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What’s New In OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion? [Review]

2012-08-06T08:18:00.004-07:00

Mountain Lion, the latest installment in Apple’s OS X, was released yesterday and brings the version to OS X 10.8. Available to download from the Mac App Store for the promised $19.99, it is a 4GB download and boasts some 200+ features as per Apple’s official page. We aren’t going to sit and count off each one on our fingers, but here’s a look at what’s new and noteworthy in the OS. Apple hasn’t just thought of what new features users need, it’s also executed them well keeping in mind the smooth UI it is well known for developing and maintaining. The new OS integrates better with its mobile counterpart, iOS, and even borrows a couple of features from it. Apps have been added or renamed to create a better, more integrated feel between Mac and iOS devices but with Apple, it is safe to say that no functionality has been lost. Twitter has been integrated and the promised Facebook integration will arrive later this year in Autumn. Some features of the OS, though not many, are tied to iOS 6 and while they are still there, will not be fully functional until the latest version of iOS is released to the masses.

Finder

Finder, the file browser in OS X, is pretty much unchanged except for the addition of two items. A share button which is a recurring addition to most things in OS X and the ability to encrypt drives from the the right-click context menu. The share option is a button added to the toolbar in Finder and it allows you to share a file or picture on Messages or Email it. This is going to make adding files to emails a lot faster and sharing a file or photo via the Chat client will be similarly convenient.

Other visual enhancements to the Finder include showing progress on the file icon when a file is being downloaded from a server or a drive. The progress bar will be similar to the one you see on the Launchpad icon when an app is downloading from the Mac App Store. For those of you who don’t like the order of the items in the sidebar, Finder will now let you change it as per your liking. One small step for man?

Safari 6.0

The latest version of Safari finally merges the URL bar and the Search bar into one. Sharing as a basic function has been integrated in Safari as well as allowing users to share their searches on Twitter, Mail and Messages.

Whether you looked something up on Google or browsed to a particular page on a website, the share button will copy the URL of the search and let you share it via Email, Tweet it or send it as an IM. This should make it easier to share those Easter Eggs you find on Google.

Mail

Mail looks and behaves pretty much the same as it did before with one slight enhancement that might turn out to be a real winner. You can now mark contacts as VIPs. Anyone who sends you important emails frequently like your boss, a team member or your Mom, will be given more importance and the feature will also act as a quick search filter for quickly viewing emails from that one contact.

Calendar

Again only small changes here and nothing noteworthy to speak of. A sidebar has been added to make it more convenient to switch to another month and to easily switch between the different calendars you’ve added. Changing the date of an event has been made easier with a date picker. The date picker opens when you click the date on an event. You can modify this date for an existing event or add the date to an event that lacks one.

Notes

The Notes app is one of the new ones in Mountain Lion. It is the same Notes app that you use on your iOS device and it has been ported to Mac as a default app. The wisdom behind it is of course to sync your notes, whether made on the desktop (Mac) or on a mobile device (iPad or iPhone) and ensure they are available on both. Many users complained that Stickies did not support this and there were a few apps available in the Mac App Store that brought the functionality to both devices. The Notes app does the same via iCloud. The interface is almost exactly the same as the one on iOS but since a desktop gives you more flexibility, the Notes app in Mac lets you create folders and add links and photos to a note. Notes can be pinned to your desktop and in effect, turn into stickies as well. The app has reasonable text formatting tools. Double click a note to open it in its own window i.e., in stickie mode. Click the side bar to add a folder or just hit Shift+Command+N.

Reminders

Reminders is yet another leaf taken from the books of iOS. The app is an almost exact replica of the iOS app with a few liberties taken since it is on the desktop and therefore has room to do more. In this case you can add lists of your own. On iOS you were limited to Reminders and Completed but the Mac version gives you complete freedom to add as many lists as you like and subsequently add reminders to those lists.

Game Center

Game Center is yet another app take from iOS. Sign in with your Apple ID and stats from games you’ve played on your iOS device will be listed as well as stats from OS X games that support Game Center. There aren’t very many of those just now but you can expect the number to increase. Seems as though Apple is interested in establishing itself as a gaming platform too, or it might just be another step in the unification with iOS. Only time will tell how developers will make use of it and how far it will go.

Contacts & Messages

Address Book has been renamed to Contacts and the new feature here is the groups you can create. Contacts has been integrated all across the OS and will make it easier for you to start group chat sessions in Messages app which itself pretty much the same as what it was when we reviewed it in Beta. The integration of Contacts here means that no matter where you have information coming in from i.e. an email, a Twitter ID or a Phone number, Contacts is going to gather it all in one place. It’s the one app to bind them all.

Preview & TextEdit

Sharing documents on Messages or adding them to emails and sharing pictures to Flickr, Facebook and Twitter is now a one button effort in Preview. Adding notes is much easier but perhaps what is the best feature added to this app is the ability to fill PDF forms. Finding a decent tool for filling in a PDF form isn’t easy and Apple obviously thought it was a basic enough need to include it in the Preview app. Take a PDF form, any type and open it. Preview will detect fields like text input areas and check boxes. Clicking on said fields will allow you to input data in them. You can check option boxes and radio buttons, the whole deal.

TxtEdit is yet another app that Apple has revamped and the changes are excellent if you plan on using iCloud. The home screen of the app is now divided into two tabs that allow you to access documents stored on your hard drive or access and upload them to iCloud. Adding a file to iCloud is as simple as dragging & dropping it. You can create a blank document as well and save it to cloud as opposed to your hard drive. As a bonus feature, you can now pinch to zoom in on text. I would personally like to see this particular gesture implemented all across the OS.

The divided tabs allow you to access iCcloud and your hard drive from the same place. The unification in TextEdit will lend a lot of convenience to users. Instead of having to visit a different folder on your drive (like with Dropbox) you have the choice to toggle between the two from within the app. It’s the kind of integration you can expect only at OS level and Apple seems to have taken great advantage of it. Even if you don’t think the new OS is more than bells and whistles (and there are users who do think that) the sheer genius behind this integration is admirable.

Launchpad & Dashboard

In Launchpad, you can now search for apps by typing their name in the search bar. The search bar appears across all the pages your apps are spread out on and searches as you type for apps that match. This is useful both for finding an app when you aren’t sure what it was called or when you have so many of them installed that you’re likely to overlook it in a manual search.

The same search feature has been implemented in Dashboard where you can also group widgets into folders. This is surprising since the number of Mac users unhappy with the Dashboard is more than those who are happy with it yet, Apple not only kept it around but gave it an iOS make-over and a new default background which kind of makes me miss the old one. Click and hold a widget and they start to quiver like the apps in Launchpad and a black cross appears over the ones you can delete. Finding new widgets has also been made easier with a little button at the bottom of the Dashboard that says More Widgets.

System Preferences

Lots of changes here; you will notice Notifications, Mail, Contacts & Calendars and Dictations & Speech as new items. If you dig deeper, you will see several new things in Security & Privacy. Each of these items are integrated system wide and are therefore managed from a central place in the OS.

Notification Center

This is yet another one of the more popular features in iOS; a notification system that integrates messages from apps. Whether it’s Apple’s answer to the popular Growl app or is just one more way to make OS X more like its mobile cousin, the notification center is likely to be well received. In addition to providing you notification from apps like Calendar, Reminder, Notes, Messages, Chrome, it also allows you to connect your Twitter account, send out Tweets and alerts you when you are mentioned in a Tweet or when you receive a Direct Message. You’ve got your two different styles for notifications as well, same as in iOS and there is the option to turn them off for a single app.

Like the notification center in iOS, you can choose to manually allow apps to send you notifications from Preferences. Any app can be added or removed. Apps that don’t support Mountain Lion will still use Growl so don’t think it’s a good idea to remove it just now and rely completely on the default notifications. A notification panel opens at the right of your screen when you click the newly added list like button at the right on the Menu Bar. This button which sits next to Spotlight lets you open/close the notification panel which works exactly the same way as it does in iOS.

iCloud

You will find iCloud integrated in just about every app possible; Mail, Contacts, Reminders, Notes, Safari, TextEdit, everything! The point is to give users a central place for storing everything ensuring that their data is available no matter where they go. When you first boot into Mountain Lion, you will have the choice to sign in with your Apple ID, and at the same time, enable iCloud. If you choose to skip the step, you can sign in and selectively enable apps from System Preferences.

Security & Privacy

Drive encryption has been added, as have restrictions for apps that have not been downloaded from the Mac App store. This is one feature that will have you drooling rainbows although, considering you have only one consolidated hard drive, encryption can take a while. Our’s took something like 8 hours to complete and is 500GB in size (not very large, just sufficient). All four tabs in this preference demand attention. You can set up encryption, from FireVault, manage which types of apps should be allowed to run from the General tab, exercise some serious control over the firewall from Firewall and lastly, manage which apps are using your location from the Privacy tab.

Firevault, which is easily the one feature in this preference that will command your attention, allows one or any number of users to decrypt the drive. Unlike BitLocker on Windows, the decryption key isn’t saved on your system. You have to write it down or use some other means of preserving it. You can choose to save it with Apple if you like and it can be recovered by answering three security questions. There is the dire warning that if you lose your key, forget you password and have decided not to save it with Apple, you can forget about ever accessing your Mac HD again. Users can later be authorized to unlock the drive from their own accounts but you will need to enter their password first. Firevault can be turned off at any time.

Twitter

As mentioned above for several apps, Twitter is now everywhere in OS X. You can share pictures and web searches as well as send tweets all from Mountain Lion’s default feature. To link your Twitter account, visit Mail, Contacts & Calendars in System Preferences. Options for sharing on Twitter are present in Preview, Safari, TextEdit and Finder. So far. you can Tweet with your location and if you want to share an image, you will have to open it in Preview first and use the Share button to share it to Twitter. The only deal breaker is if you don’t share a link from Safari, i.e., you use a different browser and copy and paste the link to the notification centre there is no URL shortner associated with the service. Developers can take note and perhaps a little app will appear shortly for it in the Mac App Store. Of curse, with all this Twitter integration, and almost enough features for users to want to abandon their Twitter Clients, one might wonder that there isn’t an easy way to follow your feed. While it would be more than intrusive to have them pop-up as they come, it is the only thing that might keep you from switching completely to tweeting from your OS.

Screensavers

The Screensavers in Mountain Lion seem to have a new groove too. You can now have several images appear in different layouts and select a folder where the images will be pulled from. Additional options include typing a custom message, viewing art from iTunes or learning a new word everyday by selecting the Word of the day option.

In Summary

Facebook integration, something that seems very exciting once you give Twitter a go; will sadly arrive in Autumn.
Not all, but some features that tie the knot between iOS and OS X will be available only when iOS 6 rolls out, and this means a little less syncing and not as much universal iCloud support as you could hope.
Yes, OS X is looking more and more like iOS; embrace it because it isn’t bad at all. Apple isn’t likely to retract it, but even if you do fail to get used to it, you can always count on there being an app to help you with that.
Notification Centre is excellent and might just change your life. It is smart and knows when to pop up and when not to. More importantly, it comes with a flip switch for turning it off.
Sharing & syncing are an integral part of Mountain Lion so you should actively be looking for the share button in the default apps at the very least. Hopefully as new apps arrive in the Mac App Store, you will find better use of the feature.
You can now view the Mac App store in full screen mode.
Dictionary has been improved and new ones have been added.
QuickTime X has a better encoder and, as you can guess, has the same sharing options you will see in the default apps.

Conclusion

Mountain Lion did not bring a huge UI overhaul to the table, but there are certainly some new elements to the interface. Some might say the new features are really just something that should have been there to begin with, but that isn’t true for all of them. iCloud is going big as far as OS X is concerned. Bear in mind that you might not get a complete feel of what the OS is supposed to be like given most of us do not have iOS 6. Hopefully, with additional updates, the two will mesh well and give a better user experience than ever before. The new features open up new development prospects for apps while making a few of them obsolete. Perhaps the best thing that can be said for OS X Lion fans at this point is that none of Lion’s features have been axed. Some things have been renamed, but that really is as far as it goes, and settling into this new version should prove to be simple for most. Let us know what you think of Mountain Lion and stay tuned for more.

Thank you for sharing addictivetips

Comparison of Office 2010 & Office Starter 2010

2012-08-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Office 2010 is scheduled for release in June of this year, along with it Microsoft will be offering lightweight ad-supported version called Office Starter 2010, which will be free for lifetime. This version will not be providing the full functionality and has less features, today we will be putting some light on what you will be missing in Microsoft Office Starter 2010.

Microsoft Office Starter 2010 will be featuring only two applications; Word and Excel.
Take a look at the both versions of Word 2010.

You may have noticed from the screenshot that several tabs are missing, To give you the complete details of what is missing Office Starter, we have made a comparison sheet.

Take a glance at Excel 2010 and Excel Starter 2010.

The detailed difference in features can be seen in the table below.

Free Microsoft Office 2010 Starter

2012-08-06T08:02:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has revolutionized the way you have been using Office apps. In Office 2010 you will see a lot of new feature and functionality. In coming June, Microsoft will debut Office 2010 which will include a version called Starter that will be available for free. Microsoft also announced that it will be giving Starter version in the newly purchased computers.

Using Starter version would be bit annoying for users because of stretched window and the ads pane which can be seen at the right side of Office applications. Adding more to it, it will be a stripped-down version of final Office version coming down the line, containing minimal feature, functions and featuring only Word 2010 and Excel 2010.
You can see the detailed comparison sheet between the Office final and Starter version here.

Microsoft’s plan is to include Office Starter 2010 in all computers. Once released, it can be downloaded from the official Office 2010 website. The big question here is, will you give it a shot? Will you recommend it to your family and friends who cannot afford to pay for Office 2010? Do you think Microsoft will be successful in grabbing the last remaining market share from OpenOffice? Let us know your thoughts.
Personally, we believe Microsoft wants to dominate the online space as well, which is currently dominated by Google Docs. What better way to do it than providing users with the free version of Office that has the ability to upload the documents and spreadsheets directly to SkyDrive and then providing users with tools to edit and share them online? Yes, we are talking about Microsoft Office Web Apps. Like we mentioned before, it is all plan of Microsoft to make SkyDrive the central storage destination for everything.

Microsoft Introduces Outlook.com, New Email Service with Metro UI

2012-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

We all know that Microsoft is upgrading all its services and products to match with Windows 8 Metro UI. Recently we saw it in upcoming "Office 2013" Customer Preview version and now its turn of a new announcement from Microsoft.
Microsoft has introduced a brand new email service Outlook.com. We all are aware of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express products. Microsoft Outlook is a part of Office suite and is one of the best and widely used email Desktop client for Windows. Outlook Express was a part of Windows but it was discontinued by Microsoft in Windows Vista.
Outlook.com is a new email service from Microsoft which comes with a clean interface inspired by Windows 8 Metro UI. Windows 8 also comes with a built-in Mail app which looks very similar to Outlook.com UI.
Since its a new service, chances are you'll get your desired username for your email account. If you already have a Hotmail or Live email account, you can upgrade it to new Outlook.com UI using Options menu.
Outlook.com comes with many interesting features such as integration with your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google and SkyDrive accounts.
You'll not see any annoying ads in this new email service and its UI has been optimized to provide more reading space for your emails. It uses Exchange ActiveSync which helps you in accessing your emails, calendar and people experience on your smartphone, tablet and Outlook 2013.
Following is a preview of Outlook.com UI:

How to apply?
According to Microsoft, if you're a Hotmail customer and want to upgrade to the Outlook.com preview, just click "Upgrade" in the options menu of Hotmail. Your email address, password, contacts, old email, and rules will remain unchanged, and you can send/receive email from your @hotmail.com or @msn.com or @live.com address. You'll experience it all in the new Outlook.com preview user interface. You can also add an @Outlook.com email address to your account if you want.
If you don't have a Hotmail account and using Gmail, Yahoo, or another email service, you can create a brand new email account by going to following URL:
Create New Email Account at Outlook.com

Wifi is not working After ccleaner

2012-08-04T07:39:00.003-07:00

Please verify that all your Network Services are Started.
Click on Start, type services.msc then press enter.

• COM+ Event System (for WZC issues)
• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Wireless Zero Configuration ( XP wireless configurations only)
• WLAN AutoConfig ( Vista/7 wireless configurations only)
• Workstation

Open a cmd prompt by right clicking and choosing run as administrator and type:
netsh int ip reset reset.log press enter
netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log press enter
netsh winsock reset catalog press enter
nbtstat -r press enter
nbtstat -RR press enter
ipconfig /flushdns press enter and restart pc

“Click2Run Configuration Failure” when Office 2010 Starter is launched

2012-08-01T10:53:00.003-07:00

Here’s a frustrating issue that hasn’t yet been solved by anyone at Microsoft from what I can tell. For as yet unknown reasons, occasionally some PCs exhibit an error when launching Office 2010 Starter (which is preinstalled on many new PCs). The error is worded as such:
“Click2Run Configuration Failure”
Although many solutions on the internet (even from Microsoft employees and the KB) suggest that a simple Repair install or Uninstall of Click2Run from the Programs and Features menu will correct this, executing the uninstaller actually triggers the exact same error message.
Update (June 2012): I have now been able to confirm that this problem is caused by the use of registry cleaners. For more details on why you should never use a registry cleaner, see my blog entry here.
This error may also occur on other downloadable versions of Office 2010, but I haven’t seen it yet anywhere else. Correcting the problem with the preinstalled OEM Starter versions is tricky enough, so I decided to make that the focus of this post.
Here’s what you do to fix the problem. First, you’ll need a special Click2Run cleanup tool that has seemingly disappeared from Microsoft’s server. You can download it here:
Click2Run Cleanup Tool
Once in possession of this tool, take the following steps to correct the problem:

First, be sure to have a copy of the required installation files for Office 2010. Make a backup of them if you don’t have access to them elsewhere by copying the following directory to another location:
- %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\OEMOffice14\OStarter\en-us
Execute the CleanC2R.exe file from the zip archive provided above to completely remove C2R, including the virtual Q: drive containing the relevant install files.
Reboot the PC, then execute the CleanC2R.exe tool a second time.
Reboot once more, then execute the offcln.exe tool to completely remove Office 2010 Starter.
Reboot yet again, then navigate to the ProgramData directory containing the Office Starter installation files (they must be located in the exact directory detailed above for the installation to work properly). Run the SetupConsumerC2ROLW.exe file to install C2R once again, along with a fresh copy of Office 2010 Starter.

This should finally correct the issue. If you happen to be missing the installation files for Office 2010 Starter, you can actually find them available for download in various places. Downloading the files and installing the suite is perfectly legal as long as it was already once provided with the PC new by the OEM.
If this tip has helped you, please drop me a line and let me know!
If you’re looking for computer help in the Louisville area, look no further. Call me today and get it done right!

Add the Quick Launch Bar to the Taskbar in Windows 7

2012-07-30T07:42:00.001-07:00

You should note that the new Windows 7 taskbar allows you to dock items to the taskbar, combining the features of both the normal taskbar as well as the Quick Launch. For more on this, be sure to read through our coverage of the Windows 7 beta if you haven’t already.

The above screenshot is the Windows 7 taskbar after changing back to XP/Vista mode, and adding the quick launch bar back. Looks just like Vista doesn’t it?
Adding the Quick Launch Bar Back to Windows 7
To add the toolbar back, you’ll want to right-click on an open area of the taskbar, and choose Toolbars \ New Toolbar from the menu. You should probably also unlock the taskbar at this point.

Now’s the slightly tricky part… you’ll want to paste the following path into the location bar:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Make sure that the location bar shows the full path, like the next screenshot, before you choose the “Select Folder” button.

You’ll immediately notice the Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar, but it’s all the way over on the right, so you’ll want to click on the dotted lines and then drag the toolbar all the way to the left (which is slightly tricky sometimes). Note that you’ll need to right-click and unlock the taskbar before you can move the toolbar.

There we go, it’s over on the left… but now you’ll want to adjust the regular taskbar toolbar to be closer to the left, so use the dotted lines to drag it over as well.

The normal Quick Launch that we’re used to doesn’t have text, so right-click on the dotted lines and uncheck “Show Text” as well as “Show Title” from the menu.

Once you’re sure it’s the way you want it, you should check the “Lock the taskbar” again.

And there you are, the quick launch bar has returned and there’s virtually no way anybody would know this is Windows 7.

How To Pin an External Drive to the Windows 7 Taskbar

2012-07-30T07:41:00.001-07:00

Do you have an external drive connected to your Windows 7 computer and would like to access it from the Taskbar? Here we show you a work around that will allow you to pin it to Taskbar.

Adding Drive to Windows Explorer

You would think the process would be as easy as dragging the external drive icon to the Taskbar. Unfortunately that isn’t the case. If you try to drag the external drive icon to the Taskbar, it just adds it to Windows Explorer.

Then if you right-click on the Windows Explorer icon, you’ll be able to access it from there. This might be enough for some users, but we want to add it to the Taskbar as an icon.

Steps for Pinning External Drive to Taskbar

With a quick work around we can add the drive as an icon. First what you need to do is right-click an empty area on your desktop and select New \ Text Document.

Then name the text doc whatever you want to call it and change .txt to .exe. Like in this example we’re adding the external E:\ drive, so we named it Drive E.exe then hit Enter.

After hitting Enter you will get a message asking if you’re sure you want to change the extension, click Yes.

Now you’ll have the “dummy” executable on the desktop. Right-click on it and select Pin to Taskbar.

Now you’ll have the executable icon on the Taskbar. Right-click on it, then right-click on the name of the file and select Properties.

Under the Shortcut tab change the Target to the drive letter and Start in to the drive letter as well and click OK. You can actually use this technique to add any folder to the Taskbar too. The main thing to remember is changing the Target to the correct path.

While you’re there, you might want to change the icon to something more appropriate like a hard drive icon. Or if you want to change the icon to something not included in Windows 7, check out our guide how to customize icons in Windows 7 and Vista.

And there you go! As you can see we have a more appropriate looking hard drive icon on the Taskbar…

And when we click on it, it opens up to our external USB drive so we can access its content.

Or maybe you want to have the drive open to a specific folder. Just change the Target path to the folder you want it to open in.

Then when you click the icon it will open to the directory you specified.

Although it might seem like a goofy method for simply pinning a drive or other folder to the Taskbar, the work around is effective. This will allow you to access the external drive with only one click and save a few steps in navigating to it.

Create a Shortcut Icon or Hotkey to Turn Windows 7 / Vista Firewall On or Off

2012-07-30T07:39:00.001-07:00

When you are troubleshooting network problems, one of the first things to do is disable the built-in Windows Firewall… but there are just way too many steps required to the firewall on and off. Can’t we make a simple shortcut icon instead?
Naturally we can, using the built-in netsh utility that is usually used on the command line to perform advanced networking functions. We’ll simply create a shortcut to it with the appropriate parameters.
Note: Always remember to turn the Firewall back on after you are done troubleshooting, especially if you use public wireless networks.
Create Shortcut Icons for Enable/Disable
Right-click on the desktop or elsewhere, and choose New \ Shortcut from the menu.

Then in the shortcut location box, you’ll add one of two commands listed below.

Disable Firewall

netsh firewall set opmode disable

Enable Firewall

netsh firewall set opmode enable

Once you’ve added the correct command, go to the next screen and give the shortcut a helpful name like “Disable Firewall”

At this point you should have a shortcut icon, but it won’t work yet without choosing to run as administrator.

Right-click the shortcut and choose Properties, and then choose the shortcut tab.

In this screen you can assign a shortcut key for this shortcut by adding it into the Shortcut key box. The most important step is to click the Advanced button, so we can choose “Run as administrator” to always run the shortcut in administrator mode.

You can also change the icon by using the Change Icon button. If you want the shortcuts to really match, you can change the “Look for icons in this file” to the following:

%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

In that file you can find the red shield icon as well as the green one…

So now I have two shortcuts that not only look good, but are functional.

If you want to verify that the shortcuts are working, use one of them and then open Windows Firewall through the start menu, and click on the link for “Turn Windows Firewall on or off”

Then you should be able to see that the firewall is either on or off.

The same shortcuts should also work on Windows XP or Windows 7, even though the screenshots are all for Windows Vista. You don’t need to run as administrator in XP, of course.

How to Reset Your Forgotten Windows Password the Easy Way

2012-07-30T07:37:00.001-07:00

Forgetting your password is never any fun, but luckily there’s a really easy way to reset the password. All you need is a copy of the Windows installation disk and one simple command line trick.

Resetting Your Forgotten Windows Password

Boot off the Windows disk and select the “Repair your computer” option from the lower left-hand corner.

Follow through until you get to the option to open the Command Prompt, which you’ll want to select.

First you’ll want to type in the following command to backup the original sticky keys file:

copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\

Then you’ll copy the command prompt executable (cmd.exe) over top of the sticky keys executable:

copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

Now you can reboot the PC.

Resetting the Password

Once you get to the login screen, hit the Shift key 5 times, and you’ll see an administrator mode command prompt.

Now to reset the password—just type the following command, replacing the username and password with the combination you want:

net user geek MyNewPassword

That’s all there is to it. Now you can login.
Of course, you’ll probably want to put the original sethc.exe file back, which you can do by rebooting into the installation CD, opening the command prompt, and copying the c:\sethc.exe file back to c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe.

7 Quick Fix 1.0 – Repair Tool of the Week

2012-06-07T08:11:00.003-07:00

7 Quick Fix 1.0 – Repair Tool of the Week

7 Quick Fix is a small, freeware and portable tool designed to quickly fix common errors that may occur under Windows 7 and is able to re-enable certain parts of the system (such as Task Manager) after a virus attack.
7 Quick Fix can fix 21 common errors including Slow Shutdowns, Slow Thumbnails, Missing System Tray Icons, Missing DVD Drives and more. For the Windows XP equivalent, check out XPQuickFix.

Here is the complete list of what it can do:

Enable Task Manager
Enable Command Prompt
Enable Registry Editor
Enable Folder Options
Reboot After Update (stops “You must restart for changes to take effect” after updates)
Update Shutdown (prevents updates hijacking sleep button when there are updates to do)
Show Shutdown
Slow Thumbnail
Restore Aero Function
Disable IPv6
Enable IPv6
No DVD Drive
Installer Crash
Slow Menu
Theme Changes (prevents themes changing cursors and desktop icons, but changes everything else)
System Tray (fixes missing system tray icons after updates)
Enable Taskbar Properties
Taskbar Context
Win-X Shortcuts (re-enables disabled Win-X shortcuts)
Display Properties (re-enables)
Control Panel (re-enables)

Screenshots:

Downloads:
Download from CNet – 463kb

SafeMSI.exe – Start Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode

2012-05-30T10:58:00.001-07:00

SafeMSI.exe is a tiny, portable, freeware application designed to let you uninstall programs in safe mode. When the computer is in safe mode, the Windows Installer service isn’t started so most programs can’t be uninstalled. Since technicians do a lot of work in safe mode and being unable to uninstall is a huge bother. It is also not possible to start the service manually, an error message will come up saying “Could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 1084: This service cannot be started in Safe Mode”. This tool will do a registry tweak so that Windows Installer is made a safe service and it will launch the Windows Installer service. The tool is meant to be used after you are already in safe mode, it is a tiny .exe that just needs to be double-clicked or run and it runs very quickly.

The website mentions that the tool is compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP and Server 2000. Although it doesn’t mention it, it is also compatible with newer versions including Windows 7.
Screenshots:

Downloads:
Download from Official Site – 11 KB

Enable Windows Installer service in Safe Mode

2012-05-30T10:56:00.003-07:00

Enable Windows Installer in Safe Mode
1. Click on start>> run and type in cmd then click on ok (In Vista and Windows 7 click on start and type in cmd in the search window. Right click the cmd box on top of search window and select “run as administrator”)
2. Type in the following in cmd window.
      REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"

3. Hit Enter key
4. Now, type the following command in Run box
     net start msiserver
5: Hit Enter key.
This will start the Windows Installer Service in safe mode.
Enable Windows Installer in Safe Mode with Networking
1. Click on start>> run and type in cmd then click on ok (In Vista and Windows 7 click on start and type in cmd in the search window. Right click the cmd box on top of search window and select “run as administrator”)
2. Type in the following in cmd window.
      REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"

3. Hit Enter key
4. Now, type the following command in Run box
      net start msiserver
5: Hit Enter key.
This will start the Windows Installer Service in Safe Mode with Networking.

Samsung Galaxy S3 hardware details

2012-05-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Mobile Details

Design and Specification Samsung Galaxy S3 is the most anticipated phone for the year 2012. It is the sequel to the extremely successful Samsung Galaxy S2.The ultra slim phone has a bar shaped form factor with a giant 4.8" HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. The phone runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS and is powered by a 1.4 GHz Quad core processor with a massive 1GB RAM.The phone is fairly large with dimensions of 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm making it razor thin and super impressive in looks. The phone weighs a hefty 133grams. The phone features the all new Smart Stay feature which detects whether the user is still looking at the phone to keep the screen awake.
Camera and Multimedia
The phone has an 8MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash. The camera has a chockablock of Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization for high quality pictures.The camera can record HD video at 1080p resolution at 30fps. The phone also sports a 1.9MP secondary front-facing camera that provides flawless image for video calling.
Connectivity
Samsung Galaxy S3 has all the latest connectivity options among smartphones. The phone runs on quad band 3G and quad band 2G networks as well as 4G LTE 700 network (North America, Korea, Japan). The phone can connect to the internet using EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA with Wi-Fi Direct. The phone can also be used as Wi-Fi hotpot. The phone has Bluetooth 4.0 and micro-USB v 2.0(MHL) as well as optional NFC to cater to your other connectivity needs.The phone has a TV out port to connect to the TV as well.
Battery and Storage
The phone has a standard 2100 mAH Li-Ion battery offering whopping talk time. The phone comes with 16GB,32GB or 64GB of internal memory which can be further expanded up to 32GB using micro-SD card.

Samsung Galaxy S3: all the latest news

2012-05-03T12:27:00.003-07:00

Updated Everything you need to know about the next Galaxy

All the information on the Samsung Galaxy S3

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has finally been announced - bringing with it one of the fastest processors in the shape of a quad-core Exynos offering, plus a high-res, 4.8-inch Super AMOLED+ screen to boot.

Review

Samsung Galaxy Nexus review

TechRadar has one of the first looks at the phone - so check out our hands on: Samsung Galaxy S3 review.

Samsung Galaxy S3: Everything you need to know

You can check out our complete run-down of info on the new handset in our Samsung Galaxy S3: what you need to know

Samsung Galaxy S3 release date

Samsung has given the Samsung Galaxy S3 global release date as May 29, but the Samsung Galaxy S3 UK release date will be May 30, a time-frame you heard about first on TechRadar.

Samsung Galaxy S3 launch

So - you've seen the Galaxy S3 is here, complete with the latest version of Android 4.0.4, phone-to-phone connectivity through S Beam and a whole host of new Samsung-based features, including Smart Stay, which tracks your eyes to dim the screen when you're not looking at it.
Check out TechRadar's news article on the Samsung Galaxy launch itself.
During the launch, Samsung claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a 'best in class smartphone', as you'd expect from the Korean giant's flagship mobile.

Samsung Galaxy S3 versus Samsung Galaxy S2

Of course, what a lot of people will want to know is just how the new Galaxy bears up against its predecessor.
Our Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Samsung Galaxy S2 article asks: "If you don't need to be quite on the bleeding edge of smartphones (and paying through the nose for it) then is the Galaxy S2 enough for you?"

Previous rumours

You can check out all the rumours and what we expected to be launching before the event itself:
Samsung published endless press releases about its ever growing global sales figures, and now we know there will be a sequel - and it seems pretty likely it will be called the Galaxy S3 when launched on May 3 at Earls Court, London - will it be your next Galaxy smartphone though?.
The Galaxy S 3 (which we've also seen referred to as the Galaxy SIII) will be powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, after Samsung confirmed the Exynos 4 Quad chip would be used in its next Galaxy device.
And if you're wondering what it will look like, then you can check out our Samsung Galaxy S3 photo evolution gallery - with some a little more believable than others...

Samsung Galaxy S3 video teaser

Samsung has been teasing the bejesus out of us over the last few months with hints - and it's since put up a video that gives us a few hints over what to expect tonight.
It firstly put up the tgeltaayehxnx.com website complete with mysterious countdown after a cryptic tweet from its mobile Twitter account - which was followed by a video teaser for the upcoming event on May 3 in London, once the countdown had ended.
The video gives little away when it comes to the Galaxy S3, however Samsung manage to get a dig in at the competition, calling them all sheep. Take a look for youself…

Samsung Galaxy S3 Unpacked 2012 app

A new app appeared in Google Play revealing the Galaxy S3 name and confirming a new handset is on its way on at the May 3, physical home button and all.
Samsung has listed a range of keywords, including "Galaxy", "S3" and "GalaxyS3", in the app description and an icon within the app itself, titled "New Product", depicts a handset with a physical home button on the front, and a camera on the back.
So what does this tell us? Well, there's a phone launching tonight (surprise) and it's going to pack the same button layout as the Galaxy S2. But we really want to know about the shape - and there's nothing on that from the app as yet... but make sure you update it this evening to get all the information as it happens.

Samsung Galaxy S3 UK release date

The Samsung Galaxy S3 launch date has been annouced as May 3. An invite sent to TechRadar confirmed the event will take place at Earls Court in London.

The official invite to the May 3 event in London

It's great to finally have the May 3 date in the diary. Over the past months we've seen more rumoured dates than you could shake a stick at, from the original expectation of a Mobile World Congress launch in February, to various reports from around the world including March 15, March 22, March 30, April and May 22.

In Depth

10 gadgets to look forward to in 2012

So when will the release date actually be? Both Vodafone and O2 have confirmed they will be stocking the device and have registration pages ready to find out all about it - which usually hints a launch is imminent.
A TechRadar source close to the manufacturer has also said that it's "highly anticipate the current page on the Vodafone website will change over to a Samsung Galaxy S3 holding page in the near future".
And it seems very likely that the Samsung Galaxy S3 will be coming to the UK very soon after the launch as Samsung dropped a big hint to us in TechRadar's exclusive interview, stating that there is 'no point in waiting to launch a product'.
So while there's no dedicated Samsung Galaxy S3 release date as yet, we can't see it being more than two or three weeks after tonight's announcement.
Get the best Samsung Galaxy S3 deals delivered to your inbox

Samsung Galaxy S3 US release date

The Samsung Galaxy S3 launch date has been annouced as May 3. An invite sent to TechRadar confirmed the event will take place at Earls Court in London.
It's been suggested the reason Samsung has delayed the Galaxy S3 until after MWC 2012 is so it can be launched simultaneously in the US and rest of the world.
The Galaxy S2 suffered a US release delay, which saw it arrive several months after the rest of the world and Samsung is keen to avoid the same situation this year.

In Depth

15 best Android tablets in the world

The US market may see different variants of the Galaxy S3 handset which is set to be revealed on May 3, as Samsung could opt to only launch 4G enabled Galaxy S3's in regions which currently support the high-speed network – thus leaving parts of Europe with a 3G version.

Samsung Galaxy S3 price

Obviously we don't have pricing details for an unannounced phone, so all we can do is speculate. Given the recent launch of the Galaxy Nexus, which sold for an enormous £520 around its launch and for the following few weeks and was available on contracts starting at £36, that's the high-end level we expect of the S 3.
The Galaxy S2 was put on sale for £500 at launch, and contracts for a whopping £46 per month weren't hard to find either. However, that price dropped very quickly, so we expect the same to happen again.
In fact, given the success of the S2 (pictured below), we could even see it set new highs for Android phone prices, as Samsung fans clamour for what will surely be one of 2012's must-have mobiles.

Samsung Galaxy S3 processor

Samsung has officially announced its Exynos 4 Quad processor and has confirmed that the 1.4Ghz quad-core chip will appear in its next Galaxy device – that's the Galaxy S3 to you and me.
What does this mean for the power of the Samsung Galaxy S3? Well, all the other quad core devices on the market so far have focused heavily on graphical processing power, so we expect nothing less than that from Samsung either.
This will be an interesting push, as while there's no doubt Samsung will be making a song and dance about the gaming prowess of the Galaxy S3, how will it compare to the Nvidia Tegra gaming power of the One X?
And the other benefit will be to battery life - there's always a notion that more cores will drain more power (or save loads of it, depending on who you believe) and we're sure to see Samsung touting excellent battery life as well.
Let's just hope the Korean firm sticks a lovely new battery in there as well... we still need lots of power, chaps.

Samsung Galaxy S3 operating system

Review

Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich review

Nothing is confirmed yet, of course, but given the imminent launch date and the fact that Samsung is already releasing test versions of an Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy S 2, the S 3 is all but guaranteed to arrive with a version of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich release.
Google has published the 4.0.4 code which it says should be considered the baseline of the Ice Cream Sandwich code, so expect that version to launch on the S3 at the very least.
We would also expect the Galaxy S 3 to feature a version of Samsung's TouchWiz user interface skin layered over the top of Android as well, which will help differentiate the phone from the "vanilla" Android 4.0 as found in the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus.
Every flagship Galaxy phone from Samsung has showcased a new version of TouchWiz so far, and we expect the same to be debuted tonight. However, it will probably be more about the specs and services on the phone rather than the OS, so don't expect a big deal to be made of a new TouchWiz overlay if it appears.
Samsung could even follow HTC's path and simplify its overlay in a battle to make a more useable device... the ease of iPhone use is still a target all phone manufacturers are aiming for, after all.

Samsung Galaxy S3 memory

1GB of RAM seems to be emerging as the new benchmark for comfortably running Android while maintaining solid performance, so that's our best guess for the S 3.
In terms of onboard storage, the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus did away with the SD card storage slot, only letting users have the 16GB the phone came with. If that's the way Samsung and Google see the future going, perhaps the S3 will bin SD card support as well - but we pray it won't.
If the Galaxy S3 has a microSD card slot, then that will be a big feather in the cap for the phone, as many readers have told us they wouldn't consider a top end phone without expandable memory.
Multiple reports have seemingly confirmed the Galaxy S3 will be available in several varieties, giving customers the choice between 16GB and 32GB versions - could we even see a 64GB option as well?
And don't forget we previously saw a video claiming to show off the Samsung Galaxy S3 packing 16GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM - although we can't see it launching with just 16GB of internal memory.

Samsung Galaxy S3 display

There have been a plethora of 'leaks' on this subject so far, so we've distilled them to get the best idea on what the Samsung Galaxy S3 will look like.
The Galaxy S2 seemed enormous with its 4.3" screen, but since then we've had the even bigger 4.7" HTC Sensation XL, the 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus (below) and the insanely huge 5.3" Galaxy Note.

It's obvious that Samsung will be using its patented Super AMOLED+ technology on the phone, and it's almost certain to be an HD screen, as anything less would put the Galaxy S3 behind the Note and the Nexus in the Galaxy pecking order.
The rumours seem to set the display at between 4.6- and 4.8-inches in size, with an HD resolution and a PPI of between 309 and 320 - all very much competing with the Retina Display of the iPhone 4S, but at a much larger size.
We reckon it will be on the larger size, as Samsung is keen to make a statement... let's just hope there's not too much bezel around the edge though, as it will be massive in the hand otherwise.

Samsung Galaxy S3 camera

There's not a lot of information surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S3 camera at the moment, although we do have the following photo that is reportedly snapped using the camera.

The rest of the rumour mill has placed the Galaxy S3 with either a 12MP camera or an 8MP option - the latter being very little in terms of an upgrade over the S2.
However, the camera sensor often takes up a big chunk of space in the phone's casing, and making it too high resolution for the sake of it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing - we'd rather have a faster camera at 8MP than a load of wasted pixels to play with.
HTC Has been making a big deal of the camera on the One X so far, and we expect Samsung to match its spec list - so super fast capture, panorama, HDR mode and more should all be present and correct.

Samsung Galaxy S3 extras

Of course, this is all just a lot of hard work distilling the rumour mill's waters down to something readable - it's the unveiling that's got us all excited, after all.
Will the Samsung Galaxy S3 look a bit like the Nexus? Will it have the world's best camera? What will get the crowd cooing over the next Galaxy? We're going to be there tonight (check out our live Twitter feed, by the way, for all the info) and we can't wait to see what Samsung is going to unveil.

Live from (Techradar)

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Samsung Galaxy S3 UK release date: May 30

2012-05-03T12:25:00.003-07:00

May day! May day!

Updated: The Samsung Galaxy S3 UK release date has been confirmed as May 30, with the global release given as release a day earlier.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 hasn't been officially announced yet but TechRadar can exclusively reveal that the handset will be available end of May.
We have been told by numerous confidential but very trustworthy sources that the Samsung Galaxy S3 UK release date (Or 'Next Galaxy', as it's officially known right now) will definitely be 'the end of May'.
TechRadar tried to get an actual date out of them but our sources vanished back into the shadows before any other bits of information were divulged.

All the details

Samsung Galaxy S3: what to expect

Galaxy quest

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is one of the most anticipated phones of the year and one we will be keeping a close eye on considering its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S2, managed a full five stars in its TechRadar review.
So much so that Samsung has decided to give the handset its own event, much like another company – *cough* Apple – does for announcing its flagship handsets.
As always, TechRadar will be at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 event, with the official announcement of the phone – which Samsung still insists on calling The Next Galaxy – set for 7pm tonight.

Free Studio 5.3.5 Just Released!

2012-05-03T09:21:00.004-07:00

One installation for all freeware

Free Studio

Version

5.4.9

Featured freeware

Free AVI Video Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free Video to Tablet PC Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free Video Dub

Version

2.0.7

Free MP4 Video Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free 3GP Video Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free Video to MP3 Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free YouTube Download

Version

3.1.25

Free YouTube to DVD Converter

Version

3.0.12

Free YouTube to MP3 Converter

Version

3.11.20

Free YouTube to iPhone Converter

Version

2.11.20

Free Video to DVD Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free DVD Video Converter

Version

2.0.5

Free YouTube to iPod Converter

Version

3.10.20

Free YouTube Uploader

Version

3.3.30

Free Video to iPad Converter

Version

5.0.10

Free Uploader for Facebook

Version

1.0.13

About DVDVideoSoft

DVDVideoSoft is an independent developer of multimedia software programs for video, audio, photo and image processing. The company offers 40+ safe, reliable and functional applications to download videos from YouTube and convert to mp3, upload to YouTube and Facebook, edit and convert audio and video files between different formats, burn CD, DVD discs, create DVDs, convert DVDs to video files, convert and resize images, record screen activities and make screenshots, convert video to playback on different devices, make 3D pictures and videos.

Create Bootable Windows 8 Installer USB With Win8USB

2012-05-03T08:58:00.001-07:00

There was a time when we could only install Windows on our computers using CDs. Installing Windows from a USB flash drive seemed a thing of the future, but today, using a USB flash drive to install Windows is as common as using DVDs. Newer versions of Microsoft Windows, like Windows 7, can be installed in two ways: directly while running a previous version of Windows, or using a bootable USB / CD. If your PC doesn’t have an OS installed, you will need a bootable USB flash drive to boot the system into Windows installation setup. Previously, we have covered tools to install Windows 7 from a bootable USB drive, including Windows 7 USB/ DVD Tool (allows you to create a bootable USB flash drive in only 2 simple steps) and WinToFlash (utility to copy Windows installation files from a DVD disc to a USB flash Drive, SD Card or external HDD). Since the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 is out, we decided to feature Win8USB, an application that lets you create a bootable USB flash drive for installing Windows 8. More on Win8USB after the break.
Win8USB is an application for Windows that allows you to create a bootable USB of Windows 8 installer using an ISO image. You need to have Windows Vista or above installed on your system to create a Windows 8 bootable USB. It may require administrative privileges to write boot code to selected USB drive.
The utility allows you to format your USB flash drive, extract files on to the drive and write the USB Boot MBR. To create a bootable USB flash drive, select the drive, specify the source location of Windows 8 installation ISO file. Now, check Format drive option and click Create to begin the process.

A couple of things to keep in mind is that you’ll need to have the Windows 8 ISO at hand for Win8USB to work. Also, a pen drive of at least 4GB storage capacity is required. The application works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Download Win8USB

Rufus: Create Bootable USB To Install Windows & Linux, Flash BIOS And More

2012-05-03T08:57:00.003-07:00

In the past, we have covered a number of tools to create bootable USB drive, such as Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool (to create a bootable DVD/USB for installing Windows 7 and Windows 8) and WinSetupFromUSB (to create a multi-boot setup from a folder containing the setup files). Today, we came across another small, yet powerful bootable USB creator called Rufus. It is a portable application that enables you to create bootable USB flash drive to install Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Linux-based operating systems etc. The application comes with some advance disk format options, and a feature to check device for bad sectors. Moreover, it allows you to create extended label and icon files.
The interface looks like an enhanced version of Windows Format utility(accessible from the drive right-click context menu). The application has the ability to automatically detect the USB drive. When you plug in a USB device, it gives information, such as the Device, Capacity, File System, Cluster size etc. To create a bootable disk, check the Create a Bootable Disk option and specify the ISO image you want to create bootable USB for. Once done, you can choose to enable Create extended label and icon files option. Clicking Start will begin creating bootable USB. It must be noted that the application will not start the write operation if the selected drive is being used by other application.

The time it takes to create a bootable drive depends upon the size of specified ISO image file. Not only does it help you create bootable USB drives for installing OS on the system, it also makes it easy to flash BIOS from DOS, and run low-level system utilities. Unlike other bootable USB drive creators, it doesn’t perform low- level disk-related operation. Therefore, you can use it for data transfer after formatting the bootable USB drive with Windows Format utility. The application has 2 versions, one with FreeDOS and the other is without FreeDOS support. It works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Download Rufus

WiNToBootic: Drag & Drop ISO Images To Create Bootable USB Drives For Windows Installation

2012-05-03T08:56:00.002-07:00

Before the use of USB flash drives to install Windows became common, we could only install Windows on our computers using CDs. At that time, installing an operating system using a USB flash drive sounded like a thing of the future, but today, it is as common as using a CD. Newer versions of Microsoft Windows, like Windows 7, can be installed in two ways: directly from Windows XP and Windows Vista, and by using a bootable USB/CD. If your PC doesn’t have any operating system installed, then you may need a bootable USB drive to boot the system into Windows installation setup. Today, we have an application for you called WiNToBootic, which allows you to make a bootable NTFS USB drive for installing Windows. The application focuses on speed and convenience, allowing you to write ISO images via drag and drop. Furthermore, unlike other bootable USB creators, WiNToBootic provides a Quick Format option, which saves you the time you would’ve spent performing the operation yourself. More on WiNToBootic after the jump.

The software has a lot features which are not included in other bootable USB making programs, such as NTFS Support, Windows 7 Bootloader, ISO 9660 (Joilet), ISO 13346 (UDF), ISO: Windows 7/ 8/ 2008/ Vista/ PE2 and PE3. The application presents a simple, straightforward usage. When you plugin the USB, the program automatically recognizes it and makes it available for use. In order to make a bootable USB flash drive for Windows, plug-in a USB and enable the Quick Format mode if you want to quickly format the drive. Now, drag the ISO over the main interface and click Do It!.

The application provides you with information regarding each task that is being performed at the back end. You will know when the drive is formatted, the bootloader is flashed and the ISO is extracted. When all the processes are finished, just remove the drive to use it for booting any system into Windows installation setup.

The application works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Download WiNToBootic

ICS Based CM9 ROM Out For The HTC One X

2012-05-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

The HTC One X gets CyanogenMod 9 ROM! One of the best Android phones out there right now, the device just got one of the best ROMs a Android phone could ask for. The Quad Core powered One X, is ready to take on the AOSP world of ICS ROMs thanks to the efforts of the TripNDroid Mobile Engineering Team over at Modaco. As in the case of almost every other CM9 ROM available for various Android handsets out there, this release for the One X is an experimental build as well. However, the ROM is pretty much good to go as a daily driver given the stuff that is already working fine. For further details about what’s working and what is not, and for instructions on how to install this ROM on your One X, read on after the break!

Yes, the ROM has no Sense built into it, it is a completely open source project. What is working you ask?

Mobile network (data, calls, sms etc.)
GPS
Bluetooth
Bluetooth tethering
Wifi
Hardware video decoder
Hardware acceleration (2D/3D)
Audio
MIC (recording)
Camera

That said, Wi-Fi hotspot and Mobile Data will give you issues. According to the developers, “Mobile data will take a lot of time to correctly connect, there’s not much you can do about it just wait until it correctly connects. I’m investigating this issue currently. When it is connected is stable, it will not disconnect this happens only after a reboot or after initial setup.”

Images courtesy of the developers

A soft menu key has need implemented in the system which will be available once an application that uses it, is launched. The ROM is as close to stock CM9 as possible but the developers have compiled a file manager as well for the users convenience.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted HTC One X. For instructions on rooting your One X, click here.
ADB installed. Learn more about ADB and how you to install it on your system, here.
ClockworkMod recovery installed. Go here for instructions on flashing ClockworkMod recovery to the One X.
CM9 for HTC One X.
Google Apps.

Instructions:

To begin, download the ROM from the link above an extract the contents.
Find boot.img from the extracted contents and copy the file to the folder where fastboot.exe is in the Android SDK.
Copy the ROM (in the zip format) and Google Apps package to the root of your SD card.
Boot the device into fastboot mode ( I trust you know how to do that considering you rooted your device) and connect it to the computer.
Open command prompt or a terminal and navigate to the location of fastboot.exeand enter the following command:
```
fastboot flash boot boot.img
```
Once flashed, boot into recovery and navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select the ROM.
Do the same for Google Apps
Once the ROM and Google Apps have been flashed, simply reboot your device.

That’s it! CM9 should now boot up on your One X in no time! For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at MoDaCo.

How To Install Group Policy Management In Windows 7

2012-05-03T08:00:00.003-07:00

The Group Policy Management is a great tool from Microsoft, which lets you manage your own domain based network. If you are a network administrator or you are managing a small network at home then you are probably familiar with the Active Directory and Group Policy Management (GPM) as they both work together and help in managing your network infrastructure.

Don’t confuse the Local Group Policy (gpedit) with Group Policy Management, Gpedit is used to work with the registry settings of your local system while Group Policy Management is a server administration tool and is used in the context to Domain based network. The Group Policy Management falls into the Remote Server Administration category, and Remote Server Administration tools are not installed in Windows 7 by default.
First of all download and install the Windows Remote Server Administration Tools from here, once the download and installation of this toolkit is completed, go through the following guidelines to enable it.
Open the Windows Features window by clicking Start, then type Turn Windows features on or off and then hit Enter. Once the Widows Features window is loaded, navigate to the Remote Server Administration Tools and here enable the Group Policy Management Tools.

It will take some time to apply these changes.

Now click Start, type gpmc.msc and hit Enter, the Group Policy Management Editor will be loaded and you are ready to go with your Domain based network.

Enjoy!

Compare Files From Windows Right-Click Context Menu With diff-ext

2012-05-03T07:53:00.004-07:00

Finding out differences between two files through file comparison tools often becomes quite a hectic task, especially when you want to compare multiple file pairs. The file comparison tools require user to first specify the complete file source path and then enter the parameters for comparing or joining the files. diff-ext is a small Windows shell extension which lets you effortlessly perform file comparison tasks via right-click context menu. It allows you to associate your favorite file comparison utility with its right-click menu options: Compare with and Compare later. With diff-ext installed, you no longer need to launch a file comparison utility and enter file paths followed by parameters to view both files side by side for comparison purposes. Just right-click the files you want to compare from Windows right-click context menu to open them in associated file comparison tool for finding the differences between them.
It supports both 2-way and 3-way file comparison tasks. If you are not using a file comparison utility, you can pick one from following tools; DiffMerge, WinMerge, and kDiff3. Once the file comparison tool is installed, launch the diff-ext configuration console and set commands for both comparison methods. If you, for instance, want to associate DiffMerge with the extension, enter the source path of DiffMerge application executable file followed by file comparison parameters. It must be noted that compare commands must include correct file comparison parameters. If the default parameters fail, contact the developer of file comparison utility to get supported file comparison parameters. You can also check Compare folders checkbox to add an option to context menu for comparing selected folders’ contents.

Once done, close the configuration console, right-click the file and click Compare later.

Now move to next file which is to be compared, from context menu Compare to menu, select the previously selected file.
.
Upon click, it will open both files side by side in specified file comparison utility. The diff-ext saves the selected files in context menu. This saves you a lot of time which you would have spent selecting different versions of file for doing comparisons.

diff-ext is an open source application that works on all versions of Windows. Both 32-bit and 64-bit OS editions are supported.
Download diff-ext

Free Audio Editor: Record, Edit, Apply Effects & Reduce Noise In Tracks

2012-05-03T07:52:00.003-07:00

Editing audio tracks is a simple task, provided you have the right set of tools that allow you to extract required parts of the audio stream. However, if you want to perform advanced audio editing tasks like mixing multiple audio streams, removing background noise, enhancing audio quality, applying different music effects etc., then you may come across an audio editor, which requires you to understand each editing function it has to offer. Today, we came across a simple yet powerful audio editor called Free Audio Editor that performs more than just simple audio editing tasks. It is a comprehensive digital audio workstation that lets you record audio from an available input device, edit audio tracks and apply various effects to them. It has the ability to perform both simple and complex tasks, for example, you can cut, crop and extract audio from video, grab audio from YouTube videos, apply multiple audio effects and filters, reduce noise and more. Additionally, the application supports a wide range of audio formats including MP3, WAC, OGG, WMA, FLAC, MP2, CDA, AIFF, AAC, AC3 etc.

The application offers a ribbon-based interface. At the top there are Home, File, Edit, Effect, Noise Reduction, Bookmark and Options tabs, while the quick access bar holds all the effects and filters. The Home tab gathers the most important options from all the other tabs. It supports drag & drop behavior, and you can add the audio file by dragging them over the interface.

The Edit tab has options like Cut, Copy, Copy to New, Paste Mix, Crop, Und, repeat, Mix File, Trim Start, Trim End, Insert File, Insert Silence etc., while the Effects tab allows you to apply multiple effects to the selected track, including Flanger, Phaser, Reverb, Echo, Speed Change, Pitch Change, Delay etc.

Each effect offers some parameters, which you can set manually or choose to select the required preset from the drop-down menu.

The Noise Reduction tab provides you with options to reduce three different types of noise: Noise Reduction (general), Cassette Noise Reduction and Voice Breath Noise Reduction. From Options tab, you can toggle scales On/Off, choose sound channels to edit, set keyboard shortcuts and change viewing modes.

The application works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Download Free Audio Editor

Batch-Convert Or Merge An Entire Folder Of Videos With HandBrake

2012-05-03T07:51:00.005-07:00

HandBrake is arguably the most powerful video converter out there, offering stupendous amount of features and top-notch conversion quality. On top of that, its’ an open-source software and provides a CMD app to let advanced users quickly encode media files into required formats. HB Batch Encoder Mk2 is an application that uses the HandBrakeCLI.exe file to batch-convert media files. It comes packed with a number of video conversion profiles including those compatible with iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, AppleTV 2, Andriod devices and more. For each profile, it generates the complete HandBrake CLI command to let you further customize the A/V conversion parameters. The application supports recursive folder search, and therefore, can automatically list down all the supported video files within a selected folder and its sub-folders. You can also choose to re-encode multiple video files into a single file, and save the converted files within the source folder. More after the jump.

The application is quite user-friendly, and is useful for encoding a large number of video files. Before you begin, make sure that HandBrake (downlink link given at the bottom of the post) is installed on your system. When you launch the application, you’re presented with a simple looking interface design. By default, the tool automatically finds and detects HandBrakeCLI.exe file, but unfortunately in our testing it failed to add the correct path, and we had to manually set the source directory.
Encoding the video files is easy. First, click Select Folder to Encode to add your source directory. In case you want to include subfolders in that directory as well, enable Include Sub Dir’s option . As mentioned earlier, it lets you merge source files during the conversion process. Selecting Perform Merge operation only option will show you the files that can be merged together. Now, click Select Encode to specify the output directory. You can choose your preset profile such as iPhone 4, iPad, iPod, AppleTV etc., from Presets drop down menu. When you select a profile, it generates the HandBrakeCLI command parameters at the bottom of the window.

Once everything’s in place, click Start Batch to begin the process. You can monitor the current encoding progress from Results tab that generates statistical logs in real time.

HB Batch Encoder Mk2 works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Both 32-bit and 64-bit OS editions are supported.
Download HandBrake
Download HB Batch Encoder Mk2