my dreamz: January 2012

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Notipage

Notipage is nothing but a free webpage monitoring software, when you have configured a monitoring alert allied to a particular webpage, Notipage will mechanically checks this webpage on an intervallic basis in anticipation of all the set criteria are met. At that time, Notipage will inform you by a visual and capable of being heard alert. The free Notipage can notify you when the access to a distant server is impossible, when a monitored webpage has been updated, when chosen expressions are detected on a webpage, and a visual and an audible alert.

To monitor distinct pages updates, Notipage is a superior solution. Instead of cluttering your webpage feed reader, its desktop app allows users to create alerts for a fussy page. Users can monitor a page for updates or for fresh content related to a particular topic by entering related keywords.

Once you installed this free Notipage webpage monitoring software then just make your first alert. It’s worth mentioning here that the app will not be smart to keep an eye on web pages that are only easy to get to by logging in to a site or service. To insert an alert, go to Alerts and select New Alert. Give the alert name, never two alerts can have the equivalent name but you can set up dissimilar alerts for the same URL. Enter the URL of the page you want to track changes for.

The app sports the integral feature to unlock web pages that are being monitored. You can also apply it to scrutiny the changes but its functionality shouldn’t be confused with that of a web browser. If you prefer to, you can open the web page in a browser but the application opens links in Internet Explorer and there isn’t any way to change it.

Features of free Notipage software:

1. A user-friendly desktop application.
2. Compatible with Windows.
3. Helps stay informed of changes on a URL.
4. Lets you play a selected audio file while being notified.
5. Similar tools: Follow That Page, Femtoo and Change Detection.
6. Also read related articles: Track Website Changes with Page Monitor for Chrome
7. Monitor Just About Any Webpage For Changes with Diphur.

Thanks & regards,

"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)

My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
http://raheeldreamz.wordpress.com/

My Face book pages
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Dreamz-Rebiuld-our-nation/176215539101271
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beauty-of-islam/223983470988333?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-is-wealth/289486761065829?sk=wall

iMesh Online Social Network

iMesh is a media and file sharing client with online social network features, available in 9 languages. The program allows all users to access to “non-copyrighted” music and video files, apart from supporting a legalized ringtone download service, wherein users are allowedto purchase songs as cell phone ringtones.

Key Features:

It is a classic P2P client which is classic in terms of interface design and usability, where it features a tab bar whichprovides access to different areas such as:

Library – where all media is stored on your computer.
Home – which is the main screen on iMesh.
Search – where you can find, download and buy music and video.
Discover – it is a tool where new artists and music genres can be found.
DJ – plays desired music based on a song or band of your choice.

Being the first company to introduce a feature called “swarming”, it is said to have the ability to download one file from multiple sources, thereby increasing download speed. It has also introduced a working ‘resume’ feature, wherein users are allowed to pause downloads and resume them at a later stage.

It handles HD videos with ease in its new video modes, where HD videos can be played inside iMesh, which can also be popped out to float mode or go full screen.

iMesh also includes a powerful built-in player for audio and video, which features a 10-band equalizer and also a built-in CD burner to create custom media CD and DVD on the spot. It therefore has the ability to combine free music and video, premium downloads and an online community.

Adobe acrobat reader 10 version

Adobe Reader 10 is also known as pdf reader with the standard for online document sharing. Adobe Reader professional 10 software is also know pdf viewer which can open and interact all pdf files. PDF files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed exactly as the author intended by anyone with Adobe Reader 10.

Adobe Reader 10 is mainly used to view, search, digitally sign, verify, print, and to collaborate.

Adobe Reader 10 Features:

You can View, search, print, verify, including PDF Portfolios and PDF maps
You can share files and documents online with a nicely customized format and design
Adobe Reader 10 is make content Rich Experience and grater in interactivity with the new version it also supports embedding flash swf files and all media files(MP3, Quick Time, Macromedia Flash, Real, and Windows Media formats).
PDF files are supported by all major Adobe software’s like Photoshop, In Design,Illustrator.
Digitally sign PDF documents (When enabled by Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended)
Adobe Reader 10 is used by millions for individuals and business to share & view document.

View and interact PDF files with that contain even wider variety of content types, including drawings, email messages, spreadsheets,videos and other multimedia elements
Make note and share with others by making PDF documents using the sticky notes and highlighter tools.
Choose reading mode to fit more content on the screen or two-up mode to view page spreads. Use keyboard shortcuts like print, zoom, and find with tin the browser.
Take advantage of added security of protected mode in reader, which helps ensure safer viewing of PDF files.
Directly access online services at acrobat.com from with in Reader X. perform common tasks such as creating PDF files, securely sharing and storing document, and screen-sharing.
Expand PDF access via mobile devices with free Adobe Reader for Android Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry Tablet OS.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR WINDOWS:

Intel® 1.3GHz or faster processor
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home, Professional, or Tablet PC Edition with Service Pack 3 (32 bit) or Service Pack 2 (64 bit); Windows Server® 2003 (with Service Pack 2 for 64 bit; Windows Server® 2008 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows Server 2008 R2 (32 bit and 64 bit); Windows Vista® Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 2 (32 bit and 64 bit); Microsoft Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise (32 bit and 64 bit)
256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
260MB of available hard-disk space
1024×576 screen resolution
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7or Microsoft Internet Explore r 8 ; Mozilla Firefox 3.5 or 3.6
Video hardware acceleration (optional)

Mac OS

Intel processor
Mac OS X v.10.5.8 or 10.6.4
512MB of RAM (1G recommended)
415MB of available hard-disk space
800×600 screen resolution (1024×768 recommended)
Apple Safari 4 or 5

Android

550MHz processor
Android™ 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3
256MB of RAM
5.7MB of available hard-disk space

Symbian OS version 1.1

Intel Pentium processor (or equivalent)
Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT, or Windows XP
64MB of RAM
Version 1.1: Nokia Communicator 9500 with 80MB of RAM
Version 1.0: Nokia Communicator 9210 or 9290 with 16MB of RAM.

ADOBE READER 10 DOWNLOADS:

Adobe – ADOBE READER 10 DOWNLOAD : For Windows

Adobe – ADOBE READER 10 DOWNLOAD : Macintosh.

7 Unbreakable Rules In SEO

After the globalization, every business transactions are running through online. So obviously the competition among the business organizations also increased. If one wants to become in better end their sites must be marketed or else the identification of the company loses in public. For that they have to promote their sites through optimization this work can be done with SEO only.

SEO is constantly evolving and the Sites are seemingly at the mercy of the search engines, who usually can’t be bothered to give the site owners a heads up before they update their algorithm. Every few weeks it seems like someone is hailing the death of SEO, but evolution does not equal demise.

Over time, tactics and methods change to work inside the guidelines of the search engines and to meet the needs of the online user, but the real fundamentals of SEO have remained the same.

Here are the 7 basic rules of SEO:

1. Understand User-Intent:

Here Keyword research is the important base foundation of any SEO campaign. Understanding user-intent when conducting and selecting your keywords is critical to getting your SEO off on the right foot and helping the right audience find your site. For instance, are “mobile phones,” “technology” and “the best mobiles,” the same thing? For some consumers those three words are completely rechargeable. But if a mobile user is looking for new technical phones, they would search using technology phone and expect a very specific result. It doesn’t matter how you would search for your brand or products, it only matters how your target audience searches. Targeting the wrong keywords because you failed to understand the intention of the search means you are going to miss out on potential traffic and customers.

2. Don’t Rush Your Link Building

It is the one of the crucial aspect for the search engines to see a radiate approach to link building that slowly grows over time. A intermix approach demonstrates your commitment to white hat link building and building your online presence naturally. The search engines are very conscious that they are playing a game with spammers and black hat SEO users, and they don’t plan on losing. If you develop too many links too fast, although if they are good quality links, this can raise a red flag with the search engines and your site could be penalized.

3. Content is King

Content is anything that is public and shareable. This may be in any form it include blog web page content, blog posts, articles, podcasts, videos, whitepaper and more. Content is most important key factor of a website’s long term SEO success. Content should always be written for the end user, not for the search engines. You have to remember that the search engines are not going to be the ones purchasing your products or services, only the thing is people are going to purchase ones products. Optimize your content so the search engines can find it.

4. Be Strategic, Not Spammy

This is especially an important in regards to social media marketing and social SEO. What kind of real value are you getting from those profiles other than a link? You don’t have to tackle every aspect of SEO at once. Pick and choose your battles so you don’t overdo there just isn’t enough time in a day to take on that much work upfront.

5. SEO is Long Term

This is probably the toughest thing for those are new to SEO to set their heads around. SEO is not a quick fix to your online marketing. No, you can’t be ranking on the first page of Google for all your keywords by the next day, next week, or even next month. This is true if you recently launched your site. It takes a long time to build up your trust factor with the search engines. SEO builds upon itself over time, but that doesn’t mean that once you have reached the first page in the search engines that you get to pack it up and call it a day. The Internet is continually growing. If you want to live at the top, you have to keep working for it. It doesn’t take long for your site to slip down in the results pages if you abandon your SEO.

6. Follow Search Engine Guidelines

Google, Bing, Ask and Yahoo want you to do well with your SEO because it helps clean up their search results. A better SERP makes for happier search engine user. Search engines are in the business of felicitating the customer, just like everyone else. If your site can’t help them in such a manner, you can’t ever rank well. That’s reason every site owner and marketer has to read Google and Bing webmaster Guidelines. Consider those guidelines your SEO line in the sand. If they call something black hat, then treat it as such and avoid. It can be very tempting to test out the black hat side of SEO, especially when you see your competition doing it and seemingly getting away with it. Just don’t commit that type of errors, after that the search engines catch on and your site will be penalized.

7. Integrate Everything

It all about your whole online marketing efforts can be supplemented for SEO. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is keeping your actions in separate silos. SEO works best when it is incorporated into the mix, becoming an essential component of your online marketing. If your company has a large marketing department, don’t separate the SEO guy back to the IT department. Bring him aboard the marketing team and you’ll achieve greater online success.

Smartdraw Visual Processor 2011

SmartDraw is free software that assists in users work smarter by communicating visually. Till now SmartDraw has been used by more than semi of the Fortune 500, and thousands of law firms, police departments, vigor systems and classified enterprises of all sizes around the world. Having the features of some important multitasking smart programs such as Outline to Mind Map It instantly transforms user’s text outline to an absolutely formatted mind map with a single click.

The following are the new features of smartdraw 2011 version:

1. Automatic Sequencing in PowerPoint:
In presentations, revealing of sequencing can be increased understanding tenfold. SmartDraw adds this sequencing robotically when you send your illustration to PowerPoint. Smartdraw in not just for data charts and graphs, but for mind maps, flowcharts, and org charts too.

2. Enhanced Presentation Features:
SmartDraw’s PowerPoint designer feature makes it possible to form truly visual presentations quicker than ever. Users can sketch and compile their presentations visually in a storyboard format.

3. AutoSave and Recovery:
SmartDraw at present involuntarily recovers unsaved files if system goes down while using it.

4. Document Collections:
The novel Collections feature makes it easy to handle groups of files as if they were one file. Send a collection to co-workers through email. Print an intact collection with one command.

5. Custom Template Categories:
Create your own categories in the SmartDraw Template selector. Group all of the templates you use most habitually.

6. Automatic Document Linking:
Effortlessly can be separated large complex flowcharts, organization charts and other visuals into a collection of further easily managed hyperlinked documents with the new split command.

Monday, 30 January 2012

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5

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With Adobe’s release of Photoshop CS5, it’s not hard to see why it beats all competition and is still considered the industry-standard as far as graphic editing is concerned. Whether you are a newbie, or a pro at editing, this software certainly delivers.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS5 FEATURES:

* Extraordinary painting effects: Achieve natural and realistic painting effects with the Mixer Brush, which offers on-canvas color blending; Bristle Tips, which let you create lifelike, textured brush strokes; an onscreen color picker; and more.

* Content-Aware Fill: Remove any image detail or object and watch as Content-Aware Fill magically fills in the space left behind. This breakthrough technology matches lighting, tone, and noise so it looks as if the removed content never existed.

* Complex selections made easy: Easily select intricate image elements, such as hair, for refinements, compositing, or placing in layout. Eliminate background color around selection edges, and automatically vary selection edges and perfect masks using new refinement tools.

* Superior HDR imaging: Create photo-realistic or surreal HDR images with unprecedented speed, control, and accuracy. Get better-than-ever results thanks to automatic ghost removal and greater control with tone mapping and adjustments, and even give single-exposure photos the look of HDR.

* Efficient workflow: Enjoy productivity and creativity boosts thanks to dozens of features and enhancements requested by Photoshop users. Straighten images automatically, choose colors from an onscreen color picker, adjust the opacity of many layers at once, and more.

* 3D extrusions with Adobe Repoussé: Create 3D logos and artwork from any text layer, selection, path, or layer mask with Adobe Repoussé technology. Twist, rotate, extrude, bevel, and inflate your designs.

* State-of-the-art raw image processing: Use the Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 6 plug-in to nondestructively remove image noise while preserving color and detail; add grain to make digital photos look more organic; enjoy more control when performing post-crop vignetting; and more.

* Enhanced 3D realism and rich materials: Enhance 3D objects and designs with easy shadow creation, image-based lights, and materials like glass and chrome. Explore with different focus points in your 3D scene by adjusting the range for depth of field.

* Faster performance across platforms: Speed up day-to-day imaging tasks and process very large images up to 10 times faster by taking advantage of cross-platform 64-bit support. (Requires a 64-bit-capable computer with a 64-bit version of Mac OS, Microsoft® Windows® 7, or Windows Vista®. Actual performance varies depending on amount of RAM, driver types, and other factors.)

New features of Photoshop CS5:

1. Puppet tool - It allows you to create a skeleton kind of shape by assigning joints on object and wrap image around it. This is being take from Adobe After Effects program.

2. Wet paint – Newer CS5 will support wet paint color mixing that looks like actual paint mixing like we have in Corel painter software.

3. Brush Stroke effect - Besides the wet paint mixing, it promises brush stroke effect that looks almost real life, like we see on actual painting canvas.

4. Patchmatch - It includes 3 tools: re-targeting, in-painting, and reshuffling. It allows you to patch and edit photos even better than clone brush.

Pros

• The interface is as comfortable as ever.

• You can discover your full creative potential with the Fun Mixer Brush.

• The addition of Refine Mask and Content Aware features are a step up, and not to mention time-savers, compared to the ‘heal’ and ‘patch’ tools.

• Refine edge and Smart radius tools make selections easier.

Cons

• The HDR Toning feature would have more usability if it didn’t solely work on single-layer images.

• Refine Edge dialog box lacks Undo/Redo options.

• Purchasing this program isn’t exactly easy on the pockets for many photographers out there.

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Talaash - Cyber Crime Special - Part 1

Talaash - Cyber Crime Special - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdMkaGjGKY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdMkaGjGKY&feature=related

Five tips for reducing the stress of user support calls

As someone who spent years working as a helpdesk technician, I know all too well how stressful the job can be. Although I was occasionally stressed because of an exceptionally heavy workload or because I was having a tough time resolving a particular issue, the vast majority of my stress was user-induced. The demands made by end users never ceased to amaze me. Because being a helpdesk support tech can be such a thankless job, I wanted to share with you a few tips for reducing the stress of end-user support calls.

1: Don’t tolerate abuse

It’s unbelievable to see just how irate some end users can become over a simple computer problem. I have received helpdesk calls from users who resorted to screaming, swearing, name-calling, and all manner of verbal abuse. There is never any excuse for this type of behavior from a user.

Although you will have to win support from upper management (which shouldn’t be too difficult to do), I recommend setting a policy that prohibits the verbal abuse of the helpdesk staff. If possible, lobby to have this provision added to the employee code of conduct along with sanctions for those who violate the policy.

2: Set your own priorities

Most of the people who call the helpdesk with a problem want their problem fixed “now.” For the first couple of years I worked in a helpdesk environment, I told the callers that their problems would be addressed on a first-come, first-served basis. Over time, however, I began to realize that really wasn’t the best policy.

It is better to prioritize helpdesk calls by their urgency (as defined by you, not the user). If a user is having a problem and can’t do his or her job, that problem should be considered high priority. If, on the other hand, you have a user who pesters you three or four times a day with various imaginary problems, those problems should be very low priority. You shouldn’t ever have to make a user who is having a legitimate problem wait for help just so that you can appease a user with a nitpicky (and possibly unverifiable) issue.

3: Require helpdesk calls to go through a manager

As a helpdesk manager, one of the best policies I ever created required users to relay all requests for help through their managers. While I will be the first to admit that the managers weren’t very fond of this policy, it worked wonders for decreasing the number of frivolous calls we received. Users are a lot less likely to call about stupid things when they know that they have to go through their boss to submit the request.

4: Set a clear policy against impromptu support

Another thing will greatly reduce stress is to implement a policy against impromptu support. I once worked as a helpdesk tech at a company with about a thousand users. The problem was that most of those users knew who I was. I couldn’t walk through the building without people grabbing me and asking me to take a quick look at a problem they were having.

Things actually got so bad that whenever I needed to go to the other side of the building, I would go outside, walk around the building, and sneak in the back door to reduce the number of people I had to walk past.

One day, someone made the decision to move the company’s cafeteria. The new location required everyone to walk through the IT department on the way to lunch. The flow of traffic (and all the support requests that came with it) became so disruptive that my manager had the department moved to an isolated part of the building and created a policy requiring all requests for help to be submitted in writing using an online form. It took a while for the new policy to catch on, but it was eventually very helpful.

5: Remember that it isn’t your job to support personal electronics

One of the things that really used to annoy me about working for the helpdesk was having employees ask me to fix their personal electronics. During my years in the position, I was asked to fix everything from home computers to VCRs (this was the early 1990s). There was even one manager who would try to strong-arm me by threatening to have my wife fired if I didn’t go to the manager’s house (during work hours) and get the viruses off of her PC.

Remember that it isn’t your job to fix personal electronics. If you want to repair PCs and consumer electronic devices on the side for extra cash, there’s nothing wrong with that. But any user who calls the helpdesk wanting help with an XBOX 360 should simply be told that the helpdesk does not support personal electronics.

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Five tips for customizing the Office 2010 Ribbon

When Microsoft introduced Office 2007, users hated the infamous Ribbon. To make matters worse, you couldn’t customize it. You were just stuck with the organization that Microsoft deemed best, unless you had serious programming skills. Office 2010 is much friendlier. You can customize the Ribbon by adding your own tabs and rearranging the built-in options. Here are a few good ways to tweak the interface. I’ll use Word in the examples, but the options and steps are similar throughout the suite.

1: Use the Quick Access Toolbar

You can reclaim almost everything Microsoft removed when installing the Ribbon interface by adding options to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). The QAT isn’t technically part of the Ribbon interface, but you’ll use it to bypass the Ribbon, so it’s the logical first step in customization.
The QAT resides in the top-left corner of the screen. Add options that are hard to find, that you use often, or that aren’t on the Ribbon interface at all, such as the 2003 Style control you see in Figure A.

Figure A

Add options to the QAT for quick and easy access.

To modify the QAT, choose More Commands from the QAT drop-down list. In the resulting dialog, select an item from the Choose Commands From drop-down list. Select the command, as shown in Figure B, and click Add to move it to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar list. Click OK to return to Word. Note: Keep items on the QAT to a minimum or it can quickly lose its effectiveness.

Figure B

Select the command you want to add to the QAT.

2: Add custom tabs

The QAT provides quick access to the tools you need the most, but it can become cluttered if you’re not careful. Adding a custom tab to display the features and commands you use the most is another way to bypass the Ribbon — or at least to corral the options you use most. To do so, click the File tab and choose Options. In the left pane, select Customize Ribbon. In the resulting dialog, click the New Tab button. Then, right-click on New Tab (Custom) in the Main Tabs list. Choose Rename from the shortcut menu and enter a meaningful name for the new tab. (You can rename built-in tabs too.)
When Word creates the custom tab, it also creates one group within it to get you started. We’ll leave the group in this example set to its default name (New Group), but you can rename yours by following the steps above for renaming tabs.
Now you’re ready to add items to your custom tab. From the Choose Commands From list, select an appropriate filter. Select the desired command from the list, click New Group under your new tab, and click Add.
Use the arrows to the right to position the tab within the existing tabs. (You can also use these arrows to move built-in tabs, such as the mostly unused Clipboard tab, to the right and out of your way!) Click OK when you’re done. Click the new tab, shown in Figure C, for easy access to your favorite Word commands.

Figure C

Adding a new tab that groups your favorite commands is easy.

You can also use this technique to add items to the built-in tabs. You must add a new group, though — you can’t add items to built-in groups in the main tabs.

3: Hide unused tabs

There may be tabs you don’t use or, perhaps more important, tabs you don’t want users to access. You can easily remove these tabs from the Ribbon. Click Options on the File tab and click Customize Ribbon. Right-click the tab in the Main Tabs list to the right and uncheck Show Tab. It couldn’t be simpler. Of course, the downside to hiding a tab is that you might forget you hid it.

4: Do over!

You’re never stuck with changes or custom tabs that don’t provide the benefits you imagined. The Customize Ribbon dialog offers two reset options: You can reset the entire Ribbon interface to its installation settings or you can reset an individual tab. Unfortunately, that last option isn’t obvious. You must click Reset to see that there are two reset options, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

To restore your Ribbon’s out-of-the-box settings, click Reset.

5: Share them with your friends

Use the Import/Export button (in the Customize Ribbon dialog) to export your customizations. Simply click the button and save the customizations file. You can then copy your personalized Ribbon interface to other systems and import them into the appropriate Office application.

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Five tips for controlling procrastination

I recently heard a friend talking about a school assignment — a report he had to write on a business book he hadn’t started to read. With the deadline a week away, he admitted that he would probably wait until the last minute to read the book and write the report. A lot of us got through school (and handle our jobs) using that approach, and sometimes the pressure of a looming deadline actually makes us sharper and improves the results. But what he said next was the real kicker: “I won’t be able to enjoy myself all week knowing I have this report to write, but I’ll still keep putting it off.”
If you’re an “active procrastinator” — you do your best work with the clock ticking down to the final seconds as you finish a job — procrastination may not be a problem. But if you’re a “passive procrastinator” — chronically postponing tasks and becoming indecisive, anxious, or guilty — you may want to work on modifying that habit. Here are a few strategies for keeping yourself from sinking into the procrastination abyss.

1: Figure out why you’re procrastinating

The obvious starting point in dealing with procrastination is to analyze why it’s happening. It might be that the work itself is ill conceived or you don’t have clear instructions or the necessary tools, skills, or resources. Maybe the scope is intimidating or you haven’t been given a deadline so it’s easy to defer the project. Those issues may be out of your control, but often you can do something about them. And if you can, you should.
If the work itself is manageable and you know what you have to do to complete it — but you just hate doing it so you’re stalling — you may have to trick yourself to get it done. (See #5.) Either way, the goal here is to determine what’s really going on so you can develop a plan of attack.

2: Decide what has to get done first

There’s some debate over whether you should tackle your most critical, front-burner tasks first or start by knocking out several small, easy-to-finish tasks. There are good arguments for both. Tackling the big projects, the ones that will have the most impact (aka the Eat That Frog tactic), is often essential. You may be operating under someone’s mandate or unbendable commitment or there may be dependencies you can’t ignore.
But sometimes, accomplishing the smaller, less urgent tasks will get you moving and clear your schedule (and remove the excuse/distraction potential of those smaller chores) so you can mount a more effective effort to get the big, gnarly projects underway.
Obviously, how you prioritize is governed by the situation. The important thing is that you prioritize purposefully and don’t just randomly pick away at tasks that pull you in various directions.
There is a corollary to this tip: Planning is great, but make sure you don’t use the process as a means of procrastinating. I once worked with a writer who simply couldn’t hit a deadline. Never. Not one time. But he would spend hours designing increasingly sophisticated and elaborate schedules for delivering his work — in lieu of producing that work. Then he’d spend even more time explaining his plan to me in passionate detail. Maybe that’s not a problem for you. But if you’re prone to using planning and list-making as a stalling tactic, remind yourself not to fall for it.

3: Break the work into manageable pieces

One of the most common reasons for putting off a task is that it’s just too damn big. And one equally common — and practical — tip is to break the job into pieces. The key is to focus on each piece as a discrete task. Because if you keep looking up from the work in front of you at the monolithic project, it’s going to take the wind out of your sails.
Can’t subdivide a big job into smaller tasks? Try setting time goals instead — like three hours at a stretch, interspersed with other work (or downtime). You’ll still be taking a modular approach to the massive project, which should make it less daunting and give you a way to recognize progress along the way.

4: Don’t get paralyzed by the need to be perfect

It’s easy to become immobilized by concerns over the results you think are expected or standards you impose on yourself. If you find yourself saying, “I’ll be able to do a much better job if I start this first thing in the morning” or “I can’t do this until I’ve lined up all the resources I need,” you could be absolutely right. On the other hand, you might just be manufacturing reasons to put off the work. The irony, of course, is that if you get the jump on a project, you’ll probably have time to produce a rough draft, an alpha version, a work-in-progress that you can refine and perfect in time to hit your deadline. Working through a few iterations will take a lot of weight off your shoulders — you just need to stay out of the perfection trap.

5: Make a deal with yourself: Five minutes and out

The “Just get started!” rhetoric you hear might make for a spiffy little motivational motto — but in practice, it doesn’t offer much of a toehold. If you can’t bring yourself to get going on a project, the obvious countermove is to do it anyway. But HOW do you “just get started” when you keep failing to start?
Here’s my favorite trick: Stick your toe in the water a tiny bit, with the promise that you’ll quit after a few minutes. This might seem like you’re teaching yourself an even worse habit (quitter!!). But what usually happens is that those few minutes prime the pump. Once begun is half done, and all that. According to one theory, our perception of a task changes once we’ve gotten a taste of it — and for the better.
Even the most mundane and preliminary steps can get the ball rolling. Trying to get a report written? Create a folder for it, save a new document in the folder, add a title and a couple of headings to the document. It’s the digital-age equivalent of sharpening a handful of pencils and straightening a fresh stack of paper. And that’s often all it takes.

Bonus tip: Reward yourself

Most of the time, simply being DONE with something that’s been hanging over you is reward enough. But if you promise yourself some other tangible reward ahead of time — okay, yeah, call it a bribe — you may have an easier time summoning up the resolve and momentum to jump into the work and see it through.

Monday, 16 January 2012

Five tips for using System Restore effectively

Windows 7 System Restore is a powerful tool that enables you to turn back the clock on Windows. This is quite handy when something goes awry. After a bad crash, or after a program or user has caused a serious issue with the operating system, System Restore can take that computer back to a time when it was working properly. System Restore is fairly simple to use, but it is powerful and should be used wisely. Here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure you make best use of this tool.

1: Work with antivirus

System Restore works in conjunction with the installed antivirus by inducing a scan during the restoration. If, during the restoration, a file is determined to be infected, the antivirus will quarantine it as usual. This is effective — unless the antivirus can’t detect and quarantine the infection. If there is an infected restore point that must be used, temporarily disable the installed antivirus program, disconnect the computer from the network (to prevent further infection), and run the restore. Once the restore has completed, you can try to remove the infection. If all restore points are infected, I would recommend deleting them all and re-creating a new point once the infection has been removed and the computer is running as desired.

2: Don’t rely on it for antivirus

In the same vein, the Windows System Restore tool should never be thought of as an antivirus tool. I have come across this a number of times, where a user (and even an administrator or two) assumed that restoring to a previous state would remove whatever virus is on the computer. The flaw in that logic is that System Restore does not modify user data, so any infected files won’t be changed. Because of this, System Restore can’t be used to turn back the clock to a previous point that was not infected.

3: Keep multiple GOOD restore points

System Restore allows for the retention of multiple restore points. Although Windows 7 will create automatic restore points (or when Windows is updated), I always recommend regularly creating your own so you know you have a working restore point that represents a particular moment when the machine was working properly. Say, for example, you are about to manually install a new service pack or an application that will make numerous changes to the Windows registry or to other critical settings. Make sure you create a new restore point prior to the upgrade or installation. To manually create a restore point click Start, right-click Computer, click on Properties, click on System Protection, and click the Create button. When prompted, give the restore point a name that makes it clear what restoring to this saved point will do (for example, Pre-Service Pack 1).

4: Always scan for affected programs and drivers

When doing the actual restore, make sure you have System Restore tool scan for affected programs. When doing this, you will get an immediate overview of what’s going to be affected by the restore. This could be the final saving grace, should you catch a program or driver to be affected that you do not want to change. If this happens, attempt to restore a different save point or don’t restore at all. This will also show any programs and/or drivers that have been added or deleted since the last restore and that are to be either added back or deleted from the current system. If you don’t scan for affected programs and drivers, you jump into the restore blind — which I do not recommend.

5: Use caution when dual-booting with XP

If you have a machine that dual-boots Windows 7 and Windows XP, every time you boot XP all but your most recent Windows 7 restore points will be lost. This means that your most recent Windows 7 restore point needs to be a valid point for restoration. Imagine this scenario: You install an application that wreaks havoc on your Windows 7 registry and in the process, a new restore point is created. You dual-boot into Windows XP and then back to Windows 7, only to find Windows 7 is hosed. Can you fix it with System Restore? No. All but that most recent restore point are now gone, so you could be in a bit of a bind.

To prevent that from happening, download this registry setting change, right-click the file, click Merge, and okay the installation. Once the settings in this file have been successfully merged with your Windows registry, those restore points won’t be deleted when you boot Windows XP.

The System Restore tool is incredibly valuable. Not only will it restore a machine to a working state, it will save precious time in the process. Having to troubleshoot issues vs. restoring to a working state is often a no-brainer. But jumping into the restore process blindly could cost you time and dollars. These tips will help you approach the task ready to make the Windows 7 restore as effective as possible.

Saturday, 14 January 2012

Five tips for using System Restore effectively

1: Work with antivirus

System Restore works in conjunction with the installed antivirus by inducing a scan during the restoration. If, during the restoration, a file is determined to be infected, the antivirus will quarantine it as usual. This is effective — unless the antivirus can’t detect and quarantine the infection. If there is an infected restore point that must be used, temporarily disable the installed antivirus program, disconnect the computer from the network (to prevent further infection), and run the restore. Once the restore has completed, you can try to remove the infection. If all restore points are infected, I would recommend deleting them all and re-creating a new point once the infection has been removed and the computer is running as desired.

2: Don’t rely on it for antivirus

In the same vein, the Windows System Restore tool should never be thought of as an antivirus tool. I have come across this a number of times, where a user (and even an administrator or two) assumed that restoring to a previous state would remove whatever virus is on the computer. The flaw in that logic is that System Restore does not modify user data, so any infected files won’t be changed. Because of this, System Restore can’t be used to turn back the clock to a previous point that was not infected.

3: Keep multiple GOOD restore points

System Restore allows for the retention of multiple restore points. Although Windows 7 will create automatic restore points (or when Windows is updated), I always recommend regularly creating your own so you know you have a working restore point that represents a particular moment when the machine was working properly. Say, for example, you are about to manually install a new service pack or an application that will make numerous changes to the Windows registry or to other critical settings. Make sure you create a new restore point prior to the upgrade or installation. To manually create a restore point click Start, right-click Computer, click on Properties, click on System Protection, and click the Create button. When prompted, give the restore point a name that makes it clear what restoring to this saved point will do (for example, Pre-Service Pack 1).

4: Always scan for affected programs and drivers

When doing the actual restore, make sure you have System Restore tool scan for affected programs. When doing this, you will get an immediate overview of what’s going to be affected by the restore. This could be the final saving grace, should you catch a program or driver to be affected that you do not want to change. If this happens, attempt to restore a different save point or don’t restore at all. This will also show any programs and/or drivers that have been added or deleted since the last restore and that are to be either added back or deleted from the current system. If you don’t scan for affected programs and drivers, you jump into the restore blind — which I do not recommend.

5: Use caution when dual-booting with XP

If you have a machine that dual-boots Windows 7 and Windows XP, every time you boot XP all but your most recent Windows 7 restore points will be lost. This means that your most recent Windows 7 restore point needs to be a valid point for restoration. Imagine this scenario: You install an application that wreaks havoc on your Windows 7 registry and in the process, a new restore point is created. You dual-boot into Windows XP and then back to Windows 7, only to find Windows 7 is hosed. Can you fix it with System Restore? No. All but that most recent restore point are now gone, so you could be in a bit of a bind.

To prevent that from happening, download this registry setting change, right-click the file, click Merge, and okay the installation. Once the settings in this file have been successfully merged with your Windows registry, those restore points won’t be deleted when you boot Windows XP.

The System Restore tool is incredibly valuable. Not only will it restore a machine to a working state, it will save precious time in the process. Having to troubleshoot issues vs. restoring to a working state is often a no-brainer. But jumping into the restore process blindly could cost you time and dollars. These tips will help you approach the task ready to make the Windows 7 restore as effective as possible.

Friday, 13 January 2012

Five tips for getting cable clutter under control

Nothing is worse than a datacenter filled with a tangled maze of wires. Besides being unsightly, cable clutter can make it difficult to troubleshoot cable-related problems. Here are five of my favorite tips for taming that cable mess.

1: Multitask

One of the best ways to get cable clutter under control is to eliminate any cables that are not absolutely necessary. Of course, this is easier said than done. Since you probably can’t go through your datacenter and start unplugging cables, the next best option might be to multitask.

Sometimes, you can achieve the functionality of several cables with a single cable. To give you an idea of what I mean, I recently installed an IP-based video surveillance system in my datacenter. The system was designed so that each of the eight cameras required its own power supply (AC adapter). After spending a little bit of time on Amazon, I found a power supply that could provide power to four cameras. Granted, I still had to use a few power supplies, but I cut the total number of power supplies I was using by 75%.

I’ve also been performing cable multitasking through my KVM switches. Up until a few weeks ago, I was using KVM switches that required a keyboard, video, and mouse connection to every server. I replaced these outdated switches with a new model that uses only a video cable. On the end of the cable that connects to the server is a USB connection for keyboard and mouse input. However, there is no USB connection at the other end of the cable. All keyboard and mouse input is sent through the video adapter and then split out into a USB port at the end of the cable. What previously required three cables is now done through a single cable.

2: Use the shortest cables you can get away with

Another clutter-reducing trick is to make your own network cables. If you use pre-manufactured cables, you’re stuck using cables with standardized lengths. This can result in excessive cable in your datacenter. By making your own network cables, you can ensure that the cables are cut to exactly the required length. This can go a long way toward cutting down on cable clutter.

3: Label your cables

I also recommend investing in a good label maker and labeling all the cables in your datacenter, even if the purpose of a cable seems obvious. Having well-labeled cables can make it far easier to troubleshoot cable-related problems.

The reason it’s a good idea to label the cables that are used for obvious purposes is that troubleshooting a problem can sometimes run late into the night. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I tend to make a lot of stupid mistakes when I start getting tired. I have found that making things as idiot-proof as possible helps prevent dumb mistakes later on.

4: Use zip ties sparingly

I once worked in a place where a number of servers were arranged on a large metal rack (not a traditional server rack). The person who had done the setup used zip ties to secure the various cables to the rack. I have to admit that the person did a good job keeping all the cables nice and neat.

But eventually, one of the computers started having trouble communicating across the network. It turned out that the network cable had been zip tied too tightly and the RJ-45 connector at the end of the cable was being pulled loose. Replacing the cable meant cutting all the zip ties and then replacing them. Because the zip ties bundled cables for multiple machines, this turned out to be a big job.

There is a time and a place for everything, and sometimes zip ties do have a place in the datacenter. However, before you zip-tie a cable, consider the amount of work that will be involved if you ever have to replace the cable.

5: Bundle excess cable

Earlier, I mentioned using custom-made network cables to avoid having excess cable. Sometimes, however, excess cable is unavoidable. For example, the AC adapter for my wireless access point has a three-foot cord, but I need only about a foot of it. When you can’t avoid using a cable that is longer than you need, bundle the excess cord. In the case of the power cord for my wireless access point, I used a twist tab around the excess cable.

Saturday, 7 January 2012

Five tips for efficient file management in Windows 7

The Windows 7 environment will spook some XP users at first. It isn’t an extension of XP; it’s an entirely new interface. Although the underlying file structure is the same, there’s less to file management. The truth is, storing and accessing files in XP and earlier versions required some knowledge of the file structure. Windows 7 doesn’t require that knowledge — the file hierarchy is behind the scenes. Consequently, users new to the PC will find Windows 7 easy to use, but those upgrading from XP might be a bit disoriented. These five tips will help your users acclimate themselves to Windows 7 so they can get to work a bit faster.

1: Get to know the Documents library

Documents is the XP My Documents folder, only better. It’s no longer just a folder. Documents is now a library. (I’ll explain libraries next.) When you save an Office file, the application will default to Documents, just as it used to default to My Documents. While you’re learning Windows 7, save files to Documents because they’ll be easy to find later. Just click the Start menu and the Documents library is right there, with all your files. Or open Windows Explorer and click Documents in the Libraries group. Until you learn your way around, saving your files to the Documents library will save you a lot of confusion.

2: Use libraries for quick access

In earlier versions of Windows, you saved files to folders. Windows Explorer displayed the file structure as dozens of folders housing hundreds of files. Depending on your folder structure, some files might be several subfolders deep. Now, remember the old file cabinet analogy? Imagine a long line of file cabinets. Functional, yes, but efficient? Not always. And the more folders and files you added, the more of them you had to wade through to get to what you needed.

A Windows 7 library is more like a storeroom. Imagine that you’re in a hall with several doors. The sign on the first door reads “Documents.” You open a door to find a few file cabinets storing all your files. The second door’s sign reads “Pictures.” File cabinets filled with your pictures are inside. Windows 7 knocks the older linear C:\ hierarchy of dozens of folders down to a handful of libraries.

Libraries don’t actually store your files. Your files are still stored in the traditional linear hierarchy. Libraries simply pull related folders into one spot for quicker access. It’s a virtual view of your hierarchy. I recommend that you try to adjust to the library structure, but if you truly hate it, you can display a more traditional view. To do so, choose Folder And Search Options from the Organize menu. In the Navigation Pane section, check the Show All Folders option.

3: Avoid the HomeGroups password pitfall

HomeGroups are like libraries but they work with networked PCs. Any machine that’s part of a HomeGroup can grant read and write access to other machines in the HomeGroup. As you might expect, HomeGroups are password protected. But rather than letting you enter your own password, Windows 7 generates a 10-character password for you. Write this password down and don’t lose it! You’ll only need it once, when you connect the first time. Once connected, you can change the password to whatever you like.

I don’t know why Windows 7 forces this generated password on us, but it does, hence the warning. It’s easy to get distracted and forget the password or lose it before you have a chance to connect that first time. In addition, this new feature works only with Windows 7 machines — an unfortunate decision on Microsoft’s part because most of won’t be able to utilize it.

4: Save time with jump lists

Jump lists are one of my favorite features. You pin applications and files you use often to the Taskbar. It doesn’t matter where you actually store the file. Once it’s pinned, you have quick access to it. To add a program, do the following:

Click the Start menu.
Find the application and right-click it.
Choose Pin To Taskbar, as shown in Figure A. Windows 7 adds an icon, shown in Figure B, to the Taskbar.

Figure A

Choose Pin To Taskbar to pin an application to the Taskbar.

Figure B

Click the pinned icon to launch the application.

You can also pin individual files to their respective application’s list. With the file open, right-click its program icon on the Taskbar. In the resulting list, right-click the file, as shown in Figure C. Once you’ve pinned a file, you can quickly open it. Simply right-click the program icon and choose the file from the Pinned section. You’ll also see the most recently used files, but that list will change as you open and use new files. The Pinned list doesn’t change unless you add or remove items.

Figure C

Pin a file to the Taskbar.

5: Work efficiently with two instances of Windows Explorer

It’s easy to work with two instances of Windows Explorer open at the same time, thanks to Windows 7’s new snap behavior. First, open Explorer as you normally would by clicking the Explorer icon in the Taskbar. (That’s a nice feature in itself.) Drag the window’s title bar to the left until Windows 7 displays an outline around the left half of the screen. Release the window and Windows 7 will snap the window to the left half of your screen. To open a second instance, hold down the [Shift] key and click the Explorer icon on the Taskbar again. Repeat the process above, but drag the second instance to the right and release. You end up with two windows, side by side. Moving and copying files is a snap with two instances of the Explorer open.

Now, here’s a useful tip for the keyboard users. After opening the first instance of Explorer, hold down the [Windows] key and press the left arrow key. Doing so will automatically align the window to the left side of the screen. Open the second instance, hold down [Windows] and press the right arrow key.

Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Five tips for faster Web browsing

Everyone wants faster Web browsing. After all, who has time to wait for Web pages to load these days? This is especially true if you’re a tab-junkie like me. When you live with an open browser containing 10 to 15 tabs running at any given time, you know how crucial it is to have as fast a browsing experience as possible. But how do you manage this? Are there tricks to getting more speed when your pipe is maxed out already? You bet your sweet bits and bytes there are.
Not every solution will work for every user, and not every solution should even be attempted by every user. However, if you like to eke out as much blood as you can from every turnip, let’s see how you can squeeze a bit more speed from your browsing experience.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Use a fast browser

Not all browsers are created equal. Some are simply faster than others. The top speed you will find, in the current crop of browsers, belongs to Google Chrome. If you’ve grown accustomed to Internet Explorer or Firefox, you’ll notice a dramatic increase in rendering time using Google Chrome. Of all the ways you can speed up your browsing experience, this is by far the best. Google Chrome also helps speed things up by allowing you to enter search strings in the URL address bar. With this feature, you don’t have to add yet another toolbar, thereby slowing down the browser even further.

2: Disable Flash

Flash pretty much saturates Web sites now. It’s almost impossible to get away from this technology. Problem is, Flash can be slow, so it directly affects the speed of your browsing experience. You can have Flash turned off by default and then re-enable it to view what you need to view. The biggest problem with this is that some browsers require an add-on to block Flash. For Chrome, you need the extension Flashblock. There’s also a Flashblock extension for Firefox. Internet Explorer has a built-in tool you can access by clicking Tools | Manage Add-ons. In the Manage Add-ons dialog box, double-click Shockwave Flash Object. Then, click the Remove All Sites button. This will disable Flash for all sites.

3: Save your temporary Web files on a RAM disk

I wrote an article awhile back on using a RAM disk to help speed up disk-intensive applications. Since the RAM disk will be much faster than your standard hard drive, using it to save all your browsers temporary files will create a faster environment for your browser. However, this solution is not for the newbie, and you will need to use a third-party to better achieve this task.

4: Get rid of all those toolbars

You’ve seen them in the wild: browsers so filled with toolbars they take up the majority of real estate in the browser window. Most users don’t realize those toolbars tend to slow down the browser in many ways. Some toolbars simply take up precious computer memory, while others eat away at bandwidth by sending and receiving data in the background. The math here is quite simple: The more toolbars you have, the slower your browser will run. Some of those toolbars might seem essential. But if speed is really your top priority, you will want to jettison that extra baggage for the speed you will gain.

5: Use tabs, not windows

Too many tabs can cause problems, but they’re still your best bet for browsing efficiency. How do tabs speed up your experience? A couple of ways. The first is all about organization. With multiple tabs in a single window, it becomes quite a bit faster to locate the page you need to work on. You don’t have to maximize a window, discover that it’s not the right one, minimize it, maximize a new window… until you find the correct one. A single window open with multiple tabs is far easier to search. This is not the only way tabs can help you. Browsers like Chrome treat each tab as an individual process (instead of a child process of a parent). So when a Web site causes a tab to crash, you can close that one tab and not lose all the other tabs. This behavior is not a standard at the moment, so you’ll need to switch over to the Chrome browser to take advantage of it.

Other tips?

There are hundreds of ways to make your browsing experience faster. But the above list should give you an immediate, noticeable boost in speed. Have you found other ways to speed up your browsing experience? Share your favorite tricks with your fellow TechRepublic readers.

Thanks & regards,

"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
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Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Five tips for using Ccleaner to degunk your system

There are a lot of tools out there that handle a lot of tasks, from antivirus tools that also clean your drive of temporary files and make you coffee to tools that promise to “make your computer faster.” But as far as I’m concerned, few tools can make as much of a difference as Ccleaner, at least on a machine that’s not infected by a virus or malware. Ccleaner is easy to use and will keep your computer cleaner, more secure, and running faster. It achieves this by safely removing temporary Internet files (and other means of tracing Internet activity), cleaning up the Windows registry, and removing temporary files and recent file lists (MRUs) from various applications.

But even though Ccleaner is a simple tool to use, that doesn’t mean you should just jump in and start cleaning everything without a bit of thought. Here are some things all users should consider before and during the use of this powerful tool.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Analyze before running the Cleaner

I know a lot of admins who just fire up Ccleaner and hit the Run Cleaner button without doing an analysis first. Yes, this is a fast method of getting rid of temporary Internet files. But there’s no way of knowing what’s going to be deleted (until it’s deleted) and there’s no way of knowing how much free space the deletion is going to create. Make sure you hit the Analyze button first. Then, after you read the report, hit the Run Cleaner button. Using Ccleaner this way ensures that nothing is deleted that shouldn’t be deleted. Also, after you run the analyzer, you can look at detailed information (by application) and then add exceptions directly from the list.

2: Set up cookies you want to keep

When you run the Cleaner, cookies are deleted. By default, cookies are retained from Google and Yahoo, but other cookies might need to be retained. To manage this, click on the Options tab and then on the Cookies button. From that window, any cookie currently on the system can be selectively added to the exclusion list. By adding these exclusions, you don’t have to worry about important cookies disappearing after each run of Ccleaner.

3: Always back up the registry

No matter how reliable Ccleaner is and no matter how many successful registry cleanups it does, never do a cleanup without first backing up the registry. Ccleaner will go so far as to remind you to back up the registry every time you run a registry cleanup. If the registry is not backed up, one of those corrupt or missing registry keys that Ccleaner fixes might not really have needed fixing. If that key is then broken and was not backed up, the issue caused by Ccleaner could become catastrophic. Fortunately, Ccleaner makes backing up the registry as simple as a couple of clicks.

4: Use the tools to manage startup applications

Ccleaner comes with a bonus: It lets you enable, disable, or remove programs from startup. I have always found this method of managing startup applications far easier than using the standard Windows method. What I like most about this feature is that startup applications can be enabled and disabled without removing them completely. This means if you need to temporarily prevent an application from starting up, it’s easy to do by going into the Tools tab, clicking the Startup button, selecting the application to be enabled/disabled, and clicking the appropriate button. When the application needs to be re-enabled/disabled, reverse the process.

5: Use the uninstaller

One of the best aspects of Ccleaner is the ability to remove applications from within it. It typically just starts the uninstaller, but I have found that running the application uninstaller this way ends with fewer registry issues than when I uninstall from the Windows Add/Remove Programs tool. And if there are registry issues after the uninstall, registry cleanup is only a couple of clicks away.

Great tool, used wisely

Ccleaner is more than just a tool to clean the registry or empty a computer of temporary Internet files. It also makes it easy to remove applications from startup and remove applications from the machine. Just make sure you use this powerful tool intelligently to avoid rendering your machine unusable.