Computer Tips & Tricks

How to create your own Run Command for any specific application?

2011-09-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

How to create your own Run Command (program shortcut) to run a program or a document directly. No more need to navigate the location of a program or document to run it, simply click on Start button to open Run box and type the programs shortcut name to open it directly.

Follow the given steps to disable the save settings functionality for desktop:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App paths

Now right click on App Paths and select New > Key, title the key and name it whatever you want your run command to be. In this case, we will try to create a run command for SecueCRT application.

New > Key > SecureCRT.exe

Now select the SecureCRT.exe folder and click right on (Default) string value then click Modify at the right hand side panel.

Here enter the path of the program that you want to execute in the value data field. In our case, the path of SecueCRT application will be C:\Program Files\VanDyke Software\SecureCRT \SecureCRT.exe.

Now again in right side panel, click right to create a new String value with the name SecureCRT and its values as C:\Program Files\VanDyke Software\SecureCRT\SecureCRT.exe.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Close your non-responsive programs automatically

2011-09-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

Normally you end tasks the non-responsive programs manually using windows task manager with (CTRL + ALT +DELETE) keys. Sometimes these non-responsive programs creates problem to run windows and others programs properly. You can configure your computer to manage these non-responsive programs automatically. Windows has a feature that will close all non responding program automatically. If you have little knowledge about editing windows registry then you can configure your computer for this purpose.

Follow the given steps to configure windows registry for auto end task:

First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option. Here locate the location to:
Go to Hkey_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop
Here in right side panel, double click on AutoEndTasks and here its default value is 0. Now change it to 1. Now windows will close your all non-responsive programs automatically.
Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

How to set the status of NUM LOCK key enabled automatically.

2011-09-08T23:54:00.001-07:00

You can manage the status of NUM LOCK key is different for each user and you can set its status enable or disable when user logon. NUM LOCK status is disable by default and if you want your NUM LOCK key is enable automatically before a user presses CTRL+ALT+DEL to log on. You need to edit the registry of your computer to change this status enabled.

Follow the given steps to enable NUM LOCK key :

Click Start button then type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.
Here locate the location to:
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard
Here in right side panel, double click on the valueInitialKeyboardIndicators then change its value data from 0 to 2.
Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.

Add Items to the Start Button using Registry?

2011-09-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

The best technique to edit the windows registry keys, always export or backup the whole windows registry keys on backup drive before editing. Because any mistake in Registry can cause serious problem in your computer to run properly.

Follow the given steps to change the Start button setting.

First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.
In Registry Editor go to left hand panel, and find HKey_Classes_Root / Directory / Shell
Here Right click on Shell folder option and add any new key with descriptive name and Press Enter.
Now Right click on that key and give the full path of that program you are interested to add in start button. For example if you want to add MS excel, then full path may be C:\program file\msoffice\msexcel.EXE.
Now close all open programs and check the changes in your computer Start button.

Install Windows XP in 10-15 minutes

2011-09-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Now, this tip will be very helpful for those who frequently install windows xp operating system. Normally OS installation takes around 40 minutes to complete, but through this trick you can now save 10-15 minutes. This simple tricks goes this way.

1. Boot through Windows XP CD.

2. After all the files are completely loaded, you get the option to select the partition. Select “c”.

3. Now Format the partition, whether it is normal or quick with NTFS or FAT

4. Once the formatting is completed, All the setup files required for installation are copied. Restart your system by pressing Enter.
Now, here begins the Simple trick to save 10-15 minutes.

5. After rebooting, you get a screen where it takes 40 minutes to complete or finalize the OS installation.

6. Now, Press SHIFT + F10 Key -> This opens command prompt.

7. Enter “Taskmgr” at the command prompt window. This will open Task Manager.

8. Click the Process Tab, here we find a process called Setup.exe -> Right Click on Setup.exe -> Set Priority -> Select High or Above Normal. Initially it will be Normal.
Thats it, no more work to do. Relax your self and see how fast the installation processcompletes

INCREASE YOUR SYSTEM SPEED

2011-09-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

WINDOWS 7 POWERFULL TOOLS

2011-07-05T01:23:00.000-07:00

Search results as you type:

The Instant Search box in Windows® Internet Explorer 8 returns search results in real time as you type. And the search results can include
pictures and rich text, so it’s even easier to find what you’re looking for.

Cast a wider net:

Internet Explorer 8 is working with top search providers, such as Bing, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, and Amazon, to help deliver immediate answers along with available imagery as you type your search query. Search also uses your browsing history to make searching even easier.

Find anything:

Finding anything on your PC and externalhard disk drives is easy—from programs and documents to songs. Simply open the Start menu and type in the search box. Select what you want from the list of instant
search results.

Instant recall:

Quickly find that file you worked on last week. Rest your mouse pointer over a program name, or right-click an icon on the taskbar—a Windows 7 Jump List appears, displaying the documents you used most
recently and most often.

Highlight search queries:

Windows 7 Search results highlight words from your query within snippets of file content or the file path so you can find the best results
more easily.

The library is open:

Libraries make it easy to view, organize, manage, and find files that are stored in more than one place, and they are automatically indexed to
allow faster viewing and searching. Use the existing libraries in Windows 7, or create your own.

No stone unturned:

Windows 7 search connectors can help you quickly find and organize the information you need—beyond your PC and across certain sites. If you
see the Search connector button on your corporate website, double-click it to add a search connector for the site.

Sort search results logically:

The content view mode in Windows 7 Search includes labels for all properties for each item (file type, size, file path, date modified, and more), so your search results are easier to interpret.

WINDOWS 7 SECURITY & PROTECTION

2011-07-05T01:16:00.000-07:00

1 Overall Security
All of your computer’s security needs are now bundled in
one easy-to-find, easy-to-monitor location. The Windows
Security Center helps make your PC more secure by alerting
you when your security software is out of date or when your
security settings should be strengthened. The Security
Center also tells you whether your PC is set up to receive
automatic software updates from Microsoft. Windows Vista,
along with Internet Explorer 7, contains many security
features to safeguard you and your organization from
threats, while keeping your intellectual property protected.

2 Windows Defender
One of the key tools in the Security Center is Windows
Defender. It works with Internet Explorer 7 to help protect
your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and
security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted
software, often defined as malware. By leveraging superior
platform enhancements in Windows Vista, which include
improved caching technology for faster scans and removal
technologies, using up-to-date spyware definitions created
by Microsoft, Windows Defender provides an always-on
protection that monitors key system locations, watching for
changes that signal the presence of spyware. The "Scan on
execute" functionality provides an added layer of Protection
by scanning downloaded files before they are saved and
executed, reducing the chance that spyware
might be installed by accident.

3 BitLocker
BitLocker Drive Encryption protects the information stored
on your computer from hackers or thieves who might obtain
access to your machine. It is a full disk encryption feature
included with Microsoft's Windows Vista designed to protect
data by providing encryption for entire volumes. By
encrypting the entire Windows system volume, data is better
protected. Ideally a v1.2 Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip
is the preferred method of encryption key storage. BitLocker
Drive Encryption is tightly integrated into Windows Vista and
provides a seamless, secure, and manageable data
protection solution for you.

4 Automated Backup
The new backup and restore functionality in Windows Vista
makes it easier to keep your data and computer safe from
user error, hardware failure, and any other issue that could
result in data loss. The Windows Backup and Restore Center
gives you one place to manage all backup and restore
features. Two particularly useful Automatic Backup features
are the ability to do a scheduled backup and the ability to
back up your files to an external hard drive, secondary hard
drive, writable CD or DVD, or to a network location.
Search & Organize

5 Instant Search
Looking for speciﬁc applications, Web sites, and e-mails is
faster than ever with the streamlined Windows Vista Start
Menu. To ﬁnd a speciﬁc application or ﬁle, click the Windows
key on the keyboard (or open the Start menu) and enter the
ﬁle name in the Instant Search ﬁeld. As you type, Windows
Vista dynamically searches ﬁlenames, metadata, and the full
text of all ﬁles and displays the choices by ﬁle type. For
example, to find the Calculator application, simply type “cal”
in the Instant Search field, and Windows Vista would display
a shortcut to all applications that start with “cal”. Calculator
will be the top option.

6 Integrated Search
Every explorer window in Windows Vista contains an
integrated Instant Search field in which you can enter a word,
part of a word, or a phrase. Try ﬁltering by type using the
Search Pane and selecting “Documents.” Next choose to see
your ﬁles in another way, via the new Stack view. Select the
author column header control drop down menu, and choose
the option to “Stack by author”. Explore all the documents by
a particular author by double clicking on an author’s stack.
Now, save that search as a new Search Folder. Choose the
option “Save Search” found on the top Command Bar and
name and save your Search Folder. In the future, to re-run it,
simply select the “Searches” folder link on the left side
Navigation Pane, and double click on your Search Folder.

7 Aero
Windows Aero offers you a premium user experience. The
glass windows create an open, energizing environment, and
enable you to better focus on your content, rather than on
the surrounding interface. If your PC supports the Windows
Aero user experience, open multiple ﬁles and see how easy it
is to locate the right open window using the breakthrough
Windows Flip (simply ALT+TAB) or Flip 3D (Windows
key+TAB).

8 Mobility
Windows Vista has multiple tools and features to help you be
productive when you’re on-the-go. It provides a centralized
location to access all of the relevant information you will
need within the Mobility Center. You no longer need to go to
various menus and folders. This tool provides options for
handling your wireless connection and synching your
devices, along with various choices needed for presenting.

9 Meeting Space
Windows Meeting Space enables face-to-face collaboration
among small groups of Windows Vista users—virtually
anytime, anywhere. Useful for both business and personal
purposes, this tool enables you to share work on computer-
based projects with other people more easily and comfort-
ably. With Windows Meeting Space, you can collaborate
with one person or as many as nine others over a wired
network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), or an ad hoc
(PC-to-PC) wireless network.

10 XPS
XPS Documents are a new archiving format perfect for
preserving content and for securely sharing information in an
application independent way. To create an XPS Document,
open any document in virtually any application, and select
the print option. In the printer selection menu, choose
“Microsoft XPS Document Writer” and save the ﬁle. Double
click on the ﬁle, which should open it in the XPS Viewer,
which is hosted by Internet Explorer 7. The XPS Document is
a pixel perfect rendition of the original source material.

Other Windows 7 Tips
Share a folder or file directly from your PC.
Windows Vista improves on the Windows network folder
sharing experience ﬁrst introduced with Windows XP by
giving you more ﬂexibility in what you can share with
other people and improving the setup process. With
Windows Vista you can now share folders and individual
ﬁles with any other user on the same corporate network.
From any Explorer, select a ﬁle or folder and on the
Command Bar choose the option to Share. Enter the
name of another user on the same network, and give
them appropriate rights of access – reader, co-owner, etc.

PC Performance
SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific
reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of
hardware, and adding support for several emerging
standards. SP1 also continues to improve upon the IT
administration experience.

How to REMOVE Trojan virus from your computer:

2011-03-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

How to remove Trojan virus from your computer:

1. Anti-Virus Scan - Most Trojans can be detected and removed by anti-virus software. But Trojan virus programs are capable of replicating the links if they detect a missing file. This happens because a Trojan creates a key in any entry in the registry that starts up automatically.

2. Msconfig Utility - If you find that the virus is still present, you could try Start->Run->Msconfig. You can look at entries in the startup tab and uncheck those that look unnecessary. Syestem.ini and boot.ini are places where virus files may be started up but it is advised not to edit these files manually.

3. Scan for Auto-running Programs - If the Trojan still exists, you may have to use a program to detect software that starts up automatically. Many such freeware programs are available. Once a list of programs that can autorun is created, you need to restart the computer.

4. Boot into Safe Mode -Safe Mode ensures that Windows starts with only basic and essential services. Using the utility you used in the previous step for scanning, remove the suspected Trojan viruses from the list so that they cannot startup and delete the files from the hard disk.

5. Edit Registry - It may be possible for some links to Trojans to exist still in the registry. Use Start->Run->Regedit to edit the registry.

6. Remove Trojans from Registry - Check HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftware Microsoft WindowsCurrentVersionRun for any keys containing Trojan viruses and delete them.

7. Reboot In Normal Mode

REOVE VIRUS FROM WINDOWS REGISTRY

2011-02-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

Remove Virus in Windows Registry

It's hard to remove the virus in the Windows System Registry, because it's not easy to find where the virus hides. Also, it's danger to edit the data inside the registry. If you enter or delete wrong key, data or value, Windows might be unable to run after that. Here we just show you how to check any unwanted program loaded into the memory when Windows start.

To change the registry data needs to run Microsoft Registry Editor - RegEdit.exe. Click the Start Button - select Run - Enter. When the Run Window will appear, then type 'RegEdit' into Open: textbox and click OK button.

You might be unable to RegEdit, because the virus blocks the doorway. In this case, you need to bring up your Windows in Safe Mode to run the RegEdit. Sometimes, you need to login the Administrator account. Therefore, make sure you know your Administrator account's password when you own the new computer.

Microsoft System Configuration Utility MSConfig.exe keeps entries of Start-Up programs. Besides that, System Registry has Run, RunOnce and RunOnceEx entry nodes to manage which program can run while Windows is starting.

First, you should check any starting programs inside the HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Go down to the node in HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, then look for program entry inside the Run, RunOnce and RunOnceEX. If you find something you don't know, then you type the program name .exe name into the following Search box to find out what's that. If the .exe name is the virus or spyware, then you can delete it.

It's same that you need to check any starting program inside the HEKY_CURRENT_USER.

Go down to the node in HEKY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, then look for unwanted .exe programs inside the Run, RunOnce and RunOnceEX. If you find something, then delete them.

Some virus will restore the entry later or reboot, even you delete the entry from System Registry Editor. Those virus needs special tools to kill them.

File Sharing in Windows 7

2011-01-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

File Sharing in Windows 7

Simple file sharing in Windows 7 is very easy and common to be used to share file/folder with other users that use Windows XP, Vista or 7 in same workgroup. Due to other users are allowed to access the shared file/folder without doing authentication with username and password, and so we call it simple file sharing.
However please don’t enable this simple file sharing when your computer is connected to public network (at library, airport, restaurant, etc), because the other public users can also access the shared file/folder without authentication after you have enabled it. It’s not safe!

This is the way to do simple file sharing in Windows 7:

1) First you need to confirm that you have enabled file and printer sharing on network card. Let’s do a quick check. Go to Start and click on Control Panel. Proceed to click View network status and tasks in Control Panel window.

2) Network and Sharing Center window will appear, after that click change adapter settings.

3) Network Connections window will appear. Here you can right click on the network adapter (can be wireless adapter or wired Ethernet adapter) that you are using and click Properties.

4) Your network card’s properties window will appear, then tick File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks if it's not tick, finally click OK.

5) Let’s move back to Network and Sharing Center window, make sure you have selected the appropriate network location type before enabling file sharing, mostly home network or work network type. In this case, my network location type is home network.

Note: Set the same Workgroup for all computers on the same network in order to ease the file sharing.

Note: Enable network discovery too, so your computer can discover and locate other computers.

6) Now you can proceed to click on Change advanced sharing settings.

7) Here you need to locate your current set profile (home or network in this case), and turn on/off following settings. Click on Save changes at last.

Turn on file and printer sharing
Turn off password protected sharing

8) Enable file sharing in Windows 7, right click the file or folder you plan to share, select Share with and click on Specific people....

Note: If you don't see the Share with menu, you might be trying to share an item on a network or other unsupported location. It also won't appear when you select files outside your personal folder.

9) File Sharing window will appear, and here you can select or key in the people you would like to share the file/folder with and click Add. In this case, I added user Guest and also set the Read permission level. Finally click Share to do sharing.

Note: You can set 2 different permission levels for each people you selected:

Read - Can open, but not modify or delete the file.
Read/Write - Can open, modify, or delete the file.

10) The next window will tell you that your file/folder is shared, click Done to close the window. Basically you have done file sharing in windows 7.

11) You will notice there is no change on the shared file/folder icon, but if you right click the shared folder and click on Properties. Then go to Sharing tab, it will show that folder is shared. Ok. That folder and content can be accessed from other computers now by referring to that network path.

Note: If you just shared a file, right click the file and click on Properties and go to Details tab, it will show you the users that the file shared with.

Note: You should also click on Security tab. Check the group or user names that are allowed to access this file/folder, and make sure the user/group that you allowed to access during sharing process just now is listed here as well (usually will be added automatically when you do file/folder sharing), if not click Edit to add those missing user/group.

If the specific user/group you allowed during sharing process does not match the user/group listed here, the missing user might not be able to see that shared file/folder at all! Or the user will get prompt saying that you might not have permission to use this network resource when try to access this shared file/folder from other computer.

How to Configure IP Address in Windows 7

2011-01-26T21:36:00.000-08:00

How to Configure IP Address and Other Network Information in Windows 7

How to configure IP address and other network information in Windows 7 here. As you know IP address must be configured on computer in order to communicate with other computers, because this IP address is the standard address understood by computers and other networking devices in networking world.

You can configure IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS servers manually on computer, but you can also configure computer to obtain IP address and other network information from DHCP server (most of the time is configured on router).

1) Go to Start and click on Control Panel.

2) Proceed to click NETWOR AND INTER and click on view network status and tasks in Control Panel window.

3) Network and Sharing Center window will appear, then click change adapter settings.

4) Network Connections window will appears. Here you can right click on the network adapter (can be wireless adapter or wired Ethernet adapter) that you wish to configure and click Properties.

5) In the Network Connection Properties window, tick on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.

Note: If your computer sits in IPv6 network, you can select Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) to configure IPv6 address, but it’s not covered here.

Manual IP Assigning

To manual configuration, you can now key in the IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway and DNS servers.

Note: IP address of your computer must be unique. None of the 2 computers in the same network can share same IP address, because it will cause IP address conflict.

Note: Default gateway is a router that can route the traffic to the other network or Internet. DNS server is an application server that can translate URL to IP address. Check with your ISP on what DNS servers you should use. If not, you can try this free Opendns or Google DNS servers.

IP Assigned by DHCP server

If you have DHCP server setup on your router or you have dedicated DHCP server, your computer can be assigned IP address and other network information automatically by selecting Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically.

Note: If you have a notebook, and you use static IP at home and the IP assigned by DHCP server at the office, you can make use of alternate configuration to set IP and network information for these 2 different networks.

Set Obtain an IP address and DNS automatically on General tab as according to what I specified above, so that the notebook will be assigned IP addresses automatically at the office. After that, click Alternate Configuration tab, select User configured option and key in your home network’s static IP and other network information. By setting this, when there is no IP information assigned due to no DHCP server at home, this alternate configuration will be applied automatically, so that you don’t have to spend time on configuring IP manually every time at home.

COMPUTER HARDWARE BASICS

2011-01-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

PC Components

Here you will learn computer hardware tutorials introduction, basic pc components, networking devices, ram, vga, monitor and printer etc. Computer hardware is the physical part of the computer including the digital circuits inside the computer as opposed to the software that carry out the computing instructions. The hardware of a computer is unlikely to change frequently unless due to the crash or for upgrading them. The devices that is capable of storing, executing system instructions and controlling other logical outputs.

Hardware comprises all of the physical part of the computer such as Monitor, CPU, motherboard, ram, CD-Rom, printer, scanner, hard disk, flash drive (AKA pen drive), processor, pci buses, floppy disk, power supply, VGA card, sound card, network interface card, peripherals, joystick, mouse, keyboard, foot pedal, computer fan, camera, headset and others.

On the other hard software is a logical part of a computer and is used to carry out the instructions, storing, executing and developing other software programs. A typical PC consists of a case or chassis in the desktop or tower case and these components.

Motherboard

• CPU
• Computer Fan
• RAM
• BIOS
• Digital Circuitry
• Computer Fan
• PCI Slots

PC Buses

• PCI
• USB
• Hyper-transport
• AGP
• ISA
• EISA
• VLB

Media

• CD-Rom
• DVD-Rom
• Combo box
• Joystick
• BD-Rom drive

Internal storage

• Hard disk (ATA & SATA)
• Data array controller
• Floppy disk

Other Peripheral Devices

• Mouse
• Modems
• Digital Camera
• Sound, Video Cards
• Printer

Output Devices

• Printer
• Scanner
• Monitor
• Speakers
• Headset
• Video output devices

CPU (Central Processing Unit):

CPU or central processing unit relates to a specific or processor. The performance of the computer is determined by the CPU chip (processor speed) and the other computer circuitry. Currently, the Pentium chip (processor) is the most popular even though there are other chips available in the market today such as AMD, Motorola and others. The clocks speed becomes most important factor in determining the performance of a computer. The motherboard contains the hardware circuitry and connections that allow the different hardware components of the PC to interact and communicate with each other. Most computer software is being developed for the latest processors so it would be difficult to use the older systems.

Hard Disk Drives –

Disk drive is the mechanism to run the disks. All disks need a drive to get the information, read it and put it back to the disks. Hard disk is used to store the data permanently. Often the terms disk and drive used to describe the same thing but it should be clear that a disk is a storage device.

Modem –

A modem is used for the modulation and demodulation of the data that is transferred through the modem and the telephone lines. Modem translates the data from digital to analog from analog to digital. Because on the telephone lines data can travel in the form of the analog signals and in the computer data transmits in the form of digital signals. Modems are measured by the speed which is called baud rate. The typical baud rate is 56Kb.

Keyboard –

The keyboard is used to type something or input information to the computer. There are different designs and models of the keyboards in the market. The most common layout of the keyboard is QWERTY layout. A standard keyboard has 101 keys and embedded keys.

Video cards-

Video cards allow computer to display video, graphics and animation. Some video cards allow computers to display television. A video card with a digital video camera allows users to produce live video. A high speed broadband internet connection is required to watch the videos on net.

Network cards:

Network interface cards allow PCs to connect with each other and communicate. Every network computer is required to have a NIC card. NIC cards are required both in wired and wireless networking.

Cables:

There are two broad types of cables internal cables, which are embedded on the mother board circuit that performs the communication between the devices and CPU. The other types of the cables are the network cables like coaxial cable, CAT 5, Ethernet cables. These cables are used for the communication purposes between the devices or computers.

Memory –

Memory is the one of the important piece of the hardware. Sometimes memory chip memory is confused with the hard disk memory. Sometimes unallocated space of the hard disk is used as virtual memory also known as page file. This type of memory is a temporary memory and is used actual memory is less and requires some additional memory to perform a specific task.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

RAM is a memory that is being used by the computer to store the information temporarily. For example when some work is performed on some applications that work is temporarily stored in the RAM. More RAM in the computer more faster computer works. Today at least requirement of a modern PC is 64 RAM. RAM is in the form of a chip and different vendors have developed the RAM of different capacities.

Mouse –

Every modern computer requires a mouse for faster operations. Generally a mouse has two buttons left and right to perform different functions. One type of the mouse has a round ball under the bottom. Another type of the mouse use optical system to track the movement of the mouse.

Monitors –

The monitor is used to display the information on the screen. All the activities of a computer, functions and tasks are seen on the computer screen and this is called outputting information. Monitors come in many sizes and shapes, monochrome or full colors. Today most computers use LCD screens. It is light weight and consumes less power as compared to the monitors.

Printers –

The printer takes the information from the PC and transfers it to the paper of different sizes, which are placed in the printer device. There are three basic types of a printer such as dot matrix, inkjet and laser.

Scanners-

Scanners allow you to transfer pictures and photographs to your computer. A scanner is used to scan the images and pictures. You can then send the image to someone, modify it or take a print out of it. With optical character recognition software you can convert printed documents into the text that you can use in the word processor.
Digital camera- You can take the digital photographs with the digital cameras. The images are stored on the memory chip of the digital cameras and you can transfer them to your computer with the USB drive.

Case –

Case or casing covers the whole computer’s circuitry. There are two types of casings desktop and tower casing. There is room inside the casing to add or remove components. Cases come in many sizes like desktop, mini, midi and tower. There are some additional empty slots inside the cases such as IDE, USB, ASI, PCI and firewire slots.

Cards –

Cards are the hardware components that are added to the computer to increase their functionalities and capabilities.

Sound cards produce the sound like music and voice. The older cars were 8, 16 and then 32 bits.

Color cards allow computers to produce colors. Initially there were 2, 4 and then 16 bits. The main types of the graphic cards are EGA, VGA and SGA. The 32 cards are the standard to display almost billions of the colors on the monitor.

WHAT IS 'WEB SERVER' ?

2011-01-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

What is a Web Server?

Learn Web server software overview, how to configure, how it works, apache, tomcat. Web server is a computer including a software package that provides the specific services to the client computers. Web server delivers the web pages. Every web server has an IP address and a domain name.

The server fetches the index or main page of the website and sends it to your browser. Web-based servers are used for hosting the websites. One web server can hosts thousands for one sites. But in the hosting companies there are number of the web servers for load balancing and sharing the other services.

The web hosting companies offer different types of hostings services including Ecommerce hosting, CPanel hosting, PHP hosting and reseller hosting.

A computer can be act as a web server by installing and configuring the server software and connecting the computer to the Internet. Normally, web server computers have to be turn on (online) for almost all the day.

There are many software applications that are used as the web server like IIS, Apache web server, Tom Cat web server. A web server typically accepts thousands of the concurrent incoming requests for the specific domain, that it hosts.

In case if the server is down for any reason, the websites that are hosted on this server cannot be accessed. So the downtime is a biggest negative thing for the web hosting companies. Many hosting companies have to mention the uptime of their servers for the client’s satisfactions like 99.9 % uptime. You may have seen this percentage on many hosting companies’ websites.

The web servers serves the objects in the form of html documents, plain text, images, sounds, video and some other form of the data. Many of the data types may not be placed in the static form but they are shown on the run time by the software programs, that are installed on the web server and the CGI scripts are the most common form of these programs.

Web servers and the browsers such as internet explorer, Firefox, Netscape, Opera etc communicate with the web server by using the HTTP protocols (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). This is very effective method of requesting the data over the Internet. Web servers are in various shapes and sized and run under different operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Unix etc. They are also range differently in prices and working.

Apache Web Server

The Apache web server is the most popular and most commonly used web server today. Apache web server has many features and good functionality that appeals to the users and that’s major cause of its popularity. On the other end, Microsoft’s IIS still is struggling to complete fully with apache web server. IIS is a very good server on the NT platforms and Apache is compatible with the Linux/Unix platforms.

Another big reason for the worldwide acceptance of the Apache web server is its stability. Many big websites on the Internet has chosen Apache web server for their hosting needs.

Additionally, Apache web server is a relatively fast. If your website contents are static then Apache’s working is very efficient and fast and on the other end, if you are using scripts like CGI scripts or others, it usually slows down the speed of the Apache web server.
A Web server is simply a little piece of the software, it takes the file name sent in the GET command, retrieves that files and send it back to the browser.

Most servers implement some level of security on the serving process. For example login/password accessible page requires the proper login and password from the users to accept that page. Web servers have the database and login information of the entire subscriber and only a subscriber of that typical service will be able to see that page. Additionally, while doing secure transactions the web pages allows encrypted transactions between the browsers and the servers such as on the E-commerce websites and other websites where a transaction through a credit card is required.

Basic Overview How Web Server Works

A web server performs various tasks on the request from the clients. To understand the working of the web server, it is necessary to first understand that what is client and server and what is their relationship with each other. A client is a program that sends request to a server and server responds to the requests of the clients.

This generic definition covers many types of relationships between client and servers like database server & web server etc. Web server have to be connected to the internet because client computers need to access them for various needs like data, files, graphics, video and html documents access.

The client program such as browsers and typically designed for the purpose of communicating with the web servers. A browser itself has different levels of features and security. To start the communication between the client (browser) and the server, a set of rules or agreed upon way is required and that is called a protocol. To access the web pages from the server HTTP protocol is required and for the file sharing access FTP protocol is required. There are a large number of the web protocols.

A web server is configured and designed in such a way that it responds to the thousands of the concurrent incoming requests from the clients for different things like html documents, graphics, images or video etc.

LEARN WIRELESS COMPUTER NETWORKING BASICS

2011-01-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

Wireless Computer Networking

Wireless computer networking means that the communication between computers without the clustered wires. It is ideal for the situations where the cabling is not possible. There are different types of wireless network such as WLAN (which is based on the IEEE 802.11b standard), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, GSM, Bluetooth and Infrared etc. The signals are usually transmitted through radio and electromagnetic waves. The hardware devices that are used in a wireless network are routers, switches, access point, wireless LAN cards, adapters, antennas, bridges, PCMCIA cards, WLAN access, station adapters and wireless modems.
Wireless network offers the flexibility, mobility, scalability to work everywhere within the range of your network. WLANs can be configured in a variety of ways to meet the needs of specific applications.

How to Setup

You can setup a wireless network connection between two or more computers by following the below steps.

Requirements:

Wireless LAN card, wireless router, access point, antennas, cable or DSL modem (if you wish you connect your network to the internet), Ethernet cable (for connecting DSL model with the wireless router). Make sure that your devices should follow these technologies 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. The 802.11g is recommended because it is compatible with all everything.

Connect your wireless router with your DSL modem with the Ethernet cable.
Configure your wireless router. Open internet explorer and type the IP address of your router in the address bar. Different vendors have different specifications and different login/passwords details. After providing the login/password details, you will be provided with a router configuration page. Most of the settings are okay and you need to set up the following things.
Wireless network name (SSID)
Wireless encryption such as WEP or WPA
Administrative password.

Install wireless LAN card on each computer in your network. You can find the installation instructions in the manual, which is provided by the manufacture. Insert network adapter in the empty PCI slot. Windows XP automatically detects the card and will prompt you to insert the installation CD. Follow the on screen instructions and install the LAN card. After the installation is successful, Windows XP should show an icon at the status bar. Also a notification message appears that says it has found a wireless network.

Right click the wireless icon and click “View available wireless networks”.

In the Wireless network connection window, you will find your network with the same name as you chose before while setting up the wireless router.
If you don’t see your network then click the “Refresh network list” in the upper left corner.
After you find your network, click it and press “connect” in the lower right corner.
Next, you will be prompted to enter the encryption key. Type your encryption key in the network key and confirm key boxes. Make sure that you have to enter the exact encryption key.
Windows XP will show you the progress as you are connected with your network.

Benefits of Wireless Network

The major benefits of the wireless networking include mobility, scalability, flexibility of work, improved efficiency and the security features. The installation is very easy and we have covered it in the above steps.

Wi-Fi and Wi-MAX provides the flexible solutions to businesses around the world with easier access, roaming and mobility.

World’s renowned wireless product’s manufactures are
Cisco, 3COM, D-Link, Intel, AT & T, Net Gear, View Sonic, Fujitsu, Linksys and HP.

LEARN COMPUTER NETWORKING BASICS

2011-01-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

Networking Tutorials

Find computer network tutorials, wireless communication guide, LAN/WAN guide, local area network tools, wan introduction, osi layers model and many other advance topics of data communication. This is very informative site for the IT people specially in the field of computer networking. You will also find data communication overview, tech guides , data communication related information, topologies, tech study guide, Router Labs, IT certifications, Ethernet guide, free IT resources, ip addressing tools, telecommunication guide and many other informative resources. Data communication is a process of sharing data and shared resources between two or more connected computers. The shared resources can include printer, Fax modem, Hard disk, CD/DVD Rom, Database and the data files.

A computer network can be divided into a small segments called Local Area Network (LAN), networking between computers in a building of a office, medium sized networks (MAN), communication between two offices in a city and wide area networks (WAN) networking between the computers, one is locally placed and the other can be thousands of miles away in another city or another country in the world.

WAN connectivity is achieved by a device known as “Router”. The internet is the world’s largest WAN, where millions of computers from all over the globe and connected with each other.

Networking is the practice of linking two or more computers or devices with each other. The connectivity can be wired or wireless. A computer network can be categorized in different ways, depends on the geographical area as mentioned above.

There are two main types of the computer networking client-server and peer to peer. In the client server computing, a computer plays a major role known as server, where the files, data in the form of web pages, docs or spread sheet files, video, database & resources are placed.

All the other computers in the client/server networks are called clients and they get the data from the server. In the peer to peer networks all the computers play the same role and no computer act as a centralized server. In the major businesses around the world client-server networks model is in major use.

A network topology defines the structure, design or layout of a network. There are different topologies like bus, ring, star, mesh, hybrid etc. The star topology is most commonly used topology. In the star topology, all the computers in the network are connected with a centralized device such as hub or switch. Thus forms a star like structure. If the hubs/switch fails to work for any reason then all the connectivity and communication between the computers will be halted.

A common communication language is used by the computers and the communication devices is known as protocols. The most commonly used and popular protocol on the internet and in the home and other networks is called TCP/IP. TCP/IP is not a single protocol but it is a suite of several protocols.A computer network can be a wired or wireless and TCP/IP protocol can work both in types of a network.Data flow or communication can be divided into seven logical layers called OSI layers model that was developed by Intel and Xerox Corporation and was standardized by ISO.

1. Application layer
2. Presentation layer
3. Session layer
4. Transport layer
5. Network layer
6. Data Link layer
a. Media access control sub-layer
b. Logical link control sub-layer
7. Physical layer

A network can be divided into different scales and ranges and it depends on the requirement of the organization and the geographical location. Computer Network can be divided into Local Area Network, Personal Area Network, Campus Area Network, Wireless Local Area Network, Metropolitan Area Network and Wide Area Network.

There are several communication connection methods like HomePNA, Power line communication, Ethernet and Wifi connection method.
A network can also be categorized into several different types based on the services it provides like Server farms, Storage area networks, Value control networks, Value-Added networks, SOHO networks, Wireless and Jungle networks.

kathputli.avi

2010-12-04T07:42:00.000-08:00

QUICKLY HIDE ALL OPEN TABS IN "GOOGLE CHROME"

2010-11-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

IF you Don't want others seeing which web sites you are browsing in Google Chrome? Press the panic button!

Tired of others snooping around and looking to see what you are doing on your computer? Don't want others to know you are taking a quick break to check Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, or other web sites via Google Chrome?

The PanicButton extension offers a one-click option to quickly hide your open tabs. Just press the exclamation point in the red circle that is added to the right of Google Chrome's address bar and all open tabs become hidden. By default, the circle is replaced with a green circle and the number of closed tabs, though this can be changed.

SHORTCUT KEYS FOR "MOZILLA FIREFOX"

2010-11-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Mozilla Firefox short keys

* CTRL+A Selects the all items on active page
* CTRL+B Display the "Organize Bookmarks" dialog box
* F5 Refresh the active web page
* F7 activate the cursor to move with keyboard
* ALT+Home Use to open the home page of Internet explorer
* ALT+Left Arrow Go to previous page of active page
* ALT+Right Arrow Go to next page of active page
* ALT+B Go to Mozilla Firefox Favorites Menu
* ALT+D Go to address bar of current Firefox page
* ALT+E Go to Mozilla Firefox Edit Menu
* ALT+F Go to Mozilla Firefox File Menu
* ALT+S Go to Mozilla Firefox History Menu
* ALT+T Go to Mozilla Firefox Tools Menu
* ALT+V Go to Mozilla Firefox View Menu
* CTRL+SHIFT+DEL Use to clear all Private Data history
* CTRL+SHIFT+D Use to Bookmarks all Firefox Tabs
* CTRL+Tab Move to next Tab in Mozilla Firefox
* CTRL+ - decrease the font size
* CTRL++ increase the font size
* CTRL+R Use to reload the active web page
* CTRL+T Display a new Tab
* CTRL+U View the source code
* CTRL+W Closes the Mozilla Firefox window
* CTRL+I Display the Bookmarks pane
* CTRL+H Display the History sidebar
* CTRL+N Use to open new Mozilla Firefox page
* CTRL+P Use to print the active web page

FOLDER OPTIONS NOT SHOWING

2010-11-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

How to get folder option back

Its a silly virus which modify your registry files and remove the folder option from tools menu. Today at free computer tips I will teach you how you can get Folder Options back.

Open Start menu and from there select Run type gpedit.msc and hit enter now in the Group Policy window, from the left pane, select user configuration-> Administrative Templates-> windows components-> Windows Explorer by high lighting it with the mouse cursor and now in the right side you will see an option which says "Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu right click on this option and select properties now in the properties under Setting tab, select Disabled and hit OK

Alternate Method

Open run and type gpedit.msc user configuration >> administrative templates >> system disable "prevent access to registry editing tools".

HOW TO INCREASE COMPUTER PERFORMANCE

2010-11-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

If you have 512MB or 1GB memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.
It will disable the memory used by paging execution and eventually your memory will rise.

click at start button then select RUN and type Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive

HOW TO BLOCK SITES IN COMPUTER

2010-11-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

you can block any site in your computer without using any software. This is very useful technique and with this technique you can block almost all type of adult site and you can save your children and other family members from viewing adult material.

How To Block Websites Without Software

* click on start , go to run and type C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
* Here search and Find the file named "HOSTS"
* double click on it and OPEN with the notepad
* You will see in the end of the notepad something like this "127.0.0.1 localhost"
* Now write below the "127.0.0.1 localhost" 127.0.0.2 www.sitenameyouwantblocked.com ,

SHORTCUT FUNCTION KEYS IN EXCEL

2010-11-01T21:48:00.001-07:00

Here is a list of shortcut keys in Microsoft Excel.

1. F1: Opens a help task pane
2. F1 + Ctrl: Opens or closes the help window
3. F2: To edit the text in the active cell
4. F2 + Shift: To write a comment in the active cell
5. F2 + Alt: Opens the save as dialog box
6. F3 + Shift: opens the insert dialog box
7. F3 + Ctrl: Opens the define name dialog box
8. F3 + Shift + Ctrl: Opens the create name dialog box
9. F4: To redo the last command
10. F4 + Ctrl: To close the workbook window
11. F4 + Alt: To close the excel program
12. F5: Opens the Goto dialog box
13. F5 + Ctrl: brings back to the first level of workbook
14. F6: To shift between help taskbar and the excel window
15. F6 + Shift: To goto the previous square in the open worksheet
16. F6 + Ctrl: If more than one workbook is open to switch between them
17. F7: To open spelling correction window
18. F7 + Ctrl: When workbook window is not maximised it will move the window
19. F8: To activate / deactivate extended mode
20. F9: Will calculate all the worksheets in all open workbooks
21. F9 + Shift: Will calculate the active worksheet
22. F9 + Ctrl: To Minimise the workbook window
23. F10: Will select the menu bar
24. F10 + Ctrl: To open minimised window
25. F11: Will create a chart using the current range
26. F11 + Shift: To select a new worksheet
27. F11 + Alt: To switch between visual basic editor and the worksheet
28. F11 + Alt + Shift: Opens microsoft script editor
29. F12: Opens save as dialog box
30. F12 + Shift: Saves the active workbook
31. F12 + Ctrl: To open the Open dialog box
32. F12 + Ctrl + Shift: Opens the print dialog box

How To Change Name Of Second Window In Dual Boot

2010-10-26T03:28:00.001-07:00

If you have installed 2 Windows in your system and want to change the name of Windows when system boots, here is the method.

First search for boot.ini file in C drive.

You can use this simple search engine to search fast and easily.

Open boot.ini file with Notepad and you can make changes by editing Microsoft Windows XP Professional to whatever you want.

How To Display Control Panel As Menu In Windows XP

2010-10-26T03:25:00.001-07:00

Here is a simple method to display Control Panel as Menu in Windows XP. It saves time as we can directly open file/folder from Control Panel without opening it.

Method:

Simply right click on Taskbar and select Properties, click on Start Menu at the top menu bar and put a check on Start Menu and then click on Customize.

Now select Advance in the top menu bar and under Control Panel put a check on Display As A Menu and click on OK. Now press Apply and then OK...