Sunny's Blog

File Host Mirroring Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:46:00 +0000

There is no doubt that the RapidShare is the king of all file hosting services. Other sites like Megaupload, Zshare, MiHD, Sendspace etc are also popular.
The problem arises when the uploaded file gets deleted due to Inactivity and retention rules or when somebody reports that the file is violating intellectual rights. Every file hoster has similar retention limits. Some have 60 days some has 15 days some has 45 days and so on. The solution for the deletion due to inactivity is to Upload the file to few of them (taking advantage of different retention limits) but it takes time and bandwidth. So here comes the role of file host mirroring sites. All you have to do is to go to any of the following sites choose the hosts where do you want to mirror your file and upload your file and done! Uploaded to single place available from Multiple Places! With no extra time and bandwidth wastage.

Here is a list of Popular File Host Mirroring Sites-

http://www.ftp2share.com
http://www.ezwebshare.com/
http://www.xirror.com/
http://www.massmirror.com/
http://www.shareonall.com/
http://www.fileducky.com/
http://www.xlspread.com/
http://www.xlice.net/

All of the above offers different file host mirrors for example ftp2share.com offers mirroring to www.megaupload.com, ww.filefactory.com, www.depositfiles.com & www.rapidshare.com. It also accepts upload through FTP.

One of the cool feature of these sites is you can link your rapidshare Premium account to these services for ex. If you have linked your rapidshare Premium/Collector account with ftp2share and than uploaded to it than the file will be available inside your Rapidshare account. They also offer linking to other Hosts like Depositfiles, Megaupload, Filefactory etc. Every site has mix of features than the other. You have to explore the sites to find out what they offer.

Please post your comment if you come across a site which is not in the above list so that I can include it.

Accessing Host OS from Guest OS in Virtual box

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:20:00 +0000

Accessing Host OS from Virtual Box requires enabling few settings in Virtual Box.
Here is the step-by-step sceenshots of settings used to for Host & Guest communication.

I have used Windows Server 2003 as a Host and Guest.

Open Virtual Box and select the GuestOS and click Network.

Click the add button and click ok.

Virtual Box now Installs Virtual LAN Adapter Click Continue anyway.

An entry will appear in Host Interfaces Box. After that click Enable Network Adapter and select Host Interface from Attached to dropdown and finally check cable connected.

Now the Setting the options in Virtual Box is done. We need to assign ip addresses to both Host and Guest OS.
So in the host os right click the virtual box host interface found in Network Connection folder and select the properties.

Now assign ip address which can be any private ip address range and assign subnet mask.

Now start you Guest OS in Virtual box and enter its Network connections folder and right click the Virtual Box host interface and select properties. Now
select TCP/IP properties and assign ip address and subnet mask for the Guest OS.

Now open command prompt inside the Guest Os and ping the Host Os by entering the ip address you just assigned to host os. If you receive the success replies the connection is successful and now your host and guest os are connected as if they are in LAN.

Now lets access the host file system from inside the guest os. Open the run dialog in guest os and enter the host ip address followed by Administrative Share e.g. \\10.0.0.1\C$ and press enter.

Windows Authentication Box will appear. Enter your administrative credentials and press enter. Pls note if you want to access the administrative shares in the host os simple file sharing must be disabled from folder options.

A window will open displaying the contents of a C: drive of Host OS.

If you have any problems leave a comment.

Here is a link to download all the above screenshots in Zipped file.
http://rapidshare.com/files/112180909/Accessing_Host_from_guest_in_virtual_box.zip

Windows Command line tools: Wipe your free space using Cipher

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:38:00 +0000

Little Description-

File table contains reference to the location of file on disk like a book’s index contains the page numbers of chapters in the book. When the file is deleted from computer recycle bin it is not fully removed from hdd only its entry in the file system table is deleted. So it is possible to recover the deleted data by using File Recovery Softwares. Wiping free hard disk space means to permanently erase the deleted file data so it is not recoverable using Recovery Softwares.

There are thousands of free space Wiping utilities out there on the internet. So if your Company Policies prohibit installing the 3rd party file wiping softwares or you are in urgent need of wiping utility and do not have access to internet you can use the in-built command in Xp/2003 called Cipher.

Cipher is mainly used for Encrypting/Decrypting the files but it also contains a “/w” switch to wipe the free space. Here’s the syntax-

Cipher /w:DrivetoWipe
e.g. Cipher /W:C

Official Description of /w Switch – “Removes data from available unused disk space on the entire volume. If this option is chosen, all other options are ignored. The directory specified can be anywhere in a local volume. If it is a mount point or points to a directory in another volume, the data on that volume will be removed.”

Cipher /w wipes the free space by writing the junk data in three steps- Writing Zeroes, Ones and Random Numbers.

Three steps wiping Screenshot-

Windows Command Line Device Manager- Devcon.exe

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:18:00 +0000

Although there is GUI Device Manager for managing devices on a Windows Machine, for command line aficionados there is Devcon.exe from Microsoft. It can do tasks like –

• Disabling/Enabling the device
• Lists driver files installed for devices
• Lists all device setup classes (types like usb, display, mouse, biometric devices etc)
• Finds a device by instance id
• find hidden devices
• Lists hardware Ids
• Manually install a device
• Scan for new hardware
• Remove a device
• Restart a device
• Lists the status of device
• Updates device Drivers of a Device etc
• Display the Devices in a Remote Machine, its status etc.

For more info type “devcon /?” & individual Switch help like “devcon help findall”.
It can be lot useful for System Administrators in scripting common tasks like disabling and re - enabling the Network Card, Restarting a device, Updating Device Drivers, Generating lists of devices installed and their status in Local Machine and also in Remote machines.

It may also display (I am not sure) hidden Rootkit Driver Installed in a file system but may not be visible after turning on the Device Manager hidden option.

I use it to fix my ADSL Connection because sometimes it gets disconnected and doesn’t reconnect without disabling/enabling the NIC.

Microsoft has both x86 & x64 versions. Download it from Microsoft – here

Screenshot Displaying List of Features/Switches-

Windows Xp Themes

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:13:00 +0000

Windows XP is a great operating system. Not only it has got great features but also has nice UI. There's lots of Customization option in Xp like boot Screen, Welcome Screen, Themes, Icons, Cursors, Screensavers, Docks, Start Menu, Mouse Click Effects, Virtual Desktops, System Snapshot Sidebars etc. Everything can't be discussed in a single article as it would make it very lengthy. In this article I am discussing about themes. I am discussing about different Programs to give Xp a fresh new look. There's some great software out there which give your XP a completely new look.

The themes in Xp are located in %windir%\Resources\Themes folder in .msstyles format which is the official theming format for Xp. Windows Xp comes with Luna Theme with three Color Schemes – Blue (Default), Silver & olive.

Soon you will get bored with official themes bundled with XP. You have got different options to theme Xp.

Option 1 – Visit http://downloads.microsoft.com and search for themes. Microsoft has created few beautiful themes – Royale, Royale Media Center Edition Theme, and Microsoft Zune Theme. Each of these have accompanying wallpaper to match the color of taskbar and windows. Microsoft may require to validate online your Windows License before downloading these themes. You may also download these themes from http://www.softpedia.com if you don't want the hassle of validating windows. You may have to unzip the themes manually in %windir%\Resources\Themes\(Your Theme Subfolder)\ folder if the theme didn't came with installer.

Royale Theme-

Zune Theme-

Option 2- You can buy Software which comes with packaged themes like Windows blinds or freeware software like Bricopacks. Some of the Popular Softwares are –

Windows Blinds 6 (Commercial) – This is one of the best theming software available. It is designed to work on Xp and Vista. It has a different theming format of its own apart from .msstyle format. It has some cool features like - New start menu animation support, Per-application visual styles, Animation supported on title bars, buttons, and many other elements, Ability to skin the sidebar (Vista), including IE navigation arrows, IE tabs, start menu shutdown/lock buttons, Tons of configuration options for users etc. More detailed feature list here. You don't have to manually extract the themes in the windows directory, it has an interface for applying the themes. Windows Blinds is used by some major IT companies like Microsoft, ATI, nVidia, Alienware etc to create their own branded UI for windows.
Screenshot of Windows Blind Theme-
Style Xp (Commercial) -Windows Xp doesn't applies the 3^rd party visual Styles (.msstyle files) because they are not digitally signed by Microsoft. Style XP works by patching the Xp system file called uxtheme.dll which is responsible for checking & blocking the unsigned .msstyle themes. Style XP is not a skinning engine. It uses Microsoft's built-in visual style engine, but enhances it by providing many useful tools. Style XP Features- It can import, select, rotate, and manage themes, visual styles, wallpapers, logons, boot screens, icons, and explorer bar, like the original Microsoft Blue, Olive Green, and Silver Visual Styles, Style Builder & Style XP skins support three font sizes Normal, Large, and Extra Large.
Screenshot-
Tune Up Styler 2 (Commercial) – This utility comes as a part of Tune Up utilities Suite – A complete System Cleaning, Repairing, Accelerating, and Customizing Suite. It doesn't have a huge community of theme designers but it's a good deal as it comes with a suite of system utilities and doesn't need to be purchased separately. Apart from changing Xp themes it can also change Logon Screens (Xp Welcome Screen), Boot Screen (Xp Loading Screen). It can even change System Icons. Once installed you can download Visual Styles, Boot Screens, Logon Screens, and Icon Packages from vendor's site. It has a nice & growing collection of Visual Styles, Boot Screens, and Logons & Icon Packs.
Tuneup Styler2 Screenshot-
BricoPacks (Freeware) - Offered by Crystalxp.net Community, Bricopacks are complete PC Transformation packs. It completely transforms the UI- Visual Style (Theme with multiple variations), Wallpaper, Change the Color of Folders, Docks, Logon Screen, Some Common Windows, and Cursors. Bricopacks typically are a bunch of softwares packed and scripted in as ingle Pack so that they apply the transformation without any input from user. Each software component changes separate UI Elements. It consists of Components/Softwares like – Rocket Dock (Dock Program), iColorFolder, UberIcon etc The Installation is very flexible it allows you to choose what degree of customization you want. Installation is also a breeze, it allows you to turn off or disable the components. Make sure you have uninstalled any previous packs before installing a new one. Some of the most popular packs are – Vista Inspirat 2 (Make your XP UI feel like Vista UI), Crystal Clear, Longhorn Inspirat.

Screenshot-
Alienware Theme Manager (Freeware)- This isn't unique theme software but it is designed by Stardock- the makers of Windows Blind and Skin Factory- Interface design company for Alineware. It currently has 4 different themes – Xenomorph, Invader, ALXMorph & Darkstar. Each theme has its own unique Wallpaper, icons, Media Player Skins and obviously the Appearance. Get one for your PC here

Xenomorph Theme-

Option 3-

User Made Visual Stlyes (.msstlyes) – You also have a choice to download user made Visual Styles (Themes). These are created by some talented Users, UI designers who share there work freely (some are paid too) on Xp Customization Sites/Communities. You are Welcome too to join their Community to design and share your own or just download. But first you have to prepare your xp for applying these beauties as said earlier Xp can only apply signed .msstlyle themes so you have to patch a system file called uxtheme.dll which enable you to apply these visual styles. Don't worry there's readymade softwares available on net to do that for you in a single click. One of them is Uxtheme Multi-patcher 5.5 it supports both Windows XP /SP1/SP2 and Windows 2003 All you have to do is to visit the site register yourself if required and download the Visual Style of your choice they have tons of it. Usually it comes as a Zip File and you have to manually extract it to the themes directory (%windir%\Resources\Themes) and apply it from Control Panel >Display Settings > Themes. If you want a lot of themes for free than this is the best option as Bricopacks, Microsoft themes, Alienware themes are all have limited no of themes.

So here are the links to get both commercial/free themes, Wallpapers, Icons, Cursor Sets, Logon Screens, Boot Screens, Docket Icons, Screensavers, Media Player Skins etc–

http://www.skinbase.org
http://www.wincustomize.com/ Has got all the Stuff well categorized check out its wiki too http://wiki.wincustomize.com/wiki/Main_Page. Apart from above it has got Screensavers, Popular Media Player Skins, Sound Schemes, Object Docks etc.
http://www.crystalxp.net/ - Home of Bricopacks, Icon Packs, Visual Styles, Docket icons etc
http://customize.org/ -
http://www.guichamps.com/ - Site for Theme Design Competition
http://skinz.org/ - Has got Skins for Browsers, Skins of Nearly all Media Players, Wallpapers, Utilities, Mobile Wallpapers etc.
http://www.themexp.org/- Xp Visual Styles obviously, Cursor Sets
http://www.deviantart.com
http://www.belchfire.net/
http://getskinned.org/
http://www.softpedia.com/ - You can download all Microsoft Made themes (Royale, Zune, Royale Noir etc) here
Download Directly- Uxtheme Multi-patcher 5.5

Happy Theming !

Rapidshare, Megaupload, Megashare, Megaerotic Premium Link Generating Links

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:22:00 +0000

Whenever i wanted to download something from MegaUpload i get the message "All slots for your country are full". This is very much annoying. I crawled the internet for something which allow me to download from these sites. I found these sites which generates so called "Premium" links for FREE! Premium links mean no waiting time just paste the URL of your file and download begins.

Here are few working sites-

Rapidshare Only -

http://khongbiet.com/rapidshare/
http://www.rapidcheat.com/
http://www.rapidsteal.info/
http://www.rapidking.info/
http://www.rapidpremium.info/
http://www.rapidrapid.info/
http://www.rapidshare.co.in/
http://www.rsleech.info/
http://www.rapidfile.us/
http://www.rapiddownloader.info/
http://www.rapitshare.info/
http://www.rapidload.info/
http://www.rapidloader.info/
http://www.gorapid.info/
http://www.rapidx.info/
http://www.rapidmate.info/
http://www.rapidset.info/
http://www.rapidr.info/
http://rapidrip.info/

Megaupload Only-

http://leechz.com/ (NEW!)
http://megafast.info
http://123fastmega.com/
http://www.megatoad.com/
http://www.megahide.com/
http://vior.name/a

Rapidshare & Megaupload Only-

http://megaez.com/
http://www.warez-premium.org/

Rapidshare & Megashare Only-

http://www.premiumlinkz.info/

Rapidshare, Megaupload & Megaerotic-

http://multidl.com

Megaupload Happy Hours Activator-

http://www.da-premium.dr.ag/

What these site do is they pool the Paid accounts and generate scripts and website which allows the user to download the file via Premium Accounts they had pooled. These sites also has some download limits per IP to prevent a single user downloading whole day. This way user visiting their site can download.

So these services are good for ocassional downloading as regular downloadin will put them under pressure and their bandwidth will exhaust quickly.

Sometimes the sites apper to be down thats bcos their daily limit is exhausted. So try after some time.

Installing Windows 98 in Virtual Box

noreply@blogger.com (Sunny) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:45:00 +0000

Requirements-

Virtual Box

Intel Pentium/AMD Processor above 1 Ghz (Pentium D or Core 2 Duo will be preferable

At least 2GB of Disk Space for Creating the VM in FAT 32 Partition.

Windows 98 disk

Any other required software that you want to install in windows 98.

At least 96 MB free RAM for running Windows 98 (Guest OS).

Installing Virtual Box-

Right Click my computer select properties and choose hardware and choose driver signing and choose warn.

Run Setup

Configuring Virtual Box-

Run Virtual Box and choose New to start the VM Creation Wizard

Click Next

Type the name of the Virtual Machine and Choose Windows 98 from Dropdown and hit next.

Select the amount of RAM for Guest OS say 96 MB & hit next.

In this Screen you choose to create Virtual Hard Disk for the Guest OS. Hit New and click next.

Choose New

Choose- Dynamic if you want the Disk Space to be filled as its used . Choose Fixed to Pre allocate the Disk Space.

Type the Path & file name for the disk and choose the amount of diskspace for the Virtual Har disk & hit next.

Hit Finish

hit next.

Hit Finish and your New Virtual Machine is Created.

Select Windows 98 and click CD/DVD ROM

Select Your Drive letter. If you want to install Windows 98 from ISO Image choose its path.

Now select network and click the + sign and click ok. If a dialog pops up click continue anyway and click ok.

Click ok.

Insert your windows 98 cdrom into the drive. And start the VM

Select boot from CDROM

Start Windows 98 setup from cd rom

Press Enter

Press Enter

Select Yes, enable large disk......

Restart

Setup will format your Virtual Hardisk in FAT32 Format.

Press Enter to Continue.

Press Continue to begin Installing. Rest of the Setup is Self Explanatory.