Continue reading »]]> If you have a home network and are running Windows 7 and have XP on other PC(s) you might want to share files between them.  Today we will look at the steps to share files and hardware devices like a printer.

Sharing Files In Windows 7 and XP

Sharing folders between two Windows 7 machines with the new HomeGroup feature is an easy process, but the HomeGroup feature is not compatible with Vista or XP.  For this tutorial we are using Windows 7 x64 RC1 and XP Professional SP3 connected through a basic Linksys home wireless router.

Continue reading »]]> Kinetic technology improve a lot and Leap Motion is the newest product that available today. Hands-free motion control, a technology pioneered by Nintendo’s Wii and later improved upon by Microsoft’s Kinect, just took a very big leap forward. Industries from gaming to surgery to architecture, engineering, and design may never be the same.

Imagine, by just waving your finger gesture you can control the pointer and it’s cheaper. The Kinect brought on a whole new kind of gesture controls, and the iPhone helped bring multitouch controls to the masses. Each is great at what they do, but there are drawbacks; with a touchscreen you have draw your finger across a relatively small surface, and most motion sensing technologies are still only accurate enough to detect your hand as a single entity.

Leap Motion, a startup out of San Francisco, wants to meld the two ideas together without any compromises. The company just announced its new 3D motion-control contraption, called The Leap, that it claims is accurate enough to detect touch-control gestures like pinch-to-zoom or capture your single-finger whipping action in a game of Fruit Ninja (take that, Kinect whole-hand sensing!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d6KuiuteIA

CNET reports that the Leap Touch’s contraption is small iPodsized USB add-on. The Leap creates a 3D interaction space measuring four cubic feet in size that can track the motion of your hands down to your individualfingers.

The Leap, according to Leap Motion, is accurate enough to track your movements to a hundredth of a millimeter, which is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market. The company hasn’t said much on how the technology works, except that it uses breakthrough technology and motion control software that’s been in the works for the past four years.

Leap said that  it’s an optical system that tracks your fingers with infrared LEDs and cameras in a way unlike any other motion control tech. This new method of motion sensing is why the Leap can be made so cheaply and come in such a small package. It can track hundreds of thousands of points at a time (note: point tracking isn’t how it functions), and because its precision scales up or down according to the hardware it’s connected to, it only uses one to two percent of a CPU’s capabilities to work.

Leap Motion is currently sending out devemopment kits and SDKs tfor Windows 7 and 8, as well as for Mac OS X (Linux support is on the agenda for future release). Leap Motion envisions that its 3D motion-sensing technology will be ideal for surgical and engineering software, as well as for gaming. The Leap will cost $70 initially, and is up for limited pre-orders now; Leap Motion plans to launch the gadget early next year.

    

Source :-Pcworld , Engadget.com and CNET

Continue reading »]]>

A Winsock fix for Windows 7 is greatly needed to reset and repair your winsock catalog in Windows 7.
Many people regularly have problems with their winsock and TCP/IP connections, because they can get corrupted so easily.

Often connection problems are caused by malformed winsock entries and invalid LSPs (Layered Service Providers). LSP entries are responsible for managing your inbound and outbound internet traffic.

WinsockFix is a great utility to reset and repair Winsock. It’s probably the best and quickest fix for all connection problems. WinsockFix was written for Windows 95, ME, XP, 2000, so it wouldn’t use on Vista on Windows 7, but if you are still on Windows XP, I would recommend the tool.

Fix Winsock Manually on Windows 7

1. Open up the command line utility and enter:

• netsh winsock reset catalog (resets winsock entries)

• netsh int ip reset reset.log hit (resets TCP/IP stack)

2. Reboot your PC.

Credit 2:- http://internet-texpert.blogspot.com/2011/01/winsock-fix-for-windows-7.html

Utilities tool to fix winsock

- Winsockfix v1.2.

- Complete Internet Repair.

- Self I.E Restorator.

Continue reading »]]>  On most websites, content is stored in a database and served to visitors upon request. Databases are very fast, but there’s lots of things that you can do to enhance its speed and make sure you won’t waste any server resources. In this article, I have compiled 10 very useful tips to optimize and speed up your website database.

Design your database with caution

This first tip may seems obvious, but the fact is that most database problems come from badly-designed table structure.
For example, I have seen people storing information such as client info and payment info in the same database column. For both the database system and developers who will have to work on it, this is not a good thing.
When creating a database, always put information on various tables, use clear naming standards and make use of primary keys.
Source: http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/ten-common-database-design-mistakes/

Know what you should optimize

If you want to optimize a specific query, it is extremely useful to be able to get an in-depth look at the result of a query. Using the EXPLAIN statement, you will get lots of useful info on the result produced by a specific query, as shown in the example below:

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table WHERE ref_table.key_column=other_table.column;

Source: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/using-explain.html

The fastest query… Is the one you don’t send

Each time you’re sending a query to the database, you’re using a bit of your server resources. This is why, on high traffic sites, the best thing you can do in order to speed up your database is to cache queries.

There’s lots of solutions to implement a query cache on your server. Here are a few:

• AdoDB: AdoDB is a database abstraction library for PHP. It allows you to use the database system of your choice (MySQL, PostGreSQL, Interbase, and way much more) and it is designed for speed. AdoDB provides a simple, yet powerful caching system. And last but not least, AdoDB is licenced under the BSD, which means that you can use freely on your projects. A LGPL licence is also available for commercial projects.
• Memcached: Memcached is a distributed memory caching system which is often used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by alleviating database load.
• CSQL Cache: CSQL Cache is an open-source data caching infrastructure. Never tested it personally, but it seems to be a great tool.

Don’t select what you don’t need

A very common way to get the desired data is to use the * symbol, which will get all fields from the desired table:

SELECT * FROM wp_posts;

Instead, you should definitely select only the desired fields as shown in the example below. On a very small site with, let’s say, one visitor per minute, that wouldn’t make a difference. But on a site such as Cats Who Code, it saves a lot of work for the database.

SELECT title, excerpt, author FROM wp_posts;

Use LIMIT

It’s very common that you need to get only a specific number of records from your database. For example, a blog which is showing ten entries per page. In that case, you should definitely use the LIMIT parameter, which only selects the desired number of records.
Without LIMIT, if your table has 100,000 different records, you’ll extract them all, which is unnecessary work for your server.

SELECT title, excerpt, author FROM wp_posts LIMIT 10;

Avoid queries in loops

When using SQL along with a programming language such as PHP, it can be tempting to use SQL queries inside a loop. But doing so is like hammering your database with queries.
This example illustrates the whole “queries in loops” problem:

foreach ($display_order as $id => $ordinal) {
    $sql = "UPDATE categories SET display_order = $ordinal WHERE id = $id";
    mysql_query($sql);
}

Here is what you should do instead:

UPDATE categories
    SET display_order = CASE id
        WHEN 1 THEN 3
        WHEN 2 THEN 4
        WHEN 3 THEN 5
    END
WHERE id IN (1,2,3)

Source: http://www.karlrixon.co.uk/articles/sql/update-multiple-rows-with-different-values-and-a-single-sql-query/

Use join instead of subqueries

As a programmer, subqueries are something that you can be tempted to use and abuse. Subqueries, as show below, can be very useful:

SELECT a.id,
    (SELECT MAX(created)
    FROM posts
    WHERE author_id = a.id)
AS latest_post FROM authors a

Although subqueries are useful, they often can be replaced by a join, which is definitely faster to execute.

SELECT a.id, MAX(p.created) AS latest_post
FROM authors a
INNER JOIN posts p
    ON (a.id = p.author_id)
GROUP BY a.id

Source: http://20bits.com/articles/10-tips-for-optimizing-mysql-queries-that-dont-suck/

Be careful when using wildcards

Wildcards are very useful because they can substitute for one or more characters when searching for data in a database. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use them, but instead, you should use them with caution and not use the full wildcard when the prefix or postfix wildcard can do the same job.
In fact, doing a full wildcard search on a million records will certainly kill your database.

#Full wildcard
SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE COLUMN LIKE '%hello%';
#Postfix wildcard
SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE COLUMN LIKE  'hello%';
#Prefix wildcard
SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE COLUMN LIKE  '%hello';

Source: http://hungred.com/useful-information/ways-optimize-sql-queries/

Use UNION instead of OR

The following example use the OR statement to get the result:

SELECT * FROM a, b WHERE a.p = b.q or a.x = b.y;

The UNION statement allows you to combine the result sets of 2 or more select queries. The following example will return the same result that the above query gets, but it will be faster:

SELECT * FROM a, b WHERE a.p = b.q
UNION
SELECT * FROM a, b WHERE a.x = b.y

Source: http://www.bcarter.com/optimsql.htm

Use indexes

Database indexes are similar to those you can find in libraries: They allow the database to find the requested information faster, just like a library index will allow a reader to find what they’re looking for without loosing time.
An Index can be created on a single column or a combination of columns in a database table. A table index is a database structure that arranges the values of one or more columns in a database table in specific order.

The following query will create an index on the Model column from the Product table. The index is calledidxModel:

CREATE INDEX idxModel ON Product (Model);

Source: http://www.sql-tutorial.com/sql-indexes-sql-tutorial/

Continue reading »]]> Today I’m going to explain how to configure your Nokia Symbian OS to be able to connect to USMSecure for USM students and staff.

Get configuration process for other operation system like Windows and Android here.

I’ll show you the step by step process using following pictures. So just follow them.

1. Download this certificate from here ( CA PPKT Univesiti Sains Malaysia, USM )  or here (zip file – please unzip) or alternative link work only outside USM http://www.mediafire.com/?vd1jr1azp7mt8ct.

Continue reading »]]>

Step 1: Launch VirtualBox and click on the “New” button to create a new virtual machine. In the wizard that pops up, select the Microsoft Windows Operating System and the Windows 8 version (remember to select the 64-bit version if your ISO is an x64 copy).

Step 2: Select the amount of memory that you wish to allocate to the virtual machine. VirtualBox recommends the staggeringly specific amount of 1536, so I just went with that. Raise or lower the memory amount as you please, but bear in mind that decreasing it too far beyond the minimum recommended amount will lead to diminished performance. 

Step 3: Now, you’re going to have to create a new virtual hard disk. VirtualBox recommends that its size be 20GB; this is the minimum amount that Windows 8 needs for its x64 version (x86 is 16GB). If you do wish adjust this amount, the only way you can go is up.

Step 4: Select the virtual disk file type that you wish to use. I went with a VirtualBox diskimage as I won’t be using this virtual machine with other VM software, but you do have the option to select a more generic file type if needed.

Step 5: You will be able to choose between a fixed virtual hard drive size and a dynamically allocated size. Basically, the latter will allow your virtual machine hard disk size to increase in size as it fills up. If you choose to create a fixed virtual hard drive size, set your HDD size here.

Step 6: We’re getting there. Verify that the settings are the ones that you desire, and create the virtual machine.

Step 7: Now, start the virtual machine that you just created; a wizard will appear.

Step 8: Browse to and select the Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISO that you downloaded.

Step 9: Install Windows 8. Assuming that the previous steps were performed correctly, you should now be viewing Windows Setup.

Step 10: Wrap up the Windows 8 installation process, and voilà.

Now, while all of the screenshots above were taken on OS X, this configuration process is the same on Windows.

Enjoy Windows 8!

Credit to : http://www.redmondpie.com/install-windows-8-consumer-preview-in-virtualbox-virtual-machine-on-mac-windows-7-how-to-tutorial/

Continue reading »]]>

Most operating systems and DNS clients will automatically cache IP Addresses and other DNS results, this is done in order to speed up subsequent requests to the same hostname. Sometimes bad results will be cached and therefore need to be cleared from the cache in order for you to communicate with the host correctly. All major operating systems allow you to force this process, outlined below are the common steps you will need to follow in order to flush your DNS cache.

Windows 98/NT/2000/XP Flush DNS

Flushing the DNS on Windows is an easy process, outlined below is the steps that should be run if you wish to clear your DNS cache.

1. Open up a command prompt (Start > Run > “cmd.exe” > OK).
2. Type in the command “ipconfig /flushdns”         

Windows Vista / Windows 7 Flush DNS

Flushing DNS on newer versions of Windows is almost as easy as the earlier versions but due to Microsofts security additions you must run the command prompt with administrator privileges.

1. Click the start button and navigate to the command prompt (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt)
2. Make sure that you right click on the command prompt application and choose “Run as Administrator”
3. Type in the command “ipconfig /flushdns”

Note: It is also possible to type in “cmd” into the Windows Vista / Windows 7 start menu search field and then right click on the cmd.exe result instead of having to navigate through the various sub menus.

Mac OS X Flush DNS

Flushing the DNS in Mac OS X is an easy process, but the steps taken will depend on which version of OS X you are running.

If you are running Mac OS X Leopard, you need to do the following.

1. Open up a command terminal.
2. Run the command “dscacheutil -flushcache”

If you are running Mac OS X 10.5.1 or below, you need to do the following.

1. Open a command terminal.
2. Run the command “lookupd -flushcache”

Linux Flush DNS

If you are running the nscd Name Service Cache Daemon then you will need to do the following.

1. Open up a command terminal (either as root or run step 2 with sudo)
2. Run the command “/etc/init.d/nscd restart”

Credit to :- http://www.whatsmydns.net/flush-dns.html

We can also use tool or utilities out there to help us to fix the problems. For examples :-

1. Complete Internet Repair by Rizonesoft.

2. Winsock repair by Rizonesoft.

3. SF IE Restorator .

Continue reading »]]>

Diagram 8:  USMSecure wireless network properties -> Setting

11) Untick ‘Validate server certificate’
12) Click ‘Configure’

 

22) Press OK to finish. Wait for wifi to connect automatically if fail repeat all the step.

If it still cannot connect please visit PPKT Wireless Counter at Building D37, Pusat Komputer.

Download manual in pdf :- USMSecure-for-windows-7.pdf

More info on how to setup USMSecure for Android and Nokia Symbian OS.

Continue reading »]]> There are hundreds of wordpress plugins available on the internet. Some of them are very useful and some of them are only for the sake of existence. But it’s totally up to you that how you can make your wordpress blog more strong and powerful using different plugins to give your blog readers an amazing and wonderful experience. In this post, We are listing down  wordpress plugins that are really essential for every blog.

You are welcome if you want to share more blog loading time speed up wordpress plugins that our readers/viewers may like.

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache improves the user experience of your blog by improving your server performance, caching every aspect of your site, reducing the download time of your theme and providing transparent content delivery network (CDN) integration. With this plugin, you can save up to 80% Bandwidth via Minify and HTTP compression of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and RSS feeds. We personally use W3 Total Cache and recommends this plugin to our all the visitors.

WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress. It generates html files that are served directly by Apache without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts. By using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly.

HeadJS Loader

This plugin reformats your page to utilize Head JS in your WordPress site. It strips out all your old javascript declarations and puts them into head.js calls so that they are loaded in parallel.

Plugin Organizer

This plugin allows you to change the order that your plugins are loaded. It also adds grouping to the plugin admin age.

JS & CSS Script Optimizer

This plugin will help you make your website more quick. It can grouping and packing Java Scripts and CSS. Also it makes fewer HTTP requests.

WP Minify

This plugin integrates the Minify engine into your WordPress blog. Once enabled, this plugin will combine and compress JS and CSS files to improve page load time.

Scripts Gzip

A WordPress plugin to merge and compress the CSS and JS links on the page. It does not cache, minify, have a “PRO” support forum that costs money, keep any logs or have any fancy graphics. It only does one thing, merge+compress,
and it does it relatively well.

html-compress

This plugin clears html of web page. It reduces space, tab, etc. on all source content, including in line css and javascript.

Performance Optimization: Order Styles and Javascript

What if you are using plugins and that are adding calls to JavaScript and CSS files dynamically. This is case of WordPress blog, where we use many plugins and those plugins add various Styles and Script files dynamically from wp_head() call. This plugin helps you assign the order to stylesheet and JavaScript (external and inline) for performance optimization.

External Files Optimizer

It automatically combines and compress css/js files generate with wp_head() and wp_footer().

WordPress Gzip Compression

It enables gzip-compression if the visitor’s browser can handle it. This will speed up your WordPress website drastically and reduces bandwidth usage as well. Uses the PHP ob_gzhandler() callback.

WP Parallel Loading System

The WP Parallel Loading System is a wordPress plugin that will enhance the loading efficiency of your Blog.

CloudFlare

The CloudFlare WordPress Plugin ensures your WordPress blog is running optimally on the CloudFlare platform.

Credit to : http://www.smashingapps.com/2011/01/27/13-most-robust-wordpress-plugins-to-speed-up-your-blogs-loading-time.html

Continue reading »]]> A new kind of interface is coming to Ubuntu 12.04 “Precise Pangolin” that will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications and recognize voice commands.Called “HUD,” or “Head-Up Display,” the new interface is designed to recognize users’ intent in interacting with the desktop rather than forcing them to navigate a rigid menu system to get things done.

“Menus serve two purposes,” explained Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth in a blog post on Tuesday morning. “They act as a standard way to invoke commands which are too infrequently used to warrant a dedicated piece of UI real-estate, like a toolbar button, and they serve as a map of the app’s functionality, almost like a table of contents that one can scan to get a feel for ‘what the app does’.”

The command-invocation part of that is what Canonical thinks can be improved upon, Shuttleworth added, and that’s where HUD comes in.

‘It Can Learn What You Usually Do’

Focusing instead on users’ intentions, the new interface–now in prototype form–will match what the user types in a search box with a list of commands for potential invocation.

“It’s smart, because it can do things like fuzzy matching, and it can learn what you usually do so it can prioritize the things you use often,” Shuttleworth wrote.

HUD will include not just the focused app, since that’s most likely to be where the user will want to invoke some action, but also system functionality, he noted, even allowing users to go offline on Skype, for example.

The video below demonstrates HUD in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_WW-DHqR3c

‘Easier to Use Than Hotkeys’

Eventually, Canonical wants to include voice integration in this picture so that Ubuntu users can simply speak their commands. That, of course, will take some time, he notes.

Even before that happens, though, using the HUD is faster than navigating through a menu and easier to use than hotkeys, wrote Shuttleworth, who also compared the new interface toMicrosoft’s Ribbon.

The new capabilities will be even better for power users, Shuttleworth added, directly addressing an audience that’s been less than thrilled with the Unity interface Canonical has made desktop Ubuntu’s default.

‘You’ll Have That Option’

Ubuntu users won’t have to jump into using HUD immediately, Shuttleworth noted, and it will appear only when invoked from any standard Ubuntu app that supports the global menu. Assuming it does land in Precise Pangolin–due for release in April–it will be accompanied by a traditional set of menus, which Shuttleworth admitted have been diminished prematurely in Unity versions so far.

“If the HUD lands in 12.04 LTS, we hope you’ll find yourself using the menu less and less, and be glad to have it hidden when you are not using it,” he concluded. “You’ll definitely have that option, alongside more traditional menu styles.”