How to use symbols for naming a folder or file.

Have you ever wondered how one can use symbols to name a folder? Whenever we create a folder we name it by just by using one or more alphabets or digits that are present on keyboard. Off course one can also use the special characters for naming a folder but what about other symbols those are not present on keyboard?

To name a folder or file with such symbols one should know the keystroke behind those symbols. To know keystrokes go to start->accessories->system tools->character map.

Here you can see a list of symbols now click on any symbol and note the keystroke present at the status bar. Now create a folder and name it using these keystrokes.

For example press alt + 1 you can get ☺ symbol. Similarly you can use variety of symbols to name your folder.

Here is a video tutorial to help.

How to recover forgotten password in Windows XP?

When someone forgets his computer password the first thought that comes up in his mind is to format the computer and reinstall windows or search for any password recovery utility on net. 

But actually there is no need to use special software.  One can recover computers password easily. Here are the steps to recover your password if you have forgotten the password.

• Get a Windows installer disc. If you don't have an installer disc, go to another Windows Vista or 7 computers and create a System Repair disc by typing “RECDISC: in Windows Run utility.

• Follow the onscreen instructions and make the bootable disk.

• Boot your locked computer using the disc. Access the Command Prompt under the System Recovery Options. Type the following commands:

            c:
            cd\windows\system32
            copy sethc.exe sethc_orig.exe /y
            copy cmd.exe sethc.exe /y

• Remove the disc and restart the computer. At the log in screen tap the Shift key repeatedly at least 5 times. When the Administrator Command Prompt appears type the following command:

       net user (login_name *)

• Supply the correct login name above. You don't need to put in a new password. Just keep it blank and confirm it.

• If the command is executed successfully then close the prompt and now u will be able to log in.

• Now you need to undo the changes in the windows system file named SETHC. This can be done booting the computer again and execute the following commands.

       c:
       cd\windows\system32
       copy sethc_orig.exe sethc.exe /y

Post anything on Facebook with a single click.

Facebook as we know is most popular social networking site today. While surfing we find many interesting things, quotes, images, websites etc.  That we would like to share on Facebook so that other can see.

But sharing something on Facebook is very tedious because each time we need to login then copy the stuff and  put the it on the wall and post it.  Using Firefox one can post anything on Facebook with just a single click. All we need is to just install a plugin.

To install this plugin follow the steps

• Click on Add-Ons

• Search for ‘Facebook Share Menu’

• Install the plugin and restart Firefox.

• Once the plugin is installed you can see a new option ‘Post to Facebook’ has started appearing in the popup menu (ie when you right click on any selected element).

• To share just click on ‘Post to Facebook’ and the job is done.

Gain total control over any PC or server around the world within a few seconds

Have you ever wondered about handling someone’s PC by sitting at your home. No, I am not talking about hacking here. Now you can Control any other PC or server present anywhere in the world, off course with the administrator’s permission.

Team Viewer is software developed by Team Viewer GmbH a German based company.  With Team Viewer you can control any PC or server in the world provided that at both ends this software should be installed.

The software can be used for online teachings or tutorials, File Transfer or any other similar stuff like controlling your PC at home from your office system etc. The interface is so unique that you will have the feeling as if you are present at the remote location physically.

To connect your PC with the remote machine you have to follow these steps.

1. Install Team Viewer if you don’t have download by Clicking here.(It is absolutely free for personal use).
2. Make sure both machines have the software installed.
3. Ask your partner for his Team viewer ID. How to find ID is shown in the image.
4. Insert that ID in the field (shown in image) and click on connect to partner.
5. Once you have been granted with the permission you will have a separate screen showing the desktop of the remote machine.
6. You can control the system similar as you control your own system.

Find products at cheaper rates while shopping online.

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet without an intermediary service.  Online shopping is gaining popularity day by day.

Instead of going in physical markets people prefer shopping on internet.  While buying any product we often visit to selected sites such as eBay or amazon. But it may happen that the same product is available at cheaper rates on some other portals.

Searching the same product again and again on different online shopping marts is quite difficult. Now the question arises that how to find same product at cheaper rates easily?.

To reduce your efforts, install the invisible hand plugin to your browser. 

What this plugin does, is whenever you are searching a product on any online shopping portal, it quietly searches the same product on different websites. And if the same product is available at cheaper rate on some other portal it notifies you.

So that you can navigate to the respective website.

Features Of Invisible Hand

Stays Silent

It remains silent until it finds a deal on a product you are shopping for.

Real-time Analysis

It analyze the  product prices every time you use it

Search Flights at Cheaper rates

It automatically looks for cheaper flights when you search for them

Works with numerous shopping portals.

Works with almost all shopping portals.

How to install ?

• Cilck on add-ons in FireFox

• Search for invisible hand and click on install.

• Restart firefox.

How to add an application to windows Context Shell?

Windows context shell is the menu which appears when you right click on any file. It provides you a list of operations that can be performed on that file. But how it works? How to add your own program in this context shell? As you go further you will find the answers of these questions.

Before going ahead one should know about windows registry. It is a kind of journal that the windows OS maintains to track its various activities such as file associations, context shell, users and its privileges etc.

How to add a program in windows context shell?

1. Open registry editor by typing ‘regedit’ in ‘Run’ command. 
2. Once the editor is open go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -> * -> Shell 
3. Then right click to create a new key. Give the name that you want to be appeared in context shell. You can view the image for clear understanding. 
4. Then create a sub key with name "command" and edit its value to the "path of your program" as shown in the image. And the job is done. 
5. Now right click on any file and you can see that your app  is appearing in the context shell.

How to make it work with your app?

1. To make your application working with this context shell, you should know how to work with command line arguments. It doesn’t matter whether you are using C,C++, C# or java. 
2. I have written a sample C program,  which displays the name and the whole path of the file which have been selected through the context shell. 
3. Here’s the code :

#include<stdio.h>

#include<conio.h>

void main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

  if(argc!=0)

  {

    printf("\nThe file you just clicked is\n\n");

    printf("%s",argv[1]);

  }

getch();

}

The image shows the output of this program.

Similarly you can associate numerous files with your application using windows context shell and basic command line arguments.

Easy Split 1.0

Easy Split is a freeware program  used to split files to multiple fragments. The size of the fragments is decided by user. The program will split the large file into the chunks with defined size. The chunks can be rejoined without this program to make the original file again.

The program has many features like password protection, encryption, Compact etc. The main advantage of this software is that we dont need the software while rejoining. It means one can rejoin the chunks even if the software is not present in th host machine. 

Steps to split a file :

•      Select the source file by providing the its file path or by clicking browse button.

•      Provide the Destination path. All th chunks or fragments will be placed at this location.

•      Give the fragment size in MB, KB or Bytes.

•     The Password Feature is optional. You   can protect the rejoining of chunks    with this password. To setup a password click 'Set Password Button' and give a password. This password is required to rejoin the fragments.

• .     Click on Split.   

 Steps To Rejoin :  

•       Open the directory where all the fragments are present.
•       Double click on 'Rejoin.vbs'. If the fragments are password protected, It will ask you  for the password.
•       All the temporary files will get deleted and the original file will be created again.

 To download EasySplit 1.0 Click Here.

View Lyrics of songs realtime.

Singing your favorite songs aloud, especially when nobody sees you, is one of those little pleasures in life. But you obviously need to know the lyrics to the song you're trying to follow.

Searching for lyrics is very tedious. Opening search engines, giving accurate search query with artist name, song name etc. is very thorny. Instead of doing all this thing you can use Minilyrics , a plugin that does all this things for you.

Minilyrics is a plugin which automatically searches the lyrics of the song you are playing and displays it realtime. It supports almost all popular media players like Winamp, Itunes, VLC, Windows Media Player etc.

All you need to do is download and install the minilyrics plugin and the lyrics will be displayed as soon as you play the songs. The screenshot is shown here.

The plugin shows the lyrics of most of the songs but sometimes it doesnt work, Specially for Non-English songs.

To download minilyrics click here.

Recover deleted files using NTFS Undelete

Accidentally deleted an important file?

NTFS Undelete is an application that allows you to recover deleted files. It recovers files directly from hard drive, and it will work even if you empty Recycle Bin. NTFS Undelete quickly and easily recovers deleted files from your PC, digital camera card, thumb drive, MP3 player and other storage devices.


NTFS Undelete is a powerful application that can safely scan your computer or storage device for deleted files and restore them on command. The best feature of this software is, it is absolutely free for non-commercial use. To download this software click on the following link

http://ntfsundelete.com/downloads/

When you delete a file, its content physically remains intact on the media, but the occupied space becomes marked as free. Next file saved to the disk may overwrite the contents of the deleted file. It is very important to make sure that no application writes to the drive or partition where deleted file is located since every new file (even a small one) may overwrite the deleted file.

Tips. What you should do, when you realized that the file you need is deleted:   

1. Do not open or close files and applications.
   Many applications create temporary files which may overwrite and corrupt your deleted files.
2. Depending on your system configuration, you should perform one of the following actions:
1. If deleted files were located on the system disk (usually disk "C:"), or if you have only one logical disk in the system, you should not install any software into the system since it will most likely overwrite your deleted file.
3. Run NTFS Undelete application and locate deleted file you'd like to restore.
4. Always recover files to another disk or partition. Do not recover files to the same partition they were located, otherwise files you are recovering may get corrupted and unrecoverable.
5. That's it, now you have your files back!
6. The software works only on NTFS partition. FAT, FAT32 are not supported.

Optimize your PC for better performance.

Slow computers often cause irritation for users. The user wants fast response form computer but it is unable to. As the day progresses the computer becomes slower and slower. Many of times it is not the hardware problem that causes this slowness. This all happens because of the windows temp files, disk fragmentation, and huge log files etc.

Many of us don’t know what these technical terms are. Temp files are those which are created by the operating system during its critical processes such a software installation, backups, system related process etc. These temporary files have huge sizes and have considerable effects on the performance of your computer. Another problem is disk fragmentation, when we copy and delete files from hardisk, the hardisk is separated into fragments.  Fragments are nothing but parts of a huge file stored on different physical location on a physical drive. So when we request to read such file it takes time to open it.

Windows provides various utilities to overcome these problems. Such utilities are Disk Defrag, Scandisk etc. To speed up your PC here are some guidelines which when followed once in a month keeps you computers performance consistent.

•    Open Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defrag and Run it once in a month.

•   Scan your disk with the scandisk utility provides and also with any antivirus solution.

•   Clear temp files. Temp files are stored in temp folder which can be open as Start->run-> and type ‘temp’ and press OK

•   Create Restore Point once in a month to restore your system at any previous date.

Instead of doing all these things manually you can download System Mechanic, a software from Iolo Technologies.

The software comes up into free as well as commercial version. But for home use free version is sufficient. Here is the download link for the software. 

        http://download.cnet.com/System-Mechanic-Free/3000-18512_4-10030183.html

Once you download and install the software just have a look on the images so optimize your PC.

 System Mechanic keeps your PC running at peak performance and stability with advanced PC tune-up, repair and maintenance features. Using 7 safe and effective tools, its exclusive patented technology fixes registry errors, defrags hard drives, cleans up junk files, accelerates downloads, boosts Windows speed, and ensures maximum ongoing system stability.  The features provides in System mechanic are

• Registry Tuner: Registry Tuner diagnoses and resolves the most common root causes of mysterious freezes, slowdowns, and crashes

•  Startup Optimizer:  Automatically eliminates startup bottlenecks that choke the life out of a PC and make Windows take ages to start. Supercharges boot-times and frees up resources for improved overall performance.

• Memory Mechanic: Reclaims RAM orphaned by memory leaks and sloppy programs for an instant speed boost. Optimizes and defragments memory for snappier programs, downloads, and gaming experience

•   PC Cleanup: Performs a system-wide scan for junk and obsolete files left over from messy programs and unexpected restarts. Safely cleans out hazardous system-clogging clutter that accumulates over time through everyday use.

• Drive Accelerator: Performs advanced hard drive defragmentation for accelerated Windows load times, program startup, and overall system speed

• Shortcut Repair: Finds and automatically fixes broken or corrupted Windows shortcut icons that can represent the root of frustrating problems on an otherwise stable PC.

• Internet Connection Repair: Automatically heals broken and chronically unstable internet connections to get you back online and keep you connected when you most need to be.

System Mechanic is one of the most complete, effective, and easy-to-use tune-up utilities we've seen to date. 

How to Protect WinRAR and zip files?

WinRAR is a utility for compressing and decompressing files. Compression of files reduces their size, so that they can be easily attached and sent over emails. Also they can be easily transferred via pen drives, cd`s and through other Medias.

In addition of compression and decompression WinRAR provides an excellent feature to ensure security. While sending important and confidential data it is essential to take measures to ensure its security. So that it cannot be accessed by unauthorized persons.

WinRAR provides a mechanism to set password for the created achieve. While extracting the archive the user is asked for the password and only the correct password will allow the extraction of data from the archive.  This prevents unauthorized access.

Now the question arises that how to make an archive password protected? It is very simple, the following points and images will help you.

• Right click on the folder or files that you want to compress.
• A menu will appear as shown in the image. Select the add to achieve option.
• In the window click on advanced tab and then select 'set password'
• Give the password in the field provided and click on OK
• Make the achieve file. Now your file is protected with the password.

How to Download Videos from YouTube?

YouTube, the most popular video search engine, we use it to search video contents. The drawback of YouTube is it doesn’t provide facility to download videos. Many of us need some videos for future use, so it is very thorny to open You Tube again and again and view the same video each time. Better option is to download it and view as many times you want.

It is possible to download videos from YouTube, in fact many more video search engines like dailymotion, metacafe etc. Just we need is Mozilla Firefox and the Fast Video downloader plugin. The following points will help you how to configure the plugin and download videos from youtube. You can view the images for proper understanding.

1. Open Firefox and then click on Add-Ons from Menu.The Add-Ons home page will open.

2. Then search for fast video download through the search bar and click on install.

3. Once the plugin is installed firefox will ask you to restart. 

4. After restarting your plugin is ready now you can download videos from youtube.

5. For this open the appropriate video on youtube and click on download as shown in the image. Various options are provided.

6.Select the required format and click save.

7.The video is now getting downloaded.

Tips while buying a digital Camera

Digital camera has many advantages over the traditional camera and therefore it is preferred by most of the users. But there are certain points that have to be considered while buying a digital camera. There are many brands available and at the same time different brand has different models. So there are lots of choices available. Now the question arises how to select the best one. Here are some tips you must go through before you buy any digital camera.

• Know your budget:  Before you go to the emporium be sure of your budget. How much you are going to spend and what are the tolerations that you can afford.

•  Purpose: The question is for what purpose you are buying the digital camera? Whether it is for general photography or professional photography.

•  Listing of Important features: Once you decided your purpose the next step is to list the all the features that you want. If you want to buy it for professional practice then the features would be different than features of normal camera. A professional camera requires more mega pixels more zoom both optical and digital etc.

• Correlate: There are wide ranges of brands available in market. Always select the brands with high reputation in the market. Then compare their products and choose the best brand that satisfies you pocket and your needs.

• Read Reviews: There are many sites where the users write their reviews about the product. Go through such sites and read the reviews written by the users about your product.

• Many people have misconception that more the megapixels more the quality but it is not true. Just don’t go for higher megapixels there are many other factors which decide the quality.

• More preference for Optical Zoom: Optical zoom means the zoom achieved by varying the distance between the lenses. Hence it is the important factor that should be considered. Digital zoom is achieved by software and it reduces the quality or clarity of the picks.

•  If you don’t have any experience about optics and photography then have an experienced person with you when you are actually buying.

• Accessories: Note down the various accessories that the company is providing with you camera model. The basic accessories such as handbag, memory card, USB cable and a PC suite must be included.

• If you have any previous accessories then ask the salesman for compatibility so that you can use them with your new model.

• Battery Types: Many cameras come up with popular AA batteries. But nowadays rechargeable batteries are available so that you can charge your camera just like a mobile phone.

• Warranty: Check for the warranty period that is applicable. The warrant period must be at least 3 years. And always collect your bill otherwise the warranty is violated. And fo through the terms and conditions.

• Negotiate: Don’t forget to bargain for prices. You may get a lesser amount than the marked price.

  To know about using digital camera for good photography visit http://infodevoyage.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-take-good-photos-on-trip.html