Your tech navigator

Today’s technological scenario is all about integration and making every task simpler and every information easily accessible. Well, similar are the thoughts of UXLabs at Microsoft. They have created a very sleek Facebook client application that brings the complete Facebook experience right on your Windows desktop – Fishbowl.

Although in a ‘trial’ (beta) stage, Fishbowl offers some features that surely will excite Facebook power users. Apart from the seamless integration with Facebook, here are some of the plus points of Fishbowl:

» Fishbowl offers mini-mode which is more fun and less obtrusive.

» Smooth user interface and sleek navigation. It supports drag n’ drop pictures to publish them on Facebook. Furthermore, it can go full screen and play a slideshow of your albums.

» You can update your status, view your friends’ albums, their updates, news-feeds and other notifications.

» “Interest Level”, my favorite feature, helps you filter your stream anonymously in order to avoid boring updates from friends.

» If you are a Windows 7 user, you can monitor your Facebook stream right from your taskbar using jumplists.

If you want to give it a try then click the link below.

Download Fishbowl / 6.6mb

Enjoyed your read? Grab feeds.

In PDC ‘09, Microsoft unveiled a prototype called Pivot, created by Microsoft Live Labs that claims to revolutionize the way we search the web by introducing a new dimension called ‘visual search’. Redmond company explains that Pivot lets users experience the web in a more subtle and ‘visual’ way, instead of series of pages.

Powerful, informative and fun – this is what Pivot is, in it’s classical sense. The introductory paragraph of the official Pivot website reads, “We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web.”

Currently available to a handful of people, you can request for an invite in order to use Pivot. I was lucky enough to get an invite. Upon installation, I was represented with, what seemed like, a homepage:

Pivot can be used in two ways:

» As a regular browser to surf the web

» As a visual search tool to browse collections.

When used as a regular browser, Pivot is just a clone of Internet Explorer, only a bit less customizable. When it comes to rendering pages, it uses the same Trident layout engine used in IE.

The beauty of Pivot is in its ability to browse specially created collections which are infact massive information clusters. As of now, the Live Labs have offered sample Pivot collections to mingle with. Ofcourse users can create their own collections and share it with others. However, understanding the basic architecture and the three types of collections is a bit too nerdy. That is why, Microsoft has challenged developers to create custom collections based on existing web services.

Minimum requirements:

» Windows 7 / Windows Vista with ‘Aero’ enabled. (Pivot is not compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server Editions as of now.)

» Internet Explorer 8.

» .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

» 2-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.

» At least 256 MB of video memory.

Note: Pivot does not support Intel integrated video chipsets without additional acceleration hardware.

The road ahead...

Considering the strong foundation on which Pivot is built, one can expect it to be helpful in these scenarios:

» Create collections from data in existing online services.

» Use collections as a front end to desktop search.

» Display data sets from academical studies.

» To visualize stock market data.

» Using Pivot for personal photo galleries, or social networks.

Finally, here is a demonstration video of Microsoft Pivot in action.

Demo video:

Download Pivot / 28mb

Note: You are required to enter an installation code without which Pivot won’t install. You can either wait for your installation code or get one from me. I have 2 codes which are good for 19 more installations. Just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I shall give it to you.

Enjoyed your read? Grab feeds.

Instead of exploring new things all the time, sometimes I dig into what I have already got and I always come up with something new. Very few of us might know that Microsoft also offers lots of free games to its users. ‘The Games’ section in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is often listed in the feature lists but rarely anyone plays the games offered. And if you have checked the link in the ‘Game providers’ subsection lately, then you will find that Microsoft now offers 100+ free games to its users. So if you think you’ve had enough of solitaire and minesweeper, I’d say you do the following:

Click Start > Games. In the ‘Game Providers’ subsection, click ‘More Games from Microsoft’.

Alternatively, you can click here: Microsoft "Play Your Game"

And guess what, that’s it. Just click “Play Now” button to play your favorite games. You can also download trial versions of these games. Enjoy!

Liked the post? Why not grab the feeds.

Microsoft SyncToy needs no introduction. It is an excellent freeware utility that syncs files and folders and is mostly used for sharing multimedia and documents across computers and also used for backing up important data.

Microsoft has released its updated version, SyncToy 2.1, with some new features and improvements to meet the Windows 7 standards. The new SyncToy 2.1 has native 64bit support and is available for both (x86 and x64) architectures.

SyncToy 2.1’s help section enlists these new features:

» New Platform: SyncToy 2.1 uses the latest synchronization engine from Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0.

» Better Performance: File copy speed is significantly increased.

» Exclusion Filtering Based on Name: File exclusion based on name with exact or fuzzy matching.

» Improved Robustness: Instead of failing the whole synchronization session on an unknown single file error (including network issues), SyncToy 2.1 flags the error and continues with the remaining files.

Download Microsoft SyncToy 2.1 / 3.5mb

Enjoyed your read? Grab feeds.

Blogging is amazing when it is unrestricted and hassle-free. And to make blogging a smooth experience, there are many desktop blog-publishing applications available but most of them are ‘typical’ softwares that you need to install. Some might require you to download a suite in order to get a simple blog-publishing application. Here is something for those who love blogging on Blogger and hate installing a blog-publishing software – Blogger Buddy.

Blogger Buddy is a Windows Vista/Windows 7 Gadget that lets you create new posts and publish them to your Blogger blog. It also lets you preview the content before you publish.

Although a mere 120kb download, this small utility has full fledged text editor where you’ll find everything you need.

Features of Blogger Buddy:

» Unlike a typical blog publishing software, Blogger Buddy is a Windows Vista/Windows 7 Gadget.

» Just 120KB download size and low on resources.

» Rich text editor.

» Post previews are available before publishing to Blogger blog.

So, if you are a Blogger user out there, I would recommend you to use thisgadget for posting to your blog just because it is too hassle-free and has a footprint of an ant.

Download Blogger Buddy / 120kb

Enjoyed this blogging tip? There’s more. Grab feeds to get more blogging tips.

This is a very cool trick that saves time and doesn’t require any 3rd party software. If you want any folder or a file shortcut to be placed right in the ‘My Computer’ window, then you can do that by following these simple steps:

1) Make a shortcut of the file/folder (‘Properties’ > ‘Create shortcut’)

2) Place the shortcut in this folder:

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts

Make sure you change <Username> to the user’s name of your computer.

Done! You have now placed a shortcut of your file/folder in the ‘My Computer’. I have tested this on Windows 7 and Windows Vista and it’s pretty neat.

[via HackTheUgly and TWC]

Enjoyed your read? Grab feeds.

Recently many users all round the world have been facing this very strange issue where the updrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 stucks at 62%. Users complained that the upgrade just sits there at 62% no matter how long you wait.

However, Microsoft has quickly identified it as some issue with the Windows IPv6 helper service that stops responding during an update which causes it to get stuck at 62% and have come up with a solution.

Warning: Use this solution only if you are experiencing the exact problem. i.e. Upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 stucks specifically at 62%. Do not use this solution otherwise.

Solution:

Click , right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

Thanks to Lee Mathews and Microsoft for providing the solution.

If you enjoyed your read, grab feeds.

Windows 7 have been around for quite a while now and every one is going gaga over it. Amidst all the cheering for Windows 7, I feel bad for Windows Vista owners for being felt left out. Although many Vista owners have already upgraded and enjoying Windows 7 in all its full glory, here’s something for those who haven’t made the switch yet – The Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Windows Vista.

Although this transformation pack has been around for many months, I could only post about it when Windows 7 was finally out. Transformation packs have been around since the age of Windows XP so there is nothing new to speak about. Windows 7 Transformation Pack has the refreshing Windows 7 Theme, Windows 7 Logon, WMP 12 for Vista, New Windows 7 Sound Schemes, Windows 7 Wallpapers and Windows 7 User Pictures.

Use the transformation pack at your own risk because I cannot give you my word for it as I have not tested it myself. On a personal note, I would suggest you to upgrade to Windows 7, because it’s worth.

Download Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Vista

If you enjoyed your read, grab my feeds.

Last night I was working with my brother on his project and there was a lot of material needed to be copied from websites to Word. It was a tiresome process to copy and paste the required material, neglecting few lines in between, again copying and pasting few lines and so on. It was then that I tried to search for something that can ease this everyday process of copy-pasting. I found the clipboard managers. A lot of good ones.

A clipboard managers does the basic task of storing the information for the temporary period of time during the time you copy the content and paste it somewhere. Now the built in clipboard of Windows stores one entry at a time. This is where clipboard managers come in. They let you temporarily store multiple bytes of information, maintains a history, and lets you paste that content one by one. I used some of these clipboard managers but I’d favor ‘Ditto’ clipboard manager.

‘Ditto’ lets you save multiple items in the clipboard and lets you retrieve them one by one at a later time. Unlimited amounts of data can be stored in clipboard using ‘Ditto’. The most advanced feature of ‘Ditto’ is that, it lets you copy information from one computer and paste it to another.

‘Ditto’ offers lot more features like:

1) Keeping synchronization of clipboard data within multiple computers.

2) Ability to encrypt data when transmitted over the network

3) Foreign character support

and many more…

It may seem like a not so useful utility but let me tell you, you will realize its importance when you’ll truly need it. It is definitely a time saver.

Some other clipboard managers that I came across: Clipmagic (8/10), Clipboard Recorder (8/10), Sanvient (6/10) and ClipTorrent (6/10). Use them and make copy-pasting a breeze! :)

Don’t miss these awesome tips/tricks:

Draw a picture in Wordpad

Password protect your files using WinRAR

Google Image Search made easy

More…

Wordpad is one of the most versatile text editors of all time. Even qualified professionals prefer it over other resource consuming text editors. This time I am going to show you how you can draw pictures in Wordpad. This requires you to have the latest version of Wordpad which comes bundled with Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The following trick won’t work in the Wordpad version of Windows XP.

1) Open Wordpad and point your cursor where you want to draw a picture. Now click the ‘Paint drawing’ button on the ribbon above.

2) Once you click it, the ‘Paint’ application will launch. Draw a picture you want to get inserted in your Wordpad document. Once you are done with the drawing, click the ‘Quick access toolbar’ button (located in the top-left corner) and select ‘Update document’ and finally close the ‘Paint’ application.

3) Once you close the ‘Paint’ application, your picture will appear in your Wordpad document.

Compression of files using utilities like WinZip and WinRAR is very common technique and has been in use since long. But very few know that you can also password protect your important files using WinRAR to keep them from prying eyes. Here’s how you do it.

1) Open WinRAR and browse to the folder where your important files are located using the drop-down navigation method shown below and click ‘Add’ button on top. Alternatively, if you have integrated WinRAR in your context menu, you just need to select your files in Windows Explorer, right-click and select ‘Add to archive…’

2) A new window will appear. Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab and then click on ‘Set Password’ button. Enter desired password and for better security, check ‘Encrypt file names’ and click OK. Click OK again.

A new password protected and compressed file will be generated. When you try to open it, it will ask for the password. You can use this quick method for transferring sensitive files over the internet too.

Some months ago, I wrote a post on DNS server and how it can change your browsing experience. This time I am providing a list of useful DNS servers which you can use to make your internet reliable, faster and safer.

DNS (Domain Name Server) translates the website address from human readable form to an IP address. If your DNS server goes bad then you may receive errors like ‘page cannot be found’, ‘cannot connect to the page’, ‘error timeout’ etc. By using better DNS servers you can reduce these type of glitches.

So how to use DNS servers? For an end user like you and me, we just need to enter an specific IP address in the Preferred DNS Server field in ‘Network Connections’. Open its properties. [See screenshot below]

Just choose the option ‘Use the following DNS server addresses’ and enter any of below mentioned IP addresses into the two textboxes.

List of DNS servers:

1) OpenDNS

Preferred DNS Server: 208.67.222.222

Alternate DNS Server: 208.67.220.220

2) Scrublt

Preferred DNS Server: 67.138.54.100

Alternate DNS Server: 207.225.209.66

3) DNS Advantage

Preferred DNS Server: 156.154.70.1

Alternate DNS Server: 156.154.71.1

4) OpenNIC

Preferred DNS Server: 58.6.115.42

Alternate DNS Server: 58.6.115.43

5) Other public DNS Servers

Preferred DNS Server: 198.77.116.221

Alternate DNS Server: 198.77.116.223

Once you get properly acquainted with the web, you feel the need for a utility that can ease down your tasks. One such task is to get regular updates from your favorite website or blog aggregated for you. This is where Feed Readers come into picture. RSS Feeds are actually a convenient and hassle-free way to read website and blogs as and when they get updated. It needs to be powerful yet very low on resources, quiet but feature-rich. I have used many such ‘feed readers’ and would like to present the best of them all.

1) FeedDemon :-  My personal best. FeedDemon is a RSS news feed reader which is very light on resources and highly customizable. It is very comprehensive, easy to set-up and has a clean interface.

2) Windows Live Mail :- It is actually a mail program but does the job of an RSS news reader quite well. With just a downside of being a little heavy on the system, it is very stable, mature and powerful RSS news reader on Windows.

3) Google Reader :- Without any doubt the most used, a stupidly simple RSS reader out there. It is very convenient to use and configure. Google Reader is web-based RSS reader so you don’t have to install a separate program for it.

4) Omea Reader :- Unknown but very powerful with top-notch features. Omea Reader is a freeware and it also does the task of a bookmark manager. It also provides browser integration.

5) BlogBridge :- With OPML support, synchronization feature and user-friendliness, BlogBridge is yet another free RSS reader. It has something called Smart Content Processing and has plugins too. It can run on Linux too.

There are also some other paid RSS readers like NewzCrawler, Blog Navigator, etc. but the mere price tag on them deprived them to show up in the above list.

I was updating my installed programs one by one last night and it was a tedious task to do because I have over 50 programs installed on my computer. I thought I should search for a software which would tell me which of my software needs updates. Though I started without much hope, I instantly found a software that claims to do precisely that. Software Informer – A very cool application that keeps a track of your installed programs and whenever its update is available, it not only informs you but also link you to the update page which saves much time.

When I installed Software Informer, it scanned through the installed programs and immediately started searching for their updates. Once it was done, it opened up a page in my default internet browser and listed the programs that needed updates. It shows the current installed version and the latest version available so you can decide whether or not you want to update it. A ‘Get Update’ button makes task much easier as it redirects to the precise update page so you don’t have to search around every time you need to update.

As a value addition, the application also has a floating icon which, when clicked, shows a menu that lists all the installed programs which can be quickly launched from there.  Click here to download Software Informer.

You must be aware of the fact that Microsoft has striped down utilities like Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, Windows Messenger etc. from Windows 7. So these utilities won’t be available out-of-the-box but one has to download a package called ‘Windows Live Essentials’ in order to install these utilities. Windows Live Essentials include the following utilities: Windows Live Toolbar, Family Safety, Movie Maker Beta, Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery and Writer.

Once you download the whole package and run the installer, it gives you an option to select the utilities you wish to install. However, if you are wondering about how to get the individual installers of all these utilities instead of one big installer then you can follow this trick:

1) First, you need to unhide protected operating system files. In Windows Explorer, click Organize >> Folder and search options.

2) In the window that appears, click on ‘View’ tab. Here, uncheck the option that says ‘Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)’. Confirm by clicking ‘Yes’ in the warning message dialog box that appears. This will unhide the files which are super-hidden by the system.

3) Now assuming C:\ as your Windows partition, navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Windows Live\.cache (Note: 64-bit Windows users will have to navigate through ‘Program Files (x86)’ folder)

4) Here, you will find many folders with random names. These folders contain individual installers of Windows Live Essentials utilities. You can copy these installers to another folder. I don’t recommend moving or deleting the existing installers. Enjoy!

Ever wished to open multiple GMail or Yahoo accounts in your browser without signing out from one. This situation is faced by many people as they have multiple accounts from the same provider and the glitch arises when we wish to switch to a different account, we need to sign-out from the first and then log in to another. Using new tab or even new window of the browser doesn’t work. This is because your browser maintains a common cookie which has all the information about your current session activity.

However, in Internet Explorer 8, there is a new feature called ‘New Session’ which completely solves the above problem. It is located in the File menu. In IE8, press Alt+F to show up the File menu and select ‘New Session’. A new window will open which will maintain another cookie for its session.

So now if you wish to open multiple accounts of say GMail, Yahoo, etc. this feature of IE8 will surely come in handy.

Most you must still be preferring Windows Media Player over other music players and why not? It is versatile, organizes your music pretty well, it comes bundled with Windows and does its job quite good. I personally prefer Windows Media Player 12 (which is the latest version in Windows 7) and AIMP2. Many other music players like iTunes can generate auto-playlists based upon Artists, Album, Genre, Play count, etc. Sadly, in WMP you manually have to sort them out and then make a playlist. What if you want to make an auto-playlist of your ‘most played songs’. Here’s a very simple trick.

1) Open WMP and on the left pane click on ‘Music’.

2) Once you get the list of all the songs, right-click on the column title and click on ‘Choose columns…’

3) In the window that appears, check ‘Play Count’ and click OK.

4) You will see a new column ‘Play Count’ is added. Click on it and your list of songs will get sorted according to the number of times a particular song was played. By sorting it in a ‘Descending’ manner, you now have your most played songs listed. Double click on the first song and the whole list will get into the ‘Now Playing’ list. You’re done.

It is assumed that you have already installed Windows Vista and have an internet connection (preferably broadband).

• Connect to the internet and open up Windows Update. Download every update available and make sure to install Windows Vista Service Pack 2.
  

• Windows Vista is much secure than the previous Windows versions but it is wise to install an antivirus software. I recommend you to install ESET NOD32 Antivirus. It is best out there. A very close competitor is Kaspersky Antivirus 2009. However, these are negligibly paid software. If you want a freeware then Avast 8.0 is the best choice.

• Now when you surf the internet, you don’t want to see those useless advertisements that hog up your bandwidth. In severe cases, some ads are harmful too. You need AdMuncher. This is an ad-blocker program which supports many browsers and will not let advertisements to display while you surf.

• If you are too much worried about your security then you may want to install an anti-spyware. aSquared Free is the one I would recommend. However, Windows Defender is sufficient enough.
  

Internet Surfing:

• Before you start surfing the internet, it is necessary that you have all the plug-ins for viewing the latest multimedia content online. Download latest versions of Java, Shockwave Player, Adobe Flash and Silverlight.

• Now comes the most important part - Browser Selection. Most of the world uses Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. But we are not going to use any of them. I recommend using Flock and Google Chrome. More information about Flock can be found here.
  

• For peer-to-peer downloading, you can definitely rely on Limewire. It is available as Limewire Free and Limewire Pro (which is a paid version). You can very well do with the free version. For torrents, there is nothing better than μTorrent. Very light weight and low on resources, yet does a wonderful job.
  

• For Instant Messaging and Chatting, I recommend all-in-one Miranda IM Client. You can chat with your Yahoo!, MSN, IRC and AOL friends from just one IM Client.
  

• When it comes to downloading, there are many download managers available. But I recommend using Orbit Downloader or FlashGet. Both are well efficient with all required features like pausing a download and schedule a download at a specified time.
  

• If you want to download videos from sites like Youtube, Google Video, Metacafe, MySpace, DailyMotion, you can do that easily by using VDownloader.
  

Audio, Video & Imaging:

• Image viewing and editing is made much simpler in Windows Vista. You don’t need to install any software. Windows Photo Gallery will suffice. However if you want to have an option then IrfanView is a good software. Considering the excellent job it does, you will be surprised by its small foot-print on your computer.
  

• Listening to your favorite music and MP3s is a piece of cake with AIMP2. It is very sad that such a great software is like a violet by a mossy stone. You will be surprised by its compactness and skilled ergonomics. With lots of customization options, a sound recorder, a tag editor and built-in plug-ins, you will get addicted to it in no time.

• Install K-Lite Mega Codec Pack and forget all worries about different AV codecs out there. Use Media Player Classic which is bundled with K-Lite Mega Codec Pack for viewing video files and video CD/DVDs. No need to install any other video player or codec.
  

• For video conversion, there is an excellent freeware utility SUPER. It supports all the video formats out there.
  

Maintenance & Cleaning:

• For cleaning and maintenance, you need CCleaner and TuneUp Utilities. You may also prefer EnhanceMyVistaFree for similar purposes. It is necessary to perform cleaning and maintenance activity every 14 days to avoid cluttering in your computer. [Tune-Up Utilities 2008 Licensed Version is available free of cost with the purchase of December 2008 issue of Chip Magazine (Indian Edition)]
  

• It is highly recommended that you perform defragmentation of disks using Tune-Up’s inbuilt defragmentor every 2 months.
  

CD / DVD:

• For mounting virtual image files you need a stable and efficient CD/DVD drive emulator. VirtualCloneDrive by Elaborate Bytes is the best CD/DVD emulator around. It is light weight and supports numerous CD/DVD image formats.
  

• For CD/DVD writing, the necessary and sufficient choice would be InfraRecorder. It is efficient, low on resources, can create neat Audio and Video discs and also creates CD/DVD Images.
  

Office Tools:

• Microsoft Office 2007 is the best out there. But there are few free options available. I would recommend using OpenOffice. It has the best value for money. It even supports Microsoft Office formats so you will not remain the odd one out when the whole world uses Microsoft Office.
  

• Next comes the PDF viewer. I would recommend Foxit Reader for its immensely small size of just 2mb. After all, if you just want to use a PDF reader once in a month, then resource hogging Adobe Reader is not a wise choice.
  

UI Enhancing:

• Everybody loves eye candy. So why not flaunt your new OS with some goodies that is pleasing to the eye. Download some cool icons from DeviantArt, FreeIconsWeb, IconsArchive, VistaIcons and similar sites.
  

• Once you have downloaded the icons, use them to change the look of your folders. Download IcoFX for converting image files to icons.
  

• Properly categorize your data and software and use proper icons for their folders. Also add your most used folders as links in the Navigation Pane.

• Download high quality wallpapers from DeviantArt and InterfaceLift.
  

Advanced Tweaking:

• Now its time to get your hands dirty. We are about to tweak the innards of Windows Vista for enhanced performance and speed.
  

• As we are using the Tune-Up Disk Defragmentor every two months, it is safe to turn off automatic defragmentation in Windows Vista. Click Start –> Computer. Right click appropriate drive, click ‘Properties’. In ‘Tools’ tab, click ‘Defragment Now’ button. Uncheck ‘Run on a schedule’ and click OK.
  

• Now we will disable some windows features which are not required. Click Start –> Control Panel. Double click ‘Programs and Features’. In the left side pane, click ‘Turn Windows features on or off’. Uncheck ‘Indexing Services’, ‘Remote Differential Compression’, ‘Tablet PC Optional Components’ (if you are not using a TabletPC), ‘Telnet Server’, ‘Windows DFS Replication Service’, ‘Windows Meeting Place’ and ‘Windows Process Activation Service’.

Well, the above tweaking guide is exclusive and not exhaustive and once followed thoroughly will make your Vista run efficiently without any glitches.

Below is a simple hack to download Windows Vista Service Pack 2 through Windows Update before its official release by Microsoft. Open Notepad and paste the code below an save it as “Vista SP2.bat” (batch file). Alternatively, you can download the batch file here.