Foxit Reader,Firefox,OpenOffice

Foxit Reader for U3

Foxit Reader 3.0 for U3 is specifically built for the U3 drives,

Foxit Reader3.0 for U3 small package for reading pdf files. The U3 version of this program lets you to read pdf files without having the trouble to install any pdf reader. You can also download free critical add-ons, such as JPEG2000/JBIG decoders, as well as the Eastern Asian language package. Click here to learn more about critical add-ons.

Mozilla Firefox for U3

Now enjoy the award-winning browser on U3 drives. The U3 version adds the advantage of browsing your sites with saved passwords safely on any computer. After plugging out the U3 drive the computer will have no clue of any opened site or saved passwords.

You can install addons safely on the version. The addons will remain inside your U3 drives

https://addons.mozilla.org/

OpenOffice for U3

OpenOffice.org for U3 is the full-featured OpenOffice.org office suite packaged for U3 by U3.com

OpenOffice.org is a full-featured office suite that’s compatible with Microsoft Office, Word Perfect, Lotus and other office applications. It’s easy-to-use and feature-rich, performing nearly all of the functions you’d expect in an office suite, but at no cost.
The U3 package includes

OpenOffice.org Writer(Word processor)

OpenOffice.org Calc(The Spreadsheet)

OpenOffice.org Impress(For Presentation)

OpenOffice.org Draw(Drawing Tool)

OpenOffice.org Base(The Database program)

System Requirements
- U3 smart drive
- Microsoft Windows 2000 / Windows XP
- 230 MB free on the U3 smart drive
- 128 MB RAM (256 MB or more recommended)

- 800×600 or greater resolution with 256 or more colors

MK Drive Access Control is a small utility that will lock your drives from unwanted access so that no one other than you will be able to access your important files.

Here are few of the features that MK Drive Access Control offers:

• Block USB drives to prevent other users copy your private files
• Lock CD/DVD drives doors to prevent write CD / DVD from your files
• Lock and Unlock all kind of drives from access and show in Windows Explorer, include Windows Drive
• Password Protecting Program Changes

While installing the utility, it says that it’s fully compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 but I’m unable to run it successfully on my Windows 7 Enterprise. If anyone of the readers can test it on Windows 7, it would be great to share here.

Download MK Drive Access Control

1. Right Click Computer –> Properties
   
2. On the left hand menu pane, select “Remote Settings”
   
3. Under Remote Desktop,
4. Select the following option if you have older versions of RDP installed on your system:
   Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)
5. Select the following option if you have latest version of RDP (Version 6+) installed on your system:
   Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure)
   
   
6. If you are using Windows firewall, Windows will automatically configure the firewall to allow Remote Desktop Connections but if you are using a third party firewall, you should allow RDP traffic to be passed from the firewall.

A group of British software developers have announced that they are to launch an online service that lets web designers create rich, dynamic websites live online – without having to code.

BaseKit is a next generation website builder which automatically converts user-uploaded Photoshop designs into standards-compliant HTML and CSS – in seconds. For those who do not want to use their own designs there is a selection of pre-built site packs – each customisable from not just the colours and text but also the functionality.

BaseKit is currently in public beta, and plans to launch in March.  Aimed at website designers and developers, BaseKit is purely web-based – ‘software as a service’. Having developed a working prototype, the team entered Seedcamp 2008, the premier tech start-up competition in Europe, and were chosen as one of 7 winners out of 400 European web technology companies.

BaseKit has a fully-featured content management system (CMS) with hosting included. This gives users access to powerful features from contact forms, maps and video to widgets and social networking. Adding functionality is as easy as point, click, drag and drop.

“Websites are online, so building them should be as well,” said Gordon Plant, User Experience Officer at BaseKit. “I’ve always been confused about why web design software is stuck, entrenched in our desktops and laptops – building a website offline only to upload it bit by bit. Often trying to make even the smallest of changes is an unnecessary stress.”

The team behind BaseKit are web professionals themselves so every aspect of the service has considered the issues that often dog development. BaseKit is cross browser compatible, including IE 7+ for the BaseKit editor and IE6 for published websites. The HTML and CSS BaseKit produces is standards-compliant and validates to W3C guidelines.

“BaseKit is a big step ahead in web design,” said Gordon. “The way BaseKit works will mean that designers can focus on creating engaging designs, while our team of developers take care of the hosting and functionality.”

It has never been easier to create websites without having to code.  BaseKit is also underpinned by an intuitive content management system, letting users keep their websites up to date without special training.

“Of course, for traditional web designers, we also have a detailed code editing dashboard built in too.”

To try out BaseKit before it is launched, register at http://www.basekit.com

Microsoft has already dispatched an update for the vulnerable versions of IE. It is advised that you update your Internet Explorer with the latest patches. Internet Explorer 8 is not affected by this vulnerability. Users using older versions of Internet Explorer should update their systems.

For those who are interested in having a close look at how this vulnerability works can watch the following video:

Internet Explorer 0-day Attack from Panda Security on Vimeo.

The users who are not able to update their Internet Explorer for various reasons (such as domain users with restrictions) should download and install the following fix provided by Microsoft which does not require any installation and takes care of the vulnerability.

Fix for IE Vulnerability (KB981374)

Internet Explorer 9 is speedy as it takes full advantage of your hardware with background compiled Javascript. Internet Explorer 9 supports the latest HTML5 web standards. Another advancement in Internet Explorer 9 is the graphics quality. IE 9 supports GPU powered HTML5 graphics which dramatically improves the graphics quality and visual experience.

Let’s look at the benchmarks of Internet Explorer 9. The first one is WebKit SunSpider JavaScript benchmark results. The lower the better. Just see the improvement from IE 8. It’s amazing.

Acid test is a popular test to measure the browser’s web standards compliance. Unfortunately IE 9 Preview seems to fail this test.

The CSS3 .info Selectors Test measures a browser’s support for CSS3 Selectors. IE 9  passes these selector tests.

Internet Explorer 9 requires atleast Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7. So it can not be run on Windows XP. Internet Explorer 9 pre-requisites include that Internet Explorer 8 and DirectX2D must be installed on the system where IE 9 has to be installed.

To have a more detailed preview what Internet Explorer 9 can do for you, just go to this Microsoft Test Drive site and install a preview of IE 9.

Foola is a portable application that can be run directly from iPod itself. It supports all commonly used iPod features like artwork, podcasts and smart playlists. It can also convert audio or video to a compatible format so that you may be able to copy almost any file to it. It also supports Youtube and Myspace videos. I’m not sure about Facebook videos.

The photos can also be synchronized with the iPod by using Foola rather than iTunes.

Get Foola Now (Download)

New Technology = Expensive

Solid State drives with 64 GB capacity cost almost $180+

HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to represent either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. While SSDs use non-volatile flash memory

Reliability of the drives

HDD drives use mechanical parts are there lifespan is limited. While SSD using flash memory can sustain almost 100,000 write cycles per write cell.

Read/Write Speeds

The typical access time for a Flash based SSD is about 35 – 100 micro-seconds

Whereas that of a rotating disk is around 5,000 – 10,000 micro-seconds. That makes a Flash-based SSD approximately 100 times faster than a rotating disk.

HDD data transfer rate at the rate of 80 megabytes per second typically.

SSD data transfer rate at the rate of 170 megabytes per second typically.

Although SSD are slow when to compared to small file writes, they have a constant read and write rate.

At Cebit 2009, OCZ demonstrated a 1 TB flash SSD using a PCI Express x8 interface. It achieves a maximum write speed of 654MB/s and maximum read speed of 712MB/s

Audible noise

HDD have audible clicks and crunching sounds. While SDD drives are often quieter because they have no mechanical parts

Size
Flash-based SSDs are manufactured in standard 2.5″ and 3.5″ form factors. 2.5″ SSDs are normally used in laptops or notebooks while the 3.5″ form factors are used in desktops

Vibration

SSDs are naturally more rugged than HDDs. SSD drive can sustain up to 1,500 Gs of shock before sustaining damage or a drop in performance. While HDD drives can withstand up to 350 Gs while operating and 800 Gs when turned off.

Reliability
SSD have the ability to deliver unnerving performance in extreme conditions making it to play a vital role in military operations,defense, aerospace or aviation applications. Military applications require, in most cases, an operating temperature range of -60°C to +95°C. Shock, vibration, and temperature ratings of HDDs cannot comply with military standards, only SSDs can.

Power Play
SSDs have low power consumption over HDDs

Heat Dissipation
Along with the lower power consumption, there is also much lesser heat dissipation for systems using Flash-based SSDs as their data storage solution. This is due to the absence of heat generated from the rotating/movable media. This certainly proves to be the one of the main advantages of Flash-based SSDs relative to that of a traditional HDD. With less heat dissipation, it serves as the ideal data storage solution for mobile systems such as PDAs, notebooks, etc.

Cost Considerations
The cost of SSD are typically $3 per gigabyte, while traditional hard drives cost about 20 to 30 cents per gigabyte

Conclusion

If you can go for an SSD because your pocket makes it easy. Then you should definitely chose for SSD otherwise wait at least 3 to 5 years when there prices drop.

The software is also available for U3 drives.

Installation Instruction

You need to create a container (password protected file)

Download the setup package from the following location. After download install it.

Run SafeHouse Explorer Quick Start window will open, Click Next 3 times.

On the Create your First Storage Vault box, Click Create Storage Vault.

A new box will appear click Next. The default location container location will be C:\SafeHouse\, you can change it. Click Next.

On the Size of your Private Storage Area box set Volume Size to the amount of data you want to protect. In the first attempt I recommend you to not select a resizable container. Click Next.

In the password field give the passwords, Next.

Click on Create Volume. This will take a little bit time. You will see the previous Quick Start windows cancel it.

Now you will see your safehouse volume open. Drag any file on it to add. But it’s size must not be large as compared to the container size. Click on this button to close the volume

You can create more volumes. To mount any volume click on Open Volume and select the file. After selecting file you will see password window. Enter password and you will again see the container.

Requires Microsoft Windows:

XP, Vista, Windows 7, 32 or 64 bits.

You can access a list of u3 software at www.u3.com, some of them are free and some can be bought.

To make a your apps to appear in the U3 platform, you need to have some software. This is because U3 program are bundled into u3p files. An advantage of bundling this program in u3p is that any virus can not infect the file.

PackageFactory for U3 converts applications to run on your new U3 USB Flash Drive free of cost. PackageFactory for U3 works best for simple programs and applications with few support files (although you can add as many supporting DLLs and other EXEs as you need).

The craze of fast driving is on the rise and I want to blame Need for Speed for that. Just kidding, but the fact is that teens could really want the speed of their actual car to match the speed of the car in the games and if you are a parent, this probably would add up to your worries.

Especially, now a days, parents would like to monitor their children in a lot of dimensions like checking what they are doing on internet etc but when it comes to the driving, how would they know if their child drove the car fast? Here ‘SafeDriver’ comes in who have rolled out a Wireless Vehicle Monitor which can be used to record the maximum speed, total number of miles covered and even the log for abrupt braking. I guess that’s enough information for someone to know how his car was dealt with.

It is easy to install and luckily it has a tamper-proof PIN, so just set it up before your kid goes out for the drive and sit back, gather the results after the car comes back home. This gadget can be bought for $69.99.

**********************************

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Adnan is a Technology enthusiast and loves to write about technology. He also writes at www.techskipper.com

**********************************

The good news is that now Autopatcher also supports Windows 7. Autopatcher is also good for people who have slow internet connections and have multiple systems. Then they only have to download the updates once and then install them offline through Autopatcher.

Autopatcher can be downloaded from the following location.

AutoPatcher Updater v1.3

File size – ~1.07 MB / MD5 Hash – 9856FB15CD160F0624576604D50CDA23

AutoPatcher User Guide Instructions PDF

File size – 679,607 Bytes

But If there is a problem in your windows system then you could be not use your U3 for any purpose.  Some problem that could arise.

If your plug your U3 and a you see a folder opens, or the folder opens when you double click the LaunchU3.exe in the U3 system (CD Drive).

When you double click the Launchpad.exe file you are warned with

You can not run the U3 Launchpad directly. Please click on LaunchU3.exe to open the U3 directly.

This happens if you have made a registry hack to prevent running of Autorun.inf file. Open Notepad and copy paste the following

REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]

save the file as mod.reg file . Double click the file and again merge the file to registry by clicking on yes.

Now restart your computer to take effect.

If you seem some more problems in the Launchpad then you could remove the launchpad.

Reinstall the launchpad from here

For more information about U3 drives visit

http://www.u3.com/

The program gives you the option to resize images.

You can upload images to Facebook, Flickr and Imageshack.

You can upload files to rapidshare.com or rapidshare.de servers. To get a predefined list of servers see the website

http://rightload.org/index.php/download.html

You can configure FTP account, so that you can upload files to FTP server.

To overcome this problem, “Close All Applications” comes to the rescue. Close All Applications is a handy little utility that keeps running in background and gets activated by a hotkey. Upon activation, it does one thing, closes all the open applications without you being involved further.

If you don’t want Close All Applications to run all the time in the system tray, another way to use this utility is to drop it in X:\Windows\System32 folder (X is your Windows system drive letter) and then access it by going to Start –> Run –> CloseAll.

This will initiate Close All Applications utility and it will close all the running apps.

Download Close All Applications utility.

Coming up to Docx format, many a times I have seen people who even don’t know about Office 2007 new format and when they receive files in these formats, they will be clueless about how to open those documents. One easy way is to download and install the Microsoft compatibility pack. Or we can install Microsoft Office 2007. Another quicker alternative is to convert docx to doc format online without any fee or cost.

To convert a docx document to doc format, just go to this website and select the file you want to convert. There are three easy steps to follow and you’ll get your document into your beloved doc format.

1- Outlook On Desktop – DeskTask

DeskTask is a very good Outlook add-on that displays your calendar and tasks on the desktop. It is useful in the sense that your tasks will always be visible on the desktop.

2- drop.io Outlook Plugin

This Outlook add-on is really very exciting. It enables you to attach and send attachments up to 100 MB to anywhere. The good thing about it is that no registration is required to use the drop.io service. Just install the add-on and start attaching large files.

3- Xobni

Xobni is so far my favorite add-on of all the Outlook add-ons. It does one great thing very well. It creates relevance to our emails that we can find it in gmail. When we click on an email from one contact, all the previous conversations with that contact are displayed in the Xobni window.

4- Forgotten Attachment Detector

The Forgotten Attachment Detector (FAD) checks your email for keywords indicating that you’re sending an attachment and will alert you if you don’t have anything attached in the email.

5- Easy2Add

Easy2Add is a useful little add-on which can make your task very easy if you use Outlook events and to-do tasks frequently.

6- OutSync

OutSync is a pretty useful add-on if you use Facebook because it will download the pictures of your friends from Facebook if they are also in your Outlook contact list. So next time you search for a contact, you’ll see their latest picture.

7- Outlook Personal Folders Backup

Last but not least, backup is always an important aspect in every matter. With Outlook Personal Folders Backup, you can automatically backup your .pst files which contain all you Outlook data.

If you know about any other useful and productive Outlook add-on, kindly let me know through comments.

Who Block me?
Who is in your mind?
Who Always Look into My Profile??
Who Always stalks Your Profile?
Who has checked your profile?
Who Always Appear Offline??
Who stalks your profile?
Who has seen my profile
Who is peeping your profile?
Baby nanny
Who Always Look into My Album??
Who loves you?
Who has Viewed Your profile?
Who had read my profile?
Who often check my album?
Whos viewing my profile
Who always Block me?
Who is reading your information?
Who love you?

This is an alert for everybody that one should very carefully allow application to the Facebook profile. If you want to check which applications are already allowed to post in your Facebook, go to your Facebook account –> Settings –>Applications

See all the applications that have been granted access to your Facebook account. Pay special attention to the “Granted Additional Permissions” group in the drop down.

Protect Me 2010 is a tiny utility which does this job very well. Protect Me 2010 enables you to store your important files and folders in a standalone, password protected container (exe file). It securely encrypts the contents of the container and makes it into one executable which can be taken anywhere at will. You can use take it in your USB drive or save it on a CD or a DVD. When you want to open your files, just double click the container file and extract the contents.

Protect Me 2010 can be downloaded from the following location:

Make sure that you have downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials from a trusted site. We have given direct links to Microsoft download site for the most trusted downloads. The real Microsoft Security Essentials can be downloaded from here:

While Security Essentials 2010 is a fake and rogue antivirus that is actually not an antivirus but a scam application which will be installed by trojans and will always start at Windows startup. It will show like it is scanning your computer and then at the end it will show that you have many viruses in your computer. And then it will force you to purchase the application to remove those threats. The first thing is that the original Security Essentials from Microsoft is FREE. So you should never go for the purchase option. Instead, you should remove this fake antivirus.

How to remove Security Essentials 2010?

Remove With MalwareBytes

MalwareBytes is a very powerful anti-malware which can remove almost all the rogue or fake security products including Security Essentials 2010. Download MalwareBytes from the following location and scan your computer for malwares.

Remove Manually

The following entries should be removed from the hijackthis log if present:

F2 – REG:system.ini: UserInit=C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon32.exe
O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [smss32.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\smss32.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [smss32.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\smss32.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [Security essentials 2010] C:\Program Files\Securityessentials2010\SE2010.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\RunOnce: [FlashPlayerUpdate] C:\WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil10c.exe
O10 – Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\helpers32.dll
O10 – Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\helpers32.dll
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.buy-security-essentials.com
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.download-soft-package.com
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.download-software-package.com
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.get-key-se10.com
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.is-software-download.com
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.buy-security-essentials.com (HKLM)
O15 – Trusted Zone: http://*.get-key-se10.com (HKLM)

The following files need to be deleted:

c:\s
c:\Program Files\Securityessentials2010\
c:\Program Files\Securityessentials2010\SE2010.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Security essentials 2010.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Security essentials 2010.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Security essentials 2010.lnk
c:\WINDOWS\system32\41.exe
c:\WINDOWS\system32\helpers32.dll
c:\WINDOWS\system32\smss32.exe
c:\WINDOWS\system32\warnings.html
c:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon32.exe

The following registry entries need to be removed:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\buy-security-essentials.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\download-soft-package.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\download-software-package.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\get-key-se10.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\is-software-download.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SE2010
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\buy-security-essentials.com
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\get-key-se10.com
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop “NoChangingWallpaper” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer “NoActiveDesktopChanges” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer “NoSetActiveDesktop” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableTaskMgr” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “Security essentials 2010″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “smss32.exe”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\ActiveDesktop “NoChangingWallpaper” = “1″
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer “NoActiveDesktopChanges” = “1″
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer “NoSetActiveDesktop” = “1″
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “smss32.exe”