Tips & Tricks

Sweet Home 3D 4.2

2014-01-03T00:08:00.001+05:30

Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application that helps you place your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview.

Draw straight, round or sloping walls with precise dimensions using the mouse or the keyboard.
Insert doors and windows in walls by dragging them in the plan, and let Sweet Home 3D compute their holes in walls.
Add furniture to the plan from a searchable and extensible catalog organized by categories such as kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom.
Change color, texture, size, thickness, location and orientation of furniture, walls, floors and ceilings.
While designing the home in 2D, simultaneously view it in 3D from an aerial point of view, or navigate into it from a virtual visitor point of view.
Annotate the plan with room areas, dimension lines, texts and show the North direction with a compass rose.
Create photorealistic images and videos with the ability to customize lights and control sunlight effect according to the time of day and geographic location.
Import home blueprint to draw walls upon it, 3D models to complete default catalog, and textures to customize surfaces.
Print and export PDFs, bitmap or vector graphics images, videos and 3D files in standard file formats.
Extend the features of Sweet Home 3D with plug-ins programmed in Java, or by developing a derived version based on its Model View Controller architecture.

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WBI Creator v4.1.8.25

2014-01-02T23:47:00.003+05:30

WBI Creator is an easy to use small handy windows application which facilitates you to create bootable ISO image for windows files which you have stored on your system by copying Windows installation disk.
It supports bootable image creation for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Windows 8 as well.This program is just like a wizard so you just have to select that of what OS you are going to make the ISO image like Windows XP, Vista, 7 or Widnows 7 and provide the CD/DVD label and choose and output path and you are done.
It will take few minutes and will give you with an ISO image ready for you to burn.It comes with burning options so you can burn the created ISO image or any other ISO image using this program.
It currently supports all types of CD and DVD formats for burning ISO.It doesn’t supports Blue-ray discs.

Disable Password Complexity Requirements in Windows Server 2003 and 2008

2013-12-29T23:07:00.002+05:30

If you are using Windows Server 2003 or 2008, you might be aware of annoying password complexity requirements.
Whenever you want to create or update the password for your account or a new account, your password must meet the following minimum requirements:
1. Passwords cannot contain the user's account name or parts of the user's full name that exceed two consecutive characters.
2. Passwords must be at least six characters in length.
3. Passwords must contain characters from three of the following four categories:

English uppercase characters (A through Z).
English lowercase characters (a through z).
Base 10 digits (0 through 9).
Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %).

If you want to disable these password complexity requirements, simply follow these simple steps:
STEP 1: Type gpedit.msc in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Group Policy Editor.
STEP 2: Now go to:
Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Account Policies -> Password Policy
STEP 3: In right-side pane, double-click on "Password must meet complexity requirements" option and set it to "Disabled".

You can also set "Maximum password age" option to 0 (zero) so that your password never expires.
STEP 4: Now run following command in Command Prompt to refresh the policy:
gpupdate /force
That's it. Restart your system and now you'll not have to fulfill annoying password complexity requirements.

WiNToBootic - The Ultimate Windows 7/8 USB Boot Disk Maker

2013-12-29T23:07:00.000+05:30

WiNToBootic is a freeware that allows you an easy creation of bootable Windows USB hard or flash disk from an ISO image, CD/DVD or Folder. This product is focused on creation of boot disks based on Microsoft Windows NT 6.x OS family (Vista, 7, 8, Server 2008, Server 2012).

Features:

Windows 7/8 focused Boot Disk Maker
Make bootable USB Flash or Hard Disk rd or flash disk from an ISO image, CD/DVD or Folder. This product is focused on creation of boot disks based on Microsofnt and Fast
Standalone

More Features:

NTFS Support
Windows 7/8 Bootloader
Burn from ISO 9660 (Joliet)
Burn from ISO 13346 (UDF)
Burn from DVD or Folder
Boot support for: Windows Vista/7/8/2008/2012
Boot support for: Windows PE2/PE3/PE4
Standalone
Super User Friendly
Very Fast

Download

ImgBurn 2.5.8.0

2010-02-12T22:35:00.003+05:30

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit! It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task: Read - Read a disc to an image file Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc Write - Write an image file to a disc Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing

ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CCD, CDI, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI. It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV. You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease. It supports Unicode folder/file names, so you shouldn't run in to any problems if you're using an international character set. ImgBurn supports all the Microsoft Windows OS's - Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7 and Windows 8 (including all the 64-bit versions). If you use Wine, it should also run on Linux and other x86-based Unixes. It's a very flexible application with several advanced features that are often lacking in other tools, especially when it comes to burning DVD Video discs. It supports all the latest drives without the need for updates (including booktype / bitsetting / advanced settings on many of the major ones - i.e. BenQ, LiteOn, LG, NEC, Optiarc, Pioneer, Plextor, Samsung, Sony). There is an image queue system for when you're burning several images (which you can automatically share between multiple drives if you have more than one) and an easy-to-use layer break selection screen for double layer DVD Video jobs. The Automatic Write Speed feature allows you store your favourite burn speed settings on a per 'Media ID' basis, right down to a drive by drive level. Data captured during the burn (write speed, buffer levels etc) can be displayed / analysed using DVDInfoPro

Download ImgBurn

Steps to Remove regsvr.exe Virus

2010-02-10T22:01:00.001+05:30

What the regsvr.exe virus does?
regsvr.exe is classified as a W32.Imaut worm•    This worm creates folders and a registry entry to enable its automatic execution at every system startup.
•    This worm also creates a scheduled task to enable its automatic execution at a specified date and/or time.
•    It also creates Autorun.inf file for its auto execution.
Solution to fix the problem:
1.    If the task manager and registry editor is disabled then we need to enable them first. Read this post.
2.    Delete the Autorun.inf file created by the virus. Read this post to know how to do that.
3.    Now type msconfig in the Run dialog and click on startup tab.
4.    Look for regsvr and uncheck any options, click OK.
5.    Now traverse to control panel -> scheduled tasks, and delete the At1 task that might be listed there.
6.    Type regedit in the Run dialog to open the registry editor.
7.    Click on Edit -> Find and search for regsvr.exe
8.    Just delete all the occurrences of regsvr.exe virus (do not confuse it with regsvr32.exe which is not a virus).
9.    Navigate to entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and modify the entry Shell = “Explorer.exe regsvr.exe” to delete the regsvr.exe from it.

10.    Now to actually delete the virus from the system go to system32 folder and delete the regsvr.exe virus file from there (you will need to uncheck the option of “Hide Protected System Files and Folders” in Folder Options to view the virus file).
Reboot the system for changes to take place.

Solution to remove Blue Color Shadow from the Desktop Icons

2010-02-10T21:52:00.000+05:30

Our computer looks fresh and good with our desktop icons. We all must have placed some or other icons on our desktop and thus it has become a common problem that we often see either Blue or a different Color Shadow under the icons placed at our desktop.

So if you are also facing this problem and doesn’t actually know how to fix this problem then here is the solution.
Solution:
1.    This problem is only caused when we have selected the option of “Lock Web Items on Desktop”. To turn it off, right click on the desktop and go to “Arrange Icons By” and uncheck the option of “Lock Web Items on Desktop”.

2.    This option should have solved your problem but if you just like to change the blue color and not turn it off, then right click on desktop.
3.    Click on Properties -> Appearance -> Advanced button. Now select “Desktop” from the Item drop down list and choose the desired color in the “color1” option.
Update:
One of our readers ersin, found a working solution which is

Go to Display Properties -> Desktop tab -> Customize Desktop -> Web tab
Make sure that you have both the web pages listed below and the option Lock Desktop Items Unchecked.
OK and exit.

Abort XP from Shutdown

2010-02-10T21:41:00.002+05:30

So by mistake you have shutdown the computer or is it that you forgot to the do the work before you shutdown the system whatever be the case worry not because with this small but handy trick you can stop XP from shutdown even after you have given this command. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that do the trick soon enough after giving the shutdown command.

Open the command prompt and type “shutdown –a” or “shutdown /a” and the system will abort shutting down.
But I would recommend you to make a shortcut for this as typing would take you a lot of time but shortcut can be at once and with ease. You can make a shortcut by right clicking and selecting shortcut from new. In the create shortcut wizard type the above command as it is then click next and type its name. That’s it, it’s done.

Turn Monitor Off with One Keyboard Click

2010-02-10T21:38:00.002+05:30

Whether your computer monitor is bit far or the turn off button is jammed, you can still turn off your Computer monitor screen with just a single click on Keyboard.

The application is very helpful if you want to save some power by turning the monitor off without being turning again and again to the Monitor.
This task is accomplished by an application called PushMonitOff. After downloading the tool you just need to press the default combination of Shift + F1 (customizable) keys and your screen will get turned off. Amazing isn’t it?
Features:
1. Requires no installation.
2. Free and small in size.
Download PushMonitOff

How to Recover and Reset Password in windows 7/Vista/XP/2003/2K/NT

2010-02-09T02:34:00.001+05:30

We tend to forget our Windows administrator login password. With no way to get into the system, you can’t even perform basic maintenance, let alone a thorough tune-up. Formatting is always an option, but we consider that a last resort. (Plus, guess who’s going to have to help reinstall all the programs lost after a wipe?) But all hope is not lost. There are a few ways to actually retrieve a lost Windows account password. Read on, and we’ll show you the light.
When we install Windows, it automatically creates an account “Administrator” and sets its password to blank. So if you have forget your user account password then try this:
Start system and when you see Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press Ctrl +Alt +Del keys twice and it’ll show Classic Login box. Now type “Administrator” (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.
Now you can reset your account password from “Control Panel -> User Accounts”.
Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.
If you sure that you had completely no idea what your password is, then keep trying these methods.
Method 1: Take a rest
Sometimes, human being is a little weird. You won’t get the thing that you urgently need. So have a coffee, take a snap or even come back after a few days, you may found that you suddenly ‘remember’ your Windows password.
Method 2: Reset password with RESET DISK if you made before.
Windows XP and further versions also provide another method to recover forgotten password by using “Reset Disk”. If you created a Password Reset Disk in past, you can use that disk to reset the password. To know more about it, please visit following links:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305478
Method 3: Reset password from another administrator account
If you cannot log on to Windows by using a particular user account, but you can log on to another account that has administrative credentials, follow these steps on how to do the trick:
1.      Log on to Windows by using an administrator account that has a password that you remember. You may need to start WinXP in safe mode.
2.      Click Start, and then click Run.
3.      In the Open box, type “control userpasswords2”, and then click OK.

4. Click the user account that you forgot the password for, and then click Reset Password.
5. Type a new password in both the new password and the Confirm new password boxes, and then click OK.
Method 4: TRY command prompt about password reset trick
1. Log in with any valid account.
2. Bring up the command prompt.
Type: net user
You get a list of accounts
Type: net user Administrator *
Type: net user (any account on that list) *
3. It prompts for a password. Enter one, then enter it again when prompted to confirm.
Now, try to log on as ‘Administrator’ with your new password.
* Please note that this might not work on a LIMITED account
Method 5: Make third party recovery tool yourself
There are a lot of tools and utilities that can be downloaded and used to recover, reset, retrieve or reveal existing password. These windows password recovery utilities, free or paid, are usually a Linux boot disk or CD that able to comes with NT file system (NTFS) drivers and software that will read the registry and rewrite the password hashes, or can brute force crack the password for any user account including the Administrators. The advantage is that there is no fear of leaking your password to outsiders, while the process requires physical access to the console and a floppy or CD drive, depending on which tool you choose. And it’s not easy, although it always work!
Below is the most famous recovery tool I found:
Windows Password Recovery Tool 3.0 – it is the most popular Windows password cracker . It is a very efficient implementation of windows any versions. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms.
For more information:
http://www.windowspasswordsrecovery.com
Password Recovery Bundle –This is a utility to reset the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your windows system. You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppydisk or CD. It’ll detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts. It is also an almost fully functional registry editor.
For more information:
http://www.recoverlostpassword.com
Windows Password Key 8.0 -It is considered as the best tool to reset local administrator and user passwords on any Windows system. It creates a password recovery CD/DVD, USB Flash Drive for home, business and enterprise. And most of all, it’s the most popular and safe solution for removing your Windows password until now.
For more information:
http://www.lostwindowspassword.com

File System

2010-02-09T02:19:00.003+05:30

hat is FAT and NTFS File System?
FAT was a file system developed by Microsoft in 1977. The file system is still under use in removable media like USB Drives and floppy disks. FAT operates as three versions FAT 12, FAT16 and FAT32.
With the launch of Windows NT 3.1 in 1993 by Microsoft, the NTFS File System came into existence.
FAT vs. NTFS
NTFS has serious improvements over FAT like improved access speed, performance, reliability, fault tolerance, recoverability, complicity, security, as well as support for long file names, large volumes.
Steps to Convert FAT to NTFS
1.    Windows can convert FAT to NTFS by default and without any tool by using the command line utility convert.exe
Note: You can’t revert back to FAT once you have converted your FAT file system to NTFS (more info)
2.    Type cmd in the Run box to open the command prompt and type CONVERT driveletter: /FS:NTFS in it, example CONVERT D: /FS:NTFS will convert D: drive to NTFS system
Alternate Method:
Using Norton Partition Magic
1.    The latest version of Norton Partition Magic can do this conversion task for you in minutes.

2.    So just download it and see for yourself.
Download Norton Partition Magic
You can also try this free Partition Manager called EASEUS Partition Master 4.0.1 Home Edition that can do the same thing for you.

Steps to convert NTFS to FAT and FAT32 system:
1.    The important point that I would like to mention here is that Windows can not convert NTFS file system to any other by default and without use of any software.
2.    So you have to use Norton Partition Magic for this work.

3.    Converting a partition from any file system to another can be easily done by Norton Partition Magic and without any data loss.
4.    You can also try this free Partition Manager called EASEUS Partition Master 4.0.1 Home Edition that can do the same thing for you.
Download Norton Partition Magic
Download EASEUS Partition Master 4.0.1 Home Edition

Difference between Format and Quick Format

2010-02-09T02:17:00.000+05:30

When installing new copy of Windows you must have noticed following options:
•    Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
•    Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
•    Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
•    Format the partition by using the FAT file system
•    Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
Why Microsoft has given two options of regular format and Quick Format when one is sufficient? If you do not know the difference between the two then here are the points.
Quick Format:
Quick format permanently removes the file from the disk but does not scan the partition for bad sectors. This option should be chosen if the drive has been scanned earlier and you are sure that the disk is not damaged.
Regular Format:
This format not only removes the files permanently but also scans the disk for bad sectors hence the time taken for this format is more than the Quick format. Use normal format to avoid future disk errors in the drive.

How to Password Protect Internet Explorer 8 Browser

2010-01-31T02:07:00.000+05:30

There is sometimes a lack of privacy at home and at the workplace where family or colleagues may have access to your computer.If you do not want other users to access the internet,one of the ideal solutions is to password protectthe browser. Children or teenagers, especially, can be prevented from accessing illicit or undesirable content in the World Wide Web. Some users might probably not be aware that Internet Explorer 8 browser has been enhanced with Content Advisor for this purpose. Users can disable the use of the IE browser or allow only certain websites to be assessed.
Below are the steps to activate the password protection in Internet Explorer:
Open the Internet Explorer browser, thence go to menu, select Tools > Internet Options > Content. Under Content Advisor, click Enable.

Once it is enabled, users need to create a new admin password and set a password hint. Hint can be a message to the user who is opening a site in Internet Explorer. To set the password, users need to click on “setting”, thence select “General” tab. Check “Supervisor can type a password to allow users to view restricted content”.

Users can thence click on to “Change Password” and set their password and hint accordingly.

To fully protect the browser from access by others, users need to adjust the ratings slider to “None” so that no website can be opened without a password.

In this way, one can supervise access to the Internet in general or specific websites because a prompt will appear requesting for the password before access is granted.

Recover Dialup/RAS/VPN passwords stored by Windows using Dialupass

2010-01-30T00:29:00.000+05:30

Description

This utility enumerates all dialup/VPN entries on your computers, and displays their logon details: User Name, Password, and Domain. You can use it to recover a lost password of your Internet connection or VPN.
Dialupass also allows you to save the dialup/VPN list into text/html/csv/xml file, or copy it to the clipboard.

Known Problems

False Alert Problems: Some Antivirus programs detect Dialupass utility as infected with Trojan/Virus. Click here to read more about false alerts in Antivirus programs

System Requirements

This utility works under Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003/2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. The passwords are revealed only if you log on to the computer with administrator privileges. If you need to recover your dialup passwords from Windows 9x/ME, you can use Dialupass v2.45

Using Dialupass

Dialupass is a standalone application, and it doesn't require any installation process or additional DLLs. Just copy the dialupass.exe to any folder you want and run it. After you run it, it'll instantly show all your Dial-Up accounts and their user/password details.
You can also select one or more Dial-Up items (by using Ctrl and Shift keys), and then save them into text/csv/html/xml file , or copy them into the clipboard (Ctrl+C). Dialupass utility also allows you to easily edit the logon details: user name, password and domain. You can get the editing dialog-box by double-clicking the item you want to edit.

Download Dialupass

Read the Prefetch File using WinPrefetchView

2010-01-30T00:18:00.000+05:30

Each time that you run an application in your system, a Prefetch file which contains information about the files loaded by the application is created by Windows operating system. The information in the Prefetch file is used for optimizing the loading time of the application in the next time that you run it.
WinPrefetchView is a small utility that reads the Prefetch files stored in your system and display the information stored in them. By looking in these files, you can learn which files every application is using, and which files are loaded on Windows boot.

System Requirements

This utility works on any version of Windows, starting from Windows XP, and up to Windows 7. Earlier versions of Windows are irrelevant for this utility, because the don't use Prefetch files.

Using WinPrefetchView WinPrefetchView doesn't require any installation process or additional DLL files. In order to start using it, simply run the executable file - WinPrefetchView.exe
The main window of WinPrefetchView contains 2 panes: The upper pane displays the list of all Prefetch files in your system. When you select a file in the upper pane, the lower pane displays the list of files stored inside the selected Prefetch file, which represent the files that were loaded by the application in the previous times that you used it.
These is also special Prefetch file, with 'NTOSBOOT-B00DFAAD.pf' filename, which can show you the list of files that are loaded during Windows boot process. WinPrefetchView also allows you to delete the selected Prefetch files. However, be aware that even when your delete a Prefetch file, it'll be created again by the operating system when you run the same program again.
Download WinPrefetchView

Delete Data from Disk Permanently with Blank and Secure

2010-01-29T02:10:00.000+05:30

There are ways to recover deleted data from the Hard Disk so as to recover any accidentally deleted data but in case you wish to delete data beyond recovery then there are ways to do that as well.

Blank And Secure is a portable tool to securely delete the data. Securely deleting the data is not possible unless you override the data with the zeroes, process termed as “Zero Filling”.
Secure deletion is possible with this program, because Blank and Secure overwrites the data with zeros before deleting making sure that the data is deleted permanently.
Note: Data is deleted beyond recovery, so use the tool cautiously.
Download Blank and Secure

Remove Duplicate PST Files From Microsoft Outlook

2010-01-29T01:49:00.000+05:30

It can happen that duplicate pst files appear in Microsoft Outlook. These files are sometimes referred to as ghost files which are displayed in the folder list and other folder views in the email client. These duplicate pst files can be very problematic as they usually cannot be deleted easily from Outlook.
Error messages such as “Object was not found”, “The operation failed. An object could not be found” or ” Can’t open this item. The object could not be found” are often displayed when the user tries to remove them from Outlook. That leaves the Outlook user with no other option than to create a new Outlook profile which will mean that all settings, accounts and other information and personal preferences will not be carried over.

CodeTwo PST Ghostbuster is a portable program to resolve issues with duplicate pst files in Microsoft Outlook. The program can be used to automatically remove duplicate pst files from a Microsoft Outlook profile. The program displays a pulldown menu and a text form in its interface. The first menu can be used to select the affected Outlook profile while the text form can be used to enter the name of the folder that is appearing several times in the email client.

A click on the check button will scan the Outlook profile for duplicate pst files. A duplicate entry was found and can be cleaned if the message “Invalid sections that should be removed were found” is displayed to the user. Clicking on the repair button will then resolve the issue so that the duplicate pst file is removed from Microsoft Outlook.
PST Ghostbuster can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 98 to Outlook 2007 and Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

Fix Windows Media Player using Fix WMP

2010-01-29T01:31:00.000+05:30

Windows Media Player has a good user interface and is liked by many people but with the passage of time it can develop certain issues. So if you are facing any trouble with the WMP then consider this post before uninstalling it.

Fix WMP Utility is a powerful tool developed by the Windows Club with the ability of re-registering over 40 dll files required for the smooth functioning of WMP. The repair using this tool has been tested successfully on WMP12 but the tool should work on all the versions as well.
Download Fix WMP