Mind blowing things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn't

Mind blowing things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn't

Shake them away

Ever had 10 Notepad, two Powerpoint and 50 Outlook windows open? Want to minimize all of them except the most important one? In Windows 7, you can grab the top of the window and shake it about to scare away all of the other open windows. Simple.

A step forward in previewing

In Vista, hovering over a minimized window on the taskbar would provide a preview of the window. In Windows 7, a similar preview pops up which also gives the option to close a window (within the preview), along with a full-size 'peek'. You can also press "Win" + "T" to scroll along previews in the task-bar.

           A smaller preview, along with a full-size 'peek' with the ability to close the window

Snap into place

Simply drag your window to the left or right edge of the desktop to snap and resize the window to one half of the screen. Drag the window to the top to maximize it. A pretty neat idea made neater by the use of the keyboard shortcuts ("Win" + respective arrow keys). No longer do you have to frustratingly position the mouse at the edge of the window to resize it.

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Technology update- UEFI

The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) served as the OS-firmware interface for the original PC-XT and PC-AT computers. BIOS has however not been completely modernized even with the advancement of the PC market and technology. The Unified EFI (UEFI) specification (previously known as the EFI specification) defines a similar interface between an operating system and platform firmware. UEFI is independent of the processor architecture and it defines a similar OS-firmware interface, known as "boot services" and "runtime services".

As per Mark Doran, head of the UEFI Forum ,UEFI is expected to predominate in new PCs by 2011.

UEFI is free from architectures limitation, as the technology scales across platforms (server, desktops, mobiles, handhelds). 

For the users' perspective, the advantages of UEFI machines include fast boots (less than 5 seconds) as well and resume response. They could feature a high-resolution Graphics User Interface in pre-boot environment and the systems will be able to boot from large (2.2TB or higher) disks. In addition, Users may also be able to access Outlook data in seconds even when their notebook is off. 

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Process Explorer utility

Task manager is less elaborate in providing information and details on processes.

However, there's a very good utility called as Process Explorer, that simplifies the process and provides you a tree based format viewing.

This utility becomes useful in looking at the CPU usage, tracking the processes and malwares. 

Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows.

The top window always shows a list of the active processes, including their owning accounts. The  bottom window  information is dependent on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'll see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode you'll see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded. 

Process Explorer also has a powerful search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded.

It can thereby help in tracking down DLL-version problems and serve as a handy and intuitive tool to provide a good idea and information into the way Windows and applications work.




 

Download Process Explorer (1.64 MB)

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7 tips to manage your contacts in Outlook 2007

            

       One common question is how to manage business contacts in Outlook.  There are seven important key steps to succeed in doing this well.

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Automatically Clear Temp Files At StartUp

                                      There are a lot of junk files created in Windows by default. The Disk Clean up Utility in Windows help us to remove the system Clutter upto a certain extent. Disk Cleanup can also remove the outdated or older restore points being created by System Restore which we may not need. But there are many temporary files that the Disk Clean up utility of Windows won't clean, by default. We can configure Windows to clean up those unnecessary junk files, thereby, making more space available on the Hard Drive.




Here we are not going to do anything with the Disk Clean up utility but we will be creating a small batch file that does the same clean up job as the Disk Clean up utility does. 

Here's how we can achieve this (The steps apply to Windows XP):


1. Open the Notepad and type the following in it.


2. del /s /q “C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Temp\*.*”


3. You need to replace <Username> with the Username you have logged in with, into Windows.


4. Now save the file as a bat file. To do this select “Save As” option from notepad and select “All Files” from “Save as type” tab. and give the file name as TempKill.bat.


5. When you want to clean the temporary files you can run this file.


6. If you want this to run this automatically during Startup just place the file in the start up folder of Windows. To do this, go to this location, C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

This file runs as a startup program after login.





That’s it! From now on the files in the temp folder will be cleaned automatically at Windows Start Up.

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Mozilla Firefox Tweaks for Faster Browsing

Mozilla Firefox Tweaks for Faster Browsing

We spend more time online than anywhere else, In order make browsing better we have choosen different browsers. Mozilla Firefox is widely used and its in second placed when you compare with all top browsers. Its a favorite browser for developers because of its features.


  In order to customize for our optimum usage there are few tips and tricks which you can perform on Mozilla Firefox.
The first step is to type (about:config ) in the address bar and hit enter. Check th epicture below

 Now it will list all the settings which you can modify

Some Tweaks to Customize your Firefox

1. To enable/disable Single Click Select URL of address bar
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll = True
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll = False

2. To auto Complete URL while typing in the address Bar
browser.urlbar.autoFill=True

3. To set the number of auto complete URL in the address bar
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults = #
(# indicates the number of auto complete URLs shown. The default is 12)

4. To disabler Browser Toolbar Tip
browser.chrome.toolbar_tips = False

5. To paste copied content by clicking the center button on the mouse
middlemouse.paste = True

6. To disable blinking text
browser.blink_allowed = False

7. To create a single close button to for all Firefox Opened Tabs.
browser.tabs.closeButtons = 3

8. To increase number of recently closed tabs.
browser.sessionstore.max_tabs_undo=15

9. Right click view source in your editor
view_source.editor.external=True
view_source.editor.path= Path of Editor

10. To enable fast scrolling across tabs
toolkit.scrollbox.scrollIncrement =75

11. To stop displaying website icon in address bar and on the tabs
browser.chrome.site_icons = False

12. To enable spell check in text fields
layout.spellcheckDefault = 2

13. To speed up the browser
network.http.max-connections 30 to 96
network.http.max-connections-per-server 15 to 32
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server 6 to 8
network.http.pipelining false to true
network.http.proxy.pipelining false to true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 30 to 8
network.http.pipelining.ssl false to true
network.http.proxy.pipelining false to true

14. To disable annoying browser behavior
Change the followowing values to ‘false’
dom.disable_window_open_feature.titlebar
dom.disable_window_open_feature.menubar
dom.disable_window_move_resize
dom.disable_window_open_feature.toolbar

15. To show more tabs on single window
browser.tabs.tabMinWidth = 75

16. To display search results in new tab
browser.search.openintab=True

Feel free to ask any question in case of any doubt.

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Improve Battery Life in Windows 7

Anybody who has a Windows 7 laptop is going to be concerned with how to make the battery last longer, but did you realize there’s a built-in troubleshooting wizard in Windows 7 that helps you maximize your battery life?

This is, only one of the ways to maximize your battery life—your best bet is to adjust your screen brightness and get rid of unnecessary applications that abuse the CPU. This article may not be applicable for Windows XP

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Dangerous Celebrities in Cyberspace!!

Dangerous Celebrities in Cyberspace!!


The second quarter of 2010 has been found to report more malwares than ever earlier.

This year, the search results for celebrities are safer than they've been in previous years, but there are still dangers when searching online. "Through consumer education and tools, consumers are getting smarter about searching online, yet cybercriminals are getting sneakier in their techniques. Now they're hiding malicious content in 'tiny' places like shortened URLs that can spread virally in social networking sites and Twitter, instead of on websites and downloads.

Cameron Diaz has been named the most dangerous celebrity on the web for 2010 by a top security firm. Last year, Jessica Biel had topped the list.

Research by the security firm, which has been acquired by Intel, revealed that web users searching for images, screen savers and videos of the 'Knight and Day' actress have a one in ten chance of being presented with results that lead to malicious web pages.

According to the research, cybercriminals often use the names of popular celebrities to trick web users into visiting sites infected with malicious software. Those navigating to the site could find the malware installed on their computers.

Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts was named the second most dangerous celebrity on the web, while Justin Timberlake's current girlfriend, Jessica Biel, took third place.

Also said that while movie stars and models top the 'most dangerous' list this year politicians including US President Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are among the safest celebrities to search for on the net.

The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study with the highest percentages of risk are:

1. Cameron Diaz – Searching for Diaz results in a one in ten chance of landing on a risky site. She has most recently been in the spotlight with blockbuster movies, "Knight and Day" and "Shrek Forever After." When "Cameron Diaz and screensavers" was searched, 19% of the sites were identified as containing malicious downloads.

2. Julia Roberts – Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts is one of America's sweethearts, and will soon be in the spotlight with her upcoming release of "Eat, Pray, Love." The overall risk of searching for Roberts is nine percent, yet searching for "Julia Roberts and downloads" results in a 20% chance of downloading a photo, wallpaper or other file laden with malware.

3. Jessica Biel – Last year's Most Dangerous Celebrity fell two spots with searches resulting in fewer risky sites this year. Biel continues to be in the spotlight with her on-again, off-again relationship with Justin Timberlake, and appeared in "The A-Team" in June 2010. While her overall search risk is 9%, searching for "Jessica Biel and screensavers" results in a 17% chance of landing on a risky site.

4. Gisele Bündchen – The world's highest-paid supermodel moved up two spots since last year. Searching for "Gisele Bündchen and screensavers" can prove risky, 15% of the search results for this beauty can put spyware, malware or viruses on your computer.

5. Brad Pitt – Pitt is often in the spotlight with news of his movies and his personal life. It's no wonder why this leading man has been in the top ten for the past three years. He moved up in rank five spots this year. Downloading photos, screensavers, or other files of Brad can potentially put adware or spyware in your computer. Historically, he's been one of the most dangerous celebrities to appear in search results.

6. Adriana Lima – Searching for downloads of this Brazilian beauty can direct users to red-ranked sites. Lima is best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000.

7. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Nicole Kidman – Searching for these Hollywood starlets resulted in an equal number of risky download websites.

8. Tom Cruise – With recent buzz around his MTV Awards performance as well as his movie, "Knight and Day," Cruise rises to the top ten.

9. Heidi Klum, Penelope Cruz – Both of these ladies are consistently in the spotlight, and share the #9 spot. Cybercriminals use their names to lure people to risky sites. Klum hosts "Project Runway" and Cruz has been in the spotlight recently for her role in the "Sex and the City 2" movie and is expected to be in the fourth film of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series.

10. Anna Paquin – This "True Blood" star is as dangerous on the web as she is on the screen. Searching for screensavers of Paquin can lead you to downloads filled with malware.

Cybercriminals follow the same hot topics as consumers, and create traps based on the latest trends. Whether you’re surfing the Web from your computer or your phone or clicking on links in Twitter about your favorite celeb, you should surf safely, and make sure you’re using the latest security software.

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File and Printer Sharing

The File and Printer Sharing allows other computers on a Network to Access Resources on your Computer

 

·   Each Computer should have unique name.

Ensure all computers must possess unique names on a peer-to-peer Windows network.

·      Workgroup or Domain name for share Microsoft Network.

Home networks and other small LANs uses workgroups, whereas larger business networks operate with domains.

·       Ensure TCP/IP is installed on all the Computers on the same network.

TCP/IP is the best network protocol to use when setting up a Windows LAN. In some circumstances, it's possible to use the alternative NetBEUI or IPX/SPX protocols for basic file sharing with Windows. However, these other protocols normally don't offer any additional functionality beyond what TCP/IP provides.



·      Install TCP/IP protocol.
Most of the time, while installing your Network Adapter will also install the TCP/IP protocol that your computer needs to communicate with the Internet.  You can quickly check to see if it's installed by opening your Network Control panel. Check the picture below.

·       IP Address and Subnet Mask needs to be correct.

The network mask "255.255.255.0" is normally correct for home networks. Each computer should have unique IP address. For settings are found in the TCP/IP network configuration.

·       Enable File and Printer Sharing.

"File and Printer Sharing” is a Windows network service. This service must be installed on a network adapter to enable that computer to participate in file sharing. Ensure this service is installed by viewing the adapter's properties and verifying that

o   This service appears in the list of installed items

o   The checkbox next to this service is checked in the 'ON' position.

·      Temporarily or Permanently Disable Firewalls.

You may receive some errors while sharing files, this is because of  ICF (The Internet Connection Firewall) feature of Windows XP computers will interfere with peer-to-peer file sharing.

·      Verify Shares are Correctly Defined.

In order to share files on a Windows network, ultimately one or more network shares must be defined. Share names that end with a dollar sign ($) will not appear in the list of shared folders when browsing the network (although these can still be accessed).

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