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Main Page [Part One].

Welcome To My Homepage... Thanks For Visiting.... And Do Come Again And Again......These Are Some Of The Very Best Articles I Found From The Internet. Hope You Read And Acknowledge....By The Way Majority Of Them Have Come From Instant Fundas...

Links To Other Pages Part One

24 sites to look for free video tutorials

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the same way we can say that a video is worth a thousand pictures. Indeed, we can learn a lot faster by seeing somebody doing a task then attempting to do the task by self by reading tutorials. Video tutorials are hence, quite popular these days. You can find quite a lot of these on YouTube and Google video but you could waste a lot of your time looking for them and in the end you might not even get what you were looking for. What you really need is a site dedicated to video tutorials. So here you go. I'm going to give you not one but 24 top sites to look for video tutorials.

1. Video-Tutes
This website is a gem. Their tutorials covers a wide range of industry standard software such as Photoshop cs2 & 3, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash 8 and Flash 8 video, Adobe Premiere pro and more, a total of 22 titles in fact! The tutorials ranges from beginners and those wishing to learn new software to advance techniques for the professionals.

2. Got My Idea?
Another excellent site to find hundreds of tutorials on dozens of softwares and topics like 3D Max, Adobe Air, After Effects, Ajax, AutoCAD, Blender, C++, CPanel, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, HTML, Illustrator, Java, JavaScript, Linux and more. Every topic you can imagine of is found here.

3. MediaCollege
Lots of videos on diverse topics like computer softwares like Photoshop, Flash etc, Windows, hardware, networking, photography, lighting, video photography and more. A very nice site.

4. Steve's tutes
This website contains mainly Flash and Photoshop tutorials with some other tutorials on Java and web development. This site is mainly for beginners but these are some basic tutorials that will come handy no matter what project are you working on.

5. WatchTutorial
WatchTutorial.com collects the best tutorials from Youtube, Yahoo video, Myspace video etc. and adds them on their site. You can find all sort of tutorials here - sports, health, designing, coding and even cooking.

6. Russell Brown tips & techniques
Loads and loads of Photoshop tutorials. The movies are in the Quicktime format which you can download and play even on your iPod.

7. gnomonology
Tutorials on Maya, Max, Houdini, AfterEffects, ZBrush, Lightwave and some other designing tools.

8. Flash Extensions
Over 200 video tutorials on Flash and Flex ranging from basic to advance topics.

9. Tutorial Vid
This site has around 400 videos on web design, graphics, 3D software etc. Not a very large database but still you can find some usefull stuff here.

10. Jimmy Ruska's Video Tutorials
A nice little collection of tutorials on programming like html, php and css and an assortment of different how to's on Windows, Gmail, ripping DVDs etc.

11. V tutorial
About 500 video tutorials on Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, 3D softwares, Mac etc.

12. Tutvid
Video tutorials on Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and a few more.

13. Showmedo
This site is focused on programming languages like Python, Java, Perl. Linux etc. A great site for learning programming.

14. Teach-ICT
Tutorials on Word, Access, PowerPoint, Excel, FrontPage, Flash, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

15. Digital Tutors
Video tutorials and modeling, animation and design tools like Maya, Max, Photoshop, ZBrush etc.

16. VisualTuts
Video tutorials on FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Max, Photoshop, Wordpress and a few others. Just over 100 tutorials.

17. Video Tutorials Spot
Lots of videos tutorials on game hacks, graphics, web development, gadgets, sports and a bunch of other stuff.

18. WZ2K: Digital Illusions Explained
Tutorials on Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Corel Draw and photography.

19. gotoAndLearn
A limited yet handy set of Flash tutorials.

20. Luv2Help
Photoshop tutorials, basic computer tutorials like installing RAM, setting up network and some Vista customization tutorials.

21 Videojug
Videojug contains lot more then just tech video tutorials. You can find videos on sports, heath, hobbies, do-it-yourself and such apart from the tech videos.

22. 5min
Another site that covers videos on diverse topics from arts, business and fashion to sports and travel. The videos are short, usually no more than 5 minutes, hence the name. If you are looking for advanced tech tutorials you won't find them here.

23. Expert Village
Expert Village is a how to video site where you can learn just about anything, including self defense techniques, free magic tricks, how to tie a neck tie, and nearly everything in between. Again not intended for professionals but simple basic videos.

24. Viewdo
Another similar site to look for small video guides.

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Google launches the wiki tool Google Sites

Google Sites is the new offering from the Google Apps team launched just two days ago on February 27th, 2008. Google Sites is their new wiki suite which is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses and students. Google sites makes it possible to create "team" sites in a matter of minutes where people can work together on a Site to add file attachments, information from other Google applications (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube and Picasa), and new free-form content. Creating a site together is as easy as editing a document, and you always control who has access, whether it's just yourself, your team, or your whole organization. You can even publish Sites to the world.

Features

• Creating a Google Site is as easy as editing a document, which means there's no markup language for you to learn HTML.

• Google sites comes with a big list of ready made templates(web page, announcements, file cabinet) to help you get started with your Google Sites pages. If you don't like the templates, you can make you own customizations.

• Upload files size is limited to a healthy 10MB. Each Google Apps account receives at least 10GB of storage in Google Sites. Google Apps Premier and Education editions get an additional 500MB for each user account.

• Google Sites is integrated with other Google products, so you can insert videos, docs, spreadsheets, presentations, photo slide shows, and calendars directly onto your Google Sites pages.

• Permission settings let you designate owners, viewers and collaborators (meaning they can edit pages) for your site. And you can make your Google Sites available to just a few people, your entire organization, or the world.

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How to run applications as non admin in Windows XP to avoid malwares

The problem with Windows XP is it runs all programs with an elevated user privileged. The first user account that Windows XP creates after a fresh install is automatically given administrator status. All applications that are run inside an administrator account runs with admin privileged, which means that they are allowed to make changes to the registry and system files, creating, deleting and modifying files at will. If a virus or spyware happens to get into such a computer, the virus gets admin status too bringing destruction to the usually inaccessible system files. One way to prevent this is to create a separate limited account for day to day use. This limited account has lower privileged and is not allowed to bring changes to system files and registry. If a virus manage to get into such an account, it wouldn't be able to do much damage. But the limited account is in fact, very limited. It doesn't allow to make many customization to your computer and most importantly it doesn't allow software installation. This makes it almost useless for daily use.

A Microsoft employee named Michael Howard has created an application to address this issue. He has created a program called SetSAFER using which you can force a program to run with lower privileged thereby minimizing the chances of the program doing any damage to your system.

Download SetSAFER from the author's website. Now open Notepad and copy paste the following into it and save with the name setsafer.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<safer>
<app comment="Internet Explorer"
path="C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer"
user="true" />
<app comment="Microsoft Office 2003"
path="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11"
user="true" />
<app comment="MSN Messenger"
path="C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe"
user="true" />
</safer>

You can add as many programs as like to this file, that you wish to run with lower privileges. The "app comment" defines the name of the program as it would appear in the program window and the "path" points to the location of the application. You will require .NET Framework 2.0 to run this tool. After the XML file is set, copy it to the same folder as SetSAFER and run the program.

How to run applications as non admin in Windows XP to avoid malwares

How to show the desktop icons without showing the desktop

You might have placed shortcuts of your frequently used application on your desktop for easier access. But then, to reach them you have to show your desktop. This might be a bit annoying if you have another application or window open. You will have to minimize all open windows to see your desktop and only then you can click on the shortcuts. Not a very "shortcut" method, isn't? So how to get around this? Enter Shock Desktop.

Shock Desktop is a helpful little utility that performs two function. First, it allows you to arrange your desktop icons in any way you wish and then save the arrangement. Secondly, by using a keyboard shortcut it allows you to view the desktop icons by popping them up in front of the open window. The following screenshot will help you understand this function.

Shock Desktop also lets you hide the desktop icons or the labels of the icons. In other words, it almost lets you play around with your icons at will.

1 Gigabyte is Not Equal to 1024 Megabytes

f you pickup any computer book or a computer magazine and look up the term Gigabyte, chances are that you will find that 1 gigabyte is equal 1024 megabytes, which is equal to 1024 kilobytes, which again in turn is equal to 1024 bytes. That’s what we have been taught and that’s what everyone thinks it is. But that definition of gigabyte, megabyte and kilobyte has changed nearly 8 years ago.

Traditionally, one gigabyte has been defined as 1023³ bytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes or 2³⁰ bytes. This is the definition commonly used for computer memory and file sizes. Then in December 1998 the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the leading international organization for worldwide standardization in electrotechnology, introduced new symbols and prefixes for binary multiples and changed the earlier ones. According to the new definitions, one gigabyte no longer equals 1023³ bytes but 1000³ bytes and 1023³ bytes is now represented by a new term called gibibyte. The new prefixes for measurement of bytes are shown in the table below.

That explains one important anomaly in size measurement that we notice everyday in our lives, that is, the size of the hard disk. You go out and buy a 160GB hard disk, but when you plug in to your computer and turn it on you find that your operating system reports that you have only 149GB. That's because hard disk manufacturers no longer use the old convention of measuring sizes but the brand new ones. When a hard disk is labeled 160GB it has a capacity of 160 x 1000³ bytes and not 160 x 1024³ bytes, because like I explained, 1GB is not equal 1024³ bytes. So a 160GB hard disk has a capacity of 160 x 1000³/1024³ bytes or 149 GiB (gibibytes). The IEC binary naming convention however, is not widespread and most publications, computer manufacturers and software companies prefer to use the traditional units. For instance, the memory (RAM) manufacturers continue to use the old naming convention. So when you buy 1GB of memory you get 1024³ bytes of RAM. There is however a good explanation for this discrepancy. Computer memory is addressed in base 2, due to its design, so memory size is always a power of two. It is thus convenient to work in binary units for RAM. Other computer measurements, like storage hardware size, data transfer rates, clock speeds, operations per second, etc., do not have an inherent base, and are usually presented in decimal units.

To add to the confusion, different softwares as well as hardware manufacturers use different unit of measurement. Examples of software that use IEC standard prefixes (along with standard SI prefixes) include the Linux kernel, GNU Core Utilities, Launchpad, GParted, ifconfig, Deluge (BitTorrent client), and BitTornado. Other programs like fdisk and apt-get use SI prefixes with their decimal meaning.

Screenshots of Gnome Partition Editor, fdisk (Linux) and Windows Disk Management show how different software utilities use different measurement for hard disk capacities

Floppy disks uses the binary system of measurement. A 1.44MB floppy disk has a capacity of 144,000,000 bytes which is equal to 1.38 MiB (mebibytes); notice that the operating system reports this as 1.38MB.

CD capacities are always given in binary units. A "700 MB" (or "80 minute") CD has a nominal capacity of about 700 MiB (approx 730MB). But DVD capacities are given in decimal units. A "4.7 GB" DVD has a nominal capacity of about 4.38 GiB.

Network speeds use the binary units of measurement. A 1Mbps internet connection has a throughput of 1,000,000 bits (125 kB, approx 122 KiB) per second assuming an 8-bit byte, and no overhead.

All these ambiguity in measurements have led to consumer confusion and there actually have been two significant class action lawsuits against digital storage manufactures by consumers. One case involved flash memory and the other involved hard disk drives. Both were settled with the manufactures agreeing to clarify the storage capacity of their products on the consumer packaging. But most hard disk manufacturers still continue to use decimal prefixes to identify capacities, with no mention of capacities in terms of gibibytes.

Resources:
Prefixes for binary multiples
Wikipedia: Gigabyte
Wikipedia: Gibibyte

Install any Linux distro directly from hard disk without burning any DVD

After you download any Linux distro from the internet, you have to burn it to a DVD, CD or a number of CDs to install it. That CD or DVD is generally used only once after which it lies unused , and worse, almost every Linux distro comes up with a new release every 6 months. So if you are in the habit of upgrading to every new version, you must have dozens of CDs lying at the bottom of your drawer. What a wastage of CDs! But with a little trick you can install any Linux directly from the hard disk without burning a single CD or DVD. The prerequisite of this trick is to have an operating system already installed on your computer. This is obvious because unless you are able to boot into your machine, you can't install anything; and we are not going to boot from the Linux disk because we aren't burning any. Here I'm going to focus on Microsoft Windows as the pre installed operating system.

Almost all Linux installers uses two files to boot the computer: a Linux kernel, and an initial root file system containing a minimal set of directories that is mounted prior to when the real root file system is available. This initial root file system is also called Ram disk (initrd). We will use these two files to boot our PC. Now lets get to the actual procedure.

1. The first thing you will have to do is copy the ISO file(s) of the Linux to your hard disk (ofcourse, you already have it). Make sure that the partition is FAT32 unless the distro you are installing has native NTFS read/write support. Some distros require you to copy the ISO file(s) to the root of the partition. If you keep it inside a folder, the setup might not be able to detect it.

2. Use Winrar to open the ISO file (you need not need to extract it). Now you will have to extract the two files I talked about earlier. The files are usually found inside a directory called isolinux. Different distros might place the files in different location; you just have to search for it, but it isn't hard to locate. These two files are also named differently in different distros. The files that you will need to search and extract are: (the kernel file is shown in green and the Ram disk is shown in red)

Fedora: vmlinuz and initrd.img

Suse: linux and initrd

Mandriva: vmlinuz and all.rdz

Ubuntu: vmlinuz and initrd.gz

Gentoo: gentoo and gentoo.igz

Knoppix: vmlinuz and initrd.img

Slackware: bzImage and initrd.img

Debian: vmlinuz and initrd.gz

3. After you have extracted the two files, copy them to c:\boot (you will need to create the folder "boot")

4. Now download the file called grub4dos from here. (Note: the new versions of grub4dos i.e. 0.4.2 and 0.4.3 does not work. So download the earlier version 0.4.1. Direct download link) Extract the folder "boot" and the file "grldr" from the downloaded zip file. Inside the folder "boot" is another folder called "grub"; copy the folder "grub" to c:\boot. Copy the file "grldr" to c:\

5. Open c:\boot\grub\menu.lst and add these following lines. (Notice that hd0 refers to the first hard drive. If you have more than one hard drive, they will be named hd1, hd2 etc. Replace hd0 with the proper hard drive number incase you have windows installed on another drive.) Replace Linux_kernel and Ram_disk with the appropriate file names below. (the ones you copied to c:\boot)

title Install Linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/Linux_kernel
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/Ram_disk

6. Now you have to add grub to your c:\boot.ini file. You can open boot.ini by clicking on Start>Run and typing c:\boot.ini. If Windows does not allow the file to be modified, then go to Control Panel>System and click on the Advanced tab. Now under Startup and Recovery click Settings and then under System Startup click Edit. Open boot.ini and add this line in the end.

C:\grldr=”Start GRUB”

7. You are now ready to install Linux. Restart your PC and from the boot screen select "Start GRUB". This will load GRUB. From the grub screen select "Install Linux". During the setup you will be asked the source of installation. Choose hard disk and then select the hard drive partition where you copied the ISO files. Sometimes you might have to type the whole path of the partition and the exact name of the ISO. So write it down before you begin.

I have personally tested this with Fedora, Suse and Mandriva and it works without problem. I have no doubt it will work for others too.

Update: dougfractal adds that this is possible from Linux too. The method as he describes is:

From the terminal enter these commands

sudo mkdir /distro
sudo chmod `whoami`:`whoami`
cp MYLINUX.iso /distro/distro.iso

Now extract Linux_kernel & Ram_disk to /distro#

Open /boot/grub/menu.lst

#ADD NEW ENTRY#
title Install Linux
root (hdX,X)
kernel /distro/Linux_kernel
initrd /distro/Ram_disk

Reboot and select "Install Linux" from grub.

15 Free CD/DVD burning alternatives to Nero

When it comes to CD or DVD burning, the software most people tend to use is Nero. But Nero isn't the be all and end all of CD burning solutions. There are other softwares as well that perform much better than Nero in terms of resource usage and speed. Here is a list of 15 free burning softwares that you can use in place of Nero.

1. ImgBurn: ImgBurn is probably the best free CD/DVD burning tool available. ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI. It supports Unicode folder/file names, so you shouldn't run in to any problems if you're using an international character set. ImgBurn supports all the Windows OS's - Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista (including all the 64-bit versions). If you use Wine, it should also run on Linux and other x86-based Unixes.

It's a very flexible application with several advanced features that are often lacking in other tools, especially when it comes to burning DVD Video discs. It supports all the latest drives without the need for updates (including booktype / bitsetting / advanced settings on many of the major ones - i.e. BenQ, LiteOn, LG, NEC, Plextor, Samsung, Sony).

Download size = 1.5MB

2. InfraRecorder: InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution for Microsoft Windows. It offers a wide range of powerful features; all through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration.

Features
* Create custom data, audio and mixed-mode projects and record them to physical discs as well as disc images.
* Supports recording to dual-layer DVDs.
* Blank (erase) rewritable discs using four different methods.
* Record disc images (ISO and BIN/CUE).
* Fixate discs (write lead-out information to prevent further data from being added to the disc).
* Scan the SCSI/IDE bus for devices and collect information about their capabilities.
* Create disc copies, on the fly and using a temporary disc image.
* Import session data from multi-session discs and add more sessions to them.
* Display disc information.
* Save audio and data tracks to files (.wav, .wma, .ogg, .mp3 and .iso).

Download size = 2.56MB

3. CDBurnerXP: CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

Key Features:
* burn all kinds of discs
* audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
* burn and create ISO files
* data verification after burning process
* create bootable discs
* multi-language interface
* bin/nrg → ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more.
* Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Download size = 1.9MB

4. Ultimate CD/DVD Burner: Ultimate CD/DVD Burner is a simple and easy to use CD and DVD burning software package. It supports a very wide range of internal and external (USB 2.0 and FireWire) CD and DVD writers. Burn any data, copy any disc, make backups, create astonishing photo CD albums, make ISO CDs with this very easy to handle software!

The interface is intuitive and easy to use. Advanced options are available for those who want to take advantage of them, though they are completely optional, making Ultimate CD/DVD Burner the perfect CD/DVD burner software for users of any experience level.

Download size = 500KB

5. QuickBurn: QuickBurn is a free, easy and very useful burning software. Start this prorgram, Use drag and DROP for files and folders and click BURN CD. That´s all, very easy to use.

Features:
*Multisession support with import from an other session.
*CDRW erase normal or quickly.
*ISO create and Burn ISO. Bootable CD.
*Integrated Explorer.
*Support every CD/DVD Burner.
*Support ASPI or SPTI-Driver.
*No aspi required under W2K/XP.
*Session manager to manage your session.
*Verify files after burn.

Download size = 680KB

6. DeepBurner Free Portable: DeepBurner Free Portable is free, advanced, and extremely powerful CD and DVD burning package. It removes the hassle of making CDs, DVDs, and autoruns. DeepBurner Free Portable works straight from your removable media, whether it´s a USB flash drive, compact flash card, or even a good old floppy. Burn any data, copy any disc, make backups, make ISO CDs with this very easy to handle software!

Download size = 2.83MB

7. FinalBurner: FinalBurner is a freeware alternative to expensive CD and DVD recorders. It allows users to produce professional data, audio, video disks and ISO images. Many types of media are supported, including CD R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD DL.

Features:
* Burn Data CD/DVD
* Burn Audio CD
* Burn Video DVD
* Burn ISO images

Download size = 8MB

8. Burnatonce: Burnatonce can master data and audio discs, read/write image files, and copy on-the-fly. It's drag-and-drop interface has multi-language support and is fully compatible with XP themes. Multisession and bootable disc mastering is supported as well as long filename support using Joliet, Long Joliet, and Rockridge. Extra long filename support is provided with the ISO9660:1999 and UDF filesystems. Audio discs can be compiled from WAV, MP3, MP2, OGG, and FLAC files as standard while support for other audio formats can be added optionally. CD-Text can be written from the built-in editor, imported from freedb, read from media tags, or extracted from filenames. Pauses between tracks can also be set as silence, pregap, or postgap of varying lengths.

Download size = 3.82MB

9. Free Easy CD DVD Burner: Free Easy CD DVD Burner is a complete free and easy CD & DVD burning solution. Burn data and audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC, M4A) to your CDs & DVDs is now very easy with Free Easy CD DVD Burner. Burn and save ISO files, copy your CDs DVDs. Save your favorite audio CDs to mp3 with the internal grabber (CDDB request to get information about the album).

Standard ISO9660 Joliet, buffer UnderRun protection, Support multisession.
Support for dual-layer DVD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW.

Download size = 5.6MB

10. AVS Disc Creator FREE: [Update: This software is no longer a freeware. Thanks to ankushkool who brought this to my notice] AVS Disc Creator FREE is a simple, fast performance burning software with a variety of features and supported media types.

Features
*Burn your data on the next-generation Blu-ray Discs and take full advantage of the new high-capacity storage technology (25 or 50 GB per Blu-ray Disc).
*AVS Disc Creator supports CD-R/RW, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM, Double/Dual Layer DVD and the latest Blu-ray technology BD-R and BD-RE.
*Designed and tested for IDE, SATA, SCSI, USB, and Firewire drives. Works easily with most CD/DVD recording drives.
*Import previous session and add new files to an existing session - even for DVD formats. It does not matter what software you used to create this disc before.
*Easily add, delete, replace, rename, and copy files and directories on CDs and DVDs. Write files or folders with right-click and selecting the Send To option.
*Create, write and even edit disc images (ISO), remove or add files and folders from/to images.
*Organize your burning tasks into projects to simplify everyday work.
*AVS Disc Creator interface is available in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
*Verify your recorded discs to make sure no data is lost.

Download size = 5.7MB

11. Express Burn: Express Burn is a program for Windows that lets you create and record audio or data CDs with any Windows PC with an installed CD recorder.

With Express Burn you can record a data or audio CD quickly and easily by dragging the files you want onto the Express Burn icon and clicking record. The software then does all the rest converting the files if required. It is also the fastest CD writing program in the world using proprietary optimizing systems.

Download size = 300KB

12. SilentNight Micro Burner: SilentNight Micro Burner is a standalone CD/DVD/ISO/AUDIO burner, and ISO creator that is quite easy to use, is small, no installation is needed, just one single file, and it has its own ASPI layer build in. It also has a powerful search tool. This burner is under constant developement and all users are invited to join in with suggestions, corrections and translations to new languages.

Download size = 1.1MB

13. Burn4Free: This is another free DVD and CD burner.

Features:
*Burn4Free burn data (CD and DVD) and audio from different files types (WAV, FLAC, WavPack, WMA, M3U (mp3 winamp compilation) , MP3, MP2, MP1 OGG and CDA (normal cd audio tracks))
*CD-R/CD-RW/DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD-RAM drives (SCSI - IDE/EIDE - USB) are supported
*Print Compilation, select layout, colors and items to print
4 way to burn your CD/DVD: you can choose the way you prefer to burn a CD/DVD (fly window, right click from explorer, internal add window, derag & drop
*1900 + COMPATIBLE RECORDERS

Download size = 4.2MB

14. EASY Burning: EASY Burning is the easiest way to backup your files in a cdr(w). Integrated to the shell (send to) or used as a normal application, EASY Burning works with any CD writer. Write a folder and files, pictures and what ever you want. Easy to use. Create Data CD from a folder. Backup your MP3 collection. Integrated into Shell. send to Integrated into Desktop.

Download size = 1.1MB

15. Disc Master: Disc Master is a solution for data burning and backup for CD and DVD recordable and rewritable discs, from Corel. Fast copy CD to CD or DVD to DVD, backup files, create mixed mode, or enhanced multi-session CDs. Supports CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM.

Download size = 12.3MB

16. BurnAware Free Edition: BurnAware Free Edition allows you to easily perform the most common disc burning tasks: write to all CD/DVD media types, including Blu-Ray; write Audio CDs and DVD-Video files; create and burn disc images; write multi-session discs and much more.

BurnAware Free Edition looks a bit like Nero and supports Windows 98/NT/2000/XP and Vista (32 and 64 bit). It's extremely light weight.

Some Features:
*Writes to all CD/DVD media types including Blu-Ray (BD-R/BD-RE)
*Writes discs from disc images
*Writes DVDs from DVD-Video files
*Writes Audio CDs from WAV, MP3, or WMA files
*Creates disc images
*Supports all current hardware interfaces
*On-the-fly writing for all image types
*Writes Multi-Session to all supported media formats
*Auto-verification of written files
*Supports unicode for multi-byte languages
*Supports Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista (32 and 64 Bit)

Download size = 5.3 MB

17. StarBurn: StarBurn is a powerful tool for grabbing, burning and mastering CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD media. StarBurn supports all types of optical storage media (including CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, BD-R/RE, HD-DVD-R/RW and DVD-RAM) as well as a wide variety of burning hardware.

With StarBurn you can perform grabbing, copying and burning operations as well as advanced DVD authoring and mastering. These advanced features enable you to create DVD-Video content from custom video files, or compilations from other DVDs. Additionally with the DVD Splitting Wizard you can split DVD-Video discs into smaller parts and burn them to DVD writable discs or share them with the StarPort DVD-ROM emulator and watch DVD video directly on your PC. This enables you to create copies of 8.5 GB dual layer DVDs with just a few mouse clicks.

StarBurn has a Quick Start Wizard that provides to simplify frequently used operations such as disc copying, grabbing and splitting DVDs.

StarBurn is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/2003 and Vista

Download size = 10.6 MB

Enhance Windows' usability with DM2's unique features (Must Have)

DM2 is an open source application that packs several Windows enhancement features together that can help you greatly in your every-day work. Let us see what features DM2 can provide you.

Minimize to floating icon
This is one of the nicest and most popular features of DM2. DM2 can minimizes open windows to "floating icon". Floating icons are small floating semi-transparent rectangles (icons) that represents minimized windows. When a window is minimized to a floating icon, it doesn't appear in either tray nor the task bar.

Minimize to tray
Using DM2 you can right click on window's minimize button to minimizes the window to the system tray. Left clicking on the tray icon restores window to its previous state.

Hide window
Right clicking on window's close button totally hides a window. A nice way to keep your open windows away from prying eyes when you have to leave your desk to use the bathroom. :^)

Align and resize
The Align pop up graphical menu allows user to simply align current window to screen edges or corners.

Resize pop up menu allows one to change the window size to any one of the preset sizes in pixels, as well in percentage of current screen size. Moreover, user may also specify different windows size in pixel or percents.

Enhanced system menu
System menu is the pull-down menu, activated by clicking the icon at the left of a window's caption bar (title bar), that allows users to restore, move, size, minimize, or maximize the window. Besides window manipulation, DM2 adds a variety of useful features to this system menu like Priority and Opacity.

Open/Save dialog favorites & recent
DM2 inserts an extra button in all default Windows Open/Save dialogs. When clicked, this button shows a pop up menu with user-defined favorite folders and files. Additionally, menu contains a special submenu ('Recent') with latest of previously used files and folders. By selecting one of the available menu items, user may navigate very fast and easily between favorite folders. This significantly saves time while opening and saving files, since it frees user from boring and time wasting browsing! I absolutely love this one!

Apart from these, DM2 supports custom plugins, which further enhances the program. I have tagged this software as a "must have". You should definitely use this one.
Download DM2

Family Guy Stream Sites:

http://www.watchfamilyguy.net/
http://www.familyguyx.net/

Prison Break Stream Sites:

http://www.prisonbreakcrazy.com
http://www.prisonbreakaddict.com
http://prisonbreakforum.info
http://www.watchprisonbreak.org/

Lost Stream Site:

http://www.lostcrazy.com/
http://www.viewlost.com/

Heroes Stream Site:

http://www.heroescrazy.com/

Cartoon Network:

http://cnonline.iifree.net/

Wrestling Stream Sites:

http://www.evolutionwrestling.piczo.com/
http://www.dailymotion.com/
http://hardcoretv.info/cat/37.html

Disclaimer: Some of these links might be unavailable. I have tried as much as I can to post active links, but keeping track of all of them isn't possible. If you find any broken link, please report here.

Prevent identity theft with Lifelock

I came across this unusual service that claims to protect your online identity, mainly credit card fraud. If you frequently use credit cards to pay your bills online or conduct any monetary transaction, then you should certainly look for such services as offered by Lifelock.

Even though identity theft can occur through various ways, the most common way of identity theft involves the illegal use of credit cards. Lifelock protects misuse of your credit card by a method they call Fraud alert.

When you signup for their services, Lifelock contacts the credit bureaus to set fraud alerts on your behalf. Once your fraud alerts is set creditors, lenders, or any prospective users of your consumer report has to take certain steps to verify your identity before they can:

• Issue new credit
• Increase credit lines
• Arrange loans
• Create new accounts

Verification of your identity usually takes place by directly contacting you over phone and taking other reasonable steps to verify your identity. Only when the creditors are absolutely sure that the person using your credit cards is you, will the transaction take place.

The fraud alert is usually set within an hour of your enrollment where alerts are sent on all of your credit reports at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Within a week or two these major credit bureaus sends you confirmation reports showing your alerts are in place.

Lifelock also requests the major credit bureaus to remove your name from the junk mail lists and you should see a drastic reduction in pre-approved credit offers and other junk mail. What a relief! According to statistics, this is one of the most common ways that thieves hijack identities.

Lifelock costs $10 per month or $110 per year per adult.

LifeLock - 30 Days Free & $21 Annual Discount: Enter promo code RD9 on the enrollment page to get 30 days FREE & an annual $21 discount!

How to avoid your email account from getting hacked

A large number of internet users are finding their email and other online accounts hacked or cracked as it should be called. More often than not, it's due to their own lack of knowledge and awareness. Protecting your email account, or for that matter, any account isn't that difficult. All you have to do is remember the following points.

1. The key to your email account is your password. Choosing a strong password is your first line of defense against account cracking. When you choose a password you should remember these points.

• Your password should be long. Anything less than 8 characters is a strict no-no.
• The password should be a combination of alphabets (of both upper and lower case if possible), numbers and special character. The more complex your password is the better. But memorizing such a password could be a tough task. If you can't make your password complex, make it long (see the previous point).
• Never use names of people or words out of the dictionary. Such passwords are easier to crack by a method called the Dictionary Attack.
• One good method of creating passwords is to choose a sentence that you could remember and then take the first character of each word. Let's take a quote from one of my favorite movie The Matrix. Agent Smith says to Neo "Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?". Using my method the password out of this sentence will be tmmawgiapciyauts. Nobody can break this one, yet remembering this should be easy.

2. Never use the same password all over the Internet. Have different passwords for your email and other accounts like forums, social networking sites, and various other websites. If any of these sites where you hold an account is compromised, your email account could be at risk. Create a separate email account just for such type of purposes like registering on websites and forums.

3. Never use information that you have revealed in your online profile in your passwords. One of the easiest way to hack somebody's email is to look up the security question of the email account and then find the answers in their Orkut/My Space/Facebook profile. You have no idea how many persons have found their account hacked by this way.

4. Always be wary when you open any emails from persons that you don't know. Never download any attachment from unknown persons and never click on links directly from the mail. If required, copy the URL from the mail and paste it on your browser to visit the link.

5. When you use a public computer like those in a cafe to check mail, do not type your passwords on the keyboard. Use the onscreen keyboard (All Programs>Accessories>Accessibility>On Screen Keyboard). This is to ensure that no keylogger, if installed on the computer, can collect your password. You can also use a special plugin available for Internet Explorer and Firefox that prevents logging of passwords by keylogger.

6. Your email account can get hacked because of a present security hole in your email software or Windows or the email service provider itself. In the latter case, there is nothing you can do except curse. But you can protect yourself by keeping your email software and Windows updated. An updated anti virus solution is also essential to prevent anybody from sending malicious programs or trojans to you in order to grab your password etc. A firewall is also an essential requirement to prevent any unwanted traffic to and from your computer. Often, trojans and keyloggers get your password and upload it the the cracker's email or server. A firewall can prevent such an attempt.

7. Do not fall prey to services that claim to hack somebody's email either at a price or for free. You will be asked to send a mail to a supposedly automated password retrieval service with the email address of the account you want to hack, along with your own email id and password. Later you will find that your own account is hacked. Here is one such email hacking trick that never works. Stay away from it.

Remember, no such service exist. Never reveal you password to anyone, not even to your email service provider. No email service provider will ever ask for your password.

Access Google services on your mobile with Google2GO!

Google2GO! is a mobile application for Google services, similar to Yahoo!Go. It gives access to all Google mobile services including:

# Google Web/Image Search
# Google Local Search
# Gmail
# Google Calendar
# Google Reader
# Google Docs
# Picasa
# Google News
# Google Notes

Apart from Google services, some other services are also accessible using this application like:

# Amazon
# eBay
# Weather.com
# Wikipedia
# Dictionary/Thesaurus

Requirements:
Windows Mobile Professional 6 (touch screen capable)
NOTE: Windows Mobile Professional 5 has been reported to work as well
Windows Mobile .Net framework 2.0
Data connection (Wifi will work also)
Screen Resolution of 320×240 (recommended)

Download Google2GO!

Google + Linux = gOS

For some time, a rumor is making rounds that Google is preparing to launch their own operating system. Some speculate that it will be launched in 2010. (Honestly, I don't understand how people come up with such dates, specially when Google hasn't said anything about it.) It's unsure when Google will come up with an OS, if at all, but for now an organization called Good OS LLC has come up with their own version of a Google operating system called gOS.

gOS logo gOS is based on the Ubuntu 7.10 and runs the Enlightenment E17 window manager. There is no KDE or Gnome. Just like any other Linux distro, you will find all essential applications in gOS with special focus on Google's applications. gOS gives one click access to Google services like GMail, Google News, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Maps, YouTube and Blogger. gOS looks very much like Mac.

The size of the distro is just under 550 MB which is great for download. If you use Linux and frequently use Google applications, then give this one a shot.
Download gOS

Fold n' Drop - Making Drag-n-Drop easier in Windows

Windows has a very helpful feature of drag and drop for copy-pasting files. To perform this operation you have to open two explorer windows and keep it open side by side on your desktop. The first explorer window is the one where the file you want to copy is located and the second window is the one where you want to paste the copied file. Then click on the file you want to copy and without releasing the mouse button, drag the file into the other. Most people use this and is the quickest way to copy paste files. However, there are several difficulties in using this feature: you have to open two windows at the same time and you can't maximise either of them.

To circumvent this obvious disadvantage a new interaction technique was developed called Fold n' Drop. Fold n' Drop uses an extremely intelligent technique for seamlessly dragging and dropping between overlapping windows. It allows you to fold windows while dragging objects and then drop them into windows behind them.

Fold n' Drop uses mouse gestures to fold windows and drop objects. You can try a demo on how Fold n' Drop works. Download this java (.jar 65kb) file and run it. Then use these mouse gestures to interact with the folders and files in the demo.

To fold a window, quickly cross its boundary back-and-forth while dragging

Leafing through windows.

Discarding windows.

Unfolding windows.

Cool, isn't it? There are also a few videos of this process available on their website.

Ok. So how do we use it in Windows? There is tool called OriMado that has implemented Fold n' Drop to enable you to carry out drag-n-drop function without having to rearrange open windows.

OriMado implementing the Fold n' Drop feature

There is a nice demonstration on how to use this tool on the homepage. I'm sure you will love this.

Fold n' Drop homepage
OriMado homepage

Download Windows Vista Recovery Disc

I found this on Neosmart.

If you're like most PC users, you probably got Windows Vista with a new PC or laptop. And if you're like 99% of the population, you get your new machines from one of the major manufacturers. Dell, Acer, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, they all have one thing in common: they don't give you a real Windows Vista installation disc with your purchase. Instead, they bundle what they call a "recovery disc" (that's if you're lucky - otherwise you'll have a recovery partition instead) with your machine and leave it at that.

It doesn't matter that you just paid a thousand dollars for a machine that comes with a valid Windows Vista license - your computer manufacturer just don't want to spend the money (or perhaps take on the responsibility) of giving you a Windows Vista installation DVD to accompany your expensive purchase.

The problem is, with Windows Vista, the installation media serves more than one purpose. It's not just a way to get Windows installed, it's also the only way of recovering a borked installation. The Windows Vista DVD has a "recovery center" that provides you with the option of recovering your system via automated recovery (searches for problems and attempts to fix them automatically), rolling-back to a system restore point, recovering a full PC backup, or accessing a command-line recovery console for advanced recovery purposes.

Microsoft seems to have realized this problem, and have thankfully made a recovery disc for this purpose. It contains the contents of the Windows Vista DVD's "recovery center," as we've come to refer to it. It cannot be used to install or reinstall Windows Vista, and just serves as a Windows PE interface to recovering your PC. Technically, one could re-create this installation media with freely-downloadable media from Microsoft (namely the Microsoft WAIK kit, a multi-gigabyte download); but it's damn-decent of Microsoft to make this available to Windows' users who might not be capable of creating such a thing on their own.

Download the Windows Vista Recovery Disc from Neosmart.

Buy ink cartridges from Carrot Ink at affordable prices

Printers are becoming real cheap these days, but strangely ink cartridges are not. You can buy a printer for as low as $50 but ink cartridges for the same printer will cost you about $60. That's ridiculously high. No wonder people resort to refilling their ink cartridges. But there are better alternatives.

Carrot Ink is one place where you can buy ink cartridges for real cheap. They sell both Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) ink cartridge as well as remanufactured and even refilled cartridges. Remanufactured ink cartridges are those that has been recycled. No, it's not same as refilled cartridges. In the remanufacturing process an ink cartridge is physically taken apart and each part is checked and cleaned and any parts that has become useless or worn out are replaced. In some cases a remanufactured ink cartridge can give you a much better quality than what the original manufacturer had sold to you. Besides, the remanufacturing process can be done several times.

Carrot Ink manufactures their own ink which give the same yield and quality as manufacturer's cartridges do, according to them. Frankly, most third party ink manufacturers like Carrot Ink develop ink that is in par with those manufactured by the original manufacturer and it comes at a much cheaper price. Even OEM ink cartridges like HP ink cartridges that are manufactured by HP, are sold on Carrot Ink several bucks cheaper than what you would have to pay if you buy the same cartridge directly from HP. Take for instance, the hp c6656an cartridge which cost $24 is available from Carrot Ink at $19.95. The same cartridge is available at even lesser at $15.95 if you buy a remanufactured one, which is as good as OEM.

On Carrot Ink you can buy ink cartridges that supports printers of almost all major manufacturers like HP, Canon, Epson, Lexmark etc. Products are shipped on the same day of placing order and for purchases above $50, shipping is free. The only downside is they ship only in the US. Carrot Ink was the recipient of BizRate.com’s Circle of Excellence Platinum Award for exceptional performance in online retailing during the 2001, 2002, and 2003 holiday shopping seasons. So that should be some assurance.

main

Google launches the wiki tool Google Sites

How to run applications as non admin in Windows XP to avoid malwares

How to run applications as non admin in Windows XP to avoid malwares

How to show the desktop icons without showing the desktop

1 Gigabyte is Not Equal to 1024 Megabytes

Install any Linux distro directly from hard disk without burning any DVD

15 Free CD/DVD burning alternatives to Nero

Enhance Windows' usability with DM2's unique features (Must Have)

120+ sites to watch TV and movies online

25 sites to find royalty free photos for your websites

Prevent identity theft with Lifelock

How to avoid your email account from getting hacked

Access Google services on your mobile with Google2GO!

Google + Linux = gOS

Fold n' Drop - Making Drag-n-Drop easier in Windows

Download Windows Vista Recovery Disc

Buy ink cartridges from Carrot Ink at affordable prices