PCs Place

View , Edit Session / Saved Cookies in Firefox – Add N Edit Cookies

Prasanth Chandra — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:39:00 +0000

On one hand, cookies enable useful features on websites, and on the other, they can pose threat to security. It is difficult to turn cookies off because some sites do not work properly if you disallow cookies. With the firefox add-on called Add N Edit cookies, you can find out and edit information which is saved inside cookies. The installation procedure is same as installing any other add-on.

Start the tool with the command Tools > Cookie > Editor. Here, when you select a cookie from the list, the tool displays its content and its properties. After you click on ‘Edit’, all values of the cookie can be modified in the following dialog box. This tool is useful when you want to extend the duration of a useful cookie, and, you can also determine the period up to which an automatic registration on a website like box.net is valid.

The option of specifying the period depends on the configuration of Firefox you are using. Go to Tools > Options, and in the ‘Privacy’ tab activate ‘Accept third-party cookies’. Also, set the option ‘Keep until’, as ‘they expire’. As long as‘Firefox will create a chronicle’ is visible, this setting will be valid.

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Hide / Unhide, Toggle and Print Tasks of To Do Lists in Word

Prasanth Chandra — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:18:02 +0000

Let’s say you have a lengthy to-do list where some tasks are complete and some pending. Now, you might not want to see the tasks that have been completed, but you don’t want to delete them either. Here are some tips to simplify using tasks in MS Word. You can hide and unhide tasks of todo lists easily. To hide some text select the completed tasks from the list, and from the menu select Format > Font. Here, check the option ‘Hidden’ under the ‘Effects’ tab. Now the text you selected is marked hidden. Enabling this option will hide text that has a dotted line underneath it. This process is reversible

The toggle switch can be enabled as follows, From the main menu select Tools > Options, In the ‘View’ tab, check the option ‘Hidden Text’ under ‘Formatting marks’. Now you do this to hide and unhide the hidden text. When the marked ‘hidden’ text is unhidden, it shows a dotted line underneath it.

When hidden the text does not get printed, so you can take a print out when the completed tasks are in the hiding. Then for a complete list, simply unhide them by toggling the view, Tools > Options > View > Hidden Text. ( Shortcut: Alt+T > O > I > Enter).

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How to Reactivate the Inoperative Help and Support Center in Windows

Prasanth Chandra — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:42:00 +0000

The Windows help and support center which could be called up via the ‘Help and support’ option in the Start menu had always proved to be very convenient. And then it suddenly stopped functioning without any apparent reason. You can solve this problem and the function can mostly be resurrected via the command line. The procedure involves simple code and it can be done as follows..

Start it with ‘Start > Run’, and followed by the ‘cmd’ call. Type the following command and confirm it with [Enter].

net stop helpsvc
cd /d %windir%\pchealth\helpctr
rd packagestore /s /q
cd binaries
start /w helpsvc /svchost
netsvcs /regserver /install

Open the ‘Task manager’ with the [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] key combination and then select the ‘Processes’ tab, then right click on each of the following entries and click on the ‘End process’ key:

helpsvc.exe
helphost.exe
helpctr.exe

Then switch to prompt again and enter Net start helpsvc and press [Enter]. This should make the help and the support center function.

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How to Stream Music from Windows 7 – Share Media on Wireless Network

Prasanth Chandra — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0000

You can listen to your favorite music without having to carry your laptop everywhere by sharing your music library on a wireless network. Here is a tutorial to show how to stream music from one laptop to another. Using this method digital media such as videos and pictures can also be accessed from anywhere easily. By the following method you can listen music or view your photos or movies stored in your computer from different places in the network.

First we’ll connect the server laptop to a wireless home network. This laptop has Windows 7 with Media player 12 and it has all the music, videos and media that you want to share. Right-click on the Internet notification area and select ‘Open network and sharing center’. Now, click on ‘Connect to a network’ and from the list of networks, choose the preferred one and connect. Enter the secure network key when prompted.

Let’s create a ‘HomeGroup’. From ‘Network and Sharing Center’, click ‘HomeGroup’ and then ‘What is a network location?’. You’ll see a window with three options. Select the first one that says ‘Home Network’. In the following window, select what you want to share and click ‘Next’. Follow the onscreen instructions and Click ‘Finish’.

In ‘Network and Sharing Center’, click ‘Change Advanced Sharing Settings’ and make the changes. Then go to ‘Media Streaming Options’ and allow people you want access to your files. Open Windows Media Player, go to ‘Stream’ and click ‘Automatically allow devices to play my media’. The content you chose to share is now on this network.

To access this content on a client PC or laptop, first connect the machine to the same wireless network as the server laptop, using the previous procedure. Vista users can right click and directly select ‘Connect to network’. Assuming that both laptops are in the same network, open Windows Media Player and see of you can find the shared server laptop in the left pane.

To find shared media on the network and to share media from the client PC, in WMP, right-click on Library and click ‘Media Sharing’. Here, you can allow or deny access to other PCs and find the media you’re looking for. Click ‘Ok’ when you’re done. Now, the server PC will appear in WMP and other functionalities will remain same. You’re now ready to play the music which is stored on the server PC.

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Fences – Organize Desktop Icons into Groups – Find Applications Easily

Prasanth Chandra — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:48:00 +0000

Desktop shortcuts are invariably the fastest way of accessing files, programs and applications. Too many and you will literally be searching for a particular file. Thankfully with the application Fences installed you will be able to organize all your desktop items and hide your icons when they are not in use. This effective free desktop organizer which basically creates a virtual shaded area where you can drag and drop files and folders. In other words each Fence can be labelled with respect to the data it holds which makes it easy to find your applications or files based on the group.

For example if you have a whole link of games and office files on your desktop you can create a Fence specific for games as well as your office document. This basically eliminates the search factor involved when hunting for a particular file. A new Fence can be created by right clicking on an empty desktop space and dragging the mouse. Moreover, the tool allows you to hide the Fences and desktop icons by double clicking on the desktop and it consumes very less memory. It helps you to quickly hide/show your desktop icons with a double click and you can even customize the color and opacity of your fences.

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How to Integrate Folders as Menus into Quick Launch Bar of Windows

Prasanth Chandra — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:28:10 +0000

The extendable Quick-Launch bar offers direct access to important programs. However, more the number of applications is added to it, the more confusing it gets. The time advantage is lost in the effort spent on searching for the right program. Set aside My Computer as an independent task bar on the desktop. By integrating the folders as menus into the quick launch bar in the task bar of windows operating systems like XP, Vista or Windows 7, you can quickly access it. Here is a way to do it.

Right click the ‘Start’ button, select ‘Properties’ and activate the option ‘Start Menu’. This is important since the tip doesn’t work if you use the ‘Classic Start Menu’. Now right click on the ‘Taskbar’ and deactivate the option ‘Lock the taskbar’. Instead of individual programs, you can add folders in the Quick Launch bar. Related programs can thus be grouped, which improves the overview considerably. However, there is one drawback: the operating system opens the Windows Explorer with the folder contents if you click such an entry. It would have been much better if you could make a selection in the form of a menu. There is a trick though that can help you.

ACTIVATING A FUNCTION:

Open ‘Start > Run’, enter ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK’. You can directly type the command in the text field in the start menu in Vista and Windows 7 and press Enter.
Navigate to the ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced’ key in the Editor.
Then right-click in the right window area, open ‘New > DWORD value’, type the name ‘CascadeFolderBands’ and then confirm with enter.
Double-click the new entry and change its ‘value’ to ‘1’ and re-confirm with ‘OK’. Then close the registry and restart the computer.

INTEGRATING FOLDERS:

Now add the desired directories in the Quick Launch bar. For that,

Right-click a free area on taskbar and deactivate the ‘Lock Taskbar’ option.
After right clicking the double arrow of the Quick Launch bar, select the ‘Open folder’ context command.
Create the desired sub-folder(s) in the directory of the bar, which is now accessible, and sort the desired program links as per your liking.

For instance, it is practical to compile all the browsers in one folder. If you integrate several folders at the first level, you have to change their icons so as to differentiate them better. You can also create several directory levels. However, you can also use the Start menu in that case.

USING NEW FUNCTIONS:

Click on the double arrow icon in the Quick-Launch bar. You can see the integrated folders below, in the menu that pops up. If you point at one, it opens and shows the links it includes. Just clicking it once is enough to start the corresponding program. To open the folders in the Explorer, right-click on them and select ‘Open’.

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Maintain, Optimize, Repair & Secure your Operating System – Rizone’s Power Tools

Prasanth Chandra — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:42:00 +0000

Rizone’s Power tools is just a collection of simple shortcuts to Windows’s very own system utilities. It is a suite which helps you administrate, maintain, optimize, repair and secure your operating system and hardware using a single application. The application comprises of complete useful utilities one would use every day on a computer at office or home. The main screen displays the present system status, memory and disk spaces. The memory and storage drives can be optimized with a single-click.

Windows utilities that can be triggered from this application are Command Prompt, Task Manager, Calculator, Run, Control Panel, Admin tools and Registry Editor. So you have everything in one place eliminating the need to remember how to access them. Also included are third party applications for defragmentation, antivirus and dead pixel repairing tool for LCD monitors.

As you scroll through the menus you will discover more utilities under its hood. These include basic options such as System Restore, Registry backup, and a lot more. What we found interesting was a list of beep codes during post. It explains in detail what they mean and how to resolve the problem. Rizone’s Power Tools is a simple, yet powerful tool for optimizing the operating system.

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Set Reminder for Blank / Empty Subject Field for Mails in Outlook

Prasanth Chandra — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:22:41 +0000

Sometimes when we send mails, we may forget to mention the subject in the mail. The blank subject line must be avoided as much as possible to follow email etiquette. Especially when you write official mails, Subject should be mentioned as it is one of the important parts of a mail. Using a small tip, you can set a reminder or notification which pops up whenever you leave the subject line empty. The procedure is as follows..

Open your Microsoft Outlook
Press Alt+F11. This opens the Visual Basic Editor and open Project-Project 1 (left side). If this doesn’t open Project-Project 1 then press then Press Ctrl+R.
On the Left Pane, one can see “Microsoft Outlook Objects” or “Project1″, expand this. Now one can see the “ThisOutLookSession”.
Double click on “ThisOutLookSession”. It will open up a Code Pane on the right hand side.
Copy and Paste the following code in the right pane (Code Pane) and save it

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Dim strSubject As String
strSubject = Item.Subject
If Len(Trim(strSubject)) = 0 Then
Prompt$ = “Subject is Empty. Are you sure you want to send the Mail?”
If MsgBox(Prompt$, vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, “Check for Subject”) = vbNo Then
Cancel = True
End If
End If
End Sub

Now whenever you try to send a mail without subject, a pop-up is raised to remind you of the blank subject. This is a very useful precautionary measure to avoid sending mails without the subject line.

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How to Set Up & Share an Internet Connection in Windows

Prasanth Chandra — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:30:00 +0000

The great thing about Internet Connection Sharing on Windows is that you can use networked computers to share a single connection to the Internet. In short, if you already have a group of connected computers i.e., Local Area Network, for example you could take a single Internet connection from an ISP and be able to access the Internet from all the computers in the network. Here is a tutorial to show you How to set up and Share your Internet Connection on Windows system.

Checkout our previous articles about Internet Connections..

Best way to Increase Internet Speed

How To Automate Your Internet Connection in Windows

How To Connect To The Internet Using Your Broadband Connection On Linux Computer

If you want to set up a connection to the Internet or any other network, for that matter Microsoft has provided the user-friendly New Connection Wizard. To use this, open Network Connections:

Start > Control Panel > Network Connections.
1. Under Network Tasks, click Create a new connection, then click Next.
2. To choose the type connection you want, just click “Connect to the Internet” and click Next.
3. If you already have an account with an ISP, click Set up my connection manually and then click Next.

Set up the connection manually

If you are connecting to your ISP using a standard 28.8 Kbps, 56 Kbps, or ISDN modem, click Connect using a dial-up modem, click Next, and follow the instructions in the Wizard.
If your DSL or cable modem ISP connection requires a user- name and password, click Connect using a broadband connection that requires a user name and password, click Next, then follow the instructions in the Wizard.
If your DSL or cable modem ISP connection is always on and does not require you to type a username and password, click Connect using a broadband connection that is always on, click Next, and then click Finish.

How to Share your Internet Connection

On The Host Computer

Open the Network Connections from the Control Panel. Right- click the connection that you use to connect to the Internet. For example, if you connect to the Internet using a modem, right-click the connection that you want under dial-up and then go to Properties > Advanced > Settings. Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection by turning off the firewall.

If you’re sharing a dialup connection, select Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet if you want to permit your computer to automatically connect to the Internet. When Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, your LAN adapter will be set to use IP address 192.168.0.1. Your computer may lose connectivity with other computers on your network.

If these other computers have static IP addresses, it is a good idea to set them to obtain their IP addresses automatically. The connection to the Internet is shared to other computers on the LAN. The network adapter that is connected to the LAN is configured with a static IP address of 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

On The Client Computer

To connect to the Internet using the shared connection, you must confirm the LAN adapter IP configuration, and then configure the client computer. Follow these steps:

Log on to the client computer as Administrator or as Owner.
Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections.
Right-click on Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.
Under the General tab, double-click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the This connection uses the following items list.
In the Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) Properties dialog box, click Obtain an IP address automatically (if it is not already selected), then click OK.

An example of the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway is given below:

IP Address: 192.168.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 192.168.0.1

To configure the client computer to use the shared Internet connection, follow these steps:

Left click through Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet Connections > Internet Options.
In the Internet Properties dialog box, go to the Connections tab and then the Setup button. Use the good old New Connection Wizard to set up your connection.
When you now start Microsoft Internet Explorer, the client computer will try to connect to the Internet by using the host computer’s shared Internet connection.

As is evident from the steps above, the Operating System installed on your computer has made it as easy as possible to perform the initial actions that will allow you to establish the connection you need to link your computer to an ISP. The options in every window are few, and the Next and Finish buttons make this link-up easy enough for kids to do. Once done, you have entered the world of the Internet.

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Arch Linux – Minimal, Lightweight, Flexible & Easy to Use Linux Distribution

Prasanth Chandra — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:38:00 +0000

Arch Linux is a lightweight, flexible and simple Linux Distribution which is targeted at competent GNU/Linux users. Its Development focuses on a balance of minimalism, elegance, code correctness and modernity. It provides a minimal environment upon installation, (no GUI), already compiled and optimized for i686/x86-64 architectures. We already discussed about a lot of Linux Distros and also How to create your own Linux Distribution.

Arch’s design philosophy and implementation make it easy to extend and mold into whatever kind of system you’re building, from a minimalist console machine to the most grandiose and feature rich desktop environments available. Rather than tearing out unneeded and unwanted packages, Arch offers the power user the ability to build up from a minimal foundation without any defaults chosen for them. It is the user who decides what Arch Linux will be.

Arch is backed by an easy-to-use binary package system – Pacman – that allows you to upgrade your entire system with one command. Pacman is coded in C and designed from the ground up to be lightweight, simple and very fast. Arch also uses a ports-like package build system (Arch Build System) to make it easy to build and install packages from source, which can also be synchronized with one command. You can even rebuild your entire system with one command. Everything is done quite simply and transparently. The rolling release model allows one-time installation and continuous seamless upgrades, without ever having to reinstall or perform elaborate system upgrades from one version to the next.

Arch Linux strives to maintain the latest stable version of its software, based on a rolling-release system. We currently support a streamlined core package set for the minimal i686 and x86-64 base systems, thousands of additional, high-quality binary packages among both developer and user maintained repositories, and many thousands of PKGBUILD scripts, for building and packaging from source.

Arch provides non-patched, vanilla software; packages are offered from pure upstream sources, how the author originally intended it be distributed. Patching only occurs in extremely rare cases, to prevent severe breakage in the instance of version mismatches that may occur within a rolling release model. Arch incorporates many of the newer features available to GNU/Linux users, including modern file systems (Ext2/3, Reiser, XFS, JFS), LVM2/EVMS, software RAID, udev support and initcpio, as well as the latest available kernels.

The Arch Way is a philosophy aimed at keeping it simple. The Arch Linux base system is quite simply the minimal, yet functional GNU/Linux environment; the Linux kernel, GNU tool chain, and a handful of optional, extra command line utilities like links and Vi. This clean and simple starting point provides a rock solid base for expanding the system into whatever the user requires.

Arch’s simple init system is heavily inspired by the *BSD way of incorporating calls from a single file, (etc/rc.conf), rather than a convoluted directory structure containing symlinks for each run level. System configuration is achieved through editing simple text files.

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