COMPUTER STUFF

Duplicate CD and DVD That Match Your Need

2009-06-15T14:59:00.001+07:00

Nowadays, CD and DVD is a common media to deliver most digital media. Digital media could be anything regarding to digital thing such as digital audio, video, pictures, presentation, software, etc. There are two ways to duplicate your CD and DVD; first duplicate them by yourself; second is using CD and DVD duplication service.

To duplicate CD and DVD by yourself, here are the checklist you must have:

CD or DVD burner
Burning software
Blank CD or DVD

CD or DVD burner, also known as CD-RW and DVD-RW is an optical hardware that has ability to write files into blank CD or DVD. From the physical appearance, there is no differences between CD-RW or DVD-RW with CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. Even though CD-ROM or DVD-ROM hasn't ability to write files, they only read written CD or DVD.

Since Windows XP support to burn CD or DVD, actually you don't need additional software. But if the CD you need is more complicated such as Video CD, you need more than that. There are a lot of CD or DVD software, either paid or freeware.

Last but not least, you need blank CD or DVD as media you burn your files to. One box of 100 CDs priced at around $7 - $15. While DVD usually more expensive. When all you need is complete, you now ready to duplicate your CD and DVD.

With above method, you'll able to duplicate CD and DVD with limited number. If your office need to duplicate dozens or hundreds of CD and DVD, it's better to go to the CD and DVD Replication Service. If you live in US, especially Chicago you can go to CD Duplication in Chicago. Besides that, there is also Chicago Video Production Company is other place to go when you need to produce video and spread them to you customers.

Download Multiple Files with Free Download Manager

2009-06-14T22:36:00.001+07:00

Free Download Manager, besides can download single file, it can also download multiple files in one download action. It means you don't have to download those multiple files one by one. Here I give example on how download NOD32 antivirus update from an online directory.

Make sure you've installed Free Download Manager
Go to the directory contain multiple files you want to download.
Right click anywhere on the screen and click Download All with Free Download Manager
'Add list of downloads' box will appear and remove the file you don't need. In this case we will download only files with extension *.nup and *.ver and remove the rest.
Select destination folder of downloaded files. OK. Wait until download process finish.

dontclick.it - Innovative Web Interaction

2009-06-06T15:53:00.002+07:00

If you didn't ever hear dontclick.it before, it's time to check it out. Dontclick.it is a website with a tag Institute for Interactive Research. The site offer new experience in very interesting habit of interacting with a site. You don't need any single click anymore. In the middle of your exploration, you'll get a simple vote weather you miss clicking something? Beware to not click anything that could bring you to "hang screen".

Convert and Open MS Office 2007 in Older Version

2009-06-06T13:32:00.000+07:00

Along with MS Office 2007 launch in January 2007, Microsoft introduced several xml-based format for their MS Office document. On of the most popular MS Office document format is DOCX and DOTX. DOCX is a regular extension of MS Word document replacing DOC format. Xml-based formats came with MS Office 2007 is completely different with older Office formats suc has DOC, XLS etc. So if you make a document in DOCX or DOTX format with Office 2007, you cannot open or edit it in older MS Office version.

To make your older MS Office able for opening and editing MS Office 2007 document, you need download and install Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats (27.5mb). After install, any Office 2007 document will be converted into older Office format.

File extension DOTX is a template file format for MS Word 2007. With a template, you can set default format for your future documents such as font style, page setup, line spacing, etc. There is always at least one file extension DOTX included in MS Word 2007 installation. While you may create additional template for all your needs.

In a case you got document with file extension DOTX or DOCX from others, sometimes you may get error due to bug on MS Office 2007 that run on Vista, you can convert the files into RTF. Docx2Rtf is a tiny software that able to convert docx, dotx, sxw, and odf to rtf (Rich Text Format). RTF is a format that could be opened by most text editing application. Or, you can download OpenOffice to open file extension DOTX or other MS Office 2007 format.

Photoscape - Best Free Photo Editing Software

2009-06-04T23:05:00.004+07:00

Once you download and install it, you may won't believe that it's free! Photoscape is a free photo editing software with tons of abilities and easy of use. This best photo editing software armored with:

Viewer: View your photo collections in thumbnail mode and folder tree. You can resize thumbnail size easily.

Editor: Open a photo, you then can add frame, insert simple object, crop photo, remove red eye, resize photo, adjust brightness and color, add effects, and other useful yet simple operations.

Batch Editor: Just like Editor function with automate operation.

Page: Make a collage of some photos in one page. Similar with Contact Sheet on ACD See, with many available template.

Combine: Combine and merge photo shots in sequence. This function is like photomerge feature in Adobe Photoshop and Canon Photostitch.

AniGIF: Create a gif animation photo contains some photos.

Splitter: Split and divide photo into multiple parts

Screen Capture: Capture a screen shot and save it into many file formats.

Color Picker: Pick a color anywhere on the screen with Hex and RGB format. Similar Quick Color Picker.

Raw Converter: Ability to convert raw file format into JPG.

Rename: Renaming multiple photos with series of filename.

Print: Of course you can also print photos with many template size and thumbnail print.

I think a free photo editing software couldn't be better than this. That's why Photoscape is the best amazing free photo editor. I do recommend Photoscape for beginner and intermediate photo editor. Even a pro will get many advantages. It is a must have software.

Pros: Free, easy of use, tons of abilities.
Cons: It's rather hard (or impossible?) to capture Photoscape window itself.

Download Photoscape here.

How to Insert Date in Excel

2009-06-04T00:38:00.000+07:00

Here is a very simple yet effective way to insert or add date in excel. To do so, you only need to type one of these function in a cell:

=now() to insert current date and time
=today() to insert current date only

FYI, with the two formulas above, it will add current date same with your computer date and clock. Make sure to synchronize your computer date and time first. If you use formula above and save your documents, you'll find the date and time changes by date of your computer. So if you open the document tomorrow, the function will show date of tomorrow. To avoid changing date made by both formula, copy and paste values it in same cell. You can also change the date format from menu Format - Cells... or press Ctrl + 1

How to Download Youtube Video and Anything

2009-05-24T23:02:00.003+07:00

Still confuse on how to download a Youtube video? and anything? Haha. First of all, you must download Free Download Manager (FDM). FDM is a download manager that supports resumable downloads and multiple simultaneous downloads. You can choose between regular FDM or FDM Lite. FDM Lite contain only download manager program without any plugins. Regular FDM includes video conversion plugin, bittorent plugin, uploads plugin and language pack. After download, install it.

Next, open your browser (i.e. Mozilla Firefox). Go to Youtube.com or any web you wish. Right click the video title and click Download with Free Download Manager.

Decide where you want to save downloaded video. OK.

Besides download video, if you download a zip file, FDM gives you option to preview the zip files before download them. Even you don't assign FDM to download something, if you let FDM start on Windows startup, it will take over your downloading action because it is able to monitor any download activities.

Update:
You now can download Youtube video directly from the site by clicking on Download MP4 button. Go to My Videos -> Uploaded Videos.

Picture taken from labnol.org. Anyway, you can still use Free Download Manager to boost your download speed.

Official Google Blog: Add Google News to your website

2009-05-24T21:53:00.000+07:00

Official Google Blog: Add Google News to your website

iTunes Store and m4p File Extension

2009-05-05T00:59:00.000+07:00

Since iTunes Store launched on April 2003, it has become the most famous software-based online digital store. On the iTunes Store, individual songs were sold for the same price with no subscription fee.

Musics in iTunes Store are in the protected AAC format, called m4p file extension. File extension m4p is fairly new, which is an audio format that is purchased from Apple's Music Store (iTune) and is protected by a Digital Rights Management scheme. File extension m4p has smaller size than mp3 with equal quality. .m4p file format was created by Apple to protect .m4p files from illegal distribution.

Once you buy a music file in .m4p format, you can play them with most media player; iTunes, QuicTime, Winamp, RealPlayer, Media Player Classic or others. If Windows is unable to play this file extension m4p, you may need to install apropriate player or may have registry errors. To solve this problem, simply install the applications above and/or scan your registry for errors.

Though there a lot of media players support .m4p files, you can only play it in limited numbers of portable media. In the past, file extension m4p only playable on few digital music players that is support .m4p files. Fortunately, now available song in iTunes Store sold in iTunes Plus song. iTunes Plus songs are free of burn limits and digital rights management (DRM). So the musics your buy from iTunes Store you can play it on iPod, Apple TV, Mac and WIndows computers, and more media players.

The Magic in Video Editing

2009-05-01T23:13:00.000+07:00

Do you have a lot of video tapes at home taken during the holidays, birthday parties, summer getaways, and many other special occasions? Perhaps some of them are merely sitting on the shelves and accumulating dust. Travelers usually carry camcorders because they want to have fun memories and souvenirs from a foreign place they’ve visited. Piles of video tapes are often no longer viewed but the magic in video editing changes that.

Digital camcorders are cheaper these days and so you can easily capture videos of high quality. If you have a capture card, good editing software, and computer at home, you can start editing the videos you’ve collected over the years. Once you have the final output, you can now watch it together with your friends.

Magic requires you to have windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP in order to use such program. It supports media formats like WMA, AVI, ASF, SND, WMV, AIFF, MPEG, AU, and QuickTime.

What can you do using Magic?

You can capture videos by simply using FireWire or USB input device. You can also give good grade effects to the videos you’ve collected. The video and audio components can be edited separately even if it is a single file only. Like other editing programs, you can also decorate the videos with over 150 transitions. It is also possible to overlay tracks with the use of Magic. Video files can be added with voiceover and background score. The timeline is one the most important windows in the editing software. In Magic, you can combine different file formats on the timeline.

If you think that these are all the things that Magic can do, you’re wrong. Other features that Magic offers are the following – include text titles, trim audios and videos, create DVD or VCD file formats, change contrast and color, rotate and zoom in/out video angles, and export videos to digi-cams.

Your videos will look like the videos created by the pros in no time. With Magic, professional editing is no longer expensive. The interface is drag and drop which makes it easier to capture the footage into the timeline. This is also the time to add background music, title effects, scene transitions, and other effects to finish your masterpiece. On the timeline, you can also add others file formats like WMV, AVI, JPEG, MPEG, and ASF. You can create a unique video or movie output in a matter of minutes.

The MPEG format is required if you want to create DVDs, SVCDs, and VCD. You can create a movie in PAL or NTSC standards.

The volume of the tracks in the video can also be displayed so that you can instantly change the audio clip’s volume to create dopler effects, fade outs, fade ins, and other volume effects.

With Magic, you can split, join, trim, crop, merge, and modify color of the video files. The transitions make it even more interesting for users to create ordinary videos which look like great art works.

It doesn’t really matter whether you’re a pro or an amateur. You see, with Magic, the basics are easily learned and in no time, you can start working on your video productions. It costs $39.95 but you can also try the trial version by downloading it.

Is Magic for you? Try it now and see if it works great.

Seven Free Downloads for Video Editing

2009-05-01T23:05:00.000+07:00

For those who have already tried creating their own home videos, you can make use of these seven free downloads for video editing.

If you try to search the internet, you will notice that there are lots of software programs out there ranging from below $100 to over $500. Well, here’s great news – you can also download certain video editing programs for free. Even if you don’t have money, you can still use a decent video editing tool but you need to spend some time browsing the web.

For newbies, it would be best to make use of these free software programs so that you will learn the basics of video editing. Once you get used to using different software programs, you can now purchase complex ones that offer special effects and other fun stuffs. Commercial software programs are too complicated for beginners so you’d be better off with free software.

The top 7 downloadable video editors are the following:

Latest personal computers now have pre-installed video editors, the Windows Movie Maker. You can create new videos/movie and edit or share them. With a few drags and clicks of your mouse, you can create a movie. You can exclude bad shots and get only the best scenes. You can save the movie and perhaps share it via the internet, in a CD, or through email. If you save it on your computer or camcorder, you can play it over and over again.

For Mac, you can use the Apple iMovie. This is one of the easiest ways to create your own video. You can add new clips to your existing project or replace them. It also allows you to edit the audio as well. This software is free only if you have a Mac system. When the Advanced Tools are shown, you can use additional options like green-screen effects, picture-in-picture, and cutaways.

For Linux and PCs, you can use the Zwei-Stein freeware. You can make use of the advanced features it offers like making custom effects or you can also do panning and cropping.

Debugmode Wax may be outdated but it’s still great for video editing. The visual effects are flexible and so you can easily create superb video sequences.

Jashaka can be used for Linux, Mac, and PC. It makes use of the OpenML and OpenGL hardware which allows users real-time interactivity. The platform comes with image processing, paint, and full CG modules.

Virtual Dub offers very simple editing tools. If you’re an advanced editor, this software is not for you. If you have an existing video footage, you can use this software to make clean and simple edits. It can handle AVI files, read MPEG-1 and BMP images.

These six software programs are downloadable. Only then can you use the software to create or edit videos or movies. If you want to use another good online tool, you can use Jump Cut. However, this can only be used online and you can’t download it. With this tool, you can cut videos; add effects, photos and titles. With Jump Cut, you can upload media, share them, remix, create new movies, or publish it for your friends.

For your video editing needs, get a suitable software program. The free software are easy to work on and you will hardly encounter any problems.

Best Software in Video Editing

2009-05-01T23:03:00.002+07:00

When you are about to engage in video editing, you must answer this question first – What do you want to do? There are so many video editing tasks but you can’t possibly do everything unless you’re a pro. Most of today’s videographers prefer to do certain editing tasks but not all of them. So when choosing for the best software, you must consider the things that you’re planning to do; this is the only way of getting the best software for you to work with.

It’s ordinary to see a lot of attractive promos when you’re shopping for the best software, online and offline. There are even programs that come with a free camcorder; don’t be fooled by these things. Stick to your needs and get the appropriate software if you want to end up with a software program that’s useful.

Firstly, you need to look at the format. What is the format that you’re currently working on? Do you want to create a final video or movie of the same format? The input is largely determined by the material you’re using – a DVD recorder, camcorder, etc. The input may be standard definition or high definition. The output can be in DVD wherein MPEG2 files are written on the DVD, in HDD, Blue Ray Disc, handheld devices, computer viewing, and many other formats.

Focus on the source of your files because the output will be mostly of the same format. Choose software that ensures ease of work with the particular input format so that you will not encounter any difficulty.

Sellers of various software programs see to it that their products are ‘attractive’ to the eyes of customers. Even if the program is not what you want, the seller can make it something that you want and so you’re tempted to purchase such software program.

The next thing that you need to consider is transition. When a scene changes, you should insert transitions between the clips. Transitions can be straight cut or cross fade and there are still others that you can use. You see, each software program usually offers about 50 different transitions.

Overlay tracks is another great feature of editing software programs. You can see this effect on movies and TV shows. A very good example is the news wherein you can see the station logo, tape readout, and a video of the reporter on a particular scene. Controlling the overlay tracks is important so that you won’t make a mess on the video output.

The audio control feature is limited in most consumer video editing programs. Just as the word suggests, the software is used mostly for editing videos and not audio. If you want to have maximum audio control, get advanced software packages used by pros.

DVD authoring is another feature that attracts videographers. You can use this if you have high definition materials. Make sure that it provides 10-20 menu templates for full customization.

Rendering is one of the most important features. The file is not finished until you render it; all the changes you’ve made on the video material are ‘virtual’. After rendering, the final video material is saved in viewing format.

Still looking for the best software in video editing? Focus on your needs and wants. If you know the video editing tasks that you’re about to do, then you can easily purchase the right software.

Non-Linear Video Editing

2009-05-01T23:01:00.003+07:00

Once you learn how video editing works, you will have a lot of fun in finalizing your video clips on the computer. Videotape editing these days is a lot cheaper as compared to editing many years ago. You can do it quickly by using the appropriate video editing program. However, the learning curve is a bit steep and many individuals give up because they are easily intimidated by the program. If you’re determined to learn how video editing works, you can handle any tasks no matter how difficult it is.

What you need to do is learn the basics and after that, you can have a lot of fun in editing your videos. When you open any video editing program, you will see an interface with so many windows. In fact, among all computer programs, video editing is the most complex. You can easily get overwhelmed with the many windows that pop on the screen once you open the program.

If you’ve tried using WMM (Windows Movie Maker), then you already have an idea of what a universal interface looks like. Most programs follow the same on-screen layout. WMM is much easier to use than other complex programs because you will initially see four separate windows on the screen. Other windows can be opened one by one so you will not be confused in using them. Each of the windows has its own function and once you know the different functions, you can work with ease. You can also hide other windows while you’re working. Almost all editing programs have 8-20 windows. These windows confuse new users especially if they hardly know anything about video editing.

When you open WMM or any other basic video editing program, you will see that the three windows are located on the top-half section and the bottom half contains a large window. These four windows are the timeline, task pane (on the upper left), collections (middle), and output (on the far right). The bottom window is the timeline or the turquoise section.

The timeline is one of the most important windows in the program. You can build your movie or video in this window and it will serve as its visual representation. A squiggly line or waveform representation can be seen on the screen as well as a running time on top. In the WMM timeline, one line is for the standard video, titles, and video transitions or effects; for audio, there are two lines. At the left side of the screen, you will see the labels and black lines separate them horizontally. Complex programs usually have additional lines for audio and video. If you want to create simple videos, WMM and other free software programs may be enough.

On the task pane, the different tasks are shown and included in the list is the ‘edit movie’. Links are also found in the screen which leads to other functions and one of these links teaches you how to edit videos. You can hide/show this window on the menu at the top portion. The collections window contains all the media from your projects. You can watch the edited video/movie in the output window.

In videotape editing, you will be working on these four windows most of the time. You can learn how these four windows work and then learn more about the other windows.

Linear Video Editing

2009-05-01T23:01:00.000+07:00

Most of today’s emerging videographers are more familiar with non-linear video editing. But did you know that there is also the so called ‘linear video editing’? Prior to the introduction of computer-based editing software in the nineties, video editing was mainly linear.

The process involves selecting and arranging sounds and images on a videotape. Such sounds and images are also modified whether they are generated from computer graphics or video camera.

The medium used was primarily the television. Shot edits were done mostly in live TV productions. More than two cameras are used and the shot edits were executed by switching from one camera to another. Video switchers allowed the handling of several synchronized inputs and at the same time, mixing them into one output. With the use of the switcher, cuts are easily done in various video sources and in wipes, dissolves, and fades.

Modern live TV productions follow the same linear editing system but due to technological advancement, the productions are much more effective and efficient. The airing of shows over and over again was only possible with kinescope but that was before the videotape was invented. With kinescopes, picture degradation was a major problem as well as evident scan lines and image distortion. Delay on broadcasts was also another problem since the kinescopes were processed in film labs.

Because of the tiring procedure with kinescopes, the videotape was developed. After some time, videotape editing became viable just like film editing.

The first accepted videotape was the quadruplex recording, about two inches in width. The tape was cut and spliced to carry out editing tasks. The process was arduous and not many videographers performed it. It involved many disadvantages such as – you can’t use edited tapes again, you need to be skilled enough to carry out the process, lose sync, and each editing task requires several minutes (too time consuming).

Are you familiar with the TV show - ‘Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In’? This show utilized the arduous linear editing process. The hand editing was first developed in the 1960s. But since it involved problems like short buzzing (audio), it was not used all the time. This method was impractical for most producers. Producers are not familiar with the process and they can’t give their personal opinions. Documentary television productions hardly used video because of these problems.

Edit suites were developed by 1970s. It already involved the use of computers. Time codes were used to synchronize auxiliary devices and tape machines. CMX, Ampex, and Sony created the edit systems. Only high-end productions were able to access the edit suites because most of them are very expensive.

Today, linear video editing is still being used in newsrooms and some production facilities where newer technologies are not available. Because of the improvement in today’s technology, linear editing is less complex. As compared to non-linear editing, linear editing will require you to carefully learn the skills of a good videographer. However, if video editing is just your hobby, you can opt for non-linear editing.

Video editing has a very interesting history. Just imagine the videographers cutting tapes and putting the together again to create a final production; it was really expensive, time consuming, and arduous. Thanks to the modern technology, video editing is already possible even in the comfort of your home.

Still, if you want to try linear editing, start gathering experience now.

Computers and Video Editing

2009-05-01T22:59:00.002+07:00

Many years ago, it would have been impossible to edit videos at home because it can only be done in exclusive editor suites. But now, things are quite different. If you have a desktop computer with enough disk space, CPU power, and FireWire or USB port, you can now edit cherished videos to create good quality videos with all the effects you see in modern professional movies.

When you’re editing videos, huge CPU power is being used as you move lots of data to and from the disk. Having a fast machine allows you to write and render in a few minutes but if you’re using a slow computer, the task will take several hours.

If you’re doing a lot of writing and rendering files, Pentium Quad Core computers are great or even a Mac model with 2 to 1 GB of RAM. Pentium 3 machines can handle data stream but when you’re using other applications, the video editing software will not function.

In order to edit videos, you must also choose good quality software. If you have Windows XP, there is already built-in software that lets you edit raw footages. The same thing is true with Apple and Sony computers.

Why is it that many video editors use Adobe Premier? The reason why many people use Adobe is because it provides free demo versions and it can be used on Macs and PCs. Adobe’s software is also well respected and full featured so you can do various editing tasks. Still, if you don’t want to spend on a new editing software, you can always use the WMM (Windows Movie Maker) and IMovie.

Aside from the CPU, RAM is another crucial element in video editing with computers. Even if the CPU is fast, the machine will still remain sluggish without the RAM. The recommended RAM is 512 MB although there are individuals who use 128 MB. So if you’re using the 512 MB RAM, you can browse and use more than two files with ease. Here’s a good example. When the CPU needs a file, the file will be delivered to the RAM from the hard disk for greater speed manipulation. If another file is requested, you can get both files successively. Now this is possible only if you’re using 512 MB RAM but if you’re using the smaller one, the computer will work slower.

If you currently have 128 MB RAM, add more especially if you plan to do a lot of video editing tasks. You must be aware that Windows XP requires 256 MB (RAM) and when you load other applications, it will need additional RAM to remain fast and responsive. For starters, you can settle with 512 MB or if you want to invest more on video editing, you can increase the RAM to 768 MB – 1GB.

Make sure that you get the appropriate RAM for your computer’s motherboard. So far, the most appropriate in the market is the RDRAM 1066. This is suitable for a Pentium 4 cpu and it is expensive. A less expensive alternative is the DRAM or DDR. You can choose among DDR266, DDR300, and DDR400. If you’re no familiar with the motherboard of your computer, you should check with the seller company or the online site.

Now that you know the computer requirements, you will know if your computer is suitable for video editing tasks.

Privacy Policy for anyutilities.blogspot.com

2009-04-06T22:07:00.000+07:00

The privacy of our visitors to anyutilities.blogspot.com is important to us.

At anyutilities.blogspot.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit anyutilities.blogspot.com, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell your personal information to third parties.

Log Files
As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

Cookies and Web Beacons
We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.

We also use third party advertisements on anyutilities.blogspot.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

AdSense Privacy Policy Provided by Computer Stuff

Force Printing Large Page Into One Paper on Excel

2009-03-29T21:41:00.000+07:00

How to print a large into one paper in Excel? Sometime you need it to save paper or just for analyzing the data. There are several ways to do it.

First, adjust paper margin on page setup to its minimum value. Change page orientation if necessary.

Second, you may choose one of two following:
1. Manual page break. To adjust page break manually, go to View - Page Break Preview. Click OK if you get welcome message. In Page break preview, you can adjust the pages by click and drag the blue solid border or dash blue border.

2. Scaling your document automatically. To scale document automatically, go to File - Page Setup. On Page tab adjust to xxx% normal size. That the first option. Second option is Select the Fit to check box, enter a number in the page(s) wide by box, and enter a number in the tall box. To fill the paper width and use as many pages as necessary, type 1 in the pages(s) wide by box and leave the tall box blank.

FYI, always use print preview to check every change you made to make sure that your printout will be still readable. Adjusting scaling to fewer percent or fitting pages into higher ratio may cause your text unreadable. In many cases I met, handling a large table only need to change the tall box value (to 8, 10 etc.) and leave the pages wide by box value is 1.

CMYK an RGB Color Model Introduction

2009-03-29T21:38:00.000+07:00

Every image has a color palette. They could be black and white, grayscale, duotone, RGB, CMYK and so on. There are 2 common color palette used in image processing; RGB (Red Green Blue) and CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow Black). Processing an image in unsuitable color could bring it to wrong color and disapointing result. To know this color differences is important for people who dealing with image processing.

RGB formed from three main color; Red, Green and Blue on a black media. Your monitor uses RGB color. To display a color other than red, green and blue, monitor will mix two of that three color or mix all color with certain value. FOr example, yellow produced by mixing red and green. Magenta is mixed of blue and red, etc.

CMYK or CMY formed from four main color; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black on a white media. CMYK used in printed images on paper. Most printer use CMYK method to produce an image.

Because monitor uses RGB and printer uses CMYK that's why the printout will not produce exact color as you see on the monitor. To obtain optimal result between color in monitor and printout, you have to calibrate the monitor.

Conclusion: for displaying purpose, use RGB to match your monitor, otherwise for printing purpose, use CMYK.

Comparing Image File Format; JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, PNG and Usages

2009-03-29T21:33:00.000+07:00

Here I want to give a short comparison and description of some most popular image file format. This article made based on my understanding of those image file format which I got from my experience and some sources. I will only consentrate to common Bitmap format since there are two (CMIIW) image format used widely; Vector and Bitmap/raster image format. Of course, besides the charateristics of JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF and BMP file format, I will try to give short desription of usages of each format.

1. JPEG
JPEG or JPG is most popular image format nowadays. JPG is lossy file format. Lossy means when you save a graphic or image in JPG format it will loss details and reduce quality depends on degree of compression and resolution of the image. Even so, JPG offer small file size. JPG commonly used for photographic images especially in large image dimension. JPG is best format if you want to share image over internet or display it on a site. For sharing image via email -just showing it to friends, for example, I think 800x600 resolution with compression 80% is enough. To get more detail, you can choose 1024x768 resolution, depends on your original resolution.

Format: JPG Quality: 50; dimension: 200x100 px; filesize: 3 kb (zoomed 1.5x)

Format: JPG Quality: 12; dimension: 200x100 px; filesize: 2 kb (zoomed 1.5x)

On the other hand, JPEG is not as well suited for line drawings and other textual or iconic graphics, where the sharp contrasts between adjacent pixels cause noticeable artifacts. Such images are better saved in a lossless graphics format such as TIFF, GIF, PNG, or a raw image format. JPEG is also not well suited to files that will undergo multiple edits, as some image quality will usually be lost each time the image is decompressed and recompressed (generation loss). To avoid this, an image that is being modified or may be modified in the future can be saved in a lossless format such as PNG, and a copy exported as JPEG for distribution.

2. BMP
BMP is Windows image (and oldest?) format and free of patents that makes it very common format that any picture editing program from many operating system can read and write. BMP usually has a huge filesize due to lack of compression. My suggestion, avoid saving a picture in BMP because it takes a lot of space. When you perforce to store or deliver image in BMP, you can reduce its filesize by compressing first into ZIP or RAR format.

3. TIFF
TIFF is losless format. Even so, TIFF filesize relative small compared to BMP. TIFF is flexible format that able to be a container holding compressed JPG, also can include a vector based clipping path. TIFF is suitable to store image, and printing purpose format. TIFF also offer LZW compression (resemble to ZIP) to reduce filesize. TIFF also support multiple pages in single file.

4. GIF
GIF a lossless format used widely in internet graphic. GIF supports colors up to 256 colors only in an image. So if it is a photograph, for example, do not use GIF format to avoid losing image colors. GIF also support animation and of course contain multiple images. GIF suitable for sharp edges image line art (like logos).

5. PNG
PNG is lossless format made to replace GIF as a format not requiring a patent license. PNG support RGB and doesn't support CMYK. PNG designed for images on the internet, not professional printing. PNG supports transparency, so when you need to overlap an object with other, choose PNG for the foreground image. PNG filesize bigger than JPG and GIF. But image quality better than GIF since PNG support larger color and lossless. Though PNG designed to replace GIF, PNG doesn't support animation. Even so, Mozilla Foundation is developing animated PNG that'll make PNG format supports animation.

Format: PNG dimension: 200x100 px; filesize: 4 kb (zoomed 2x)

Things To Do After Windows OS Installation

2009-03-26T21:08:00.000+07:00

Yesterday we talked about preparation before reinstalling OS, now I'm gonna write things to do first after you finish reinstall Windows. Of course there are some things to do after Windows reinstallation in order that your PC ready to use.

1. Install devices driver
Device driver is a program that allows a specific device, such as a modem, network adapter, or printer, to communicate with the operating system. Although a device might be installed on your system, Windows cannot use the device until you have installed and configured the appropriate driver.

If a device is listed in the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), a driver is usually included with Windows. Device drivers load automatically (for all enabled devices) when a computer is started, and thereafter run invisibly.

Read also for more information about installing devices driver.

2. Setup network and internet connection
To setup network and internet connection, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Connection > Network Setup Wizard or New Connection Wizard. If you don't a network or internet connection, pass this step and go to next step. I place setup network and internet connection on second place regarding you may want to download newest devices driver and typically you'll need it to update your antivirus definition which we will install it on the third step of this list.

3. Install antivirus and update it
Now you have all driver installed and your network or internet connected. Your computer now should run properly. But without antivirus your computer is vulnerable to virus attack and other malicious software.

Nowadays, there are a lot of antivirus either free or paid antivirus. For free antivirus, you can choose Avira Antivir, AVG Antivirus or other free antivirus. For paid antivirus there are many choices; Norton Antivirus, McAfee, NOD32, Kaspersky, Panda Antivirus etc. The free antivirus not always worse than the paid one. There are many case that the free antivirus works better than paid antivirus. The key is you have to update the antivirus regularly whether it is free or not. FYI, most antivirus need internet connection to update their database, some could be updated manually. Read also the post on how to manual update NOD32 antivirus.

4. Install applications
It is time to install applications. I suggest you to install 'big application' beforehand. Big application means application which the installer has more than 100 mb in size. IMHO, you have to install this first because big application has more complicated configuration and files and a lot of registry entry. So the principle is big first, small later.

5. Restore applications' configuration backup
After installed, for your frequently used application, you sometimes have to customize it to adjust as you need. Than reconfigure one by one, you can restore applications settings from back-up previously made. For MS Office, go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard. Choose to restore configuration and follow next instruction in the wizard.

6. Tweaking to boost computer performance
Read how to boost your computer performance in the next post.

That's all things to do after Windows setup. Want to add?

How to Install New Device on Windows

2009-03-26T21:00:00.000+07:00

Installing a new device, whether it's Plug and Play or non-Plug and Play, typically involves up to three steps:

Connecting to your computer.
Loading the appropriate device drivers. If your device is Plug and Play, this step may not be necessary.
Configuring device properties and settings. If your device is Plug and Play, this step may not be necessary.

Whether your device is Plug and Play or non-Plug and Play, you should follow the device manufacturer's installation instructions to ensure that it functions properly. This may require you to shut down and unplug your computer, and then connect the device to the appropriate port or insert it into the appropriate slot.

If the device does not automatically work, it is non-Plug and Play, or it is a necessary startup device like the hard disk, you may have to restart your computer. Windows then attempts to detect your new device.

If Windows does not successfully find your new hardware, you must use the Add Hardware Wizard in Control Panel to tell Windows what type of device you are installing. The Add Hardware Wizard may ask you to insert media (such as a compact disc or floppy disk) if any were provided with the device. The Add Hardware Wizard is primarily used for installing non-Plug and Play devices.

After Windows detects the device, or you identify the device using the Add Hardware Wizard, Windows tries to find and install the correct driver for the device.

First, Windows searches for the driver on your computer's hard disk and on the device manufacturer's floppy disk or compact disc, if one is inserted into a disk drive. If the driver is found in either of these places, Windows installs it.
If Windows doesn't find a driver, and your computer is connected to the Internet, Windows searches for one on the Microsoft Web site. For the latest updates, including security fixes, service packs, new Help files, and device drivers, see Windows Update in Help and Support Center. If the driver is found on the Windows Update site, Windows copies and installs it onto your computer. If your computer is not connected to the Internet, Windows displays a message prompting you to connect to the Internet.
If Windows cannot find the driver on the Windows Update site, the Found New Hardware Wizard will be displayed and will prompt you to insert any media (such as compact discs or floppy disks) that were provided with the device. If the driver is located there, Windows installs it onto your computer.

Preparing Windows OS Installation

2009-03-25T21:55:00.000+07:00

After OS installed for a long moment, moreover if you install a lot of applications you'll feel that the computer slow down. Besides that, you may meet a system crash due to incompatible device driver, fragmented file, full of junk file, virus attack, etc. Of course you have many choice what to do with the computer. But I do recommend to reinstall the OS to make it fresh again.

There are 2 kinds of Windows installation; 1. Replace old OS, 2. Make a fresh installation. By replacing old OS, you don't have to format or loss any data and old program files. I prefer to do a fresh or clean installation. By clean installation, you have to reformat the hard drive, and install the OS into a completely blank partition. With clean installation will completely clean and remove any virus inhabits in the system.

Before reinstalling Windows, you have to prepare your future Windows installation from now and make back-up of some important things inside the hard drive.

1. Back-up documents
Backing up documents is first must to do. If your documents located in My Documents folder which usually in drive C: Nowadays, usually a hard drive divided into several partitions. Move all your important document to other drive except C: (assumed we will make C: as system drive). More than that, you may want to burn the documents into DVD or VCD.

2. Back-up drivers
After back-up documents, you have to make sure that all driver for devices is available and ready to use. Usually, your device driver is in CD format as a package with your new PC/laptop when you buy it for the first time. FYI, devices driver is very important to make sure your devices will works correctly. Even some devices driver already supported by OS. That supported device called PnP stands for Plug and Play. If you cannot find driver for the devices, you can use driver back-up program like Driver Magician or Driver Collector.

3. Back-up settings and fonts
You need to back-up Windows settings and fonts if you don't want to reconfigure you new installation. Later you only need to restore this setting to new installed Windows. To back-up Windows settings you can use Files and Settings Transfer Wizard which located on System Tools under Accessories group in Start menu.

4. Back-up applications setting
Back-up application setting if you have customized settings for application like MS Office. To back-up MS Office settings, for example, go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard. After that, follow next instruction. If you can't find the Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard shortcut, perhaps that feature is currently not installed. To install the feature, insert MS Office original installation CD and choose Add/Remove feature. For other programs back-up settings, refer to documentation comes with your software.

Identity Theft Protection

2009-03-22T21:48:00.000+07:00

Your most valuable property may be in risk. Identity theft-personal information theft to obtain credit or loan money on behalf of other people-is still in progress and the more threatening.

Almost half a million people are victims of this crime every year, and many of them spend time in a quarrel with creditors, banks, financial institutions, and the police in order to repair their good name. Others refer a lawsuit to the court.

Keep your letters safe
If your mailbox is not locked, you mail can be stoleneasily, giving the opportunity for a thief to know your account number and balance, credit card information, new cheque and so on. Think about all the personal information, including insurance policies and all kinds of mail charges, including medical information. Quotes from the credit card on behalf of your name can also become a significant risk if someone pick it up.

The post office box at the post office or the locked mailbox is a way to protect your documents. You also must pay attention to always use the mail box container from the post office for your sent mails - don't put the mails in outbox at your workplace if they are private.

If you do not receive an invoice with the usual time schedule, contact the company. For more guaranteed, consider paying bills via the Internet or online, which have advantage of reducing the receiving and sending mail. However there are some things that must be considered when you are sharing information online, and read carefully to protect yourself.

Protect your documents

Locked Storage file cabinet and the paper shredder is the property that is not useless nowadays. Drawer the workplace or a unprotected file cabinet of personal information could be accessed by irresponsible people, cleaning service, repairman, goods deliverer and the like including those who force to enter your home.

Store all important information, banks accounts and other financial information, check, voucher, letter of insurance, medical information, a debit card that you do not use, passport, old age savings card, birth certificate and the like in a locked safebox.

Do not dispose of the expired banks account, expired debit card, or other important information without destroying the document first. Trash bag lies in the roadside would invite identity theft.

Protect your credit card and debit card

If you carry your wallet in the handbag, you invite a thief anywhere you put it and be a target in store, restaurant or in the workplace. Many of us have much of a credit card than we need and bring everything in the wallet every day. It is wise to reduce the number of cards in the name of you and only carry credit cards or debit cards you need when you exit.

Some hotels reported that a thief entered the hotel room only to steal a card from the wallet, while another cards remain. That means the victim will take longer to realize that they were robbed, giving the thief more time to use stolen card.

If you fill out credit card applications, it should be consistent how you write your name and address-must match with other credit cards.

If you change address, please let all your creditors know much earlier the day when you will move, so there will be no banks account sent to the old address. Close all credit card is unused. Only a slice or cut is not enough. If one of your cards is expired and you do not accept the new one, contact the card issuer company immediately.

To avoid a dead loss of the stolen card, make copy ofaccount number and address information along with contact number of the owner of any company credit card, and store this information in a safe place at home. If credit card is lost or stolen, you already have the required number to contact the company to report the situation.

Do not wait up to one hour to report any lost card. Although the original card was found, your credit card can still be abused, so it is wise to carefully read every credit card bills and report any charges that you do not know.

Protect your PIN

Your PIN number is the largest gift to identity thieves, so it must be well protected, do not print or write PIN in a personal check, and never use for a password. Do not give a PIN number to anyone without a legal reason, and not to be used to identify you unless necessary. Do not take the same number of debit card, driver's license and ID card to be your PIN number.

Protect yourself online

Original anti-virus software (not pirated) is mandatory in every computer (even on Mac), and you must activate them and update periodically, scan for viruses automatically. Avoid sharing program, because the virus can be downloadedtogether with the material that we download.

But this time, even anti-virus protection does not guarantee stored information on your computer. You must also install and always update anti-spyware and firewall software, make sure they are installed for early warning. Also update your internet explorer browser with the latest version (which has been increasingly enhanced security). Many people like the delay to update their browser for fear the ropes will be changed, but it is important to remember that the latest version is usually increase the security.

Set Spam Blocker on "high" will protect your mailbox free from spam emails interference, also from dangerous attachment. You should never open attachments that you have never ask -even though from friend- without previously asking the sender, because some type of virus can take the address book and can transmit and send itself to everyone in the address book.

Your password must consist of a mixture of numbers, symbol, uppercase and lowercase letters. You may think that the name of grandfather-grandmother great-grandparent you will be hard in the broken-down, but the information-and more-personal information can be obtained from a record in government. It is your choice to create a unique password and remember, memorize it well.

When you shop online, see Trust-e symbol or Better Business Bureau online seal, which indicates that it has been in the independent audit and stated trustworthy. Avoid transaction on the Internet at the web site does not provide a privacy policy, you must know how is your information handled.

Finally do not make credit card bills via the Internet unless the site is handled through the secure mode or with a secret code. You will know if the page where you have a secure online form of the URL prefix https instead of http.

Aware to identity theft signs

If anything below happened, the case under suspicious and you should make you take action:

Do not receive banks account normally.
Accept credit cards you did not request, or charges from your account you didn't open.
Find unknown charges from your account, or get phone calls or letters from debt collecting agencies.
Declined to credit, without a shown cause.
Find incorrect information or not according to your credit report.

As soon as possible to do this when you lose your credit card, debit card, pension number, SIM Card mobile phone, or the type of identifying information, do following ways:

Block your credit card, debit card, and block your account at the bank. If the check is stolen, notify your bank.
Report to police dan keep proof of reporting.
Contact the state department of motor vehicles, if your driver's license was stolen.
Contact SIM Card provider to notify them if your mobile phone stolen, and block number.

Hex and HTML Color Picker

2009-03-18T21:39:00.001+07:00

Quick HTML Color Picker is the best and free color picker software I ever found. This color picker is a must have tool for any webmaster, web design, blogger and Adsense publishers. Quick HTML Color Piker identify color HTML code anywhere on the screen including bitmap and vector graphic.

For all Adsense publisher whole the world, I do recommend this tool. Quick HTML Color Picker also a portable software since it doesn't need any installation. To pick a color you only need to run the program, clik Pick Color then paste it anywhere you need because this tool support copy automatically to clipboard.

Download Quick HTML Color Piker (228 kb)

Instant Eyedropper - Pick Color Anywhere

2009-03-18T21:30:00.000+07:00

Instant Eyedropper is a free software tool for web designer or anyone dealing with online publishing that will identify and automatically paste to the clipboard the HTML color code of any pixel on the screen with just a single mouse click.

Identification the color code of an object on the screen is usually an involved, multistep process: You press the Print Screen key to copy a screenshot to the clipboard, load a graphics-editing program, create a new file, paste the screenshot from the clipboard, zoom in on the object, use the "Pick Color" tool, and finally copy the HTML code of the color to the clipboard.

Users may repeat this operation many times a day. Just imagine how much time can be saved by using Instant Eyedropper to do the same thing with a Single Click!

HTML
HEX
Delphi Hex
Visual Basic Hex
RGB
HSB

Download Instant Eyedropper