0. It’s about 10x faster than USB 2.0.       

FireWire port: Very similar to USB, but offers better speed (not on paper but in reality) and networking capabilities. Almost all the modern motherboards come with a firewire (IEEE 1394) port.

Other ones like parallel port, serial port etc are standard across all motherboards.


Expansion slots
These are the array of slots located on the south and central part of the board. You will generally

see only 3 types of expansion slots theses days : PCI, PCI x1 express and PCI x16 express slots. The PCI slot houses devices like LAN card, sound card etc., the PCI x1 express is not commonly used. Certain TV tuner cards and graphics use it. PCI x16 express slot is used by graphics cards. Make sure that you have at least two PCI slots and one PCI x16 express slot on your motherboard.

Manufacturer’s reputation
It’s always better to buy a crucial component like motherboard from a reputed manufacturer. Reliability and post sales service are the major reasons. Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI and Intel are some of the leading manufacturers. If you ask me, I will always recommend Gigabyte motherboards. They often add useful features to their motherboard. It is also the most stable motherboard out there.

Final words
Hope that I managed to cover almost all the factors you need to consider while buying a motherboard. A good motherboard alone cannot make a super fast system. It’s a combined work. CPU, RAM and Hard Disk are the three other important members of the network. Make sure that the other three are also in good condition.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta Review

Even though the arrival of Firefox and Chrome did a lot of damage to its reputation and popularity Internet Explorer has remained one of the most widely used web browser (simply because it is bundled with all versions of Windows). It was slow, ugly and was flooded with virus attacks. People were eagerly waiting for a better, safer option. That’s when Firefox was launched. It became very popular immediately and by 2008, about 20% percent of all the users switched to Firefox. Most people who stuck with Internet Explorer were ignorant about it. Later Google Chrome came out adding fuel to fire. I’ve seen web browser comparison charts without Internet Explorer. And some included it in the charts just to show how good the others are.
But Microsoft will not give up easily. Now they’ve come up with a NEW Internet Explorer. ‘Unleash a more beautiful web’. That’s what Microsoft has to say about the new IE 9.  I downloaded and installed it a few days after its launch.
As I launched the beta for the first time, I was welcomed by the addons -performance advisor which identifies addons that may be slowing down the browser and gives you the information you need to disable or fix it, directly from the Notification Bar itself. I disabled all of’em.
The new Internet Explorer is entirely different from the older versions which we are familiar with. The first thing you will notice is the absence of those old fashion menu bar and things like that on top of the window. The address bar and the search bar have now combined to form the ‘One Box’. So you'll only see what's essential to your browsing experience. I think MS took a few leaves out of Chrome’s book. The interface looks very good. The new IE responds a lot quicker than the previous ones and it also loads pages very quickly. Maybe not as quick as Chrome but still very fast. Tear Off Tabs is a feature in IE 9 that facilitates side by side comparison of two pages when needed. I found this very useful. Internet Explorer 9 has an integrated download manager and if you’re on Windows 7, you can pin websites to the taskbar for easy access.

Security and Reliability

They’ve improved the Smart Screen  Filter which is a security feature that protects you from phishing and malware.And most importantly it shows us warnings only based on the reputation of the files that we download. It is a very useful feature because IE was very annoying in the past, asking for a 1000 permissions to download a file. It offers private browsing which Firefox introduced a century ago. But still I’m happy to see that. Another feature they seem to have adopted from Chrome is tab isolation. With tab isolation, website crashes are isolated to individual tabs, not entire browser windows. If a site crashes on one tab, the rest of the browsing session isn't interrupted; instead, you keep browsing, undisturbed.

What’s advanced?
Internet Explorer 9 uses the Chakra Javascript engine.A distinctive feature of the engine is that it compiles scripts on a separate CPU core, parallel to the web browser. The engine will also be able to access the computer's graphics processing unit (GPU), in particular for 3D graphics and video.
Internet Explorer 9 introduces support for modern web standards, including:

• CSS3
• HTML5
• SVG
• ICC Color Profiles
• DOM L2 and L3
• ECMAScript5

Some cons

• It doesn’t run on XP. Only Vista and 7 are supported.
• It’s difficult to know whether the page is loading or not. The only indicator is the spinner on the left corner of the tab which is useless at certain situations.
• Not as quick as the competitors at times.
• Nothing very special in it to bring back the users who migrated to FF and Chrome (but a lot of reasons to stick with it :) ).
• Tabs are crammed.

With about 2 million downloads in just 2 days, it is proving to be a very good start for Internet Explorer 9. And this is just the beta version. I expect something even better from Microsoft in the near future.
Download
Download Internet Explorer 9 Beta from here 
Benchmark Results
Acid3 Test
1.Google Chrome
2.Internet Explorer 9 beta
3.Mozilla Firefox

SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark

1.Google Chrome
2.Internet Explorer 9 beta
3.Mozilla Firefox

The HTML5 test

1.Google Chrome
2.Mozilla Firefox
3.Internet Explorer 9 beta

 

PCLinuxOS - “The user friendly Linux”

The lack of user-friendliness of Linux has always been an issue that kept the common man away from it. The most common distros like Ubuntu,Debian are not user friendly at all. They makeup for it in other departments but one cant recommend it for newbies. The introduction of KDE solved the issue somewhat but many people still found it difficult to use and it had many stability issues too.

 

I found the PCLinuxOS (KDE) during my search for a user-friendly Linux distribution. I initially tested it on a virtual machine. I was very impressed by its looks and feel and I installed it onto my hard drive for further inspection. Officially forked from Mandriva Linux, this distro is a boon for newbies and the less geeky friends. It is just a matter of getting used with the interface. The interface is neat and good looking. All the primary apps except OpenOffice package (maybe due to its large size) are built into the OS. It works like Linux but feels like Windows and I didn’t experience any stability issues. If you’re new to the computer world or you want to try Linux for the first time, then this is the distro for you. When compared to most other distros, this one is much easier to use and understand. The installation procesure is easy and it can be tweaked according to your needs without entering a 1000 commands. I tried to alter a few basic settings and I could do it very easily. I couldn’t find anything complicated at the basic level. Of course it’s a Linux distro and you will face problems as you dig deep into it :-).

It comes with a good package of apps for the desktop user. Internet apps far outnumber the others in the main menu. They seem to be well aware of the needs of a desktop user. OpenOffice is a big package and it is more than one fifth the size of the OS image itself. That’s probably why they left it behind.

Mint is another distro popular for its friendly interface. It is based on Ubuntu and Debian (hence uses deb format whereas PCLOS uses rpm.the format has nothing to do with performance though) which makes it even more attractive. But in my opinion PCLOS is easier to configure and use. There are people who think otherwise.

You may give both the distros a try on a virtual machine and choose the one that suits you. If you don’t have time and energy for all that take my word and install PCLOS. It’s a decision you will never regret. All my geek friends have only good things to say about PCLOS. They cant be wrong.

 

Integrate Wikipedia To Google Search

Googlepedia is an extension for firefox and chrome that can dramatically change your searching experience. It displays the relevant Wikipedia article along with your search results on google. The search page will be divided into two equal parts. One portion shows the search results and the relevant Wikipedia article is shown on the other. You can expand or shrink the article as you wish. Clicking the links in the Wikipedia article will trigger new Google searches, so you can dig deep into the topic. But you should always use the built in search box in Firefox(located at the top) and the omnibox in chrome (the combined search and address bar ie. the address bar itself) to get the results in this manner. I highly recommend this extension as all it does is place a very relevant Wikipedia article in place of those boring Google adwords.:)

The complete list of features are below

* Turns internal Wikipedia links into Google search links
* Uses Google's I'm Feeling Lucky(tm) feature to find relevant articles
* Links images directly to their full-sized versions
* Removes Google AdWords
* Can be expanded to take the full width of the page
* Uses your local language Wikipedia based on the Google language
* Hide button to disable Googlepedia
* NEW Firefox 3 support

Download

Googlepedia for Firefox

Googlepedia for Chrome

Browse websites offline using HTTrack

here are many websites that we regularly visit to get some already added data. You might not have the time to read all the articles at once. Or you might not be able to access the internet whenever you want. Saving every page on the website separately is both difficult and inconvenient. But a software called HTTrack can help you. HTTrack is a free  and easy-to-use offline browser utility. It downloads the website completely to your hard disk. Later you can surf the site offline as if you’re online just by opening the page on your browser. You can access the website from anywhere. It downloads everything including html, images etc from the target site. HTTrack can also update an existing mirrored site, and resume interrupted downloads. HTTrack is fully configurable, and has an integrated help system.


And this software can be used as a backup tool also. If you’re a webmaster, you can simply use this software to download all the data from the server to your hard disk. So even if something goes wrong, you will be able to redo what you did in just a few minutes!

How to shorten a URL???

Very often we struggle with long URLs. They are not email  or chatbox friendly, and it is impossible to remember them. There’s a very simple method to shorten URLs. Just go to a URL shortener website and enter the URL. It will give back a short URL without any delay.

http://ow.ly/1RhXb This is the shortened URL of this blog created using ow.ly

The shortened URL I created may not be the easiest to remember but it is useful. Most of these websites nowadays allow us to create customized, short URLs. tiny.cc is one of them. Here is the one I created for my blog : http://tiny.cc/princeofheartz       It is easy to remember this URL.

notlong.com is another url shortener.

 

But there’s a problem with these shortened URLs. How can the others trust your link? Especially if you post it in a blog or email. The user is straightaway directed to the site as he clicks the link. They wont know where the shortened URL is going to take them. This is actually a big problem. I use shorturl.com and I only post the preview URL which they provide so that they wont go directly to the real site. So regular visitors will follow the link without any worry. They also provide a free custom subdomain service.

 

Note: There’s no need to use this service every time you see a slightly long URL. Use them to shorten something like

 

http://techwizardonline.blogspot.com/2010/05/download-videos-and-images-in-simplest.html 

 

to  http://preview.alturl.com/4rj5 or http://alturl.com/4rj5 or http://videotutor.notlong.com

Google Chrome now for Linux and Mac

After a loong effort, Google has now released the first stable version of the Chrome browser for Linux and Mac.

The stable release comes with a host of new features. You’ll be able to synchronize not only bookmarks across multiple computers, but also browser preferences -- including themes, homepage and startup settings, web content settings, preferred languages, and even page zoom settings. Meanwhile, for avid extensions users, you can enable each extension to work in incognito mode through the extensions manager. HTML5 support has improved. And this is also the fastest Chrome ever. New features+speed! That’s a rare occurrence.

Another good news for Chrome fans: They’re planning to integrate Flash Player to the Chrome browser. This feature will hopefully be added to Chrome with the release of Flash Player v.10.1 So, there will be no need to install Flash Player separately.

Download Links

Google chrome for Windows

Google chrome for Linux

Google chrome for Mac

 

Linux applications that run on Windows

I recently came to know that many people setup Linux on their PC just to run some basic applications. Many institutions now use Linux as a part of cost cutting. The employees and students don’t really like it. But they are forced to use it and they often get entangled in the mysterious loops inside Linux.

Actually UNIX is user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are. :P

It is OK if you use it in your institution. But is there a need to setup Linux in your PC itself for doing work/learning at home? Thankfully, many of these apps are now available for Windows also. You can download and install them very easily on your Windows PC.

 

Some of the widely used general purpose apps in Linux are given below:

 

Gimp: It is an Image Manipulation Program. Used for retouching photos, creating logos etc. Widely used by students

 

OpenOffice: A Linux alternative for the MS Office Package. Many people find it very useful. Infact it is the most used.

 

Blender : Blender is a free open source 3D content creation suite. Very very famous.

 

Lyx: It is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG).

 

VLC Player: I think Windows users are more familiar with this software. Very famous video player. :-D

 

Tuxpaint: Used by kids/students. But it found a place in the widely used apps list.

 

Avidemux: A very famous video editing software. Not very user friendly. Just like the Linux OS itself.

 

Amarok : An audio player. There are better alternatives. But I added it because of its popularity.

 

All these applications(there are much more) can be downloaded separately for the Windows platform. Click on the app name and you will be taken away to the respective websites.

 

And there are people who use other KDE tools in Linux. KDE is now available for Windows. The latest stable version is 4.4.0. It is still in its early days but I tested it and it worked very smoothly. I only downloaded a few apps. But almost all KDE apps can be downloaded. Some screenshots are added in the album below.For more info regarding KDE for Windows and its installation, visit http://windows.kde.org

 

View Full Album

 

 

Of course advanced users may use Linux because there these apps will be more stable and there are many other Linux features that they can exploit. But for all day to day uses of an average user, this method is better. I strongly recommend all of you to try Linux (not as a replacement for Windows), but only after learning its strengths and weaknesses. As I said, using it for running a few apps is like using a super computer for basic calculations.

Google Introduces Encrypted Search

Today, whatever we do on the internet is virtually visible to anyone.

Questions have been raised against the heavyweights like Facebook and Google about the privacy of their users. Even though it was known to many, serious discussions about this issue have taken place only in the recent past.

Issues like these tarnished Google’s reputation.

So they came up with a new idea: Encrypted Search!

According to Google:

With Google search over SSL, you can have an end-to-end encrypted search solution between your computer and Google. This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party. This provides you with a more secure and private search experience.

This is a beta product so it is NOT ON by default. To use this service, go to https://www.google.com (instead of http it is https). But services like Image search, maps etc are not available. Try it!

Download videos and images in the simplest way

I know that this is not the first time you are reading an article with a similar heading… Most of them are useful for downloading Youtube videos only. Click a link on the article and you will be directed to the page of some snake oil downloader software or to some snake oil download websites.


I’m not saying that this is a perfect article but I’m gonna tell you my way of doing it using a tiny addon. Using this trick you can download videos virtually from any website.


I assume that you’re already using Mozilla Firefox if you’re not, download it from here. I’m not asking you to download it for the sake of trying this tip but because it is undoubtedly the best web browser out there right now. OK. So let’s move on.
Now open Firefox and go https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006/


You’re now on the download page of DownloadHelper, a tiny addon for Firefox. Now click on add to firefox button, click allow(pop up), click install and then restart firefox. Done!













You will be able to see a new icon in the Navigation Toolbar.

When DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item. When you are on a page containing links to images or movies, you can download some or all of them at once.
The latest version allows you to convert the downloaded movies to other file formats. The conversion process is explained in detail here.
It has got some other useful functions too and advanced users can access them by right clicking the addon icon. For me this is the most convenient and reliable way to download videos and images. Plus you get a video converter for day to day use. You cant ask for anything better.
NOTE:The author cannot be held responsible for any issues associated with copyright.

Khobe 8.0 vulenerabilty: The reality

Technorati Tags: News,Security

Most people believe that after installing a popular security suite their system is safe from viruses. Well the fact is that you are NEVER protected from viruses. According to the tests conducted by Matousec most or all of the leading security suites that we use today are vulnerable. The article describes how the argument switch attack can be used to get around those security products that use hooking in SSDT(System Service Descriptor Table) or kernel patcher. Software that do not use this technique can't be attacked using this method. I know what is going through your mind. "I'm using a reputed security suite. So they shouldn't be using such stupid techniques. So I shouldn't worry about it." In a way you are right (I will explain why later)
Here is the list of programs they published:

Product name and version
Result
3D EQSecure Professional Edition 4.2
VULNERABLE
avast! Internet Security 5.0.462
VULNERABLE
AVG Internet Security 9.0.791
VULNERABLE
Avira Premium Security Suite 10.0.0.536
VULNERABLE
BitDefender Total Security 2010 13.0.20.347
VULNERABLE
Blink Professional 4.6.1
VULNERABLE
CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 6.0.0.272
VULNERABLE
Comodo Internet Security Free 4.0.138377.779
VULNERABLE
DefenseWall Personal Firewall 3.00
VULNERABLE
Dr.Web Security Space Pro 6.0.0.03100
VULNERABLE
ESET Smart Security 4.2.35.3
VULNERABLE
F-Secure Internet Security 2010 10.00 build 246
VULNERABLE
G DATA TotalCare 2010
VULNERABLE
Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 9.0.0.736
VULNERABLE
KingSoft Personal Firewall 9 Plus 2009.05.07.70
VULNERABLE
Malware Defender 2.6.0
VULNERABLE
McAfee Total Protection 2010 10.0.580
VULNERABLE
Norman Security Suite PRO 8.0
VULNERABLE
Norton Internet Security 2010 17.5.0.127
VULNERABLE
Online Armor Premium 4.0.0.35
VULNERABLE
Online Solutions Security Suite 1.5.14905.0
VULNERABLE
Outpost Security Suite Pro 6.7.3.3063.452.0726
VULNERABLE
Outpost Security Suite Pro 7.0.3330.505.1221 BETA VERSION
VULNERABLE
Panda Internet Security 2010 15.01.00
VULNERABLE
PC Tools Firewall Plus 6.0.0.88
VULNERABLE
Prevx 3.0.5.143
VULNERABLE
PrivateFirewall 7.0.20.37
VULNERABLE
Security Shield 2010 13.0.16.313
VULNERABLE
Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 9.0.5
VULNERABLE
ThreatFire 4.7.0.17
VULNERABLE
Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010 17.50.1647.0000
VULNERABLE
Vba32 Personal 3.12.12.4
VULNERABLE
VIPRE Antivirus Premium 4.0.3272
VULNERABLE
VirusBuster Internet Security Suite 3.2
VULNERABLE
Webroot Internet Security Essentials 6.1.0.145
VULNERABLE
ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 9.1.507.000
VULNERABLE


I bet 9/10 people must be using one of these products. It definitely is a shocking discovery! read the complete article here
well that is not the end of the story! After reading that article, you might think that your pc will be flooded with viruses when you wake up tomorrow. naaaay never :D... Sophos have already given a strong reply to this article and Paul Ducklin explains things in detail on his blog . He says the khobe code is never a headache for them because Sophos's on-access anti-virus scanner doesn't use SSDT hooks. He also said that the claims that it "bypasses virtually all anti-virus software" is scaremongering.

Graham Cluley is another sophos expert who in his blog said: "What Matousec describes is a way of "doing something extra" if the bad guys' malicious code manages to get past your anti-virus software in the first place."

I think you are really confused right now.
As far as I'm concerned, this is not an emergency situation but definitely a wakeup call. These revelations conclude that viruses are still in with a chance of getting into our machines and we HAVE TO BE CAREFUL with everything that we do on the net.

Edit: Here's the response from ESET, my favourite.

Get Error Code Meaning Using ErrMsg

We often see dialogue boxes with some error code (usually when we do something wrong) while using Windows . Even the experts sometimes fail to understand what they mean. It is not practical to google or search a tech dictionary every time we see an error code. So what do we do? FavesSoft has developed an application called ErrMsg which explains the error code that we enter. It is a small but extremely useful tool. I just entered the error code 23 which stands for CRC error and I got the result immediately and accurately.





It can be downloaded from this page: http://www.favessoft.com/downloads.html

The author has developed some very useful utilities.

So from now on don't raise your eyebrows when you see those error codes popping out. :D

Have fun!

Changing the default installation directory

In windows, all the programs are installed into the C:\Program Files directory by default. I don't like it because I always install software to another volume. Filling the C drive with files can cause problems and I use that partition for so many other purposes also.

Today you will learn to change the default installation directory so that you wont have to change the path manually. First open registry editor by typing regedit in the run box (in XP) or by doing the same in the search box in Windows 7 start menu. Then, navigate to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Find the key named ProgramFilesDir. By default, this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value by double clicking on it. Close the editor and reboot your PC.

Change folder background in Windows XP

Here is an interesting and funny trick to change the background image of folders in Windows XP. It is an old trick but still many people don't know about it.

Note: this trick will not work in Windows 7.

First open notepad and copy the following code:

[ExtShellFolderViews]
BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC=BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC
[BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC]
IconArea_Image=Image Location

Now replace the Image Location to the path of the image. For eg F:\Images\Image1.jpg

Then save the file with name "Desktop.ini" and copy the file to the desired location.

Done! Now reopen the folder and you will see the background image .

Regards,
Prince

Computer Maintenance

Hi!
You may not realize it, but your computer and your car have something in common: they both need regular maintenance. No, you don't need to change your computer's oil. But you should be updating your software, keeping your antivirus subscription up to date, and checking for spyware. Read on to learn what you can do to help improve your computer's security.


Getting started

Here are some basics maintenance tasks you can do today to start improving your computer's security. Be sure you make these part of your ongoing maintenance as well.

* Sign up for software update e-mail notices. Many software companies will send you e-mail whenever a software update is available. This is particularly important for your operating system (e.g., Microsoft VV!|VD0VV$® or Macintosh), your antivirus program, and your firewall.
* Register your software. If you still have registration forms for existing software, send them in. And be sure to register new software in the future. This is another way for the software manufacturer to alert you when new updates are available.
* Install software updates immediately.
When you get an update notice, download the update immediately and install it. (Remember, downloading and installing are two separate tasks.)
An ounce of prevention

A few simple steps will help you keep your files safe and clean.

* Step 1: Update your software
* Step 2: Backup your files
* Step 3: Use antivirus software and keep it updated
* Step 4: Change your passwords


Developing ongoing maintenance practices

Now that you've done some ground work, it's time to start moving into longer term maintenance tasks. These are all tasks that you should do today (or as soon as possible) to get started. But for best results, make these a part of a regular maintenance schedule. We recommend setting aside time each week to help keep your computer secure.

* Back up your files. Backing up your files simply means creating a copy of your computer files that you can use in the event the originals are lost. (Accidents can happen.) To learn more read our tips for backing up information.


* Scan your files with up to date antivirus software. Use your antivirus scan tool regularly to search for potential computer viruses and worms. Also, check your antivirus program's user manual to see if you can schedule an automatic scan of your computer. To learn more, read our tips for reducing your virus risk
.
* Change your passwords. Using the same password increases the odds that someone else will discover it. Change all of your passwords regularly (we recommend monthly) to reduce your risk. Also, choose your passwords carefully. To learn more, read our tips for creating stronger passwords.

Making a schedule

One of the best ways to help protect your computer is to perform maintenance regularly. To help you keep track, we suggest making a regular "appointment" with your computer. Treat it like you would any other appointment. Record it in your datebook or online calendar, and if you cannot make it, reschedule. Remember, you are not only helping to improve your computer, you are also helping to protect your personal information.

Prince.

Speedup Mozilla Firefox significantly!

In this trick we will be entering the advanced settings page of MF and let me tell you that these settings are case sensitive. Make a mistake and you might regret. So follow the steps carefully. This trick is only recommended for broadband users because most of the steps are beneficial to them only.

First of all, type “about:config” in the address bar and press enter. Now you're in the advanced settings page.

Double Click on the following settings and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans, they will change when you double click.

network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true

Now, right click somewhere on the page and go to New->Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”

That's it! Now watch it flyin...

Prince

Microsoft acts to avoid Windows bluescreen .............. repeat.

Microsoft took steps Tuesday to avoid repeating the debacle two months ago that left Windows XP users staring at the notorious "Blue Screen of Death" error message after they applied a patch.

In February, a security update that fixed two flaws in the Windows kernel -- the operating system's most important component -- wreaked havoc when it was applied by users, who almost immediately flooded Microsoft's support forum with reports of crippled computers.

As the number of reports grew, Microsoft first stopped automatically serving the MS10-015 update, then confirmed that a rootkit caused the crashes. Only PCs that had been previously infected with the Alureon rootkit were incapacitated, Microsoft's investigation found.

Microsoft restarted distribution of the update only after it had come up with a way to block rootkit-infected PCs from receiving the patches. "If detection logic included in Automatic Update discovers abnormal conditions in certain operating system file configurations, the update will fail and customers will be presented with an error message that offers alternative support options," said Jerry Bryant, general manager with the Microsoft Security Response Team, in early March.

MS10-021, one of the 11 updates issued yesterday as part of Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday cycle, also fixed flaws in the Windows kernel. But Microsoft is hoping that this month's update won't trigger a repeat Blue Screen of Death.

"This security update includes package detection logic that prevents the installation of the security update if certain abnormal conditions exist on 32-bit systems," stated the MS10-021 bulletin. "These abnormal conditions on a system could be the result of an infection with a computer virus that modifies some operating system files, which renders the infected computer incompatible with the kernel update."

One security expert applauded the move.

"I give Microsoft a big tip of the hat for not taking [the February incident] as a one-off," said Jason Miller, data and security team manager at network compliance and security vendor Shavlik Technologies. "The kernel is something that if something goes bad, that's not good. Patching the kernel is not like patching a media player."

Microsoft obviously learned a lesson. Even though the February update crashed a relatively small number of PCs, the problem actually affected many more, he argued. "It may have affected just a few people, but it scared almost everyone into not patching," Miller said.

News source: Computer World

Repair Windows 7 & Vista with FixWin Utility

FixWin is a 529 KB freeware portable application to repair & fix common Windows annoyances & issues. FixWin detects whether you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista installed and accordingly offers you the relevant fixes only.

The solutions to repair and fix 50 common Windows annoyances, issues & problems have been categorized under 5 tabs, viz : Windows Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, Windows Media, System Tools & Misc Additional Fixes.

It has been tested on Windows 7 & Vista, 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

I first suggest that you run the System File Checker Utility.

Next I urge you to create a System Restore Point.

Having done that, apply at most one fix at a time and restart your computer.







Source:The Windows Club

Ultimate Control Center In Windows 7

Here’s a very interesting tip for Widnows 7 users. There’s a way to manage your settings instead of launching the Control Panel.

You can access it by simply creating and opening a folder! That’s cool… isn’t it?

First create a new folder and name it ‘anywordyoulike’.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and hit enter.

I named it ‘Ultimate Control Center.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}’

Open the folder and you will see all the different settings on your computer. The folder you just created acts as shortcut to those settings. I find it very useful and I’m sure that you will like it too.

Regards,

Prince

Burn ISO images instantly in Windows 7

They have made it easier to burn ISO images in Windows 7 by natively supporting the ability to burn ISO images directly within Windows without the need of a third party tool. None of the previous versions of Windows had this feature.

All you have to do is just right click on the image file and choose ‘Burn disk image’. This will launch the Windows Disc Image Burner. It is a very useful and simple tool. This tool is intended for newbies.

But if you are an advanced user and need more options, you should go for programs like ImgBurn.

Regards,

Prince

Improve The Performance Of Windows XP! [2]

Disable Recent Documents History

When you open a file, it is added to the 'recent documents' list. Stopping this process can improve the performance a little bit. And also you can maintain your privacy.

Here's how to do it.

• Go to Start -> Run -> type regedit and hit enter.
• Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer.
• Create a DWORD value (right click->new->DWORD value) with the key NoRecentDocsHistory and set the value to 1.
• Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.

Disable Prefetch

The 'prefetch' feature is the sixth sense of the operating system. It preloads programs that you use frequently. But it can reduce the amount of RAM available to you. So it is better to turn off this feature on low memory systems. Don't turn off this feature if you have more than 256 MB of RAM.

• Go to regedit
• Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher]
• Set the value to 0.
  
• Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.
  

Enjoy!
Prince