Thursday, March 29, 2007

20 Things the Average Person Doesn’t Know About Windows XP

clipped from: www.realtechnews.com

winxp.JPG
By Unknown Writer
Via Digg
1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type ’systeminfo’. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type ’systeminfo > info.txt’. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).


2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run… and type ‘gpedit.msc’; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care — some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).


4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can make it show everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word ‘hide’ and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be the software and you can now uninstall it.

How to: Hack Gmail?

useful article.
clipped from www.maximumpc.com

How To: Hack Gmail

how2_gmail_1.jpgBy Robert Strohmeyer
Tired of stingy ISPs imposing arbitrary email restrictions on you? Yeah, so are we. 1MB attachment limits, 25MB storage limits, and restricted SMTP servers are sooo 1997. For a 21st-Century mail experience, step up to Gmail.

1. Use Gmail as an Online Storage Vault
2. Filter Your Mail with Positive Thinking
3. Take Notice with a Notifier
4. Import Your Old Mail into Gmail
5. Turn Gmail into an MP3 Player
6. Email Impersonator
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Firefox CAN be faster - 4 easy tricks

clipped from www.our-picks.com

Firefox CAN be faster - 4 easy tricks

firefoxlogoa

Now that we all know the hidden pages in Firefox, it’s time to go a bit deeper into tweaking your browser for optimal use. All of the operations will be made in the about:config page, so save your important stuff, open up a new tab, write about:config in the address bar and be prepared. I have gathered four tricks that will improve your Firefox experience, and here they are.

1. Fetch only pages that you click
2. Limit the RAM usage

3. Reducing the RAM usage even more when Firefox gets minimized
4. Make pages load faster
This is just about it, and if you guys have any other tricks for improving the Firefox experience, we’ll be glad to hear them.
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Friday, March 9, 2007

Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity

clipped from www.lifehack.org

Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity





20070306-firefox.jpg

Firefox is the browser of dreams for many people (myself included). One of the great perks of Firefox is that there are tons of extensions that enhance the functionality of the browser. With over 1500 extensions in existence, there are many that can be used to improve your productivity. The following is my take on the top 10 extensions that will keep you focused, reduce distractions, streamline your daily work flow, and improve your productivity.

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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Speed up Firefox with these tweaks

clipped from: www.tonyspencer.com

Does Firefox seem way slower than Internet Explorer to you? Well it certainly is out of the box. I’m not sure why they don’t make the following settings default but check these out. They may change your opinion of the browser.


firefox_icon.jpg

Type “about:config” in your firefox address bar.


Search for the following settings:


1. network.http.pipelining
Set to true
2. network.http.pipelining.firstrequest
Set to true
3. network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Set to 32
4. network.http.proxy.pipelining
Set to true
5. nglayout.initialpaint.delay
Set to 0


Its very likely that you won’t have an entry for network.http.pipelining.firstrequest. Thats ok. Just add one.


Right-click on the preferences list, select ‘New’ then select ‘Boolean’


On the first prompt, type:
network.http.pipelining.firstrequest


On the second prompt, set it to ‘true’


Its also likely that you won’t have an entry for nglayout.initialpaint.delay


Right-click on the preferences list, select ‘New’ then select ‘Integer’


On the first prompt, type:
nglayout.initialpaint.delay


On the second prompt, set it to ‘0′


Enabling the pipelining features allows the browser to make multiple requests to the server at the same time. The “maxrequests” is the maximum number of requests it will send at once. I’ve heard that 8 is the most it will send at once, but setting it higher won’t hurt, just in case. The initialpaint.delay is the length of time (in milliseconds) after the server response before the browser begins to paint the page.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Speed Up Your Windows PC: The basics



To start off, the single most important thing you can do to increase your computer’s speed is to add RAM--random access memory. It’s also the one thing in this course that will cost you money (but it’s worth it).


The challenge, however, is getting the correct memory module for your PC. Just about every computer is different. Some are already equipped with plenty of memory, while others have very little. And there are a lot of different types of memory, so you need to be sure to get the exact right module for your system.


A good reference on this topic can be found at CNET Labs’ guide to buying RAM. This guide explains what RAM is and how to install it. There’s also an online tool called a


Configurator" target="_blank">memory configurator that tells you exactly what kind of memory your computer make and model uses.


Cut the graphics


Here’s how:


  • Go to Control Panel and choose Display (you may have to click Appearance and Themes first).

  • On the Themes tab, change your current theme to Windows Classic, which uses fewer resources than the new look does. You can then click the Appearance tab and change that look to suit yourself.

  • Go into Control Panel and choose System (you may have to click Performance and Maintenance first).

  • Click the Advanced tab.

  • In the Performance box, click Settings.

  • You can now select Adjust for best performance, or you can choose Custom and play around with the settings. The more you uncheck, the less work your computer will have to do.

  • Browse files faster


    So let’s tell Windows not to search for them unless you ask it to. Here’s how:


  • Open My Computer.

  • Click the Tools menu.

  • Choose Folder Options.

  • Click the View tab.

  • Uncheck “Automatically search for network folders and printers.”

  • Click OK.
  • Howto Create your own Windows Installation CD with all updates & software included

    clipped from: www.nliteos.com

    nLite


    Deployment Tool for Unattended Windows
    (Remove components, integrate hotfixes, drivers and themes. Tweaks, patches...)


    clipped from: addons.wordpress.com

    CloneCD 5.3.0.0

    21Dec06
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    Firefox 2.0.0.1

    19Dec06
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    Launchy 1.0

    13Dec06
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    Hamachi 1.0.1.3

    12Dec06
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    VLC 0.8.6

    12Dec06
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    WinRAR 3.62

    04Dec06
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    Foobar 0.9.4.2

    29Nov06
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    7-Zip 4.42

    17Oct06
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    ImgBurn 2.1.0.0

    17Oct06
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    PSPad 4.5.1

    16Oct06
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    Gaim 1.5.0

    16Oct06
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    200 Firefox extensions at the same time

    clipped from: tech.cybernetnews.com

    Earlier this year a guy installed 100 Firefox extensions without any problems. Well…I decided to try and top that. I picked the nice round number of 200 for a few different reasons. First and foremost because Firefox “2″ was recently released but also because back in August Mozilla celebrated 200 million downloads of the fantastic browser! Right now they are past 263 million but this is kinda like a belated celebration.


    To install the extensions I went through the Mozilla Extension page one by one, like any normal person would be doing. I went through the top Firefox extension page until I had all 200 installed. I did install repetitive extensions (such as the three versions of Forecast Fox) because I wanted to see if they affected each other, but there weren’t too many extensions that overlapped in functionality. The only ones that I really skipped were the dictionaries which there happened to be quite a few of.


    After I had installed 50 of them I decided to restart the browser to see how things were going. It took about one minute to startup but everything looked like it installed correctly. Then I moved on and after about an hour I had all 200 installed and was ready to restart the browser. I didn’t think that it was going to work but to my surprise it did…


    It was quite a site to see and there was a very limited viewing area for websites because of the toolbars. On my 24″ widescreen monitor I had about 2″ of viewable area at the bottom of the browser. But hey, it was still usable. Here is a screenshot of the overall result of a Google search that I performed:


    200 Firefox Extensions Installed

    It is also pretty amazing what the Google website looks like when I have all of those extensions installed. Not to mention how funny it is when you type a search in the search box and press “Enter” just to see it replicate itself amongst all of the toolbars. That was probably my favorite part about the whole experience. ;)

    20 Must Read HOWTOs and Guides for Linux

    clipped from: www.foogazi.com

  • Introduction to Linux
    This is a great overview of Linux, a definite must read for Linux newbies.

  • Advanced Bash Scripting
    Understand and learn how to write bash scripts for the command line.

  • Linux Administration Made Easy
    A very detailed document on Linux administration.

  • Linux Complete Backup and Recovery
    Anyone who has a Linux desktop or server must know how to backup and restore their system at any moments notice. This is an important guide if you absolutely do not want to lose any crucial data.

  • Linux Gamers
    Learn the inner workings of how games work on Linux along with how to resolve common problems.

  • Linux Security
    Understand the general concepts of security on a Linux system, complete with examples and applications to use.

  • Linux System Administrator’s Guide
    Learn the aspects of the Linux System Administrator.

  • Networking Overview
    A great overview of the networking capabilities of the Linux operating system.

  • XWindow User
    Learn how to configure and use the XWindows system in Linux.
  • clipped from: www.foogazi.com

    Best Application Site:
    http://www.freshmeat.netFreshmeat is the webs largest index of Unix/Linux related software. There are a ton of Linux application sites out there, but nothing as well established as Freshmeat. There are also a good deal of articles on software applications and book reviews that I enjoy reading from time to time. If your looking for a software application for your Linux desktop, server, or router, chances are it is listed on Freshmeat.


    Best Development Site:
    http://www.sourceforge.net


    Best Document Site:
    http://www.tldp.org