The Phoenix Freeze application came out recently and as the tag line says, the best ideas are simple. I agree completely with that, however what i did not agree with was the implementation of the same. I installed the trial version of Phoenix freeze and was pretty impressed with what i saw, after the initial setup and getting used to, it worked like a charm. The pairing up of the cell phone with the software went without a hitch. It could be particularly useful in office environments where one need not lock the desktop and unlock it every time time one gets up for a minute or two.
However it was only later i realized that keeping my cell phones Bluetooth on continuously was taxing it a great deal, and yes i am one of the paranoid users who considers an always on Bluetooth a security risk(so that's one negative for me too). In fact i had to recharge my batteries so that i could use my cell for the rest of the day after i had left it on for the whole night. So i would say that even though I like the idea of the application , i think in order to make it operationally viable for general use something needs to be done in order to reduce the power consumption and make it less taxing on my cell phone.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Trading wires for wires...
I will try not to crib a lot in this post, but the reason i am writing this is because i am beginning to get frustrated about the large number of wires that i have to lug around with me anywhere i go. In case i am moving to any place for more than a day, these are the number of wires/chargers that i have to carry with me to keep myself running.
- a laptop charger(1)
- a mobile chargers(2) / Motorola and Nokia
- a camera charger(1)
- connection cable for my camera(1) / for transferring images
- cable for my external hard Disk(1)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Making "Open link in new Tab" the first option in context menu in firefox
I still love firefox, but then just because its good does not mean that it cannot get better, i have used Google chrome now and then and there was one feature of chrome that i always envied, but it was only today that i found a way to replicate the same feature in Firefox.
Well the feature in question was that in Chrome, the "Open link in new tab" option appears first in the context menu. In fact one of the main features of Firefox has been tabbed browsing, so it really stumps me as to why they still havent made the option as their first option. Anyways, cribbing apart, here is how i made the change possible:
There is a wonderful addon called "Menu Editor" in Firefox. All we need to do is install it. To install the addon, Goto Tools>Add-ons, goto tab Get new addons and search for Menu Editor and install it.
After installing and restarting firefox, u can open the options for the Menu Editor by opening the installed addon, and reorder and remove any and all options that one wishes to rearrange and remove.
This addon is also particularly helpful in removing the exorbitantly large number of options that we get in the right click context menu of firefox.
Well the feature in question was that in Chrome, the "Open link in new tab" option appears first in the context menu. In fact one of the main features of Firefox has been tabbed browsing, so it really stumps me as to why they still havent made the option as their first option. Anyways, cribbing apart, here is how i made the change possible:
There is a wonderful addon called "Menu Editor" in Firefox. All we need to do is install it. To install the addon, Goto Tools>Add-ons, goto tab Get new addons and search for Menu Editor and install it.
After installing and restarting firefox, u can open the options for the Menu Editor by opening the installed addon, and reorder and remove any and all options that one wishes to rearrange and remove.
This addon is also particularly helpful in removing the exorbitantly large number of options that we get in the right click context menu of firefox.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Avira automatic updates not working...
I had recently written loads of praise about how Avira has been treating me well for so long, so when last week the Automatic update stopped working i was actually upset. The updater simply gave a message "Internet Connection Failed" and closed itself. So i googled all that i could and finally came up with the problem and the solution.
It seems that the DNS records of avira.com, and the update servers, are being redirected to resalehost.networksolutions.com for some reason i do not know, in case u wish to know whats the case at ur end, u can run the following at your command prompt:
"tracert dl1.avgate.net"
It seems that the DNS records are finally returning 127.0.0.1 at the end. Hence we are unable to access the site and the connection with the servers could not be made.
Anyways the bottom line is that the solution was an entry into the HOSTS file for the update servers.
In order to open the HOSTS file, Goto Start>Run and type drivers, then goto etc, open the file hosts using notepad.
Add the following entry to the end of the hosts file(these are the IPs of the update servers)
62.146.66.181 dl1.avgate.net
62.146.66.182 dl2.avgate.net
62.146.66.183 dl3.avgate.net
62.146.66.184 dl4.avgate.net
80.190.143.235 dl5.avgate.net
80.190.143.236 dl6.avgate.net
save the file and u are done.
In case, in future u are faced with problems with the update, because of the entry, all u will need to do is delete the entry from the file. Enjoy Avira.
It seems that the DNS records of avira.com, and the update servers, are being redirected to resalehost.networksolutions.com for some reason i do not know, in case u wish to know whats the case at ur end, u can run the following at your command prompt:
"tracert dl1.avgate.net"
It seems that the DNS records are finally returning 127.0.0.1 at the end. Hence we are unable to access the site and the connection with the servers could not be made.
Anyways the bottom line is that the solution was an entry into the HOSTS file for the update servers.
In order to open the HOSTS file, Goto Start>Run and type drivers, then goto etc, open the file hosts using notepad.
Add the following entry to the end of the hosts file(these are the IPs of the update servers)
62.146.66.181 dl1.avgate.net
62.146.66.182 dl2.avgate.net
62.146.66.183 dl3.avgate.net
62.146.66.184 dl4.avgate.net
80.190.143.235 dl5.avgate.net
80.190.143.236 dl6.avgate.net
save the file and u are done.
In case, in future u are faced with problems with the update, because of the entry, all u will need to do is delete the entry from the file. Enjoy Avira.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
After u have installed windows...
Below is a list of softwares that i have come to use over the years that i have been using a system, of course they are free and/or open source they have helped me keep my system up and running without needing frequent re installation of Operating Systems or major crashes, or rather just having to deal with a crawling system(I am sure any windows user can identify all these traits).
To start off i would say that i use my system generally for browsing and movies, and a lil bit of coding now and then. So the list should ideally do great for a lot of people who just need to to have a system to stay connected and entertained. So here it goes:
We surely cant think of a system nowadays without an Anti Virus. With so many viruses around, and now pen drives getting us so many of them in dozens every now and then. Out of all the options we have namely, AVG, Avast, Kaspersky, so and and so forth. I prefer Avira. Because it feels the least intrusive to me. Minds its own business, updates itself, and stays out of the way until it detects something. And as far as i can say, never had any problem with it.
VLC Media Player:
Out of all my options i think this is by the way most obvious, VLC nowadays seems to be an undisputed media player for playing almost any media format. It plays broken files, skips through corrupted areas, for scratched disks, it does not stop playing and go into error, its currently my favourite and is going to stay that way for a long time. VLC has stayed true to its philosophy and has stuck to being a media player, sweet and simple. It has not tried to take over the entire system like Nero, or Real Player, or WM Player. I sincerely hope it stays that way.
Real Player:
Yes i know i just criticized them, But for playing realmedia files and for streaming videos, and for playing the rm formats which are proprietary to Real Media. I think this is a must have, So in spite of the Real message center nagging, and the overly exorbitant graphics just for eye candy sake, this player is a must have for completing the media experience.
Mozilla Firefox:
Whats the most important thing that we keep using, in our lives now. The first application that we open after logging into the system, of course its the browser, and i haven't had a better browser than Firefox ever. And if the browser was not enough, they have such an amazing list of addons that it simply is too much not to have. Some of my favorite addons are:
Thunderbird:
Because Mozilla makes the best browser does not mean that they also make the best mail client, But i surely find it the best alternative to Outlook. As such the base installation is a pure mail client and u might actually miss the calendar feature of outlook. For the we need to put two addons on top of thunderbird, lightning(for the calendar) and zindus(its a great tool for syncing up our gmail contacts with our backup list). I believe these two addons are going to be fully integrated into Thinderbird in their next release.Even until then installing these two small addons is not a great deal of trouble. There is one more addon that makes life better. Thunderbird does not automatically minimize to the tray and run in the background, which is what we wish from a program that we don't wish to open repeatedly, hence we have a MinimizeToTray addon that's a must have. I can only say long live ThunderBird... :-) ...
Pidgin:
We all have a number of ids which we use to stay connected, whether it is gmail, yahoo, msn, hotmail, aim or something else. Chances are that if even the chat service is the least bit popular than pidgin will support it. Pidgin was formerly known as Gaim and even now its more popular with the same name. The new name will take some time catching up. Apart from the obvious advantage that we have in having all the contact lists in the same window, there are a few additional advantages that are a plus. It has some plugins which just need to be enabled from options, like text replacement and spell check. It replaces common typos with the correct words, u can add your custom shortcuts for words u use frequently, and spelling mistakes are going to drastically reduced too. Apart from that the interface is simple and is just the way i like it best. Not too shiny, and does the job well. What else could i ask for.
Free Download manager(FDM):
A download manager is something that is needed everyday, the downloads made directly using the browser are often too slow because they just have a single connection running. With resume supported downloads we can speed up these downloads using multiple connections and FDM does exactly that. I havent found anything better that can replace FDM. So its only free download manager now. No competition on the horizon. Anyone who thinks there is anything better can surely suggest that below.
Miro:
Nowadays we have numerous Video feeds, just like we have RSS feeds since not so long ago. And keeping track of them and looking for new content by visiting each site everyday is a big pain. Miro is a utility for just such a purpose. It lists Video feeds, Once u subscribe to them it gives u a list of videos available on the site and u can either select each one and download them at ur leisure or set them to be downloaded automatically as and when new content comes up. It is a really nice time saver, and makes the experience all the more enjoyable. U can come back and the videos of the day will be downloaded and neatly there in a list in front of u. U can watch them at ur pace, decide to keep them or discard them. And the best thing i like about it is that it makes keeping track of Videos that i have on my system so much more easier, neatly arranged in a list with descriptions. I am in love with it ever since i came across it, though it is not completely perfect, it gets stuck at times between playbacks, But that's seldom and far apart, and no reason at all for not having this one as part of our list. The people at participatory foundation are working doing real nice work on it, I am sure the inconsistencies are going to be sorted out real soon. Hats off to these guys.
OpenOffice:
There was a time when there was no option to using the Microsoft Office, other word processors were non existent, at least i dont remember any other offering like MS Office. But now with this Sun microsystems project we have OpenOffice, its a decent word processor by any standard, making it the only one of its kind. Though making it work in the Windows dominated world requires a lil setting at startup, One must set the documents to be saved in windows formats like doc and xls rather than the openOffice odf format. This can be done at Tools > Options > Load/save > General. After that its just smooth running. Or else by mistake u may end up saving and taking a file in the odf format and it wont open properly elsewhere in Microsoft Office.
Picasa:
After media its the turn to take care of the stills, with digital cameras becoming common, we always have a plethora of photos to take care of, for some slight retouching of the photos, picasa is really good(for anything more we could use Gimp). Apart from that there is the integration with all of Google's services, uploading to the web albums, or to blogger, its a must have.
Ccleaner:
I started this post by mentioning the famous property of Windows systems to start crawling as time goes by. This is a very common problem and most people simply reinstall their Windows, and thats a pretty good solution except that over time we get used to the feel of the system and hate to have it changed. In order to avoid the trouble one can use Ccleaner. It analyzes and removes the temporary data that Windows accumulates over time and brings the system back to normal. If u have had ur last installation quite some time back, just install and run Ccleaner and u will be surprised at the amount of space that gets freed, and the performance of the system thereafter.
Recuva:
Remember those times when ur system crashes, or partitions get corrupted, or u accidently deleted some files and really want them back. Here is a software that does exactly that, recovers lost data, and does it well. And its really simple too, all u have to do is select the partition, scan it, and select the files u want to recover. The interface is pretty intuitive and does not need much fiddling around in order to start using. Its from the same people who made the wonderful Ccleaner, hats off to people at Piriform.
To start off i would say that i use my system generally for browsing and movies, and a lil bit of coding now and then. So the list should ideally do great for a lot of people who just need to to have a system to stay connected and entertained. So here it goes:
- Antivirus: Avast
- Media Player 1: VLC
- Media Player 2: Real Player
- Browser: Mozilla Firefox
- Mail Client: Thunderbird
- Chat Client: Pidgin
- Download manager: Free Download manager(FDM)
- Video feed manager: Miro
- Office Applications: OpenOffice
- Picasa
- Ccleaner: System Maintenance
- Recuva: Data recovery
We surely cant think of a system nowadays without an Anti Virus. With so many viruses around, and now pen drives getting us so many of them in dozens every now and then. Out of all the options we have namely, AVG, Avast, Kaspersky, so and and so forth. I prefer Avira. Because it feels the least intrusive to me. Minds its own business, updates itself, and stays out of the way until it detects something. And as far as i can say, never had any problem with it.
VLC Media Player:
Out of all my options i think this is by the way most obvious, VLC nowadays seems to be an undisputed media player for playing almost any media format. It plays broken files, skips through corrupted areas, for scratched disks, it does not stop playing and go into error, its currently my favourite and is going to stay that way for a long time. VLC has stayed true to its philosophy and has stuck to being a media player, sweet and simple. It has not tried to take over the entire system like Nero, or Real Player, or WM Player. I sincerely hope it stays that way.
Real Player:
Yes i know i just criticized them, But for playing realmedia files and for streaming videos, and for playing the rm formats which are proprietary to Real Media. I think this is a must have, So in spite of the Real message center nagging, and the overly exorbitant graphics just for eye candy sake, this player is a must have for completing the media experience.
Mozilla Firefox:
Whats the most important thing that we keep using, in our lives now. The first application that we open after logging into the system, of course its the browser, and i haven't had a better browser than Firefox ever. And if the browser was not enough, they have such an amazing list of addons that it simply is too much not to have. Some of my favorite addons are:
- AdblockPlus -- Ads gone, just the content
- FEBE -- Backing up your Firefox data
- Flagfox -- Displays a flag depicting the location of the current server
- FoxyProxy -- Premier proxy management for Firefox
- NoScript -- Extra protection for your Firefox:
- SpeedDial -- Direct access to your most visited websites, Visual bookmarking
- StumbleUpon -- StumbleUpon Toolbar
- WOT -- Web of trust.
Thunderbird:
Because Mozilla makes the best browser does not mean that they also make the best mail client, But i surely find it the best alternative to Outlook. As such the base installation is a pure mail client and u might actually miss the calendar feature of outlook. For the we need to put two addons on top of thunderbird, lightning(for the calendar) and zindus(its a great tool for syncing up our gmail contacts with our backup list). I believe these two addons are going to be fully integrated into Thinderbird in their next release.Even until then installing these two small addons is not a great deal of trouble. There is one more addon that makes life better. Thunderbird does not automatically minimize to the tray and run in the background, which is what we wish from a program that we don't wish to open repeatedly, hence we have a MinimizeToTray addon that's a must have. I can only say long live ThunderBird... :-) ...
Pidgin:
We all have a number of ids which we use to stay connected, whether it is gmail, yahoo, msn, hotmail, aim or something else. Chances are that if even the chat service is the least bit popular than pidgin will support it. Pidgin was formerly known as Gaim and even now its more popular with the same name. The new name will take some time catching up. Apart from the obvious advantage that we have in having all the contact lists in the same window, there are a few additional advantages that are a plus. It has some plugins which just need to be enabled from options, like text replacement and spell check. It replaces common typos with the correct words, u can add your custom shortcuts for words u use frequently, and spelling mistakes are going to drastically reduced too. Apart from that the interface is simple and is just the way i like it best. Not too shiny, and does the job well. What else could i ask for.
Free Download manager(FDM):
A download manager is something that is needed everyday, the downloads made directly using the browser are often too slow because they just have a single connection running. With resume supported downloads we can speed up these downloads using multiple connections and FDM does exactly that. I havent found anything better that can replace FDM. So its only free download manager now. No competition on the horizon. Anyone who thinks there is anything better can surely suggest that below.
Miro:
Nowadays we have numerous Video feeds, just like we have RSS feeds since not so long ago. And keeping track of them and looking for new content by visiting each site everyday is a big pain. Miro is a utility for just such a purpose. It lists Video feeds, Once u subscribe to them it gives u a list of videos available on the site and u can either select each one and download them at ur leisure or set them to be downloaded automatically as and when new content comes up. It is a really nice time saver, and makes the experience all the more enjoyable. U can come back and the videos of the day will be downloaded and neatly there in a list in front of u. U can watch them at ur pace, decide to keep them or discard them. And the best thing i like about it is that it makes keeping track of Videos that i have on my system so much more easier, neatly arranged in a list with descriptions. I am in love with it ever since i came across it, though it is not completely perfect, it gets stuck at times between playbacks, But that's seldom and far apart, and no reason at all for not having this one as part of our list. The people at participatory foundation are working doing real nice work on it, I am sure the inconsistencies are going to be sorted out real soon. Hats off to these guys.
OpenOffice:
There was a time when there was no option to using the Microsoft Office, other word processors were non existent, at least i dont remember any other offering like MS Office. But now with this Sun microsystems project we have OpenOffice, its a decent word processor by any standard, making it the only one of its kind. Though making it work in the Windows dominated world requires a lil setting at startup, One must set the documents to be saved in windows formats like doc and xls rather than the openOffice odf format. This can be done at Tools > Options > Load/save > General. After that its just smooth running. Or else by mistake u may end up saving and taking a file in the odf format and it wont open properly elsewhere in Microsoft Office.
Picasa:
After media its the turn to take care of the stills, with digital cameras becoming common, we always have a plethora of photos to take care of, for some slight retouching of the photos, picasa is really good(for anything more we could use Gimp). Apart from that there is the integration with all of Google's services, uploading to the web albums, or to blogger, its a must have.
Ccleaner:
I started this post by mentioning the famous property of Windows systems to start crawling as time goes by. This is a very common problem and most people simply reinstall their Windows, and thats a pretty good solution except that over time we get used to the feel of the system and hate to have it changed. In order to avoid the trouble one can use Ccleaner. It analyzes and removes the temporary data that Windows accumulates over time and brings the system back to normal. If u have had ur last installation quite some time back, just install and run Ccleaner and u will be surprised at the amount of space that gets freed, and the performance of the system thereafter.
Recuva:
Remember those times when ur system crashes, or partitions get corrupted, or u accidently deleted some files and really want them back. Here is a software that does exactly that, recovers lost data, and does it well. And its really simple too, all u have to do is select the partition, scan it, and select the files u want to recover. The interface is pretty intuitive and does not need much fiddling around in order to start using. Its from the same people who made the wonderful Ccleaner, hats off to people at Piriform.
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