Tuesday, January 26, 2010

How to connect to Dial-up internet/broadband(PPPOE) using Ubuntu or Linux Mint??

Qref_Ubuntu_Logo

Ubuntu (Or Linux mint , for that purpose) is a good and prevalent linux distro, But  is having some hidden setting which are not easy to figure out for a newbie. We noticed a problem on first installing ubuntu that it couldn’t connect Using PPPOE to the internet using GUI. After some hits and trials, we got to the core of it, and figured a way to connect. here’s how…

1. Open SYSTEM->Terminal

2. now write Sudo pppoeconf and press Enter. Your ADSL modem should be ON and stable( Yellow DSL Light stable,NOT blinking)

3. Authenticate your action by typing your LINUX account password.

4. Now enter Internet connection account Username.

5. Enter your password and follow the instructions and select YES when asked to activate the connection. that’s all.

6. You are connected now.

Learn Ubuntu…from the expert for free!!

ubuntu What you don’t have Ubuntu?? Following our previous post about Linux mint, you preferred it and got it for your system?? Never mind, ‘cause this free pdf file teaches you ubuntu the easy way, and whatdownload works for ubuntu will most probably work as such in Linuxmint! No hassles! Then just don’t wait for long and grab this free pdf available for purchase as hard copy from AMAZON at $10, but for sure, the  pdf is free for you to download. Grab your copy from here

Install Linux mint for a great linux desktop Experience.

LML Ubuntu has recently been updated to ver 9.10, known as “karmik Koala”. Along with it, has updated the very famous Linux mint to version 8,Halena. It is based in good old ubuntu but is more polished and sleek with wide support at a click of a button on its desktop using xchat. Download it from here and install it along with your current windows or linux installation or do a fresh install. Though it derives its underlying technology from UBUNTU, but it’s much more sleek and efficient. With its completely new and fresh interface, it won’t let you miss your windows system much. Preloaded with many useful applications and with its unique and very handy package Manager, its one of the best Linux distros to try. Easy to work and light on system resources, linux mint will not eye your pocket like windows does, since it’s absolutely free of charge download as other Linux developments. A Must try for Ubuntu users.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

How to best use windows 7’s sticky notes feature?? for Dummies!

Exploring the features of windows 7? Many features are great and help you work productively! One isstickynotes sticky notes.

The Sticky notes accessory enables you to plaster the electronic equivalent of good old-fashioned Post-It notes all over your Windows 7 desktop. You can use Sticky Notes in Windows 7 as onscreen reminders: you can even color code them to help you stay organized.

They remain securely wherever you put them on the desktop until you delete them! Of the best part is that you never have to save them. Just type in and it will automatically save itself. Even after a Restart of the machine, you’ll find it resting on your desktop as it did. so here’s how to make the most of it.

1 To create a Sticky Note, click Start→All Programs→Accessories→Sticky Notes.

2.Type the text of the note.

3. You can also format the note text if you want. Just select the desired text and then press the appropriate shortcuts : Ctrl+B for bold text, Ctrl+I for italics, and Ctrl+U for underlining.

4. When you finish entering the note text, simply click somewhere on the desktop outside the sticky note itself.

5. To color-code a sticky note, right-click the note and then click the color you want.

Your choices here are Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, White, or Yellow.

6. To delete a note that you no longer need, click its Delete button in the upper-right corner.

Stay organized!

Reset your system clock to 12 hrs format.

If your system clock forgot to show 1 after 12 o’ clock and showed 13 instead then, it’s time for it to re-attend its manners’ class! Jokes apart, this is mostly very much hated by many if the system clock in the right corner does not follow proper 12-hr format. For many it might be a child’s play to reset it but if you do not know how-to then just have a look at the album here. Just go to control panel and click Date and time.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Best way to download Videos from YOUTUBE!

  youtbrYoutube is overflowing with millions of videos and many of them are those you love to watch over and  over again. Then why waste the precious bandwith of yours to watch it online everytime you feel like. the best thing is to download it and that to really simply. Just replaceyoutubr the Y of YOUTUBE in the address of your browser with 3 and that’s it! you can download the video in Mp4 or flv format for later viewings.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

How to remap Keyboard keys to perform desired functions?

Have multimedia keyboards?? with special keys resting without being used quite often? or have some special keys on your newly brought laptop, which to you, are nothing more than just an eye-candy? Be more productive and reassign those uselesharpkeys 1ss keys to perform common tasks or accessing your computer using Sharpkeys.

Just download and install sharpkeys and change the functionality of any key on your keyboard. Press Type key and then press the key you want to remap. In the right panel, choose the application you want key to be assigned to, or just press the key you want to switch functioning with. This is extremely useful in some laptops with misplaced Function key in the extreme bottom left which annoys you quite often as it gets pressed when you want to press Ctrl.Now you can switch the key to function as Ctrl. Click on Write to Registry. After making changes just reboot or Logoff and theredownload you go ready with new functionality!

                                                                         Download [via www.randyrants.com ]

Download and install your favorite applications automatically, Hassle free!!

Got a new PC or laptop?? or a freshly installed windows?? then installing your favourite applicationsninite might be in your to-do list and some of you might be at it. Ninite is an online application that lets you choose your favourite software from a list and then automatically installs the latest versions on your machine without you even clicking approvals. Just visit www.ninite.com and select the software you want to install, then click on download Installer button there. This will give you a small file to download which contains information ‘bout the choices you made online. all you have to do is to run this application and that’s it. It automatically installs everything for you directly from the web locations ensuring that you get the latest versions. Plus it takes care of all the additional toolbars and useless junky addons which you never use and doesn’t lets them creep in along with the apps you chose. This is one of the best uses of web we’ve come across for a first times which is enough to set him high praising!

Sing along Your Music! Minilyrics displays lyrics as your song plays.

Always wanted to enjoy your precious music collection all the way more? here, minilyrics[5]now you can! using minylyrics which displays your song lyrics in the desired position on your screen as your computer plays your favourite music. though it has been there for quite some time now but for those who are fascinated by the ability your PC will be empowered with, it’s always new and fresh. All languages are supported! Including HINDI. Just play your favorite music player and minilyrics will pop-up. Most of the times, it will find automatically the lyrics for your song from the internet but in case, the metadata of  your mp3 or other music files have been altered or does not resemble the actual song name then, you will have to manually search for song lyrics.

As minilyrics pops up, jus press the SEARCH button, this will display text boxes for artist and song, fill in the correct information and hit the BEGIN SEARCH button, a number for search results will be generated, choose the one that has highest resemblance with your desired song, and with the highest ratings. hit the download button, minilyrics will take a second or two before it gets your lyrics in synchronization with your currently playing song. You’ll have to do this once for ever song as it saves downloadin your hddisk for use when you’re not online.   Sing along and enjoy!

                                                                                           Download [Via Crintsoft]

Sunday, January 10, 2010

How to actually speed-up Your Internet browsing speed?

 123 Here we’re telling you about a DNS(Domain Name Server) tweak. Google, some time ago, launched a DNS service which it claimed to be the fastest! It may or may not be the fastest service, but is sure to find you a DNS which is faster than your current Server.
Firstly, what is DNS? As google puts it, Most of us aren't familiar with DNS because it's often handled automatically by our Internet Service Provider (ISP), but it provides an essential function for the web. You could think of it as the switchboard of the Internet, converting easy-to-remember domain names - e.g., www.google.com - into the unique Internet Protocol (IP) numbers - e.g., 74.125.45.100 - that computers use to communicate with one another. i.e whatever query you write as the name of a website in your browser, it goes to your DNS which converts it to the IP address and redirects your browser to fetch the data.GT2_google_green
Switching to a faster and more secure DNS will certainly increase your browsing speed.
To set up your, DNS server to Google DNS, we have a set of instructions directly from Google, Here! (also you can refer to instructions below)
But if you are not satisfied with the performance after changing the DNS and want a faster DNS, then you can download Namebench.
namebench is a portable software (Windows/Mac/Linux), which utilize your web browser history, or standardized datasets and finds by best DNS servers available!
Just download it from here, then double click the file, which will extract some data and now start bench marking by clicking on “Start Bench Mark” button. The tests can take some time, since each DNS server is tested on the resolution of the most popular 10,000 site names, according to Alexa web survey,so just leave it running.
After some time the results will be displayed on your default browser with pretty graphs which will tell you the fastest + nearest DNS server available for your PC.
To set up this custom DNS for your connection, follow:
for Windows 7/Vista,  
  1. Go to Control Panel>>
  2. Network and Sharing Center>>                              (Network connections for Windows XP)
  3. Then choose your connection>>
  4. right click on it and choose Properties>>
  5. Click “Networking” Tab>>
  6. Click “Internet Protocol version 4(TCP/IPv4)>>
  7. Click “Properties” >> Select “Use the following DNS server addresses
  8. Now fill the address that NAMEBENCH displayed as “Fastest” in Preferred DNS server **.
  9. And fill Second fastest in Alternate DNS.
  10. Click Apply.
  11. Disconnect and Reconnect your internet connection.
**The Google Public DNS IP addresses are as follows:
  • 8.8.8.8
  • 8.8.4.4
You can use either number as your primary or secondary DNS server. You can specify both numbers, but do not specify one number as both primary and secondary.
In most cases, you will now experience faster browsing! your pages will load faster from the time your fired your query in the browser. Happy faster browsing…

How to automatically start your computer, Download and shutdown at desired time?

  Many internet plans, the world over,Ecran_Mode_Veille are Time slot based, for ex. night unlimited Plans. Such Subscribers, if want Your computers to automatically Start and download at certain time in night and switch off in the morning as the free Time slot ends, can use a few tricks to get the task done.

How to start your computer at certain time?

kalarmMethod 1. Use BIOS Built-in feature: Many BIOS have features to auto start the system at certain specified time. To enter into your BIOS, Press DEL while the computer is just switched on.( The key might differ for your system, F2 or F12) This will display a Blue screen. This is your BIOS(Basic Input Output System) search for Power Options and Start By Alarm, Set it to ENABLED( again the option might differ depending on your BIOS). Set the desired time. Press F10 to Save and exit. Your computer will auto start at the time you specified.

Method 2. Download Auto power-on and shutdown for windows. This software does the job of starting yourdownload PC at certain time, and if your BIOS does not have starting by Alarm option, then this can come to your rescue. Set it to auto start your system at a specific time , but the system must be in a hibernate state, i.e you must NOT shutdown your system, just hibernate it.

                                                                                                                       Download [Via Lifsoft]

How to shutdown your system at certain time?

Shutdown32424 Method 1. Download slawdog’s smart shutdown for windows: Smart shutdown is a 5 star nifty tool downloadwhich gives you lots of options before turning off your computer. Set it to complete certain tasks like  emptying the Recycle Bin or close all your apps before turning off your machine, then decide how long you want your computer to be idle before Smart Shutdown comes into action.

                                                                   Download [Via Slawdog]

Method 2. Use Windows Run command to auto shutdown at time you set. Start > Run and type the following statement  “At 08:00 shutdown –s –t where “08:00” can be replaced by the time you want as per a 24 hour clock format.

OR type “Shutdown –s –t 3600” where “3600” is the seconds (3600 sec = 1 Hour) after which you want your computer to shutdown. This will pop-up a dialog box with timer which will shutdown the system after specified time.

This window can’t be closed by other means. To shutdown, Type “Shutdown –a” and this will kill the dialog box that has opened. In windows 7 there will just be a pop-up in the system Tray instead of dialog box.

For advanced users, you can create a batch file with the “At 08:00…” statement and put it in the start-up folder of windows.

How to auto start the Downloads?3d warmblended

All you need to do is to set the “Scheduling options” in the download manager or torrent client you use to start download at few minutes after you have set your computer to auto-start. 

This will get your Job done in no time and with ease.

With all said and done, remember to keep the power supply switch or UPS on!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Convert your favorite Youtube videos to ringtones Online!


While on Youtube, often you come across some vidoes which have some great audio and now you want to have it as your ringtone or just save a .mp3 file. Here is a solution online. Just visit www.tube2tones.com and paste the address of the youtube video you were watchihng from the address bar of your browser. The wesite also suggests trimming off the part of the video which has no sound or audio and does it automatically for you if you want, just at ta click of a button.
Or you can manually set the starting and end point of the audio file you want to save.
Now it provides 3 options to have your file , all for free. You can download from various formats provided as an option, or you can have it mailed directly to your inbox and finally you can have it sent directly to your phone, It's that easy.
So next time you want to have your favorite video as a ringtone, direct your browser to www.tube2tones.com

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Best Free antivirus comes right from Microsoft.

MSEokMicrosoft has been keeping it’s developers under constant workload since nearly two decades now to give you new(supposedly) pieces of software, and off course to make big cash mse too but this time an antivirus tool comes right from microsoft which performs as good in free edition as in paid one( few extra features).  Microsoft Security Essentials( aka Morro) provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use,  and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple. It runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times, and too it doesn’t downloadambush your system memory. Runs really light and quite.

Give it a try and you might want to switch from your current antivirus for good.

                                                                                             Download [Via Microsoft]

Best Free apps to work faster and more productively.

If you have a freshly installed windows computer or a descent running old one and want to add cool and awesome functionality to it, we’re listing 10 most useful applications to make your friends go WOW over your computer capabilities.

1. Everything

This is one of the best applications we could recommend! if you have lots of data lying haphazardly in everythingremote places that you can’t keep a track of, then “everything” is to your rescue. it’s a freeware. after installing just set a hotkey in its options so that it pops up as soon as you press it. Preferably, i recommend ctrl+shift+E or ctrl+alt+E , so that it comes handy. as soon as you type anything in its search box it will show you all the appearances of the search query in names of the files. and it all takes less than quarter of a second because it initially indexes all the files of your computer. pretty neat, pretty fast and awesome! download icon[13]

                                                                                            [download Via voidtools]

                                                                                          

2. Launchy

  launchyThis has been my favourite utility since long, it indexes all the application that appear in your “all programs” of the start menu and launches it very fast. Just press Alt+Space and Launchy will fire up. Just type the first few letters of the application you want to launch and launchy will shortlist it and display. just press enter to launch it.download icon[13]

Again a free and amazing piece of software.

                                                                                    [download Via Sourceforge.net]

3. Wordweb

wordweb You might already know it well. This is an Offline dictionary that provides great features. as you encounter a word you want to find meaning to, just hold CTRL and right click on the word. This will pop-up wordweb with antonyms, synonyms, Types, Similar and many other references for the word. it also uses Microsoft speech to tell you the pronunciation of the word in English. Offcourse it’s free!download

 

                                                   [download Via Download.com]

We’re pretty sure these awesome tools are going to enrich your computing experience! happy computing :)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Store it on the web! Online web desktops

We all need mobility and portability for our numerous files and data. So where do we store it? obviously on the web!! Most advantageous thing? access them from anywhere in the world, plus it looks too cool to do it…Here we present to you the best of the online desktops existing.

1. Windows MESH

mesh This service is by Microsoft. here you can save your files in customizable folders in the online desktop. it also provides you a desktop client which provides a very remarkable feature, that’s synchronization! Yes, you can synchronize your web desktop with a specific folder on your local hard drive. while offline, just paste files into your folder and the desktop client, on finding an internet connection will automatically upload it to the online desktop, keeping it synchronized! 

2. G.ho.st.com

ghost

One of the best and cool looking web desktops we found is g.ho.st.com. Again all you need is a web browser. It has a bulk uploader for mass uploading of files at once. it also flaunts cool gadgets as you have in your windows system. it provides various cool features such as, Zoho Writer, Zoho sheet, online games and many others.

It provides 15 Gb of free webspace and fires up pretty quickly in your browser. quite useful.

3. Eyeos

eyeos

This is another choice that provides similar functionality. It has been there since quite some time now. This is again a web based system that can be easily used synchronize in schools and colleges. Each student having a personal desktop and able store personal files. Eyeos is under constant improvement.

4. Glide OS

glideos a

Glide OS offers a free account and has 20GB of storage and up to 6 different users. It offers a lot of the same functionality of G.ho.st with their own unique interface and other features.There are different available office features that allow you to create documents and presentations and collaborate with others as well.

Another feature rich and useful tool.

Advantages of a Web OS are there is nothing to install, no Antivirus to worry with, and files and documents are available anywhere you have a web connection. Also you don’t need to worry a whole lot about a machines specs, but rather the speed of your Internet connection. There are a many online operating systems to choose and each one has different features. You might want to try each of them out to find the one that suites your needs. If you’re constantly moving from computer to computer to get work done, you may want to check out a Web OS. If nothing else, they are geeky and fun to play with.

Have a research or school project waiting?? ask Factbites!

People at www.factbites.com have worked upon a search technique aimed at providing you the enormous power of an encyclopaedia while you search. whether you need to find some facts and information for any school college research project or just need to acquire some information on any topic on earth that interests you, the results shown are interesting and informative which can properly lead you to the bits of exact information you were searching.

factfiles

While other search engines link relevance with popularity, FactBites draws on the web’s vast amount of encyclopedias and information websites such as Wikipedia and more specialised ones to provide you with factual information. All you need with no excess useless stuff. And as they say “where results make sense”. This is a very good alternative to our dearest Google when it come to getting factual information or relevant information with neatly organised search results all at one place. So next time you need help, refer to www.factbites.com.A must try!