Techno Life @ tothepc.com

Listen to text message as audio using Notepad

Sekhon — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:47:12 +0000

Do you want to listen to text on Windows PC without having to install any special software? You can perform text to speech conversion using good old Notepad. This method involves basic built-in API called SAPI (Speech Application Programming Interface). With few lines of code, you can write a basic program to code into API and enable computer to narrate the input text.

1. Open notepad & enter following code

Dim message, sapi
message=InputBox(“Gagandeep Sekhon”,”Talk it”)
Set sapi=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)
sapi.Speak message

2. Save Notepad file with .vbs extension

Save the notepad file with .vbs extension (like abc.vbs or xyz.vbs). Then double click to open newly created file with .vbs extension. You will see dialog box as see below.

3. Enter text that you want to listen

Enter any text in the box provided and click OK button. Computer will read out input text (make sure speakers are turned ON). Neat, isn’t it?

Alternatively, you can use either of free online tools for text to speech conversion or use free text to speech reader program for your Windows computer.

How to show Folder Size in Windows Explorer

Davinder — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:20:09 +0000

Pressing (Win + E) keys launches Windows Explorer for easy browsing of contents including drives, folders and files. While files have size listing under size column (in detailed view), there is no size display for folders while viewing in Windows Explorer. Free utility ‘Folder Size’ can add this functionality and allow Windows Explorer show size for folders (just like size listing for files).

As seen in above screenshot, size column show respective sizes of both folders and files viewed under Windows Explorer. This utility only works with Windows XP and Vista. Unfortunately, Windows 7 users have to wait for compatible version or look some other utility with similar functionality. Download Folder Size for display of folders size in Windows Explorer.

Facebook chat without logging into facebook website

Davinder — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:53:53 +0000

Are you tired of opening and logging into Facebook website just to chat with Facebook friends? Well, you can chat away with Facebook friends without using web browser or need to login into Facebook website using third party chat tools. You can launch these chat tools, login into Facebook account and start chatting (just like we chat on Yahoo Messenger or Google Talk).

1. Chit Chat for Facebook IM application

Chit Chat for Facebook is a free instant messenger for Facebook chat. Using this IM tool you can chat with Facebook contacts from the desktop without need to open web browser (and login into Facebook website).

After download & install, login using Facebook account details and you are all set for Facebook chat session. It has easy to use interface and allows instant message notifications.

2. Use Pidgin client for Facebook chat

You can also use Pidgin multi messenger client software to chat with Facebook contacts. To get started, download Pidgin client and then download Facebook chat plugin for Pidgin.

After installing pidgin client & Facebook plugin, you are all set for Facebook chat from the desktop. [Tip - Be IM Power user & save time]

How to disable IPv6 on Windows 7 & Vista PC

Davinder — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:52:10 +0000

Due to shortage of IPv4 addresses, IPv6 system was introduced with better security features. While it is enabled and present on Windows 7 & Vista computer, it is hardly used by any application or device as of now. So, you may disable IPv6 on the computer as this may result in better network performance and save CPU memory.

Temporary way to disable IPv6

Following procedure disables IPv6 feature for LAN and is temporary. It is enabled back, once you restart the computer.

1. Goto Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections.
2. Right click on ‘Local Area Connection’ & click ‘properties’ option.

3. Uncheck ‘Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
4. Click OK & close dialog box.

Permanent Registry method to disable IPv6

1. Click Start > Run
2. Type regedit & press the Enter key.
3. Registry editor will open. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > services >TCPIP6 > Parameters key

4. Right click Parameters 7 then goto New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
5. Double click ‘New Value’ & Enter 0 in ‘value data’ text box.

6. Click OK, restart PC. IPv6 will be permanently disabled on PC. You can re-enable IPV6 on the PC, just delete the newly created value as created by performing above steps.

Create Robots.txt file: syntax, example, generator tools

Davinder — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:12:04 +0000

Robots.txt is a small text file with set of instructions for search engine spiders and bots. Contents of robots.txt file can help website owners, webmasters block or grant access to different parts of website to bots for the purpose of indexing on search results. Though not mandatory, it is advisable to have robots.txt file in the root (like tothepc.com/robots.txt). A search engine bot will look for robots.txt file to ascertain which parts of website are open for indexing in search results.

1. Basics of robots.txt file generation

You can use direct commands in robots.txt file to block or allow access to different parts of your website or blog.

- Block spiders from all parts of website
User-agent: *
Disallow: /

- Allow spiders to access all parts of website
User-agent: *
Disallow:

- Block spiders from specific part of website (say files folder)
User-Agent: *
Disallow: /files/

- Block spiders from accessing specific file (say abc.html)
User-Agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /files/abc.html

Besides above, there are number of other commands for specific blocking or access functionality for different parts of website.

2. Confused… what should be final robots.txt file

Learning about different commands can be overwhelming for an average user. If you do not want to block search engine spiders (which is recommended), then use following as your robots.txt file.

sitemap: http://www.websitename.com/sitemap.xml
User-agent: *
Disallow:

Make sure you change the sitemap URL for your blog. Blogger blogs have default sitemap, while wordpress and other users can use tools / plugins to generate sitemap for the blog.

After changing sitemap url, paste these 3 lines in a notepad file (and save as robots.txt). Then upload this file to your root folder, so that can access it like www.websitename.com/robots.txt

3. Tools to Generate robots.txt file

There are number of third party free tools to generate robot.txt files. Users with basic understanding of commands for allow or block can use these tools for quick creation of customized robots.txt file.

Online Robots.txt Generator at Mcanerin website provide neat user interface to generate robots.txt file. To get started, enter your sitemap url and then select different allow bots as per requirement and click ‘create robots.txt’ button to create final robots.txt file.

ROBOTStxt editor is a portable download-able tool to generate robots.txt file. Select parameters from drop down menu and click save button to generate customized robots.txt file.

Final thoughts, robots.txt file is not mandatory requirement for every blog or website. However, it is recommended to have robots.txt file to provide direction to search engine bots and spiders on what to index and what not to index!

Batman & Robin Comic image generator

Davinder — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:40:41 +0000

Are you a fan of Batman & Robin superheros? Spill your fan following using cool online comic image generator for “Batman & Robin”. It allows you to generate Batman & Robin image with customized text quotes or speech bubbles. In the pic, Batman is slapping Robin real hard and you get to customize the one liners for this shot.

Generate Batman & Robin speech bubble image

1. Open Batman & Robin Comic Generator
2. Type lines for Batman & Robin as seen in screenshot below.

3. Click ‘create comic’ button to see you customize comic image.

Above should be your final image with customized text speech bubbles!

Live Cricket scores in Chrome [ESPN CricInfo plugin]

Davinder — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:07:16 +0000

Every cricket fan wants to stay updated with latest cricket scores and news. If you happen to use Google Chrome as default web browser, then you can stay in touch with latest in cricket using ESPN CricInfo Chrome extension. This free plugin display latest cricket news, features and live scores from cricinfo.com website.

Live Circket updates with ESPN CricInfo extension

1. Open Google Chrome [or download from google.com/chrome]
2. Open ESPN CricInfo Chrome extensionwebpage.
3. Click Install button for installing this Chrome extension.

4. After install, click C icon of ESPN CricInfo to see latest Cricket updates with Chrome. You can click through to see more details for specific stories on CircInfo website. You can also access latest Cricket updates on good old Google Search.

Kill Windows process manually with taskkill command

Sekhon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:45:29 +0000

Sometimes Task manager and registry editor is disabled as a result of Virus effect. Stopping or killing a Windows process during this requires workaround with manual method [alternatively, use free utility to enabled disabled Window features]. You can easily kill any Windows process manually using taskkill command. Here are different ways to use this command.

1. kill a single process by name

Recall the name of the erroneous process, for example firefox.exe, now use the following command in a command prompt in Windows XP (goto Start > Run, type cmd & press OK to see command prompt window. One Windows 7, you can simply run this command in Run dialog box (as in screenshot below).

taskkill /IM firefox.exe

This will cause the program to terminate gracefully, asking for confirmation if there are unsaved changes. To forcefully kill the same process, add the /F option to the command line. Be careful with the /F option as it will terminate all matching processes without confirmation.

2. kill a single instance of a process

To kill a currently running instance of a process specify its process id (PID). For example, if the desired process has a PID of 827, use the following command to kill it:

taskkill /PID 827

3. kill a process using filters

By using filters, a variety of different patterns can be used to specify the processes to kill. For example, the following filter syntax will forcefully kill all processes owned by the user Sekhon:

taskkill /F /FI “USERNAME eq Sekhon”

Using either instance of taskkill command you can terminate (kill) any Windows program without the use of task manager on Windows computer.

Manage Netfix DVDs queue from Chrome toolbar

Davinder — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:45:06 +0000

Are you looking for an easy way to manage DVDs queue for Netflix? Now you can do this in dead simple way within Google Chrome browser using Netflix Queue extension (by Michael York). With a click of a button on Google Chrome toolbar you can easily view and manage DVDs in your Netflix queue.

To get started, click the Netflix icon on the Chrome toolbar to get a pop-up window. Login into your Netfix account and view associated status. You can see all current DVDs in the queue including DVDs currently at home. You can also check DVD availability, add new DVDs to queue and reorder your queue. Download Netfix Queue

Change icons of files in VLC player

Davinder — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:19:58 +0000

Are you bored of file icons in VLC player? Give VLC experience a little makeover with portable tool ‘VLC Icon Changer’. As the name suggests, it allows you to change icons of files associated with VLC player installed on the computer. Using this tool, you can set different and unique icon for specific type of media file format like avi, divx, asf, dts and so on.

Customize file type icons for VLC player

1. Download VLC Icon Changer program.
2. Double click downloaded file to launch program.
3. Click ‘Browse’ to select different icon & click ‘Apply’ to set new icon.

You can set specific icons for all file types for VLC or selectively chose different icon for different file types associated with VLC player. One easy and handy way to customize icons for VLC player. You can also customize interface using different VLC player skin.