Bridge to Nova: September 2007
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ProWorkflow - To help you manage projects, tasks and time


I've done many projects for my careers. Most of the time, I've been using my laptop to keep track all my projects. Sometimes, I forgot my laptop, that's really a nightmare. After I've been shopping around internet for a while, I have found out ProWorkflow is very great Web based project management and time tracking solution software that well-suited my needs. So that I gladly accept to review about them via sponsored reviews.

If you haven't heard of ProWorkflow, it's web based Project management, task and time tracking solution which is meant to streamline the indvidual's accountability and increase business efficency for small and medium companies, offering a full range of features. Let me highlight some of the key features such as
  • Browser-based online access, for remote Web-based management and project status
  • Intuitive, modular organization with the Project Manager, Dependent Tasks module, Task Manager, Time Tracker, Contact Manger, Timeline View module, Notes Manger and Reports Manager
  • Comprehensive administrative options, including extensive Administration sections and a Project, Task and Notes Search Tool

It is browser-based, so you don't have to worry about compatibility issues whether you use Windows or Mac or even Linux. It is very well organized with the project manager so that tasks are assigned to the proper worker without any delay and losses. In ProWorkflow, you can retreive the project information, knowledge on company performance and task with the resource manger.

The product has been designed by Proactive software, a well established player in the industry, so you don't have to worry about their expertise. If you are interested or if you want more detailed information, their company website can give you all the informations you may need.

At Proworkflow website, you can signup for 14 day free trial accounts, so that you can observe benefits and suitability before you actually go for subscription, which is available as either downloadable code or as a hosted subscription. You can even request for customization to meet your specific requirements.

After you've finished your trial, while you are enjoying easier life with Proworkflow, don't forget to check their CEO blog julian101.com as he will keep you inform about all the latest developments about his company and products.
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Workarounds if your XP can't remember folder settings

Some folder you want to view as thumbnails, for some you want to view as Tiles and for some you may want List, Icons, or Details. Your Windows used to remember all those settings for you and suddenly, your computer looks like it got brain washed. What is happening? Firstly, make sure you select Remember each folder's view settings in Control Panel -->> Folder Options as in the following diagram.



Even after that, if your XP still dumbs, the answer is that by default, Windows XP is limited to 200 local folders and 200 network folders, for a total of 400 folders. So that after it remembers for 400 folders, that's it. It's full.

How you can solve this?

First Method

This effect only to before Windows XP SP2. So the quick fix would be to download and install Windows XP Service Pack 2. What if you don't want to install Service Pack 2 for some reasons? Read the second way.

Second Method,

You need to edit registry. As always dealing with registry, use it with great caution and use at your own risk.

  • Go to Start Menu -->> Run
  • Type regedit and press Enter.
  • Browse to the following registry key.
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
  • You will see the registry value BagMRU Size in the following pic.

  • Double click on that and change the value to 5000. Make sure you select Decimal. After that click OK.

  • After that browse to another registry key.
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam>
  • Change the BagMRU Size to 5000 too.

After you've done editing the registry, make sure you restart your Windows to make change effective. Hey, Windows is not as dumb as you think!

Source : Microsoft
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How to Disable/Enable Windows default debugger Dr. Watson

If you haven't heard it before, you may wonder what is Dr. Watson? Here is a brief explanation:
Dr. Watson for Windows is a program error debugger that gathers information about your computer when an error (or user-mode fault) occurs with a program. Technical support groups can use the information that Dr. Watson obtains and logs to diagnose a program error.

So, that means this debugger will collect information and send to Microsoft for further analysis. But for your testing computer that don't have internet, or if you feel it's useless for you anyway, just follow these steps to turn off.

  • 1.Go to Start Menu -->> Run and type regedit.exe then press Enter.
  • 2.Browse to the following registry. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug
  • 3.Click the AeDebug key, and then click Export Registry File on the Registry menu. Save the file and remember it.
  • 4.Then you can delete the AeDebug key.

That's it! Whenever any programs crash again, Windows won't ask you whether you want to send data to Microsoft or not.

If you change your mind and want to enable Dr. Watson back. It's easy.

  • Double-click the file you save in step 3.
  • And then go to Start -->> Run -->> cmd.exe
  • At the command prompt, type drwtsn32 -i

Have fun playing around Windows!

Source : Microsoft
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Google 9th birthday
I have been wondering when Google will celebrate 9th birthday since the beginning of this month. But today, as in their homepage Google officially celebrate now.

Why Google birthday is varying from year to year?

In September 1998, Google Inc. opened its door in Menlo Park, California. The door came with a remote control, as it was attached to the garage of a friend who sublet space to the new corporation's staff of three. The office offered several big advantages, including a washer and dryer and a hot tub. It also provided a parking space for the first employee hired by the new company: Craig Silverstein, now Google's director of technology.

Already Google.com, still in beta, was answering 10,000 search queries each day. The press began to take notice of the upstart website with the relevant search results, and articles extolling Google appeared in USA TODAY and Le Monde. That December, PC Magazine named Google one of its Top 100 Web Sites and Search Engines for 1998. Google was moving up in the world.


The exact date they celebrate their birthday will depend on their people appetizes for birthday cake. (See my previous post about When Google Birthday for details)

Well, anyway, Happy Birthday Google!
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Firefox shortcuts I frequently use


I love Firefox. It's fast, sleek and secure. Right now, my main browser is Firefox. I can't use IE to browse internet anymore. It's too noisy. The reason Firefox keeps quiet is due to Adblock plus.
  • Home Page Alt + Home
  • Full Screen View F11
  • Refresh Page F5
  • Find / Find Again F3
  • Add Bookmarks Ctrl + D
  • Bookmarks Ctrl + B
  • History Ctrl + H
  • Page Source Ctrl + U
  • Tab New Ctrl + T
  • Tab Close Ctrl + W
  • Window New Ctrl + N
  • Window Close Alt + F4

This list is ordered by the frequency of my usage. Of course, I don't have any statistics about my usage. So it's just a guess.
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Are you planning a holiday or a long vacation? DialAFlight would be an excellent choice for you to get something special this time. Have you ever heard of Dialaflight? They are well-known independent travel company in the UK. No matter you want a weekend trip, a long weekend, beach holidays, spa holidays or flights to New York, they can arrange everything for you. They can book flights, make reservation for hotels, or even meet you at the airport.

They offer cheap flights, hotels, and travel information for worldwide destinations. You can do your booking by calling and speaking with one of their travel consultants who are very professional in giving excellent travel advices. So, just take a few minutes of your time and start contacting dialaflight, it's full of useful travel information and will certainly help you make the most out of your vacation this time.

*This post is sponsored by Dialaflight*
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Windows Vista SP1 Beta


Microsoft has just released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta yesterday. According to Nick White announcements, currently the beta sp1 is available only to a private group of Beta testers.

Here is the my highlights about SP1.
  • Have a size range from 51MB - 679.6MB depending on how often you update your Windows
  • Improve responsiveness - The delay between pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE and getting the password prompt, resuming from Hibernation or Sleep are pretty much gone
  • Search option has been removed from the Start menu, instead "Search Everywhere" with users can choose their favourite desktop search program such as Google Desktop.
  • Select Volumes - a new option in Windows Vista's Disk Defragmenter
  • BitLocker Control Panel - users of Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate are now able to choose which drives to encrypt


After I have read about all new exciting features, I wish I am one of the private beta testers. Anyway, I'll be eagerly waiting for the new SP1 to come out and surely I'll install it as soon as it hits public.

Source : Vista Blog
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Money problem can exist for everyone. If you are in need of a fast loan, then check out applying for Pay Day Loans. These loans require no credit check, cash assets, or extensive background checks. You don't even need a fax machine anymore to get loan, you can simply apply online, get instant approval, and take money arriving in your checking account in hours.

For those unexpected financial emergencies, payday loans get cash in your hands quickly. You won't be late for paying bill anymore.

What if you want a large amount for your new gadgets or even car purchase? Then you should consider Personal Loans option. Don't worry! Applying personal loans is as easy as applying pay day loans. Just fill out the online application and your application will get process instantly. Don't worry about your past bad credits history. No matter what your current credit situation, Complete loan source can provide you quick answer with their various loan schemes that will surely fit your personal situation.

***This post is brought to you by Complete Loan Source***
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Digg-clone netscape is gone

Now if you go to Netscape.com, you'll get suprised that there are no longer what-so-called digg killer is there. Now, aol realized that their social networking site is gradually killing them. So they get rid of that into another domain called Propeller.com

propeller-logo

Now the old netscape.com is back. Even though it is quite a shame to see big company like aol have to take a step backward, I congrats them for making a right decision. Yeah, that's right, in the Web 2.0 world, you can't kill digg, it's as simple as that.
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We all like the zip feature. Especially when I transfer a lot of .doc and .xls files, compression of zip save me a ton of space. But sometimes, I want to create exe to uncompress itself due to destination computer don't have zip software install or I'm just too lazy to open WinZip.

What most people don't know is that Windows has built-in tool to create self-extract compress files.
  • Go to Start Menu -->> Run
  • And then type iexpress.exe
You will see the following wizard.
iexpress wizard

  • Click Next, then Choose "Create compressed files only (ActiveX installs)"
  • Then Click Next, Add the files you want in your package.
  • Then Click Next, click browse and choose the path you want and give any name you want to the package.
  • Then Click Next, you can save the setting for creating your package. For now, select "Don't save".
  • Then Click Next and your package is ready to distribute to anywhere you like.

It is quite amazing that Windows have provided such an amazing small program for free.
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Power cords for your computer equipments


Let me introduce you TCA (Technical Cable Applications) company, which provides you various types of cables, connectors, accessories for your computer. Some of you may know that they are famous for HDMI cables and CAT5e/CAT6 network cables.

They are expanding their power cord services. If you go to power cord page, you will notice that only four types (C13 to C14 Power Cable, 5-15P to C13, Laptop Cables, Rotating Plug to C13) are available now. But hey, I'll tell you a secret. Their stocking order of nearly 50,000 cords will be there very soon. In the future, whatever the power cord type and length you want, I'm sure you can find it there.

Ooh, they will start shipping your order within two days. From their FAQ page, they have stated that
All cables are warranteed. Any cable defect will be FIXED or Replaced by us. We stand behind the quality of our cables 100%.
So what are you waiting for? Go to their online shopping store and order your cable today!

***This post is brought to you by TCA (Technical Cable Applications)***
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How to allow users to remote desktop in Windows 2003

In Windows 2003, I've created an ordinary user account and then I've add that account in to Remote Desktop Users group already as in the following picture.



But when I login remotely, I've got the following error.

To log on to this remote computer, you must be granted the Allow log on through Terminal Services right. By default, members of the Remote Desktop Users group have this right. If you are not a member of the remote desktop users gruop or another group that has this right, or if the remote desktop user group does not have this right, you must be granted this right manually.




I'm sure if you got this error you'll feel frustrated like I did. How can you manually grant this user right to remote desktop? Okay, it's not that difficult.

  • First Go to -->> Administrative Tools -->> Terminal Services Configuration
  • And then Choose Connection and in the right panel right click on RDP-tcp
  • And then choose Properties. In the Permissions tab, add the users you want.



That's it! Now enjoy your server remotely.
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How to fix NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM not found error


In the old Windows 9x days, we have seen "NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found" error quite too often. Nowadays, modern Windows XP era, these errors become less frequent, but still there. For me, normally, I've no idea how to fix these and I used to format my computer.

If you have FAT32 partitions or Windows 9x, it is much simpler than with NTFS.
Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files
from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive.

But for NTFS or Windows XP, here are the steps:

  • Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
  • At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
  • Press the number to choose the location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
  • Typically this will be #1 unless you have dual-boot.
  • Type in the administrator password. (If no password, just press Enter)
  • Enter in the following commands (X: is drive letter of CDROM drive)
  • COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
  • COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
  • Take out the CD ROM and type exit


Source : Microsoft
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Do you like traveling? Are you planning on vacation soon? Then you must be thinking about booking rooms, flights or renting cars. I have found a great resource one-stop website service that could fulfill all your needs. Check out Hotel Reservations.

It's a great site that'll provide all you need to plan your vacation. The site also offers great rates for not just hotels, motels, but full vacation packages, cruises, rentals, flights, and even cars. They have really some great hotels for some very affordable prices. Why should you take the pain to browse and search all the hotels websites while you can get all hotels in the one complete website with even cheaper prices. They cover world wide destinations in their offer.

Their website interface are extremely simple, easy to use and informative. I'm sure you can find the feature you want with one click away. They also offer you in many different languages such as Spanish, French, German and Italian if you're not a native English speaker.

One great feature of this website is their search engine. You can simply enter the city of your planned destination, check in and check out dates, number of persons and number of rooms you want, and their search engine will give you the results right away. If normal search features are not enough for you, you can try their advanced search feature, where you can select many more options such as Hotels with swimming pool, fitness center, complimentary breakfast, etc. You also have the option of having your search results sorted by lowest or highest priced or alphabetical and you can choose to have hotels listed that are near a famous place, tourist attraction place in the city you are planning to visit.

Since I'm planning on flying home for Christmas, I'll definitely make my reservations with them. I find that really cool and useful. If you used to plan and reserve all your travel needs for all your vacations, you must know how time consuming and how much headache you can get by trying to find the best deals for different aspects of traveling. Don't give yourself trouble anymore, you can start planning your vacation with ease by starting at their Destination Guide or calling their toll free phone as below:


***This post is a paid review***
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Windows Control Panel is great way of accessing windows administrative features. Some of those features are not available in traditional interface. Those features are hidden from normal GUI. The only way to access is from command line only. For example, control userpasswords2 is the only way to access from Run command.

To access these lists, go to Start Menu -->> Run and type the commands you want.


Control Panel applets
Applet name Type at the Run command
Add Hardware control hdwwiz.cpl
Add or Remove Programs control appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control admintools
Appearance Settings control color
Audio Devices and Sound Themes control mmsys.cpl
Date and Time control timedate.cpl
or
control date/time
Display Settings control desk.cpl
or
control desktop
Firewall control firewall.cpl
Folder Options control folders
Fonts Explorer "\windows\fonts"
or
control fonts
Game Controllers control joy.cpl
Infocard control infocardcpl.cpl
iSCSI Initiator control iscsicpl.cpl
Internet Options control inetcpl.cpl
Keyboard control main.cpl Keyboard
or
control keyboard
Mouse control main.cpl
or
control mouse
Network Connections control ncpa.cpl
or
control netconnections
Pen and Input Devices control tabletpc.pcl
People Near Me control collab.pcl
Phone and Modem Options control telephon.cpl
or
control telephony
Power Options control powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes control printers
Regional and Language Options control intl.cpl
or
control international
Scanners and Cameras control sticpl.cpl
Windows Security Center control wscui.cpl
Task Scheduler control schedtasks
Text to Speech control speech
System control sysdm.cpl
User Accounts control nusrmgr.cpl
or
control userpasswords
or
control userpasswords2


These commands will not only make you access more efficiently but also save you a lot of time.
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Save money with Coupon Chief


We always try to find the best deals possible whenever we go out for shopping. We all love to save our money, don’t we? If you're planning to do online shopping, I would like to give you great tip. You should check out Couponchief first to get the best possible coupons to get discount for your shopping.

If you are planning to buy or upgrade your computer, you should check their dell coupons. They have got a lot of coupon for you, ranging from $10 off to $450 or more.

I strongly recommend their Best Buy coupons. You will see a lot of coupons for all the modern gadgets you can imagine. What's more? Their alphabetical store list is a really long list and that would definitely satisfy you no matter what types of coupons you are looking for.

I find it to be a great resource website with very user-friendly convenient interface and it would help you to save not only your hard-earn money but also your precious time. Since Holidays seasons are right around the corner, I'm sure Coupon chief will be a big money saver for you.

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This is just minor and very easy tweak. If you think your start menu don't show up fast enough when you click, you can remove any delay from menus sliding out.

To do this, you can simply edit registry value.

  • First Go to Start menu -->> Run
  • Then type regedit, press enter
  • Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
  • You will see the key, called MenuShowDelay, with the value 400.
  • Double click and change the value to 0.


start menu delay

Just like any other registry change to take effect, you need to restart your computer. That's it! Your start menu will show faster.
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We all know the word “Home Sweet Home”, don’t we? What does Home exactly mean? According to wiki, “A home is a place where a person, family, or group of people live or spend much of their time, or where a person feels safe or comfortable.”

Yeah, that’s right. Having the whole day tired of work, when you go back to your home, what do you expect? You want to relax and your home should be exactly as you can imagine. If you own a house, Home improvements never seem to end. You should choose the right people to do it for you.

After looking on-line at Anglian Home Improvements, I’m sure you will come up with great ideas what your dream home looks like. The products available are windows, doors, conservatories, kitchens, garage doors, driveways, and many more . After I have looked at Anglian's products, they are very gorgeous and I feel like I’ve found my dream home.

They have been in service for over 36 years and they have great reputation for excellent quality. If you’re planning to reshape your home as in your dream, you don't need to look no further. Go to Anglian website and ask for your free quote.
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How to keep NumLock on for every boot

Every time you boot your computer, you observe that NumLock is off. But from your office or another computer, it boot with always NumLock is on. So you may want to make your computer to boot up with NumLock on too. How to make it?

Go to Registry Editor by
  • Click Start Menu-->> Run -->> Type regedit
  • And then go to this registry key.
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard
  • -Double click on InitialKeyboardIndicators
  • -Type 2



After that you restart your computer and you will see the NumLock as the way you want it.

Source : Microsoft
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How to create Desktop icon shortcut


Some of you may accidentally delete Desktop icon shortcut from Quick Launch. Don't sweat it! You can easily recreate it. Follow these steps.

  • 1. Open your Notepad.
  • 2. Type the following :
  • [Shell]
    Command=2
    IconFile=explorer.exe,3
    [Taskbar]
    Command=ToggleDesktop
  • 3. Save the file as Show Desktop.scf on the desktop.
  • 4. After that, just drag and drop to the Quicklaunch bar.


That's it! It's easy.

Source : Microsoft
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How to delete undeletable files

error undelete message

How many times have we been annoyed by that messages? Oh yeah, there are many alternatives of above such as :
  • Cannot delete file: Access is denied
  • There has been a sharing violation.
  • The source or destination file may be in use.
  • The file is in use by another program or user.
  • Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

I've got two ways to solve this problem.

First way : If you're not tech buddy, you should go to second way.

  • Go to Start menu -->> Run -->> type cmd and press enter (this will open command prompt)
  • After that press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up task manager
  • Go to Process tab, find explorer.exe, then click End Process.
  • Your Taskbar will disappear.

end explorer process
  • Go back to the Command prompt you just left opened.
  • Browse folder or file you want to delete.
  • Delete file with del command and remove directory with rmdir command.
  • After that, in the task manager, choose File -->> New Task (Run..)
  • Then type explorer.exe.
  • Your taskbar will appear again.


Second way : I recommend this. This is really easy. Just download and install Unlocker, which is very useful freeware especially for this purpose. After you installed the program, all you have to do is simply right click the folder or file and select Unlocker. You can do Delete, Rename, Move at your finger tips.

Frankly speaking, I really recommend you guys to follow Second way. I intend first method for those of you who just want to know workaround or who don't wanna install any extra programs.
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Microsoft Windows 95 commercial

After I've enjoyed Pirates of the Silicon Valley, I was looking for Windows 95 commercial. I thought that commercial would be quite interesting as what I've seen Apple commercial for Mac is too self-arrogant and frankly, I feel funny.

Besides the facts that all those data in that movie is accurate or not, I've enjoyed the movie and I liked this commercial too.



Sometimes, we should know the history. History made us who we are today.
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Using computer in public places is unsafe anyway. If your Windows show up in Network Neighborhood or My Network Places, other users in your office LAN or public LAN can access your share files. So, how I can you share your files without showing up in Network Neighborhood?

It's very simple. Just follow these steps.

Go to Start menu -->> Run
Type cmd, then press Enter
In command prompt, type net config server
hide from network places

If you see "Server hidden" is "No", that means other users can see your share files in My Network Places. You can change it by typing the following command.
net config server /hidden:yes

So from now on, the only way the other users can access your share files is via your ip address. In DHCP environment, other users wouldn't know it unless you gave them.
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Find related artists in visual

We all have our favorite musicians. But sometimes, our favorite singer release new album once in three years or more. We want to listen music quite similar. We have to look for related artists from online store such as Amazon.

I have found this very interesting website, Music Map, that let us search similar artist to your favorite one. They will return the search in the draft map. The closer the artist name to your favorite (which is in center), the higher probability that you'll like that artist too. See the following screenshot that I search for Eminem alike.



Obviously, for my instinct, I know that 50 cent, DMX, D12, Nelly, Dr. Dre and 2Pac are rapper, I don't think there's any reason Celine Dion should be related to Eminem. I mean I've never heard of her rapping. Okay, nothing is perfect.

Even though, it's not sure bullet proof, it's enjoyable.
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Internet Search

I know internet search become one of daily routines in our life. All people use major four search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN (Windows Live) and Ask. Actually, most people search internet in that order. First they try Google, after that Yahoo, after that MSN (Windows Live) and then Ask. We all know that Google is the king of the king in search engines market. But wouldn't it be nice your search terms to search simultaneously on all four major search engines.

You should try Dogpile. It will search your keywords in all four and then return you with results and even where that result come from.

For examples, my search for bridge to nova returns at No. 9 and only from Google (Yeah, that's why I said they are the king).



You should try it too. It's really fun to see which one return what. By the way, if you wanna know more about Google search, don't forget to check out my Google search tips article.
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Microsoft BlueScreen Screen Saver

Microsoft has been famous and criticized for their BlueScreen of Death(BSOD). Most people of Windows 95, 98 era scariest nightmare is they saw BSOD.



But since Windows XP, Microsoft has greatly improved their OS and at Vista, I have been using for six months, I have never seen BSOD again.

As BSOD become a thing in the past, now Microsoft even made fun of it by releasing BlueScreen Screensaver. First time I know Microsoft has a sense of humor.

What's this screensaver?
Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots every 15 seconds or so. Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen's BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration - its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. For example, the NT build number, processor revision, loaded drivers and addresses, disk drive characteristics, and memory size are all taken from the system Bluescreen is running on.


Use Bluescreen to amaze your friends and scare your enemies!
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Smorty : Another blog income source

smortyIf you have no idea what Smorty is, let me give you a brief introduction. Smorty is a blog advertising service connecting advertisers with bloggers. Advertisers can pay bloggers to write opinion posts with links back to the advertisers' site. In other words, Smorty is another pay-per-post, get paid to blog service.

As I've already got paid from Smorty, I'll share you all the experience I have with them. They are very quick in reviewing my blog (only 1.5 days). For posts approval, as in their FAQ stated, it won't take more than 5 business days (cool, huh?). For payments? This is the best part of it. They pay weekly via paypal and they are very quick to pay. It would take only 4-7 days to get paid after your post have approved. Even though they are a small, new company, if they keep their good work, I'm sure they will be one of the major income sources for bloggers.

Of course, there is some area to improve too. The thing that confused me is their Smorty scoring system. I've got 500 score when I first join. After I've completed my first job, my score jumps to 505. But a week later, my score drop to 500. And then, it drops again without any explanation. I'm sure this problem will be resolved by Smorty soon.

Overall, I highly recommend you to sign up for Smorty if you blog for money or you're looking for extra income source for your blog. There are many get paid for blogging programs out there, but I haven't seen any service that reacts as fast as Smorty in approving the posts and paying the money. I'm sure you'll enjoy Smorty as they treat bloggers and advertisers exceptionally well.
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If you haven't known it before, I know you're wondering are there any options exist in command prompt or not? Well, they do exist. To access,

First Start Menu -->> Run -->> Type cmd and press enter.

Command Prompt Configurable Options

After that left click on the top corner of command prompt dialog box as below :



Click on Defaults and you will see the following dialog box.



Let me explain you about the Edit Options. There are three Edit Options available : QuickEdit Mode, Insert Mode and AutoComplete mode.

QuickEdit Mode : If you select this one, you can copy the text in the Command Prompt window with your left mouse button, and then right-click to paste either at the command prompt or in a text file.

Insert Mode : This mode is same function as keyboard key insert. If you select this mode, you can insert text at the point of the cursor, if you don't select this option, the text will be override.

AutoComplete Mode : This option is available from the Windows XP and later version only. It allows you to quickly complete available commands when you type Tab or if you don't type anything and just start pressing tab , it will cycle through the available items in the current working directory.
You can select and unselect that mode as you desire.

List of Commands you typed

Most of you may probably know that you can get to the last few commands you typed by pressing the up arrow key. Well, I believe only a few of you know that you can view and select command you typed earlier by pressing F7 key to bring the following dialog box.



These command prompt options exist as early as Windows 95 (maybe even Windows 3.1 but who cares?). Most people are not aware that these options even exist. By knowing these things, you can brag your friends smiley cool or speed up your work.

Reference : Microsoft
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Windows default setting comes with Autoplay turn on. This feature is useful until one day you've got hit by usb worm or virus. To protect you from infecting all sorts of worm or virus from usb, you should disable the autoplay feature.

Follow these steps for Windows XP

  • Go to Start -->> Run -->> Type gpedit.msc
  • In the Group Policy Editor, go to Computer Configuration
  • Select Administrative templates -->> System
  • You will find Turn off Autoplay in the right column setting list.
  • Double click on Turn off Autoplay and you'll see as Windows below.
  • Select Enabled and Turn off Auto play on drop-down menu, choose All drives.


autoplay xp

For Windows Vista, things got simpler.

  • Just go to Start Menu -->> Control Panel -->> AutoPlay
  • And then uncheck for Use AutoPlay for all media and devices
  • And then click save. See the following screenshot.


autoplay vista

That's it! Now your computer is less likely to get infected by usb viruses or worms anymore.
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Adblock plus companion : Filterset G updater

I have shared with you guys about Firefox great plugin, adblock plus. I have enjoyed Adblock plus plugin so much that, I can't browse without it anymore.

Now I have found a great companion called Adblock filterset.G Updater. That will automatically update the block list for Adblock plus. This tool is really cool.



If you want to notice a big change, visit bloggerwave.com before you installed that extension and after. It adds bloggerwave.com to the whitelist so you can see the option for advertiser to login. Go ahead and install that plugin, because it will update your list every 4 or 7 days.
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Sometimes you're using IE or even from Windows Explorer ask for websites username and passwords, you accidentally click save username and password. Actually that is not your computer and you don't want it to save your infos. How can you delete?

Go to Start Menu -->> Run
Type Control keymgr.dll and press Enter
You will see the following dialog box

windows stored user

It will show server name. Click properties and if you see your username, you should remove that entry. Those with (Passport) means it is for Windows passport website such as MSN or Windows Live. You can delete your username.

That's it! I hope this helps. This tip works on all version of Windows.
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Duplicate file finder

One thing that bothers me with my computer is that as I have collected my collections of mp3s, there are numerous songs that are common in some albums. For example, 50 cent - Candy shop will be in 50 cent The Massacre album also in Various Artists album, Top Club Hits, and so on.

But now I found a program called duplicate file finder. This program will find all the duplicate files in your computer or your selected folder. You have the final say whether to delete duplicate file or not.

What so good about this program?

Unlike other utilities that only check file names, Duplicate File Finder performs a binary comparison of file contents and can locate files that are alike regardless of names.


I like this program. You can download shareware version for using 20 times. For me, I run only one time and almost all my duplicate files are gone. If you need to use more than 20 times, you will have to purchase for $15/single user. Still a good deal, isn't it?

Via : PCWORLD
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Do you that when you open volume control the default is large size, you can change it to small size by pressing Ctrl+S. Pressing again will change back to large size.



When you have multiple windows open, you can close many windows you want by pressing Ctrl and clicking windows at the taskbar, after that right click and close group.



If you want Notepad to automatically insert date and time for you, you can press F5. If you want Notepad to insert date and time every time you open the file, you can write .LOG at the first line and save.



Even though these tips aren't that useful in my daily usage, I'm quite surprise to find these tips and happy to share with you all.
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Apple lowers iPhone price


Apple made following announcements on September 5th.
To make iPhone affordable for even more customers this holiday season, Apple today lowered the price of the 8GB iPhone—its most popular iPhone model—from $599 to just $399. The 4GB model of iPhone will remain available while supplies last. Apple also announced that it is on track to sell its one-millionth iPhone before the end of September.
Can you believe it? That's insulting, isn't it? After this official announcement from Apple came, many of their loyal users feel being bully. One of their loyal users posted in Apple official discussion board,
I am divorcing Apple for irreconcilable differences. My alimony is a $100 store credit, and the children (my Macs, iPods and other products) will go to foster care in eBay.

I am joining my friends on the "dark side" because Apple doesn't look so sunny or friendly anymore. Fly your flags at half-mast. It is a sad day for former Apple supporters.
But Mr. Steve Jobs react just like in the old days. He doesn't seem to mind. He replied with open letters to all iPhone users. I quote:
There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon.


After reading many of right and wrong debates, I will stand neutral and give warning to all those early technology adopters. Never forget the Apple iPhone example!
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Most people ask me why don't I blog about Linux anything at all? I don't know Linux or why? Okay, I will refer to this one of PC world user responds:

Linux versus Windows XP Don't make me laugh! Like your writer, I took a long look at one of the latest versions of Linux (Red Hat Linux 9 in my case). The OS installed nicely, but it took me no less than 1.5 hours to get online with my dial-up connection--after 2 hours of getting my modem configured. Installing software? Don't look for the .zip files you may be used to, and once you get downloaded files unpacked, don't expect them to set up painlessly the way Windows apps do.

After two weeks of this nonsense, I went back to Windows XP. I'll take its ease of use and hardware compatibility any time.
Yeah, that feedback goes almost the same for me, except for the fact that I have tried many Linux distros not just Red Hat Linux 9. You don't have to believe me, you can try yourself.
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How to find problematic svchost

Sometimes, WinXP got slow down extremely and barely respond. After you open the Task Manager you found that one of the svchost.exe is eating all CPU resource.

The difficult thing is that svchost.exe is used by Microsoft Windows Services and run many instances simultaneously. Sometimes, malware also run with the same name too. How can you differentiate which one is malware or which one is legitimate.

Ok, after you open Task manager,
Go to View-->>Select Columns -->> Check PID (Process Identifier)

You will see the Task manager as below:

task manager pid

Record the PID no. of the svchost process. After that, go to command prompt.
Type Tasklist /SVC

cmd-pid

You will see the svchost with the PID. So that now you've got an idea of which process are actually associated with that svchost instance. If you want to know more info of that process you can google it. For example if you suspect CryptSvc, you google it and you'll know that cryptsvc is a module associated with Cryptographic Services from Microsoft Corporation. Ok, that's legitimate, you can try next one and hopefully you'll spot the spyware if there's one.

Reference : Microsoft
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We all love Firefox and most of us are using Firefox. The reason I love most is because of Adblockplus plugin. I have got many websites that I want to make my homepage. One of my workmate teaches me how to do it.

It's very easy.

Go to Tools-->>Options-->>Main
Type all the web addresses you want separated by |
For example : www.google.com|www.bridgetonova.com|www.yahoo.com




Every time I start Firefox, it open three tabs automatically with three of my favorite web sites open. I love Firefox.
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When is Google birthday

google birthday
Have you ever wonder when is Google birthday? It's somewhere around in September. Here is the official explanation.

Google opened its doors in September 1998. The exact date when we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.


While we are waiting for Google celebration of their 9th birthday, you can enjoy Google Corporation history. It's really interesting.
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